Hi,
I am looking to buy a new car in the price range of upto 14 lakhs.
In terms of attributes sought, here goes (in order of priority):
a) Safety (ABS, airbags are a must; a smartly designed body is welcome)
b) Rear seat comfort; one of the chief reasons I hired a chauffer is that this allows me to use my laptop on the way to office which adds a good two hours a day for me.
c) After Sales Service is probably just as important)
d) Pedigree - American and Korean car manufacturers do make me nervous.
e) Value for Money (the budget can stretch a bit if my wishlist is met in its entirety)
I am clearly not someone who changes cars too often (my existing Santro has been with me for much over six years - and I am still hoping to hold on to it - my wife gets to keep it really!).
My average monthly run is about 1500 kms. So I would imagine fuel economy is not as important as easy maintenance. Of the above run, I would say 1000 kms in Mumbai City and 500 kms on highways
The car is chauffer driven (Mon - Fri); and self driven on weekends. I guess some rough handling is almost inevitable - and good After Sales Service is therefore important.
In terms of test drives, here is what I have done so far (I started with the slightly lower priced cars and progressively realized I had to up my budget ...):
a) SX4 - good drive quality except for stiff gear lever. rejected because of cheap look of interiors
b) City ZX Vtech plus - excellent drive quality. VTech plus also now has ABS and airbags so even placed an order - only to be disappointed by the huge waiting time and therefore was forced to cancel the order
c) Innova - a much better drive than what I thought but then had a bit of a belated rethink --- at most times there are going to be only 2 people in the car and the nagging thought that this car is a rear wheel drive (can someone please explain if this concern is misplaced?)
d) Corolla - perhaps the weight of expectations crushed the drive quality. Surprisingly less rear legroom. To be honest I thought even City was better.
e) Civic - the drive of my life! other than the fact that it makes me envious of my chauffer, the grapevine has it that its a white elephant and I just dont know enough myself to believe or ignore this.
Am not sure if this car is a delicate one and might not last long. Else it should have been a sureshot winner
f) Octavia - at first glance seemed to be an engineer's delight - lots of small features have been thought through but rear legroom became a huge concern
So six attempts and no decision yet. And lots of nit-picking though I guess its because I am clearly not an expert on cars and dont want to make a decision I end up regretting for the next six plus years
When in doubt, consult experts. So here I am.
i) Are there options that I have overlooked?
ii) Are my assumptions incorrect?
iii) Are my fears on the Civic misplaced?
iv) How much of a drawback is a rear wheel drive (Innova)?
AND
v) Which car would you recommend?
thanks,
hcd