Upgrade a recently bought Alto?

[abhi3284]

Hello Guys,

Am in a dilemma and need your Advice. I own a December 2008 Alto, completed 7500 Kms of running in Good Condition. Of late, i have been thinking of exchanging my Alto with a 1.0 - 1.1 Ltr Capacity Car.

The Reasons why i want to upgrade to a slightly bigger Car are :-

1) The lack of Power in an Alto or rather want of more Power.
2) Cramped Space.
3) Minor Rattles always and not a Silent Cabin.
4) Bad Suspension.
5) Dull Interiors.

My Options are new Estilo, i10 and Spark. Am more inclined towards the Spark. I feel it is a Total VFM Car. Dunno about the A.S.S. aspect though.

Can you Gurus please advice if it is a wise idea to replace my Alto with a bigger Car within just 9 months of Ownership? Or should i drive it for 1-2 Years and then think of upgrading? Which is more beneficial and makes sense?

I went to Maruti True Value to get an estimate of my Alto. He quoted a price of 2,00,000 which is quite less than what i had expected. My On-Road purchase Price was 3,05,000. How much Price should i expect for my Alto?

Should i wait for the new launches like new Santro and Beat. But i guess they will be priced more and there won't be any discounts. Am not thinking beyond 1 Ltr because i cannot afford to shell out that much amount of money now.

Am in a very Confused State. Please help me out Guys.

A request to Mods : Please don't delete this Thread as i urgently need some expert advice.

[AirWind]

All you mentioned about the Alto is well known.... What went wrong on your decision to buy the Alto? It doesnt make sense to sell a car within 9 months of ownership - guess addiciton to team-bhp.com?

Ask yourself: can you afford to lose a lakh and yet end up with a similar sized hatch - what do you gain (dont think any of your shortlist meets your key requirement of power and space)?

If you still want to upgrade why not look for pre-owned cars (dam cheap Palio's, average priced Getz's and affordable Swifts)? Why not turn a VFM buyer to look out for a quick seller like you?

[abhi3284]

Originally Posted by AirWind

All you mentioned about the Alto is well known.... What went wrong on your decision to buy the Alto? It doesnt make sense to sell a car within 9 months of ownership - guess addiciton to team-bhp.com?

Ask yourself: can you afford to lose a lakh and yet end up with a similar sized hatch - what do you gain (dont think any of your shortlist meets your key requirement of power and space)?

If you still want to upgrade why not look for pre-owned cars (dam cheap Palio's, average priced Getz's and affordable Swifts)? Why not turn a VFM buyer to look out for a quick seller like you?

Well, nothing actually went wrong in my decision to buy the Alto. I still like the Car and no doubt it is a good Car. Just that the Issues that i listed are kinda irritating me a bit. Also, i feel i took a slightly hasty decision while purchasing the Alto. I had just learned driving then and wanted to own a Car.
I did not properly evaluate or consider other Cars. That time, i felt being a newbie Driver and first time Car owner, i should go in for the Alto. But as time went by and i mastered my Driving Skills, i am feeling the need of more Power, Comfort. I somewhat agree to you that my Shortlists do not meet my Requirements, but it is definately more in comparison to an Alto. Again, my Finances don't permit me to look to 1.2 Ltr and above.

[Dhar's]

Dear Abhi,
Being an Alto owner, my advise will be to suppress your desire for an upgrade now and save and plan for a bigger car in next 3-5 years time. You will definitely appreciate the wait.
Regards,

[abhi3284]

Originally Posted by AirWind

All you mentioned about the Alto is well known.... What went wrong on your decision to buy the Alto? It doesnt make sense to sell a car within 9 months of ownership - guess addiciton to team-bhp.com?

Ask yourself: can you afford to lose a lakh and yet end up with a similar sized hatch - what do you gain (dont think any of your shortlist meets your key requirement of power and space)?

If you still want to upgrade why not look for pre-owned cars (dam cheap Palio's, average priced Getz's and affordable Swifts)? Why not turn a VFM buyer to look out for a quick seller like you?

I myself am not sure if upgrading right now is a Wise thing to do or foolishness?
That's why am banking on Team-Bhp Members to help me on this.
As i said, i feel 2 Lacs is very less price what they have quoted for my Car. How much can i expect?
I am not in favor of pre-owned Cars. So, that is out of contention.

[Gilead]

Abhi, I don't know about your financial situation so I don't know whether you can absord a 1 lac hit easily. Generally, it does not make sense to sell a car this early. But if your finances are robust, the i10 sounds like a logical upgrade to me.

