This hunching problem should be seen from an orthopaedic and chiropratic aspect for the rickshaws also. All the rickshaw drivers sit in odd positions. The seat is a bench without a back and the windscreen is too low.

I have had the experience of having Bolans in the family and as a work vehicle.
I don’t have any, anymore, but as a traveler and commuter, I’m a frequent user of public transport, rent-a-car, car-for-hire as preferred modes of transport, hence I come across lots of Bolans and Ravis across the country.

I do opine that Bolan & Ravi were subpar in 1979 and even much more subpar in 2022 as well. Life could have been much better for millions of people if these things were improved far before.

Rgd your question about localization, I think it is not effective to do it this way. To expect all the label and stickers will be in place, you need a brand new vehicle for it. Even then, lots of disassembly will be required. Because many springs, ball bearings, etc. are hidden in the depths of other machinery. I guess the sheet metal is moulded into shapes in Pakistan however the sheets I guess are imported.
The best way to go about it is Monroney label. Link https://carspiritpk.com/can-we-settle-the-localization-debate-with-this/
With Monroney label, government inspectors can measure and audit at any time in any depth.

I think some institution with lots of funding can do it, tear the whole car apart and then check it out. Is there someone out there to make an NGO for it?

Your comments got me interested in the source of your information. 😅 Do you have a Bolan/Ravi with you that you are comparing? If that is the case, I would like you to do some bit of archaeology on it as a request on behalf of me and everyone else;

Usually with cars, every part on it has a serial number/manufacturing code on it and possibly even it’s country of origin. If you can, can you open up the engine bay and look for manufacturing codes/serial numbers on any part you can see? Parts like the engine hosing, engine cast parts, mounts, suspension struts, and even the plastic parts of the vehicle itself may have a serial written on it. Check those serials, because we can use them to see where these parts are actually manufactured; be it Pakistan, China, Japan, or a whole another country 😆 See if we can actually roughly calculate how much of a Bolan is actually locally manufactured.

Thanks again and I hope to hear back from you bro!

The hunching situation to see further is worse in Ravi because of the seat’s design. In Bolan, the seat is less straight (the back is reclined at a certain, permanent, angle and integrated headset) whereas in Ravi the seat back is a thin phatta (board) and the headrests are also vertically fixed on the back wall.

thats what i like about this site… public opinion matters here 🙂 but imo the blog doesn’t get the sort of attention it deserves

Thanks for the PAMA info. 👍

Agreed! This could turn into a good aftermarket upgrade for the Ravi. 👌

On that last point, the shape of the roof could also help in further fuel savings as it would likely help with aerodynamics, the same way roof fairings help with aerodynamics on a Semi truck.

Do you think that there should be a hi-roof version of Suzuki Ravi?

Absolutely yes. The only version that should be there, should have been hi-roof.
PakSuzuki made the correct choice of high-roof vs low-roof when they selected the Bolan’s body style back in the 1970s. The same could have been done for Ravi as well.

Plus the comment which begun it asks whether it would look good https://carspiritpk.com/voyah-dreamer-launched-in-china-the-fastest-production-mpv/#comment-10271, and yes it does look good. The sweeping line looks much better than the flatness of the lo-roof version. It looks like the roof fairing of a semi.

It is not intended for new vehicles.

Take it from this perspective: The existing fleet of 250,000+ Ravis sold by PakSuzuki is not going off the road any time soon. In true commercial vehicle fashion, they are going to be repaired, restored and rebuilt again & again over the decades. A high-roof can be an aftermarket alteration later on in the life of the Ravi. At least this is what I’ve gathered from “can easily become an alteration for when people go to rebuild their old Ravis once they rust after a few years of use” in https://carspiritpk.com/voyah-dreamer-launched-in-china-the-fastest-production-mpv/#comment-10264

Source of >250,000 number: https://www.pama.org.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/historical-data.pdf, only 26 years data out of 43+ years of Ravi’s production.

However, with all due respect, there is an old saying that come to mind here:
“Polish a turd, it’s still a turd”

That is the most apt description for these two vehicles. It’s time to get rid of them. If NA-PakSuzuki cannot do that or it will/might introduce extremely over priced and very under equipped replacements for them, it will further prove the obvious. The Chinese options are leaps and bounds better.