[ToyotaFan]

Originally Posted by Peripatetic

Advice on buying a New Car in India

I understand that the Honda City 2017 is a BIG improvement over what i own , but i would now prefer some other brand . My 10 yr old daughter has demanded that the next car should be a SUV with a sunroof !!! , I did some research and unfortunately none of the SUV or Cross overs in my budget would have one! . Can i please have some suggestions while i try to convince my daughter to adjust without a sunroof , Otherwise I might just end up with another City...

Other than Honda there is no other mass market manufacturer offering a sun roof in India. The only options you have are the WRV which fits rights into your crossover requirement and the City. You may look at the Creta the de facto choice in the segment and even wait for the new S cross and the Ecosport.

[mrinmoy_s]

I am going to ask a question to this learned community which would hopefully be able to describe the precarious state of mind I am in. This is not mind vs heart and this may not seem a relevant question to many.
I am thinking of buying a new car by December 2017 or early 2018. The dilemma that I am in is whether to go for the Skoda Octavia 1.8 TSI or the Jeep Compass! Following are the salient points:
1) I drive a Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI MT (2014). The car has been an absolute delight to me till date with no mechanical or electrical trouble and has clocked 41k Km in the last 3 years. My experience with ill-famed Skoda A.S.S has been manageable in Mumbai. I still enjoy driving the car and love the way the car transforms itself every-time I unleash her on the highways and she erases most of the cars below the C2 segment from the rear view mirror. However, the vulgar desire for more has been bothering me for sometime now. And there comes the dilemma.
2) I have a bad habit of taking test drives of most of the cars even if they are beyond my immediate affordability. In fact, I have test driven almost all the cars that cost south of INR 50 Lakhs (barring the new Fortuner, Camry and the Jaguars).
3) During these test drives over the last one year, I had decided that my next car would either be the 320D, if I can stretch my budget till 50L or the Octavia 1.8 TSI if I am forced to remain below half of that mark. It was love at first ride for both these cars.
4) Fast forward to present day: The Bimmer is financially out of reach and thus the Octy becomes the natural choice. Frankly, I could not fathom the justifications behind any other sedan like the CLA or A4 over the Octy. So if it was not the RWD 3-Series, it had to be the Octy 1.8 TSI.
5) The comments, albeit from the passenger seats from the immediate family came as shockers to me - "The Octavia feels like slightly bigger Rapid", "It doesn't feel special" etc etc. And then came the obvious question during this monsoon - "Given the road conditions of Mumbai, doesn't a SUV make more sense?", "Can the Octy take us to the much talked about Ladakh trip or other cross country trips?"
6) My answer to the SUV question was - "I am not a big fan of the SUVs under 30L as they are hardly true SUVs. And the Fortuner, Endy and the Pajero are above 35L On-Road Mumbai and thus should not be considered."
7) But this is when emerged the coveted Jeep Compass, equipped with a brilliant pricing by Jeep India. I am yet to test drive it as the dealerships are too busy managing the high demand to bring the TD car to my preferred location and are requesting me to come to the showroom which are in extremely crowded areas of Mumbai and I can't really feel the car well. But T-BHP and other reviews say its probably 'the perfect SUV' (no offence to the Creta owners) in this range that goes off the roads with ease and drives like a car on the highways.

Now, following are my considerations and I need some advice to decide:
1) A well built vehicle with all safety features.
2) A vehicle that handles well and is fast enough to give the thrills and leave others (anything below the 3-series) to dust.
3) Preferably an automatic (Manual is not completely ruled out) but not CVT
4) Features, other than safety are not deal breakers.
5) After enduring and successfully surviving Skoda A.S.S, I don't think I will worry too much about that.
6) An SUV only if the above conditions are met.
7) And the most important consideration - On Road Mumbai < INR 26-27L

Can I get some wise help here?

[hserus]

Keep the Rapid and upgrade its ICE, give it a pro detailing job, some extra accessories.

Spend even a lakh on this and that should get the new car itch out of your system.

[mrinmoy_s]

Originally Posted by hserus

Keep the Rapid and upgrade its ICE, give it a pro detailing job, some extra accessories.

Spend even a lakh on this and that should get the new car itch out of your system.

I had mentioned in my post that other than safety, features like fancy ICE or accessories are not really my criteria/deal makers.

The itch is for a faster and a better handling car. Spending a lakh for remap can still be an option, but the accessories won't act as itch guard in my case.

[arit.mondal]

Hi, I have booked a new Verna from Trident Hosur. This is my first experience buying a car. Now the SA is telling me to transfer the amount ASAP even before I have seen the car to get price protection.
My question to the experts here:
-What is the right point of payment for a newly launched car
-If I have to pay in advance, what the are the documents/proofs I should ask my dealer to cover all scenarios
I am planning to buy in full cash, maybe issue a cheque. Will be getting insurance from outside.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by arit.mondal

Hi, I have booked a new Verna from Trident Hosur. This is my first experience buying a car. Now the SA is telling me to transfer the amount ASAP even before I have seen the car to get price protection.
My question to the experts here:
-What is the right point of payment for a newly launched car
-If I have to pay in advance, what the are the documents/proofs I should ask my dealer to cover all scenarios
I am planning to buy in full cash, maybe issue a cheque. Will be getting insurance from outside.

Even assuming nothing shady is happening here, you should NEVER pay before you've had a chance to inspect the product to your satisfaction, esp. one costing ~million rupees. It's a lot of money, and there's no returns for defective items.

The correct sequence should be book > inspect (PDI) > pay in full > register > inspect on delivery day > drive away.

Don't try to save a penny and cost yourself (potentially) a pound later.

