[kaps454]

Safety all the way. Thankfully labour costs are pretty low in india and local garages a plenty, so small niggles can be very easily and cheaply addressed.Obviously, a reliable and safe OEM is the best.

[Garth]

Originally Posted by Govardhansupra

Isn't it the ZXi variant that came with ABS and Airbags?

Because, someone I know owns a Swift VXi of the same vintage, but I don't think it has neither ABS nor Airbags.
But, in a used car dealership, I saw a ZXi with ABS, Airbags, and even Automatic Climate Controls.

In VXi, there were two options, one with and another without ABS. There were no airbags on VXi. The one with ABS was about 30k costlier or maybe something of that sort. I dont exactly remember now. The ZXi was a further 50k more.

One of the arguments that the Salesman threw at me was that no one will know that your car is 30k costlier, there is only one sticker differentiating the two.

This model got discontinued the same year around Diwali due to lack of demand. I think only a few hundreds were made of these.

[Neversaygbye]

This poll is flawed as one can get BOTH safety and reliability in most modern cars. Even some Maruti cars like the 4 star rated Brezza and S-cross provide that though the others are pretty close to being death traps on wheels.

Also, the reliability issues of Tata are much overhyped and based on perception rather than reality, and I'm saying this having driven Tata cars for over 20 years. Most Tata car owners would agree with me, I'm sure. Yes, we do have cases like the Harrier fuel tank issue (did the reason get identified, finally?) which should not happen but we also have things like an engine mount breaking on a new Kia Sonet. So these things happen with all OEMs. Even Toyota had airbag issues, and gmhossain's reliability issues with his Zen Estilo is documented in this very thread. Having said that, this is not an excuse and Tata needs to work harder on its QC, since they definitely need to change this perception of poor reliability and niggles (the niggles part is somewhat justified too).

The reason we went for a second Tata car was because of the solid build quality and reliability. Our earlier Indica V2 never let us down over 12 years of ownership and over 1 lakh kms of driving including many highway runs. Sure, it lacked finesse, sounded like a truck and had the worst fit and finish I've seen in a car, but it never gave us cause for worry.

I love the open road and road trips through remote areas hence reliability is my biggest requirement as I would hate to be stranded in the middle of a jungle due to a breakdown. From that perspective, my current Vista has given me both safety and reliability. Have done about 75k kms in almost 8 years with road trips through some of the worst roads known to man (I would never recommend a road trip through NH7 from Benaras to Bandhavgarh) and the car has never given trouble. Safety is just as important - I hit a dog at 100 kmph on Durgapur Expressway and the only damage was a broken bumper and a repair bill of 15k. Contrast that with a similar incident with my friend's Dzire and he had to get everything from the radiator to the condenser replaced. Another similar incident with a friend's Grand i10 and she got a repair bill of 60k. Hence build quality matters - better build quality also translates to lower repair costs.

So in conclusion I would like to say that you can get both safety and reliability in modern cars, and given a choice I would opt for an OEM or a model that provides both.

[amitayu]

Voted for reliability.

What is the point of having airbags if they do not deploy when we need it?

What is the point of having TCS if the bloody axle breaks while driving?

These are in references to some issues already highlighted in this forum, which just goes on to prove that without proper quality control norms on manufacturers, the more 'features' we have in our cars (and safeties are still 'features' and not necessities in the Indian car market, but that is a separate discussion), more prone they are to malfunction and errors.

I can control for safe driving, but I have no control over the car components and how well they function unless they are build and assembled well.

SO, if faced with this trade-off, I will opt for reliability.

[RoadMonkey]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

And then I finally land on to a boring Toyota or Honda that has everything I need and will never trouble me, but my heart just doesn’t agree to it. This just causes me to remain a confused soul who is unable to chose between reliability, safety or a boring balance of both.

I went through THE EXACT SAME thought process when I had to buy a car a few months back. I also ended up with a Honda jazz as a choice but it just didn't feel right, neither to drive and nor emotionally. Took the plunge and bought a VW, robust, safe, and fun to drive! Reliability be damned, I've got 6 years warranty + 6 years RSA. If it doesn't cause any trouble in that period, I might keep it for longer. I just couldn't overlook the safety aspect in favour of reliability, hence my vote in the poll. FTD is an added bonus and the X factor which swayed my decision.

I believe the upcoming Skodas and VWs should satisfy a lot of customers who are stuck in this conundrum. VW definitely has less QC issues and niggles than Tata/Mahindra.

