[varman742]

Voted for 'No'. I intend to keep my car for at-least 7-8 years and cant think of keeping flopped car for that long. If a car is tagged as flop after I have bought, its a different story.

However at the time of buying I won't consider a flop car even if it is an excellent product. Reasons:

1. Already flop car will vanish soon from the market or will get upgraded significantly in near future. Hence will feel outdated soon.
2. Car tagged as flop either didn't have a mass appeal in some or the other aspect at the first place OR seriously lacking in looks/features/price/drive. Hence more likely there will some compromise if I go for such one.
3. Flopped car may give a sweet deal but may not still be significantly lower that the car which I may be aspiring. Hence in the broad scheme of things of owning a car and horizon of 7-8 years 1-2 lacs cheaper may not make much different, at least to me.
4. If a car remains as flopped for long in the market, then even from manufacturer's point of view there may not be much focus or investment.

[padmrajravi]

Both my cars are flops - Xcent and Hexa. I am what marketing people call a Harbinger of failure.

Looking back, I don't regret buying the Xcent. In the market conditions that existed 5 years ago, it was the cheapest sedan with a proper automatic gearbox. The fact that Hyundai service centres are excellent in my area and the car is niggle free also helps.

In case of Hexa, there have been situations where I regretted not spending 2 lakhs more and going for the Innova GX AT with 170 horses. Also the fact that TASS in my area is not professional enough and always leaves something for the next service aggravates the regret. If I can go back 2 years, I might take a good hard look at that decision.

While buying new, I don't see any pro's of buying a flop car even if you get a good deal. I think nobody should buy a flop car if they already knew it was a flop. A hit car's spare availability is far better than a flop car. In the case of my Xcent, since it has Grand i10 as its cousin, the spare availability is very good. Especially the frequently needed items like ORVMs and bumpers. Even when my Xcent was in the service centre for minor accidents, it never waits for spares because Grand i10 is such a successful car.

I can not imagine my Hexa breaking its ORVM. I am sure TASS will require 10 days to procure the part. So there are days where I regret that purchase. But then most cars seems to respect the Hexa ORVMs more than the Xcent's ones. May be the fear that it can break their A pillar helps.

[reignofchaos]

Had a 'flop' Cedia Sports for 8 years before selling it and I had absolute zero regret in buying it. I loved the car for the fact that it was unique, was good looking and had a great engine, gearbox and handling. It never gave me trouble in all the years of ownership and is still running fine after 12 years with a friend who owns it and has now done a few mods on it.

I will buy flop cars again in future if I like the car enough and can get a good deal on them.

[GRAND23]

Voted for "No way I'm bringing a flop home".

The way I see is, it's always better to buy the car which is hit in mass market. Reason: These cars will have high volume of sales, hence I will have more choices.

Let me quote my example here. I am planning to buy my next pre-owned car in the year 2024 or 2025. As on today, I have decided to go with Kia Seltos diesel variant (manual or auto). As we know, the sales of this car is excellent and by another few years the growth will be exponential. This means the used market by 2024/2025, I will have more choices to pick. Even if you lose some good deals on pre-used cars, you are sure that the next one will be arriving soon.
This is exactly what’s happening now for Hyundai Creta.

[Vibhanshu]

Originally Posted by GTO

Attachment 1956990

We started discussing the pros & cons to buying a car that flopped in the market.

Pros:

IMHO, unless you have really, REALLY liked the model, there’s no reason to buy a flopped car. Just be absolutely sure about its strengths = there might be many reasons that 99.99% of the market doesn't put its money on it.

Downsides:

• Resale value. If no one wants it new, no one wants it used. Flopped cars get bad prices in the used market, and they take far longer to sell.

• Image, if that matters to you. Your friends & relatives might wonder why you bought an unpopular car. Be ready to answer a lot of questions.

Any other pros & cons that BHPians can add to the discussion? Thanks!

True! But some good stuff comes out with in these flops! My first car was Mitsubishi Cedia. And second car (current car) is 2014 Fiesta facelift.

Both are fantastic drivers car, it's been exclusive and no complaints on build quality (Cedia was almost a tank). And friends and relatives envy!

Downside? Had a hard time selling Cedia. Very few takers. Spares were rare and expensive.

No complaints from Fiesta though. Not sure how resale is going to be whenever I upgrade.