[arit.mondal]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

The correct sequence should be book > inspect (PDI) > pay in full > register > inspect on delivery day > drive away.

Don't try to save a penny and cost yourself (potentially) a pound later.

Hi Chetan, thanks for your clear answer. Couple of more questions:
-Should I pay the amount on the day of registration or immediately after PDI? If it's the latter, what happens if dealer delays registration/delivery procedure?
-Is it expected that the dealer will update my booking form during full payment? Or is the payment receipt supposed to have the vehicle/chassis number as the confirmation?

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by arit.mondal

Hi Chetan, thanks for your clear answer. Couple of more questions:
-Should I pay the amount on the day of registration or immediately after PDI? If it's the latter, what happens if dealer delays registration/delivery procedure?
-Is it expected that the dealer will update my booking form during full payment? Or is the payment receipt supposed to have the vehicle/chassis number as the confirmation?

The norm usually is to obtain the VIN from the dealer and verify the car's manufacturing date. Since this is a new model, it's redundant as the chances of getting an old car is absent.

Once you've completed a PDI and are satisfied with the allotted car, you can release full payment and proceed with invoicing, which is the step where you become the owner of the car. The dealer has nothing to gain by delaying things at this point, since you're now the owner on record. The dealer will then initiate registration with RTO.

One delivery day, please inspect the car again for any damages and verify that everything is in place (including accessories you may have ordered). Do remember to collect all paperwork.

You may want to give your SA a token gift, and also take a tour of the service facilities (getting to know the service manager and staff is always a plus).

All set, drive away with your prized possession.

[sridhu]

HI

To aid people buying a new car, I have uploaded my 'research' spreadsheet. Basically it was difficult to compare cars across manufacturers. This spreadsheet aims to help make sense of the clutter.

Here is the spreadsheet: Hatchback Comparo (SridharLaptop's conflicted copy 2017-10-12).xlsx

In my case, I was choosing an Automatic B+ Hatchback. It narrowed down to the Baleno Zeta & the Jazz V CVT (the S has been stopped). So, these 2 cars have extensive details, which are correct as of yesterday.

The spreadsheet has 3 sections:
Basic information

Price, dimensions etc

Subjective assessment

Positives & negatives that YOU liked in the car. May not be important to the manufacturer or others

Feature Comparison

A list of all features in this segment. It is intended to be answered "Yes" if the feature is present or "NO", if it is not.
After this, there are 3 columns. The first does a simple compare of the value in the 2 cars and marks "Y" if the values are different. The second column is again a subjective assessment if that feature is important to YOU.
For example, I dont really care about key less start but it could be important to you.
The sheet changes colour of the rows if the feature is different.
It also changes colour of the row if any one row is marked with a "TBD" in case you do not know if that feature is present. If it is important to you, you ask about that feature to the SA specifically.

The intent is, after you fill all the features, you look at all the Ys in the important column and see if it is different between the cars. If it is, then you figure out which version you like better and mark it in the winner. Theoretically, the car with the maximum winners in the features with are different should be your choice.

But, I found that ultimately, you make the decision emotionally and look at the spreadsheet to justify the decision!

Too much work for basically an emotional decision? Yes. But like a wise man once said "If you are not able to decide between 2 equally good alternatives, then toss a coin. You will know your decision based on whether you want it to be heads or tails"!

[SR-71]

At the risk of repeating...

During a PDI, how do I identify if the car has been placed in the showroom floor and/or displayed in the malls and so on. More often than not dealers display brand new cars in malls and showrooms and these are prone to abuse. But the seat plastic wrap an other tell tale signs can easily be masked. So how do I identify the car I buy is not an display abused piece.

[pawan_pullarwar]

My friend is buying new Volkswagen Ameo, he is getting December 2017 manufactured car. Is it ok to buy December 17 manufactured car at the end of Feb 18 ?

[hserus]

Originally Posted by pawan_pullarwar

My friend is buying new Volkswagen Ameo, he is getting December 2017 manufactured car. Is it ok to buy December 17 manufactured car at the end of Feb 18 ?

If he keeps the car for eight to ten years, there should be no difference. If he resells it after 2..3 years then the resale value is that of a 2017 car not a 2018 car.

[bhaskar.guru]

Hi all,

I am planning to upgrade my car. But I am not sure which one to take as the thing is that in the hatchback space, Petrol cars are not that appealing and in the Diesel space, we do have some good options but with the BS-VI regulations that are going to launch in a year or two would render a few Diesel engines non-compliant, for e.g. Fiat 1.3 MJD used in Fiat, Maruti, Chevy, Tatas, Volkswagen 1.5 TDI etc.

What I want to know is if any of these manufacturers(especially Ford, leaning towards Freestyle) are planning to upgrade their engines to BS-VI regulations and what would happen to all the existing BS-IV compliant Diesel engines on road once the BS-VI regulations come in to force.

Does that mean all these engines would be rendered non-compliant and we shouldn't be using them?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Bhaskar

[hserus]

Converting BS IV engines to BS VI won't be easily possible. As and when it comes in I'd guess they'll introduce it in a phased manner, and the registration of existing vehicles won't be affected for quite some years.

There are also some weird sounding mandates - about running BS VI engines on BS IV fuel. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...-fuel-too.html

[bhaskar.guru]

Originally Posted by hserus

Converting BS IV engines to BS VI won't be easily possible. As and when it comes in I'd guess they'll introduce it in a phased manner, and the registration of existing vehicles won't be affected for quite some years.
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Thank you sir but the question still remains if a person like should even consider diesel options considering all the changes scheduled to come in the next one or two years.