[akshay4587]

@honeybee,try to stretch your budget a bit,and get a used Indigo

[phamilyman]

May I suggest a spanking new Karizma or Bullet LB500?

Its the only sensible thing within your budget, and will be faster/saving you time as well.

No point buying an aged abused car because you have a limited budget.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

May I suggest a spanking new Karizma or Bullet LB500?

Its the only sensible thing within your budget, and will be faster/saving you time as well.

No point buying an aged abused car because you have a limited budget.

Thanks phamilyman, but I don't trust any vehicle with less than four wheels.

Akshay, a used Indigo would be too big at present, but it is a good option as a primary car. I shall keep this in mind when I think of moving up from the Santro, thanks for the suggestion.

[Autocop]

Why not go for a CNG kit on your Santro instead of going for a new car?That should be well within your budget and cover your transportation cost issue. The only issue would be around compromising boot space.

If boot space is paramount, you can look at going for a used CNG fitted Maruti Van or Versa.

Finding a good diesel in that budget and requirements seems very tough. You have figured a way to maintain Indica for 2-3 yrs, so your best bet is a used Indica DLS.

All the best!

[bhp_maniac]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Initial investment could be below 1 L. As low as that. I am definitely not thinking of spending 3L or more at the beginning. I already have the Santro, but using it every day over the distance would mean the running costs are very huge. That's why a diesel.

If all the things work out well, which again is in doubt, my plan is to buy a used diesel hatch that can give me a real quick and easy transportation, and the upgrade the Santro to something bigger, either a sedan (used/new) or an SUV (used/new). Till that happens, I would be keeping the Santro. And this upgrade could take anywhere from six months to more than a year depending upon how other things work out.

Right now, going for a diesel hatch has the only advantage of guaranteeing me a transport to and from home/office anytime of day/night and saves on commuting time.

I think you need to stretch the budget a bit up. If you can stretch up to around 1.5L, you can find a good deal on Indica DLS of 2005-2006 model. You will have to take a lot of care before making the deal. If the car owner is known to you, thats the best. Be sure to take a mechanic with you. Otherwise maintaining an old Indica with some issues will turn out to be a trouble for you. Make sure you do an engine compression test before the deal. If everything turns out well, it will easily give you a 16-17 kpl. Amby can be ruled out since the usage will be in city. Uno, even though a good car the availability of spares will be an issue. I don't think there will be any Swifts or Getz in the budget. Even Palio 1.9 will need around 1.9-2 L at least.

[sukrit7]

why not get a baleno(plenty available in the 2 to 3l range),plonk in a cng and enjoy.

you can do the same with a swift if you find the baleno too big.
I suggested the former because you'd get boot space even if you do get it converted to cng

[amitk26]

BTW , Difference between Diesel and Petrol is 15 Rs a Liter , You are going to drive 2000Km a month that is 24000 KM in an Year.

Now assuming your Santro is giving you milage of 12 it is 2000Liters of petrol so you are just saving Rs 30,000Rs by spending 1 lakh.

So why not drive your Santro itself and save that 1 lakh for next Diesel car untill you strictly need 2 cars

[TaureanBull]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Which would be the best car, either new or used for the following scenario:

Monthly distance covered: upwards of 2000kms
Fuel efficiency expected: around 16-17 for a used car, around 20 for a new one
Other extras:
Must have AC, power steering.
Both front and rear seats must be comfy.
Good noise insulation, either stock or DIY-able.
Should be fast and soak up bad roads with ease. Fast indicates it should have a good pickup and preferably an engine that's capable of high revvs. Should be a mile cruncher/muncher, and occasional uneven surfaces should not unsettle the ride much.
Bootspace should be decent (don't exactly require a cavernous boot, but it shouldn't even be as miserable as an A-star).

Needless to say it's got to be a diesel not just from the long term ownership cost perspective but also from running costs perspective.

Probable options (though not restricted to only these) are a used Indica/Uno diesel. Preference is more towards a used car at first, due to low initial investments. New may be considered after a few months.

