Help needed!

[umvarma]

Hi Guys,

I am planning to buy my first car. I have been doing quite a bit of research about the cars and short-listed Baleno, Fiat Adventure and Fiat Petra. I had a great first-hand experience of an adventure in an Adventure few months back. That was one of my first choices and today I have taken my wife to Concorde motors to show her the adventure. We went around 7pm so we couldn't take a test-driving. She got a feel of it but felt that it is too big to drive and park in city. Indigo was never in my mind, but since the fiat executive was busy for quite sometime, we had a look at Tata Indigo and Marina. I was surprised to see the legroom and the space in Indigo. I sat in the drivers seat and the rear seats, and I felt fairly comfortable. Baleno is another car in my list, so we went to Sagar Automobiles afterwards. This was in fact on the top of list, but after getting into Baleno, all my interest in it slowly fizzled down. I couldn't fit my 6.2ft tall body in the driver's seat comfortably.

We are planning to go and test-drive these vehicles tomorrow. I was also trying to find a Fiat Petra, but only diesel versions are available in Bangalore. We thought of test-driving the Petra diesel too.

I expect our monthly usage around 400-600km on average. My office is just 4km from my house, and I am planning to continue going on bike to office. My wife commutes 12km a day between home and office. She will be taking the car quite frequently to her office. I would like to know whether it is advisable to go for a diesel car for this kind of usage? Does diesel cars like PetraD or Indigo diesel have more maintenance costs compared to their petrol counterparts. What about their refinement compared their petrol counterparts? Any information on this regard will be highly appreciated.

I summarize my requirements below.

1) Short listed cars: Baleno, Adventure, Petra and Indigo
2) My price limit is 6lakhs. I will be using finance options for this buy, so the cheaper the better.
3) Maintenance and A.S.S.: I use it mostly Bangalore, so, I expect no problems with A.S.S. Indigo and Petra owners, please intimate me your experience about the maintenance and A.S.S. for these vehicles.
4) Average distance travelled per month will be around 500km.
5) Most of the usage will be in the city
6) Self driven
7) I will be sharing my car with my wife.
8) I want a good leg room both the in front and in the rear. Most of my relatives are quite tall, and, I am looking for a car which can accommodate 5 tall people (When my parents and my in-laws come to Bangalore, the car may need to accommodate 3 guys of 6-6.2 heights and 2girls of 5.10 and 5.11). This is the reason for ignoring all the small cars.

9) Resale value is at the bottom of my priorities. I am planning to keep it for 4-5 years at least.

Thanks Guys,
Hope I havn't bored you.

Regards,
Mohan.

[danlalan]

sharing car with wife....get ready for "honey i didnt do it...i dont know how that scratch/dent came on the car"...well if you sitback and relax a bit...the new year is just around the corner and there are a couple of new models coming in...amongst your choice of cars..i would definelty go infor the baleno(outgoing)...good performance, comfort, ride, etc....also try fiesta, verna,accent good for 3yrs....new--- baleno, esteem, RENAULT LOGAN..

[hondadude]

Mohan,

You haven't mentioned what are you expecting from your car
among several parameters like comfort and space, Performance,
etc.

Now to your questions

I would like to know whether it is advisable to go for a diesel car for this kind of usage? Does diesel cars like PetraD or Indigo diesel have more maintenance costs compared to their petrol counterparts. What about their refinement compared their petrol counterparts? Any information on this regard will be highly appreciated.

Usually it makes sense to buy diesel if you are planning to drive it for a couple of thousand km a month. For your usage, diesel won't offer you the economic advantage considering its higher initial cost.

Newer diesel engines are more refined than earlier ones but not compared to their counterparts (for the cars that you have mentioned)

I have an indica and maintaining it has never been a problem. I bought the car from Prerana Motors (didn't like the attitude of Concorde) and it gets served by Prerana Motors. It's been more than a couple of years and no problems so far.

I would recommend you to check out a few other (Petro) cars like Aveo and Fiesta 1.4 as well before making a decision. If you could stretch your budget then Verna, Fiesta 1.6 and Honda City should also be checked out.

I wouldn't recommend Baleno now simply because you don't seem to have an out and out preference for performance and because the new Baleno is round the corner.

EDIT : Check out this thread as well (if you haven't already done that)
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-c...adventure.html

[RAGG]

Hi, the first point I want to make is, Fiat Adventure though looks big is actually smaller in length & width than NHC, and of more or less similar dimensions as Baleno, Fiesta, Aevo, Verna. Secondly, for 500 km per month, there is no point going for a diesel car since you would be spending more than 50K extra for it. Also FE will not be a big factor in deciding which car to opt for. Thirdly, Tata Indigo Marina with oodles of space is simply not in the same class as Fiat Adventure.

Fiat Adventure is on the top of my list for cars under 6.5L followed by Chevy Aveo 1.4.

[esteem_lover]

Re-iterating the points made above, 500Km / month is not enough driving to get the maximum out of your diesel car. At an average, your fuel costs are going to be around Rs. 2500 per month on petrol. you will probably save around 500 per month on a diesel car, thats all & it is not worth considering. NHC seems to be the perfect choice for you, but it goes beyond your budget. why dont you wait a while & see the new baleno.

[Equus]

Yeah waiting for the new Baleno would be worth it. Even the Indigo CRDi when it comes out would be a good option.. From your current list, I would say Petra is arguably your best VFM.

[normally_crazy]

Just a point to consider - you will be sharing your car with your wife, so why dont you consider hatchbacks like the Santro, Wagon-R , Estillo ?? It will be easier to drive for your wife and parking it will be a boon ....compared to parking the sedans you have in mind.

Just my 2 cents.

[kvish]

Baleno, Adventure, Petra and Indigo

Among the ones you have shortlisted, I am not sure any of these would appeal to lady drivers ... I think Getz should be a good choice for your requirements... quite a nice car and my friends who own them seem to be happy with it....Ofcourse, you can check out swift too... but I would suggest you go in for a hatchback..
Both these cars are coming out with diesel variants, so may be worth the wait...

[Minardi]

totally agree with normally_crazy that u shd be looking for hatchs.

go for getz/new palio/new matiz(spark). wait if need be.