[zadoom]

Chose 3 though ideally it has been 0 for both the cars purchased in the last few years.

1. TATA Safari Storme VX 4*4 - Test drove the Safari Storme 4*4, XUV500 2WD & Duster 2WD back in early 2014 when I purchased my current Safari Storme. Though I had already decided and was clear on getting the Storme as my new car, still test drove the Duster and XUV just to find reasons and convince the better half to reject them.

Test drove Storme more than 3 - 4 times across various dealerships to find the best bargain and ended up getting it from Concorde.

2. TATA Tiago VX Petrol - Compared the TIAGO and Grand i10 back in 2016 when wife had to get a car for her. Though the comparison was on paper - mainly on the feature set and pricing, test drove only the Tiago and purchased it since it had better features and if I remember correctly was slightly lower prices as well.

Cheers,

[ImranHyd]

I did a TD of Hyundai Alcazar and Mahindra XUV700 before finalizing Kia Carens.

No one in my family liked Alcazar and I was put off by long waiting times of XUV700 along with historically poor service from Mahindra.

[SoumenD]

Voted for 6 or more. Started off looking for just a change from my MT Estilo back in 2019 January, which soon changed into a full fledged search for Automatics as I changed my job during same period and my new route was the dreaded ORR

So understandably the budget shot up by almost 50% from 8L to ~12L. This was over a period of 3 months when I test drove around 7 cars in total before zeroing in on the Jazz CVT.

1. Ford Freestyle MT : This car would have been in my garage if not for missing automatic transmission. Test drove it because initially I didn't think about AT requirement.

2. Hyundai Gi10 MT : This was more for my FIL who eventually picked it up in a Tier-2 town.

3. Nexon AMT : This was the car for which I stretched my budget to 12L but the AMT experience just didn't let me sign the dotted line. A very close friend also picked up the same car but in MT guise. I wish TATA provided a TC/CVT box, this would have been with me for sure.

4. Ecosport TC : Ecosport was the car I absolutely drooled over since 2013. My desktop wallpaper had one for years. But after test driving it for a fair distance I didn't like two points. First was the stiff ride quality & second was the somewhat cramped rear seat space(width). Post that the city FE numbers shared by forum members for the 1.5L petrol AT scared me away.

5. i20 CVT : 2018/19 i20 was a looker no doubt but the CVT had more rubberband effect than I would have liked. While that would have been still liveable, GNCAP results for African i20 hampered my confidence in the brand. Later that doubt only got solidified looking at the results of Seltoz,Creta, 2022 i20 etc.

6. Baleno CVT : This was done more as a formality. Never liked the heart-attack platform based cars for their questionable safety creds. But since 10-15k people were picking it up every month(still are), had to give it a shot. Only maruti I liked was Brezza but it was Diesel-only back then and that too with an AMT, so didn't consider.

7. Jazz CVT : This wasn't even part of my initial consideration list as I considered it overpriced going by general consensus back then. But when I noticed the OTR prices for Baleno/i20 CVT top end and Jazz CVT top end was almost similar(~11L in bangalore) that myth was busted and I decided to get a TD. The engine did feel a little lethargic after Baleno and Ecosport but other things like balanced ride quality, ultra smooth CVT box, feature-list which covered my needs and some more(paddle shifters, cruise control to name a few) made the case for this car really strong. Even African GNCAP results for a supposedly 3rd world country offering AMAZE instilled more confidence in the brand. 2 years later GNCAP did test the Jazz and my assumption about its build quality was underscored.

Been ~4 years and 16.5k kms since I picked it up and it has been a smooth journey so far

[Luke1972]

Well my current car is a 2007 Honda City. Did go for a test drive of Chevorlet Aveo, Ford Fiesta and Ikon, Hyundai Accent, Verna and finally settled down on the Honda city. Well as the Aveo had a large no of people looking so dropped in the next door Honda showroom and afterwards went for the other cars as described and finally zeroed down on the City which we felt was a complete package. The budget kept fluctuating depending on the car shortlisted.

[bivision]

Voted for 6 or more.
To replace my 2007 Santro AT, I kind of narrowed down on Swift AMT first. But after test drive of Swift and i10 AMT, rejected the plan to buy any AMT car. Then search switched to CVT/AT cars. Test drove Honda Jazz CVT, Nissan Magnite CVT, Renault Kiger CVT, Vitara Brezza AT. Then booked 2022 Brezza AT and test drove it few months after booking, finally bought it.
All this in a span of 14 months including 4 months of Brezza waiting period.

[bijims]

I considered every sub-4 meter SUV before finalizing the Kia Sonet, I had to do a lot of research and test drives before finally deciding on it. You get plenty of choices in this segment. I for one was really spoilt for choice and decided to test drive each and every one of them, so that I could get the car that best suits my needs.

