A salute to all BHPians - Team-BHP

Aroongupta · 18th November 2005, 16:04

Greetings to one and all...

First of all, I just happennned got on to this site today while trying to reaserch some cars. I was flabbergasted by the quality of the site in terms of its content. Since last 2 hours I am discovering different facets of this site...and here I am, saying hi to you all!

I am Arun Gupta...32 M currently located in the beautiful island of Cyprus with my wife and a 5 years old daughter since last 1.5 years and working with Amdocs. In 10 days time I am repatriating to India to join Amdocs Pune. I am so very exited about going back to India because teh first thing I need to do there is to BUY A NEW CAR. WHOPPING!!!

I consider myself kind of a small time but a car enthusiast. One and a half years ago, back in India I owned 3 cars (for a family of 2 and a half) - a 1999 Santro, a 2002 Indica and a 2003 Accent GVS. Please give me a couple of points here because I did not need more than one car by any means and I am not a rich guy by any maens. All cars were on 90% finance and I was paying a monthly installment of ~ 25K per month. This was all for pure car love. Anyhow, I had to part with all the three ladyloves when I left the Indian shore for Cyprus last year.

I own a 1800 cc Toyota Carina now in Cyprus....but unfortunately it does not give me any driving pleasure inspite of its huge performance. The real fun to drive a car is in India. No doubts!!! So I am dying to step back on the most wonderful land and straightaway head for a car showroom. Since last 20 days I am spending hours and hours and hours on net reviewing the cars avaialble in India. And after all that hard work I am utterly confused which car to buy and here I seek help from all you experts help me decide what to buy. Let me give details:-

My Budget - 8.5 - 9.0 lakhs...hard stop!
Cars I considered and dropped outright-

a. Honda City Vtec - With all due respects to all the owners of this great car, I can't stand it's looks. As they say 'Beauty lies in the eyes of teh beholder', its probably a fault with my eyes...but then be it.

b. Scorpio CRDe- I went through countless owner feedback (mouthshut.com and all...). Though more or less everybody praised the SUV, almost all mentioned niggling problems and lack of sophestication. Also the rear seat leg room is less and forget about me...my wife is a 6 feet plus.

c. Baleno VXI - Rejected has car has no snob appeal of any kind.

d. Accent CRDI - I love the car... its a wonderful vehicle. I still very clearly remember all my various exiting drives to (from Delhi) Vaishno Devi, Udaipur, Shimla, Manali, Masoorie, dharmshala, devprayag and so on.... But I owned it once. I want a new and bigger baby now...And the rear leg room is pathetic.

So my options are:-

a. Chevy Optra 1.6 - All most everybody has rave reviews about the car. Its a great value for money. Has a snob value, has gadgets, has deadly looks, does 185 + KMPH, has the most silent cabin in its class, AC is great and bla bla bla....

b. Safari Dicor LX 2 WD - its a SUV!!! With a 6' 3" and 100 KGs frame, I will gel along well with the vehicle. It would be like driving a Lion. Huge Snob value. That rugged feeling....oooooh!!!

Now, what I want in a car (in the order of decreasing priority)

1. Accelaration and speed - I can't stand anybody overtaking me...whatever, wherever, whenever!
2. Snob value and style - I need a eye catcher!
3. No irritants - No clinking sounds, no hitting the speedbreaker, no external noise,
4. Music - 8/10 (I will talk about this factor below)
5. Trouble free - No Garage visits needed.
6. Ability to handle one 1000+ KMs single drive every month

About point 3 above - Music - I need the very good and loud sound in the car. I will install minimum 2 front round speaker, 2 back very quality ovals, 4 pioneer tweeters. My experience is that the rear ovals give the best sound when installed in a tray. Safari won't have teh provision of the tray because of the third row seats. Will the boxes give a good sound...i wonder!

PLEASE ADVISE...which one to go for? I really need help.

