C+, D or SUV/MUV segment

[wmanu]

Friends,

I’m located in Bangalore and planning to upgrade my drive from Swift Zxi (2006, 20k Km) to one in C+, D or SUV/MUV segment. I’ll have limited city (Bangalore) drive, but will have more long-weekend drives and no chauffeur. My maximum budget is 8lakhs and average annual usage will be around 10~12,000km and planning this purchase in two months time, i.e. by Jan 2010.

Should I go for Diesel to reduce fuel cost? (12k/annum being a Diesel territory)
Should I go for Patrol to reduce maintenance cost? (May be I’m wrong here)
Should I go for a new or used car in current market conditions?

I’ve gone through the ARTICLE: Buying a New Car vs Used Car & The real cost of car ownership by GTO. They are informative and well written, thanks to GTO. Also I referred http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/398485-post190.html (Maruti Swift diesel @ Rs 4.68 lakh) and my confusion remains and request your valuable time to help me decide.

Considering the reliability, comfort, features, performance, fuel efficiency and low maintenance cost, which one would be the best? I’m aware that we cannot have all the above conditions in once choice, but would like to know what would be the best pick which satisfies most of the criteria.

Any help/input is greatly appreciated.

[shankar.balan]

there is a bit of a myth about Diesel and Petrol. for one thing the new Diesel vehicles are every bit as refined as their petrol counterparts. Diesel is cleaner burning than petrol too.
However given that the initial acquisition cost of a Diesel vehicle is higher than a petrol one, one has to do a reasonable amount of driving in a year to maximize the benefit. Which is why most people feel you should do at least 50km per day - 1500 km per month to justify the purchase price of a Diesel vehicle. (I personally do not subscribe to this theory for different reasons.)

Now for example if you intend doing long weekend drives without a chauffeur then you may well benefit from having a diesel car because this will probably motivate you to go out of town more often. (It certainly motivates me, I can tell you!)

Depending on the no of passengers you usually take and the amount of luggage you intend carrying and if you are buying new then your choice would probably be best made from nice modern vehicles like SX4/ Verna/ Fiesta/ Fusion/ I 20/ Grande Punto/ Linea etc OR a base version Xylo/ Scorpio/ Safari if you are looking at the MUV/SUV segment.

The cars (as distinct from MUV/SUV's) as listed above come pretty loaded with goodies, have excellent petrol versions and for the most part, some excellent Diesels too - I only have a few reservations about the diesel Linea since I feel it is a bit underpowered for its weight.

In case you're ok with used vehicles, you may get an excellent Elantra Crdi with all the fixings if you look hard enough OR even a bigger sedan if you so wish. And in this case you wont have to blow away the 8 lacs either!

You can even consider an used Innova G or even V version which you should be able to crack at about 8-ish.

Just keep in mind that if you are planning to use it predominantly in the city, then you may be better off picking up a car rather than an MUV/SUV - simply because of parking and other similar woes.

[quote=wmanu;1553451]Friends,

I’m located in Bangalore and planning to upgrade my drive from Swift Zxi (2006, 20k Km) to one in C+, D or SUV/MUV segment. I’ll have limited city (Bangalore) drive, but will have more long-weekend drives and no chauffeur. My maximum budget is 8lakhs and average annual usage will be around 10~12,000km and planning this purchase in two months time, i.e. by Jan 2010.

Should I go for Diesel to reduce fuel cost? (12k/annum being a Diesel territory)
Should I go for Patrol to reduce maintenance cost? (May be I’m wrong here)
Should I go for a new or used car in current market conditions?

[wmanu]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Now for example if you intend doing long weekend drives without a chauffeur then you may well benefit from having a diesel car because this will probably motivate you to go out of town more often. (It certainly motivates me, I can tell you!)

Thanks for your views, Shankar. I too love long drives.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Depending on the no of passengers you usually take and the amount of luggage you intend carrying and if you are buying new then your choice would probably be best made from nice modern vehicles like SX4/ Verna/ Fiesta/ Fusion/ I 20/ Grande Punto/ Linea etc OR a base version Xylo/ Scorpio/ Safari if you are looking at the MUV/SUV segment.

I certainly don’t want to go for another hatchback, so i20, Punto etc are ruled out. The one I choose should have significant improvement in performance, comfort and features compared to the Swift. The one should be a real upgrade from the Swift.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

In case you're ok with used vehicles, you may get an excellent Elantra Crdi with all the fixings if you look hard enough OR even a bigger sedan if you so wish. And in this case you wont have to blow away the 8 lacs either!

I would love to go with used diesel sedans like Sonata Embera or Optra Magnum, if they fit well in my budget. Any idea about maintenance costs of Embera and Magnum? I feel that Elantra is bit outdated and out of production too. Any other models which I miss in C+ or D?

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

You can even consider an used Innova G or even V version which you should be able to crack at about 8-ish.

Yes, Innova should be included in the shortlisted models.