Chevrolet Enjoy, Test Drive

I have an eye on this Indian MPV for some time now, as I thought it could be convenient for me in both ways: as a passenger in front seat and taking away the wheelchair in the boot and another was to climb into the car along with the wheelchair by using a ramp. Currently we own an SUV and what’s the problem I hold with the car was except my brother, no one can put me into the seat and would be much difficult if try with others. We are using Mahindra Scorpio for nearly 8 years and before my fracture in femur (Oct 2013) things were fine and I was able to stand for a while for my father to lift me into the seat. But now I was depending on my brother every time to use the car and I have to drop plans many time because of his unavailability. Due to this we bought a hatchback (Suzuki swift) to movie around the city, but being a second hand car it gave us many trouble and we are force to sell it.

Because of this I have to miss many chances of going out and to keep this away I was looking for an alternate vehicle and found Enjoy will be suitable for me. Keeping my new wheelchair in mind and the reclining seat option; I thought Enjoy’s high roof and low chasses will allow me to access inside the car without getting down from the wheelchair. And Enjoy’s sedan like seating will allow my father/mother to transfer me from the wheelchair to car seat without looking after my bro and the huge boot space will accommodate the wheelchairs easily. But to confirm this I really wanted to check the vehicle personally and thus booked for a test drive. The car was in front of the home within 2 hours of booking and I eagerly went out to explore the vehicle, though it started to drizzle and before it turn showering dad transferred me into the front seat.

My brother took the steering and dad climbed into the 2^nd row of the rear seat and the company persons get into the 3^rd row and we went for a drive around the Besant Nagar. My first impression once got into the car was the wide windshield with great visibility all-round and the door windows are also big enough to get nice views, light and wind if unrolled.  The dashboard was very similar to a car than an MPV and has an impressive dual tone interior and reaching the dashboard and the controls on them where handy. The door armrest exactly comes under my elbow to support rather hitting the elbow like in Toyota Innova. The front seat has spacious leg room even after pulling the seat to maximum front. Though the seat is soft and virtually flat (like the familiar Scorpio seat) rather deep bucket, I find mild discomfort with the backrest which I think could be resolved.

The Enjoy they brought was a top end diesel (1.3 LTZ 8 seat) equipped with dual airbags, Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), Driver Seat Adjustment, Alloy Wheels and Integrated (in-dash) Music System, along with many other security features and comforting things to move on. Being tall, my brother find little difficult at steering but the seat height adjustment and tilt option made comfort. The ride quality is really wonderful and cushioning and even on the potholes and speed breakers the vehicle maintains smoothness despite the small/midsize wheels (175/70R14) for a tall MPV. Though the diesel engine releases heavy noise outside, there’s enough calm inside once the doors are closed, which perhaps because of AC and the cooling coil come blower on roof makes the cabin chill in few minutes of running.

The Enjoy is almost the height of Toyota Innova but the seat height (from the ground) is lesser than Innova, so the headroom has more than enough space and anyone taller could accommodate the vehicle easily. Inside Enjoy no one could complain on views, because the seats of the second and third rows where higher than the front ones and has much spaces to stretch the legs. The sales manager who accompanied us revealed the MPV can touch 140 km/h steadily at reasonably 78bhp (petrol is 102bhp) and a mileage of about 18 kmpl (petrol 14 kmpl). Before returning the vehicle I want to check the inner height/width, so insist the company guy to open the boot and placed the wheelchair by folding the rear seat, which can be folded quite, but if removed the space could be abundant.

Though the inner height is about 4 feet, sitting on the wheelchair (ordinary kind), it’s impossible to access into the car, but I still believe it’s possible with my new reclining wheelchair where I could lean back to travel for short distances. But for long travel, I could only place the wheelchair and other accessories at the rear and only 5 people could travel on the car. Being a low chasses (low floor) loading things into the boot is very easy esp. the wheelchair and also the person lift I bought for transferring.  When I think again, overall the vehicle is adaptable for me, though many don’t like the look of the Enjoy (being boxy in shape) I feel it provides the comfort and space that not many stylish vehicles could give. We aren’t in hurry to buy the car, but were in serious consideration.