[gpunj]

In 2008, we purchased our first car, the Hyundai i10 Sportz with the 1.2-liter kappa petrol engine. It was super easy and fun to drive within the city and was good enough for the occasional highway trip. Both me and my partner used to look forward to driving it as often as possible.

In 2013, we felt it was time for an upgrade, but were in love with the size of i10 and didn’t want to go too big. Our requirement was still a fun and easy to drive car, but additionally we wanted something safer with solid highway drivability. Our choice was limited - Honda Jazz, Hyundai i20 or VW Polo. We shortlisted the Polo 1.6, mostly because of the solid build and bigger engine, but got to know that it has been discontinued. But, luckily for us, VW launched the Polo GT TSI soon. I was not looking to get an automatic transmission just yet, but after a test drive, and reading up about the TSI engine + DSG combo, we went for it. And boy, did we love it. The fun and ease of driving in a safer, mechanically advanced car. Couldn’t have asked for a better upgrade.

We drove the Polo GT, with almost no hassles, till 2019, when it was again time to upgrade. Our criteria was still more or less the same – petrol hatchback, fun and easy to drive, safe, solid, dual clutch automatic and turbo petrol combo and now additionally, more luxury.

From a premium hatchback (around 10 lakhs), the only upgrade possible was a luxury hatchback (about 30 lakhs). The contenders were Mercedes A 180, BMW 1 series and Mini cooper. Just got to know that Mercedes had stopped selling A class and BMW had stopped 1-series since last year itself (and anyways they were only selling diesel). So, we test drove the Mini, but didn’t like it so much (maybe coz the cost was more than 40 lakh OTR). So, what now?

Luckily for us, just then, Audi gave out an ad in newspapers that they were slashing the price of A3. It was time to relax our criteria a bit. So, for the first time we ventured into compact sedan territory; Merc CLA and Audi A3. Test drove A3 and as soon as I sat in, I felt it has everything I imagined a luxury car should have – immaculate interiors, beautifully laid out dashboard and excellent seats and steering wheel. Of course, the TSI + DSG combo was there. Test drove CLA immediately afterwards and felt it was too bling for our taste. Back to A3 then. And when the dealer gave us an offer we couldn’t refuse, it was done. 31 lakhs OTR Mumbai for 2019 manufactured A3 technology variant.

From fun and easy, we have moved on to relaxed luxury with the A3 and as much it has been a matter of choices available at each stage, I feel it’s a natural progression. What do you guys think? Is there any other direction our car life could have gone?

[Marauder]

You've definitely jumped a few segments, from a premium hatch to a 'luxury car' especially in a small time span of 6 years. Generally, the progression would be to an under 20 lakh sedan or SUV.

Congrats on that as a select few are able to achieve this.

Also, you may have been limited by choices since you wanted a hatchback or a smaller car. Unfortunately, our market does not have any option of a large hatchback like a Golf or a Focus. There's a reason why even Mercedes and BMW stopped selling their premium hatches in India.

[EightSix]

First off, welcome to Team-BHP

Now back to the topic.

- From what I’ve seen, German cars really punch above their weight. Team-BHP has a related thread - here.

- You’ve gotta admit. Driving a Polo spoiled you for space, build quality, road manners etc. (everything that’s natural about German cars that makes them a class apart).

- That’s what makes them so hard to upgrade. Team-BHP has another related thread - here.

- It is definitely natural progression and what’s even more important is that you only live once. You bought the right car that would be an upgrade to your Polo, even if it meant jumping 2 million rupees to get a luxury sedan. Nobody can judge you for that.

- If your car ownership could have been any different, it could most likely be an SUV or a crossover, or you would be stuck with a new Polo. I should also appreciate you for knowing what you really wanted and buying it in the end. If you would not have stuck with your requirements in the first place then you would be a like a confused chicken thanks to the number of crossovers out there. You had 30 lakh in hand, you could have gotten a Fortuner or a smaller Seltos etcetera etcetera.

- It would be a real dilemma for you when you decide to upgrade from the Audi too, a bigger car would mean you would have to splurge some more. That’s why it’s best to have different alternatives/choices. Unfortunately, that’s not the case in our market, at least in this segment.

- I’d say you got a sweet deal on the Audi at 31 lac OTR. Wishing you many happy miles with it.

[GTO]

Very interesting thoughts & thread. Thanks for sharing. My perspective is a bit different, but along similar lines. Those who keep cars for long (like my family) will usually jump segments at the time of upgrading. We usually keep cars for 9 - 10 years, and a decade is LONG in terms of career / business progression. That's how I jumped straight from a Civic to a 5-Series, skipping many segments in between. A decade is enough to turn someone from a fresh entrepreneur to an established one (like my kid brother). He jumped straight from a 9-year old Sunny to a brand new Superb.

