Team-BHP - Help Required Indica Vista Safire or Indica Vista TDI

Quote:

Originally Posted by Logical (Post 1111324)

Thank you for your inputs. I personally prefer the Palio when it comes to looks. I feel its the only head turner hatch currently available. But am still skeptical about the A.S.S.

Did the Fiat folks commit on a time frame for availability of spares for current 1.1 or 1.6 palio at the meet?

Am planning to test drive all the three and also the TDI vista hopefully will be able to come to a conclusion after that.

The only committment they have given is that now since Linea is about to launch, availability of spare parts would be their first priority in their concerned list!

I'm hoping they stand on their committment :thumbs up

The price difference between the Safire & TDI is very narrow (max 30K) I believe. The TDi is not as bad as it is being potrayed in the market, but it has to be driven carefully. I believe some 1 has actually calculated the difference in the petrol (i10) and Vista TDi & concluded that the additional cost would be recovered in a year's time itself. The FE of the TDi engine is also better than its petrol counterpart.
I have test driven both the cars & felt that the TDi is a much better buy. Why didnt I buy a TDi & went in for the Quadrajet? Now thats another story...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maverick1977 (Post 1112346)

The TDi is not as bad as it is being potrayed in the market

TDI is being portrayed badly in the media? i thot the problem was that TDI is being ignored and everyone wants to TD the QJD only!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maverick1977 (Post 1112346)

but it has to be driven carefully. I believe some 1 has actually calculated the difference in the petrol (i10) and Vista TDi & concluded that the additional cost would be recovered in a year's time itself.

i agree...i had intially considered the i10 Kappa (when it was newly introduced) but since its topend Asta cost almost same as the QJD topend Aura i saw more value in the later (space, FE, running cost).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maverick1977 (Post 1112346)

The FE of the TDi engine is also better than its petrol counterpart.

thats but natural! diesels are always more efficient than petrols.

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Originally Posted by sups (Post 1112097)

Waiting eagerly for your test drive experience to get a comparison between stile1.1 and visa saffire.

Sorry to disappoint Sups, but test drove only the Safire and the TDI.
Have decided to go for the Safire as it meets all my requirements to the T.
One major factor in favour of the Vista was the Space. The car is so roomy from inside frankly there are no parallels in its class and the engine in my opinion is more than adequate for my driving requirements. Admitted its not peppy like the Japanese or Korean counterparts. But this Italian heart is well tuned to pull the Solid Indian structure without as much a grunt.

Decided against going for the TDI as I realised ( and as rightly pointed by members on the forum) that my expected running does not warrant a diesel. Also the noise levels of the TDI when outside (cabin insulation is comparitively pretty good) especially at idling are relatively quite high as compared to the more refined and more expensive Quadrajet (am comapring only diesels here).

So all in all will be going for Indica Vista Safire Aura Cavern Gray by the end of this month.

On a different note another high point of the day was able to lay my eyes on the Linea in the flesh. It was a test vehicle parked near the showroom and people were swarming around it like bees to honey. All I can say about the car is... WOW!! and wish I had more cash at my disposal.

Cheers everyone and thanks for all your help. Have a great 2009!

Quote:

Originally Posted by CtrlAltDel (Post 1113158)

LINEA TEST VEHICLE????? has it arrived in the showrooms??? :Shockked:

btw, congrats on finalizing the car! :)

Sorry for not being clear enough in my earlier post it was a test mule being tested by I believe the ARAI folks or Fiat Personnel and was parked outside the showroom.

I am still quite confused when it comes to 'Daily Running' being the only factor considered when it comes to deciding between Petrol & Diesel cars.
My running is also not that much that it warrants a Diesel (max 50 kms a day), but the price difference between the Safire & TDi (Aqua) was narrow enough (28,000 OTR Mumbai) to prompt me to seriously look at the Diesel option.
However my colleagues played a spoil sport & made me calculate the difference in terms of EMI that I finally settled for the QJD. No regrets at all.

Normally people use daily running as a benchmark because the price difference between a petrol car and diesel car from the same manufacturer for a similar variant will be atleast 1 lac. The swift VXI/VDI Verna Petrol/diesel Logan petrol/diesel or any manufacturer, hence people look at daily running.

In case Vista Saffire and Vista TDi, the price difference is very less because, the saffire engine is from Fiat and hence it cost them more to source it from fiat compared to their home made TDi engine. On similarly lines they have to price the QJD 70K more than the TDi.

So the saffire v/s TDi is unique case.
If a person has a low daily running then ofcourse there are no huge gains on fuel savings. Then the only question you have to ask yourself is can you bear the noise of the diesel engine? If yes then what you get in return is the nice feeling everytime you go to the fuel pump :) Also who knows today your running may be low but if you have a diesel you due to the lower cost of running and to make the most of it you might actually start using it more and more and much more than if you had a petrol and would never think twice whether to go on bus for a long vacation or by car :D

Cheers,
Nitin

Quote:

Originally Posted by revhappy (Post 1113886)

...Then the only question you have to ask yourself is can you bear the noise of the diesel engine? If yes then what you get in return is the nice feeling everytime you go to the fuel pump.
Also who knows today your running may be low but if you have a diesel you due to the lower cost of running and to make the most of it you might actually start using it more and more and much more than if you had a petrol and would never think twice whether to go on bus for a long vacation or by car

add to that the diesel torque! even if my running is a few 100kms a month or even if there is no difference in price of petrol n diesel, i will always buy diesels for that alone (plus the FE)!

Quote:

Originally Posted by CtrlAltDel (Post 1114022)

add to that the diesel torque! even if my running is a few 100kms a month or even if there is no difference in price of petrol n diesel, i will always buy diesels for that alone (plus the FE)!

Agreed that the diesel provides better torque hence acceleration but it might not be economical if we consider only the FE in isolation without considering the total cost of ownership.

Have prepared an xls file which compares the two variants and there isnt any marked advantage for diesel upto 450 km/month usage. my requirement is 400 km/month OTT a more realistic figure is 350 km/month

Added to that the likely hood of diesel subsidies being reduced to bring at par with Petrol in the future, along with higher noise levels and peace of mind that comes with a petrol engine, diesel may not seem to be an attractive proposition especially when the running of the vehicle is given to be limited.

Note that the file can be used to compare other vehicles (Including Bikes hence the large range for FE) as well by changing the fields in green colour. The password for changing contents in green is "INDIA"

Quote:

Originally Posted by CtrlAltDel (Post 1114022)

add to that the diesel torque! even if my running is a few 100kms a month or even if there is no difference in price of petrol n diesel, i will always buy diesels for that alone (plus the FE)!

On second thoughts even for a low running like mine the economical advantage the petrol provides over the entire life span of the vehicle is very paltry.

As against this the diesel provides additional torque and also would encourage me to go on longer drives.

Will take a closer look at the TDi to check if I can live with the noise levels and gather inputs regarding reliability of the engine. I am hoping that the ride quality and handling would not be compromised for the TDi.

Thanks CtrlAlTDel, Revhappy & Maverick for your inputs.