The Hunt begins now...Budget between 5 to 8 lacs

[wanderlustindia]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

@wanderlust: Check out the Fiesta.
We have a 2005 Lancer in our office and a 2006 Fiesta 1.4TDCi in the family, and trust me, the fiesta brings as many smiles to my face as the lancer does. In fact, with its tougher build quality, and more power (for the fiesta 1.6), it seems like the logical upgrade. However, the ride is stiffer than that of the Lancer, but it is quite good at higher speeds.
The other option is the Civic, which is quite good, however, in Pune traffic, the fiesta is definitely easier to drive.

The Fiesta TD is in the next hour or so. I'll have to wait till the weekend to get a TD of the Civic. The picture would be clearer by this weekend.

Originally Posted by rahulsingh007

Rode a friend's fiesta S yesterday,
I must say it is one mean machine.
I somehow liked it more than the civic as it has a better suspension and more involving drive !

I am going to get one for myself soon too !

Fantastic man! Good luck with your purchase. I hope I'll go for the same too. If not the Fiesta, then a used Civic is the other option.

[wanderlustindia]

New development on this front.

Dad is willing to go for a new small car (Spark or A-Star or i10, this will be finalized at the coming weekend) and giving me the Ikon to drive for the time being. The Ikon is in reasonably good shape and will do duty for atleast the next 5-6 months (early 2010). After which, I'll think of trading it with the next car. Thanks for the taking time out to visit this thread and posting your valuable thoughts, guys. Really appreciate it.

Mods, I request you to lock this thread indefinitely.

Thanks.
-Subhash

[jassi]

oh !! and we were hoping for another fiesta sport.
any insight into how your fiesta 1.6s TD went before the thread is locked - it will be beneficial to other buyers

[wanderlustindia]

Originally Posted by jassi

oh !! and we were hoping for another fiesta sport.
any insight into how your fiesta 1.6s TD went before the thread is locked - it will be beneficial to other buyers

The guy did not turn up today. He called up twice and said 'Sir, aata hoon thodi der mein' . But, I suppose he was caught up something more important. And now I think it won't be wise and ethical on my part to ask him to come tomorrow, should he call back. He would feel his time going down the drain, because I won't be immediately interested, as the purchase decision is atleast 5-6 months away given current circumstances.

Apologies for the disappointment, but 5-6 months is not far off!

[wanderlustindia]

Ok, all the talk of ethics evaporated when the Ford executive brought the TD car to my office doorstep . The TD car was the Aquaris Blue one and boy she looked hot! Could not take my eyes off for a few minutes. The spoiler, the body kit, the neat looking OE alloys combined with the striking color is simply too much to resist.

Initial impression is simply wow!

I jumped on to the driver seat in a jiffy, adjusted the steering wheel to my liking and off she goes! There is no way you will want to drive this car in a sedate manner. Now I know why people rate the Fiesta 1.6 S so high on driver involvement. The motor is happy to be revved to the limit and inspite of pedal-to-metal action, it maintains the rev-happy nature without breaking any sweat. Drove it to the nearby VIP road (leading to the Pune airport) and in no time the speedo needle was hovering around the 120 kph mark! Stability at that speed is top notch, no questions about it. A zippy drive on that road and then we hit Nagar road which is fairly busy all day. In third gear at 1000 rpm or so, step on the pedal and she obliges without any fuss, I like. This particular TD car was in healthy state having run just over 20k kms. It must have seen a lot of abuse all this while but the motor, the AC worked perfectly alright. I was smiling all the way and wishing if I had the moolah rightaway to tag along with the person to 'Talera Ford' and do a booking .

The interiors are pretty good too, I'd take that quite comfortably as I am not too fussy about the interiors, what matters to me is whats under the hood. An integrated audio system that sounds okie dokie, nothing much to write about. The seats are fabric (how I wish it was leather) not too bad, can be changed to Art-leather at a later stage and will look stupendous to match the interior color. The dashboard is a shade of black (don't know what color do I call it), looks well finished too.

Differences between the 1.6 SXI and the 1.6 S as told by the TD chap:
1. No leather seats in 1.6S
2. No turn-indicators on the RVMs
3. The S has 15 inch tyres as against 14 inchers for the SXi
4. Beige interiors in SXi, a shade of black in the S
5. No body-kit, spoiler on the SXi
6. S sports a stiffer suspension setting for better cornering ability

There could be more, but these are the ones that came from the sales person.

I'm wondering what to do next! Getting my Ikon this weekend from Mumbai. I'm thinking I should go to the dealership sometime next week and see what price he offers for the Ikon and if the price is fair, go in for an exchange. If the price is not too good, I'll try to sell the car via some other medium. With the festive season on, with all discounts considered (corporate, insurance, loyalty et al.) the OTR price might be approx. 7.6 L. Can I wait for 5-6 months? Highly unlikely! The saga continues.

Mods, please ignore my erstwhile request of closing this thread. I'd like to keep this open for now. Many thanks in advance. My sincere apologies for the cranky and flip-flop behavior on the thread so far, but that's me!

