[SaGa]

Thanks GTO, for starting this thread!

Yes, mass is generally right by not putting their money in something and that makes the product a flop show. But I feel the crowd is not too educated when it comes to deciding what is a hit or a flop. There are a lot of great products sitting in the shelf not bought because the crowd decided it looks best sitting there. Things are changing though with newer manufacturers storming the Indian market with really great products.

I my view, a flop product is a great buy in terms of the $$ saved and exclusivity. But things start getting very rarefied when you just can't find spare parts. I have been living with it with my 2007 Mitsubishi Cedia 2.0. The only market that has anything close to fit are the likes of Mayapuri with scrap imports from Dubai.
Fun fact - Mitsubishi designed its radiator in four different ways. You will have to be really lucky to find the one that fits your car (read Cedia)

IMHO the best part about the above situation is that you learn a lot in general about your car's mechanics and the overall machine setup. But yes, you should avoid buying something that doesn't have a long market life.

[WAM-4]

Can the old Honda Jazz be termed a flop? It was priced at around 9 lac initially if I recall correctly.

If this can be termed as a flop car, then I'm a proud owner of one. Purchased the Jazz MT (the last piece with the dealer Magnum Honda) at 7.6 lac on road price in Oct 2012.

Its been a superb experience with the car. Touch wood, no major issues whatsoever even after 7.5 years ownership.

I will definitely keep driving the car and have no plans to sell it at all.

[kousikjana]

I too bought a flopped car (Ford Figo S TDCI) and got a whopping 2 lakhs discount! Though it is early to comment, but after using it for one year and covering more than 20000 kilometers, I must say, there is no regrets. It is worth the penny I have spent.

But, had I bought it at its original price (9 lakhs OTR including 5 years extended warranty), it would would have been a real bad deal.

[klassics45]

I have two all-new Fiestas in our house. Both are pre-owned. Absolutely no regrets and with the kind of build quality, handling and steering feedback they have, i think I wouldn't be able to buy any other car with the money that I spent on these two cars.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by kousikjana

I too bought a flopped car (Ford Figo S TDCI) and got a whopping 2 lakhs discount! Though it is early to comment, but after using it for one year and covering more than 20000 kilometers, I must say, there is no regrets. It is worth the penny I have spent.

But, had I bought it at its original price (9 lakhs OTR including 5 years extended warranty), it would would have been a real bad deal.

I bought my Figo S TDCI in Feb 2018. I did not get a 2 lakh discount but managed to get it at 8.3 lakhs OTR which is nearly 1 lakhs less.

I love the car apart from few issues. The ride is stiff for long drives. The quality of glasses used is not very good. Have Garware sun films on them but still the car heats up due to black interiors and there is plastic like smell.

The brakes are not that good and gear box is notchy. I remapped the car from Wolf Moto and I enjoy the drive on highways.

I would not call it flop as they manufactured a very limited number and managed to sell all of them.

[kousikjana]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

I bought my Figo S TDCI in Feb 2018. I did not get a 2 lakh discount but managed to get it at 8.3 lakhs OTR which is nearly 1 lakhs less.

I got additional 1 lakh discount because I bought the car on November 2018 when the production of Figo lineup already stopped as the figo facelift was around the corner. My car was lying at dealer's place for more than 6 months. That's an additional risk I took.

I too have fitted same sunfilm as you, but heating issue is still there. So, I avoid parking under direct sunlight if possible. To get rid of plastic smell, I use activated carbon from Whiteleaf which works like magic. You can try it out. I also turn off AC and run the blower in full speed for atleast 2 minutes before switching off the engine.

Gearbox is an issue, perticularly changing from 2nd to 3rd and from 4th to 5th is not smooth at all.

Suspension is stiffened to accommodate bigger wheels and tyre sidewall also reduced to 55cm. All these contributed to harsh ride on broken road. But on highway it is an advantage. There is almost no body roll during high speed. Some cars are like boat nowadays.

I have not faced any issues with breaks. I try to use engine breaking whenever possible. Also I don't change to 5th gear until I cross 80km/h mark. In lowest possible gear engine brake is most effective.

IMO, entire Figo 2015 lineup (including current facelift) failed to continue the first generation success. For that matter even the sports varient flopped.

[gungax]

Voted Yes, I don’t really care if the car was hit, flop, popular etc.

My first car was an Indigo Marina- Petrol(Sold after 9 years), second was a Maruti SX4 (Sold after 8 years) and third is the New Santa Fe (Is 5 Years old).
All are hidden gems and have given me years of driving pleasure. Also all three have given my years of haste free ownership experience.

[adneeraj]

Read the entire thread over a period of 2 days.
I must say the idea of buying a "flop" is totally bizarre - going by the definition of flop. But there are a few cars discussed here that folks are talking about that were nearing their end of life.