[Dr.AD]

Interesting topic. I "jumped" (to use the term from the thread title) from a Maruti SX4 to BMW 320d. I do not really think of "segments" and I do not even care to count how many segments that is :-)

Each car has its pros and cons and I do not believe in a sequential progress up the segments.

In fact, I use both the cars regularly now, on different occasions and for different purposes, and thus, I am still part of both the segments.

[gkveda]

We progressed from
Maruti Esteem(1000cc) 2000
to
Qualis(2.4 litres) 2004
to
Fortuner (4*2 3L AT) in 2018

Parallel track for beater car:

Santro(1000cc}: 2008
to
i10 automatic (1.2L) in 2020

Both tracks were progressive in terms of power, features, space and comfort. And the entire path was a linear progression (no where we had major jump)

But what is interesting in the entire journey is, never sold any car because of emptiness felt due to whatever reasons (be it power, comfort or features).
Only Maruti Esteem was sold for a reason that it could not accommodate 6 family members.

Sold all the cars with great conditions only for a reason that they became old.

[gpunj]

Thanks all. Yes, Polo did set the benchmark pretty high and to upgrade from there, while keeping our requirement of a small size car in mind, was the conundrum.

[Axe77]

I started working in June 2001 (age 24). Commuting in buses and trains in Mumbai and borrowing my mum's car on the odd occasion. Eventually "moving up" to AC buses somewhere along the way. [Incidentally, I have been in the same organisation from 2002 until now)]

The car purchase journey was as follows.

June 2005 (age 28): Swift Vxi M/T. First self bought self owned car.
October 2009 (age 32): Civic A/T
October 2015 (age 38): BMW 3 GT

All of the above were purchased new.

The jump from Swift to Civic happened a bit sooner than I would have ordinarily wanted because professionally I just moved into a position where a stately white sedan was more suitable for meetings etc than a (flaming orange!) swift.

When the GT was bought, I actually didn't sell the Civic. It was sold a year (or slightly longer) later.

This is as high as I intend to go on the automobile ladder. Since the GT purchase, I have bought a couple of high end bicycles and two superbikes (flipped the first superbike for the second (current) one).

Going forward I may actually move a step down on the value chain picking 40 lakh segment cars from premium manufacturers other than BMW / Merc etc. Or even pick up a used German instead of new. Just better sense of value. Also, I may have two cars of which the second is also a reasonably decent offering (think 18 -25 lakh segment). That also dictates my budgets as well as general priority. The fact that I intend holding any cars I now buy for 8-10 years only helps.

[Hayek]

Interesting thread. Have followed a similar path to some of the folks here both for my primary and second cars.

Started with a second hand (1995 made) Maruti Zen in August 1998. Next was a 2nd generation Honda City in January 2004. My third car was a Skoda Superb in May 2010. And my current car is a BMW X3, purchased in January 2017.

The Zen was passed onto my wife in January 2004, though she really started using it on her own only around June that year. In October 2005, once she had become a more confident driver, we replaced it with a Hyundai Getz. And in December 2012, we bought a VW Vento, which is now due for replacement.

People of my generation have been lucky - we grew up in a world where even CEOs travelled in Ambassadors and moved to one where we could buy German luxury brands. But I think we are capping out now. It is very unlikely that I will move a segment up on my own car, and the car with which we replace the Vento will probably cap out segment escalation for my wife too.

[PrideRed]

Long term ownership never worked for me, though some car did stay longer in family. I usually get 1 or 2 segment lower than I actually can afford. Prefer a car that doesnot depreciate much and still lets me enjoy. Though we have multiple cars in garage, below is how it went for my primary car since I started earning in 2009 at the age of 22.
1. Figo ZXi 1.4TDCi 2009-2013
2. Ford Ecosport TItanium TDCi 2013-2017
3. Innova Crysta 2.4GX(2017-2021)
4. Fortuner 4x4AT 2021- till date

My learnings
1. Staying with a car for longer is difficult for me as I tend to get bored.
2. Buying a model with good resale helps you enjoy a car, swap sooner without having much depreciation. Example: Bought Figo for 5.69 and sold for 4.66. Bought Innova for 18.3 and sold for 16. So net in 11 years I would have lost about 8 Lacs in depreciation which is ok I think given I sold 3 cars.
3. Buying a car of a segment lower than you can afford helps to enjoy the car more(Modify, travel more etc.) and you will not be strapped financially.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by gpunj

From fun and easy, we have moved on to relaxed luxury with the A3 and as much it has been a matter of choices available at each stage, I feel it’s a natural progression. What do you guys think? Is there any other direction our car life could have gone?