It seems you have discarded all the options suggested by the fellow BHPians. You know what most of the Indians need car having these qualities. Just have a re-look at your budget and your needs. Either you will have to increase the budget or cut down on requirements.

I would sugget you a new car be it M800 or Tata Nano. With your kind of mileage an old car in this budget is likely to bother you regularly with repairs.

Few suggestions though :
Tata Nano (you are getting a new piece in the budget) Petrol
Good old Maruti 800.
Wagon R CNG used with a stretched budget.
If u dont mind the Daewoo Cielo/Matiz or Opel Corsa. Petrol cars may be retrofitted with CNG to cut down cost.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by amitk26

BTW , Difference between Diesel and Petrol is 15 Rs a Liter , You are going to drive 2000Km a month that is 24000 KM in an Year.

Now assuming your Santro is giving you milage of 12 it is 2000Liters of petrol so you are just saving Rs 30,000Rs by spending 1 lakh.

So why not drive your Santro itself and save that 1 lakh for next Diesel car untill you strictly need 2 cars

If a diesel hatch gives me the same average, I can save up 15 x 24000 = 360,000 just because I am running a cheaper fuel. Way above the cost of a used Indica. And if the car proved reliable and good, I could sell off the Santro and pocket the proceeds.

[Dhanu@DJ]

Originally Posted by honeybee

If a diesel hatch gives me the same average, I can save up 15 x 24000 = 360,000 just because I am running a cheaper fuel. Way above the cost of a used Indica. And if the car proved reliable and good, I could sell off the Santro and pocket the proceeds.

You are wrong you are going to save just 30,000/- rupees not 3,60,000/ buy using a diesel car as the fuel cost. But you will have to add the service cost for the diesel which will be double of the petrol car also may be lot more than that as the deisel is a used car and bound have few maintenance issues. In any case the savings would not be more than 30,000 - 10,000(diesel service) = 20,000/-.

[honeybee]

Amitk, sorry for the goof up in the calculations. And Dhanu, thanks for pointing it out. The savings would be indeed to the tune of Rs. 30000.

Thanks all of you for the suggestions, keep posting if you find some new ideas. Next week I shall know if I am going to get the job or not. And I wish to God I get it. If I do, I shall then be able to post the figures as well, and then using the numbers I shall narrow down the choices.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Amitk, sorry for the goof up in the calculations. And Dhanu, thanks for pointing it out. The savings would be indeed to the tune of Rs. 30000.

.

Good you realized I have kept the acquired Diesel car and Santro maintenance cost to be same for convenience of calculation considering Hyndyai parts are costlier they will be more or less same anyway.
So it all depends on weather you need 2 cars or not.

[joshguy]

Honeybee you definitely need to jack up ur budget otherwise you will endup spending for repairs in the used car.

My suggestion is go for used indica or indigo or palio or amby ,indica will be the first choice

if you cant up your budget go for decent M800 for 75-90k

[vivekgk]

Up your budget to whatever it costs to buy the best Indica you can find. You do find good used Indicas in the classifieds, esp. from direct sellers. I found a March 2009 DLS here that had only run 12K kms. Price asked was 3.1 lacs, owner was selling because he was going abroad. I wanted a Turbo model or an Indigo TDi, so didn't proceed.

As a purely A-B car, the Indica is excellent value. Look for the DLG or DLX versions for older cars, they're loaded, esp. DLX. Don't buy the pre-V2 model. Tata stopped making the DLG and DLX after the Vista was launched.

[honeybee]

Hi All,

Got a job, but not at the same location. The new location should be around the same distance but easier to reach than the earlier one. But anyhow I am now looking to get a steady inflow of money. Which is great.

Was stuck in the downpours on Monday evening at Mulund and that has triggered another revision of the vehicles that I would like to buy. The need to buy a vehicle that can seat more than five with luggage has been there since last two years. Also there will be occasional outings with friends and such, where a bigger vehicle might be easier to travel in.

If instead of a hatch I want to upgrade to a bigger vehicle, what are the options? I had discussed this in another thread to some extent, so I shall continue the discussion on that thread.

Here's the link to the thread:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-c...ml#post1910495