Want to buy a new car in Allahabad within 6 lacs on the road

[crosscap]

Hi,

I am a long time reader of this forum but posting for the first time. The members here are quite knowledgeable. I learned a lot within past few months by reading various threads. Thank you all BHP-ians there.

At present I am working in Finland. I will be moving to Allahabad for my next job shortly. I need a car there. This will be my first Indian car. However I drove a Toyota Corolla LX in USA for five years and it spoiled me a lot. I would like to purchase a decent car within Rs. 6 lakhs on the road. These are the criteria for my first Indian car.

1. The engine should be good. It must be fuel efficient. My monthly driving will not be more than 1000KM, so I prefer to go for petrol. I also heard that maintainence cost of diesel car is higher than petrol. Considering point 4 below, I am confused what engine size I should go for(plus budget is a constraint).

2. I intend to buy the car in March or April 2008. If there are any upcoming models, kindly let me know. I heard about Swift Sedan. Any idea about its price range?

3. Would like to have a good music system. This is the most important criteria. I have an ipod loaded with songs and would like to listen to it while driving. Should I go for a car with company provided audio system or go for a lower trim and fit the audio system later?

4. Though I am single, I prefer to have a sedan. I will go for long driving occasionally just for traveling either myself or with parents who will be visiting me quite often. Around that time I need some boot space in my car. I know it is hard to get a car with boot within 6 lacs. However, if I missed some models(noted below), kindly point it out. How big are the 'boots' of the hatchbacks available within this price range?

5. Would like to have a decent, sober interior. Should I go for a car with airbags? Is it necessary in India? What's the maximum speed limit in Indian Highways? Do people prefer to have one? Any suggestion on this point will be very helpful, since option for airbags increases the price.

6. From my friends in US, I found that GM make cars are not reliable. Quite often, the electrical equipments or A/C systems broke in their cars and replacements were very expensive. So I will not consider any GM make cars.

7. I will not consider Tata make cars. I heard bad stories about the quality of the cars and the after sales service about Tata Motors in this and other forums. Would like to have absolute peace of mind after buying the car. The cost of maintenance should be low and after sales service should be good.

So there are not many options left for me. These are the cars that I like in this price range :

(a) Compact : Zen Estilo, Santro, i10.
(b) Midsize : Esteem, Swift hatchback, Swift sedan(if it comes out), Getz, Fiat Palio, Logan, Ford Ikon.

Unfortunately there is no Logan dealership available in Allahabad. Also heard that Esteem will be discontinued. Is it true?

How is Ford's after sales service in India? Is it very expensive to maintain a Ford Ikon in India?

Any feedback will be highly appreciated. Did I miss any models? Thank you for your patience.

Finally, is there anybody from Allahabad in this forum?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by crosscap

I heard about Swift Sedan. Any idea about its price range?

Its going to be around 4.5- 6 considering a 50k difference over the Swift hatch. Pricing will be out soon, i guess.

Originally Posted by crosscap

Should I go for a car with company provided audio system or go for a lower trim and fit the audio system later?

Most company audio systems provided in cars here are nothing to write home about.

Go for an aftermarket system. Post in the team-bhp ICE section and the experts will take you from there!

Originally Posted by crosscap

Should I go for a car with airbags?

It is defenitly good, but then comes at a price too. Dont compromise with ABS though. Could save lives!

Originally Posted by crosscap

Unfortunately there is no Logan dealership available in Allahabad. Also heard that Esteem will be discontinued. Is it true?

Esteem has been discontinued.

Originally Posted by crosscap

How is Ford's after sales service in India? Is it very expensive to maintain a Ford Ikon in India?

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...+story+of+mike
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...unate-car.html

[pingping]

hi --

- If budget is fixed / cannot be extended and safety cannot be compromised i would suggest u to skip the boot space and go for hatchback COZ u would get really excellent cars for this price with safety features. Swift hatchback petrol would serve u very well. Its also a good highway cruiser. i10 is again good with respect to saftey features if ur ok with its smaller space and looks.
- If u can slightly extend ur budget then go in SX4 which is again an amazing trouble free car from maruti... Maruti is always good in ***
- Answering another part of the question, Safety is definitely a great concern in Indian Highways as we have really rash drivers peeping into the middle of highways leading to severe accidents. Never compromise on air bags...
- Stock Music system will not serve ur purpose if u r music savy to listen on cars... definitely u need to go in for upgrade...
- Nutshell go in high end hatch back if u need car immediately, or wait for a while (around 6 months) for the launch of around 60 odd new models in the country this year. Pls. update us...

