My two are vastly different, and are literally from different planets. But they charmingly complement and complete each other very well.
BHPian vigneshkumar31 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
One car do all?
The first and the obvious question before jumping into the rabbit hole of a two car garage is whether One car could indeed, do all?
Why pay insurance, and maintenance on two depreciating assets when a single set of wheels could roll into any role you want?
If we ponder about which kind of cars would be suitable ‘jack of all trades’, then all roads lead to the bulked up breed of compact SUVs.
They were born and have blossomed into bountiful numbers precisely because of their flexibility in donning multiple hats. Well, some pull it off better than the others, and some just try really hard and fail. But the segment as such has been raking in rewards for marques, fetching fat margins for dealers and giving great options for buyers. The segment has slowly stretched and spanned itself across wide price brackets generously from budget options to premium offerings.
If you need a well built, premium 5 seater with a sorted ride on highways and still won’t shy away from off the road excursion trails, the shining image of a Jeep Compass is what flashes in front of me.
In its cheapest 4×4 avatar, the Limited variant costs about 27.19 lacs ex showroom (as of March 2022). That’s steep, but it still ticks most boxes. In being versatile, such jack of all trades are obviously masters of none. There are compromises that we accept to live with when we settle for one. And that’s perhaps why this breed, for all its benefits, never has quite excited me. It’s a matter of perspective, you can see it as being neither here nor there, or , you could see it as having a bit of both.
That presents the case for a second car, or to swing back to the topic – the ideal two car garage, for the budget, for you.
This is a peppy question that gets many folks excited, because the combinations are as varied as your garage’s requirements.
You want to supplement a beater hatch with an expensive sedan? You want a city slicker to complement your highway tourer? Or you want to do a GTO and keep an old school jeep and a beastly Bimmer?
My two car garage:
In my pursuit to upgrade from my old Safari, I overlooked the option of settling for a single jack of all trades and ended up with two masters of one (Two for the price of one? err..Maybe?).
My two are vastly different, and are literally from different planets. But they charmingly complement and complete each other very well.
The Hyundai is the range topping variant loaded to the gills with a laundry list of features and tech, while the Gurkha is honest in purpose and a simpleton which loves to be off the road. Both will be fishes out of water in each others terrain and territories but that’s exactly what makes the combination click.
After a day of sand roading at the beach, the Gurkha pastes a wide grin from ear to ear, while the premium hatch makes the night drive with the sunroof open as breezy as the beats out of its Bose speakers. No need to be afraid of soiling the simple but practical interiors of the Gurkha, while the Hyundai’s dashboard looks like alien tech in direct contrast.
No combination is perfect and there are indeed compromises. But this feels just about right for me, for my budget. My son can enjoy the setting sun through the panoramic window of the Force, or choose star gazing through the sunroof of the Korean. And both the drivers at home, my wife and myself, each get our favourite. (And simple pleasures of running sequence plates).
What’s yours?
Let us know your two car garage,(real or dream) for your needs, at your budget.
Here’s what GTO had to say on the matter:
A fast sedan and a great SUV would be my ideal two-car garage. I currently have a 6-cylinder diesel sedan, a 4×4, a turbo-petrol limousine and a beater car. But I have parking space for 8 cars and in a dream world, would love to fill all of those spots up .
If not an SUV, a fast sedan and a sporty coupe would be my ideal two-car garage. Would love to buy one, but am test-driving so many cars that it would be totally unused. In the last 8 days, I’ve driven the Compass Diesel AT, Altroz DCT & updated ZS EV. My own cars are standing still, connected to trickle chargers.
Here’s what BHPian ObsessedByFiat had to say on the matter:
For me the best combo was the Ford Ecosport diesel and a Tata Nano XTA. Perfect combo for city and highway drives. The AMT unit of Nano gave away sometime last year and had to switch (unwillingly) to a Kwid easy-r.
The Kwid itself is quite competent in its own right and I personally feel it is the spiritual successor to the Nano.
So right now my garage has an almost 8 year old Ecosport and a few months old Kwid.
Here’s what BHPian haisaikat had to say on the matter:
We upgrade our car every 6-9 years but individual cars we intend to hold on to longer. What this means is our first car was a Hyundai Getz Prime and when it was 7 years old we got the i10. At that point, the idea was to build redundancy for convenience considering family priorities.
When the i10 was 6 years old we replaced the Getz (12th year was running) and this time we decided to go beyond the just redundancy and aim for purpose, hence the i10 was put for daily driver for errands around the city with its size advantage for sneaking around any nook and corner. The new addition was the Crysta, aimed for longer tours to aid with comfort and space. I did not have any off-road requirement hence an AWD / 4×4 feature was not looked at but had it been in recent time I may have considered one with panoramic sun roof.
The combination has served us really well over last few years and if I have to get the next upgrade (for the i10) it will be another small hatch only but certainly automatic (like our Crysta) and may be hybrid or electric based on market trend and sentiment. However Crysta upgrade, if and when that happens, must be something with equal or better space but also having excellent ADAS.
Here’s what BHPian sunikkat had to say on the matter:
Well, I have never been a fan of SUVs and crossovers mainly for its high driving position and I don’t think I will ever buy one in near future. Unless one of these is indeed so good to meet my requirements and changes my decision.
With this my ideal 2 car garage is always a fun to drive fast sedan for highway and fun drives and a comfortable hatchback.
My current garage is an Octavia 2 TDI manual with quiet a few mods (including remap) and an i20 IVT. Now this combination serves me well.
The only common thing between both are that they are spacious in their rights. Otherwise they are polar – while i20 is calm, comfortable and convenient it is also equally boring. Octavia on the other hand being a manual is something I would not want to drive in Bangalore traffic, but out on highways it’s totally different – very few cars can match up the versatility.
Now I always like the idea of having a 4*4 or AWD, but my use case doesn’t warrant one – or atleast until now. And for me any SUV / crossover which is not AWD minimum is merely an imposter.
Keyword: The ideal two car garage on a budget