Help decide a car for parents

[chevelle]

Hello

We are planning to upgrade from Santro to a sedan. This will be primarily used by my parents with my elder brother driving most of the time. My parents would be usually taking the rear seat. So suspension should be good. My dad would be driving it for max 5 kms per day, so it should be easy to drive. our annual driving would be around 10k kms. so diesel is out of question i guess.

Here are some basic requirements:
- Sedan, max Rs. 8 lakhs. can't go further than this.
- Comfortable, Fuel Efficient, safety features.
- Should be fast(speeds would be 110-130 kmph) enough on highway, but stable and controlled.
- A bit nimble in city, should not be too hard to drive. as sometimes it will be driven by mother too.
- Less maintenance for atleast 3 years. the more the better.

Looking at this options, i came up with some cars and suggested them to have a look. here what they felt.

- Swift Dzire petrol - 1 month waiting, cramped at rear, looks not inspiring. Dad's interested. but mom doesn't find it good.

- Hyundai Verna - 8 lakh rupees on road, after discounts its 7.50 lakh rupees on road. Dad likes this and so does mom. a main contender. any disadvantage i should be aware of? considering 1.6 sx vtvt.

- Honda City - dad is very eager to buy this, but not willing to shell out rs. 9 lakhs due to budget constraints.

- Ford Fiesta - it cost rs. 6 lakhs on road, and after discount would be around 5.75 lakh rupees. dad found it a bit less spacious compared to verna and city. he is worried a lot about after sales service. haven't owned a ford before so don't know about a.s.s, any pointers about how a.s.s is in Baroda/Ahmadabad. does Ford offer extended warranty? any disadvantage that i should know of?

So as of now things stand like this, we are expecting rs. 2 lakh from santro and rest would be taken up as a loan of 3 years. at limited number of options available, my family is tilting more in favor of verna and fiesta.

ps: didn't consider accent, ikon as its outdated. also didn't consider linea as vadodara doesn't have a service station and a.s.s could be a problem. also its expensive at 9 lakh rupees with 5k discount.

so which should be the one for us? your input please.

Thanks

[KITE RUNNER]

Consider the new Sx4, which may be better than the existing model. Ford (petrol) is any day better than petrol Verna.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by KITE RUNNER

Consider the new Sx4, which may be better than the existing model. Ford (petrol) is any day better than petrol Verna.

oh ya, about the sx4, we didn't consider existing version as it has been stopped, though stock is available.

about the new sx4, i am wondering what will be its target price? above 8 lakhs? i think it will be atleast 40k expensive than current one.

we have to decide by october, so don't know if sx4 would be available by then or not.

about fiesta being better than verna, i know fiesta is an excellent handler, but i found verna's handling okish too, though not as good as fiesta. but apart from that, what makes fiesta better than verna?

[over.drive]

Well since you have a budget constraint the Honda City is out of the picture. But it would really be worth the extra money you spend.

The Swift Dzire is also a nice car that meets all your requirements.

Ford fiesta and hyundai verna are good cars too. But I am not sure how reliable hyundai would be. Had really bad experience with my Accent before.

My suggestion is you can also look to get a used car. You might get a good Honda city or a slightly older civic within your budget.

[aaggoswami]

1) Forget Verna. Its suspension is not very good neither is the handling good.

2) Ford Fiesta is a good deal, but watch out for maintenance in Vadodara. I have heard its not very good specially servicing. Sales department is reasonably good. But do pay a visit. I last heard about this from Amin ford that IIRC has changed.

3) Swift Dzire is good, suspension reasonably good, but space at rear is not the best. A good deal, do TD of the car with your parents in back seat. This is the perfect way to gauge if they are comfortable in the car or not.

4) SX4 with the updated engine. For the sake of emession norms the car will come with updated engine. I dont know which engine. To get economies of scale they might come with K series ( This is just my thought and view, not information ) or they will have the same 1.6 but with VVTi.
I think this is the best car for your requirements.

IMHO, if I were in your place, I would choose either SX4 or Fiesta. SX4 make a good deal IMO mainly due to ( relatively ) low maintenance cost ( and many parts are shared with Swift ), wider A.S & S. network and good GC ( required for Indian roads ).

[chevelle]

My replies in BOLD

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

1) Forget Verna. Its suspension is not very good neither is the handling good.

on the other hand, we found suspension quite good over bad roads. we took it through 'kutcha' roads on the side of narmada canal and found it quite good.
we won't be taking corners at fast speed, so handling doesn't matter as much. we found less control in verna compared to fiesta.

2) Ford Fiesta is a good deal, but watch out for maintenance in Vadodara. I have heard its not very good specially servicing. Sales department is reasonably good. But do pay a visit. I last heard about this from Amin ford that IIRC has changed.

that's what we are worried about. lets see how it goes.

3) Swift Dzire is good, suspension reasonably good, but space at rear is not the best. A good deal, do TD of the car with your parents in back seat. This is the perfect way to gauge if they are comfortable in the car or not.

me, my elder bro and dad all are 6 feet. so my dad and bro found the front seats touching their knee when sitting in rear seats.


4) SX4 with the updated engine. For the sake of emession norms the car will come with updated engine. I dont know which engine. To get economies of scale they might come with K series ( This is just my thought and view, not information ) or they will have the same 1.6 but with VVTi.
I think this is the best car for your requirements.

IMHO, if I were in your place, I would choose either SX4 or Fiesta. SX4 make a good deal IMO mainly due to ( relatively ) low maintenance cost ( and many parts are shared with Swift ), wider A.S & S. network and good GC ( required for Indian roads ).

we are waiting for sx4 to launch. hopefully its done in diwali. so we can include that too if its priced less than 8 lakh rupees. when i drove the old sx4, i absolutely hated it. too loud at higher rpms, uncomfortable for 3rd person at back, cheap quality plastics were three main gripes. hope they solve this for newer version. finger's crossed

so as of now its between verna and fiesta. we are consider sx for verna and zxi for fiesta. and both do not have any airbags. and i didn't find FATC in fiesta. is it there?