AvinashKeezh · 18th November 2005, 16:09

that is one of the best intros you can find by a newbie!
welcome to the forum arun.
enjoy your stay.
by the looks of it, you choice seems to be moving to the bow tied one.. of coz the optra. have you checked the royale. don't know the exact details of that version.
happy revving.
ak

sridhar24 · 18th November 2005, 16:19

Hey Arun welcome aboard, have an enjoyable stay. IMO you could also consider the Ford Fiesta.

mclaren1885 · 18th November 2005, 16:21

hhhmm..talking of a wanting a own a fun car to drive its got to be either the OHC VTEC or the baleno..well u mentioned the baleno not having a snob value but some nice alloys and some fancy accessories like decals,spoilers and blah blah (if you are interested in) will give you an excellent machine on the roads and little bit of tinkering with the ECU and voila you will have one of fastest indian balenos(barring that you dont mind loosing your warranty) in lieu of the fun..and that will still be withing your budget of 9 lakhs..yikes thats exactly what i would have done had i had that kind of money..but anyways thats my suggestion..

well going for a more sober kind of choice the optra and the dicor seem to be good,however you might want to look at the fiesta too..and regarding the music once you decide on the car do post in the ICE section and im sure you'll get something that you will certainly love..

turbo_lover · 18th November 2005, 16:25

Hey
welcome aboard the forums ..
iam sure you will enjoy yuor stay here ...

Quote:

Chevy Optra 1.6 - All most everybody has rave reviews about the car. Its a great value for money. Has a snob value, has gadgets, has deadly looks, does 185 + KMPH, has the most silent cabin in its class, AC is great and bla bla bla....

great choice ..
your right about the looks ,snob value, quiet cabin and value for money...
the A/c is not too great ,not impressive enough for the delhi heat... and expect an FE not over 9 in the city ...
cheers

ajmat · 18th November 2005, 16:28

Welcome, looks like the Optra is the car for you - check out the old mans bling machine

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showth...ighlight=optra (7500km. Not so long term report of OPTRA 1.8)

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showth...ighlight=optra (Chevrolet Optra 1.8)

Aroongupta · 18th November 2005, 17:23

Thanks all.

Special thanks to you Ajmat. The thread you mentioned is simply fantastic. Fabulous review and o'boy...the pictures are mind blowing.

Optra it is then it seems...

DCEite · 18th November 2005, 17:37

Welcome to Team-Bhp.. enjoy your stay

Badcheetah · 18th November 2005, 18:13

Hi Arun ,
Welcome to the Forum . Hope you can get the car of your choice after reading some threds and posts .

Good luck anywhich ways .

Looking forward to your posts about your new and old cars .

Sid Schumacher · 18th November 2005, 21:12

Hi Arun, welcome to the forum. It must be lovely there in Cyprus...enjoy your stay both there and here!!
I would suggest that you go in for the NHC Vtec..or even the Fiesta. But the choice is upto you.

Tarun · 18th November 2005, 21:35

Hey Arun, Welcome!

Do check the ground clearance for optra, that's one area to look for . With full load, it does have the habit of kissing the breakers.

With that budget, you can check Fusion, Innova or the new Fiesta as well.

Tarun

karthik247 · 18th November 2005, 22:03

Hey man, welcome to the team. Well u shold check out the Optra and the Fiesta. Both are really good and are eye catchers for sure.

revtech · 18th November 2005, 23:14

hey dude

welcome to tbhp and have a great stay.check out the fiesta and the vtec

Rev

lamborghini · 18th November 2005, 23:30

Welcoem aboard bro,
enjoy your stay here.
consider the ford fiesta.

srasania · 18th November 2005, 23:40

hey welcome to the team !
Consider the Ford Fiesta,newly launched,with an excellent diesel engine version too.
It also meets your speaker requirements,the top end version has 6 CD in dash stereo with 6 speakers.

