[swami.n]

Originally Posted by gongura

Have you considered the recently launched VW Ameo Diesel AT ? I understand the engine is a gem and the DSG is a hoot to drive.

Assuming your budget is around 10 lakhs this might be a viable option, although with a boot space of 330 liters it might not be that much of a step up from the 280 liters in your Figo.

250 Nm torque, though. :-)

Thanks for your response. We went today and had a look at the Ameo. The moment we looked at the rear legroom, we didn't even ask for a TD. Its short on both legroom and shoulder room than our humble Figo. And it just doesn't feel VFM for the 11.5+lacs. Only unique feature is the cruise control.
We then went to Tata and the interior space of Zest felt like a segment above then the Ameo. And the XTA is over a lac less then the Ameo.
We took the TD of nano AT and we were very impressed with the terrific cabin space and the lightest steering. Though I dint like the way the AT changes gear, my wife loves the ease of driving and parking. Also the fantastic AC and BT music system. Now only the Zest & Nano are on the radar

[motorhead5]

Originally Posted by swami.n

We then went to Tata and the interior space of Zest felt like a segment above then the Ameo. And the XTA is over a lac less then the Ameo.
We took the TD of nano AT and we were very impressed with the terrific cabin space and the lightest steering. Though I dint like the way the AT changes gear, my wife loves the ease of driving and parking. Also the fantastic AC and BT music system. Now only the Zest & Nano are on the radar

Did you TD the Figo AT?. If not, give it a try too. Performance is better compared to most other ATs as its 1.5L.

[rageshgr]

Originally Posted by swami.n

Thanks for your response. We went today and had a look at the Ameo. The moment we looked at the rear legroom, we didn't even ask for a TD. Now only the Zest & Nano are on the radar

Since rear legroom and space are high on your priority list, you can check out the Aspire AT as well.

It has good space/seating, and the DCT is more advanced than Zest's AMT. Aspire AT is a good 40k cheaper than Zest XTA too.

[silverado]

Please check KWID AMT as well.
I would not suggest going for Nano AMT since its underpowered.

[swami.n]

Originally Posted by rageshgr

Since rear legroom and space are high on your priority list, you can check out the Aspire AT as well.

It has good space/seating, and the DCT is more advanced than Zest's AMT. Aspire AT is a good 40k cheaper than Zest XTA too.

Yes the Aspire would have been my first choice if it came with Diesel. Ford petrols are usually not fuel efficient and our running will be close to 2k kms if we are going to have a single car. The Zest diesel XTA is only 40k more than the Petrol Aspire which is not a titanium opt

Originally Posted by silverado

Please check KWID AMT as well.
I would not suggest going for Nano AMT since its underpowered.

The Kwid AMT is only available in the 1.0 engine which takes it to more than 5 lac category. Having the Figo and getting another car for 5+ lacs OTR is not on our budget.
We are now most probably going for the Nano as its only going to be driven by my wife mostly in traffic. This option really keeps our budget down and would allow me to upgrade the Figo to something in City/Ciaz range or a preowned Innova if our family needs it in a couple of years.

[TheARUN]

Originally Posted by swami.n

Hi BHPians. Need advice on buying a new car.

Looking for you help.

I think you should keep the Figo and drop the idea of picking up another car. You can take the Figo to work on any one weekday and drop your Wife and pick her up on that day, say Wednesdays

Your wife can take the Figo on Tuesdays and Thursdays to work. Traffic is leaner on those days, maybe vary the time she commutes to catch a gap in traffic

On Monday and Friday she can use her Wego. And you could use the Gixxer/Thunderbird on all weekdays other than Wednesdays

This way the Figo would run more, the Wife would gain more experience in driving which would come in handy in the future, and have less of stress

Save up big time for your dream car 2-3 years down the line

Also, who knows, in the meantime if some Manufacturer springs a surprise and launches a car perfect for your requirement, earlier than 2 years!

Why I am saying this is that the Nano and Xest are not advisable cars to own anymore. The Xest and Bolt's future is uncertain since the Tiago has taken off and the Kite is knocking at the doors. The Nano went into a cloud with Mr. Mistry's comments. With the way Mr. Tata is knocking on different doors for support, somebody might put a fiat-accompli that he burys the Nano to have their support

[swami.n]

Originally Posted by motorhead5

Did you TD the Figo AT?. If not, give it a try too. Performance is better compared to most other ATs as its 1.5L.

