[urban legend]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

I would suggest you look at something like the Superb or the soon to be launched new Passat. Those are larger than the 3,C, etc and the Jetta,Octavia. Considering you will have 4 people in the car one of these will make much more sense than a smaller car.

Also the driving experience would still be far superior to the City that you have.

Thanks. The passat and superb are too big for everyday city driving. What about option 3. Used 320 d? Any comments? Apart from low seats and ground clearance everything else seems quite OK. My past experiences say that when upgrading its better to move a couple of segments higher than my current car otherwise the novelty wears off pretty soon!

[urban legend]

Well, yesterday was a long day and so this is going to be a long post. Please bear with me

First I went to Audi navi Mumbai. Saw the a3 on display, checked it inside out. And immediately cancelled the test drive. Its too cramped! I mean its o k for everyday driving with two people upfront but I cant imagine an outstation trip with a family and luggage. Its ok for someone who has a larger vehicle for family but not for me, So the a3 is out!
Audi is offering the a4 tsi at a good price. But frankly the cvt is unimpressive and the current a4 has been around for too long. Its boring.
I also saw the q3. Nice car, decent space, flexible luggage area, high seating and ok performance. But its very unexciting to drive, steering is very light and the acceleration is moderate at the best. But I still have kept it in the list as the premium version is within my each.
A word here about audis sales team-well informed, polite and eager to please-full marks to them, but their vehicles fail to excite.

On a whim I decided to go to the bmw showroom which is also in navi Mumbai. The surrounding area is quite a letdown and there are 4-5 car showrooms next to each other in that area. Anyway I had called up before going. The showroom wore a deserted look and the sales team was quite boring. I had to ask each and everything, coax them to give me information. It was a big put off.

But all that I forgot when I sat into the 320d. It feels like home, a perfect driving position, interiors like a cockpit, good features even in the prestige version, premium quality and decent rear seat and boot space. Yes its not very practical as the seats don’t fold and there is no spare but these are things I can live with. The best thing is that the discounts bring it within shouting distance of the a3!
And the drive is like wow! Without doubt this is the best driver’s car this side of any sportscar.
Now here is the deal breaker-bmw and skoda are known to have niggling problems in their vehicles. I don’t have the time or the patience to keep taking my car back to the service centre for small problems and I really expect a lot from this segment in terms of reliability and hassle free ownership. Also the service centres for all three are quite far from where I stay. Living with any of the European brands like skoda, audi and bmw is quite difficult as I have understood from the various threads I have read up. I cant imagine myself buying a beemer and then having to go again and again to the workshop to repair the horn/ lights or getting stranded due to steering pump or fuel pump failure.
I started out with a budget of 30-35 lakhs and now I am comparing vehicles which cost around 40 lakh! But really not much choice in the 35 lakh segment and it definitely makes sense to stretch the budget and go for something which I doubt I ll ever replace till the next model comes along in 5 years time.

My other option of Octavia tsi/tdi is very good from the financial point of view as I actually downstep from my budget and I can upgrade after 3-5 years. An Octavia I feel delivers 75% of what a beemer will give. The remaining 25% will come in use only during highway runs which is 25% of my running. 75 % is city driving.(sorry about the confusing numbers). But anyway its unfair to compare the Octavia and 320 d as they are in vastly different segments-17 lakhs apart.But my heart is set on the beemer. It seems the right one for me if I can work out the finances. The Octavia tsi is my cushion if I cannot work out the finances!

But will I get a very good car and not a good ownership experience? Will it be my steed or turn out to be a white elephant? Will I spend more efforts in maintaining it and less time in enjoying it? that’s the difficult question.

[Hayek]

Originally Posted by urban legend

Now here is the deal breaker-bmw and skoda are known to have niggling problems in their vehicles. I don’t have the time or the patience to keep taking my car back to the service centre for small problems and I really expect a lot from this segment in terms of reliability and hassle free ownership.


I started out with a budget of 30-35 lakhs and now I am comparing vehicles which cost around 40 lakh! But really not much choice in the 35 lakh segment and it definitely makes sense to stretch the budget and go for something which I doubt I ll ever replace till the next model comes along in 5 years time.



