[Anirudhneni]

I had 2 cars on my list when I was getting my first car in 2016.

1. Suzuki Baleno: Reliable Maruti Suzuki which could also be used as a beater car in the long term. I wasn't too keen on this but my mum was trying to convince me to make the rational decision so I thought I'd give it a shot. Called a Maruti Suzuki dealer and made an appointment to test drive an automatic Baleno. Went to the showroom at said time only for them to tell me that they didn't have the automatic that day . Got super annoyed and dropped the idea of the Baleno.
   
2. Volkswagen Polo GT: Super fun car to drive and I was eyeing it since its launch. A close friend used to own one and I'd driven it around quite a bit, so my decision was almost made before the process started. We also had a Vento at the time, so we knew a few people at the Volkswagen dealership. We had some quotes and delivery estimates for a Carbon Steel Grey Polo GT.

Entire wild card

While driving away frustrated from the Maruti showroom after the Baleno debacle, I noticed a Black Abarth Punto parked outside the Fiat showroom next to the Maruti showroom. I'd been wanting to test drive this car for a while. I convinced my mum that it was just for fun and I wouldn't want to buy this car. Had a short test drive and I was blown away. I spent the next month convincing my parents that this was the car for me.

Took a second test drive with dad and he was convinced too. Ended up getting a Black Abarth Punto. Never regretted that decision

So all in all, I considered 2 options but ended up buying a car that wasn't in my options.

[woodstock3001]

Voted for 6, or more before finalising Hycross Vx 8S. Cars considered & reasons rejecting -

Hyundai Creta - Everyone has it.
Kia Seltos - Everyone has it.
Toyota Hyryder - Doesnt feel like 22 lac car
Mahindra Xuv700 - Was waiting for it till Hycross prices were announced. Post hycross price announcement, it was an easy decision.
Toyota Crysta - Had diesel not stopped, i would have bought one yet. Though one can claim why not now, cos it's Manual (or may be I'm trying to stick to Hycross now)
MG Hector - No diesel Auto plus Petrol has horrible fuel efficiency

And why Hycross - Because i have just got my year end appraisal letter & post adjusting finances here & there , i'll be able to make a cut

[Bluto18]

Can’t vote !! So typing here ..

Swift VDI (2011-19): first car - took blindly based on close friend’s recommendation. No other cars were considered and test driven.

Baleno RS (2019-present) replacement of swift and I wanted petrol engine with turbo!! Maruti slashed the price of 1.5 lakh and another 50k offer from dealer sealed the deal. No other cars considered!! No test drive was needed.

Compass anniversary edition 2L diesel: it was a joining bonus gift �� from company and I took it eyes closed !! Test drives - 0 again.

All cars served/serving me well even though I have not test driven them before finalising.

[ChandraSekarMN]

In 2018 i was looking for a compact sedan. Had the options .1. Amaze 2. Ford Aspire 3. VW Ameo. Was considering only these 3 due to budget constraints (Marutis) ignored.
Finally decided with Aspire tdciy and no regrets from then on😂

[ankitsharma]

1. Swift Dzire Diesel: Test drove Punto, Swift, Ciaz, i20, Amaze, Ecosports.

2. Skoda Rapid TSI: Test drove Abarth, Swift, Nexon, i20, Verna, Figo, Ecosports, Freestyle, Polo, Vento, City.

[Arun_S]

I shortlisted 6 cars for my recent purchase in Sep-22.

New Brezza, Scorpio-N, Magnite, City 5G, Astor, Nexon.

When i narrowed it down it was just a choice between Brezza vs City.

Had it not been the K15C engine I would have gone ahead with Brezza. So just ended test-driving the City and purchasing it.

[d.w.w.]

Cant vote, so leaving a reply.

We considered 2 options while purchasing our car - Elite i20 and Honda Jazz. Jazz was considered mostly because of the push from BIL. We made multiple visits to Hyundai showrooms and took test drives. When we went to Honda to check out Jazz, TD car was not available and they asked to come back later. By this time we almost zeroed in on i20, so didn't go back for a TD.

[rsidd]

I clicked 0. Got my current car (Fiat Punto) in 2010. I perhaps considered (in my mind) the VW Polo but didn't visit a showroom or investigate further; Fiat gave a decent buyback on my previous car (1999 Uno) so I just went with that. No regrets, no plans to sell/upgrade.

