Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Luxury, Imports & Niche (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/luxury-imports-niche/)

-   -   Which is the best used car for a budget of 30L? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/luxury-imports-niche/65622-best-used-car-budget-30l-2.html)

The markets today does not treat these cars as "Foreign" cars any more. There are far more cars now thn there ever were, so this has lead to the car Values to drop and keep dropping. If you remember i told you to think when your about to return home and not to hold the prices as benchmark from now. No one thought so but it was evident that it would happen sooner or later. The car companies want you to buy the new models and offer buy back scheemes. This attracts many people who have smaller budgets but want the status these cars command. Last week Autohanger and linkway had the used car sale for two days in which 11 mercedes were sold.
Four days ago a 2003 s350 was sold for 16.5 Lakhs. There is a 2001 S 320 on our market place for 20 lakhs negotiable. There is a 2005 E200k for 20 lakhs negotiable. So you can estimate the values that these cars go for now.

There is no need to guess my friend it was an import. All papers clear and one owner car. The person had upgraded to the S class other wise he was reluctant to sell the car.

Yes I do remember, but I keep forgetting :Frustrati. Thanks for reminding me again. I think that in a couple of years or sooner than that even middle class people will be able to enjoy foreign cars. Another thing that I've been wondering about is, I was told that after you buy a foreign car, the maintaince in India is very expensive and that people later on regret buying the car. Is this true? Is it more expensive to maintain a foreign car in India than it would be in other developed countries such as Hong Kong, USA, etc?

Sorry if I've gone off topic.

Yes you will regret buying a Costly Luxury Car. The Spare Parts costs are high. :(

btw over.drive Why not get a New Mercedes Benz C Class ? It is pretty good. :)

In India people do not keep proper service history. Also after warranty is over, many customers opt for non-authorised service and parts to economise. Such cars may mean fat repair bills to you later on.

Which ever brand you buy, buy only that car which has either some transferable warranty left, or has a complete authorised service history, or is sold by an authorised dealer as a certified pre-owned vehicle. Also insist on a 6 months warranty from the dealer.

Happy motoring.

I see it happening even now. Some of the lower range cars like the 3 series and the c class are being bought by the middle class. What they do not realise is that you do get a hefty bill in comparrison to the indian cars for service. Most opt for non authorised service centers and do get fleesed, not that the authorised guys dont fleece you. Maintainance for these cars comes every 10,000 kms so it is not that heavy if you go to see and it also depends on the way you use and keep the cars. Parts are expensive over here and so is the duty for parts being brought in, if you do compare the costs with say Dubai, Hong Kong etc they are a few thousand rupees cheaper than India. I bought my bluetooth kit for the ML from Dubai (Gargash, Mercedes authorised center) and it costed me Rs16,000 and Autohanger was chargeing me Rs25,000 for it. The older the car and if it has not been taken care off would put a heavy dent on the pocket. This is not realised by most people and then they cry about the costs incurred and the cars come for resale.

A yes and a no in the same post supercars :D.
It depends on what you choose and how you use the car. Bmw has its BSI-R package that keep you trouble free as far as parts are concerned.


That generally happens after the warrenty period is over, nowadays you have the option to extend the warrenty for another year. The parts do cost the same everywhere but the labour cost is the one that makes the difference akj53. This does not neccisarily mean fat bills later on as some garages are well versed with these cars and have been serviceing foriegn cars even before the Authorised centers and maufacturers came to India.

Any car which has warrently left is automatically transfered with the car. Yes please see the service history of the car and this would give you a rough idea of how the car is used. Please do check for the warrenty if you buy a Certified pre-owned car from the Authorised center. Autohanger gives a 3 months warrenty with their pre-owned mercedes.

Well the new C Class is a good car :), but I prefer the AUDI A4 more compared to it. My plan is to get the best car I can for my budget. Preferably BMW 5 or AUDI A4.

By the way, anybody knows any good used car dealers who I can contact for a BMW, AUDI or Merc in Kerala.

Ahh I see. So you're saying that it's the maintance cost that keeps people from buying these foreign cars. Well as you say that the service for these cars comes every 10,000 kms, suppose I were to buy a brand new Porsche Cayenne S. How much would you say the approximate annual maintenance cost would be?

