[nukkad] Which Indian car will make an acceptable taxi in the developed world?

[Ram Rao <>]

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When you sit in a typical taxicab in Europe -- these are typical of the
developed world -- with 3 or 4 fellow passengers:

With the front seats cranked all the way back for a tall driver/front
passenger, 
1) Your thighs or shoulders will not touch those of your co-passengers.
2) Your knees will still not touch the seat in front of you.
3) The tops of your ankles will still not touch the seat in front of
you.
The luggage trunk will accomodate three full size suitcases and two
medium duffel bags (airbags)
4) The heating, ventilation and airconditioning (HVAC) system will cover
all passengers, with no room for complaint.

Singapore uses: Toyota Crown Royal, Nissan Bluebird and Toyota Corona. A
Toyota Corolla is considered unacceptably small for taxi use!!

Western Europe uses Mercedes Benz "E" Class (not "C" class), Opel Omega
(not Vectra/Astra, forget Corsa), Ford Mondeo (not Escort, forget
Ikon/Fiesta), Fiat Marea (not Siena, forget Uno), Volkswagen Passat (not
Golf, forget Polo)

The USA uses even bigger cars: Ford Taurus, Ford LTD and Chevrolet
Impala!

Australia uses Ford Falcon.

Even Japan (creator of the vegetable market Maruti Alto/Zen/WagonR) uses
Toyota Crown Royal and Nissan Bluebird taxis.

My gut-feel is: Any car with a wheelbase less than 2700 mm is cramped
for room.


And we Indian motorists make such a big deal of the (in descending order
of roominess):
Cielo/Nexia (wheelbase:2520), Astra (wb:2517), Lancer/Honda City/Maruti
Baleno (wb:2500),Ikon (wb:2486), Corsa (wb:2443), Accent (wb:2440),
Siena (wb:2360)!
I think we are carried away by the unreasonably high pricing of our
econo boxes!
Were we not the same people who used to label the Ambassador as a Chhoti
Taxi?(small taxi)
Have we forgotten our metrics?

The new crop of cars coming in with stickers of Rs. 14-17 lakh, we may
just about get there!


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