[SmartCat]

Price of cars I've bought in the past 2 decades:

Year 2004 -> Chevrolet Optra -> Rs. 11.3L
Year 2010 -> Honda Civic -> Rs. 8.3L (pre-owned)
Year 2015 -> Maruti A-star -> Rs. 3.3L (pre-owned)
Year 2016 -> Honda BRV -> Rs. 15.1L
Year 2021 -> Hyundai Venue -> Rs. 12.2L

Clearly, my sweet spot for car is the Rs. 10L to 15L price range.

That's because cars and consumer electronics like TVs/phones etc are immune from price inflation. Meaning, for the same price, you get a better product now than X years ago. Examples:

- Rs. 10,000 phone bought in 2022 will be BETTER than Rs. 10,000 phone bought in 2012.
- Rs. 15L car bought in 2022 will be BETTER than Rs. 15L car bought in 2012.

When you are getting a better product for the same price, I see no reason to spend more on a car over the years.

[aadya]

It is a hot question with no definitive answer. There are methods to arrive at approximate answers. We can find out the mean of the high selling product at lower price point, and high selling product at higher price point.

Other option is the law of average just add the sales figure of the entire passenger car industry and divide it by the units. We can exclude outliers by a cutoff of something like 5lakhs to 50 lakhs. And that price point would be a sweet spot.

We can find out the highest selling product nearer to the midpoint of the entire range of cars actively selling in the market.

My ball park number would be 20-25Lakhs(exshow room) in the present market. Largest selling passenger cars all over the world like Corolla, fall into this segment in the current market.

[drift87]

I would say nothing more than 18 lakhs. This is huge money and considering that I mostly make use of cabs for 80% of my travel ( mostly official). I would still stick to the same even if my monthly running is high.

[Tutenkhamen]

I think what a heart desires is unquantifiable and in many many cases, unjustifiable too.

Having had Audi RSx wallpapers throughout the 2000s, I don’t think of diminishing returns while buying a car. It’s just supposed to be emotional and not transactional.

Otherwise no logic would ever justify getting an E53 or the new RRS, Cayene Coupe but that’s the beauty of it.

One man’s diminishing return logic is another man’s indiscretion

[SR-71]

I don't think there is one answer to this, it sort of varies across segments, but GTO's post about "Cars that punch above their weight in India!" is the first thing that comes to my mind.

For example the Octavia is more than enough for a sporty sedan as you get 90% of the fun for 50% of the cost. Same rule will apply for the Superb, Innova, Camry and now probably the XUV700, all of which give you 80+% of the value for 50% of the cost compared to peers that can give you similar functionality. I believe these cars draw the line when it comes price point of diminishing returns for their respective segment.

[CarNerd]

I'm wondering about the usual car price to income ratio in India? For example, if you have an annual income of 12 lakhs, what will be the budget of your car? Will it be less than 12 lakhs, same or more? Any idea?

[2000rpm]

Let me bring a unique lens to the question. For me the value of diminishing returns is 5-7 lakhs.

Before you guys question me, let me clarify. I am referring to the used car market.

For up to 7 lakhs, we are looking at great Jettas, Civics, City, XUVs, Polo GT TSI, even some Cretas.

Get these cars and pimp them to your liking!!

[COMMUTER]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

For upto 7 lakhs, we are looking at great Jettas, Civics, City, XUVs, Polo GT TSI, Even some Cretas.

Get these cars and pimp the to your liking!!

I spent 3 years trying to get an acceptable used car before dropping the idea and buying a new car. I feel that the good used cars are too close to the brand new base model of the same vehicle and the one falling close to the right depreciated price will have some issue.

The govt. taxation has put the point of diminished return for cars pretty higher than acceptable in terms of the income of the masses. With that factored in, I would consider the point of diminished returns to be 8L for hatchbacks, 18L for sedans/SUV and anything beyond that would be giving a huge ego bonus and hardly anything else.

With the news of the 100kmph speed limit sensing cameras (already installed every ~100m) starting to fine people Rs. 1000 for each second(almost) spent driving at over 100kmph on the toll roads being ever so imminent, the higher priced cars start to make very poor sense.

[Durango Dude]

It all depends on individual preferences, income and also age of the person. Preferences change with time as the person ages and responsibilities increase visavis the income. There's no hard and fast rule, eg I jumped from an M800 to Hyundai Accent. There was someone else who wants a Slavia jumping over moon from a Dominar 400 in this forum and there's dedicated thread for it. So it's all very individual, you can't generalize, saying this is enough and that's over the top. I hate getting used cars and haven't bought one till now.

[mayank0782]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

- Rs. 15L car bought in 2022 will be BETTER than Rs. 15L car bought in 2012.

When you are getting a better product for the same price, I see no reason to spend more on a car over the years.

Not really true for all the cases. How is a 2022 Mid Variant Baleno or i20 (non turbo) better than a 2012 Honda City or 2012 Hyundai Verna except may be a few extra features ? All costing in the vicinity of 10-11 lakhs.

[voldemort]

To answer the question in the thread title, the price-point of diminishing returns is the price of a new fully-loaded Skoda Superb.

(Superb instead of Octavia because I understand the Octavia is a little overpriced and the Superb has (had?) superb (pun intended) discounts.)