A person who does not take into account the maintainance cost of any car higher segmaent car irrelevant of it being a foriegn or indian car does face problems. So yes maintainance costs do factor in for people not only from the middle income bracket but also the higher income bracket. This is the reason you have the luxury cars being sold within months of purchase with low and i mean under a 1000 or 1500 kms on the odo. their first service comes at 1000 odd kms.
I am sure when you buy a new car it would be under warrenty and porsche would have a service package or something. I do not own a porsche yet so i cannot give you a confirmed figure but approximitly if my E280cdi and the 740i costs Rs60,000 and Rs1.30 lakhs respectively every 10,000kms for service then the porsche should be in the same range. The time of service depends also on the way you drive. If the car is used rough the service indicator would come on before the 10,000kms mark.

Well RS60,000-RS1.3 laks is not bad for about 10,000 kms. Would you say that 10,000km's would come every year if driven daily within the city?
I'm paying about RS1.5 lakhs for my Jaguar ever year in Hong Kong, so in that case it doesn't come to hurt too much. The car will obviously be driven rigorously from time to time, but in general will be driven smoothly, so I guess that shouldn't affect it too much. As it's only my dad and I that drive wrecklessly.

Hey overdrive,

Why a used car at this budget ?

Wouldn't it be wise to get a brand new one ?

I do not know about others but the ML in 11 months has completed her 3rd service. The E in 2yrs has completed her 3rd service and has 1300kms left for the 4th. So it depends on how much you use the car.
If you already are paying these figures for your car there so the same or less in India is not going to pinch. By rigorously i presume you mean speed wise and more often and not jumping speedbreakers kind. It wont as it only depends on the kms and the ware and tare of the car components (brake pads, filters and oil). I drive the same too but you automatically alter the kind of wrecklessness you would with a lower bracket car.

He avoids a lot of depreciation, doesn't he? I think its quite smart to go for a used car as long as you find a well maintained one.

Since you're only looking for 2-3 year old cars (especially the BMW five), I think you can easily find one with a full service history. Its generally older cars that go to non authorised service centers.

Three servicing's in 11 months?! Wow. I'm assuming thats due to other problems and not that you've driven the car 30,000km in 11 months. Wait, so when you said RS.60k-1.3 lakhs for servicing, were you talking about all servicing's done in one year? Or just one servicing cost that much?


Haha of course I mean by speed. I don't think anyone would be jumping speedbreakers on a E class or a Porsche Cayenne, unless they were drunk or insane. I didn't quite understand when you said "but you automatically alter the kind of wrecklessness you would with a lower bracket car.". Do you mean that with a lower segment car you would drive more wrecklessly?

The best used car at 30 lakhs? There's two actually:

1. Audi A4 3.2 FSI: If you can source one, that is (sold in meagre units thanks to the 45 lakh price tag). Unbelievably satisfying to drive, tight handling, W-I-L-D revv happy engine, sporty driving position.....this is an insane car. Again, the problem is in finding one. If you are able to (check with all Audi dealers), look no further.

2. BMW 530d : 5 series handling + steering with a monster torque engine. Amongst the best RWD sedans sold in our country today. Diesel + all that space makes it practical too. Will be way easier to source than the A4 3.2.

No problems with the car brother, the car has done almost 37,000 kms :). Rs 60,000 per service for the E and not collectively through the year.


There are plenty who do that too with their E and a cayenne was made to do that. I do that with the Ml all the time and there is no harm done to the car. The times you do indulge in speed and going a bit overboard you are reminded of the hefty costs involved incase something does go wrong so you tend to be a bit more carefull unlike if you were driving a lancer or honda city.

The Audi would not be ideal when compared against the 530D as firstly both cars a year old would be in a similar price bracket. The 530d is bigger than the Audi and lifts you to higher segment compared to the A4. The Main point like mentioned by you is the miniscul nombers that have been sold due to the priceing and finding a car is near impossible. The 530d is still unbeatable compared to its competition. A close second would be the E280cdi.