Which CAR should I go for within 2L budget..

[DesertKing]

Dear Friends,

My profile: Working at a white colour job where I need to visit customers too.
Earning: Rs 25K / PM
Age: 33
# Of Family members: 4
Have owned: Maruti 800 (2006-2008) and 4WD Jeep MM540 (2008-2010). I had to sold off the Jeep recently as it is not practical to keep a Jeep as the only vehicle (my wife hates her).
Travel: 13K Kms per year (8500 city & 4500 High way)
Budget: Only Rs 2L

Prefer Diesel car (Assuming running cost is less), but experts can suggest what will be the best for my profile.

I need a car which is good looking, good fuel effiecient, if possible less expensive to maintain and AC.

What I have thinked so far are as follows (all used one)...

Zen Diesel.
Indica Turbo
Esteem MPFI.
Esteem and swape the engine to Toyota (I have seen some in my town and the owner are happy)
An Ikon in which the engine is swaped to Nissan CD17 engine. I have driven it and it seems me good. Asking price is 1.20 L
Maruti Alto with AC.

Please let me know if you need any other information for a better input. I have already regreted my earlier decisions so I have decided to see the openion of T-BHPian.

Please help me decide. Thanks a lot in advance.

[Live To Jive]

Indica Turbo is the best bet. Conversion to diesel for the Esteem or Ikon are illegal.

[DCEite]

1. You don't need a diesel car given your running.
2. Strike off Zen D, Ikon D and Indica Turbo from the list as they are maintanance heavy.
3. Look at the following cars: A 2006/7 Alto LXi/ 2004/2005 WagonR or Santro
4. Personally i would suggest the WagonR ( you can get a 2005 LXi model if you bargain hard
5. Don't get into swapping and stuff. It will be a lot of bother.

[DesertKing]

Originally Posted by Live To Jive

Indica Turbo is the best bet. Conversion to diesel for the Esteem or Ikon are illegal.

In Rajasthan, conversion is no problem and I can have the new engine registered in RTO atleast in my town. Pls consider this and give me your advice.

If still Indica Turbo than, please advice me what should be maximum KM run and which year make I can have in my budget.

[vasudeva]

Engine swap. Even if it is possible, the risks involved seem considerable.
Except for a used Esteem and Alto, all the other options mentioned look risky to me.
Maybe they could be considered, if I had money to burn and wanted no other.
Are these outdated and modified jobs the only options available in your patch.

[ajitkommini]

Whichever car you buy, the total cost will include a lot of spending on maintenance and repairs. This is especially true if you buy a second hand car, so make sure you factor this in to your decision.

[Live To Jive]

Originally Posted by DesertKing

In Rajasthan, conversion is no problem and I can have the new engine registered in RTO atleast in my town. Pls consider this and give me your advice.

If still Indica Turbo than, please advice me what should be maximum KM run and which year make I can have in my budget.

I would still advise you against the conversion. Other have also sugessted the same. I just picked up the Indica Turbo from your list but you could also pick a normal Indica or a Palio D. Kms are not so important provided that the maintanence is done properly. You'll find diesel with 50K kms in very bad condition and those with 1 Lakh + km in perfect condition. It all depends on how the previous owner maintained the car.

[DesertKing]

Got it!! So conversion is out of question and I should only focus on petrol Cars with good FE or good conditioned diesel car (very difficult in this budget).

Can you please suggest me some petrol cars with good FE and AC with there FE figures. I guess they should be (in same sequence) Alto, Zen MPFI, Esteem MPFI, Santro.. Pls add if I missed out something or if you want to change the sequence. I think for better FE, I can also consider LPG kit (does it worked well with MPFI too).

In diesel my choice should be limited with Indica and Indica Turbo.

Sorry if I am asking too much.

[aargee]

Pls help me understand something here.
1. What are you referring to 2L budget as? Is it the downpayment or the entire money allocated for the car?
2. If you're loaning out how much are you planning to loan apart from the 2L?
3. If you're not loaning out, then I think you're planning for a used car. Correct this assumption of mine.

Anyways, you can straight away knock off Zen D. If you're taking a used car then you can knock off Indica D. Not sure if you can get a IkonD & Esteem MPFI for the budget you're looking at.

Here's what I did
Assuming that you don't loan out any money & I compared Indica & Alto
Total Kms = 130000
Avg price of Petrol = 50
Avg price of Diesel = 35

Mileage of Alto & Indica = 15 (lets take this as standard)

So for 13000 Kms you need 867 lts of petrol or diesel. For Alto 867 X 50 = 43350 & for Indica 867 X 35 = 30345 with the difference being 13005. But do not forget the maintenance part where the diesel is more than petrol & the A.S.S of Tata vs Maruti. I'm not sure about the maintenance on Indica, but for my Petrol WagonR (5 years old) costs about 8-10K per annum(thanks to the jay bikers & tata aces). If some Indica owners can suggest the maintenance cost, then I'm sure you'll get some light here.

[bblost]

I recommend the Alto.

As per Maruti Alto
MARUTI ALTO STD BS III (WITH IMMOBILISER) 233964.10

MARUTI ALTO LX BS III (WITH IMMOBILISER) 265625.25 (With AC)

The roi for a new car loan is much lower than for a used car.
Please factor that in your actual costs.

If the tenure for the loan is 5 years, the extra 70k for a new car will not be a big difference in the EMI.


Just an afterthought:
MARUTI EECO 5 STR WITH A/C+HTR 298441.18
http://marutisuzukieeco.in/

[scooby05]

Buy a NANO. You can check with the dealers and if some allotee does not want the car, you can pick her up. She is very nice, and eye catching too!! Pick up the extended warranty so no hassles for 3 years.

