[ashwin489]

Originally Posted by microaubin

I own a Brio Vx AT and its not much of a fun to drive/ hot hatch. If convenience and power are your priorities the Brio Vx AT is not your car.

Thanks! Exactly what I wanted to know.

Originally Posted by microaubin

My friend told me if i wanted a GT TSi, I should buy a gun first, and then head to the showroom with the cheque book in hand and force them to make the booking!!

Same story here as well. I am not sure why they bother pouring in so much money into marketing a product if they are not able to meet demand. However, I have to give credit to VW for at least bothering to introduce different products into the market.

Originally Posted by microaubin

How about considering the Hyundai Xcent Auto.?

No Hyundai for me for the next 10 years, at least until the service manager in the local Hyundai retires. Or if a 2nd dealership opens up in my town.

[OneToughRider]

Originally Posted by ashwin489

No Hyundai for me for the next 10 years, at least until the service manager in the local Hyundai retires. Or if a 2nd dealership opens up in my town.

Slightly OT, Hosur is very near to Bangalore where there are surplus Hyundai dealers namely Advaith, Trident etc. Did you check with them? My experience with Advaith Hyundai BG Road was good.

[pgsagar]

Between the two, I would say buy A-Star, considering the price difference. I've been using one for last 3 years and it is one capable in-town car. Build quality feels better than even Swift. Very taut body and thicker sheetmetal than other Marutis. But neither Brio nor A-Star can be called hot-hatch by any stretch of imagination. Polo is, but then overall reliability is like a Democle's sword hanging over your head.

And yes, I agree with your views on manual gears. I share same opinion. Me, too, would never touh a manual car again in my life. Why change gears when you have option not to? I feel it is one totally redundant function we can live without, especially on our chaotic roads where a million gear changes a day is the order of the day. Naaw! Not for me.

[ashwin489]

Originally Posted by OneToughRider

Slightly OT, Hosur is very near to Bangalore where there are surplus Hyundai dealers namely Advaith, Trident

Trident is the closest on Hosur Road; SA used to be quite friendly and have used their service about 4 times. I had done a major overhaul for about 30k on my Sonata, which included changing both front, lower arm-ball joints. When I visited them for the LAST time to have a look at my old Sonata's noisy suspension, the SA told me that the suspension was just aging can be driven for another 10k kms without overhaul. So, he did not look underneath the car even when I insisted and just made his judgement based on a test drive.

Less than 100 kms later, the front upper-arm ball joint broke and the car's right-hand side front wheel almost snapped off the axle, exactly when I parked inside my house. When I called him, he was unapologetic and claimed that these things happen in old cars. He did not even acknowledge the fact that he did not bother to look underneath the last time I visited him. In fact, he did not even offer to toe the car back to the service center and insisted that I get it done at a local service center.

Advaith and Himavasi were also equally disinterested in even taking a look at my car. Maybe it was a 7-year old car then, but I put my heart and soul into maintaining it while sparing no expense. My mom drives a 2013 eon; cleaning the AC and dent took more than a week at Himavasini. So, when I raised a complaint with Hyundai, the service manager got pissed and called me at 8 pm with a drunk voice to tell me that I had ruined his reputation. He also mentioned that I have to come back to him in future and he will "take care" of me in a threatening tone.

So, my bad experiences with Hyundai A.S.S are not isolated. So, I couldn't care less about Hyundai's cleverly-packaged mediocre products.

[ashwin489]

Originally Posted by noopster

I had a similar problem with indifferent VW dealer in Pune in 2010-11 but after a second dealership was set up the internal competition has kept him on his toes.

Took your advice and called another dealer, VW Whitefield. The sales guy was more than happy to bring the car over tomorrow for a test drive. Super excited to drive the TSI.

[OneToughRider]

Originally Posted by ashwin489

Took your advice and called another dealer, VW Whitefield. The sales guy was more than happy to bring the car over tomorrow for a test drive. Super excited to drive the TSI.

Sorry for your plight with Hyundai Management. One of the major reasons to sell Santro was I felt cheated whenever I pay bills worth 7-8k for a 1L kms old car. Their attention to detail was good but a new car maintenance would have been much lesser.

I guess once you drive GT TSI, you will forget everything else. Keep us posted!

