[bijims]

All our cars have been more or less version 2 or greater except the Renault Kwid AMT which we bought as a beater car which was version 1 (it was bought immediately upon launch), others like the Kia Sonet (bought in 2022), Kia Seltos 2.0 (2023 facelift), Honda City (2014), Ford Ecosport (2014), Honda Amaze (2015), Maruti Suzuki Swift (2020), Hyundai i20 (2015), Toyota Fortuner (2018), (Renault Duster (2014), Toyota Innova Crysta (2019), Mahindra XUV700 (2023), Mercedes Benz E250 (2017) have all been either facelift or bought a couple of years after initial launch.

Of these, the Renault Kwid had quite a few changes in its version 2, including the introduction of auto-hold, more airbags, reverse cameras, etc. The Sonet is due its facelift next month but with a few noticeable changes like ADAS, 360-degree camera, 10.25-inch colored MID, and so on.

So, all though we have tried to buy most of our cars as Version 2, I sincerely believe when going for Japanese Brands like Toyota, Maruti Suzuki, and Honda, version 1 wouldn't be an issue, even with Kia and Hyundai it is more or less the same nowadays, but with Kia being new to the market (albeit sister brand of Hyundai), I took the wait and watch approach before buying the Sonet and Seltos.

[Rajeevraj]

I don't mind buying a version 1 if it meets all my requirements. So voted for the same.

[greyhound82]

My Harrier was version 2.0 while Verna is 1.0. Depends on the brand - go with eyes closed for Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Honda and CBUs. Will wait for a second iteration for VW2.0, Mahindra and 3-4 years for Tata( Tata mimics software releases: major, minor and patches)

[Razor44]

Well I actually did. I was one of the first buyers of Celerio in Kolkata and I bought it within a month of its launch in 2014. At that time , I had already paid the booking amount for Wagon R when it was launched and I converted it Celerio VXI for which I ultimately paid around 5 L. I sold it in 2020 after running 85k kms and bought an i20 which is driven by my wife.

I had a pretty memorable time with the car but it also had its issues like extremely flimsy built quality with zero safety. At one time a bicycle dented my rear bumper when my car was stationary. The bumper went in like a mineral water bottle. Few other issues cropped up as my car crossed 75k kms like engine overheat (for which no cause was found and ultimately went away on its own) , change of alternator and clutch and the notorious gear lever knob cracking. Its NVH also was pretty bad.

But it was a joy to drive in city traffic and on the highway, it gave an average fuel economy of 22kmpl although I felt that it offered protection only against the wind and rain and nothing else. In the end it was quite reliable, never having me stranded anywhere in its 85k km except for maybe 2-3 occasions.

Therefore in retrospect , it was a pretty decent buy for something which was new and untested.

[SmartCat]

Missing critical features can be the only reason for waiting for version 2. Examples:

- Missing automatic transmission in version 1
- Missing safety tech like more airbags or ADAS in version 1.
- Missing AWD/4WD in version 1
- Missing strong hybrid in version 1
- Missing petrol or diesel engine in the lineup

And moreover, a buyer will wait only if he reads news that these features might be introduced later. Else, he will just go for some other car.

Realistically, if somebody has strong concerns about reliability of cars from a particular brand, it will stay permanently. It is unlikely such a buyer will be thinking along the lines of "version 2 will be more reliable than version 1"

[GTO]

Voted for v2. All my cars have been final versions, or in the mature stage of that particular model. 1997 Classic, 2003 City Vtec, 2005 C220d, 2013 530d, 2021 Superb L&K and so on. I am not one for the "latest & the greatest" at all.

Rather, I prefer to buy a product after carefully studying ownership posts on Team-BHP. And then buying something that will stay with me for years to come.

One thing for sure: If I have to buy V1, it would always be from a Japanese brand (or max Korean). But with German brands & Indian carmakers (e.g. Safari or XUV700), it would always be a minimum of 2 years post-launch. Practiced the same with my Thar. I don't want to be a guinea pig.

[gnome]

When I zoom out a little, there's really not much changing with cars year-on-year. I'd rather buy an outgoing model that has proven reliability at much lower price than a newly launched model with suspect reliability, high price and waitlist. The novelty of a newly launched model wears off in a few months.

[ramki.grandhi]

A very interesting thread I would say, thank you for starting it.

Originally Posted by Aditya

Get discounts:

In my observation, overall price benefits works in different ways, for example: XUV700 was offered at a good price for initial lot of bookings. Later price was revised multiple times in last couple of years. Even today i.e. after 2-3 years of product launch, there were no discounts offered on XUV700, no discounts even at year end. So it boils down to success of the product, I guess.

Though XUV700 is not a brand new freshly designed car, I feel it fits in this category.

