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-   -   Which car for personal use of an elderly couple? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/hatchbacks/162124-car-personal-use-elderly-couple-7.html)

my choice would be revotron zest AMT.
i10 (not grand i10) AT would also be a good choice
If maruti is what you want to go for then Ritz Petrol Auto

Liva is also good no doubt, but does it have AT. If it doesn't then kindly do not consider.

Ditto about the Nano AMT. It seems to have been pushed to the back of the class. With such a short W.B. (2230 mm) and such spectacular G.C. (180 mm) for its size, I'd have thought it would make a good candidate for rural use.

Granted that its general reliability is not yet proven, but as far as durability on rural roads is concerned I'd say its lay-out pedigree (going back to the Renault Dauphine & FIAT 500/600) would stand it in much better stead than the equivalent but possibly more fragile FWD hatch-backs.

Plus of course the enormous Tata service network (tho' I'll keep mum about the quality of the service!).

I understand that Sultan-Khan has relatively smaller budgetary restraints, but just think how much change it would leave in the pocket! I was thinking about that long overdue change to alloys for my dear old Scorpio as well as the half-a-dozen accessories I've been studiously avoiding all this time.

Shashanka

Hi vjjustin,

Given your budget I would recommend 2 cars.

1) Celerio AMT Zxi
2) If you can stretch your budget, Nissan Micra XL CVT - it would a VFM car.

My dad has been using a Volkswagen Polo comfortline petrol for the past 5 years. He used to drive an M800 and we replaced it with the newly launched Polo in 2010 December.
The feeling that I always got while watching him drive is - While he had enjoyed driving his M800, he could never find Polo very easy to drive (Size, 'Sit down' in a polo, long clutch travel etc).

The car is mainly used on weekends, and one-off trip to some temple far away (100-150km drive one-side, once in 3 months). Our Polo crossed just 20K kms in 5 years.

Now we would like to replace the Polo with a smaller car which he may find easier to drive and maintain. Budget would be around 4 lakhs.

What would be some good options to look at ? Need to consider that they live in a tier 2 city (Calicut)

The new Kwid makes perfect sense at about 4.5 on road for the top-end with an airbag :thumbs up

This thread has a lot of good discussions and information. Should be helpful

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/hatchb...e-village.html

Note: The title says village (which I know Calicut is not :) ) as the thread started that way. But it goes into a general discussion.

Apart from that with a 4L budget the car that immediately comes to mind is the newly launched Renault Kwid. Compact yet spacious and would suit your needs perfectly. The top end version OTR in Calicut is ~4.1.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Polo is a high quality car-Even when compared to others in its segment. So not sure if dropping down a couple of segments will be a point of concern as you would keep comparing to the Polo.

I would say stick to the current Polo! That 100-150km one-way drive on Kerala roads need a safe car and Polo is good fit on that aspect. If clutch is an issue, my suggestion would be to exchange the car for a Polo GT TSI or the new Figo AT.

You could consider the wagon r. Its easy to get in and out and since its a tallboy ingress and outgress would be easy. I dont know about the dates but maybe maruti should come out with a amt version soon.

My father drove his M800 for ~20 yrs. Then he got himself a Logan DCi which was a pain in the knee for 5 yrs (due to the hard clutch).

I convinced him to go AT and got him a pre-owned Civic S-AT from Mahindra First Choice alongwith their extended warranty and he hasn't driven the Logan ever since. After 25yrs of MT, it took him all of 2 days to get comfortable with his AT.

I would recommend you do something similar. As fathers get older, their reflexes get slower. Might as well give him less things to worry about. A pre-worshipped Civic will come within your budget. I am yet to TD the Figo AT but I am confident that it is one of the best and most all-round budget AT offering.

Do let us know what you eventually decide on.

Happy car shopping!!

+1 to that comment. Driving in this part of the world is turning into a nightmare - congested roads, increasing vehicle levels, rude drivers :Frustrati

Coming back to the topic - the thread shared by Rajeevraj contains all required info (i think). Lots of options on that thread but you will find a common factor : Wagon-R :)

You can also consider the Ritz for its height (very easy to get in and out) and better build compared to Wagon R and top end gets ABS and 2 Airbags. Not sure if they are still selling the automatic, but you can check if you do want AT. And Maruti won't have any service issues even in smaller places than Calicut.

A few questions:
a) Are you only looking for new car market - or you are fine with used cars as well?
b) Are you planning to retain Polo, or this 4 lakh budget is on top of the Polo's resale value?

In my opinion, if you are considering a new car with strict budget of 4 lakh (excluding any resale price), the options are you know, very limited.
You can only consider the A segment cars - Nano, Alto, Eon and Kwid.
B1 segment cars - WagonR, Celerio, Chevy Beat, Hyundai i10 will cost around 5 lakhs or above.

Since it is for your parents, the first point I would consider is Ingress & Egress should be easier. So, all cars with low height can be ruled out.

Can you check out Tata Nano AMT? It has very neatly spaced out cabin, and gives easy drive-abilty within the city. However, since you consider some highway drives as well, think about Celerio AMT / Hyundai i10 automatic as well.

Well there a few options. I would stick to Maruti as they have the widest service network and are reasonably cheap to maintain. I have an Alto K10, bought one of the first ones in 2010. In the five years of ownership I have clocked even less - 13K km. The only money I spend on it is for annual service, and Wipers - less than 3K each year.

1. The easiest one is to find if after driving the Polo, he is still comfortable with M800/Alto. Let him take a test drive of the Alto K10 and see how he finds it. If he finds it comfortable, your search has ended.

2. If he wants a small car, but would like to do away with Clutch and gear changes, the the A Star Auto is the next option.

I personally would stay away from Hyundai, as their service costs have risen monotonically every year and today they are at least twice as expensive to service as Maruti cars.