Hey fellas!
I've been on the lookout for my first car since a long time now(north of 8 months). I had an original budget window of 15-20L, which now has jumped up to 20-25L. When I started the hunt, Jeep's interior was a let down for me and I dropped it from my contention list just because of the aged interiors. I'm a sucker for finesse as well as a modern & classy setup, which it was missing back then(I felt it had a more rugged sorta thing going on). But, that didn't take away from the fact that the exterior look was something I drooled over from the start(when I didn't even have a job
).
Going through the forums here for days without break(love reading being a nerd), I narrowed down my selection to Seltos HTK+ diesel AT. Interestingly, the waiting period was around 3-4 months. The new facelift of Seltos arrived and the variants & features were shuffled. I ended up changing the booking to GTX+ D AT.
Around a month back, saw the news of Seltos being spilt in half while it was involved in some accident. Agreed, the vehicle speed can be a crucial factor in determining the damage, but splitting in half? Metal is not supposed to be brittle, it expands or contracts. I don't know the real physics behind that sort of damage, but that incident did put a dent in my confidence. Moreover, I started getting messages related to the same incident from my relatives(they were aware that I've booked Seltos). Result? The tiring reconsideration process starts!
I stretched my budget to 25 and thought of giving the Harrier and Compass a chance. Although I had taken a TD of Harrier AT earlier as well, I was not impressed by the steering feedback and interior finish of the car(TD vehicle was creaking at a lot of places). Still, I went ahead with a fresh mind and took another test drive. Overall, the same experience again; though I love the way it looks, the AT box, and the space on offer.
That takes me to the Compass. I looked at the price chart and Sports/Longitude DCT was in my budget. Did some research and again went through the forums for 2 days straight, ended up canceling the idea of Petrol Turbo. My run would be 70:30 highway-city. I expect a monthly run of 2-2.5K . It may be just me but I don't want to be that person who is always vary of the FE, so I decided to let go off the AT Petrol line and ended up finalizing Limited Diesel(considering my run). Also, it's just the starting phase of my career, so I hope you guys understand I don't have big pockets yet
. Moreover, I'm ready to bear the upfront cost and be at peace later on.
Post the research, I went to experience the vehicle yesterday. The moment I entered the showroom, I knew I want THIS BEAST. Luckily, there were no other customers for the SA to attend to. So we were catered by not one but two of them. We spent a fair amount of time in the showroom itself, jumping from variant to variant. My overall experience summed up:
- The SA were courteous & well mannered, and also knew what they are talking about.
- All the colors were on display. So no problems with that.
- Looked mesmerizing from every angle.
- Interiors are next level now. Although, to be honest, didn't personally like the fabric touch in Sports/Longitude. Luckily I'm going for Limited, so no concerns there. Although I wish it had black interiors, I would prefer that over grey/brown/black tones.
- Driving dynamics, suspension and steering feedback are a notch above Harrier.
- The SA took over the control to demonstrate the anti-roll mitigation feature, It was a heart in mouth situation for a moment when he twisted the vehicle like a toy. Kudos to Compass for holding its ground though, never felt out of control.
- The music system, although lacking a subwoofer, sounded fabulous. I don't think I would need to upgrade.
- Rear space is just about fine. But since it would primarily be carrying just me, I'm fine with that.
- Dummy buttons are a let down and show cost cutting measures. Even the gear knob lacks a leather wrap. I know I'm being picky here, but these are small things which won't cost fortunes to get corrected.
- One part was interesting. I have never experienced this feature elsewhere, so pardon me if it's something very trivial. So if the accelerator is let go off after shifting to any gear, the vehicle would maintain a relevant speed instead of coming to a halt. Say I engage the 6th gar, the car would maintain a speed of 60-70 even without any accelerator throttle. This is NEAT.
- The electric parking switch needs to be repositioned to the driver's side. The current position just calls for a hazard. Although the SA demonstrated a situation where he touched it briefly while going at around 90kph. Except a slight jerk, there wasn't any noticeable effect on stability.
- The suspension over a rough patch was commendable. I guess the independent suspension helps.
- The overall experience was very smooth and I spent over 3 hours in-total over there. I was quoted a total of 26.84L on road. Insurance was quoted at 1.5 lac, later shaving off 50k as a discount to bring the price down to 26.3L. I feel this a tactic to intentionally bump the insurance price, only to slash it later, giving an impression of a discount.
Phew! It's been a long post. Anyway, the next phase is deciding on the color. I'm equally torn between Red & Black. Any inputs from long term users regarding the aging of Red color?
Also, can we expect a discount on ex-showroom as well? Or is it just the insurance? What about insurance from an external party?
Last, why is this handling charges still a thing? I believe it was taken down long back. To any recent buyer: did you have to pay this?