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-   -   ARTICLE: The Best (used) Enthusiast cars for 6 lakh rupees! Or less (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying-car/71707-article-best-used-enthusiast-cars-6-lakh-rupees-less-53.html)

It most definitely is a brilliant car to drive. If a 1.3 Linea is considered an enthusiast's car, then this most certainly is. Yes it could handle a more powerful motor, but the steering, handling, ride, and stability is a treat in itself.

Hi Guys,

Need your inputs on the following dilemma

Situation
I am a guy who loves to change cars after 2-2.5 years. I have gained sufficient expertise in buying pre-worshipped cars. I no longer have to get the car verified by the FNG. I have bought the following cars in the pre-owned mode

1. Zen Jelly Bean 1999 (my first car)
2. Fiat Palio 1.2 Sport 2002
3. Honda Civic V 2007
4. Zen Tiger Model 2004 (for wifey)
5. Maruti Swift VXI 2007

Complication
I moved to Bangalore in 2014. When I moved from Mumbai, I had my Civic and my Zen. I decided to sell both cars and buy a used car in Bangalore which both of Us (me and my wife) could drive. The primary reason was the pressure from Bangalore Cops to pay local taxes which was coming out to be fairly high for the Civic. In addition, had only one parking in Bangalore.

So I bought the Swift (which was a major downgrade from the Civic), but wait! The Swift I bought was no ordinary Swift. It had the following mods

1. K&N cool air intake system
2. K&N airfilter
3. Performance Headers
4. SPOILER
5. Speed modification alloyes - 205/65
6. yokohoma r1 drive tyres
7. sony double din player
8. 13" pioneer woofer (which will cover 70% of teh space at the rear)
9. JBL amplifier
10. JBL speakers

This car is a hoot to drive and will bring a smile to anyone's face after a highway round.

Question
Now coming to the point. My wife is not driving a lot and the car is used by me almost 99% of the time. I really miss my Civic and the urge (Keeda) to change the car has been biting me for sometime. I am all over the place in my decision to change my car. My thoughts keep shuttling between the following cars

1. Used Honda Civic with Sunroof (2012 model with higher clearance)
2. Used Honda CRV with Sunroof
3. Used Renault Duster AWD
4. Used Toyota Fortuner
5. Used BMW 3 Series
6. Paint the Swift in a custom shade and retain the car, since she is completely drool worthy

I have been wanting to start some offroading hence a few SUVs in the mix above. My needs are not very specific. I drive the car over the weekends mostly with monthly Running less than 300 kms. I am a complete heart guys when it comes to cars. I like to own cars which will make me smile everyday seeing the car in my Garage (though I dont drive it everyday).

Frankly speaking, such urge seems to be the side-effect of watching all the people having fun with their rides, going off-road, blazing the race track and list goes on.

This urge is certainly a curse if you are on a tight budget or if we have more than one ride already with us, even I have had the urge to swap my bikes often and found it to be not worth it. Last bike I bought was a KTM Duke 200(used), I've to decide that I will hold on the KTM until something major goes wrong (like engine issue), till then have decided to never consider anything else.

If you have the money, go for the Fortuner and enjoy the peace of mind while chasing your heart at the same time, else you can just mod the swift like no one else and have something unique.

P.S: Do we have any threads dedicated to this interesting topic of itch to upgrade?

I have been browsing for Laura 1.8 TSI for a while now. As I’m from Kerala, the resale down here is quite a bit on the higher side. Any clues on how much will the re-registration charges are going to be in Kerala, if I source any from some other state.?.

Premium cars with high ex-showroom price and which have low resale in Kerala, are not worth transferring. Better wait, search and buy from Kerala.

You might get the car a lac or more less but, remember a car worth more than 15 lacs will have a road-tax of 15%. Also, the expense of bringing it to Kerala and the headache. Also, selling re-registered cars in Kerala is not easy like in the metros.

