[Slowjet]

Voted for Nano and I do have one already.
People talk about comfort in Alto / 800. Is it there really? Makes me wonder. 4 people in Alto / 800 / zen (not estilo) can't even sit comfortably. I will never buy a car which does not allow people to sit incomfort - This is the first criteria. Refinement, acceleration, navigation etc would be secondary. What is the point in having a vehicle where one has to squeeze in and people sit in a cramped place. And with the type of Maruti vehicles on the road I doubt I will even consider to buy any of their products that are available today. No offence to Maruti alto / 800 / zen owners. Tata after sales service is not bad (not excellent either), it is just that people have created a mindset. Reliability wise also I have not faced any issues in Tata vehicles. I own an Indica turbo DLG as well and at 95K and almost 10 yrs old it is still going very strong without any issues.

[i74js]

Life takes a full circle; though MSIL is undisputed leader one cannot negate the efforts of other players in market and introduction of KWID is one live example here.

The product is promising and if proven reliable (ASS is a different issue altogether and would require a lot of effort and time) in terms of reasonable usage the way entry level Marutis are performing, I am sure that KWID can even do 10K per month unless the product is challenged by another player in the market or say MSIL comes up with something new.

I have voted for KWID though I am skeptical of the long term reliability of product as a lot of invisible cost cutting has been reported (or still hidden).

Cheers

[Aragorn]

The A segment hatchback is a very odd example in India. If you look at any segment in the country today - right from B to D+, the competitivenss is very high.

There are at least 7-8 models in each segment (or sub-segment) vying for the customer's wallet - and market share is not so skewed in favour of any one model as much as this segment.

The Eon held lot of promise as Hyundai was the only one who could challenge the dominance of Maruti. However, it has not gone fully as planned.

While I have immense admiration for the Kwid, I sincerely hope the service and customer care processes at Renault are tightened. The customer in this segment is extremely cost conscious.

With the Datsun strategy failing miserably, I hope Renault have double checked all their decisions before taking this next big step.

[jeepster_chd]

Voted for Tata Nano.

For the space, features, comfort, quality (interiors), ride quality, and above all for the AMT, the price you pay is peanuts. None of the competitors comes close.

"Low cost nature & quality" isn't about the GenX, it is far better than its competitors (at least better than the Alto siblings), I own one and can vouch for it.

[Sheel]

If Nano was as good as claimed by few, it would have dethroned Alto or even the Swift/Dzire or Wagon-R by now [in sales, month on month]

The seats have no support. The fan-belt has broken 3 times on its own & at weirdest of places. Its too noisy, crude & unrefined. I had the misfortune of driving one for ~ 1 year, the initial lot one. Brakes were poor as well. The less said about TASC, the better

Big positive was the AC and that the car had sufficient space for 4 passengers [but not their luggage] but that alone doesn't make a car. And thank God, I hadn't bought one, it was of an acquaintance but I couldn't acquaint myself properly to it. And now, no one is ready to buy it in the used market.

Looking to buy one small car for city runabout which will have a dedicated chauffeur, the only parameter would be passenger comfort, reliability and that it has to be small. While I have at least 2 years in hand to get one [for its proper usage to start] I am beginning to think and weigh options.

A pre-owned Ritz would be a bit larger for small alleys/bylanes, else it would have been a no-brainer, even a new one.

[GTO]

As the only car of the house, I'd buy the Kwid.

However, if I were to buy an A-segmenter today, it would be the nth car of the garage. Thus, the purpose would be local running with 1 - 2 people onboard. For highways & to carry the full family, I have other cars. Keeping that in mind, I'd buy an Alto K10 today. Have driven an Alto K10 on an empty ghat and enjoyed every km of it. I am a big engine guy and usually prioritize the motor over anything else. A white Alto with nice rims, fatter tyres & a soft free-flow exhaust = Fun, quick & chuckable city runabout.

Originally Posted by NPV

It's really not fair to compare the K10 with the 800cc Kwid, so I would wait for the 1L Kwid and then compare before deciding.

There is price overlap between their variants, hence it's a logical comparison that buyers will be making in the real world.

Originally Posted by Slowjet

it is just that people have created a mindset.

You are mistaken. The 'people' gave Tata a shot. The Indica was once a consistent 10,000 / month seller.