[benbsb29]

@Crosscap: Crazy_Driver has provided the link to the Long Term Ownership report of my Ikon Flair. Go through it, and you would have a fair idea about the car. As far as after-sales experiences are concerned, it depends upon dealer and also city. If possible, do ask some friends to check up on the dealer in Allahabad, if there is one or the nearest place.

ABS is recommended in the car you buy, but thats something which the Ikon doesnt come equipped with.

As far as the music system is concerned, its better to go for one which would suit your requirements, and not the company fitted one. There are a lot of people who would willingly help you out with this on the forum.

Within 6 lakhs, the available sedan options are limited, and if safety takes high priority, i would suggest a Swift ZXi within the budget. No idea about the Swift sedan pricing, since the car hasnt been launched as yet.

If you increase your budget, it does provide you with a few more options.

[ashish22]

well i would suggest go for hyundai accent although its an aging car but it still is a very reliable and easy to own and maintain vehicle and you can easily upgrade to another vehicle after 2-3 years.
it will cost you around 5+ lakhs on road i guess and rest of the amount you can use to install some high quality ICE setup.

[crosscap]

Great! So many replies within few hours. Thank you guys.

@Crazy Driver : Thanks a lot for your to the point answers and for giving rough idea about Swift Sedan's pricing. I shall keep your suggestions in mind. If there is an option for either ABS or airbags, which one will you go for? Will you go for both? I never used ABS before. I am familiar with airbags.

@Crazy Dirver, benbsb29: Just after finishing my write up, I went to the review section and found the great review by benbsb29 on his ford Ikon(or Mike). It's very encouraging. Yes, I swa that there is a Ford dealer in Allahabad. I shall check once I reach Allahabad.

@benbsb29 : You do not have ABS in your car, right? Did you feel that you are missing something important?

@pingping : Great reply. Thank you for your suggestion. I shall first check with Swift's boot space. If I find it's sufficient, I can skip the option for boot space. Yeah, I liked the SX4 model. It's a bit beyond my budget. However, I shall keep an eye on it. If there is some price cut, I may consider it too. Also, I can wait, roughly 4-5 months from now.

As all of you have pointed out, I decided to go for the aftermarket audio system. I will post in ICE section to get some ideas, since I am an absolute newbie to this subject.

@ashish22 : Hi, thank you man! After posting, I recalled that I missed the Hyundai Accent. They are giving a huge discount now, so I will check that too. Though I think, Accent will be discontinued soon.

I shall keep you posted.

[vkochar]

Hi Crosscap - Welcome to T-BHP first of all and make sure you go through the Announcements & Introduction section wher you can Formally Introduce yourself ( If not already done ).

Now for your ride. In your budget of 6 Lacs I would recommend the following cars ( Priority wise )

Maruti Suzuki Swift Vxi / Zxi
SX4 Vxi - ( 6.75 Ex so over your budget )
Hyundai Accent 1.5 GLE
Chevrolet Aveo ( Bit expensive but worth it & better than Accent )
Hyundai Getz 1.3 GVS

All the above cars are brilliant with Accent being the oldest of the lot. It is not being discontinued and is selling well as prices have come to 5 Lacs Ex-Showroom.

Swift / Getz again are excellent car ( Minus the Boot ).

Aveo is a very good package but would cost you more like 6.5 ex ( Mid Variant ).

Ikon & Esteem are good cars but going to be discontinued any time. That holds partially true for Accent also. But do not worry about the parts & mantainance on any of these cars as they are so many on our roads.

Future Upcoming Models -

Fabia Petrol - 6 Lacs Ex ( Base Variant Petrol )
Swift Sedan ( Esteem Replacement ) - 6 Lacs or so
Fiat Linea ( Only guesses on the Price - 6 Lacs or so )

Keep a watch on the upcoming Auto Expo 2008 which will give you a fair idea of what all is going to be launched.

As far as ICE goes - there is no dearth of Members here who will be more than helpful in Burning your Pocket / Credit Card's

Cheers !!! Varun

[BUSA]

For your requirements and budget i will suggest you the Chevrolet Aveo, it comes with a boot and will fit in your budget, quite a VFM car and the interiors are nice.

Music System you will have to install aftermarket if you want something good. Stock Music is just for the sake of it.

[crosscap]

Originally Posted by vkochar

Hi Crosscap - Welcome to T-BHP first of all and make sure you go through the Announcements & Introduction section wher you can Formally Introduce yourself ( If not already done ).

