[SamitMukherjee]

Originally Posted by arighna.dutta

Would be very interesting to know, how have you maintained the Matiz

Though the journey of these 19 years was not totally smooth, it had it's own share of challenges.
The main challenges were-
1. Getting hold of a mechanic who knew the car well-
We found an Ex-Daewoo mechanic.
2. Procuring Spares- Initially we sourced from Delhi. But
the spares were not reliable. Then we found a shop in
Chennai and since then procuring spares from them
either by hand or through courier.

I will pen down my ownership experience sometime.

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.

Completely agree with you. Matiz is a good car. Scenarios would have been different had Daewoo existed.

[gururajrv]

Flop is derived of the following factors

1) Extremely good cars that are premium enough for people to abandon it from purchasing it - perhaps the brand value doesn’t justify for the car?

Ex: Suzuki Kizashi - sexy looking, upmarket score from Maruti. But, it never really attracted customers due to brand value back then!

Pros: Exclusivity!
Cons: Spares mostly

2) Not so great looking cars but contains a ballistic engine underneath which people aren’t really bothered to go ahead and buy. Brand & the essence of remaining contemporary to the market again matters.

Ex: Abarth versions of the Punto makes a great example here alongside the price tag. I don’t really have to talk much about this steed. Honestly, interiors / exteriors was a great turn off at this time.

Pros: Feel of owning a monster in a sheep’s clothing
Cons: Need I say more when I mention Fiat has packed bags and spares going to be a challenge in the coming days? Obviously resale value too.

Opposite was the vRS - people went ahead and bought it like hot cakes & chips.

3) Bad cars with bad engines coupled with low brand value

Ex: Few Nissan & Datsun models. I don’t have to talk much here as everyone knows it already.

Pros: none
Cons: many!

[Vasanth]

Yes. I would love to own Abarth Punto. Only if the service was good.
Built like a military vehicle.
We have owned a flop car before. It is the Fiat Palio 1.6 sport.
The car we miss the most.
The next car was Honda city. To be honest, we like the Fiat more. Only if the service was good.
We had so many problems later:
The AC water used to get collected under front passenger seat. Yes. From the inside.
The horn doesn’t work when AC is on.
The rain water gets collected in the rear door trims. (Not door pocket)
Everytime we close the door water splashes on our foot. Lmao.
It’s the only car we owned it for 8 long years.
Just because it’s driving characteristics doesn’t match any other car of its time.

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by Stribog

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.

My definition of a flop car (Verna in 2010) -



Even if this particular Verna variant was the most selling in the segment in 2010, I would have considered it flop considering above looks.

[Kosfactor]

What is the criteria with which we are considering a flop car?

A car from Maruti \ Hyundai that is considered a flop (I wonder if these two have any) may have outsold the entire line up of cars from a smaller player in India like Nissan or even Skoda.

[Researcher]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

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

Originally Posted by Stribog

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.

Originally Posted by bluevolt

My definition of a flop car (Verna in 2010)
Even if this particular Verna variant was the most selling in the segment in 2010, I would have considered it flop considering above looks.

Back in 2010, for the petrol versions, I would agree that the Honda City was the choice in the segment (unless maybe ground clearance was a big deal). But for diesel versions, there was no option in Honda, which is why Verna was the safe choice since it had a much better engine than the other safe choice of SX4; Vento was new back then; and Linea's potential wasn't fully utilised by Fiat India. The fluidic Verna really turned the tables, but even this version had a great engine (1.5 CRDi if I recall correctly).
Note: I myself drive a used 2008 SX4 purely due to easy spares in my area outside the service center and ground clearance needs, though my first choice was a used Civic.

[uditsharma01]

For me buying a flop car means compromising peace of mind although some products like Hexa, SCross make a really strong case. Not much into reselling cars as I use the cars for the longterm. But I'd be definitely worried about the spares. And more worried if it belongs to the Ford, Chevy or Fiat stable. Don't want to live in the anxiety that your car would be obsolete.

I'd not buy a flop car unless I want that car extremely badly and all the cons could be overlooked.

[sunnsood]

I bought Honda Jazz in 2010 for good discount and till date I have faced no issues whatsoever with the car.

I am looking for an upgrade and may be Honda can offer Accord Hybrid for 20 lakhs

[ashutoshb]

I buy cars with my heart.

I want to have a satisfying smile, every single time I walk towards my car. The smile, which shows, I didn't compromise over what I wanted.

