I am in dilemma even after buying a car! Should i switch over to a diesel?

[sabsubs]

Hi,

I want some suggestions from you guys. In April this year I bought i10 kappa magna. Till date I have clocked 7000 Kms, on an average per month I use my car at least for 1750 Kms. Before buying this car I used to drive maruti 800, after buying i10 I have started driving more during the weekends. I have started thinking that I should have bought a diesel car instead of a petrol version. No doubt that i10 is a very good car and I don’t have any problems with it till date. I have driven her for long distances. My longest till date is from Bangalore to Ernakulam in 2 days and I really love my car. However the more I use the car the more I think of buying a diesel version.

On an average I spend around 6000 rs for petrol, if I buy a diesel car then my average running cost could be less than what I spend currently. My dilemma is that should I sell my i10 and buy a new diesel car? I didn’t have many options, when I bought my car but now I think there are so many options in diesel variants like Ritz, i20 & Punto. Also I underestimated my driving per month and thought that on an average I would be driving less than 1000 KMS per month hence I opted for petrol car. My current requirements are: a. I drive more than 1750 Kms per month hence thinking that diesel car would be more apt b. I want to reduce my monthly petrol/diesel bills.

I had bought my i10 on loan. I took a loan of 175000 rs from Axix bank. Is there any way that I can swap this loan for another car? Or should I wait for some more time may be 1 year before selling my i10 so that in the mean time I can settle the car loan? Would it be a prudent decision on selling my car even before completing 1 year? How will be the resale value of my car in Bangalore? I need your expert suggestions on this .

[devarshi84]

just my 2 paise

6000 rs of petrol per month @ 50Rs = 120 litres = 4200rs for diesel @35rs
difference saved = 1800 rs per month average
to make up for the extra cost of a diesel car= 1,00,000/1800 = 55 months or 5 years approx

this doesnt involve the additional regular maintainence which is supposedly expensive for a diesel.

If you are really interested in saving money, better spend on a cng/lpg kit depending on the availability in your city.

[kutlee]

you have taken into consideration the depreciation hit on his I10 if he sell that car now. so it would take longer to break even. cut your weekend dinner outings, save that money for petrol. once you are used to revvy highway runs, suggest you to take a long drive in a diesel to see if you like it. this will help you in making a decision.

[Shivashara]

just my 2 paise

6000 rs of petrol per month @ 50Rs = 120 liters = 4200rs for diesel @35rs
difference saved = 1800 rs per month average
to make up for the extra cost of a diesel car= 1,00,000/1800 = 55 months or 5 years approx

I differ a bit here. diesel motor gives better mileage apart from diesel is cheaper. look in this way>
Rs. 6000 divided by 1700 km mean Rs. 3.50 kmpl
Rs. 3500 for 1700 Km assuming diesel motor gives 17 kmpl thus Rs. 2.05 Kmpl.
You save Rs.1.45 per Km and Rs. 2500 per month.
In many new cars you pay around Rs. 50000 more for diesel over petrol so you can cover your cost in (2500X20= 50000) 20 months flat and when ever you will sell diesel car, you will also get better price compare to petrol car, therefore, I think it make sense to buy diesel over petrol for you. Now a day even diesel cars a 15000 km service intervals so maintenance is also not a issue.

[vkochar]

I do not follow the figures given above

I have 2 cars - Verna Diesel & Accent. Both are new and well mantained. The running cost of Diesel is exactly half of what the Petrol is. Diesel costs me 2.50 Rs to run & Petrol about 5 Rs. Give or take another 50p it should save you at least 2 rs / km.

So 1750 KMs * 2 = 3500 pm of savings.

And then the peace of mind of Diesel !!

BUT the i10 is a fantastic little car and changing loans would prove to be expensive.

On the other hand the i10 will get you fantastic resale right now . Just deduct 40k or so from the OTR price and that is what you will get for the car. My friends just did this exact thing as he went ahead and bought a i20.

BUT - what are you going to buy when you sell this ?

Here are a few options -

Getz CRDi
i20 CRDi
Swift Diesel
Ritz Diesel
Grande Punto

All the above are good cars ranging from 5.xx - 7.00 lacs or so.

You decide !

[joshguy]

iTS NOW OR NEVER

It is not advisable to change now,but you are special case i would say.If the monthly running is around say 1200kms i would have asked you to go with i10 but 1750kms is long,

My suggestion is sell it asap and go for Vista Quadrajet (cheapest option) or Palio Multijet or Ritz or swift.

If pooling more money would be a problem then go for vista.All the option i gave have the same (wonderful) engine.

[Shivashara]

I do not follow the figures given above

I have 2 cars - Verna Diesel & Accent. Both are new and well mantained. The running cost of Diesel is exactly half of what the Petrol is. Diesel costs me 2.50 Rs to run & Petrol about 5 Rs. Give or take another 50p it should save you at least 2 rs / km.

So 1750 KMs * 2 = 3500 pm of savings.

