[McLaren Rulez]

There's always going to be a nicer car that's just outside your price range. Doesn't matter if it's a 5L budget or a 1 crore budget, there's always something nicer.

In the end, it comes down to how the rest of your life is going. Splurging on cars is a luxury that should never come ahead of things like housing, education and retirement planning.

[Highh5]

By the end of 2020, we were in the market to add a a SUV since we already have a hatchback (Baleno) which we wanted to keep for city runs.

Started the search with a budget of 15 lakhs at max, ruled out Korean twins due to waiting and not so great packaging wrt interior space. Nexon was not considered an upgrade due to the same reason. Duster has outdated interiors, ecosport is also ruled out due to cramped interiors. Loved Nissan Kicks as a package, but Nissan's future was uncertain and they don't have a top end variant for CVT gearbox.
Ended up buying Tata Harrier, which was not even in consideration stretching my budget to 23.5 lakhs.
In the hindsight one of the best decision. Still running strong and Reliable as well.

[anandhsub]

Not sure if this counts, but I did go the pre owned route to get a higher segment car within a fixed budget knowing well the higher running costs that would come with it.

So far so good though. Apart from fuel other expenses are not much different than what I used to spend on my Verna and the driving pleasure is incomparable.

[BHPjunkie]

I was in the market for a new car in 2013, when i started my first job at a consultancy. With a meager INR 6 lacs annually, nothing enthusiastic was available new. As it was my first vehicle, I decided it should be new. During that period VW had just introduced the Polo GT TDi. I was looking at diesel mainly because I use to drive around about 60-80 kms daily. I test drove it and absolutely fell in love with it, and booked it. I was allotted the 2nd GT TDi in Mumbai. Still regret selling it . It costed me 2x of my annual earning, but considering I was young without any real commitment I was ok spending majority of my earnings on the GT TDi and driving a beast.

I had the GT TDi for approx. 5 years post which there was an itch to upgrade to an automatic. I was contemplating buying the gorgeous Polo GTi. It was about the time when VW had reduced the prices after the failure to sell all units and was getting the GTi for steal. However could not convince the better half to take this plunge. The response I got was "Why the heck would you want to spend 20 lacs on the same car minus 2 doors. What will our neighbors and friends say?". Well that ended there and we picked up a VW Ameo DSG TDi instead.

Fast forward to 2024, we went from GT TDi to VW Ameo TDi DSG and recently to a Tata Nexon EV. All purchases since the GT TDi have been financially evaluated before purchase. After all, marriage and kids does have an effect on the decision making.

[OpenRoads]

In 2021, my aging workhorse Hyundai i10 completed 11 years without any major issues or surprises. However having completed more than 1L KMs and uncertain about its future health I started searching for the next car. Impressed with Hyundai's fuss free after sales experience and low maintenance of the car it was decided to continue our loyalty with the same brand.

I was comfortable with a manual hatchback and booked top spec new i20(Asta O). Loved the ride and handling of the car. The car was fully loaded with all bells and whistles. Coming from a barebone old i10 it was quite an upgrade. The price point was just within 10Lacs. Booked it by Dec'21.

Unfortunately the dealer was unable to deliver the car even after waiting for 3 months (promised timelines). During the same time two more things happened.
1. i20 NLine was launched
2. My left knee started acting (intermittent pains in the joint)

I switched my attention from manual to automatic. N8 DCT was then close to 14Lacs. During test drive I was surprised how well the DCT preformed. But the rumors or facts of DCT gearbox reliability became an issue. Also, spending 14Lacs + for a hatchback with the same engine which you can get from 6~7Lacs car was not a convincing use case.

Now I wanted something with a TC or CVT. Brezza with 4 speed TC or Honda city with CVT. While I was checking Urban Cruiser (Brezza's cousin) one of the service manager informed me about D22 (later Hyryder) to be launched by mid 2022. A Toyota 1.5L 3 pot with eCVT transmission ticked all my boxes.

So in my case there was a bump from 10L to 22L but was the best decision. Finally took delivery of the car in Nov'22 (first batch) with a 22Lacs OTR and driving happily ever after.



Note: Till date (1.3L KMs) the i10 remained loyal and accompanies us on short trips Hyryder proved its capability with average mileage of 21+ kmpl and clocked 17K KMs till date without any issues.

[niranjan.mulye]

Was in a market for a new car in 2021. Started with the Verna then thought of a bit bigger car so finalised the Creta and then the launch of this mad machine was announced. Went over board my already stretched budget by 4 lakhs. It actually turns out to be a good decision if you keep your cars for years.

