Advice needed on used car for dad

[nirmalts]

Hello all,

Sold my 1 year old Aveo in Bangalore last week. Back to tbhp with a different requirement

My dad is planning to sell his 2002 Zen and to buy a USED hatchback in Kochi. Here are the requirements:

1. Hatchback, no sedan
2. Petrol (drives less than 700 kms a month)
3. Good FE
4. Easy to handle (power steering and low turning radius)
5. Will keep the car for more than 7 years (but good resale is always welcome)
6. He is around 6 feet tall.
7. Rear seats will be rarely used
8. Decent boot (parcel) space
9. Good service backup
10. Range: 3.50 - 3.75L

My initial suggestion is a 2005-06 model Swift Vxi.

Guys, please help me with your suggestions

Nirmal

[bblost]

Wagon R.
Excellent ingress and egress.

1. Hatchback, no sedan
2. Petrol (drives less than 700 kms a month)- Mileage is about 12+ kmpl
3. Good FE
4. Easy to handle (power steering and low turning radius) Yes
5. Will keep the car for more than 7 years (but good resale is always welcome)
6. He is around 6 feet tall. perfect match
7. Rear seats will be rarely used
8. Decent boot (parcel) space
9. Good service backup
10. Range: 3.50 - 3.75L

[benkey2]

Wagon R.
Excellent ingress and egress.

even santro. with much less price and reasonable resale value + more service centres just like maruti. but as u said, even swift is good and for that budget u will get one from true value

[ashish22]

my suggestion would be to go for swift Zxi...it might cost you bit more than your budget but then safety is also important
its a complete car and runs and feels like a proper sedan minus the boot

[snaronikar]

If you stretch your budget a little, you can go for i10 with Kappa Engine (?). It is a new model and certainly will have good resale value after 5 years. Swift matches to most of your requirement but the boot space is not so great. Also has some niggling issues.

BTW, why did you sell your Aveo? Just curious...

[condor]

Swift or Getz. You can get lucky with these.

Does this have to be in Cochi only, or can you buy it here & take it across ?

[iraghava]

Why second hand? Why not a new Santro? Especially since he intends to keep it for seven years.

[vroom666]

I guess a couple of maruti models and the Santro fit that description.

And as iraghava said, if he intends to keep it for more than 7 years then why not buy a new one with a little flexi budget ??

[Path_Finder]

Used Swift makes most sense at your budget. It also has decent boot for a hatch which is one of your criteria. And meets all of your criteria.

[nirmalts]

Hello guys,

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. The list until now:

1. Swift Vxi/Zxi
2. Santro
3. Getz
4. i10

1. Swift Vxi/Zxi
This is my personal preference too, except for the slightly cramped bootspace and rattling issues. Considering security, ZXi would be a good choice. Dont know if there are many ZXis in used car market.

2. Santro
Agree that this is a nice car (had one before my Aveo). But I feel it is slightly outdated for Indian roads. Have done its job well. Probably might retire soon (just a personal view)

3. Getz
Heard this might be replaced by i20 soon. Dont see many of them in Kochi roads. Could mean less resale here.

4. i10
Definitely a good choice if I decide to go for a new one instead of used. But slightly off budget. Magna comes to 4.45L here. Would Era be a bad choice without a Kappa engine? It comes to 4.12L and more closed to budget.

Originally Posted by snaronikar

BTW, why did you sell your Aveo? Just curious...

I am leaving Bangalore for good (to the land of Audis and BMWs). Probably mine would be the first Aveo to be sold here. Will write my experience once the deal goes through completely. In short, it was not an easy task to sell this GM car.

Originally Posted by condor

Does this have to be in Cochi only, or can you buy it here & take it across ?

It will be quite an effort for my dad to do a re-registration in Kerala and paying road tax (and waiting endlessly for a refund).

Originally Posted by iraghava

Why second hand? .

Originally Posted by vroom666

if he intends to keep it for more than 7 years then why not buy a new one with a little flexi budget ??

I too prefer a new one. I also had plans to keep my Aveo for 5+ years. But plans changed and had to sell it off after 1 year. Dont want my dad to lose money in the same way. But with me out of the country soon, I too prefer him taking a new car, than going through the hassles of finding a good used car.

Nirmal

[nirmalts]

Hey guys,

How good are these deals?

1. Swift VXi - Sep 2007 - Run 7K - 3.8L (private)
2. Swift Zxi - Nov 2005 - Run 19K - 4L (Sai Service)

Nirmal

[snaronikar]

Even though ZXi looks more attractive, and since there is no major price difference, I would prefer to go in for VXi as it has run only 7k and is only a year old. Moreover, you want to keep it for around 5+ years. Go for VXi...

[ashthedivx]

Swift with 7K running and a year old is a niche.

Do get the proper service history checked along with reason for selling, as usually people do not sell cars so early unless and until they have any financial requirement or trunks of money under their beds

[greenhorn]

due to the short supply of the swift currently, they dont suffer a lot of price drop in the first year, but i think its gonna change soon, since there are a lot of other launches happening in that segment, and resale values should fall a bit more.

I think a new Swift would be a better option

[prasannamukund]

Look for i10 second hand too. i10 second hands have started coming!!
i10 will be a better choice keeping FE into account.