I mean, if one wants and S class and can afford it without batting an eyelid then by all means go for it. While the S is a really special car, I'm not entirely sure if the chauffeured would, after a few months of ownership, care a lot more than backseat comfort, ride quality, and noise insulation. In that regard I don't think the S class is worth a crore over the Superb.

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Year 2004 -> Chevrolet Optra -> Rs. 11.3L
Year 2016 -> Honda BRV -> Rs. 15.1L

I had a fully loaded 2005 Optra 1.8 LT which I bought new for ₹13L. Kindly explain how a ₹15L BRV is better than the Optra, which I consider to be far more luxurious and comfortable.

(By the way, isn't ₹15L a bit too high for a BRV anyway?)

Originally Posted by SmartCat

- Rs. 10,000 phone bought in 2022 will be BETTER than Rs. 10,000 phone bought in 2012.
- Rs. 15L car bought in 2022 will be BETTER than Rs. 15L car bought in 2012.

When you are getting a better product for the same price, I see no reason to spend more on a car over the years.

I beg to differ. I have felt that for similar segment of cars we have to spend higher and higher amounts. While it might be true that features are trickling down the segments, the price of cars in general are increasing.

For 50 lakhs I could get an E class long long ago. My friend bought the outgoing C class for 60 lakhs, and even my W212 has a few features that weren't present in the C (like memory seats).

[lordtottuu]

My cars were bought in the order presented in my signature. My next car is probably going to be closer in price to the latter, not the early ones.

Truth be told, the luxury badges have gotten too optimistic with their pricing and the more mainstream brands have increased their quality so many folds. Plus, with the luxo barges, I'm channeling a very "been there done that" feeling lately.

[hagarthenormal]

Originally Posted by GTO

I would say 20 - 30 lakh rupees, depending on the segment.

Spot on @GTO. You have said the same earlier too, and I found it to be true after scanning the market for my family car over the last year. I finally picked this 20-30L bracket and booked a Carens diesel top end AT @ ~22.5L OTR.

There are quite a few good options for buyers in this 20-30L range. For example, other options we considered and dropped were XUV700 (unproven; niggles; available only next century), Harrier (not a 6/7 seater; persistent niggles), Safari (top choice, in spite of niggles, but Tata's sales folks are quite disinterested in giving test drives), Innova (family found it unexciting inside; 30L+ OTR), Slavia (sorry looking interiors, DSG failures). Only one outside this bracket, the Fortuner (family didn't go wow! at the interiors, and I thought 50L OTR is just not VFM).

(The heart still tugs at those wonderful BMW 6-cylinder diesels but spending borrowed money close to a crore OTR just for my fun, at the cost of being looked at weirdly by family & friends, needs a really thick & selfish skin :^).

[bhalu]

Hyundai Tucson 2L Diesel 2W and 4Wd are a good choice close to 30 lac mark

Originally Posted by tarunjain

Agree 100%. I often get tempted to buy cars in the range of 35-50L and I ask myself - would I be happier / better off buying two cars instead, with the same money? In most cases, the answer turns out to be YES.

For example:
Compass = City/Slavia + Thar



At the risk of going a bit off-topic, a big void in the 20-30L segment currently is absence of a 4x4. Thar (under 20L) is still not practical enough and Compass (over 30L) is overpriced. Hopefully the upcoming Scorpio will fill this void.

[MT_Hyderabad]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Price of cars I've bought in the past 2 decades:

Year 2004 -> Chevrolet Optra -> Rs. 11.3L
Year 2010 -> Honda Civic -> Rs. 8.3L (pre-owned)
Year 2015 -> Maruti A-star -> Rs. 3.3L (pre-owned)
Year 2016 -> Honda BRV -> Rs. 15.1L
Year 2021 -> Hyundai Venue -> Rs. 12.2L

Clearly, my sweet spot for car is the Rs. 10L to 15L price range.

That's because cars and consumer electronics like TVs/phones etc are immune from price inflation. Meaning, for the same price, you get a better product now than X years ago. Examples:

- Rs. 10,000 phone bought in 2022 will be BETTER than Rs. 10,000 phone bought in 2012.
- Rs. 15L car bought in 2022 will be BETTER than Rs. 15L car bought in 2012.

When you are getting a better product for the same price, I see no reason to spend more on a car over the years.

I agree and appreciate the points that you have mentioned, but I think you have missed on one important criteria: Value/Prestige/Status

An Optra bought in 2004 was the premium class of that time compared to anything available in the market. An Ertiga of 2022 cannot be compared to an Optra of 2004, even if it is better in each and every materialistic(power, safety, mileage etc) offering it has, as the premium segment has shifted due to inflation and currency depreciation over the years. You can also read the statement made by GTO in this thread about the 10 lakh segment in today's time.

Coming to mobiles and other electronic devices. The same logic applies. I imported a Nokia N72 in 2007/8 IIRC through a friend who was travelling to Bangkok and Vietnam. The cost was 17,000 INR.
I bought an IQOO Z3 seven months back(Nov 21), incidently in the exact same price of the N72.
Now, Nokia N72 was rare and somewhat premium at that time, I even saw some celebrities using it (call it frequency illusion, however, the price fell within a year and my office boy also owned one after an year). But, I have to tell people that I bought Iqoo z3 just because it was fastest charging (in less than 20k segment) at that time and I have an iPhone as a main phone (company provided). Otherwise, they will immediately judge my financial standing/status - IQOO! What!?