[Axe77]

It really depends on the brand or model in question including their reputation of honouring their warranties which I usually take to the max extent possible.

Even as far back as 2005, I was amongst the first few lots of Swift deliveries when the car was just launched. In the immediate past, I got a 2023 GLC which was launched barely 4 months ago - I have 6 years warranty and fingers crossed I’m hoping it should serve me fine. I’d likely be very comfortable doing the same with a Toyota or Honda (or maybe even the Koreans) but I’d definitely not buy a 1.0 of a Tata / Mahindra product. To be honest, with cars getting much more complex, there’s a bit of leap of faith in buying the 1.0 iteration of almost any car. Even erstwhile bullet proof brands like Toyota have shown that their models can be open to issues in their first iteration. But with some brands I’d be more inclined to take that leap of faith and with some I wouldn’t touch a v1 with a barge pole.

Similarly, coming to two wheels, I was comfortable enough buying a Scrambler 400X v1.0 - a huge leap of faith but I felt comfortable enough seeing the product up close first hand. In contrast, I wouldn’t feel as confident doing the same with a Himalayan 450 with so many firsts for them going into an RE (brand new engine, liquid cooled tech, and what not).

[saikishor]

Back in 2010, we bought the first phase Chevrolet Beat. It had high import content in it and hence the quality levels were much higher compared to cars from lets say which came out in 2012-2013 and above. However, our last two purchases(2021 390 Duke bought used and 2023 Amaze VX bought new) were end of life cycle models TBH. I was aware of a new gen Duke launching soon when I bought my bike. Same goes with the Amaze. I would say it mostly depends on brands. If Indian, I would never dare to buy a first lot product.

[CArspeed]

Voted No
Not even from the most reliable Japanese brands. I know that learning is always a curve and development of an automobile involves so many components which is again dependent on the competence of various vendors/contractors etc…
Even for version 2, I would prefer to wait atleast for a year. There is nothing against the manufacturer(s), it’s about the evolution of a product.

[46TheDoctor]

Voted for 'Depends on the brand'

Japanese brands:

They generally have well sorted design/specifications at the launch itself along with their usual attention to manufacturing/QC processes, so i can consider buying them at launch also.
Ex. I bought Swift when it was launched here, no regrets.


Europian/Korean brands:

They generally have well sorted design/specifications at the launch but sometimes need manufacturing/QC processes to be streamlined a bit, so i wait for minimum 6 months/ 1 year from their international launch before commiting my purchase.
Ex. I wish to buy BMW R1300GS but i am planning to buy after around 1 year from it's international launch.


Indian brands:

They generally need work both in correcting/perfecting product specifications as well as manufacturing/QC processes. So, I prefer to buy them in V2 onwards or atleast one year from the launch at the earliest.
Ex. I bought Nexon V1 but 1 year after the launch. I can consider buying Nexon EV now but, I will be considering Harrier EV one year after it's launch, Harrier is already a V3 currently.

[chinmaypillay]

I would go for the Version 2, especially for the Indian Brands.

In my case, I have the version 2 of Xylo which is much more sorted than the V1.

But for cars which are made from an existing line up I wouldn't mind going for the V1.
For example, Figo was based on an already proven platform of Fiesta which was in the market for 3 years. So basics would have definitely got ironed out.

Same goes for Maruti since the parts sharing is very common.

In V1, I would wait till the end of the lifecycle just before the facelift is launched since the major issues would be sorted out by then. Like the previous Hector for example.

This formula has worked for me, would be sticking by it since quality issues and niggles seem to be very common across every brand

[ashvek3141]

Voted - Depends on the brand.

I will probably go eyes closed with Jap’s with their fresh launches. Maybe even Koreans too. Having said that I did have my fair share of niggles with the freshly launched 1st-gen Creta. This was the case with almost all the fresh launches from Hyundai.

With regards to the other brands like German’s & Indian , it will always be a minimum wait of 1 year atleast before putting in my money. I think even a year is less for our home-grown brands sole of which still continueto have some or the other niggles.

Aside, I feel off-late every other brand seems to have some or the other niggle, irrespective of the launch time. The only difference is how these issues are addressed by the respective brands. That pretty much seals the deal.

Having said that, I feel somehow Maruti’s have relatively lesser issues with their new cars. I may be wrong though.

[Gaur]

Depends on the urgency, if i like the vehicle and i need it immediately i would most probably buy it.My selection criteria would anyways have also taken into account the possibilities of niggles and overall reliability.

B.T.W How about version 1.1 ?

In the case of my Scorpio N inspite of being in first 25k bookings i got my vehicle almost after 11 months, there was already a recall for early vehicles to fix the clutch issue.
So in all i got a V1 vehicle with a major issue already fixed plus BS6.2 update and the luggage area cavity fixed with a flat floor.