[D.V.R]

You can check out Indigo XL Petrol it should be around 6lakh OTR for the fully loaded model and its pretty spacious and comfortable and fast enough.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by D.V.R

You can check out Indigo XL Petrol it should be around 6lakh OTR for the fully loaded model and its pretty spacious and comfortable and fast enough.

that's a good option. but isn't XL's production stopped because of new indigo vista coming?

what's its future? say after a year they may come up with a new xl based on new indigo, any chance of that?

do they offer extended warranties?

[Nitronium]

I'm not too sure about the Verna. The rear seats are comfortable, but the diesel boom inside the cabin especially at low rpms has gotten many a rear passenger very car-sick. Maybe the window tinitng had a role to play in this too.

Anyway the Fiesta's rear bench isn't it's strongest point. Is driving comfort your main criteria? Then the Fiesta has no competition.

My pick would be the Linea 1.3 or if you can wait a bit , the 1.6. That checks all the boxes you've specified. Great comfort, ride and well, killer performance with the 1.6

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by Nitronium

I'm not too sure about the Verna. The rear seats are comfortable, but the diesel boom inside the cabin especially at low rpms has gotten many a rear passenger very car-sick. Maybe the window tinitng had a role to play in this too.

Anyway the Fiesta's rear bench isn't it's strongest point. Is driving comfort your main criteria? Then the Fiesta has no competition.

My pick would be the Linea 1.3 or if you can wait a bit , the 1.6. That checks all the boxes you've specified. Great comfort, ride and well, killer performance with the 1.6

i am not considering diesel. its petrol all the way. will less than 10k kms annually, i don't see a point for diesel. unless someone comes up with good stats

rear seat comfort has more priority over driving dynamics or driving comfort. my parents are not too happy with rear seat comfort of fiesta too.

i have told them to take a look at second hand market for a civic/corolla. but not too hopeful of finding good ones. lets see how it goes

[Nitronium]

The Civic would be a bad choice if your parents are going to be driven around and arent very able bodied. If your mother is going to drive the car, she'll have a hard time maneuvering considering it's ground clearance.

I'd recommend the Corolla actually. Comfy, reliable and a FANTASTIC highway cruiser. Search for a decent one, you'll find quite a few old gen ones considering the newer model is out

EDIT: I suppose the extra premium for a diesel isn't worth it if you clock <10K kms. Having said that, that is no reason to completely put them out of contention. They prove just as reliable and more fun to drive than their petrol counterparts. Once again i'd urge you to check out the Linea, you might just wanna forget it's a diesel considering how amazing it looks

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by Nitronium

The Civic would be a bad choice if your parents are going to be driven around and arent very able bodied. If your mother is going to drive the car, she'll have a hard time maneuvering considering it's ground clearance.

I'd recommend the Corolla actually. Comfy, reliable and a FANTASTIC highway cruiser. Search for a decent one, you'll find quite a few old gen ones considering the newer model is out

EDIT: I suppose the extra premium for a diesel isn't worth it if you clock <10K kms. Having said that, that is no reason to completely put them out of contention. They prove just as reliable and more fun to drive than their petrol counterparts. Once again i'd urge you to check out the Linea, you might just wanna forget it's a diesel considering how amazing it looks

they haven't driven either the civic/corolla, so they will let me know as and when they try one. it would be entirely their call. they took a ride in civic and were blown away by its interior and its looks. so ain't sure about that. that's why i suggested them to take a look at second hand civic and corolla.

as for linea, the problem is a.s.s, it is 100 kms from where we stay. so in case something goes it(after all its all mech and electrical) it would be a problem going that far to get it solved. they called to a showroom at AMD, and they weren't too eager to send a petrol for a test drive. so they think, if this is how the scenario is right now, how it would be after sales? also its a bit costly, more than 8 lakhs on road. so chances are less.

if only the looks mattered, they would have bought city and linea eyes closed as they love both this cars. but that ain't the scenario.

[vkochar]

My pick would be a Fiesta. It's a good car and good VFM.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by vkochar

My pick would be a Fiesta. It's a good car and good VFM.

could you explain how you arrived at conclusion of it being a good car and good vfm?

because on comparing features to features, verna inches ahead, suspension of verna is a bit soft, there by giving good ride quality, but not too good handling. performance figures don't really matter much.

so if you could elaborate, i could make a note of it.

Thanks

[vkochar]

There is a new Ford Fiesta 1.6 Limited Edition that has the following -

• MP3 player with 4 speakers
• Driver seat height adjust
• Premium Interiors with soft feel fabric
• Map reading lamp
• Rear reading lamp
• Metallic Facia
• Aluminium finish door release levers
• Aluminium cuff plates on steering

Its Maharashtra price is 5.6 lacs ex - showroom I think.

Now the 1.6 is really a fun car to drive - everyone knows this. Take a TD and then see for yourself.

The Verna on the other hand is also a 1.6 and the VTVT model costs 6.54 lacs ex showroom baroda. So dearer by a good 70 - 80 k over the Fiesta ( after discounts and negotiations ). The Verna sells purely because of the CRDi variant and that comprises almost 80 % of the Verna's sales or even more.

I own the CRDi verna and I swear by it. But the Petrol - I am sure the fiesta is better.

The Fiesta would be my personal choice over these 2.

Of course if you can extend your budget then there is no better car than the ANHC But again it's around 9 lacs so very steep.

Please TD both the Verna & Fiesta and see for yourself.