Indian Car owners are shortchanged

[s.prashanth]

These are my views only, consider this the Skoda Octavia is anotchback selling here as luxury car, they have rider on the RS version withot basic safety being in place, no airbags or I think even no rear disc on this version on a car that is this fast, basically they want to sell the car to you and care a damn on your well being, how does arai allow this.

The ZEN Carbon, actually for the international market ,the left over was sold to us as limited edition.

Th Endeavour being sold as macho Suv?? well I agree on the look but the seating, the console the outdated engine, The car manufacturers think we are Morons.

The corrolla sold earlier with apull out antenna on the C pillar after paying close to 12 lakhs???

Th innova with ts laked out head lights, internationally with clear headlamps, no climate control in top end version, no arm rest in the 2nd version

The fiesta with its 68 BHP engine, is a joke

The swift, Baleno with its puny wheels in the LXI versions, how do they get safety approval, the tyres are smaller in LXI but bigger in VXI versions even though the power plant is the same

The tyres quality let us not even start on this issue.

No left side OSRVM on most lower end versions, pay extra for mats, mudflaps, this is pathetic.

Some manufacturers offer ABS as option, but the customer is not told wheather it is DUAL channel or 4 Channel, this is a farce which has to stop,

The manufacturesrs set up factories here saying labour is cheap, but the cars are priced the same cost internationally also?/ why the difference, they get all the SOPS from the governmaent, but we pay for the sops the government gives them?

We pay heavy road tax to use the road, then pay parking to park on the same road??/

I have a suggestion all road taxes are for life (15) why not make this transferrable?/ If i sell my car after 3 years I still have balnce of 12 years left why not transfer this to the new car I buy and pay for only the deficit of years (3). I may be wrong in my judgement but somebody please expalin this. The insurance is transferable!!!! because it is paid to aprivate insurance company and not the state government

[supremeBaleno]

I have this feeling that this is going to be one hot thread.

Regarding some of the issues raised by you,

Originally Posted by s.prashanth

The ZEN Carbon, actually for the international market ,the left over was sold to us as limited edition.

Ain't this actually a good deal ? Bcos if it was manufactured for the international market, the quality procedures would have been more stringent. Atleast that is what i would think.

Originally Posted by s.prashanth

The swift, Baleno with its puny wheels in the LXI versions, how do they get safety approval, the tyres are smaller in LXI but bigger in VXI versions even though the power plant is the same

I have a Baleno Lxi with the "puny" wheels. Even as I feel that wider tyres would have been better, I find the stock tryes OK for my usage. I drive mostly in the city, with not much chance for hi-speed driving or adventurous cornering etc. And when on the highways, hi-speed driving again, if sane and in a straight line, I find the tryes adequate. Have gone to max 140kmph with quite some lane changing etc, but never felt unsafe. The ride is also awesome, which would go down with wider, low profile tyres. And more importantly, for Indians FE is crucial, which could be one reason for us getting skinny tyres.
Do agree with you that MUL's putting different tyres on Lxi and Vxi defies logic.

Originally Posted by s.prashanth

We pay heavy road tax to use the road, then pay parking to park on the same road??/

I guess both are different. Using the road for driving and paying for parking are IMO entirely different stuff. I don't mind paying for parking - all I ask for is adequate parking, which in most of our cities is not available.

Originally Posted by s.prashanth

I have a suggestion all road taxes are for life (15) why not make this transferrable?/ If i sell my car after 3 years I still have balnce of 12 years left why not transfer this to the new car I buy and pay for only the deficit of years (3). I may be wrong in my judgement but somebody please expalin this. The insurance is transferable!!!! because it is paid to aprivate insurance company and not the state government

Now that;s a good idea.But then the govt. would not warm up to any idea which causes them loss of revenue.

[premchetan]

Very true Prashanth..I agree with you and see the sad truth. I see in Europe all the cars with more robust quality, far superior safety and much better performances. Even our Indica is far ahead then the counterpart that is sold here.
Maruti gave us the old esteem engine in the swift, and on top of that they pretended as they are doing a favour to us by providing us this old engine which for them seems to be more reliable, time tested for Indian condtion and all other blah blah..Which may be true but why do we get always the old technologies where as the new developments go everywhere else.
Even south American countries get the new cars.
Now we have the new face lifted Palio coming but it is said that the interiors will be the same. Brazil already has the latest new interiors and also the advenure over their looks much better then the one that is sold here.
I think this all has to do with the tax structure that we have for manufacturers, which is different in every state, and so high that to keep the prices resonable (which are still too high), the quality is compromised.

And about taxes its realy a joke. Every vehicle owne rhas to pay a road tax weather their are road existing in his area or not.I say like any other service provider whom we can make accountable (may be) for any bad services, we should be able to bring governement also to the court for giving us bad road as their service after taking the huge amount as taxes.