sr

18th November 2005, 16:04	#1 (permalink)
Aroongupta BHPian Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 14	A salute to all BHPians Greetings to one and all... First of all, I just happennned got on to this site today while trying to reaserch some cars. I was flabbergasted by the quality of the site in terms of its content. Since last 2 hours I am discovering different facets of this site...and here I am, saying hi to you all! I am Arun Gupta...32 M currently located in the beautiful island of Cyprus with my wife and a 5 years old daughter since last 1.5 years and working with Amdocs. In 10 days time I am repatriating to India to join Amdocs Pune. I am so very exited about going back to India because teh first thing I need to do there is to BUY A NEW CAR. WHOPPING!!! I consider myself kind of a small time but a car enthusiast. One and a half years ago, back in India I owned 3 cars (for a family of 2 and a half) - a 1999 Santro, a 2002 Indica and a 2003 Accent GVS. Please give me a couple of points here because I did not need more than one car by any means and I am not a rich guy by any maens. All cars were on 90% finance and I was paying a monthly installment of ~ 25K per month. This was all for pure car love. Anyhow, I had to part with all the three ladyloves when I left the Indian shore for Cyprus last year. I own a 1800 cc Toyota Carina now in Cyprus....but unfortunately it does not give me any driving pleasure inspite of its huge performance. The real fun to drive a car is in India. No doubts!!! So I am dying to step back on the most wonderful land and straightaway head for a car showroom. Since last 20 days I am spending hours and hours and hours on net reviewing the cars avaialble in India. And after all that hard work I am utterly confused which car to buy and here I seek help from all you experts help me decide what to buy. Let me give details:- My Budget - 8.5 - 9.0 lakhs...hard stop! Cars I considered and dropped outright- a. Honda City Vtec - With all due respects to all the owners of this great car, I can't stand it's looks. As they say 'Beauty lies in the eyes of teh beholder', its probably a fault with my eyes...but then be it. b. Scorpio CRDe- I went through countless owner feedback (mouthshut.com and all...). Though more or less everybody praised the SUV, almost all mentioned niggling problems and lack of sophestication. Also the rear seat leg room is less and forget about me...my wife is a 6 feet plus. c. Baleno VXI - Rejected has car has no snob appeal of any kind. d. Accent CRDI - I love the car... its a wonderful vehicle. I still very clearly remember all my various exiting drives to (from Delhi) Vaishno Devi, Udaipur, Shimla, Manali, Masoorie, dharmshala, devprayag and so on.... But I owned it once. I want a new and bigger baby now...And the rear leg room is pathetic. So my options are:- a. Chevy Optra 1.6 - All most everybody has rave reviews about the car. Its a great value for money. Has a snob value, has gadgets, has deadly looks, does 185 + KMPH, has the most silent cabin in its class, AC is great and bla bla bla.... b. Safari Dicor LX 2 WD - its a SUV!!! With a 6' 3" and 100 KGs frame, I will gel along well with the vehicle. It would be like driving a Lion. Huge Snob value. That rugged feeling....oooooh!!! Now, what I want in a car (in the order of decreasing priority) 1. Accelaration and speed - I can't stand anybody overtaking me...whatever, wherever, whenever! 2. Snob value and style - I need a eye catcher! 3. No irritants - No clinking sounds, no hitting the speedbreaker, no external noise, 4. Music - 8/10 (I will talk about this factor below) 5. Trouble free - No Garage visits needed. 6. Ability to handle one 1000+ KMs single drive every month About point 3 above - Music - I need the very good and loud sound in the car. I will install minimum 2 front round speaker, 2 back very quality ovals, 4 pioneer tweeters. My experience is that the rear ovals give the best sound when installed in a tray. Safari won't have teh provision of the tray because of the third row seats. Will the boxes give a good sound...i wonder! PLEASE ADVISE...which one to go for? I really need help.

18th November 2005, 16:09	#2 (permalink)
AvinashKeezh BHPian Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Chennai, Now in Bangalore Posts: 165	that is one of the best intros you can find by a newbie! welcome to the forum arun. enjoy your stay. by the looks of it, you choice seems to be moving to the bow tied one.. of coz the optra. have you checked the royale. don't know the exact details of that version. happy revving. ak __________________ You can always tell when a man is well informed. His views are pretty much like your own. Last edited by Domnic : 19th November 2005 at 00:53.

