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-   -   Budget Automatic War: Tata Nano vs Maruti Alto vs Maruti Celerio (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/hatchbacks/164062-budget-automatic-war-tata-nano-vs-maruti-alto-vs-maruti-celerio-4.html)

Excellent comparison :thumbs up
One query on the comparison chart: isn't Power Steering a standard option for Nano Twist? The chart says otherwise

From this list voted for the Nano. Assuming it is a 2nd car and/or a city only run about.

For a 2nd city run about, I don't think the extra money one need to shell out for the Alto K10 is worth it and the Celerio is definitely too big and expensive to be considered for a city run about with minimal usage. The Nano perfectly fits the bill here.

If I am looking for a first car and have the budget for the Celerio, I would still look to see if I can stretch little further and buy a proper AT like Brio or Micra with all safety features. Between the Nano and Alto, I would pick the Alto K10 since it is probably a little better suited for the highway.

Having said that, today if I want to buy a small AT Hatch, I would first look for a used A-Star. More solidly built, reasonably fun to drive, comes with a proper AT Box and also gets ABS. For example, I see a 16K run 2011 A Star AT listed at 4.15L in carwale. If I get that around 3.5L max, that would be my choice over the 3 options mentioned here.

I have voted for the Celerio primarily for two things :

1. Best ingress egress among the three
2. Space

I think this is simple. If I am shopping for my only car and I want an AMT, it would be the Celerio as it handles the highways much better than the other two and is a size bigger.

If it's my second car for the City, definitely the Nano. The space, manoeuvrability and lower cost all fall in it's favour.

I think the Alto falls into the category where I'm shopping for my only car but don't have the budget to stretch for the Celerio.

Voted for Alto AMT - I think it's the perfect combination of a 3 pot engine, which is also powerful but at the same time provides decent refinement.

Now that AMT is being offered in this segment by Tata and Suzuki, looking forward to Hyundai's entry level hatch with AMT.

Would it be too late to add the Renault Kwid to the options? That is a looker and if the rumors about its AMT is true, then at around 4L it may find itself between the Nano and the Alto in pricing, well qualified for budget automatic tag.

Amazing comparo!

I see a small error in thissheet where it says that Nano Twist XTA does not have power steering.

Rgds!

+

Thank you pointing it out. Apologies for the same.

I'll correct the error and repost it by tomorrow morning. Currently at work hence no access to the files.

Sir, with all due respect first of all let me clarify you that i am not a 'Maruti applicable only' person, i personally picked up an Etios over a Dzire. I select cars seeing what fulfills my need.

Some where in your post you mentioned about Punto. Definitely its one of my favorite car and three years back when i went to purchase a Punto in a TATA showroom they failed to provide me a test drive and rather insisted me to buy the Indica Vista. This was the story in 2011. Later i settled with the Toyota Etios and am happy with my choice.

Later in 2013 end when we needed a second car my first choice was a Nano, so i visited a Tata showroom. Firstly they wanted me to sell a 2012 Nano at the end of 2013. Leaving that when i asked for a test drive they gave me a key of a brand new Nano. It was not a test drive car, the car was kept for delivery. Now when i tried to crank the car, it failed! It had a faulty starter motor! A brand new car which is yet to be delivered is having a faulty starter motor! I was aware of TATA niggles but not aware that they can surface even before the delivery! Well it might be one of an off beat case but unfortunately it was with me. I was so pissed off i just went to the near by Maruti showroom to book the Alto800. But as i was getting a k10 for just 16k more than the Alto800 i settled for the k10. But that's a different story.

So with in 3 years this is how TATA lost a potential customer twice!

Now coming to the sales figure. The garage where i park my Alto, one guy parks his nano over there. The owner of the Nano is a very good friend of mine. On some detailed discussion it was revealed he visited the TATA workshop a number of times to repair his car. In 30,000kms he changed the clutch plate twice. Few days back he told he will go for a new car and Tata is giving him a good offer on the Bolt. But due to his previous bitter experience he simply ditched the Bolt and picked up a Grand I10.