PS: I'll happily buy the overpriced (and flop) Compass 4x4 AT, if I can afford it

[arighna.dutta]

Well, is Renault Lodgy so flopped a car that it didn't get a mention yet ?

I haven't yet voted for the poll, as my vote would depend on the replies on this situation of mine, which is as followed, so lets have some food for thoughts.

My BIL in Mumbai (MH redg), has a 2015 Lodgy 110ps RXl 8 seater, not sure about the variant exactly, as I was never interested. It has two airbags, ABS-EBD, rear wiper, defogger, touchscreen and and OTR was around 12/13 lacs (if that helps to figure the variant), it was primarily driven on highways for drives like visiting us in Bangalore and has clocked approximately around 35 or 40k kms. He had recently moved to US and has decided to quick sell his car and he might be fetching around 5lacs is what he said. What do you guys think, would it be a good idea to pick this up and use it for long holiday drives with friends and relatives?

Now adding to the above situation:
My Father in law, has a late 2010 Toyota Innova G (with the Intercooler update, non ABS, airbags), 8 -seater variant in Kolkata (WB regd), OTR was around 12 lacs. It has clocked 13k kms only, primarily driven over highways over alternate weekends for round trips of 60 kms max to their ancestral home, so I am sure that it was never left lying all these years and had been regularly serviced from Toyota A.S.S. Now, he also wish to sell it off but poor resale in Kolkata is fetching him around 5 lacs only.

Now both the cars are on offer to me, which one to go for, or should not go with any? I am located in Bangalore, have cars for city usage, we love to drive to long distances, and we like it more with relatives and friends going all together, but couldn't do it much as self-drive rental 7/8 seaters turns out to be disappointing many times. Since the above are non KA registered MUVs, I never gave it a serious thought, however, such lovely deals is making me think now. I know the history of both the cars in detail.

I wonder if I can take both the MUVs and get some commercial permits and let them ply or sell them in Bangalore for insanely inflated price after using for sometime.

[VVN]

Voted Yes. However, I'll almost always opt for a Flop model from a good brand. The headache of buying a flop model is enough to dissuade me from being too adventurous and opting for a Flop Model + Flop Brand. I think people who buy such models are very well aware of the low resale value and hence that doesn't really matter. One such model I have in mind is the S-Cross 1.6.

[TorqMaster]

We have a Renault Fluence in the family (brother’s car). It did not sell well and engine is small for a car of its size (1.5L Diesel).It was somewhere close to 20 big ones ( or 15 I don’t remember) when it was bought brand new in 2015.
Pros-
1.dealer treats you well because you are the guy who bought their most expensive-unpopular sedan and gave him a sale. They kinda remember you and treat you with royalty after that. There were few issues in the past 5 years of owning it and I believe their service at Tirunelveli has been good.
2. Exclusivity-haven’t seen a white well maintained Fluence so far
3. Owning that car has been a pleasure. it’s very comfortable, stable at high speeds, relaxed mile muncher, unbeatable suspension and has its own class.
I see this with other flop cars too eg:Aria, Cielo etc
4. Parts could take time but usually replacement car is given and priority is increased for such cars at the dealer.

[shashi792]

One of the reason cars getting flopped is because of its price. Too much to ask for the features offered. I, usually go heart vs the head when buying a car. I don't want to make a wise decision in buying a VFM car, but then admire at the car next to me on road. But, yes, a flop car like ICML Rhino would never be in list. But, Kicks, Kizashi, Vitara are different also, I would buy Fiat Abarth urbancross rather than buying a for e.g. Hyundai Aura .

[SamitMukherjee]

I know what having a flop car means. My father bought Matiz in end 2000. The car served us faithfully for last 19 years and still going strong. We intend to keep it for few more years.
Pros-
1. Attention it gets while on road
2. Mileage- Still gives 16-18 km/l
3. Park it anywhere. No body to take
4. Pride of keeping her for last 19 years. She has seen me growing-up and has become a part of our family.

Cons-
1. Procuring spares- More difficult as Daewoo no longer exists.
2. Maintenance cost- She has undergone complete repainting to take care of her body rust. Even spare parts costs a bomb!

The pleasure of keeping her is more than the Cons.
We never regretted on buying a flop car.

[arighna.dutta]

Originally Posted by SamitMukherjee

Cons-
1. Procuring spares- More difficult as Daewoo no longer exists.
2. Maintenance cost- She has undergone complete repainting to take care of her body rust. Even spare parts costs a bomb!

