[sajo]

Yep, I am comparing apples to oranges. Why ? Because in my case, the apple and the orange each make an equally compelling case for themselves!

I am in the market for a decently spec'ed hatch (read : Loaded, especially with safety features) , for my daily commute. The distance I travel daily is around 18km one way, thus not really warranting a diesel.

What I am looking for in what would be my first car is :

- Nice to drive. Now I dont mean nice as in outright fast, but it should just "feel" nice to drive.
- ABS and airbags.
- Comfortable driving position.
- Decent economy (whatever the fuel is).
- Stellar reliability.
- Under the psychological 6L rupee barrier.

Now Swift makes a case for itself with :
- Badge (and everything thats supposed to come with it, peace of mind, A.S.S etc).
- Looks. (I loved them from the day it was launched).
- Resale (about 5 years down the line).
- Marvelous K-Series engine (yet to experience it).

And the Figo fights back with :
- Diesel economy. (but do I need it?).
- Available within 20 days max (confirmed by the sales exec at Planet Ford on phone today), unless they happen to have it in stock, in which case its immediate.
- Comfortable, airy cabin. Good all round visibility too. (opinion based on my TD of the petrol).
- Decent ride quality, and what I am assuming would be decent highway manners.

What worries me :

Swift :
- Reports of rattles.

Figo :
- Reliability. (Fiesta TDCi owners, any inputs? )
- Resale.
- No rear power windows (not a deal breaker).
- Wafer thin bumpers (will I be looking at huge repair bills for minor shunts?).
- Is it a slouch ?

Lastly, the OTR prices in Pune city for these two cars are :

Swift ZXi : 5,96,900.
Figo TDCi Titanium : 5,97,000.

PS : Adding thoroughly to my confusion, I am also on the look out for decently priced used sedans, especially the OHC.

[ampere]

If you plan to keep it for more than 6 years. you should not worry about re-sale. Because by that time, you would have extracted all you wanted from the car.

Re-sale makes sense for folks who change their car every now then, say in every three years. Also how often you go on long drives? If that is often, its the Figo then.

Also in general you should tend to the Figo as its the boy in town.
That does not say anything against the Swift.

[sachinj12]

Originally Posted by ampere

Also in general you should tend to the Figo as its the boy in town.
That does not say anything against the Swift.

Precisely, the thing is both are so good that anyone pitting these two will always be in a dilemma. Swift is proven, while the present scenario says Figo will go the Swift way. Its just raining Figo's here on TBHP. Both are a win-win buy.

OT: I definitely wouldn't want to be in your shoes

[gemithomas]

Did you say "feel" nice to drive? With that kind of budget you should be looking at the Punto MJD Emotion. Its not outright fast but i dont think any other car would come near to its "feel" of driving.

Among your choices i would go with the Figo Titanium. Why?
- Newer model
- No new versions coming any time soon
- Great to drive
- Reliable and proven (most of the major parts come from the Fiesta/fusion bin)
- Great Space
- Airy Cabin.
- Fuel Efficient

The only reason i would suggest you get a Swift Zxi is if your running would be less than 1000km/month atleast for the next 2-3 years.

[vikramk]

I own a Swift ZXI and would strongly recommend it as well.
Looks, sheer driving pleasure (except for low end torque) and fantastic A.S.S.
As far as the rattles are concerned, I too had my share of it but then took it to the dealer and they padded all the door panels with foam sheets. It was free of cost !!!
Since that day rattles have been a thing of the past.

As far as the Figo is concerned, it definitely looks spacious and airy but I've never been a fan of the Ford engines. I've heard horror stories from friends about Ford's A.S.S and as you rightly pointed out, resale value is a dampener.
What goes in favor of the Figo is its novelty.

[arun1100]

Go for the FIGO! I have good experience other Ford cars. So I expect FIGO to rock!

Don't think too much of resale value. Buy a good Drivers car with the best in class handling.