But will I get a very good car and not a good ownership experience? Will it be my steed or turn out to be a white elephant? Will I spend more efforts in maintaining it and less time in enjoying it? that’s the difficult question.

My thoughts. Good decision on rejecting the A3. The A3 and the CLA are ok for young couples with no kids / toddlers, or as a 3rd car for an affluent family - not as primary vehicles.

On Octavia vs a 3 - these are completely different segments. The 3 offers more, but if you let your head rule the heart, you would never buy it as the 3 does not offer enough extra to justify a 80-90% premium. So this is going to be an emotion led decision. But the one piece of advise I would give you is to be sure you can really afford the 3 without sacrificing either a material part of your savings or anything else. Skoda service is expensive compared to Honda, but BMW is in a completely different league. Hence, in addition to the OTR price, please factor in the cost of BSI (5 years if you intend to keep the car that long) and BMW Secure insurance. A friend had a fender bender in his 5, and the gross cost for repairs was Rs. 4.5 lakhs. Thanks to Secure, he paid just 10 or 20 k (don't remember the exact amount).

If you can afford all that and want the 3 go for it. Else an Octavia 1.8 TSi makes a lot more sense.

[AirWind]

Buy the Octavia 1.8 TSi, its quite reliable and find a knowledgeable mechanic... should be easy to find one in Mumbai.

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by urban legend

But anyway its unfair to compare the Octavia and 320 d as they are in vastly different segments-17 lakhs apart.But my heart is set on the beemer. It seems the right one for me if I can work out the finances. The Octavia tsi is my cushion if I cannot work out the finances!

But will I get a very good car and not a good ownership experience? Will it be my steed or turn out to be a white elephant? Will I spend more efforts in maintaining it and less time in enjoying it? that’s the difficult question.

If you plan to by either the BMW or the Audi you need to factor the cost for comprehensive warranties, extended ones and bumper to bumper insurance. Without these protections even a simple accident will be extremely heavy on your pocket.
If you are going to spend 75% of your time driving in bumper to bumper city traffic, are you really enjoying the experience of the powerful motors? That is the question you need to ask yourself, and again come back to the fact that small dings, dents are inevitable in city traffic, can you live with that expense on your beemer?
the 17 lac difference between the skoda and the beemer is not insignificant, in fact over a 5 year period if you invest it well, you may easily find the finances to buy a beemer 5 even!!
If the octavia gives you 70% of what you seek in the bigger motors at half the price, and you plan to upgrade in the next 5 years, its the best to go for it and invest the rest of your money in some good schemes.

[urban legend]

That's precisely why I m looking at a beemer with bsi ultimate and secure. Audi does nt have any such comprehensive plan I think. Here s the reason I am not so keen on skoda-I had to call 3 Skoda showrooms just to get a quote. Inspite of requesting they did not send an e brochure; in fact one of them even argued with me saying why I wanted details of all models when I was interested in the tsi elegance. None of them have a vehicle for test drive and waiting period depends on availability even after full payment. And not to forget the horror stories many of our members have faced in after sales. Anyway have decided to see some other options too.
Regarding driving its always going to be less on highways and more in city but sometime one has to buy a car that's a blast whether in bumper to bumper traffic or on the freeway. After all we live to drive!

[s.prashanth]

Off topic. Please look at the Camry Hybrid. Super drive, silent and maintainence of a hatch back. Fuel efficiency of 15 in Bangalore city.
I too went through the same feelings with the Germans and decided to buy the Camry. Bought it last month and loving every minute of it

[adi_petrolhead]

Originally Posted by s.prashanth

Off topic. Please look at the Camry Hybrid. Super drive, silent and maintainence of a hatch back. Fuel efficiency of 15 in Bangalore city.
I too went through the same feelings with the Germans and decided to buy the Camry. Bought it last month and loving every minute of it

Wow! No one ever considers such rare cars. Do you have few pictures of it on the forum? Or an ownership thread coming up soon?

[H_Dogg72]

Originally Posted by s.prashanth

Off topic. Please look at the Camry Hybrid. Super drive, silent and maintainence of a hatch back. Fuel efficiency of 15 in Bangalore city.
I too went through the same feelings with the Germans and decided to buy the Camry. Bought it last month and loving every minute of it

There's a lack of safety features in that car.
My TSI has ESP, which is a lifesaver.
Does the hybrid have that?
Even if it does, airbag count is low compared to the general standard when you spend that much.