[SanjayW]

Voted six or more.

When I was in the market last year looking to buy a new car, I test drove every diesel car below 15L: i20 diesel, venue diesel,sonet diesel,5th generation city diesel,nexon diesel, and altroz diesel.

From all the above cars, I liked only the Nexon and Altroz diesel, mainly due to their build quality and Harmon Kardon.

In the end, after test driving every car, Altroz came out on top. Among all the cars, I found Altroz's driving dynamics to be the best, and also, Altroz gave me the best driving feel among all the cars.

[saikishor]

Back in 2010, my dad did take a look at quite some cars. As far as I can recollect, he checked out the Maruti Ritz, Fiat Punto, Tata Indica Vista, Tata Indigo Manza, Hyundai i10, Chevrolet Spark, Maruti Swift, Maruti Swift Dzire and Chevrolet Beat. My dad had a strict budget of 5 lacs. Out of all these cars, he didn't like the Ritz as he felt the rear portion looked like a fish. He hated the Dzire and Swift for some reason. Manza and Vista didn't appeal to him. He absolutely loved the Punto, but it was out of budget by 2 lacs(was around 7 lacs at that time). Spark was seen just for the heck of it. He almost cut a cheque for a special edition black automatic i10 which came with a sunroof, but backed out because the salesguy didn't negotiate for another 10k. He quoted 4.65 and my dad was firm at 4.55, so my dad stepped out. He somehow didn't feel like it was worth the money.

And then, my uncle tells my dad to wait for the Beat as it was about to be launched and was a completely new product unlike any other in the segment.

Voila, car was launched in January IIRC and we took delivery in April for 4.5 lacs.

13 years later, my dad has zero regrets about his purchase and infact, he hasn't planned for an upgrade despite this being our only car!

[ashivas89]

Considered the Slavia 1.5 DSG, Virtus GT, Creta 1.4 turbo, Honda City ZX Manual & the hybrid. Bought the Slavia after many sleepless nights of deliberating between it and the Virtus. The Slavia won eventually purely because of the exterior looks, discounts offered and the service centre (which I had already tested quite a bit and started developing a positive equation with a bunch of SA's via my wife's Fabia) being close by.

[sheelapratosh]

Voted 4.

Budget was flexible. So went about trying different types of vehicles.

Harrier - Felt a bit lethargic in handling. Didn’t like the aircraft like parking brake. Didn’t like the entertainment unit either.
Audi Q2 - Interiors felt basic for the price quoted.
BMW X1 - Felt a bit basic for the price quoted
Jeep Compass - Facelift was launched around the time I was in market. Somehow ticket all boxes.

Had a bit of troubled first two months of ownership due to some squeaking noises. Got them fixed. 1+ year on now. No complaints. Just live the car.

If I were to be in the market now, I would go with the face lifted X1

[YashD]

The Indian automotive scene has honestly become a mess in the last few years. Even with a flexible budget one cannot find the right car without compromising on certain aspects. I would rate the last decade as the best for our industry. One had everything for what ever they desired at the right price points. Even though the market feels saturated now but when you enter the scene, you quickly filter out cars as most feels underwhelming overall with multiple drawbacks. The kind of money we pay & the product we are getting now just doesn't feels justified.

I picked up a Honda City ZX CVT & a Kia Sonet HTX Diesel AT in 2022. In both the cases, I ended up cross shopping and did a lot of test drives throughout multiple segments to find the one:-

Requirements:-

• Engine Performance with a Quick AT Transmission
• Fuel Efficiency
• Well Equipped
• Basic Safety Features

I had booked the Sonet first hence beginning with that:-

Shortlisted Options & Why I rejected them:-

• Hyundai i20 N Line - Expensive for what it offered.

• Hyundai Venue Turbo - Facelift was around the corner, Sonet felt much more premium.

• Hyundai Creta D AT - Already got the Seltos and it felt inferior compared to it.

• Maruti Suzuki Brezza AT - The 1.5 K15C was the deal breaker for me.

• Hyundai Verna D AT - Too old, 4 months waiting period!

• Skoda Slavia 1.0 TSi AT - I didn't wanted to spend 17 Lakhs on a 1 Litre engine.

• Skoda Kushaq 1.0 TSi AT - Didn't felt like a Mid size UV. More expensive than Slavia!

• Volkswagen Virtus 1.0 TSi AT - Same reason as Slavia, owners reporting poor fuel efficiency was the final nail to the coffin.

Volkswagen Taigun 1.0 TSi AT - Same reasons as mentioned above for the other Germans.