My criteria were basically decent build quality, good boot space, hatchback with folding rear seat (to transport bulky stuff), and reasonably comfortable ride. At that time there were very few hatches with good boot space, perhaps only the i20 (not very exciting) and Jazz (overpriced I thought) apart from Punto and Polo.

[Slowjet]

1. When I bought Tata Indica turbo in 2006, test drove Alto=> terrible space, low sitting and frankly speaking I had to force myself in the driver's seat terrible ingress, Santro => good car but lacked the width in terms of space, swift => lack of space especially rear seat, Hyundai Accent => Overall very good car but sitting low and out of budget.
2. Tata Nano 2013 => Very clear that I wanted this car. As I had seen it 2009 in showroom. It will give cars in higher category run for its money in terms of space
3. Tata Hexa => decides in 5 requirements / steps. I had seen Aria and test drove it in 2014. Criteria were
a) Spacious and comfortable
b) At least 2 airbags
c) diesel and should be smooth
d) Has to be 7 seater
e) Test drive and if it meets the requirement buy it.
Below cars were thought of but didn't look at them because I had experienced
Scorpio => ruled out as the second row seat doesn't have enough space
Innova Crysta=> price on the higher side and somehow or the other didn't like looks
Bolero & Sumo => No airbags
XUV 500 => No space to keep luggage when all seats are up
Enjoy => van like looks and 1.3 litre diesel for 7-seater and there were talks that GM would quit India.

[Bibendum90949]

Kia Seltos D AT

Circa 2019, I've been waiting for a good diesel automatic for some time since my work involved lot of inter state solo drives. One evening, while coming back from Skoda ASS, spotted a Kia showroom and stopped to have a look. The sales chap offered a TD immediately. It was quite a surprise to see the well put out interiors which had a German car vibe to the controls and all that. Being a short drive, I couldn't figure out as much with the car except for the smooth AT and over all nice feeling of the car. Requested for a longer TD which they obliged the following weekend.

After pulling some strings, they brought the car for a long TD. I drove the car for 120 odd kms in a known circuit which had straights, corners and bad roads etc. The super refined engine coupled with a nice gearbox sealed the deal. Shifts were smooth and seamless, had enough power on tap to have a li'l fun once a while. It had acceptable levels of body roll for a car of that height and the driving dynamics were way way better than I anticipated. I was expecting a Creta kind of experience. But after driven it that far, it was clear the car had firm suspension and a superior steering set up than Creta and the likes.

Though I test drove their DCT and IVT later, I was clear even before TD that if I buy, it has to be the diesel Automatic since it suited my use case better. The car is a great all rounder package, not too big for city and not too small for highways. I did a Bangalore-Manali trip and found the highway drives to be very good for long distance cruising. I covered 7000 kms in 15 days and never felt any fatigue whatsoever. The big bombshell was to come later in the form an abysmal crash test rating with 3 stars. That was indeed bad play from Kia. Barring this blemish, it's a superb car for that price back then. 19.7 lakhs OTR now appears like a steal considering the present day prices of cars.

Maruti Celerio AMT

2015 - I just wanted the cheapest possible automatic transmission to replace our Santro MT. Ended up with Celerio AMT. Didn't quite like the driving experience during TD. Still went ahead and bought since it was meant to be a city car primarily for wife that was to do a measly 200-300 kms a month. Besides, the conventional AT s were at double the price. With the famed AMT issues and one clutch pack replacement later and at 22k kms in 5 years, car was sold in 2019. But it took the brunt of the notorious city traffic of Bangalore quite well.


Skoda Laura TDI MT

It was 2011 when I was shopping around for a D segment sedan. The only other contenders were Corolla Altis diesel and Cruze. Took multiple test drives of them. Altis was too boring to drive, getting some power out of it was a big task. Cruze though had promising figures on paper, it didn't quite translate to performance on road.150 BHP was a big thing back then. But the turbo lag and not so confidence inspiring composure at speeds and not so great steering meant it was struck off the list.