[DesertKing]

Originally Posted by aargee

Pls help me understand something here.
1. What are you referring to 2L budget as? Is it the downpayment or the entire money allocated for the car?
2. If you're loaning out how much are you planning to loan apart from the 2L?
3. If you're not loaning out, then I think you're planning for a used car. Correct this assumption of mine.

1. I was originally refering to 2L cash that I have but now I will discuss with my homeminister (wife) and try to convince her for a car loan with down payment of 1.5 to 2.00L.
2. I still come to any conclusion, I might opt max 2 Lac loan.
3. I was originally looking for used car only but I am on a different direction now after disusion with all you TEAM-BHPians

Originally Posted by aargee

Here's what I did
Assuming that you don't loan out any money & I compared Indica & Alto
Total Kms = 130000
Avg price of Petrol = 50
Avg price of Diesel = 35

Mileage of Alto & Indica = 15 (lets take this as standard)

So for 13000 Kms you need 867 lts of petrol or diesel. For Alto 867 X 50 = 43350 & for Indica 867 X 35 = 30345 with the difference being 13005. But do not forget the maintenance part where the diesel is more than petrol & the A.S.S of Tata vs Maruti. I'm not sure about the maintenance on Indica, but for my Petrol WagonR (5 years old) costs about 8-10K per annum(thanks to the jay bikers & tata aces). If some Indica owners can suggest the maintenance cost, then I'm sure you'll get some light here.

The cost compare between petrol are eye opening. Thanks aargee, you made it very point to point

Originally Posted by bblost

I recommend the Alto.

As per Maruti Alto
MARUTI ALTO STD BS III (WITH IMMOBILISER) 233964.10

MARUTI ALTO LX BS III (WITH IMMOBILISER) 265625.25 (With AC)

The roi for a new car loan is much lower than for a used car.
Please factor that in your actual costs.

If the tenure for the loan is 5 years, the extra 70k for a new car will not be a big difference in the EMI.


Just an afterthought:
MARUTI EECO 5 STR WITH A/C+HTR 298441.18
Maruti Suzuki Eeco ? Happiness family size!

Your above suggestion only made me think about buying a new vehicle . Thanks bro.

Originally Posted by scooby05

Buy a NANO. You can check with the dealers and if some allotee does not want the car, you can pick her up. She is very nice, and eye catching too!! Pick up the extended warranty so no hassles for 3 years.

Sorry I do not like Nano.

================================

I have visited today to check the local price of Alto but found Wagon R Deo LXI more intresting. The cost of Wagon R LXI (AC, PS and heater) is around 4 L.

Thank went to check the Santo SL LPG price (AC, PS and heater), it is aprox 3.86 with discount and also with a CD player.

I also went to check Chevorlet Sparks, it nice moder car but I do not like the look (compare to Wagon R and Santo.

Also thought to check the price of new Indica and understood that Indica (54 BHP) cost is 3.84L for DLS II with PS and AC. Vista (70BHP) price is 4.14L with PS, AC and heater.

All the above rates after the discount offer and valid for Feb10 only where as I can not buy before mid of March.

I think these car companies will not offer any discount in March as they have better sales.

Also heard that the excise duty etc are going to increase in March, does anybody have any clue.

WHAT DO YOU SAY???

PS :: thanks to all of you for your valuable suggestions, you are changing my mind.

[vinod_nookala]

Naren,
It was nice to have a discussion with you yesterday.

If strictly on budget of 2 lakhs (if you have ready cash)

Go for a used ZEn or even Maruti esteem or rather any maruti or Hyundai product. No tension vehicles these are. Do not go for diesels in this price as they would have already been driven considerably and maintenance cost is very high

If you are taking loan of two lakhs and if you are prepared to spend up to 5,000 to Rs 6000 per moenth i suggest you to go for a brand new car

If brand new (petrol)-

Alto/ spark/ Santro/Wagon R

If brand new LPG -

Santro/ Wagon R


The above vehicles are tension free and will serve you for good seven years.

p.s Discounts will always be available. You get best discounts during end of year or during festival season typically around October /November. If your need is urgent just go and pick up the car. There would never be the best and the last sweetest deal on earth.

[shankar.balan]

@DesertKing: you might do well to consider the Chevy Beat base version - put your 2 lacs down as a down payment - take a 1.5 lac loan and you have a snazzy new car at your doorstep.
EMI cost per lac per month should not be too high if you go to HDFC/ SBI/AXIS Bank.
Best part is that you have the best of both worlds - a brand new car + a contemporary vehicle. With GM being so aggressive on the after sales experience and the minimal costs of maintenance etc as promised, you wont have to worry for the next 3 years atleast, by which time (im sure) you will be at a higher earning bracket too!
Your wife also will appreciate the Chevy Beat. It really IS a nice car!
All the best!

[aargee]

Originally Posted by DesertKing

All the above rates after the discount offer and valid for Feb10 only where as I can not buy before mid of March.

I think these car companies will not offer any discount in March as they have better sales.

I'd suggest you to keep visiting them (Maruti,Hyundai & GM) & during each visit they should be assured that you're buying their car but until then keep asking for more & more discounts but never mention the booking date; keep saying you're looking for good discount, more accessories etc.

By 31-Mar/01-Apr, I'm sure all of them will give you a call & provide you the maximum discount (fiscal year end sale) they can afford.

Alto is a very good, trusted, proven car no doubt for that matter all your choices are good. But one small suggestion for you is that, whatever car you choose, try to select the top end variant.

Good Luck