Booked Hyundai i10 magna for my parents

[sridharps]

Hi Guys, I booked a Hyundai i10 for my parents, who live in Chennai( I work out of Bangalore). I had been wanting to buy a car from my parents for some time now, but somehow they were resisting it. I finally managed to convince them and booked a Hyundai i10 for them in Chennai yesterday. I had a budget of 4 L max to start with. The following, I felt , were the key requirements for my parents in a new car:
a) Decent rear seat comfort & good interiors - My parents cannot drive and the car will always be chaffeur driven
b) Decent FE - the car will run 300-400 Kms per month and 2-3 highway trips of 500 kms per trip. So, a maximum of 5000kms in a year. Not much, one would say. Still they have to pay for a driver, so I don't want the other costs to shoot up.
c) Good A.S.S - Very important. At their age, I would want a hasslefree experience.
d) Excellent reliability/Low maintenance - Ditto. They don't know much about cars and I would want a "fill it, shut it, forget it" experience for the most part! They will keep this car for at least 5 to 6 years.
With this mind let us see how the cars stacked up , as I saw them:
1. Fiat Palio - 1.1 L engine has decent FE. 1.6 L, while meant for a driving enthusiast, does not serve my needs here. A.S.S is a question mark. Hence rejected.
2. Indica - This should ideally have been a no-brainer. What other car gives so much rear space seat? hmm, what about reliability and A.S.S? Anyway, let us keep this in the shortlist.
3. Indigo CS - The petrol sedan was in the budget range, while the diesel one was not. I owned a Tata Indigo LS(diesel) for 4 years and somehow feel, Tata is VFM from a diesel perspective. My parent's usage does not warrant a diesel actually, while the extra boot space is handy but not a real must . So, from my perspective, the real value of an Indigo CS comes from the rear seat space. So let us keep this in the shortlist.
4. Chevrolet Spark - This seems a decent car but did not stand out on any of the parameters I had put in.
5. Hyundai i10 - wow! This car looked good - inside and outside. I did a test drive and found the low gear pickup to be average, but overall levels of refinement were quite good.
6. Hyundai Santro - After seeing the i10, how can this catch the eye? The seating is quite hard as well.
7. Wagon R - The original tall boy is a strong contender in my list. Decent FE, decent interiors, very reliable car. Good low-speed torque. Notchy gear shift and average ORVMs do spoil the experience a bit for sure, but this is going to be a chaffeur driven car, right?
8. Maruti swift - Rear seat comfort is ok types. This driver's car, however , is lower in FE and does not stand out on any of my parameters.
9. Zen estillo - The purple colour option does stand out for sure, but what else does? Why should anyone buy this car over Wagon R? I haven't been able to figure this one out.
So that left the Tata Cars-Indica and Indigo CS, Wagon R and Hyundai i10 in my shortlist. After some thinking, I rejected the Tata cars. My own experience with the Tata A.S.S for 4 years, while largely positive,still has been a mixed bag. I do feel that they needed more than an occasional push and experience could widely vary between dealers( and sometimes at the same dealership). Having said that, knowing what I do now about Tata, and if the above parameters applied to me, I would still go again and buy an Indigo for myself. The Tata Indigo did serve me faithfully for 50,000 Kms and I am very grateful for that. But I hesitated to expose my parents to the variations in the A.S.S. So, after some thought, and some reluctance, Tata Cars are out of my list.
That leaves Wagon R and the Hyundai i10 in my list. This is a very close call on all the parameters - reliability, A.S.S, Decent rear seat.. but wait, the interiors and looks - the i10 is class leading. On the other hand, Wagon R is excellent VFM and was giving discounts of upto Rs.30 k plus some accessories! So Wagon R was a financially more attractive option. But Wagon R is getting phased out while i10 is the new kid on the block - car of the year and what not? Ok ,time now for acid test :
a) Close my eyes and imagine my parents sitting in a Wagon R. Now repeat the exercise for i10..which one feels better? i10!! for sure
b) Better still - go for another drive with the parents seated behind you and ask them which one they want? My practical mother enquires about the relative prices. I ask her to ignore that for the timebeing and which ride did she enjoy more? After some probing questions, the truth came out -i10!!
So friends, that was that. The rear power windows, adjustable head rest, rear parcel tray etc etc meant that the magna was in a shoo-in over the era.
For sure, I went a bit over budget, but how will I forget that glint in her "i" when she sat in the i10!!
I will take delivery in a week and pics will follow suit!
Cheers!!

[Sahil]

Congrats !

Did you get any discount? I believe there is 25k+ disc on the i10 and 40k on the Getz in Mumbai due to the monsoon slack sales i guess.

Probably the discounts on the current engine i10 will increase once the 1200cc i10 is launched in the coming days..