Skoda meanwhile managed to impress each time. It was literally love at first sight. It sort of delivered the goods for the driving enthusiast in me. The build quality, solidity, high speed manners, engine et al were notches above the other two. But I decided to stay away from DSG though it was quite tempting. And the car after 11 years and 6 months is still my primary work horse in the garage having clocked 2 lakhs plus kms and a trouble free and hugely satisfying ownership experience. And i've no plans to let it go anytime soon. In fact there's no reason to let it go coupled with my new found love for off roading, hence setting my sights elsewhere

Ford Fiesta TDCi

The year was 2006, when my wife started driving after our first kid and hence the need arose to have one more car. We had a Santro Xing XS as the only car. Hence, started looking for a sedan. Only two cars considered - Verna CRDI and Fiesta TDCi. Verna came with lot of fanfare and hype and boasted of 110 bhp on tap and it did take off like a rocket. But while the car kept climbing speeds, it started to get very unnerving with such lousy steering and soft suspension. After pushing through couple of corners, I made up my mind that this isn't the one for me and quipped "Hyundai, Keep these extra horses with you ".

Then went and did the TD of Fiesta. Boy oh Boy, what a massive and refreshing change from the Verna experience. It was again instant love. It was pure driving joy. I took the car to the same roads where I test drove Verna and after doing the same set of corners, smiled and told myself " This is It". This car still remains one of the best driving cars we ever had in the price range with Figo, Linea and Punto. Brought the Paprika red home and had around 1.2 lakhs of driving fun till 2011 when I upgraded to Laura. Just reproducing a glimpse of my love affair with it's driving dynamics from my post in another thread.

Originally Posted by Bibendum90949

I too echo the same sentiments. i've always been an admirer of Ford Fiesta. I had a 1.5 TDCi though. In my two and half decades of driving and of all the cars i've driven, this is one car I always wanted to be behind the wheel. After having upgraded from a smaller hatch those days, it was one car that made me realise there's more to driving pleasure than merely driving. The steering feedback and precision that it offers is unmatched. Add to that the leech like grip it possesses - it's chassis play a big role there. My 5 years of driving (2006-11) and a lakh plus kms in it was an eye opener of sorts too and edified me into the most sought after element a driving enthusiast yearns for - handling of a car.

IMHO, more fun lies in the handling of a car than tapping all of it's power resources. As Rohit_Quad mentioned, the icing on the cake is it's hydraulic steering - it oozes such high degree of confidence to the driver. How I wish the modern day cars has the same steering set up too.

Compared to that, I hate the EPS in most of the modern cars. It's taking out the major chunk of the fun quotient in driving a car - my personal opinion.

Few pictures of the close-to-heart Fiesta from my archives.

2004 - Hyundai Santro Xing

This was our first car I bought soon after landing up with a job. We had a first gen Santro in the close family which I had driven plenty lot. That was soon after getting the driving license and hence never missed an opportunity to drive it for family functions and other trips. Hence was almost certain of choosing a Santro when it was time to buy the first car. I still went and test drove Wagon R, it's chief opponent and a battle that lasted for many years to come. Again it's not so great driving dynamics tilted the scales totally in Santro's favour. This car is still doing duty at my ancestral home. Holding on for purely sentimental reasons as the maintenance expenses keep on rising every year and Hyundai spares aren't cheap either.

The other cars I own are Maruti Gypsy (two of them - an off road spec 2008 413 W, 1.3 MPFI and a stock 1.3 Gypsy '08), Omni' 07 and a Tata Venture 2012 - all bought pre owned. It's all put to good use for different purposes. All of them were straight forward choices and no other options considered. Omni is being used in my farm as a utility van, Gypsies for off roading excursions. Venture is put to good use in city and for ferrying our pet and other utility runs.

[RunGaDa]

Voted 1.
I was very clear on what type of car I wanted to buy. Those days, very little choice. Duster or Ecosport.
Visited the Duster showroom. The car looked solid from outside. Flimsy on opening the door. There were no bottle holders on the doors. Asked for a test drive. The sales rep restricted it to 500 meters. Though the seating, visibility was good and the car drove okay, other factors dissuaded me and No was the answer. No false promises, told No.
Returning back saw the Ford showroom. The Ecosport was there. My wife opened the driver’s side door and closed it. A solid Thud. Half of my decision was done there. Then we asked for a test drive. The sales rep was most friendly. He said “Take all the time you need.” He even asked me to test it on a fast highway.
Returned back after 30 minutes.
Put my booking Cheque immediately.
The sales rep was kind enough to get me my requested variant and colour in less than a month. Otherwise Ecosport had a waiting of 4 to 6 months those days.
It was one trip, half a day, two cars to decide.
Some smart salesmanship, combined with coincidence of requirement and product quality. This was enough.
For me even buying anything worth 100 rupees the experience matters.
I am happy about my choice and experience.