Hi Varun, nice post. Thank you. No, I haven't yet introduced myself in that section. I shall do so soon.

Originally Posted by vkochar

Now for your ride. In your budget of 6 Lacs I would recommend the following cars ( Priority wise )

Maruti Suzuki Swift Vxi / Zxi
SX4 Vxi - ( 6.75 Ex so over your budget )
Hyundai Accent 1.5 GLE
Chevrolet Aveo ( Bit expensive but worth it & better than Accent )
Hyundai Getz 1.3 GVS

All the above cars are brilliant with Accent being the oldest of the lot. It is not being discontinued and is selling well as prices have come to 5 Lacs Ex-Showroom.

Swift / Getz again are excellent car ( Minus the Boot ).

Aveo is a very good package but would cost you more like 6.5 ex ( Mid Variant ).

Yeah, I shall check those cars. I am a little skeptic about the GM make cars, as I mentioned in my first post. Are they good? Are people satisfied with them? Chevrolet cars in US have quite a few problems and it's expensive to replace their parts. How is their service in India? Another thing which I don't like about GM is that they just discontinues a model without any prior hint.

Originally Posted by vkochar

Ikon & Esteem are good cars but going to be discontinued any time. That holds partially true for Accent also. But do not worry about the parts & mantainance on any of these cars as they are so many on our roads.

Okay, Ikon will also be discontinued. I shall keep that in mind. Hyundai is offerring a good deal for the basic level Accent. The trim is probably GLE.

Originally Posted by vkochar

Future Upcoming Models -

Fabia Petrol - 6 Lacs Ex ( Base Variant Petrol )
Swift Sedan ( Esteem Replacement ) - 6 Lacs or so
Fiat Linea ( Only guesses on the Price - 6 Lacs or so )

Keep a watch on the upcoming Auto Expo 2008 which will give you a fair idea of what all is going to be launched.

Yeah, sure. I keep checking regularly the BHP news section.

Originally Posted by vkochar

As far as ICE goes - there is no dearth of Members here who will be more than helpful in Burning your Pocket / Credit Card's

Cheers !!! Varun

Okay, thanks. I will soon post in the ICE section to get some idea.

[crosscap]

Originally Posted by BUSA

For your requirements and budget i will suggest you the Chevrolet Aveo, it comes with a boot and will fit in your budget, quite a VFM car and the interiors are nice.

Hi BUSA, thank you for your reply. As I mentioned in my first post and also in reply to vkochar's post, I'm little bit skeptic about GM make cars. My first preference would be to avoid them.

Originally Posted by BUSA

Music System you will have to install aftermarket if you want something good. Stock Music is just for the sake of it.

Yeah, sure. This point has been emphasized by everybody. I will go for an aftermarket audio system. I need to connect my ipod.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by crosscap

@benbsb29 : You do not have ABS in your car, right? Did you feel that you are missing something important?

Crosscap, with most of my car's driving being within city limits i havent really missed the ABS. Also, i generally tend to drive sedately and so cant say that i have missed not having ABS. Having it is reassuring, and if such an option was available from the company, I would definitely have gone for it.

As for the discontinuation theory, IMO both the Ikon and the Accent would continue to exist till both companies come up with a suitable replacement. They have placed these two to cater to a specific segment looking at entry-level sedans and they wouldnt commit the blunder of leaving that segment void.

[BUSA]

I'm little bit skeptic about GM make cars. My first preference would be to avoid them.

If thats the case, then i would say go for Accent 1.5 or the Ikon.

From my friends in US, I found that GM make cars are not reliable. Quite often, the electrical equipments or A/C systems broke in their cars and replacements were very expensive. So I will not consider any GM make cars.

However the GM cars in India are not at all American by any standard, they are basically re-badged Daewoo's so reliability will not be a issue. I have a Chevrolet i can tell

[crosscap]

Originally Posted by BUSA

However the GM cars in India are not at all American by any standard, they are basically re-badged Daewoo's so reliability will not be a issue. I have a Chevrolet i can tell

Okay. I didn't know that. Have you posted any review? I will then try the Aveo. I think they a dealer in Allahabad.

[vkochar]

Aveo would be better than Accent & Ikon both.

After Sales is not an Issue and GM service in India is quite decent.

Also good discounts available on the Aveo.

[benbsb29]

Just as i mentioned. With an increased budget you get more contemporary cars at your disposal. While at the Aveo, why not look at a Fiesta 1.4 as well?