Re: ARTICLE: How to buy a *NEW* car in India Noob car buyer looking for 'the' car with a budget between 15-30L. Please help!
Hi all,
This is my first post since joining Team BHP. I've been a reader on and off for many years but a recent interest in buying a new car has me spending a lot of time on various TBHP threads and reviews. This has fortunately helped me realise the level of my current 'noob-ness'. Hoping to learn from your opinions and responses to this post. Context: A little over a decade ago is when I helped my dad buy the first family car. He was not too keen but had to get rid of his beloved Bajaj Chetak on the advice of doctors for some back pain he'd developed. They advised him to get a car for daily commute to work. Dad wanted a compact car that would be easier to manoeuvre in the city and we ended up checking out MS WagonR, Hyundai i10, Abarth Punto, VW Polo, and the Ford Figo. While I distinctly remember the cockpit like interiors in the Punto, dad felt the most comfortable in VW Polo and Ford Figo. Given the price difference, went ahead with Ford Figo and he uses it till date without much fuss over the years. I remember the decision making being so much simpler back then.
Over the past decade I've lived and studied across Lucknow, Pune, Gurugram, Trichy, Chennai and finally settled in Bengaluru since 2019. Given the nomadic lifestyle, I never considered buying a car and was content with a Himalayan I bought in 2018. My wife has owned a MS Swift since before we started dating. I didn't bother getting another one given the traffic in Bengaluru, and continued using the Himalayan for daily commute. Fast forward Post Covid and the tech world going remote, we've moved to an apartment complex on the outskirts of the city, away from the narrow roads and crawling traffic. My current employer has permanently gone remote in a bid to hire globally, and while the wife may have to return to a hybrid model and travel to an office in the city eventually, we're clear that we do not want her to drive all the way, and will likely get a cab/taxi service. We're looking to upgrade, and here are the considerations,
1. The current car being manual, we definitely want to upgrade to an automatic transmission
2. We enjoy going on road trips (have used Zoomcars for the past few years, but given that we're away from the city, limited options and too much hassle) - so the car needs to have good highway manners, long range driving comfort. I enjoy cruising along at a reasonable pace (80-100 kmph) but do need the additional punch to overtake larger vehicles. The current pace might be a function of the kind of cars we've been driving, but I don't suspect my style of driving to change overnight
3. Given the fauji upbringing (dad serves with the armed forces), I'm big on safety first and risk management. Need 5 star NCAP safety rating and reasonable performance on the moose test
4. Not too fussed about after sales experience (its important enough to make the list), but definitely want to stay away from dealers/brands that are notorious for poor experience or unable to give decent sales experience (looking at you PPS VW, Bengaluru!)
With this context and list, here are the few options we checked out,
1. Honda City 5th Gen One of the TDs we took, good experience where the SA was knowledgable and explained relevant features. Liked the drive experience and the top variant fits easily in budget. Heard poor reviews about GC on hilly/bad roads, and highway stability (light Asian chassis). Nearly made up our mind but decided to explore further based on the negative reviews
2. TATA Harrier Very poor sales experience, the SA barely knew anything about the car or cared to explain answers. I liked the Harrier overall, but both wife and I felt it was a bit too big. To be fair, it was the first SUV styled car we test drove
3. VW Taigun Visited the VW showroom and while the transmission and engine of the Taigun instantly impressed, the interiors and exteriors (we're don't fancy chrome as much) definitely does not do justice to the price tag. Build quality in 2.0 is definitely not comparable with what is expected from VW. The SA bad-mouthed Kushaq plenty and given we were unimpressed with the interiors and exteriors of the Taigun, have not yet checked out the Kushaq
4. MG Astor Loved the looks and you can feel how premium the interior cabin is. We loved every bit of the ADAS features (despite the creepy toy staring at us all the time) and for a bit even forgot about the lack of proven history and reliability of MG in India, or the lack of official NCAP ratings. Were jolted back to reality when we asked the SA to drive and decided to check out the rear seat. Comfort is not what comes to mind while trying to describe the under thigh support or the recline angle
5. XUV 700 Had a short TD of this with a couple of other friends - I would have gone for a 5-seater version of the car in the AX7 trim. Nothing particularly wrong with the car, just that it being a 7-seater felt a bit much considering 95% of the time our car will only have 2 passengers
6. Jeep Compass This was a tough one cause we initially did not want to spend over 20-22L, but an article on a finance website assured us it was wise to spend upto 50% of gross annual income on a new car, and based on the stories we told ourself about keeping the next car for 8-10 years, we increased the budget to 30L and went for a TD. Enjoyed the test drive, the car felt very planted and solid throughout without any body roll whatsoever. This was clearly a segment above everything else we had seen so far. I was quite impressed with everything on offer and zeroed in on the Limited AT 1.4L. Made an INR 20K transfer as booking amount (fully refundable) a couple of weeks ago, and haven't yet had any update about expected delivery date.
If you survived reading till this point, here's where the problem statement begins. I've now started questioning whether its prudent to spend INR 30L for the kind of usage I am likely going to have (no daily commute, occasional drives to the city, weekend trips once a month, a 5 day trip once a quarter). Also, is it normal to experience some buyer's remorse when buying your first car?
I've read a lot about pre-worshipped cars on this platform but don't consider myself informed enough to be able to judge what's a good bargain/judge the quality of a used car. Hence would prefer sticking to a new car at least this time.
Are there any other options I should be checking out? The strongest contenders at this time seem to be Honda City and Jeep Compass - does my usage pattern justify a spend upwards of INR 20L?
Thanks in advance! |