It is Tata that ruined its image with cheap parts, poor reliability & sad after-sales service. Not to mention, an old line-up of products.

Originally Posted by Sheel

The fan-belt has broken 3 times on its own & at weirdest of places. Its too noisy, crude & unrefined.

Agreed. The car ages damn fast.

[saket77]

Honestly, which car polls are little misleading on TBHP. This is probably because the voting is slightly skewed as voters do not pay importance to all those aspects which they will look at when buying a car for themselves.

For eg. the Kwid looks a fantastic proposition at this price and this has garnered maximum votes in the poll. But when the same population goes to buy a car in this segment, then they will look at other parameters like reliability, after sales, spares availability and cost, etc. and probably most will ultimately bring an Alto home. My intention is not to belittle the fantastic Kwid in any manner and Renault surely deserves a pat on its back for bringing in this car at this price point. Another case in point is the Tata Zest, the TBHP COTY which failed to impress the buyers in the real world.

Regards,
Saket

[subhro1988]

Till the time Kwid is offered in a factory fitted CNG variant, MSIL will continue to push volumes at least in locations where CNG is present. MSIL came up with a huge advertisement in Times of India yesterday for the CNG variants of Alto 800, K10, Celerio and WagonR only. USP of the advertisement was running cost of Rs. 1.37 per Km.

[BlackPearl]

Nice thread S2!!

Originally Posted by GTO

As the only car of the house, I'd buy the Kwid.

I'd buy an Alto K10 today. Have driven an Alto K10 on an empty ghat and enjoyed every km of it. I am a big engine guy and usually prioritize the motor over anything else. A white Alto with nice rims, fatter tyres & a soft free-flow exhaust = Fun, quick & chuckable city runabout.

Plus one to this. I have voted for Alto K10. It is reliable, fun-to-drive, adequately fast and is backed by Maruti. It will take others a long time to be of any serious competition, though as consumers we would love this to change.

[karuvally]

I really loved the old K10's design language, but Maruti messed up with the new one's design. What was wrong with the old one? I don't know. The less than impressive design of the K10 and unstable highway performance forced us to book a Kwid instead of K10. But I am worried about the quality and reliability of it's parts in the long term. Can someone shed some light on it?

[karansm4u]

I think Kwid is great car but It's not a clear winner against Alto K10. Reason is simple right now everyone is liking KWID because of its looks but that will be it once initial hype goes away in few months and we start seeing lots of kwid on the road.

These entry level hatches are not feature rich to begin with apart from internal space where kwid is clear winner against Alto there is nothing more to it. However after sales service, resale value, peppy engine, here Alto seems better then Kwid.

Here i am making assumption that as far as safety goes both Alto and Kwid are similar. I would have definitely rated Kwid better if they have removed that touch screen and provided ABS even with some additional cost in RxT(o) variant.

[AJ-got-BHP]

Have already voted for the Kwid in my prior post !!

However, saw the Kwid in flesh on the highway and in the city as well and was very impressed !! Sharing some pictures :

[mayank0782]

I am a big fan of the aspirational value and the desirability factor in any segment.

Hence, voted for the Kwid mostly because of the looks and VFM. Although wanted to vote for Alto K10 for its engine. But the KWID seems more desirable.

[Smart_Fellaz]

The Kwid trumps the competition any given day.

Only point to ponder upon would be the quality of after sales due to the limited network that the French Manufacturer has in India. Except this concern, the Kwid stands atop the summit. Going by the sales number, I believe the masses have chosen to ignore this and so do I.

[longsyntax]

I wasn't too sure if I should create a new thread or which thread to post in so I'll just leave this here. Sorry if I'm not posting at the right place.

I'm looking for a second car to go along with the Elite i20, will be used only for ~1.5 years only in the city with a budget of ~3L OTR.
Top priority is it needs to be cheap to run and maintain. Not looking at an AMT since I still prefer manuals to the AMTs.
My main dilemma is if I should go with a new GenX Nano or if I should go in for a pre-owned Alto 800 or K10.
I know the K10 is the better car but I'm pretty sure I won't find one in a good condition within my budget since I'm only looking at buying pre-owned through Maruti True Value mainly for the one year warranty and general peace of mind.
Is the Nano a good choice and is it a safer bet to go for a new Nano or a pre-owned Alto, taking into account everything like fuel efficiency and resale value?

Thanks