I must say the Tata Zest is an excellent car with excellent features. Its much more value for money than the Dzire. But why people buy the Dzire? Simply for the peace of mind factor. In the recent sub four meter market if any one asks me to choose a car, my pick will be the Figo Aspire. But again that's going off topic.

As you said if Tata had same number of dealerships as Maruti have then TATA could have sold 8,000 Zests. Did you ever thought the number of dealerships of TATA, Toyota, Mahindra, Honda are at par or may be the later companies are lagging behind TATA in the number of dealerships?

So with smaller dealership Numbers-

Xuv 500 or Innova sales more than Aria.
Scorpio sales more than Safari.
Bolero or Xylo sales more than Sumo.
Amaze sales more than Zest.

So does the number of dealership really matter to get a decent number of sales? Last month TATA sold 633 units of Bolts but now you cant say its because TATA has less number of dealership than Maruti! Brand name do matter and once its ruined its tough to make a come back. Just see how Fiat, Skoda suffers in the Indian market despite of making such wonderful cars. For achieving a good sales number you need- reliability, resale value, decent after sales service.

Tata had a bad reputation on reliability. They might make reliable cars now but people will take time to understand that. If i am out to buy a Nano AMT, then going by the past history of TATA the first question that will strike me is- How reliable will be the Nano AMT! For example few years back Tata had good market share in the luxury taxi segment with the Indica and Indigo. But now that market is taken over by cars like Verito/ Etios.

So will i put my money where there is doubt? NO! But if Nano proves to be a reliable car in the next 5 years, i will definitely plonk my money on the Nano.

At the end am really sorry to say my head needs some more time to accept TATA. Am not against TATA nor do i want to compare TATA and Maruti, this answer was just based on your reply. Hope i was able to clear my point of view.

Adding as a reference if any one asks me to chose between Celerio AMT or Brio AT, definitely i will choose the Brio AT. At the end its the product that matters and generally good products come from reputed brands. If a product proves itself to be inferior than its competition it affects the brand name too. :)

GTO,

In my post, Nano is not claimed safer but cute or good looking from my perspective. Alto and Celerio, just like Nano, are felt flimsy at high speeds. My vote goes for Nano for its inter-city local mobility. I regard it for it easier parking and movement.

Hope that clarifies.

Regards

Himanshu

Between Mort, Maurice and King Julien, voted for Mort!

With this particular title, the Nano has no contest here. It is the cheapest one, it goes between two points with acceptable comforts and I considered the budget/availability of a parking space in a very populous city. Did not consider safety features like ABS, Airbags, Traction Control, ESP, EBD etc. because this is a budget war. Budget and safety are mutually exclusive in this context.

If the thread title was "Affordable" or even plain "AMT" war, would have voted for Maurice (Alto)

Overall cuteness and shortness too played a small part in my voting for the Nano.

If it is going to be my only car, Celerio or Alto. If it is going to be my second car, Nano. Since I already have another car, my vote goes to the Nano - convenient and brilliantly priced.

a4anurag has very rightly put it as a competition as nano vs alto but not celerio. In India a lot changes when a small car customer goes from 4L to 5.5L

The price difference between Alto AMT and Nano AMT is a base Nano mt stupid:
And this difference is due to doings or undoings of their parents, as mentioned above launch of AMT is an attempt by TATA to undo a lot of things it has done to nano, similarly maruti can command 4L on Alto due to its pereceptions even though it looks overpriced vis-a-vis nano.
IMHO, I see an increase in Nano's price as soon as TATA get desired sales of NANO AMT.

Ditto for all 3 !
Just recently discovered that wifey is also an enthusiast :D - she had exactly the same feedback from driving the Alto K10 and Celerio AMts and feels she is better off driving a manual.
She hates the Nano, so now it is back to the drawing board for us. She is a very good driver (and she never drives on the highway, but that's just her!).
Looks like it'll be a small car with manual transmission :)

If its going to be a city car and leg room on the rear seats are not a deal breaker , I feel the Alto K10 MT would be the best choice. Lighter on budget terms, zippiest of the lot for the city errands and commute the Alto makes perfect sense.