[s.prashanth]

I also drive a baleno, incidently this is the second baleno i own and i run 15 inch tyres on it , the company given 14 inch rims are 5 inches wide even with wider tyres on it the rear end seems to step away when driving on a bad patch a little fast

[islero]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Ain't this actually a good deal ? Bcos if it was manufactured for the international market, the quality procedures would have been more stringent. Atleast that is what i would think.

Thats exactly what his point is. Why are cars not built and sold to international standards, asks prashanth.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by s.prashanth

These are my views only, consider this the Skoda Octavia is anotchback selling here as luxury car, they have rider on the RS version withot basic safety being in place, no airbags or I think even no rear disc on this version on a car that is this fast, basically they want to sell the car to you and care a damn on your well being, how does arai allow this.

The swift, Baleno with its puny wheels in the LXI versions, how do they get safety approval, the tyres are smaller in LXI but bigger in VXI versions even though the power plant is the same

No left side OSRVM on most lower end versions, pay extra for mats, mudflaps, this is pathetic.

1:The Octy Rider tpi comes with airbags + abs etc

2: The puny wheels are safe, it is the nut who turns them needs safety qualification

3: OSRVM - customer never uses them.

A lot of the price is tax - start over there!

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by ajmat

The puny wheels are safe, it is the nut who turns them needs safety qualification

Aptly put, ajmat. Most cars are safe, it is the human inside that makes it unsafe. You could have the widest possible tyres and still screw up, if you are not good at what you are trying to do. Every time I am at a tyre shop, I drool over the wide tyres on display and imagine how it would look on my car. But then I think of the associated problems like odo/speedo error, possible suspension issues, change in ride quality, FE decrease (however negligible), warranty issues etc and finally decide that I would be better off without all these troubles by driving sanely with the stock puny tyres.

[s.prashanth]

well I am sorry on the octy i was trying to correct it and a mail has been sent to the administrator regarding it, coming back to the puny wheels, my question is why the differnce in the models why not give the same wheels on the standard as well as the deluxe models, coming to safety the confidence of the driver improves when he knows what is driving him, rather than trying to find out the limits of his car and the cornering adhesion by permutations,ont you think so???

[Technocrat]

The puny wheel on lower priced model would result in higher Mileage which is what a guy with less budget would be looking at, on the other hand the guy with more moolah is not much bothered about the mileage i.e. he is willing to pay that extar for wider tyre.. Btw I thought the both Lxi & Vxi sport same tyres & its only teh ZXI which comes with broader tires.

As baout parking charges we dont pay for driving on that part of land but we pay because some one is letting their land for our parking & in these most parkings are pvt owned ones & not govt. But yes govt shouldnt be charging us for parking & whihc sadly isnt the case.

As about non clear headlamps & stuff I guess they leave it so that they can introduce Limited Edition Models or All new Models with new lights take Swift for example which has non clear rear lights.

Also I believ lot of downgrade happens to keep the costs in control as teh Indian market is very price sensitive in terms of vehicle/maintainance/runing costs for which they end up giving smaller engines which deliver better fuel efficienies.

Just my 2 paisa

[s.prashanth]

Also I believ lot of downgrade happens to keep the costs in control as teh Indian market is very price sensitive in terms of vehicle/maintainance/runing costs for which they end up giving smaller engines which deliver better fuel efficienies.

Just my 2 paisa[/quote]

sir, the same vehicle is sold internationally at lesser cost with all the optiobs, please look at the prices and models of the same manufacturer ina differnt country where they sell at a lesser cost

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by s.prashanth

, please look at the prices and models of the same manufacturer ina differnt country where they sell at a lesser cost

Been there, done that - please below

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ipped-off.html

[sbasak]

It all depends on economy of the nation!
As India grows prosperous and more manufactuers come here, the things are bound to change.
India is rising though very slowly.
See already used cars prices have drasically fallen here.
Wait for another 5 years - you'll see that the auto gap between Indian and Europe/America will further reduce.
Till then, we have to accept that we are overcharged

[1100D]

Latest to join this is the SRV (Lacetti) they are marketing it on sporty pretentions but then the Holden 1.8 is nowhere to be found. Refer to Lacetti sport sold in UK. Infact I dont even realise what is their problem when they are already doing the Optra 1.8

[ranjan united]

Originally Posted by s.prashanth

(3). I may be wrong in my judgement but somebody please expalin this. The insurance is transferable!!!! because it is paid to aprivate insurance company and not the state government

Thats how it works everywhere alse in the world. Guess we have to be different.

[s.prashanth]

ok but look at our taxation especially Bangalore, Karnataka the road tax on acar is 10% its showroom value , and 1/3 of the tax goes to the municipal corporation who maintain the road and the rest to the government, does it make sense??/