[ACM]

Alto upgrade -

Vista is best VFM and biggest interiors.
Punto on the premium end.
Ritz Petrol is good. (Swift petrol seems to be on the way out)
I10 too has airy interiors among the tall boys
Check these 4 out.
Dont recommend the Estillo or A-Star for power and interior space / feel.

[coolclouds]

Its not worth to upgrade at 9months of ownership! My suggestion will be to wait for some more time and upgrade to Swift/Vista/Punto etc or think of a Sedan.

For your Alto, I think at least 2.45 - 2.55 would be a reasonable rate (LXi).

[gaurav_chopra04]

If I was given an option to choose between the i10, spark, estilo and the Alto, I would have choosen an alto, dont know y but I feel the car looks better than the others mentioned. Well thats my personnal opinion. I have driven it on number of occasions and felt that the ride was good for a car that costs 3lac. cabin noise was also ok, may be that I was used to 800 that time, so can be wrong. it drives good again when you see it costs 3lacs or just under.

Even if you would have had the car for 3-4 years, I would not have suggested you to buy any of the cars you ve chosen, they are not worth upgrade from alto. Moreover, your car is just 9 months old.

Further, since you have chosen i10, estilo and spark, I think budget is a constraint. So first you would end up with Rs1 lac loss on almost a new car and then you will spend about 1lac to 1.5 lac for upgrading. that makes a total of 2.5 lacs. thats 1 more alto my friend!

Why not look for a used swift for 2.5 lacs and use it a weekend car or a palio 1.6 for 1.5 lac if you want more power. Thats 2 cars in your garrage mate.

I have a 2000 model 800 and I still dont have any issue with it, considering its VFM factor. It may not be hard for you to loose 1 lac in resale but think what that 1 lac can do if you invest it properly. In between my 800 is driven 145k, think how long will it take for you to drive that in an alto and I am sure your alto wud still be in running condition. Dont waste your hard earned money.

Still if you want to upgrade, it should either be punto, rits or a swift.

[shreeps]

As you well know, the moment you drive a new car out of the dealership the value depreciates by 20-25%. So selling the car in the first year itself doesn't make monetary sense.

If I were in your position, I would see two options:

1. Hang on to the car for atleast 2 years more and save up to get a really good upgrade at the end of 2 years

2. If I really can't live with the perceived problems and start hating the car because of this, then swallow the bitter pill of financial loss and sell it in the market (NOT true value which ironically will not give you the true value of your car)

[Gansan]

Losing a lac in less than a year is sheer madness, irrespective of your affordability. My advice is to use the car well for 3 - 4 years and then upgrade to a used sedan.

FYI, I bought an Alto after considering all the cars you mentioned.

[musicmanaman]

It does not make financial sence to sell the Alto now, as you'll take a massive hit, but if at all you go ahead anyway, then consider the Vista 1.2 Saffire in the Terra variant, it come to about 375k OTR and is a VFM car.

[blackasta]

I do not think it makes any sense to lose a lakh in a semi new car. You are going to lose about 1/3rd the value of the car if you sell it to true value !
If I may say this, please think about the long term prospects of that amount of money - you lose 50000 to 100000 on the old car, and invest 2 more lakhs in a new car (total investment of about 2.5 to 3 lakhs). All of these when you have a perfectly good, smooth running car at your disposal.

[rageshgr]

The deprecitaion in 1st year is the greatest and your car is not even 1 year old. So you will lose a lot of money on the car. So not a wise decision to buy a new car.

But if you are prepared for that loss and you want a new car, you can consider the Spark, i10, Santro, Wagon R, Estilo and A-Star in the 3-4 lac segment. But these cars though an upgrade from Alto, may not blow you off with their features and performance. They are still economy hatches, and I suspect you might get dissatisfied with these 6 cars in a year again! .

So may be you can try for used cars and then infinite opportunities open up, along with the drawbacks of used cars like lack of emotional excitement (new car euphoria), possible lack of reliability, maintenance problems, wear and tear, unless you get an awesome deal

[deep_bang]

I definitely suggest you to wait for atleast a year or two. That would also allow you to upgrade to a slightly higher-end hatch - like a swift/Ritz/Punto class.
Alto - in spite of not being a hot hatch certainly has some good stuff in it. You could consider performance enhancement mods, which would cost just around 10 to 20k and live with the alto for a couple of years more.
As for a silent cabin, swifts also have a major complaint of rattles - but Maruti engineers have reduced them quite a bit. Have you approached the Maruti guys about rattles?