[Aarman_008]

Congrats on buying the Micra. Looking forward for your initial ownership experience with some pictures. All the best.

[longhorn]

Congrats on the Micra. Looking forward to an ownership review soon! Loads of pictures would be highly appreciated.

[NFS2024]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Sure. Since I had driven all cars back-2-back in a timespan of 8hrs, I can comment on that.

that was a nice information to read based on your back to back TDs. Congrats on the buy and hope to read the first experiences soon.

[W.A.G.7]

Thanks for the wishes everyone. I will put up a report soon

[KreativeGeek]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Thanks!



Sure. Since I had driven all cars back-2-back in a timespan of 8hrs, I can comment on that.

• Punto: At 67bhp, the 1.2L engine feels very underpowered and in the bumper to bumper Pune traffic, I had to down shift from 3rd to 2nd gear every time, the speed dropped below 20kmph.I wish Fiat had put a more decent 1.2 engine with the power output between 80-85 bhp.
• The 1.4 FIRE engined Punto was out of my budget, so I didn't drive it. Plus points include drool inducing looks, tank like build quality and amazing suspension which seems to soak up everything the roads throw at it. Minus points are the engine and after sales service. In fact the Pandit automotive person who accompanied me, himself advised against purchasing the Active variant saying it would run out of steam on the highway after 90-100kmph!! Talk about Fiat promotions and sales !
• Ritz/Swift: From Pandit automotive, I went to Sai service. But they didn't have a petrol Swift/Ritz available for test drive; only a diesel Ritz. So once again headed straight to Chowgule's to test drive both these cars. The 1.2L K-series engine is just fantastic and the gear box is one of the best in class what with those short throws and precise gear shifts. In fact in contrast to the Punto, I never had to down shift to the 2nd gear even if the speed dropped below 20kmph. Just a light tap on the accelerator and both the cars would just zip forward effortlessly.
• Since I had shortlisted the Ritz, I went for an extended test drive (total 7-8kms). The bulletproof engine and gearbox are reason enough to go in for any of these two cars, along with the best after sales service of Maruti. Minus points (if you can call them minus!) include long waiting period for Swift, slightly cramped interiors of the Swift compared to the Ritz, ugly rear end of the Ritz and the rattling interiors of the Ritz; but in my opinion these are negligible.Once again the 2 month long waiting period of the Swift put me off and so the Ritz became no.2 on my list.
• i10 twins: After Chowgule's, I went to Kothari Hyundai. First a test drive of the 1.1 iRDE followed by 1.2 Kappa. Even though the 1.1L engine produces the same 67bhp of power like the Punto, the engine doesn't feel stressed out and has far more driveablity than the Punto. In fact only once or twice did I have to downshift from 3rd to 2nd gear. Maybe because of the fact that the i10 is lighter than Punto?
• Cut over to the 1.2L kappa engine, and you can distinctly feel the difference in power.Just like the Ritz, it never felt underpowered in the traffice and has decent torque to keep puttering in town in the 3rd gear.
• However i10 was ruled out because 1) it has become a far too common sight on the Indian roads (I wanted something new) 2) Gearbox felt notchy in both the cars. In fact while starting off in the 1.2L car, the 1st gear simply refused to engage itself 4-5 times despite the clutch being fully engaged. That left a bad taste in my mouth, but it may be a specific problem to the test drive vehicle 3) Interiors felt cramped and more so after having sat in the Ritz. In our family we are a little plus sized though not hefty; and the interiors felt tad uncomfortable and plasticky.
• Plus points are great engine, good after sales service, good VFM with lots of goodies thrown in between. Minus points are the gearbox, plasticky interiors and its a far too common sight on the indian roads.
• Micra: Once again, the same sales person, the same car but a slightly longer route. The second time I rode the car the odometer already showed 290kms. So it's possible that the car was more slightly run in than my first attempt. Anyway the gearbox felt a bit more comfortable and the engine felt a little more free revving and I had a better experience in this second time. To cut a long story short the test drive vehicle felt a bit better compared to previous time.
• Plus points include fresh looks and beautiful colors, decent engine power and stunning AC. Minus points are after sales service, spare parts are priced a bit higher and the back seat absolutely lacks under thigh support of any sort (esp. on the lowest variant XE).

Since my family was with me, we thought and discussed for a few minutes and decided Micra was the car to have . Mind you this does not mean that the Ritz is a bad vehicle, technically it's just too perfect on paper and you can never go wrong with it, but as I mentioned previously I wanted something new and a bit stylish; so the Micra it was to be.

In fact if you don't want any headache but a great car; I would still recommend the Ritz. One point which I want to mention here is that Polo is another fantastic vehicle which I had test driven. But already the waiting period was 4 months in May and I felt it was over priced for the equipment levels and colors they were offering. Besides my mother didn't like the shape of the Polo (felt it was to rakish) and only red and white colors were available; while for other colors, dealer in Pune was quoting a date of September end.

Hope this helps all of you. Lessons learnt: If you want a car with absolutely no headache, go straight for the Ritz or the Swift. However keep the test drive of the these vehicles for last because after driving these cars any other engine feels puny in comparison to the 85Bhp power of the K-series motor.If you want something more snazzy, fresh and cute; go in for the Micra/Polo.

Two cars which I didn't consider at all: Petrol Ford Figo and Chevy Beat. Great products but I don't think the parent companies are doing enough justice to these. Things may have changed in these years for Ford but the bad experience of the Ikon still lingers in the minds of Indians and GM in the Indian mind set has a reputation of building thirsty vehicles.