Thanks for your suggestion motorhead. As I had mentioned in my first post, If we are replacing the Figo and going for a Compact Sedan, it has to be a diesel automatic as our monthly running would be more than 2k kms. Ford Figo/Aspire is Petrol AT which is pretty low on average kmpl & also its a DSG whose service costs is unknown territory incase of gearbox issues. Even, my wife's cousin brother who works for Ford said he is not sure of how the costs are going to be for the DSG box.

So we have stuck to 2 options now. Exchange Figo for Zest, or Keep the Figo & buy a new/relatively new preowned NANo AMT. This second option actually makes a lot of sense as we can keep the nano for in City drives and later upgrade to a proper sedan like Ciaz/City or a MPV like Ertiga/Preowned Innova if the Figo's size becomes insufficient

Originally Posted by TheARUN

I think you should keep the Figo and drop the idea of picking up another car.

After TD of the Nano AMT, my wife is pretty reluctant to even consider practicing Figo for some months. Moreover, the Nano perfectly fits the bill of being a city car without making a huge dent in our pocket. So Picking a nano would mean, we would not need to replace the Figo unless its size becomes insufficient for us. The Figo is just @ 42k kms & considering we keep it till the magical 100k mark, it is going to serve us at least till 2020 or till its service/spares becomes unavailable.

[amtak]

Originally Posted by motorhead5

quick update: I have cancelled my baleno cvt booking and went ahead with ford figo AT. Went with heart than head . Performance difference was too hard to ignore.

Hope Ford will not disappoint me with the service cost and experience and will live upto their new slogans around customer experience and service costs!

It won't. I own a Ford Figo DCT and there is hardly any issues that I have had with either Ford or with the FASS. It's a true blue sleeper car and can give swifts, balenos and many other cars a run for their money.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by swami.n

First - A brief of my situation. Almost 4yrs back we had bought the Figo TDCi and its now @ 42kkms still going as good as new.

Originally Posted by swami.n

it has to be a diesel automatic as our monthly running would be more than 2k kms. Ford Figo/Aspire is Petrol AT

After TD of the Nano AMT, my wife is pretty reluctant to even consider practicing Figo for some months.

Few points to consider:

- Has she driven the Nano AMT on inclines? Is your wife comfortable with it? There is also a quirk with the AMT's Tata uses in B2B traffic. Search the Zest official review thread for comments on XTA you would find them. Go for another test drive with that in mind.
- You do mention 2-3K km/month. However you've clocked only about 14K a year average over the 3 years you've owned the Figo. Effective if your wife were to use the car full time for commute (23 working days* 60 km = 1380 km) + 400-500 km of miscellaneous usage. So at the max you'd see 1880 km. This is just planned usage, real usage would be lesser. It has been in my case.
- Moreover the petrol-diesel price difference is only 8-9 Rs a liter. Unlike a few years back where it was 20-30 Rs a liter ballpark. I'd say make a calculation with petrol economy of 10-12 kmpl and diesel economy of 13-15 kmpl in city.
- Drove a 2014 Figo diesel 750 km in 2 days. I myself complained of pain on right leg (I owned a petrol i10 and have extensively drive 600-800 km a day without leg pains). Probably these are pedal vibrations. So I wouldn't suggest your wife commute 60 km commute round trip.

[swami.n]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Few points to consider:

- Has she driven the Nano AMT on inclines? Is your wife comfortable with it? There is also a quirk with the AMT's Tata uses in B2B traffic. Search the Zest official review thread for comments on XTA you would find them. Go for another test drive with that in mind.
- You do mention 2-3K km/month. However you've clocked only about 14K a year average over the 3 years you've owned the Figo. Effective if your wife were to use the car full time for commute (23 working days* 60 km = 1380 km) + 400-500 km of miscellaneous usage. So at the max you'd see 1880 km. This is just planned usage, real usage would be lesser. It has been in my case.
- Moreover the petrol-diesel price difference is only 8-9 Rs a liter. Unlike a few years back where it was 20-30 Rs a liter ballpark. I'd say make a calculation with petrol economy of 10-12 kmpl and diesel economy of 13-15 kmpl in city.