Never did it happen, when I wanted to buy one car, but chose another over its market success.

Fortunately, I never had problems with spares. The Logan, the Grande, the Sail, never. Maybe, I have been lucky.

Yes, poor resale value hurts. But, it gets compensated with the wonderful time I had with my cars.

My Logan took me to Leh, without even a puncture. It was one of the most robust and comfortable cars I have ever had. My Sumo Grande was my companion on various road trips, which had wonderful moments, I will never forget. It's enormous boot space meant, seldom did I need a truck to move things around. I have moved almirahs, refrigerators and what not. The Sail is still with me. Whoever sits in it, applauds the comfortable ride and the solid build quality.

I never regretted any of my purchase, even for a day. And to me, that matters over everything else.

[octane_100]

I have quite a bit of experience owning flop cars since we had not one but 4 flop cars in the last 13 years.


1. First Gen Elantra D: Bought new in 2006, it was very good value as it cost a tad more than the top end Fiesta D at that point of time. Great high speed stability, ride comfort and ground clearance. A stonker of a diesel marred only by the turbo lag. Raked up 1L km in under 3 years and then was disposed for 40% of purchase value


2. First Gen Elantra Petrol: I bought this pre-worshipped in 2008 after selling our Ikon1.6 which had done 1.5L km. The previous owner who is a close friend had put in little under 8k km on the odo and sold it to me for half the OTR price of a new one. It was a comfortable daily run about and I kept it till it crossed 60k on the odo. By that time I had gotten bored of having Elantras back to back and decided to change. The best part is I lost only 30% in terms of depreciation!


3. Hyundai Getz 1.3 GLS: Bought for my wife as her first car after she learnt how to drive. Was already 5 years old but done only 30k km, driven by a lady doctor. Mechanically was in a very good condition and bought from Hyundai Assured. We kept it for 5 years and it was the best handling Hyundai back in those days!!



4. Fiat Linea 1.3 MJD Emotion: The car where I had high expectations but was let down badly. I went against my dad's choice of Vento and bought this only to suffer lot of niggling issues, and an under powered engine. Sold at quite a discount after labouring 55k km with the Italian!



So, it's been mostly positive experience for me dealing with flop cars, more so when I have bought pre-worshipped ones. I have no qualms in going down that route again in the future too.

[Sahil]

I have had a history with flop cars and enjoyed each one, in chronological order:
- Standard 2000: Was the only kid in school with a car that big. However parts were a big issue and it often broke down.
- Opel Corsa: Super fun to drive and felt very exclusive in my teenage
- Honda Accord: This was the 6th gen model that was launched before the 7th generation model which sold well and accord's lost their exclusivity. This car was well loaded and we even got an aftermarket sunroof. The leather seats and interior space would put most luxury cars even today to shame. It was my 18th birthday gift and boy did I enjoy it!

The common factor amongst all these was poor FE and high sticker prices. I think these were the main reasons for their low sales numbers.

Yes, I did take a big hit on their resale but they serviced us well for the most part.

[Thilak29]

I own a Brio and 2nd gen Figo with Diesel engine. Both are unique and gem of a car with specific characteristics. Though both termed as flops, absolutely no regrets so far.

[nmenon]

Voted for yes.

I have a car that may get considered a flop, though I don't think so, since its sales hover around the 1k to 500 per month mark: Ford Freestyle.
Then again seeing the number of Freestyles I see on the roads here would make me wonder if it can be called a flop.

Nevertheless if the choice was between a high selling successful but soulless car and a not so popular but soulful car I'd take the latter, taking examples from today's market, I wouldn't have hesitated to take a Tiago JTP or go back to Ford and get the Freestyle. Definitely not getting a Baleno, I20, NIOS or Venue.

[aniyo]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

I own a Brio and 2nd gen Figo with Diesel engine. Both are unique and gem of a car with specific characteristics. Though both termed as flops, absolutely no regrets so far.

I had a Brio for 4 years before I bought Nexon. Even with its shortcomings Brio was a good car no idea why it did not sell as much. Never had problem with the glass back either

[greenhorn]

Everybody here seems to be assuming that low sales volume = flopped cars. Do you really expect an abarth Punto or a polo get to outsell a wagon R, or, a more attainable Target like the Figo sports?
I don't think that's reasonable, and I don't think the manufacturers intended things that way either. They wanted a Halo car for image boosting and leverage an existing platform to tap a profitable niche, both of which these cars would have achieved easily.