The pleasure of keeping her is more than the Cons.
We never regretted on buying a flop car.

Would be very interesting to know, how have you maintained the Matiz, and if it is sustainable or not. Guess, we can have a dedicated thread on how to maintain flop cars and how to go at it. Might be we can even rate the level of being flopped and the kind of measures taken to maintain such cars based on their level of being flopped. Well, no pun intended.

For example, Matiz will never earn the rank 1 (or 0) in being flopped as it had got serious traction when it was on sale initially, only if Daewoo wouldn't have ended up the way they did. A level 1 flop car might be the Premier Rhino as mentioned by a fellow member, with both the brand and the product sinking super fast.

[laser2707]

Let me jump in. I voted "No". However, let me confess. I have many times been tempted to put money down for two so-called "Flops". One is the Brio the other is Lodgy. For separate reasons, I have even toyed with the idea of owning both as it would cost me about 8-9 lakhs for both. I have not given up on the idea as yet.

Let me list the reasons:

Brio: Small maneuverable car. Great driving dynamics. It can be modded & souped up a bit. Good for city drives and short trips out of the city. Economical to own & with my limited driving should be good for at least 5 yrs. Honda reliability to top it.

Lodgy: IMO a great touring car. Especially the Stepway 110PS. For a family of four, it offers all that the Innova has at a fraction of the cost. Perfect for road trips with family. The K9K engine while old is very sturdy and is used across Renault & Nissan models so parts should not be a problem.

I have struggled with the temptation & eventually given it up. I drive a run of the mill Wagon R. Still the "keeda" keeps coming back.

[drkuldeep1998]

I personally feel that there is no harm in buying a flop car if that company has a good services network and spares are also easily available. You can get a very good deal while buying such cars. If i have a car like Ford Ikon TDCi or Hyundai Accent Diesel (old), why would I even think of selling such cars..these are rare cars with awesome engines under the hood and still can be maintained very easily.

[Stribog]

Voted yes and this based on personal experience.

My family and I now have a tradition of being first buyers on "flop models".

Dad started his run with the Rover 2000, absolute gem of a car, put out a whopping 83 BHP (which back in the late 80's was phenomenal) but flopped miserably because on road mileage in the empty (relatively) streets and city traffic then was around 4-5kmph.

This was before forums like this, magazines (which only enthusiasts read), cars were purchased like you did clothes. You went to the showroom, admired the looks, got concurrence from the wife, have the kids a say in selecting the colour, ask the key question " how much does it give", pay cash or cheque and leave.

This was an outright lemon though.

He next picked up the Peugeot 309 GLD, and it was a flop car but absolutely no regrets. As it was a PAL partnership we had our mechanic himself get trained on it and for half a decade after PAL Peugeot shut down, we easily got spare parts in GP road Chennai.

We really didn't care that it was a "flop". Compared to it's contemporaries it looked beautiful, apparently had amazing handling, an exceptional suspension and the national engine of it's era. The same engine powered the Esteem and Hyundai Accent iirc.

We sent it to our village for use when we visited and uncle to use and it gave good service when finally uncle sold it and got a 4*4 Scorpio.

We had no cons associated with the car, spares, service (maybe we got lucky with our garage who had been servicing cars right from my grandpa's Minor) and many pros - a superior machine in simple would be the biggest.

I then got into the family tradition. My first bike was a....Bajaj Aspire. Anyone remember it? No? Good, didn't expect it either.

Like the 309, it was a underrated gem, picked it up in 2002, it was with me for a half a decade till I sold it for my Rtr 180. Never had a single mechanical problem (except for that one time when it was submerged in some floods when I was out station and after a months half the exhaust fell of on Gemini Flyover thanks to rust). Like the 309, no niggles, no headache sourcing spares and yes I was gently mocked by friends for buying this flop bike but I proudly made it my calling card anyway.

My next flop buy was the Mahindra Logan (the 80 bhp ver forget which model it was), same as the Aspire and 309, a sound machine, it gave me no troubles and I only never grew to like how boxy it looked so eventually sold it and joined the mainstream.

A Verna and now a Seltos. Basically I have gone from fringe flop machine buyer to the herd and I miss the exclusivity that came from flop models.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

.

PS - Opinions about flop cars are subjective & personal, any SX4/Ciaz/Verna owners please don't take offense

Am just curious as to your definition of a "flop vehicle" as the Verna was and is one of The most selling vehicles in it's segment.