[Tom Sooraj]

Greetings.

I'm Sooraj from Nagercoil. I'm 20 years old. I love cars ever since my childhood. And as I grew up, I found myself interested in knowing about various cars, their specifications, features, etc., and would suggest cars to my family when we were searching for one. I read a lot of reviews on cars. The most satisfying reviews are found only on Team-BHP. So I wished to join Team-BHP to know others experiences and to share my own.

I registered on Team-BHP and I was extremely happy to see the mail quoting " Team-BHP Membership - Approved " on my very first attempt.

And about our cars, we own a Stingray which is 4 years old and has done 60k+ kms and a Wagonr which is 8 months old and has done 5k+ kms. I would share my experiences with our cars in the coming days.

Thanks,
Sooraj.

[TusharK]

Welcome to Team-BHP Sooraj,

You seem to be quite a fan of the WagonR.
Looking forward to interacting with you on the forum.

Cheers!
TusharK

[Tom Sooraj]

Thank you TusharK.

This is going to be a long story.

Let me tell our history of cars.

We are a family of 5. But we bought cars that were less wide so that we could drive through the traffic and narrow roads easily.

We previously owned a Maruti 800 AC, which we had bought on 1st July 2009, sold it in November 2012 and bought an Alto 800 LXi which was newly launched. A year went by, and my dad started experiencing back pain due to the low seating of the Alto 800 (low compared to the Maruti 800). But due to financial difficulties at that time, we could not replace it, rather my dad tried to enter the car in a different manner such that he felt slightly comfortable. In these two cars, we managed to sit 3 at the rear, but with less comfort. By September 2014, we saw the Celerio and took a test drive, but nothing much was discussed about it.

When our financial situation improved, buying a better seating car for my dad was our first choice. Began researching, and came across the Stingray Wagonr and decided to have a look at it. When I saw the Stingray for the first time in real life, I could not believe my eyes! The projector headlights (were available even in the base variant LXi) and the chrome treatment gave it a distinct look. The ingress and egress was so easy which was helpful for my dad. The cabin was also so spacious that we were able to sit 3 at the rear with utmost comfort. We took a test drive and were extremely satisfied. So we booked the Stingray LXi and our car was delivered on 24th August 2015.

The Alto 800 was used by our driver occasionally and I started using it after I had got my licence. And after that, I had gone to Chennai for my studies. So the car would be in the car porch. As days went by, rats started sneaking inside the car and they would be found dead in the AC compressor. Everytime we get our car serviced, it would be free from rats for a week or two. But again, the rats would enter the AC compressor which forced us to sell the Alto 800. My mom asked for an AMT car so that she could use that for driving. So, my dad contacted the showroom people and they brought an Alto K10 AMT. Me and my dad took a test drive of it, but we felt that manual was better. As my mom was so sure that she would be using the car, we had no other choice rather than booking the Alto K10 AMT. We bought the Alto K10 AMT in exchange for the Alto 800. We got our Alto K10 delivered on 2nd February 2018. I was present at the day of delivery and I drove the car because I understood a bit more on how to drive an AMT car. In this case too, the car was driven occasionally by me only (whenever I came home from hostel) until mid June. My mom didn't use the car much. And after I had changed my college from Chennai to my home town, I began using the Alto K10 daily. As the seating of the Alto K10 was similar to the Alto 800, I started experiencing seating difficulties. We were planning to replace the Alto K10 and so I told my family that we needed a slightly wider car to accomodate 5 persons easily. And the decision was left to me. I took a very long time, researching on the wider hatchbacks (we have a dog, so hatchback was our choice). Maruti Baleno, Hyundai Grand i10, Hyundai i20, Tata Tiago and Maruti Swift were my choices.

•Maruti Baleno Sigma and Swift LXi:
HEARTECT platform - only reason to reject.

•Hyundai Elite i20 Era:
Poor service in our area.

•Tata Tiago XE (O):
Well built, solid, muscular car.
This variant came without an ABS (wished to try this feature).
Significant rear centre hump which I thought, would obstruct the accommodation of 3 at the rear.

And then came the news about the upcoming Wagonr, which would be based on the HEARTECT platform and decided not to buy the new Wagonr. And as our Stingray is getting old (61k+ kms and 4 years) and the engine makes some kind of gas sound (which came after servicing last year), we bought the previous generation Wagonr LXi (with the limited edition kit) in exchange for the Alto K10 AMT on 28th November 2018.

To be honest, I hated the Wagonr for its boxy design and boxy headlights. But my thoughts about the Wagonr had been changed after the arrival of the Stingray. Now, I love both the Wagonr and the Stingray and I'm proud of being a fan of the Wagonr.

With regards,
Sooraj.