Booking:
The shortlists with an approx 6.5L budget
- Renault Duster 110 RXZ !!!!! - Haha, I know I know, it's the ICE effect !
- Vento Highline !!!! - C'mon excel sheets are free !
- Sunny XV !!! - wifey had once wondered about it, so ...
- Ertiga ZDi !! - looked fairly practical for my needs
- Fiesta Classic Titanium D ! - just because I was at the Ford showroom
- Swift ZDi .. and now we are getting close to reality !
- Punto 75/90 E
- Polo TDi
- Figo Titanium TDCi
Since I was procrastinating for a long time, there was ample time for arm-chair researching all of the above. Mr. Excel kept reminding me that my primary choices would have to be the Swift and the Figo. While the top half of the list above got rejected for being out of budget, I did initially consider all the hatches.
Punto - Was 1L over budget, did not like the gearshift, relatively suspect Fiat after sales in Cal, potential delays in availability of parts leading to downtime.
Polo - Overbudget by a wide margin even after the price correction. Rear seat too cramped. Too much low end lag. Potentially more expensive to maintain over 1-1.5L kms.
i20 - Too expensive. Plus I may have a mental block against Hyundai's.
Liva - Too spartan. Hated it.
Micra/Pulse - did not consider as the top end did not have all safety features, combined with yet to be proven after sales
Vista - Had a Tata once. Not planning to get another one if I can help it !
And hence the following comparo based on
what mattered to me.
Swift ZDi
Ticks :
- Quick,
- promise of super FE,
- Smoooooth and quite silent,
- Effortless steering,
- Niiiice front seats, overall space is ok,
- Very good ride and handling,
- Has OE tweeter pods,
- All the features I would need,
- Fab resale value,
- I had good rapport with Maruti service.
Tocks! :
- Hello, when can I get one??,
- High Price,
- Small boot,
- Claustrophobic rear seats,
- Inching in city traffic relatively more difficult than the Figo,
- Dislike the rear design,
- Apprehension about rusting (the old one had issues) since the car will not get covered parking
Figo Titanium TDCi (pre-facelift)
Ticks :
- Cheap !!!!!
- And then cheaper still due to discounts !!!
- Peppy,
- Decent FE,
- FAB steering/ride/handling combo,
- Chiller of an AC,
- Good front seats,
- Ergonomics mostly spot on (more on this later),
- Nice airy rear seat,
- Ok functional interiors,
- Solid build,
- Ok resale value,
- 1.2L km extended warranty,
- Readily available
Tocks! : (Mainly compared to the Swift)
- No rear power windows,
- Noisier,
- Lower on outright power,
- Potentially lower FE,
- Lower resale
Quotes
And then WB tax structure got revised and on road prices increased. The quotes I got in September with 5year road tax.
Swift ZDi - around
7.7L on road incl extended warranty. Zero discounts. Delivery nothing below 4-5 months. At least.
Figo Titanium - 6.84L on road with extended warranty+RSA. Then came the discounts and a final quote of
6.41L + free mats, mud flaps, seat covers !! Considering the MRP of the accessories, almost 50K off the price of a diesel car in these times !! With ready delivery ! Awesome.
The Rs. 1.3L difference with the Swift D coupled with it's indefinite waiting period was too much to ignore. Yes the Swift is better in some respects, but this purchase was primarily budget driven and that extra 1.3L would have thrown up a bright red in the excel !!
With the Figo facelift due anyday with no significant upgrades, I knew this 50K was an unexpected one-off bonus for the current model. And hence took the plunge.