18th November 2005, 16:28	#6 (permalink)
ajmat Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 6,359 View My Garage	Welcome, looks like the Optra is the car for you - check out the old mans bling machine http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showth...ighlight=optra (7500km. Not so long term report of OPTRA 1.8) http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showth...ighlight=optra (Chevrolet Optra 1.8) __________________ Rice is cheaper than German Potato's

18th November 2005, 17:37	#8 (permalink)
DCEite Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 2,188 View My Garage	Welcome to Team-Bhp.. enjoy your stay __________________ *A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.* - Warren Buffett

18th November 2005, 18:13	#9 (permalink)
Badcheetah BHPian Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: New Delhi Posts: 120	Hi Arun , Welcome to the Forum . Hope you can get the car of your choice after reading some threds and posts . Good luck anywhich ways . Looking forward to your posts about your new and old cars . __________________ Cheetah Out ... Bad Cheetah ... Cheetah Bhi Peeta Hai

18th November 2005, 16:19	#3 (permalink)
sridhar24 BHPian Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 858 View My Garage	Hey Arun welcome aboard, have an enjoyable stay. IMO you could also consider the Ford Fiesta.

18th November 2005, 16:21	#4 (permalink)
mclaren1885 BANNED Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bangalore (the city of modded cars) !! Posts: 4,779 View My Garage Infractions: 0/1 (10)	hhhmm..talking of a wanting a own a fun car to drive its got to be either the OHC VTEC or the baleno..well u mentioned the baleno not having a snob value but some nice alloys and some fancy accessories like decals,spoilers and blah blah (if you are interested in) will give you an excellent machine on the roads and little bit of tinkering with the ECU and voila you will have one of fastest indian balenos(barring that you dont mind loosing your warranty) in lieu of the fun..and that will still be withing your budget of 9 lakhs..yikes thats exactly what i would have done had i had that kind of money..but anyways thats my suggestion.. well going for a more sober kind of choice the optra and the dicor seem to be good,however you might want to look at the fiesta too..and regarding the music once you decide on the car do post in the ICE section and im sure you'll get something that you will certainly love..

18th November 2005, 17:23	#7 (permalink)
Aroongupta BHPian Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 14	Thanks all. Special thanks to you Ajmat. The thread you mentioned is simply fantastic. Fabulous review and o'boy...the pictures are mind blowing. Optra it is then it seems...

18th November 2005, 21:12	#10 (permalink)
Sid Schumacher BHPian Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 252	Hi Arun, welcome to the forum. It must be lovely there in Cyprus...enjoy your stay both there and here!! I would suggest that you go in for the NHC Vtec..or even the Fiesta. But the choice is upto you. __________________ *Don't drink and drive. You might hit a bump and spill your beer.*

18th November 2005, 21:35	#11 (permalink)
Tarun BHPian Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: New Delhi Posts: 133	Hey Arun, Welcome! Do check the ground clearance for optra, that's one area to look for . With full load, it does have the habit of kissing the breakers. With that budget, you can check Fusion, Innova or the new Fiesta as well. Tarun __________________ Your day is as good as you make it.

18th November 2005, 22:03	#12 (permalink)
karthik247 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: BLR, HYD Posts: 2,565 View My Garage	Hey man, welcome to the team. Well u shold check out the Optra and the Fiesta. Both are really good and are eye catchers for sure. __________________ Mitsubishi Cedia - Pearl White Skoda Octavia vRS - Magic Black

18th November 2005, 23:14	#13 (permalink)
revtech Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,786 View My Garage	hey dude welcome to tbhp and have a great stay.check out the fiesta and the vtec Rev __________________ Revin Beyond Limits !!

18th November 2005, 23:30	#14 (permalink)
lamborghini Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Mumbai/RI, USA Posts: 3,065 View My Garage	Welcoem aboard bro, enjoy your stay here. consider the ford fiesta. __________________ ¢нєєяѕ ℓαмвσ

18th November 2005, 23:40	#15 (permalink)
srasania BHPian Join Date: May 2005 Location: Orlando, FL, USA Posts: 316 View My Garage	hey welcome to the team ! Consider the Ford Fiesta,newly launched,with an excellent diesel engine version too. It also meets your speaker requirements,the top end version has 6 CD in dash stereo with 6 speakers. sr __________________ Driven by Dreams !

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