Thanks for that thoughtful reply. I have been browsing Lauras rom other state just during the interim when I could’nt find a Fiesta 1.6 S. If everything goes well, I’d be getting one in Paprika Red by next month :)

Guys , how much price should a 1 lakh driven OHC VTEC of 2003 vintage command? Am getting anything from 2.1 to 4!
Also what about 2004 Lancer done 74k asking- 2lakhs!

Have always liked these cars when I was a kid.
Thinking of buying a project car but don’t want to spend too much.
Thanks

I am not sure if this is the right place for this or if could be treated as a separate thread. Mods: Please treat it as appropriate.



I have always wondered if one should measure the engine age of a car should be measured in terms of kilometers on the odometer or by the number of hours that the engine has run.


For example, a car that has predominantly run in thick city traffic may average about 20 Km/hr. On the other hand, a car that has predominantly been driven on highways may average about 60 Km/hr. The averages may be on the higher and lower side respectively, but then, this just an example. So, if two cars have run, say 30000 Kms each, one predominantly in thick city traffic and the other predominantly on the highways would have run 1,500 hours and 500 respectively. The same distance may have been covered in, say, 5 years for the former (about 500 kms a month) and about a year (about 3000-4000 kms a month) for the latter.



Given an identical car and other parameters, from the above, we have two cars
a. 30000 Kms, (predominantly city driven) 5 year old car
b. 30000 Kms, (predominantly highway driven) 1 year old car


Most often we do not have the information of where the car is driven most of the time. So, which car would one choose in this situation in the absence of where the car has been used? Are we making the right choice?


As an extension, oil change / service is recommended by time (even if not run) / distance covered. Would it not be appropriate to have this carried out based on the duration that the engine is run rather than distance covered? Considering most (if not all) cars do not have a count of number of hours that an engine is run, isn't it time that this is included into the HUD?

The fact of the matter is that in the real world, things are not as simple. You may have a car that is predominantly driven in the city where the engine clocks more hours than kms, but the driver tends to shift up into higher gears earlier, lugging the engine and thus slowly affecting its lifespan. Then you may have another driver who switches off the AC when car is idling and does loads of other preventive measures to ensure his engine is treated well.
Out on the highway as well, where cars clock more kilometers than time, you might have one car that is treated to premium fuel once in a while, in order to keep its injectors clean, driven extremely sensibly etc. and you might have another owned by a hot blooded college teen who likes to keep the engine singing at high revs, and pay as little as possible for routine maintenance.

The best way to judge a car's motor's health, is to first of all drive one in good shape perhaps owned by a friend or an acquaintance who is not looking to sell his car but is fine by you driving it to get a feel of what a well maintained example is like, then when inspecting the used car, check its exhaust, its idle, its oil, the feel of the engine in terms of smoothness, response, no power delivery gaps etc. If you do not have the feel or sensitivity towards these minute details, then I'd suggest staying away from the used market until time and experience endows you with the skill to reasonably judge the health of a car's engine.

I have driven cars that have done 2.3 lac kms over a span of more than a decade, whose engines feel better than cars that have done 50k kms over the span of 3 years. The truth of the matter is that it would be stupid to assume that one single factor like odo reading or time logged by the engine, is enough to judge the motor's health.

Help needed guys, off late i have been attracted to buying a used Cruze for its sheer power delivery and muscle looks, however my friends and few car dealers have been suggesting otherwise with things like:

1. Chevrolet is done & dusted in India so finding spares will be very tough.

2. The car's service cost is too high with regular change in disc pads.

3. Spares if available will be too costly and the wait periods will be excruciatingly long.

4. it will be too difficult to resell a discontinued product from a discontinued company.

I feel that buying a used Cruze (preferably AT) will be cheap and shall invoke and satisfy the enthusiast in me , however the points above are steering me away from the same.

Since i do not want to rely on hear say from uninformed people around me, i would like some advice on the same so that i am clear on my stand whether to go for it and close the chapter once and for all.

