[gaurav_chopra04]

We recently booked a swift Vdi in December 2009 and expect delivery in February 2010. I loved polo and knew that it will be launched soon but Dad's old school thought says not to go with new brand such as VW, reason unknown after sales, unknown reliability, unknown spare prices, questionable resale and unknown price (i have seen sid's thread but would want to wait for the prices from VW itself that are due to come out in March 2010, when the company launches the car.) My dad could be right but I dont think VW can mess up with its hot hatch plans. however, the more important part is that 6 lac rupees is a lot of money for us and we cant risk it.

Now, I love the swift (both diesel and petrol and decided for a diesel as it has our national Fiat DDis engine, which is very good and since I already have a cedia, so thought why not diesel this time). Despite the fact, I am perfectly fine with the petrol (dont mind higher cost and lower FE than Diesel.)

So even till yesterday I was confused whether to stick to Swift Vdi only or to wait for the Polo. After reading Sid's thread, I found the would-be price of Polo very lucrative. I spoke to my dad regarding the Polo and he completely refused. However, I believe that if I wait till March and let my dad have a test drive of polo, he may be convinced, but it will certainly be difficult.

Today, I went to the Auto Expo and got even more confused to see both Polo and Beat in person. I completely fell in love with the RED Polo. The Beat looked good too but if I am to rate the three I have selected, on the basis of looks, it will be Polo, Swift and then Beat. I haven’t driven either the polo or the Beat and deciding which one to buy is difficult till I do so. My knowledge about cars says that Polo will be far better to drive than the swift. The Beat on the other hand will not be as fun to drive as Swift, forget the polo.

However, excellent pricing of Beat has made me think over it. The LT option pack which has almost same features as that of Swift Zxi costs 70k less than the swift Zxi and 60k less than the Vdi (on road price comparison). Lack of safety features, music system, ACC and Alloy wheels in the vdi has made me lean further towards the Beat. I liked the interiors and the car looks Decent.

Our budget is 5.5 with 10% extra if the car has integrated audio system, alloy wheels and better tyres. My dad is the decision maker in this case and not me. If I was to decide, I would have bought a used 2006 civic for 6lac. Further, I any ways bought a cedia last year for myself, so I can only suggest options to my dad for new cars and not decide upon them.

After I came back from the Expo, I spoke to my dad regarding the polo and the Beat. Although, he completely refused for the polo for reasons mentioned above, he did like the idea of Beat (Thanks to the Beat test drive thread from GTO). We will TD the car on Sunday and then decide. Till then I want suggestions from you guys on what to do, stick to swift, wait for polo or go with the Beat.

Also I have no idea about the after sales of Chevy and hence would seek dvice on the same. Since I just came from the Expo, I will read more about Chevy after sales in the next couple of days.

PS: I would request you to suggest from the options I have listed as I would not want to buy Hyundai, Fiat, Tata, Ford or other Marutis due to various other reasons.

I would want to thank everyone who has been updating us on the Polo. A special thanx to Sid for the Polo threads (you rock, Scoop master) and GTO for the Beat Test Drive report.

@GTO, since you have driven both Beat and Swift, which one would you suggest on the basis of driveability.

Summary:

Swift: I love it, dad loves it but the design has gone old, new model expected sometime around diwali 2010. So next year I may feel outdated in the swift. Too common is another reason why I am avoiding it.

Polo: I love it, Dad doesn’t want to go with VW (new brand, almost everything is questionable). Can wait till March 2010.

Beat: I liked it, Dad liked it, Will TD this Sunday and then decide. unaware of after sales, please guide.

[Sn1p3r]

^^ Bro, I have driven a Polo long time ago, I feel that the car has potential and you should wait. I sincerely am not very resale value centric as my cars last me for about +7 years. Even if you are planning for Swift, wait for the new petrol engine. I would not like to speculate here so for me its WAIT.

[gaurav_chopra04]

Originally Posted by Sn1p3r

I would not like to speculate here so for me its WAIT.

Would be good for me if we can speculate... Even I have heard that something is around the corner with regard to swift, dont know what but something is. I though its a speculation. have you hear something similar.

[navan49]

Hi Chopra,

Really The Auto Expo confused many people. What ever it is Maruti has the best After sales support as well as the resale value. If you are of thinking resale value and regular economical maintenance go for Swift as your dad suggested. You won't loose much on resale even after a year or two. I am watching the scene once the BMW and Chevy offer moderate maintenance cost and reasonable pricing in spares I may also go for Polo Diesel variant. Till then I will enjoy my Ritz and watch the world.

[Parm]

Swift is tried and tested since it was launched in india. its due for replacement by a newer swift in and around diwali.

Beat is not the chevrolet from the USA, but its a Korean (read Daewoo) like rest of the lot optra, captiva etc!

VW Polo is already the world car of the year! nothing is wrong with that car, except the typical indian mentality of waiting and watching!

[DieselFan]

Gaurav,

I have swift for last 3 years and 52000 kms later I have no regrets of purchasing the same. I would recommend Swift all the way. Beat No way can match swift. As far as Polo is concerned the car is good but has not be tried and tested in India. The Skoda A S S in India (A Sister concern of VW) has been below average in India. Hence my recommendation would be to stick to Swift VDI and not risk 6L by opting for VW Polo.

[Maverick1977]

VW & Skoda might be cousins but they work absolutely independently of each other worldwide. It would therefore be incorrect to judge VW based on the past (bad) experiences with Skoda. Case in point is the (expected) ultra close pricing between the Polo & the Fabia. VW also has been testing the car in India since a long time, so I am sure that they would have tried to sort out all possible niggling issues.