[rajivn]

Tough decision. Leave the engine aside of both cars and then compare the rest of Figo vs rest of Swift to arrive at a conclusion. I would suggest you to Test Drive both cars extensively and come back here to update. When you TD, youd find lot of small things that might appeal to you or might be a turn off for you, so do a TD to make it easy for you.

Also, someone here Test Drove K-series only to walk away not so impressed. He sad this to say - over hyped. I am not able to recall where I read though. So, dont go by paper, do a TD of both vehicles.

- Stellar reliability. - Figo not known yet. But Fiesta is reliable, hence one can expect Figo to be reliable as well. I would say both Swift and Figo equal for now. But, in another 3 - 6months, the Figo ownership reports can give a clearer picture and Figo might emerge to be a winner in this parameter.

Ford is committed to make Figo a massive success and is going all out on pampering Figo customers, leaving aside a few delivery issues. So, I would say you would be equally safe or even much better off with Ford.

[subscrive]

Punto/ Polo - Nice to drive. Now I dont mean nice as in outright fast, but it should just "feel" nice to drive.
Punto/ Polo - ABS and airbags.
Punto/ Polo - Comfortable driving position.
P/ P - Decent economy (whatever the fuel is).
P/ Donno abt the other P - Stellar reliability.
/ P - Under the psychological 6L rupee barrier.

-ve thing I noticed abt swift:
Take a couple of friends with you - not too slim.
3 of you sit in the rear S.
You will notice that the person who sits in the middle will be uncomfortable due to the hand brake assembly (whatever-its called).

Ritz too is a good option with top end coming to around 5.5 I guess, but no ways is swift.
Its spacious than swift.

Too early to comment, but so much for the maruti AfterSS..!
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...0-32000-a.html

[Captain Slow]

Sajo what would your monthly usage be in KMs?

[cossack]

Originally Posted by sajo

Yep, I am comparing apples to oranges. Why ? Because in my case, the apple and the orange each make an equally compelling case for themselves!
...

PS : Adding thoroughly to my confusion, I am also on the look out for decently priced used sedans, especially the OHC.

You said it all mate, first make up your mind as to whether you want to get a new hatch or a used sedan, because a hatch can never meet the comfort levels of a sedan (given that you get a good deal) and a sedan can never beat a hatch at city driving (and parking).

Swift is a terrific car (with obvious minuses,) but do you mind trying a new package for Fiesta soul? If the answer to this question is a yes, go for Figo without ado. Otherwise, go for a Swift.

In my case I decided by copy-on-write elimination, which is as follows:

0 - Go for a TD
1 - Take the business card of the exec.
2 - Go to the next showroom of the same company
3 - Take another TD (a longer one at that) repeat 1, come back to 4
4 - Liked it? Go to the showroom which has the best A** reputation
5 - Book the vehicle
6 - Repeat 0 through 5 for the next car in your list
7 - Come home, start thinking (because we tend to think best after we've spent some money... thankfully bookings can be canceled) :-)
8 - Get your thoughts cleared, retain one, cancel all the others

Note, best part is that the waiting period has already started ticking for all the cars.

Why I prefer this mode is because, once you've made a choice, you start to think more clearly and start seeing the oddities that were missing earlier (old adage: "Grass is greener on the other side of the fence") and this serious though process never crosses you unless you've actually paid some money already.

I lost around 5K on this kind of research but after a reasonably long trial and error (and analysis) sessions, I got fixed on Figo 1.4 Titanium. Believe me it impatience keeps you honest.

All the best!

[sachinj12]

Originally Posted by cossack

I lost around 5K on this kind of research

That's a lot of money to lose. Not many would fancy your idea.

[sajo]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Originally Posted by ampere

If you plan to keep it for more than 6 years.

I plan to keep the car for four or five years max. I have seen base WagonRs going for more than Ikon Flairs of the same era, and by a fair margin too. So I am a bit worried.