Never regret my decision till date. She is like that girlfriend of yours who keeps giving you tantrums once a while but you still love her for what she is

[Rakmo]

This was a sudden plan, had been driving a Brezza Diesel(2017) model, thanks to NGT rule, each had to keep the vehicle parked due to BS4 ban imposed around Diwali time.

Since only 3 years were left before the registration expires (valid for 10 years), so decided to go for petrol vehicle, with a budget of 5-7 Lakhs, intention was to sell the Brezza and with a margin of +2 lakhs only was interested in Swift, I10 & Ignis.

Search started on 25th Dec, ended up owning an Amaze CVT top spec on 28th Dec'23 for around 10 Lakhs.

[rpunwani]

It's happened with me twice:-

1) In late September 2012, I had booked a VW Jetta with Downtown VW with the explicit condition that if they are unable to deliver the car to me before 30th September 2012, the booking stands cancelled. The Sales Advisor was honest enough to return the booking cheque in 2 days stating that he cannot deliver the car before 30th September. A few weeks later he called me to say that he has a VW Passat with great discounts. Eventually ended up booking and buying one. Price of Jetta was 23L and I got the Passat @ 27L. Did a lot of mods on the Passat including upgrading the ICE. You can read the post here

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-e...b-std2-pq.html (VW Passat - Upgrading the RCD510 headunit to VW MIB STD2 PQ+)

2) Was just fishing around after owning the VW Passat for 8 years; contacted Navneet BMW to check out the recently launched 320Ld / 330Li series. The sales advisor mentioned that for a few lakhs more, I could get 520d. One thing led to another and within one month, I was the owner of a 520d. My ownership review can be read here

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ip-review.html (My Blue Bestie | BMW 520d (G30) | Initial Ownership Review)

Will I do it again? Probably yes

[aniketi]

Last year we started looking for a second hand car for my wife with a budget of 2 lakhs. Soon we realized that we are not going to get any decent car for that money, forget good car. 8-10 years old Wagon R were around 3.5 lakhs. Then we started searching Swift, Ignis, Grand i10, etc. and they were quoted around 5.5 to 6 lakhs which are in good shape. I was not ready at all to spend that much for a 5 year old car which has run 30-50 k kms minimum. Finally we decided to go for Ignis Zeta AMT which we got for 7.9 lakhs OTR.

So in short we went from 2 to 8 lakhs, increasing budget by 4 times. But end of the day we are happy that we made the right decision.

[rev_to_redline]

Not only I went over budget, but I also bought a car when I didn't have any plan at all.

Towards end of 2019, my close friend in Hyderabad was looking for a car around 10L budget. We checked out City, EcoSport and Ciaz. Then we visited Hyundai to check out Verna. Loved it so much that I booked it in SX Petrol Manual Variant on next day, got it delivered within a week.

My friend bought it in SXO Automatic White 4 months later.

[abhishek_hch]

I wanted to buy a Kushaq 1.0. I was not even considering 1.5. DSG due to reliability concerns around the gearbox.

I had taken a few test drives on ORR but wanted to test in more free traffic conditions, so went to PPS Skoda on Airport Road. I was also thinking would compare both 1.0 and 1.5 once. They did not have a 1.0 that day, so just test drove the 1.5.

They gave a pretty long 40KM test drive (and were okay with me driving even more!). The way I was able to zap past all the traffic on the airport highway without much effort and the handling had both me and my wife convinced that this was the one for us. It was clear beyond any and all shadows of doubt.

Went around 5 lac overboard but have not regretted it ever since.

[bhansali_hardik]

Started with a hot hatch in 6L ball park in head and Kia had me rolling with the launch of the elephant inspired car, basically 2x the budget. Any regrets? None!

1st gen 1st lot joined our garage :

[bblost]

YES

My Chevy Sail Uva was around 110k kms and over 10 years old. The posts in the accidents thread was a stark reminder of how accidents these days are a lot more brutal and deadly.

I decided to get a safer car.

Started with a budget of about a million with something like a Nexon, then increased to a fully loaded Venue but ending up with a Verna at a lil over 2 million rupees.

But I am so happy with the choice and absolutely love this car.

A big thanks to Manson who did not mince his words in pushing me into this decision.

[amods]

Yes! I was in market for a Creta/Seltos. The on-road prices for both was hitting 26lakhs in Bangalore. My initial budget was 20-22.

Then since I am eligible, opted for a BH registration in my home state, got this petrol AT AX7L for 27L on-road. Plan to keep it at both places alternatively:

[fhdowntheline]

A few years ago I was in a dilemma between the Ignis, Baleno RS and the Polo GT TSI. Eventually settled for the VW. Kind of regret selling it off during the pandemic.