[mobike008]

Congrats Sridhar, i10 is a wonderful peppy car with lovely interiors. I am sure your parents are simply going to love this gift. Look forward to its pictures soon.

[anandtheleo]

Congrats on the new car, I am sure your parents would love the car. since they are going to be chauffeured around they will definitively appreciate the leg-room and comfort in the rear seat. Btw, what color are you going for?Which dealer? And hope you got a good deal

[blip]

Hey buddy,

Please be putting some details on the pricing , discounts(if any), and also
if the dealer(advaith or trident) is giving any accessories like free mp3 player etc

[ravibhat]

Congrats! Around 20,000/- discount going on for i10 one reason they are launching new variants with 1.2 engine and also automatic transmission.

Bargain for discounts for sure if they have not offered it.

i10 is really impressive hatchback very much true! Make sure driver go slowly in bad stretches because it bumps little bit which make your parents journey uncomfortable.

For parents who don't drive I suggest

Regards,

Ravi.

[naru]

Originally Posted by Sahil

I believe there is 25k+ disc on the i10

25k!!!! Really??!!!

All I got was 11k and NO freebies, not even foot mats, in Delhi.

[mnhegde]

congrats for the new vehicle. Which colour have you opted for?? Is the rear seating better than wagon r?? And discounts on i10 is tempting. Probably they are competing with maruthi, bcoz it is offering good discounts on wagon r and luring customers away from others.

[sridharps]

Hi guys, thanks for your wishes. The dealer is DSC Motors in Porur. Overall, I am getting 13k discount plus Rs.2700 petrol coupon plus Car remote, sunfilm, car mats, car cover and Rs.1500 off on panasonic music system to be installed..I am not sure whether this is ok? On i10, the dealers were reluctant to offer more than this..

Is the rear seating better than wagon r??

Should be roughly the same I guess..just the interiors looks a touch better.

Make sure driver go slowly in bad stretches because it bumps little bit which make your parents journey uncomfortable

Thanks Ravi, will remember that.

believe there is 25k+ disc on the i10

whew, I didn't get that in chennai..

[manaa45]

Originally Posted by sridharps

Hi guys, thanks for your wishes. The dealer is DSC Motors in Porur. Overall, I am getting 13k discount plus Rs.2700 petrol coupon plus Car remote, sunfilm, car mats, car cover and Rs.1500 off on panasonic music system to be installed..I am not sure whether this is ok? On i10, the dealers were reluctant to offer more than this..

i got a Rs 25000/- discount but then i got no other freebies other then mudflaps and mats.

so i think what you have got is a good enough deal.

Mansi

[ps2008]

Originally Posted by sridharps

Hi guys, thanks for your wishes. The dealer is DSC Motors in Porur. Overall, I am getting 13k discount plus Rs.2700 petrol coupon plus Car remote, sunfilm, car mats, car cover and Rs.1500 off on panasonic music system to be installed..I am not sure whether this is ok? On i10, the dealers were reluctant to offer more than this..

Hi Sridharps,

Could you provide the name & contact number of the 'sales agent' from whom you were able to get such a good deal.

I am planning to book an i10 Era this month & it would be a big help if you could pass on the information (most of the dealers/sales agents, I have spoken to are not offering cash discounts in Chennai).

[sridharps]

Hi Guys, sorry for the delay in pics. Here they go.
The car has already travelled 1500 kms including a highway trip. My Parents tell me that it has been absolutely fantastic! It has also gone for the first check-up. Hyundai has not changed the engine oil and I understand that it will get changed only after 10k. Anyone with any suggestions on this?

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by sridharps

It has also gone for the first check-up. Hyundai has not changed the engine oil and I understand that it will get changed only after 10k. Anyone with any suggestions on this?

Is 10K kms the recomended duration for oil changing in i10 ?
I dont think this is good.
IMO, the oil must be changed at first service.
Mainly after the engine has completed running in, oil should be changed.

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Is 10K kms the recomended duration for oil changing in i10 ?
I dont think this is good.
IMO, the oil must be changed at first service.
Mainly after the engine has completed running in, oil should be changed.

Yes, 10k oil change is standard for Hyundai cars.

I wanted to change oil at 1 k, but the A.S.S manager recommended to keep the factory filled oil as it is much superior to the oil from A.S.S. It is only recommended to change oil at 1k, not a must.

[sridharps]

Originally Posted by PatienceWins

Yes, 10k oil change is standard for Hyundai cars.

I wanted to change oil at 1 k, but the A.S.S manager recommended to keep the factory filled oil as it is much superior to the oil from A.S.S. It is only recommended to change oil at 1k, not a must.

ok, so I will let that be then. The mileage they have got has been around 15km per litre so far. Is this ok and will it improve a bit over time?