Originally Posted by gemithomas

Did you say "feel" nice to drive? With that kind of budget you should be looking at the Punto MJD Emotion.

Does the Emotion come with ABS/Airbags? I dont think I can stretch to a MJD E. Pk..

Originally Posted by subscrive

Punto/ Polo - ABS and airbags.

/ P - Under the psychological 6L rupee barrier.

I dont think the Polo will come for under 6L OTR, atleast with the above mentioned equipment.

Originally Posted by subscrive

-ve thing I noticed abt swift:
Take a couple of friends with you - not too slim.
3 of you sit in the rear S.

Yours truly will be the only occupant of the car for most of the time. So even though rear seat comfort is nice to have, it wont be the only factor for me while making a decision.

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

Sajo what would your monthly usage be in KMs?

Captain, congrats on your donkey. It looks great in black.
Since I am using public transport mostly for the past 3 years, its difficult for me to pinpoint my monthly usage, but it would be in the ballpark of 1000kms every month.


Today I went to take a look at the diesel Figo. The amount of energy and get-up-and-go the little diesel has is great, especially compared to its petrol sibling.
I was lucky enough to have a nearly deserted Paud Road, even at 10 in the morning, and the punch you get after the needle has crossed 1500rpm (assumption, I saw it cross 1500, but then I was looking at the road) is great. Found the gearshift a bit hard compared to the petrol.
Ohh.., and managed to thoroughly test the wipers at the first u-turn.

The fuel indicator needle was almost at the full level (a whisker less), and the DTE showed 467 Kms, so it is possible that the FE is in the region 12kmpl. Thanked the salesman for his time and decided to drive over to the Maruti Showroom.

Now Sai Service is a pretty old name here, and seemed to be the nearest dealer around, so I went there for the second time.

Now I am pretty underwhelmed by the cold-response the dealer gave me, yet again. Dont know what may have prompted them to assume I am not a serious buyer. They did not have a TD car, or heck, even a showroom piece for me to feel and touch, nor were they much interested. Got some bull like "Sir, BS4 norms have come into effect, so no test car/showroom car. Why dont you go for Ritz instead". Not even estimates given for delivery times. They didnt even know when they were going to get a TD car, or maybe they have one but just didnt want me anywhere near it.
I just walked out of there , and told them because of this, there is no point in even having a discussion with them, because if I wanted to see pictures of the swift, I can see much better ones on the internet.

Can anyone tell me which one of the Pune dealers is good ? I am hearing good things about Wonder Cars in Pimpri, lets see if I can pay them a visit tomorrow.

[rajushank84]

This thread reflects exactly my thoughts too. Refer my thread which started as "Which Swift is best for my budget?"

I test drove Swifth diesel, Ritz K-series, Punto, i10, Figo petrol and Figo diesel.

Figo diesel's driving experience is in a different league than all these cars. Suggest you go for a TD.

Note: I didn't find K-series engine all that awesome. IMHO the previous Swift petrol was much better. But neither holds a candle to the ugly new boy Figo diesel!

By the way it looks like Swift kseries not being available for Td is universal. Same in chennai. The guy said, car is selling well enough without TD!

[meghan]

Originally Posted by sajo

Can anyone tell me which one of the Pune dealers is good ? I am hearing good things about Wonder Cars in Pimpri, lets see if I can pay them a visit tomorrow.

@sajo - Had a good experience from mycar, wakad a little beyond balewadi which is a bit far :(. Since they had just opened then (in 2007), the overall experience was the best there. Don't know if they still are that good now.
Sai Service was the least enthusiastic even then :(
Millenium didnt have the right car for TD and Chowgule was good as well.
Don't know anything about WonderCars though

[cossack]

Originally Posted by sachinj12

That's a lot of money to lose. Not many would fancy your idea.

5k sure is a big amount, but still smaller than 5-6 Lakh, at least one'd have had given themselves enough room and chances before spending 6 Lakh+ and be doubtful later :-)

~