[aah78]

Originally Posted by wanderlustindia

Mods, I request you to lock this thread indefinitely.

Originally Posted by wanderlustindia

Mods, please ignore my erstwhile request of closing this thread. I'd like to keep this open for now. Many thanks in advance. My sincere apologies for the cranky and flip-flop behavior on the thread so far, but that's me!

wanderlustindia,
Please use the Report Post button to get the attention of one of the Moderators, rather than putting up requests within posts.
Thanks!

[lamborghini]

@wanderlustindia: Just a thought, why don't you get the Fiesta now, and have your father look at the new Ford Hatch that is expected in 4-6 months?

[the VTEC guy]

Originally Posted by dipen

...If you think the Civic fetches better resale, think twice. A 14 lakh OTR Civic in Mumbai sells at 7 (dealers sell at 7.25-7.5) lakhs for a 2006 model which means 50% depreciation in 3 years. Corolla again depreciates 45% from onroad price for that model.
....

Did Civic cost 14 lakhs in 2006? I believe some where around 11-12 lakhs? ofcourse consider the milegae as well. more it has driven more the depreciation...

[wanderlustindia]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

@wanderlustindia: Just a thought, why don't you get the Fiesta now, and have your father look at the new Ford Hatch that is expected in 4-6 months?

Dad drives the Ikon and I was thinking of using it as an exchange with the Fiesta 1.6 S. He quite likes the Spark, so I think we'll go ahead and book one over this weekend :-). His needs are simple, a small car with power steering, atleast front power windows, A/C, good FE and a nimble to drive car in the city. The Spark 1.0 LS fits the bill perfectly, I presume.

[sgiitk]

I see the Swift ZXi missing. Your mileage puts you in the transition zone from Petrol to Diesel. The ZXi is a lovely car and you will love it.

[advaitlele]

I had posted a similar post last month, and it got deleted. Then again posted last week but somehow moderators didnt like that and deleted. I had listed my choices and my dilemma of chosing one.

Anyways, I am going to TD Fiesta S and Jazz in coming two days.

But rather than posting and getting it deleted again, I think I will wait and watch (as suggested by moderator) all the other threads and post only when I buy a new one rather than TD experiences.

[freewheelburnin]

If roads in pune are decent, you can consider a used Honda civic 1.8 MT .You will love it.

[wanderlustindia]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

I see the Swift ZXi missing. Your mileage puts you in the transition zone from Petrol to Diesel. The ZXi is a lovely car and you will love it.

I agree, my running borders on the edge of choosing between a petrol or a diesel. However, I'll stick to a petrol. The Swift ZXi is a great car, no doubt but very common. Wifey was not happy when I even chose the Swift DDis in the list in the first place. She does not like the looks of the Swift.

Originally Posted by advaitlele

Anyways, I am going to TD Fiesta S and Jazz in coming two days.

Refer to my TD experience with the Fiesta 1.6 S. There are many other TD experiences on the forum with the Fiesta S. I am sure you'll love it. Good luck with your search.

Originally Posted by freewheelburnin

If roads in pune are decent, you can consider a used Honda civic 1.8 MT .You will love it.

Pune roads are much better than what they were 2-3 years back, thanks to the CWYG held here late last year. Yes, the used Civic is still on the radar. I'll visit Auto Terrace this weekend and see if they have any in stock.

Originally Posted by aah78

wanderlustindia,
Please use the Report Post button to get the attention of one of the Moderators, rather than putting up requests within posts.
Thanks!

Apologies, will use the feature the next time, if required.

[wanderlustindia]

More on this. Visited Talera Ford today at around 1:15 pm. The salesperson whom I spoke to earlier was not around and was expected to come around 1:45 pm. So I waited at the reception and was looking at a brochure that talked about 'slash' in prices for Ford service and accident parts.

Around 2 pm, the salesperson, Mr. Sagar walked into the showroom. He asked me to wait for a bit as he was busy talking to a customer who was there for a booking. We got on the table at 2:30 pm or so and began discussing the details of the price quote. After much deliberation and discussion, here is what the price quote is.

Original OTR: 8.05 L
OTR after discounts: ~ 7.65 L

Discounts include, free insurance worth INR 23921 + Ford loyalty discount (since I have a Ford vehicle registered in my name) approx INR 7k + Corporate discount worth approx INR 10k.

The OTR also covers 3 years/120000 kms warranty (with Road Side Assistance Program) and also the Total Maintenance Plan of 2 years/30000 kms.

Sounds like a fair deal? Can I squeeze any further?

I'm off to Planet Ford today evening or tomorrow morning to get a competing quote. More on this later.

P.S: I haven't completely ruled out other options. Just that the Fiesta 1.6 S is top in the pecking order at the moment.

[MCR]

Ford Fiesta should be a fantastic buy. But Ford Fiesta is not as "visible" as say a Grande Punto or i20. Also Fiesta 1.6S doesnot have a Airbag. Grande Punto emotion pack should also be good considering the Blue & Me,ABS and Airbag plus a fantastic Diesel Engine.