[selfdrive]

I am looking to buy a car (who isnt!!) and I appreciate your suggestions considering my criteria:

1. Must have airbags (at least 2) and ABS
2. Ideally 3 rear seatbelts. I am not sure if this is offered in all cars
3. I would prefer a diesel; but can consider petrols as long as they are not gas guzzlers (9kmpl or below IMHO)
4. Nice to have but not necessary at all - alloy wheels (can fit them later), rear power windows, steering adjust, ACC
5. Used cars will do too
6. Budget 7.5L, though any money saved would be appreciated
7. Target delivery date is Feb 10, 2011
8. I do not want the Swift (personal choice only, no offence to Swift owners)
9. I am not a sedate driver, but the passengers prefer me to be one, so I will have to go for a "family car" (read as no Palio)
10. Ideally prefer a hatchback, I think the only sedans I can consider in this budget are the Manza and the SX4
11. Normal load will be 3 or 4, very occasional 5th person
12. there should be enough space in the rear seat for a baby car booster seat
13. All adult passengers are between 5'9" and 6'1 (to ascertain leg room)
14. A** should be decent. I dont need to be served a soft drink when I visit them, and I will be happy as long as any niggles on the car are effectively resolved without any BSing
15. GC should be decent, I have to drive in/ around Pune
16. I expect to own the car for around 4 to 5 years at the least

Phew, thats one long list! I have TDed the Punto Emotion Pk, Manza Aura+, Figo Titanium Tdci, I20 crdi and SX4 VVT. Are there any other cars that I should be considering? What are your opinions/ recommendations?
Thanks again!

[sidindica]

Shut your eyes and pick up the i20 CRDI asta, though you might have to spend some extra. Meets your requirements to the T.

[akhilesh]

I would be a little wary of the steering rattles and A/C problems in the i20. The latter depends on where you live so that we know how hot it gets in summers.
Do look at Figo Titanium and save yourself some cash or buy the Punto 90 HP since Swift is already out.

[anilisanil]

Figo titanium TDCi, would meet all your requirements.

Aprt from meeting the basic requirements like:

1) Nice diesel engine.
2) Spacious nature (I am a little more than 6 feet and my wife is about 5'9", we are comfy in our car)
3) Hassle free ownership (all the initial niggles that any car has are solved now and it is an issue free car now, almost :P)
4) Very powerful a/c and humongous boot.
5) GC has never been an issue in Pune (I drove 8k kM so far)
6)Figo has a reasonable lead time, so you should get your car much before February
I would not say A.S.S is the best, but it is not that bad either! I am so far pretty happy with how it turned out.

Phew!! Did I sound like a Ford sales guy or what? :P


Having said that, if you have the moolah you can try i20 too, but it does have its own share of seemingly unsolved problems.

Last but not the least, it is not that the other cars are any bad, just see which of them impresses you the most. To me it was Ford's diesel because I got everything I wanted at a much lower price and I felt I did not compromise anything when I was buying Figo and neither did I pay a bomb for that! So Figo it was for me!!

[HammerHead]

Point 13 suggests you need a spacious car.

In case you want to save money and still want a spacious hatch with tested engine, go for Indica Vista QJD AURA +. You will at least save 1.5L!!

In case you want to utilize your budget fully, how about Jazz or Jazz Select? Jazz should fit in your budget after discounts.

[arunkk]

Your requirements are quite generic and all the new hatches will satisfy most of them. I would suggest you to decide between Figo, Punto, Polo & I20 listed in the ascending order of price

[ghodlur]

Looking at your budget and safety requirements, only a hatchback cab ne looked at.
Try the top end variants of i20, Ford Figo, Indica Vista
OR
Mid variants of Polo

You can also try an entry level sedan like Logan, Etios, Indigo CS. I dont know whether vento will fit in the budget.

[Neilguy]

I would suggest a used late 2009 or early 2010 Ford Fiesta SXI with all the goodies. Should fit comfortably in your budget.

[dhanushs]

^^ Yes, I was just gonna say that.

You can also consider a used Magnum. Nice family car, and a real mile cruncher. Fits the descriptions perfectly, though I'm not sure about the GC.

[AirWind]

@ 7.5L OTR, none of the sedans will offer you ABS/Airbags. Any Petrol hatch will offer you a decent fuel economy (10+ KMPL) and at your budget you can also get a fully loaded Diesel.

Here are your options: Swift/Ritz ZXi, Skoda Fabia 1.2 TDi Elegance, VW Polo Highline 1.2 TDi, Ford Figo Titanium TDCi, Hyundai i20 1.4 P/CRDi, Fiat GP MJD Emotion Pk, Honda Jazz 1.2P

The Skoda Fabia 1.2 TDi Elegance suits your requirement to a T.

[hemantbsutar]

Its a choice between the Figo and i20 clearly. Take a TD of both and decide. Figo has a superior ride and handling, while clearly the i20 looks classier.
Turbo lag is the same for both and so is the mileage. Figo is cheaper to run as 1 year service intervals

[nithin_86]

I too agree with the most popular opinions here. The best options would be the i20 Crdi or the Figo Diesel top end. I guess Figo would save you quite some dough. But the i20 has that macho and powerful look all around in my personal opinion. Both these cars have real classy interiors and finish that one doesn't stand above the other I guess. Personally I would go for the i20. Purely based on the looks as I find both to be equally good in performance if you leave out a few plus and minus factors here and there while comparing both.

[aniketvu]

Hi Selfdrive,

Most of your requirements except maybe 4 should be satisfied by most cars in the premium hatchback segment (Figo, Punto, i20, Polo, Vista, Jazz)

Depending on how finicky you are about the interiors of the car (looks/plastics/etc), I would suggest Figo, Vista, Punto, Polo, Jazz, i20 in ascending order of interiors.

However based on 9, I would not recommend i20 simply because the 2nd gear is useless and I found the steering light. I would recommend you look at either the Figo/Punto (so that you get a good drive but none of your co-passengers even feel it). With Figo, I recommend only the TDCI. With Punto, you can decide based on running, NVH levels, etc.

If you have budget, as per all the reviews I have read Jazz might be a good (although expensive) fit also.

[MileCruncher]

Off all the requirements that you listed, I think Manza P/D will provide you the best suitability.

But do check for fit and finish!

[mobike008]

That indeed is a long wish list and be prepared to compromise on a few of them for sure.

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Off all the requirements that you listed, I think Manza P/D will provide you the best suitability.

+1. Manza is the best that you can buy which will meet all your requirements and be still in budget

You can also check out Logan as its a spacious car

In the used buy option, you can easily get a loaded 2006 or 2007 Corolla H5 for that price which would also meet most of your requirements and give you a premium feel.