Cars With High Ground Clearance | Best Off-Road Cars in India | Best SUV Cars In India

The year 2012 proved to be the landmark year for the SUV market in the country. Before 2012, the best SUV cars in India were more of station wagons or light trucks which were ruggedly built, difficult to drive, hard to manoeuvre and gas guzzlers with very inefficient engines. It was the Renault DUSTER that changed this image and the customer perception of an SUV in India .   Today, the SUV market has evolved so much that it ranks as the 2 nd largest segment of passenger cars with close to 40% market share . While the hatchbacks still dominate as far as numbers are concerned, it is the SUV category that is seeing all the action.  Renault Captur Here’s what makes an SUV a better deal when compared to a conventional hatchback or sedan: Rugged look The predecessor of the modern SUV was launched in the 1930s as a car for the military. They required a vehicle that was good on-road and equally good off-road. Since there was no other utility for such a car besides be...

Ground clearance is one of the key dimensions of a car.   Technically speaking, it the distance between the road surface and the lowest part of the car’s body, generally the chassis. It’s a crucial parameter which determines the cars stability, safety and ride quality. Cars with high-ground clearance help in keeping the under-body safe. Theoretically, the greater the distance, the higher the possibility that no part of the car gets scraped off by the ground beneath. However, beyond a certain point, higher ground clearance makes the car unstable. If it is too high, then the Centre of Gravity (CG) of the car rises making the car unstable. Higher CG can cause the car to topple especially on curves at higher speeds. Hence, carmakers conduct a number of tests to arrive at the optimum level of ground clearance so that it can remain stable in all driving conditions. However, just having better ground clearance is of no use. It needs to be supported well by an optimally stiff suspension...