I don't believe there's a set progression that applies to everyone. For example, my first car was a 10+ year old M800 that 4 friends pooled in money and purchased it at the start of our careers while most of our friends and colleagues were buying or switching across motorbikes. My next car was a sedan (Vento) which surprised a lot of colleagues as most of them were purchasing hatchbacks. In fact 2 of my office colleagues changed their purchase plan and a Honda City and a Fiesta landed in our team shortly.

And while now I'm taking a break from 4 wheeler ownership for a few years, I'll probably go downwards to a fast/powerful hatchback (or preferably an EV) but as pointed out by many, it's hard to move a Jap or Korean after a German car so the choices are less.

I know a lot of us think vehicles progression is like our careers - only one way to go - up the ladder. But realistically I believe that is just one of the path to take. Break the cycle! Thankfully we have a good choice of options depending on our needs so that a better way to decide progression.

[V.Narayan]

Thank you OP. What a fun thread.

I started my career in 1982 when a young MBA, even from a top dog institute, could not expect to buy a car at the start of a otherwise career. A brand new Premier Padmini cost Rs. 75,000 or so compared to my starting take home of ~1600/- a month. No bank loans then. So life started with a pre-owned Lambretta scooter.

In 1990 with our double income no kids worth of savings my wife and I walked in and bought a floor shift brand new Padmini. Boom, just like that. Our parents et al chided us for being spendthrifts, buying first hand when accepted wisdom was to start second-hand and gradually crawl your way up. In 1994 life took a turn for the financial good and we bought a second Padmini. Maruti's had a wait list which was a hassle for a young man in a hurry. We were the first ones in our extended families to graduate to two cars and it did provide the auntie-gossip circuit some feedstock for a while. Interestingly 2 cars in 1994 was a source of excitement amongst relatives but 4 cars in 2015 was passe. How India has changed.

Goddess Laxmi smiled again and we graduated to a Cielo in 1997 and at that point took a call to stay with that segment/level till the kids were grown up and out. I didn't want my kids thinking too much about their place in the sun especially given the intense one up on the Joneses culture we have in hamari Dilli. So we stayed with Cielo-Opel Astra-Skoda Laura-Skoda Superb till the Volvo XC60 in 2015 and the Lexus ES300h in 2017 late in life just before I retired. I don't propose to go above this ES300h segment ever. Though I am likely, finance permitting, to keep at least one car at this level and one smaller beater.

In the late 2020s when time shall come to replace the Lexus ES300h who knows what changes may have come into the auto world and concepts of segments might undergo changes with EVs, smart cars and what not. That purchase by law of averages might be my last car buy so I plan to apply my mind thoughtfully then.

On a related subject our cars and our garage reflect not only our economic status but the stage of life in some way. Where cars go we went from 1 in 1990, to 2 in 1994 to 3 in 2003 to 4 in 2015. After a brief period at 4 when the family had swelled to its maximum we moved down to 3 in 2020 and I expect in a few years back to 2 as children move on, older folks pass away.....the cycle of life.

[Latheesh]

I like my friend's vehicles progression. From BMTC bus > Honda Activa > 2016 Skoda Octavia 1.8 DSG top variant. Very very happy for him!
We had to push him to make the final purchase decision though.

[paragsachania]

I have had a close friend jump from M800 straight to Toyota Innova V in 2008 IIRC and after this he has never changed his vehicle and I still remember him tell me that this is the car he will keep for at least 10 years. No wonder its the Innova and he is still happy with the ownership.

His longest drive back then in the M800 was till Chikmagalur (~250km one way) when he tagged along with me (I would take the WagonR on the highways back then) and with the Innova, he regularly does Nippani (~600), Pune (~850) and Shirdi (~1000) kms very regularly now.

I always tell this to my circle of friends who say that they don't want a BIG car as they seldom drive but I always respond back and tell them that with a BIG car you may actually start driving more and I haven't been wrong with that for all of such friends of mine.

[Vin76]

Nice thread.
I had a Bajaj discover which I got in 2004. Got my first car in 2006, a Wagon-R. Sold it too soon in 2008 (got a pretty good resale value) and got a Santro (wasn’t the best decision). Got rid of it in 2009 and got a Ford Fiesta(It’s still in use at my office). Moved to Ertiga in 2012 and then got the Octavia 1.8 TSI in 2015. Retained the Ertiga till 2017, and sold it and replaced it with a Jazz as the second/beater car. Sold the Octavia last year and got a 3 GT. The jazz continues to be the beater. After the Santro all other cars were retained for longer than the earlier ones (but not long enough). Have plans to retain the 3 GT for at least 6 years. Let’s see how that goes.