Thanks for you valuable suggestion Narayan.
Yes my wife took a fairly long TD of the nano. She drove close to 10kms with good traffic, entering the toll way, and taking a U turn in a flyover which included both incline and downward slope in pretty moderate-heavy traffic. She was very much at ease with the nano due to the light steering and small turning radius. Even though I don't prefer an AT, I found the nano to be a perfect easy to drive 2nd car which can be kept even when we upgrade the Figo down the line.
Since March 2015, I have not used Figo for daily office commute. The usual running was 2k kms minimum before that. Keeping the Figo and going for a nano would only mean a 3.5lac hit on the pocket. But if we exchange and go for a bigger AT, we are looking at spending 7+lacs. But if we plan to have 2 cars, we can surely upgrade to a bigger car for the full family and keep the nano as long as possible. One more reason is I have the Figo very close to my heart and taken very good care and accessorized it with no intention of selling it. If we are exchanging the Figo, we would be losing a lot unnecessarily.

[VKumar]

If the car is to be driven by the wife for her regular city commute; I am thinking that why the Alto K10 AMT shouldn't be the perfect choice here? More powerful than Nano, good FE, decent engine with good reliability track record, better dynamics and better brakes. Kwid AMT I will ignore because neither it has manual mode nor it has creep mode; Alto offers it all.

[swami.n]

Originally Posted by VKumar

If the car is to be driven by the wife for her regular city commute; I am thinking that why the Alto K10 AMT shouldn't be the perfect choice here? More powerful than Nano, good FE, decent engine with good reliability track record, better dynamics and better brakes. Kwid AMT I will ignore because neither it has manual mode nor it has creep mode; Alto offers it all.

Alto seems to be a good car, but we both somehow have some aversion towards its looks. We don't prefer even the Celerio or Swift/Dzire looks. And for our purpose I dont think paying 1.5lac more for the Alto seems worthwhile. In fact the Nano has better interior space, better AC and the smallest footprint to make it the easiest thing to park.

[landcruiser123]

I'm assuming you're living in Chennai.

Originally Posted by swami.n

First - Stick with Figo & see if she gets accustomed to the MT .....

Wouldn't recommend this. 55~60 km in traffic using a manual is difficult for many people.

Second - Buy a small preowned AT car, say Nano or Alto.....

Easiest option if you think it's worth having two cars at home. If you won't use Figo much, consider option 3. You don't want to pay insurance, maintenance bills on a car you'll drive only on highway trips right?

Third - To exchange Figo & get a new AT....

Option 3a would be to sell the Figo & go for a preowned diesel AT from a higher segment like Verna or Cruze etc....

A new AT bigger than the Figo will cost you upwards of 8.5 lakh OTR.

Pre-Owned options: You may not spend too much on the new car, but you'll spend more on fuel; You have to decide when to swallow the bitter pill

1. Well maintained 5-6 year Corolla/Civic/City (3rd gen) AT. You will spend much more on fuel, but it'll cost less than the ownership of a new car when you consider insurance, and depreciation. These cars are reliable.

2. i20 AT. This car seems to have decent power for highways too. Again, it'll not be very efficient, but will be cheaper that the cars listed above.

3. Cruze and Verna CRDI won't really provide too much value as used diesel ATs may be expensive and their FE won't too good either.

[swami.n]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

I'm assuming you're living in Chennai.

Thanks for your suggestion landcruiser. Yes we have decided to go for the 2nd option of Nano AMT, either new or a relatively new preowned one. And retain the Figo. Paying insurance for 2 cars seems to be almost same or even less than paying for a Zest XTA. Also having the 2nd car would leave us with enough time to sell the Figo for a much suitable price and wait to buy our next car without having to hold the figo till the day of buying a new car.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by swami.n

Thanks for your suggestion landcruiser. Yes we have decided to go for the 2nd option of Nano AMT, either new or a relatively new preowned one. And retain the Figo. Paying insurance for 2 cars seems to be almost same or even less than paying for a Zest XTA. Also having the 2nd car would leave us with enough time to sell the Figo for a much suitable price and wait to buy our next car without having to hold the figo till the day of buying a new car.

If you are looking at per day usage of 55-60km with extra distances over the weekend, I am sure you should be looking at a more comfortable drive along with mileage. I understand you were not inclined towards the Celerio. How about WagonR AGS?

For such extended usages, you would also need good service support. Maruti excels in there.