[Satish Pari]

For me safety is paramount. I would like to thank TeamBHP for providing a lot of necessary information when I decided to buy my Skoda Rapid in 2017. Yes there were a lot of reliability issues with the Rapid and the horror service stories but I decided to stick to safety. And frankly my experience with Skoda Service has been good so far (touchwood). All my services with them till date have been good and no issues to report. F

[BhaskarG]

What everyone is saying in this thread can be summarised as :

1. Reliable but unsafe: Buy Maruti and Hyundai
2. Safe but unreliable: Buy Germans and Tata
3. Safe and reliable: Buy Toyota

But I believe that choosing your car is important. You can find mixed bag with all manufacturers. Boundaries and stereotypes are getting blurred nowadays. Best bet is to wait for a few years after launch of a model, observe it, and then go for it if it matches your safety and reliability conditions.

There is no clear boundary between safety and reliability. IMHO, they are interlinked and it is what makes a good car.

[car_guy1998]

Voted for others!

Call me crazy, no matter how safe and reliable the car is, I like to buy a car, which is fun to drive and with the added kit along with build quality as well irrespective of safety rating and reliability.

People these days might look at safety ratings while purchasing it, but, the sad reality is, they don't care much about the safety and purchase a car whatever they like irrespective of build quality, safety ratings and reliability.

[hamhaj16]

Safety and reliability is not different things, if the car is unsafe it's not reliable either. Choosing a reliable powertrain with decent kerb weight may solve this issues. Who knows, in future we may have options to combine multi brand parts, in that case i would choose Toyota's powertrain with VW's structural on ford's suspension and steering systems.

[jithin23]

Voted others because a car is an expensive asset yet is used for protecting us from the vagaries of nature. I value both safety and reliability equally because both go hand in hand. If there's a compromise on either one aspect, it leaves a sour taste in the ownership and that gets etched onto our minds for a very long time.

[sridhar24]

For me its a balance of both that I look for in a car to call it a complete package. So voted for others.
What would one do in the safest of the cars if there is always a niggle here and there troubling us and making us do the trips to the service centre every now and then.
But that being said Safety still takes highest priority.

[M00M]

Reliability is important but not without safety. This thread has been wrongly marked as Safety vs Reliability. In my opinion it should be either Safety and Reliability or Fuel Efficiency and Gizmo ?

Many skimp and buy bad bad Maruti tin can unsafe cars and Kia / Hyundai skimping on safety just for fuel efficiency and features instead of buying a safe and reliable car albeit slightly more expensive. Its like they will raise their budget to buy some more features but if they had to spend a little more for airbags and safety they wont.

[landcruiser123]

Ok, safety is higher than reliability for me. But that doesn't mean safety at the cost of reliability.

While there is a lot of focus on correcting mistakes (ABS, ESP, VSC, etc) and reducing the impact of mistakes (airbags, safe body structure, etc), as a society we are not thinking about the most basic thing - preventing mistakes i.e. driving safely. Both the government & the citizens are equally responsible for this; The government should ensure proper driver training & testing before licensing and citizens should drive within limits and comply with laws.

Remember- Princess Diana was killed in an S-Class. So 5* crash safety doesn't mean you are invincible.

Originally Posted by Yash98

The Indian Car Buyer has evolved by leaps and bounds in the last 1-2 years. From a nation largely focused on "kitna deti hai" we are now seeing a rapid shift in focus towards safer cars.

Thanks to certain homegrown manufacturers and other European players, the average Indian today has access to 4 and 5-star rated automobiles at an affordable price point.

I'm sorry, we are not a nation that cares about safety. Safer cars != Better overall road safety; Reasons above. Only BHPians and some wealthy folk who have a lot of disposable income splurge on a fully-loaded car with safety features.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by BhaskarGoswami

What everyone is saying in this thread can be summarised as :

1. Reliable but unsafe: Buy Maruti and Hyundai
2. Safe but unreliable: Buy Germans and Tata
3. Safe and reliable: Buy Toyota

But I believe that choosing your car is important. You can find mixed bag with all manufacturers. Boundaries and stereotypes are getting blurred nowadays.

There is no clear boundary between safety and reliability. IMHO, they are interlinked and it is what makes a good car.

Well if we want to perpetuate the stereotypes we must also add Toyota to the list of reliable but unsafe, judging by the number of instances where airbags haven’t deployed in accidents.

[ZenMaster]

We must not forget to spare a thought for the govt. Who taxes the heck out of our cars and fuel that forces companies to offer only either build quality or safety at prices affordable to the indian market and make cars using paper thin steel to maximize FE