Abir in search for a 6-7 L ex-showroom sedan

[abirnaha]

Hi:

I am Abir from Calcutta. I am a IT Project Manager and Architect by profession and an ardent music lover. I live in a narrow by-lane in South Calcutta ( though it is called Maharaja Tagore Road ) and drive to my office which is at salt lake, about 15 Kms from where I stay. On an average I drive 35-40 Km a day.
I used to own a Santro 1.1 Zip PLus LP which I bought 4 years back. And after 4 years with my first car, I have decided to move on and buy a new car, preferably a sedan in the price range of 6-7 ex show room.
And then begun my search for the next car and the more I dig deeper more I got confused. At this point, Asit-da,one of my best friend and who resently joined this forum, suggested this forum and thus here I am.
I have tried to catergorise my requirenets - budget and my thoughts(and confusions) on some of the cars I have test driven.

At this point- I am inclined towards Ford Fiesta, though City V-tech ( which of course is way beyond my budget) is perhaps the the best car that I have test driven.
Please fill in your thoughts with refernce to the following table, and help me in closing on my next car to be.

For those who are from Calcutta and are owining any of these cars, Your valued input on the after sales service and owning cost would be very critical in my decision making.

Thanks in advance for your all your expert help.

[Saurabh M]

Welcome Abir, to the TBHP forum. The number of members from Kolkata are growing steadily!!

Do I have a feeling that I probably know you? If I am not wrong, there are a few other members in this forum who are from your organization.

Coming to your options, have you decided whether you want to go for a petrol or a diesel? Nowadays, there are quite a few good diesel options doing the rounds as well. If you are primarily a city driver, with your daily travel distance, a petrol car makes more sense. However, if you frequently go on long drives, you can consider a diesel as well.

Fiesta is a good choice. Hope you have considered the Verna and the Aveo as well. How about the Fiat Adventure?

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Welcome Abir. If you read the various threads, Ford's after sales service at least in Kolkata sounds like quite horrendous. Think twice before buying a single dealer brand in Kolkata, where you are forced to go to one dealer and his/her service workshop.
You could perhaps wait for the SX4 to establish itself in the market and then go for it. Since you have used a Hyundai for such a long time and would probably even know the service guys personally, why not go for the Verna?
Saurav - do you drive a Fiat? How is the Telco service network supporting Fiats? I see a lot of Fiats in the French Motor workshop near Shoppers' Stop. Are the other Telco service workshops also doing it? A friend had recently bought an Adventure and she is really happy with it but still not sure about what service back up she will get in future.
Anyway, whatever you buy welcome once again to the forum.

[abirnaha]

Firstly, thank you Sourav and Sudipto for your warm and friendly welcome note.
I posted a New thread -"6-7 L ex-showroom sedan in Kolkata" in what car? section for your suggestions on the new car as I realized that this section is only for introduction. Please follow the link to get to there and post your thoughts there.

Sourav: I am in fact looking for the petrol option only as I have seen that the break even of the price-difference comes only after ~60K Kms and also for an average 1100Kms/ month and it is mostly home-office driving.
I have driven verna - petrol version - it is a great car. But I would like to go for a different make than Huyndai.
I have tes driven Aveo also. the 1.4 version I did not like for it's low driveability and responsiveness. Aveo 1.6 is definitely better.

[Saurabh M]

Hi Sudipto,
I still take my car to the Fiat service centre at Chetla. They are very competent and treats the car well. I have heard that RD Motors is doing good service for Fiats, but, have not taken my car there. Adventure is a fantastic car. Since your friend has bought it newly, she needs to go to Telco centres during the warranty period. However, the Fiat service centre at chetla can be relied with eyes closed. I also know the service mgr and chief mechanic very well over there and hence never faced any problems. If you have any friend who are facing problems with their Fiat service, you can contact me. I will try my best to get things sorted.

[Zappo]

Abir welcome to the forum. I am happy to see another joinee from Kolkata. We now have a really potent gang out there I hope you will enjoy being here and will also pick up valuable tips on things automotive and then some more.

As you have rightly said, this is an Intro Section. All your queries on buying a car should be only made on the What Car section.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Saurabh
I don't really know where they go for routine servicing but they are slightly scared about going out on long drives because they think that they might not get service in smaller towns, though I don't think they might need it in the first place. I have travelled about 10,000 km with my Esteem in the last 17 months and nothing really happened. Not even a puncture.