Subsubs has already quoted in his first post that he spends Rs. 6000 for 1700 km. This translets to Rs. 3.50 per Km not Rs. 5 per Km. Goods Fiat diesel engine is giving 17 kmpl average ( city and Highway mix )and this has been written every where in this forum.

[brat001]

btw you have mentioned that you have taken a loan. AFAIK you cannot foreclose a loan before 6 months of availing the loan.Please check with your bank before you plan any further.

[KITE RUNNER]

It may not be possible to swap your present loan with the one for a new car in your mind. Better go for a pre closure (there will be penalty) and sell your present car before this year end.
Though there will be depreciation, there is high chance of getting a reasonable price as your car is less than a year old.

In the next step, your best & logical option will be a Swift Diesel - FE, reliability & good after sales service. If possible, go for Swift Vdi + ABS.

Good luck

[sushanthr77]

Originally Posted by kutlee

...cut your weekend dinner outings, save that money for petrol...

Dear Friend! Save on eating and feed the car?

@Subsubs:

In case you don't want a major loss, you could also consider:
01. Vista
02. Palio MJD [the price difference is minimal]

[sabsubs]

Hi All

Thanks a lot for your suggestions.

My driving is mostly on the highways. I drive close to 450 KMS every weekend on the highways so that approximately translates into 1800 KMS, this excludes my city driving, within the city I might use the car for a meagre 150 odd kilometres.

I get close to 18 KMPL mileage on highway runs in my i10 and that’s approximately 100 ltrs of petrol, and including my within city runabout I am putting the ballpark figure as 6000 rs per month.

As I write this, my total expenditure on petrol for this month is around 4000rs. 17.5 litrs of petrol left in my car and I have 3 more trips to make this month, which could be 725 KMS approximately. Hence the total expenditure for this month petrol should definitely hit 6000 rs. So if I opt for diesel then I am sure that on the highway I will definitely get more than 20 KMPL. I could save more than 2500 rs per month if buy a good diesel car such as Ritz, i20 or Punto.

Do you think that my logic sounds good??

Regarding the loan, I can foreclose the loan after October by paying 5% on the total outstanding principle, since I took the loan in April this year.

I am not sure what would be the total depreciation for my i10 right now. May be 15%. I have maintained my i10 very well, not even a single scratch so far hence I think she might fetch me good resale money. Not sure though.

[frankmehta]

you will take a large hit on the resale. Not only that, your new car will entitle you to spending a lot more than you get on the i10, since diesels are expensive.
i suggest you enjoy this car, use it for 2-3 years and THEN get a new diesel after you've enjoyed this i10.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

you will take a large hit on the resale. Not only that, your new car will entitle you to spending a lot more than you get on the i10, since diesels are expensive.
i suggest you enjoy this car, use it for 2-3 years and THEN get a new diesel after you've enjoyed this i10.

Yep. Fully agree here. The greatest dip in value is in the first few months of ownership. You're past that stage and will lose a lot of money if you switch cars now. Enjoy the comforts of a petrol car till and change after a couple of years.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by joshguy

iTS NOW OR NEVER

It is not advisable to change now,but you are special case i would say.If the monthly running is around say 1200kms i would have asked you to go with i10 but 1750kms is long,

My suggestion is sell it asap and go for Vista Quadrajet (cheapest option) or Palio Multijet or Ritz or swift.

If pooling more money would be a problem then go for vista.All the option i gave have the same (wonderful) engine.

With due respect - this is completely well sounding but financially suicidal junk.

Do the math - figure out the depreciation hit and then decide.

What is it about spending 1.5-1.7 L extra upfront and recovering 3k every month that appeals so much to you, sabsubs?

And take it from a VDi owner - there is no replacement for the clean revving fun of a good petrol like the 1.2 i10 versus the diesel MJD (if you wanna buy the Getz then that's different).

I do 2400+ km every month so I can tell you the other picture.

And Vista? No way would I ever recommend tata (service) after hyundai.

[subbusos]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

With due respect - this is completely well sounding but financially suicidal junk.

Do the math - figure out the depreciation hit and then decide.

What is it about spending 1.5-1.7 L extra upfront and recovering 3k every month that appeals so much to you, sabsubs?

And take it from a VDi owner - there is no replacement for the clean revving fun of a good petrol like the 1.2 i10 versus the diesel MJD (if you wanna buy the Getz then that's different).

I do 2400+ km every month so I can tell you the other picture.

And Vista? No way would I ever recommend tata (service) after hyundai.

+1 to that... I too own an i10 (sportz) which I bought on Dec'2008. Now I have done 10,300 kms in 8.5 months which kms which equates to 1211 per month. When I bought my car, my monthly running was 700-800 kms, but after purchasing monthly running has increased. Its also because of the beautiful drive of the i10 too. Sometime I too get this dilemma of getting a diesel. But whenever I do the math, I end up in being happy with my current i10. But your case is 1750 kms per month. Still you are going to lose lot of money if you choose to swap the cars. Just hold on 2-3 years, and save money.