All the above points are valid enough reason to stay away from a Chevrolet. Any Chevrolet. Spares are prohibitively expensive and won't be easy to source. While you may end up getting a car cheap, the upkeep cost will make up for it. Keeping aside up keep cost, another more important reason to stay away is the diesel engine which is one among many that have failed emission regulations in global markets. India is clamping down on this pretty hard these days so something to keep in mind.

For similar money, you can get a nice Honda City. While not exactly enthusiast grade, is pretty quick. Spares and service will be the least of your worries too.

Since the thread is fairly old, I believe it is time to redo the list for 2019. A quick take on Best (used) Enthusiast cars for 6 lakh rupees, for 2019.

1. 2009-2013 Skoda Laura Tsi.

What works

• The engine
• Dynamics.
• Less fancy stuff. Very bare bone car. (works for me)
• Brakes. Wow.
• Not very difficult to maintain. Skoda service is improving. There are competent independent garages in cities too.

What doesn't

• Won't work if you are "fill it, shut it, forget it" person. You might spend time of briskoda forum.
• Difficult to find a well maintained piece.

2. 2010+ Mitsubishi Cedia Even present in the 2009 list. Still relevant.

What works

• Slightly more loaded than 2006-2009 model.
• Brilliant dynamics. Even better than Laura. Turn the car into a corner and you'll know it is special.
• You get one in very good shape for ~2 lakhs.
• Brakes. Be sensitive about pads replacement, else you compromise the braking.

What doesn't

• Needs substantial effort to maintain. It is another matter that everything is long lasting. You may have to do part sourcing too. Easily available in Malaysia,Singapore and Thailand, though.
• You always end up wishing for more power.

3. Abarth Punto

What works

• The engine.
• Dynamics. I personally feel it to be neutral, than eager.
• Brakes.

What doesn't

• Weird and loud sticker work- not to everyone's taste.
• Not the car that you quickly fit in. The ergonomics are odd.
• Not many sold, hence not many in the market. Price could be bordering 6 lakhs.

4. Honda Civic (2010+) Even present in the 2009 list. Still relevant.

What works

• The design- timeless. To me, it looks better than the new Civic.
• 2010+ cars have better ground clearance. People won't laugh/sympathise with you anymore on speed breakers.
• Smooth engine and nice gearshift.

What doesn't

• Performance wise, pales in front of Laura.

5. Volkswagon Vento Tsi/Tdi or Rapid Tdi Go for the face-lifted models
Note: Apologies for adding multiple engines/models here. I am not able to choose between Tdi and Tsi here. Based on my experience, Tdi is quicker on the regular driving conditions, and is manual, adding to the fun factor.

What works

• You'll get a much much newer car.
• Mature dynamics, within the segment.
• Way more easier on the pocket. Less effort to maintain too.

What doesn't

• Not as revolutionary as others in the list.

Closing notes: I am picking the list based on my understanding. I may have disappointed some folks.

Btw, I own the first two cars in the list. Thanks to Team-Bhp and special thanks to this thread for getting me there where I am willing to own those. If I were not in Team-Bhp for more than a decade, I would have still be driving a chart topper.

I think the Ford 1.5 tdci's can now safely be added to the 2019 list. If I am not wrong it must have already been mentioned somewhere in the earlier posts.

Ford's tdci is an enthusiast's engine only in specific cars, namely the Aspire and the Figo, and to some extent the Freestyle as well. However, in the Ecosport, the response and pickup of this same engine is nowhere close and at best, the Ecosport can be said to be a car with a decent midrange and low end. Definitely not one with razor sharp responses or great 0-100 timings, like the Figo/ Aspire and Freestyle are. The Ecosport's substantial weight drawback is responsible for this anomaly.

I think Lines T-Jet should be there in the list. 123 BHP of power plus Timeless design and great to drive. Pre-facelifted ones are easily available at ~3L.