Chevy beat is also nice, but interiors look cramped and none in my family liked the styling while the Figo has lower FE and power compared to the competition. Fuel efficiency though the last point on my mind, was something I could not overlook and thats what ruled out the Figo. A.S.S of ford/Chevy would not have been a problem because my office is in the same building on the 1st floor above Planet Ford while for Chevy the dealer Pashankar auto is just opposite on the same road.

Congrats on your purchase for Nissan Micra, you have listed quite an exhaustive observation points while going for your final purchase, my opinion on your observations below

1) The rear design of Ritz is not of the regular lot, so it does not appeal to all, above that once you look at new Zen Estillo and Ritz grill design they look little bit similar. I went for Beat LT and the Ritz variant in this category was 30K expensive and did not offer some features Beat was offering me, (listed those in my review thread). On Maruti A.S.S i can comment that i had started getting poor response for my Alto LXI Servicing with Kothari Wheels, felt as if the dealer had started treating customers like me from the low rung lot or like paupers. Maruti is seriously thinking of acting fast to maintain it's lead in market share which new entrants are eating up fast.

2) On Hyundai i10, GTO has reviewed it to be the best city car and no doubt Hyundai has got a good feel of this segment and is preparing a facelift version of i10 to be launched in some time, maybe later this year or next year. I agree to your point that this car is becoming a very common sight on roads just like Santro. In fact in terms of sales numbers it has the capacity to leave santro sales behind. i10 has a body roll problem for rear seat passengers and IMO i found the car to be cramped in the rear, beige dashboard may look royal but was also not of my taste and is bound to get dirty over the time if proper care not taken.

3) I had the worst expereince with Talera Ford for Figo TD (mentioned in my review thread) so never looked at it again, my friend is still complaining of a low FE and this car which is selling like hot cakes for FORD with that it has brought a slew of A.S.S issues, read the facebook page of Ford Figo, it is buzzing with consumer feedback on issues like fading colour on dashboard plastic, FE issues are common for petrol variant, Dealer issues e.t.c. My wife was bowled over by this car and it is true that for a buyer looking for an upgrade from his first car Ford Figo would be surely on his list, above all looks wise the car does not appeal me mostly due to a very close similarity with Ford Fusion type rear design.

4) Polo and Punto was beyond my budget and i watched an auto review on CNBC channel where Polo was compared to Figo and some other third car (cannot recollect) where it fared low on corner handling with only plus being the high quality interior built of the car and i feel Polo would be more popular in Pune since we have lot of Volkswagen car owners indicating good dealer support in Pune and for the one's who cannot jump to the league of jetta or other luxury sedan's of Volkswagen the pride of owning the Volkswagen badge on the car itself is enough for people with money to go for this brand. It is true that Fiat is facing a competition from its own partner tata, there have few news reports coming in that tata is trying to push sales for it's vehicles over Fiat, whereas Fiat is gaining larger popularity in terms of customer satisfaction compared to Tata vehicles. Linea and Punto are class apart vehicles.

5) I took the risk with Chevy Beat moving away from Maruti brand and i had pleasant buying experience with Pashankar Auto, but my fingers are crossed with GM A.S.S since i have not yet received a feedback call from GM on my purchase experience, whereas dealer has followed up twice confirming my car performance, confirming if my documents were delivered to me properly, above that i have not received assured gold coin from dealer under Gold Rush offer, so have escalated issue to GM they have intitated a inquiry with delaer waiting for solution now.

On FE front i can say GM cars are not as petrol thirsty as Ford Figo, i have clocked average of 13.73 city driving on second petrol refill, i do not have to change gears much in city, i can drive on slow speeds even on 3rd 4th gear, the car engine won't stop, no drag in torque of the car on 2nd gear city driving. It's only if you halt your car completely on any gear above 1st only then the engine turns off. My brother already owns a Santro and my family is based in mumbai so it's max 3 passenger occupancy that i was going to have. Since my requirement was a different look with VFM features i finally went for Beat LT.

[joshguy]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Paid the full amount (4.05L after subtracting the booking amount) to the dealer yesterday evening and he has promised delivery of a Brick red Micra XE (with registration) by this coming Friday or Saturday!!

What ? MICRA's deliveries started?

Whats the on road price in chennai ,Any idea people?

[W.A.G.7]

Hi Friends,

Got the delivery of my Micra today from Oxford Nissan. Number from RTO will arrive tomorrow so just did the formalities + Puja and got my car home. Sneak peeks are attached, so enjoy!!!

Picture of my father doing the puja


Red rules!!


My father receiving the keys and a bouquet from the sales person.


I will put up more pics and an intial report soon; so stay tuned till then!!

Dear mods: Please keep this thread open till Saturday after which you may close it. I plan to put an initial ownership report by Sunday in a new thread.

[SANSI]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Hi Friends,

Got the delivery of my Micra today from Oxford Nissan. Number from RTO will arrive tomorrow so just did the formalities + Puja and got my car home. Sneak peeks are attached, so enjoy!!!

Picture of my father doing the puja

Red rules!!

My father receiving the keys and a bouquet from the sales person.

I will put up more pics and an intial report soon; so stay tuned till then!!

Dear mods: Please keep this thread open till Saturday after which you may close it. I plan to put an initial ownership report by Sunday in a new thread.

Absolutely Stunning look. Nissan pulls our eyes on road than in pictures. Something very new for eyes. Yesterday I saw a blue Micra in Bangalore outer ring road on my way back to home from office. Blue too looks amazing. There is no wonder why you chose Micra for its look. I felt like what I felt when swift was introduced.

[sam003]

Congrats man, its Brick Red color right? I was looking for same for my sister in Jan 2011 as new year gift to her. So do post some initial ownership report.