[mkh]

The swift is not running away anywhere, you are anyways doing a TD of the beat, its just about 2 months more and you can get a drive and feel of the Polo too
Beat cant match Swift in service,support and maybe even cost of ownership
One thing is sure- the engineering and reliability of Polo will be on par and maybe superior to the Maruti. As far as quality, Maruti does fall short of most frontline manufacturers so expect that also better to be in the Polo.
*** can surely not be compared and so cant the re-sale value as Maruti will beat the heck of anyone for many years( except maybe Tata i feel, but not now-later)
With all this in mind- i feel no harms in waiting...

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by mkh

The swift is not running away anywhere, you are anyways doing a TD of the beat, its just about 2 months more and you can get a drive and feel of the Polo too
Beat cant match Swift in service,support and maybe even cost of ownership
One thing is sure- the engineering and reliability of Polo will be on par and maybe superior to the Maruti. As far as quality, Maruti does fall short of most frontline manufacturers so expect that also better to be in the Polo.
*** can surely not be compared and so cant the re-sale value as Maruti will beat the heck of anyone for many years( except maybe Tata i feel, but not now-later)
With all this in mind- i feel no harms in waiting...

Totally agree to the above.. Since you can wait till March, why not wait till the Polo launch, know the price and get to drive and feel the car. You can then decide if you want the polo or want to stick to the swift.

[gaurav_chopra04]

Thank you every one for your replies. Please find my replies in Bold

Originally Posted by Parm

Swift is tried and tested since it was launched in india.

Definately, thats the only reason my dad wants to buy Swift.

its due for replacement by a newer swift in and around diwali.

This is one and only thing thats bothering my decision of buying a swift.

Beat is not the chevrolet from the USA, but its a Korean (read Daewoo) like rest of the lot optra, captiva etc!

I know.. they cant match japanese, just that the Price of Beat looked very lucrative.

VW Polo is already the world car of the year! nothing is wrong with that car, except the typical indian mentality of waiting and watching!

Definately, the car is a head turner and I dont expect any negative reviews about it. But as you said indian mentality asks us to put our money on tried and tested cars and companies. If it would have been the Etios, we would have closed our eyes and bought it. Convincing dad will be diifficult for polo, but lets see, I ll try hard. Thanx.

Originally Posted by DieselFan

Gaurav,

I have swift for last 3 years and 52000 kms later I have no regrets of purchasing the same. I would recommend Swift all the way. Beat No way can match swift.

I know, Swift is anyday better.

As far as Polo is concerned the car is good but has not be tried and tested in India. The Skoda A S S in India (A Sister concern of VW) has been below average in India. Hence my recommendation would be to stick to Swift VDI and not risk 6L by opting for VW Polo.

Although, Skoda and VW operate independently, After sales is one thing I am seriously concerned about in case of Polo. thanx for the pointer.

@Abhinav, mkh and Maverick, I will try hard to convince my dad to atleast wait for the Polo before buying the car. I know two months isnt too long. Thanx for the advice

Also since none of you voted for the Beat, I think I will have to dump that idea, but certainly after the test drive.

[kutlee]

what about Polo's overall ownership costs and spare's costs. Can it match the swift in those? since all hatchback owners will look at total cost of ownership for over say 5 years?

[McLaren Rulez]

I'm not sure if VW offers maintainance packages on the Polo. They did/do have three year complete maintainence packages on the Jetta so it may come to the Polo too. Chevrolet certainly offers the three year plan on its cars and I think the Beat has it too. So the tried and tested aspect of the Swift may not matter if the companies are taking care of service. Try using this to convince your dad.

[Sheel]

If the Swift's engine will be tuned and made more like Ritz(E-IV) compatible post March 2010, then i would advise to go for it straight away and as said by GTO the Beat's engine isn't a patch on Ritz's brilliant 1.2K series,
but what if it is tuned more for performance like the Fiat's which seem to be round the corner?
It will be available only in the top-end Emotion trim. (GP)
Launch: first quarter 2010.
something like this---
Engine Specifications: 1.3-litre Multijet diesel with variable geometry turbocharger. (same as the Linea),
Max Power: 90 bhp @ 4000rpm
Peak Torque: 205 Nm @ 1750rpm

hope i HAVE confused you further & succeeded at it

[mjothi]

With the increasing sales of Spark, I feel Beat should also sell reasonably. Recently I see good response from GM dealers and also the GMI is now more customer oriented than ever. This is just to give my view of GM.

You check the dealers and experience of friends with them in your location and decide after the TD. Good luck.

[smooth]

Go for Swift vdi only. Do opt for the ABS model.
Polo is not yet tested in Indian conditions. Polo is 3 pot engine which is getting launched in India whereas swift got 4 cylinders.

As per the initial reports here polo will be having 5.3m turning radius whereas swift has 4.7.
I think your dad will be driving swift and in the small lanes and nook & corners the turning radius will play a big part.

Swift has better resale value. Polo we do not know how it will turn out to be.

Maruti A.S.S we all know every well.

I am not sure but maintaining polo could be more expensive. As with maruti the cost of spares parts will not be that expensive but VW will take quite some time to bring the cost of spares to the level of maruti.

polo will be airbags that is 1 plus point I can think of it in your case.

Right now, I feel going ahead with swift will be a better decision.