[Tojo_GotBhp]

We're looking for a Hatchback under 1.5L. The type of fuel preferred is Petrol, should be reliable at least for the next 2-3 years. We already have a Verna 1.6 at home which would then be used for Highway Runs to Kerala and so. Thus looking for a no-nonsense car for city usage.

Will choosing a Chevy Beat be Safe considering that Chevrolet is out of Indian Market?
The good ol' Zen? Will it be a good option?
Thank you!

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by Tojo_GotBhp

We're looking for a Hatchback under 1.5L. The type of fuel preferred is Petrol, should be reliable at least for the next 2-3 years. We already have a Verna 1.6 at home which would then be used for Highway Runs to Kerala and so. Thus looking for a no-nonsense car for city usage.

Will choosing a Chevy Beat be Safe considering that Chevrolet is out of Indian Market?
The good ol' Zen? Will it be a good option?
Thank you!

If I were you, I'd avoid Chevrolet products. I'd spoken to a Chevy Enjoy cab driver-owner and he told me how parts and servicing is not a problem as yet - but, parts have to be obtained from relatively fewer sources. So that makes owning a Chevy a little bit more difficult.

Rather than the really low-slung Zen, why not pick a good old manual transmission Santro or one of those first gen, pre-2011 4 cylinder engined WagonRs? A cursory search right now for sub 1.5 lac cars in Carwale in Chennai reveals the following - WagonR, Zen, Indica, Nano, Santro, Alto etc.
Of this lot, the WagonR would be my pick (for its height and superb 4 cylinder engine), followed by a Nano or a Santro.

My only beef with the Zen and the Alto is their low height...in today's city roads where most cars have gotten faster and bigger, I think it is a serious handicap and a safety hazard to be in a really short car. That's just my opinion anyway. All the best!

[sagarpadaki]

Zen has below average brakes. Would not suggest it.

[IshaanIan]

The most no-nonsense car would be a Ritz if you can find one in that budget. Otherwise the Beat is actually not a bad option it isnt as difficult to service as other Chevys and it actually poses great value now.

For a bit of fun, you could also search for 1.6 Fabias

[2000rpm]

In that price range, the best buy would be a Indica Vista.

In the budget, Santros will be very old, Wagon R will be very old, Beat and Spark are good cars but servicing will definitely be a issue.

[jetsetgo08]

Under 1.5L usually yields a decade old cars. Would strictly suggest to stick to Maruti's or Hyundai's if the car is only to be used as a no-nonsense beater without any breakdown time.

However, if you are okay with the car demanding attention, love and care once in a while, you could experiment with Palio's, Octavia's, Fabia's and Optra's(the list goes on).

[Thermodynamics]

One of my relative bought a 2007 Corolla for 1.7 and he was quite happy. If you are strictly under budget and also specific of reliability then used Wagon-R, First gen swift petrol should be good choices. Not for everyone's liking, sparingly used Tata Nano can be extremely reliable car in your budget. Or if you are an enthusiast type, Fiat palio 1.6 or Hyundai Getz 1.6 would be good as well.

[Tojo_GotBhp]

Thanks for all your suggestions.
Currently am travelling so could not reply to each posts. Thanks again for all the suggestions, helped in bringing in few cars to my mind which I never shortlisted yet!

I'm interested in The first Gen Figo or the Fiesta Classic. Most of the examples are Diesel though, but majority have > 70K Kms on the ODO with few of them in the 50s. Will the buy be worth then? Service costs, spare parts?

P.S: This car will be purely restricted to city runs as the Verna will do all the highway duty.

[vamsi2390]

If i were in your shoes, i would pick a less driven WagonR>i10>Celerio>Eon> in that price range.
Should be able to find tons of examples. The use case here being a city run about, these things should be bullet proof, cheap to maintain and frugal as well. Also you should be able to source very good examples(less driven + relatively newer) as well even with this budget.

Trying to get a higher end but a decade old car might not be that good an idea in terms of every day usage , reliability and the amount of money to keep their up keep(being a second car)

Also, fiesta classic was a car from before Ford regularized its service and inventory costs. It isn't the cheapest out there to maintain.
Again this all comes down to how much you are willing to spend on the up-keep of the SECOND car.

[GTO]

For 1.5 lakhs, I would personally pick the newest Alto or Nano that I could get my hands on. Both have their pros & cons, and are excellent city commuters. I would also be open to the tallboys (WagonR & Santro).

Tip = Don't be rigid on the budget. If you see a vastly superior car for say, 30 grand more @ 1.8 lakhs, go for it.

[Storm2.0]

Go for Hyundai Eon. I bought a second hand one year back and it's performance is awesome.
Go for top end sports trim if it falls in your budget.

[KiloAlpha]

At first, when I read your requirements, I automatically thought of the tall boy pair - WagonR & Santro. However, there are a couple of alternatives that you could consider from the Maruti and Hyundai stables.
The Maruti Zen Estilo (facelift dropped the "Zen" moniker) and the Hyundai Getz (facelift was called Getz Prime). Both of them are perfectly competent city cars, but being a bit unloved, you could get better deals on them. Santro and WagonR are both such powerful sub-brands that the market puts a premium on them.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by Tojo_GotBhp

I'm interested in The first Gen Figo or the Fiesta Classic. Most of the examples are Diesel though, but majority have > 70K Kms on the ODO with few of them in the 50s. Will the buy be worth then? Service costs, spare parts?

First of all, Ford's spare parts weren't as cheap as you might think until more recent models, Secondly why a diesel? The only way this route makes any sense is if you spend more and buy a 1.6 petrol Fiesta otherwise it's simply not worth it.

I'd also like to add that a diesel for 1.5 lacs will be a bit ridiculous in terms of practicality, reliability and cost of ownership.

The Beat is the most value in this price bracket. People hear about other Chevy horror stories but the Spark and the Beat are the only cars that the brand ever offered in India, which are perfectly sensible in terms of ownership cost and reliability.

If you can't bring yourself to buy the Chevy Beat, then perhaps an A-Star or a WagonR would be your next bet.

[freak]

Owning a Chevy should not be a problem if you are in the city.
I had plans to change my car but when the company shut down its sales the second hand market prices tanked, I decided to retain my Chevy spark for another 5 years.
Last I checked the spares are going to be available for another 3 to 5 years so maintaing the cars would not be a trouble.
I would also recommend you to buy as newer car as possible with the money in your hand as anyways you are not planning to keep it for long, hence even if it not a car your heart wants you can still live with it.

[Pratyush2407]

I will suggest you to also look at early model I20’s.

Although the suspension is a bit finicky, for what would be an almost decade old car, the interiors are pretty decent and it’s a pretty nice city car. Even base model I20’s were pretty loaded apart from safety features.
I almost sold mine off for 1.6 lakhs when I was replacing it with a new car, so finding one near your budget shouldn’t be too hard.

Also, if a long-term report might help you, I had written one a couple of months ago here- https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...l#post4537388: (1st-gen Hyundai i20 (2008 - 2014) : Review))