I myself have bought a Fiesta Classic in 2014 knowing it was to be discontinued the same year. Got the top trim Titanium model at 8 lacs OTR and thought I had a good deal. Bear that the newer Fiesta was selling when I got this one, but I was working on a very tight budget. Already having a G13B Swift at home, I wasn't keen on buying another hatch and I wanted to have a car that handled equally well. I would have loved to go for the 1.6 petrol, but my daily commute and the fuel prices then ~Rs. 90 a liter made me go for the underpowered 1.4 diesel. It's a good highway runner.
I had got a RD tuning box added for a couple years but had to remove it since it started throwing injector errors. It's running pretty much stock for about a year now with no complaints.
I decided to keep the car long term and added a Sony Apple CarPlay HU with an underseat sub in 2018 to spruce up things. Although I do not really feel comfortable on long trips (underthigh support is poor), there's nothing that the car cannot do. Moves 4 people with a 10 day luggage with ease, is built solid, good panels/sheet metal, everything is in good condition, spare part availability is good too and reasonably priced.

I may not sell the car just yet and I'm in my 6th year of ownership already.
I was offered 4.5 lacs a year ago when I took a TD of VW Vento - I think that was a more than fair valuation then.
The car now probably would fetch not more than 3 lacs IMO, but I wouldn't want to part with it just yet. Any car I'd like is atrociously priced (or out of my budget )

PS: I have a relatively nicer looking Grand i10 Auto with all the bells and whistles to go to fancier places.

But I totally get nudged by friends all the time to be seen in an "outdated" car
I just smile.

[trtraj]

Originally Posted by GTO

Attachment 1956990

Someone called me last evening to take my advice & ask if he should buy a Nissan Kicks (some crazy deals out there).

• Be ready to answer a lot of questions.

OMG !! GTO, you put this exactly on a day after i paid for kicks,
Yes, What brand it is, I haven't seen this car on road kind of questions

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

I bought a flop car and have lived with it for 14 years with no regrets and it served me faithfully and also the company gave good after sales support, with a heavy heart sold it end of Oct 2019 due to the 15 year rule. I miss my Elantra GLS.

I too share a similar experience, mine was a Elantra CRDI. I got hefty discounts, accessories and extended warranty during purchase. Verna was just launched and Elantra never had many takers, Hyundai was more than happy to offer all that I asked to get rid of the last few pieces on stock

It was among my best ownership experience and gave a good resale value after 5 years and 85,000 kms.

I still miss my Elantra even after 9 years and 3 cars.

[amitayu]

I am driving a Ford Freestyle, which counts as a flop I guess. I bought it because I loved the car, period.

In any case, I use a car for around 7 years before buying a new one. As long as I am able to drive this one peacefully for 7 years, I will consider the money well spend.

The next buy after 7 years is way ahead in the future. Besides resale value, there will other factors determining my financial condition which in turn will determine what car i buy next. However, will cross that bridge when I come to it.

[OctYFAN]

Originally Posted by GTO

• If you are buying something rare & complex (e.g. Opel Vectra or X-Trail), you won't find any mechanic in the after-market who has familiarity with it.

Totally true. I bought an X Trail in December 2019 and all it's given me is trouble. I bought it for 3.5 lacs and then have spent almost 1 lakh on it for repairs alone. Even as I am writing this, it's waiting in our local Nissan dealer waiting for a turbo sensor to arrive from the factory surplus lot in Japan.

Goddammit

Cheers
OctYFAN

[ajmat]

Buy

• If the car is fundamentally good like the Kicks, Figo, FreeStyle, Mitsubishis
• Share proven components - Kicks, Captur,
• Victim of confused positioning - Captur, Zen Estilo
• The delta between the low purchase price and projected resale will be less than with a popular model

Run

• Car is troublesome -
• Cannot be sold on easily - Captive, Aveo (what's that?)
• Parts are rare or sparse - Large Fords, X-Trail , Vectra
• Parts cost more than the car - Mondeo, Vectra, Captiva
• No endearing qualities. -Chevrolets except the Cruze

[adimicra]

Feels like this is a post for me.

I bought 3 cars in life - Santro Xing, Jazz (2010 model) and Vento 1.2 TSI DSG (HL plus). I sold the Santro long back but currently own the other 2.
As you can see, both the Jazz and Vento are flops or disasters in the Indian market but absolutely no regrets. The Jazz is running strong with no issues after 10 years and the Vento brings a smile to my face whenever I slot the gear to 'S' and put pedal to metal

[asit.kulkarni93]

It all depends on the reason for the car to be labelled as a flop.

1. The 1st gen Honda Jazz was a flop but it was an amazing product, same with the Scross. Even if the market considers it a flop, I wouldn’t mind picking it up. Even the 1.5 + 4-AT with the right discounts. The 1.6 Scross will always remain a favourite.

2. Then we have cars like Nissan kicks or Datsun Go which were destined to fail. It makes 0 sense to pick them up.

3. There are cars like the Pajero Sport or Škoda Yeti which I wouldn’t mind buying even thought they weren’t market favourites but I have an issue buying cars like Hyundai Elantra or Renault Koleos or Fluence. These products didn’t have a strong USP.