[asit.kulkarni93]

Frankly speaking new Automatic petrols don't make sense in today's market scenario with such high petrol prices, Automatic petrols never had a good market in India.(Lets wait for the Celerio's sales in its AMT avatar after 6 months).
If you want something reliable and FTD, i suggest the following cars to you=
1. Honda City Automatic- one of the most sensible options if you ask me. My friend has the previous gen City (non-CVT) which gives him 13kmpl with the AC on full time.
2. Honda Civic- They are available at really low prices in the used market. If you can live with the Low GC and not so good FE, Honda civic should be a good choice.
3. Toyota Corolla- You want something reliable and powerful, the corolla it is for you.
4.VW Vento AT- Looking at your experience with VW, i doubt you are going to consider this but its a good option.
5. Toyota Camry/Honda Accord- If you can find any examples do consider them.
All the above mentioned cars are available within 6 lakhs in the used market. Not suggesting Any hyundai's as you have had some experiences with the dealership in your area. At the end of the day the best auto hot hatch is the Polo GT Tsi.
All the best

Asit

[ashwin489]

Originally Posted by asit.kulkarni93

Frankly speaking new Automatic petrols don't make sense in today's market scenario. If you want something reliable and FTD, i suggest the following cars to you=
1. Honda City Automatic
2. Honda Civic
3. Toyota Corolla

Thanks! Honestly, I just was seriously thinking about the City/Civic today morning and you just added Corolla to my list. Btw, which one do you think would be cheaper to maintain on the long run, Honda or Toyota?

[asit.kulkarni93]

Originally Posted by ashwin489

Thanks! Honestly, I just was seriously thinking about the City/Civic today morning and you just added Corolla to my list. Btw, which one do you think would be cheaper to maintain on the long run, Honda or Toyota?

Cheaper to own- Toyota anyday. Nothing ever goes wrong with their cars. Even Honda's are reliable but nothing can beat Toyota when it comes to reliability.
Though the Civic is more Fun to Drive, The Corolla has a better engine, good GC and an excellent After sales service.

Asit

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by ashwin489

Thanks! Honestly, I just was seriously thinking about the City/Civic today morning and you just added Corolla to my list. Btw, which one do you think would be cheaper to maintain on the long run, Honda or Toyota?

A toss up, Toyota service interval is 12 months while Honda insist on 6 months. Most of us have switched to annual after the warranty is over. Service costs are about the same.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by ashwin489

Thanks! Honestly, I just was seriously thinking about the City/Civic today morning and you just added Corolla to my list. Btw, which one do you think would be cheaper to maintain on the long run, Honda or Toyota?

Toyota for sure. Someone I know was just complaining yesterday that Hondas are actually more expensive to maintain than other cars. Take it with a grain of salt, but it's a fairly good indicator.
Also, City ATs still command some resale because of the brand value Honda enjoys in the market, but you should be able to get a Corolla/Altis AT for pretty cheap. In 2009 when I was looking for a cheap starter car after moving to Pune (which turned out to be the Swift Vxi) I saw an automatic 4-yr old Corolla AT for 5L . Impeccably maintained too. Didn't want to spend that much then but was sure tempted!
Just one more point: the currently available Vento AT has a DSG7 box mated to 1.2TSI engine making the old 1.6MFI with torque convertor box look dinosaur-like. But as an owner for nearly 4 years, let me tell you that it isn't a bad car by any stretch of the imagination, so if you can find one, TD it for sure. Don't sweat the boot- it really doesn't affect the driving dynamics all that much!

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by ashwin489

Btw, which one do you think would be cheaper to maintain on the long run, Honda or Toyota?

No brainer there, Toyota it is. If you ate thinking on the lines if City/Civic/Corolla them my pick is a Corolla without doubt.

Anurag.

[rr_zen]

My two cents since I was precisely in the same situation as you 1.5 years back.

Wanted to go for the Brio without a second thought and didn't mind spending a few lacs more but it turned out that the Brio AT was not rolling out of the factory for some time. Waited impatiently for 3-4 months and since there was no confirmation had to opt for the A-Star AT as I was buying this car for my wife who wanted a small and compact car with AT, of course.

Let me tell you that I grossly underestimated the A Star. Have been having the car for more than 13 months now and I can vouch for its solid build and reliability and its peppy nature.

So, in a nutshell, if you don't mind spending the additional lacs, go for the Brio AT without a second thought. A Honda is a Honda anyday. However, if you want to save a few lacs but still get a decent car that's value for money, then the A Star is the one for you. However, since you are looking for a used A-Star AT am not sure if there are enough numbers available in the market.

The other angle to is that since the A-Star is no longer in production since the advent of the Celerio, you may want to check that out as well with the new AMT that's most talked about.

[ashwin489]

Originally Posted by noopster

Don't sweat the boot- it really doesn't affect the driving dynamics all that much!

Actually the hunt for a hatchback came about since I stay a different place now, and I can't close the main gate even with a compact sedan parked in. There isn't any space nearby to park the car outside as well.

Anyhow, I am going to do test drive every corolla/city/civic/astar/polo/brio that comes my way and then figure out a parking solution later.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by ashwin489

Anyhow, I am going to do test drive every corolla/city/civic/astar/polo/brio that comes my way and then figure out a parking solution later.

I see you have inched up to sedans now. If you are willing to go as far as Corolla, then I would suggest go for Accord. Not the 2.4. Go for the flagship, 3.0 V6. You will get one for your Corolla money. Then why not a V6? You will forget everything else when you floor "go" pedal. All the fun at almost half the price of new Polo TSI. Twice the size and twice the reliability (even a used one).