Keep your eyes on the road and hands upon the wheel

sraye · 15th June 2010, 14:05

I have been a guest on T-BHP for the last couple of months. It started as a simple search on Google - best hatchback to buy in India. Then the search was modified to Best pre owned hatchback to buy. By then I had stumbled upon this site and was hooked.Over the course of the next few months, while grappling with changing gears, getting honked at signals ( Just learnt to drive, that too pretty late in life) , doing a complex tap dance on the clutch , brake and accelerator on the Peddar Road
slope in peak morning traffic, I diligently persued T-BHP, especially the what car section.

My fundas on buying a car were clear now. I was a new driver, someone who had lived outside the country for the last three years, consdered honking/ being honked at very rude and needed to learn to reorient my
concept of personal space. So it had to be a cheap car,not from a dealer, below 1 lakh, preferably a Maruti 800 or the old zen, not white/ no decals and I would keep it for at least a couple of years ( so basically needed to be well preserved car).
My orignal choice was a pre- owned Getz( budget had gone flying out of the window by now and I like the car), but it was discontinued at that time, and the CRDi was impossible to get hold of, I relcutantly let go of the idea. So it was back to hunting on carwaale/Gaddi etc. This along with settling down in in a new city was time consuming, so the second thing to go flying out of the window was the no dealer rule.
My wife did not want an Alto ( too cramped as per her) or a M800 ( too Old) or an Old Zen ( refer to objections to Alto and M800).
I thought of waiting to see the Figo/Polo/Beat but that was too long to wait and too much to spend as a new driver.
Finally I went ahead and bought a Santro Xing GLS ( 2005,43000kms on the Odo) for 2.3 lakhs, white with decals through Mahindra First choice. I still have a wistful smile when I see a Getz.
I have been driving to office for the last few months now, made a couple of trips to Pune. On the whole I am satsified with the car. Its roomy, its easy to handle in peak traffic, not an embarassment on the expressway and has given me the confidence/desire to drive at the drop of a hat.

This is a great community and has been a great source of information for me as a new buyer/driver. The travelogues are great fun to read and very inspiring.
As of now I am waiting for the Vento and hoping it does not disappoint, so that my last rule of keeping a preowned car atleast for 2 years before buying a new one also goes out of the window.

Cheers
Saurabh

GTO · 16th June 2010, 10:32

Welcome aboard, Saurabh. That's a heck of an intro, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. the Santro Xing seems well-suited to your requirements. Best part is, since you've bought it used, depreciation losses at the time of resale will be minimal. We do have a plethora of threads on driving tips, so do make sure to stop by those.

We'd much appreciate your taking a pitstop by our board rules section, just once, for the sake of familiarisation. Our members can get very finicky about them

.

sraye · 16th June 2010, 10:53

@GTO : Thanks for the welcome. The thread on buying a pre owned car vs a new car did help me in making my decision.

I'll read through the rules once more .

gavinimurthy · 16th June 2010, 13:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO

Our members can get very finicky about them

.

It should have been the moderators instead of members. :-)

Seriously, I like the rules particularly those related to the usage of proper English. The youngster's language is becoming worse day by day and many of them are not able to spell even simple words.

My wife works in a bank and tells me that some of the recent graduates can't write hundred properly. Many write as handred. The SMS culture with its own linguistics (Lingo in their language) is spoiling them and the English language too.

They may feel it is a pain to learn correct English and that they can manage with whatever they use but they will realise their mistake when they aspire to get into responsible positions and find that their English is the biggest hurdle.

I visit many forums but this is the only forum which places emphasis on this aspect and I welcome it.

Sorry for my going in a tangent. Welcome Saurabh. I too am a newbie here.

Murthy

15th June 2010, 14:05	#1
sraye BHPian Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mumbai Posts: 92 Thanked: 25 Times	Keep your eyes on the road and hands upon the wheel I have been a guest on T-BHP for the last couple of months. It started as a simple search on Google - best hatchback to buy in India. Then the search was modified to Best pre owned hatchback to buy. By then I had stumbled upon this site and was hooked.Over the course of the next few months, while grappling with changing gears, getting honked at signals ( Just learnt to drive, that too pretty late in life) , doing a complex tap dance on the clutch , brake and accelerator on the Peddar Road slope in peak morning traffic, I diligently persued T-BHP, especially the what car section. My fundas on buying a car were clear now. I was a new driver, someone who had lived outside the country for the last three years, consdered honking/ being honked at very rude and needed to learn to reorient my concept of personal space. So it had to be a cheap car,not from a dealer, below 1 lakh, preferably a Maruti 800 or the old zen, not white/ no decals and I would keep it for at least a couple of years ( so basically needed to be well preserved car). My orignal choice was a pre- owned Getz( budget had gone flying out of the window by now and I like the car), but it was discontinued at that time, and the CRDi was impossible to get hold of, I relcutantly let go of the idea. So it was back to hunting on carwaale/Gaddi etc. This along with settling down in in a new city was time consuming, so the second thing to go flying out of the window was the no dealer rule. My wife did not want an Alto ( too cramped as per her) or a M800 ( too Old) or an Old Zen ( refer to objections to Alto and M800). I thought of waiting to see the Figo/Polo/Beat but that was too long to wait and too much to spend as a new driver. Finally I went ahead and bought a Santro Xing GLS ( 2005,43000kms on the Odo) for 2.3 lakhs, white with decals through Mahindra First choice. I still have a wistful smile when I see a Getz. I have been driving to office for the last few months now, made a couple of trips to Pune. On the whole I am satsified with the car. Its roomy, its easy to handle in peak traffic, not an embarassment on the expressway and has given me the confidence/desire to drive at the drop of a hat. This is a great community and has been a great source of information for me as a new buyer/driver. The travelogues are great fun to read and very inspiring. As of now I am waiting for the Vento and hoping it does not disappoint, so that my last rule of keeping a preowned car atleast for 2 years before buying a new one also goes out of the window. Cheers Saurabh
	() Thanks

16th June 2010, 10:32	#2
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 70,507 Thanked: 300,642 Times View My Garage	Welcome aboard, Saurabh. That's a heck of an intro, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. the Santro Xing seems well-suited to your requirements. Best part is, since you've bought it used, depreciation losses at the time of resale will be minimal. We do have a plethora of threads on driving tips, so do make sure to stop by those. We'd much appreciate your taking a pitstop by our board rules section, just once, for the sake of familiarisation. Our members can get very finicky about them .
	() Thanks

16th June 2010, 10:53	#3
sraye BHPian Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mumbai Posts: 92 Thanked: 25 Times	@GTO : Thanks for the welcome. The thread on buying a pre owned car vs a new car did help me in making my decision. I'll read through the rules once more .
	() Thanks