[nik1982]

Its a good choice. I also just got the 40tfsi it is super fun to drive and extremely refined. Only issue i have with Audi is even though the petrol is sold only as top model variant they dont offer navigation and reversing camera which is highly ridiculous not even as an option.

[rahulsharma2008]

Hearty Congratulations! From which dealer did you pick your car? I hope you are not the one who picked up the meluga brown from Audi South Mumbai

I too had booked one with South (thats when they were pushing me to go for the Brown A3) but later postponed my purchase due to an unforeseen event.

Please upload pictures

Originally Posted by nik1982

Its a good choice. I also just got the 40tfsi it is super fun to drive and extremely refined. Only issue i have with Audi is even though the petrol is sold only as top model variant they dont offer navigation and reversing camera which is highly ridiculous not even as an option.

[nik1982]

Got it from Audi west. I had actaully wanted red but waiting was 3 months, so finally agreed on white. Now comes the real fun, have imported the S3 kit and it should be here soon. After which an engine remap and some changes to the interior.

Mod Note: Please take the time to use correct grammar and punctuation in your posts to improve readability.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by urban legend

An Octavia I feel delivers 75% of what a beemer will give. The remaining 25% will come in use only during highway runs which is 25% of my running. 75 % is city driving.(sorry about the confusing numbers).
But will I get a very good car and not a good ownership experience? Will it be my steed or turn out to be a white elephant? Will I spend more efforts in maintaining it and less time in enjoying it? that’s the difficult question.

Hi,

I came across your post today after your PM and hence here are my views on this.

Firstly I doubt there are any serious issues with the F30. I haven't come across any for sure in my friend's circle or even on the forum. More than that with BMW, you get the advantage of BSI. Buy one for 5 or 6 years and you are set to enjoy the car as you don't need to worry about something going wrong. The price of around 3-3.5L is totally worth the peace of mind.

Now the other part that I wanted to ask was, is this going to be your primary car/ only car? Honestly speaking due to the RFTs and hard suspension set up, I have never been comfortable taking the BMW out on our highways unless they are certain expressways where you are 100% sure of the road surface. Other than that every Indian highway ( no matter how good they appear or how much toll you need to pay) are full of surprises in forms of that sudden pothole or speed breaker or the junction between 2 surfaces laid at different span of time. My family was once stranded on the Delhi-Jaipur highway for close to 4 hours and ended up suffering for the whole night due to bent alloys when the car went through a pothole. Since then I have taken the car out on highways again but there is that eternal fear of potholes and the drive is honestly not enjoyable unless you are ready to stick to speeds of 80 kmph all the time. I am rather more relaxed in my Innova and Altis. The only highway drive I enjoyed in it was on the Yamuna expressway. So keep that in mind. BMW in particular is very susceptible to this issue of bent alloys.
On the other hand there are people who have driven from Chennai to Jaipur in there 3 series and hence my fears might be just illusional.

I guess this discussion should be moved to the what car section.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

BMW in particular is very susceptible to this issue of bent alloys.
On the other hand there are people who have driven from Chennai to Jaipur in there 3 series and hence my fears might be just illusional.

I guess this discussion should be moved to the what car section.

BMWs suffer more bent alloys because of runflats, where the tyre doesn't absorb any of the impact and transfers it to the rim.

With these cars you've just got to be that much more alert while on highway trips to watch out for potholes and bumps.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

BMWs suffer more bent alloys because of runflats, where the tyre doesn't absorb any of the impact and transfers it to the rim.

With these cars you've just got to be that much more alert while on highway trips to watch out for potholes and bumps.

Exactly and hence the drive is honestly stressful because you need to be very very focused even when the Swifts and Dzires just whiz past you. Hence I feel to some extent these cars cannot be kept as primary cars.

Another downer for highway trips will be the lack of boot space when you add a space saver. Post the space saver the boot space is quite restricted and will only hold a couple of average sized suitcases. Also loading the boot will further increase the weight at the back and make it much more prone to potholes and rest of the stuff.

But all said and done, when you put that sports mode on, all is forgiven and it is just pure JOY.