• Volkswagen Vento Matt Edition AT - Was getting a great deal but then again, didn't wanted a discontinued product by spending almost 14 Lakhs.

• Honda City 1.5 VX CVT - The CVT killing the 1.5 i-vtec's fun factor, the Infotainment system is an eye sore.

• Nissan Magnite & Renault Kiger 1.0 Turbo CVT - The interior quality left a lot to be desired.

• Nissan Kicks 1.3 CVT Turbo - Spartan Interiors, Future of the vehicle even though I loved the 1.3 Turbo CVT. Just couldn't convince myself to put down the money.

• Used Volkswagen Jetta & Skoda Octavia 2.0 D - Couldn't find a clean one.

Honda City was a replacement for my decade old Corolla Altis and thanks to the exhaustive Test drives already conducted it had already filtered out a lot for me. Even with the City's short comings, had to compromise on the same because of Honda's reliability & the comfort it offered, furthermore, performance wasn't a priority being chauffeur driven hence it came the closest to the Altis it replaced.

Though while picking it up, I did Test drove the Carens & Compass even though we wanted a sedan but thanks to the lack of options Carens & Compass were selected.

• Kia Carens 1.4 Turbo DCT - Exterior Design & Waiting Period.

• Jeep Compass 1.4 AT - Performance was too underwhelming for a 25 Lakh Car & Fuel Efficiency.

I just hope, sedans & hot hatches do makes a comeback again with better powertrains. The Indian automotive market is just disappointing now with the current lot of cars and leaves a lot to be desired. The obsession with Tech can be toned down and overall engineering should be prioritised more. I simply missed the days of older generation sedans. They were so much superior to all the products on offer today.

[KiloAlpha]

Voted for 0 - and this is true for both the cars I bought brand new. I am not counting the many used cars I bought.

Ford Figo
It was in my budget, I loved the driving feel of Ford cars, and the T-BHP review nailed it for me. While I made an elaborate MS-Excel sheet comparing all B-segment hatchbacks etc etc, that was only for the benefit of my better half. I also test drove the Ritz, but that was only for time-pass. I was hanging around with nothing better to do and there happened to be a Maruti showroom around the corner.

Maruti S-Cross 1.6
This was purely heart over head. I wanted it, I could afford it, I bought it. Period.

[aargee]

Evaluated 44 Diesel cars, 21 Petrol Cars for namesake & eliminated all Petrols; filtered 3 Diesel cars - Ecosport, SCross & Brezza; test drove Ecosport & SCross 1.6 & finally bought SCross 1.6. So that makes 2 cars to have test driven.

[epiccross]

Coming from a 2015 Amaze Diesel MT and was on a look out for a proper AT:

Altroz, Magnite, Kiger, XUV 300, Sonet, Brezza - guess that makes it 5?

Altroz: Purchased for my brother. The 1.5 NA engine is just terrible to drive except on highways. I have not experienced worse vibrations on any car that I've been in - the car simply shakes violently on slight inclines on even second gear - just the pure lack of power for that body feels terrible. The A pillar creates a massive blindspot on curves - I was struggling with this. Rejected.

Magnite: First serious contender, 1.0 Turbo is fine enough with the transmission. But after sales is a major concern + wary if Nissan would exit as this is their only bread and butter model right now. Build quality didn't feel promising either. Rejected.


Kiger: Almost same as Magnite, but marginally better because of better after sales. Build quality is not great, but more importantly, FE didn't look promising. Dealership experience was sub-part and that really put us off. Considered, but rejected


XUV 300/Nexon: Diesel options! Was more inclined towards XUV 300, but the lack of proper auto and the terribly dated interiors was off putting to say the least. Absolutely not worth shelling 13-15L for a super jerky automatic. Same with Nexon. 2nd Backup option.


Sonet: Love at first sight (for my wifey ) and me personally was blown away by the creamy D AT. Pretty much the only D AT in the segment - is really fun to drive, lovely interiors and exteriors, bells and whistles with all the required features like hill hold. Was almost sure that this is going to be our next car!

Brezza: A very decent car that returns fair FE - great for sedate cruising but unfortunately we had TD'd Sonet just before, so wasn't even half impressed. Lacked power, no torquey diesel, interiors and features didn't feel like a ~15L car. First Backup for Sonet


Now waiting for our D AT HTX delivery - despite the annoying price hike and all, can't think of a better option right now in the segment

[Torque123]

Bought a Skoda Slavia 1.5 DSG earlier this month. Only other car I considered & that could meet my requirement of a => 1.4 Turbo charged petrol only sedan was the VW Virtus GT. As the 2 cars are the same except for the looks & few minor features I decided to go ahead with the Slavia as its looks appealed to me & my family more.