[shankar.balan]

My dad's Indica DLG Turbo V2 was bought in 2006 April. It is almost 5 years old now.
Driven only by him and occasionally by me, the car is touch wood in perfect condition.
Done only about 32000 Kms so far. Mechanically sound, Body is clean, Paint work is pucca, interiors are cleanly maintained and its engine, after last week's servicing, is purr-fect! No body rattles and other irritants either, so far.
a couple of days ago we changed all the OEM tyres and substituted the OEM steel wheels with nice alloys.
I think this car, if maintained the way it is and taken care of as much as possible, is good for another few years yet. Minimum 7 years I thnk from date of purchase- which means April 2013.
lets see!!

[AutoIndian]

Hi Shankar,
Absolutely agree with you (101%). Indica is such a good car for Indian road conditions & for the amount that we pay for purchasing it. No other car could have taken the abuse that it is subjected to by fleet owners. Actually I thought of updating my previous message with my car details, but somehow restricted it. Anyways since you have shared your car details I too thought of chipping in with mine.
Purchased my car in July 2004, when I was working in Mumbai & had to do weekend trips to Pune as my parents were in Pune. I am the lone driver of my car & it was in hibernation on 4 occasions when I had to go overseas for project work.
3 months in 2004
4 months in 2006
11 months in 2008
2 months in 2009
Even after staying off the road for the above duration car never troubled me. Started at the first crank each time. Except for the alternator overhaul in 2006 & the priming pump assly replacement (due to mechanics fault) I had no other out of pocket expenses. The only extra expenses incurred were that of denting & painting on 4 occasions (for none of my fault). But the painting working done is so good that today even after 6 years & 3 months of ownership, when people ask me if my car is one year old, I reply back in negation with a wide grin on my face.
I am in a position to buy a bigger & better car, however after going through this thread I changed my mind. I now intend to keep this car for 150K kms or 10 years whichever is earlier (or till the time the car does not give me much trouble). Ans yes I too replaced the OEM Bridgestone S322s at 62K kms with Michelins XM1+ on multi-spoke alloys (all 5).

[shankar.balan]

It is an excellent VFM vehicle. No doubt about it.

Only thing, being tall I think Im going to have the front seat modified for better under-thigh support!
here are a couple of pics of my dad's car taken yesterday.

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Hi Shankar,
Absolutely agree with you (101%). Indica is such a good car for Indian road conditions & for the amount that we pay for purchasing it. But the painting working done is so good that today even after 6 years & 3 months of ownership, when people ask me if my car is one year old, I reply back in negation with a wide grin on my face.
I am in a position to buy a bigger & better car, however after going through this thread I changed my mind. I now intend to keep this car for 150K kms or 10 years whichever is earlier (or till the time the car does not give me much trouble). Ans yes I too replaced the OEM Bridgestone S322s at 62K kms with Michelins XM1+ on multi-spoke alloys (all 5).

[AutoIndian]

Nice pics. What make are the alloys & tyres?

[shankar.balan]

alloys - veloce
tyres - apollo accelere - 185 60 R14

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Nice pics. What make are the alloys & tyres?

[sammyboy]

Originally Posted by GTO

Sammyboy, what I'd recommend to you is Lateral Upgrading. The Fiesta 1.6 also suffers from poor resale value, thanks to Ford's frequent price cuts. Thus, whatever you stand to lose by selling your Ikon 2- 3 years too early, is more than made up by the depreciation gains on a Fiesta 1.6.

Go for it

Thanks GTO. I have a mid 2009 Altis J in sight, done under 5k kms and belongs to a very close relative. He is planning to sell it and I dont want to let go of such a pristine vehicle.

If someone could suggest what kind of price should be a fair deal, I will get my pre worshipped Corolla
What say?

[KumaravelS]

Am wondering who will buy out those 10+ yrs cars / 2L kms cars if everyone wants to sell it out? wouldn't it be sunken cost!!

[prajwalkashyap]

Originally Posted by KumaravelS

Am wondering who will buy out those 10+ yrs cars / 2L kms cars if everyone wants to sell it out? wouldn't it be sunken cost!!

A car that has run 2L kms without much problem, is total paisa vasool. Any money u get for selling it off can be considered as bonus, to be used to pep up the new car that replaces the old 2L kms car.

Prajwal

[KumaravelS]

Originally Posted by prajwalkashyap

A car that has run 2L kms without much problem, is total paisa vasool. Any money u get for selling it off can be considered as bonus, to be used to pep up the new car that replaces the old 2L kms car.

Prajwal

I understand from the seller perspective... but from buyer perspective? Is there a market for 10+ years, 2L kms+ ?

[prajwalkashyap]

Of course there is! Its a HUGE market out there! Buyers of these cars will be getting them at dirt cheap prices and will be ready to get some engine work done. These are the cars that move to tier-2 and tier-3 cities in most cases.

Prajwal

[GTO]

Originally Posted by KumaravelS

Am wondering who will buy out those 10+ yrs cars / 2L kms cars if everyone wants to sell it out? wouldn't it be sunken cost!!

India is such a massive, diverse market that you'll find some buyer for every kind of product. 10+ year old cars with 2.0 lakh kms would go REALLY CHEAP. Typical buyers:

- Dealers if the car's condition is good. They'll clock back the odometer for sure.

- Taxi segment. Especially in demand if its an MUV or Jap sedan

- Those looking at a dirt cheap runabout. Either direct, or agents who will eventually sell the car to smaller towns & cities.

- Cheap-repair-and-flip artists. Small garages & dealers who'll perform the required mechanical work (for cheap), refurbish it cosmetically and then sell off for a profit.

On the other hand, if you own a model thats too outdated or not in demand (say, like a 118NE today), most of the buyer inquiries will be from scrap dealers.

[Warlock]

Just read this thread again. Appreciate the point about the upgrades being for safety, comfort (status?), and indeed environmental considerations. However, in re-reading this it occured to me that cars bought around 2006 / 2007 should indeed be good for the run to a 100K kms at least. Barring significant technological changes, the improvements (in my humble opinion) appear largely incremental. Am currently looking at the spate of new cars in the D Segment, and sighing in regret that I chose an Altis in November 2009, when I could have waited it out for the X1 in early 2011. Water under the bridge, but all considered the logic of keeping a car like the Altis until it's run around 100K kms appears compelling from a financial and logical perspective. Anyone gone through this thread and come to a different conclusion?

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by Warlock

Anyone gone through this thread and come to a different conclusion?

On the contrary, I owe GTO a debt of thanks. Being recently married (read: recently broke) and a recent home-buyer in Bombay (read: recently devoid of kidneys and other essential but pricey organs) my spending power is greatly reduced. That didn't stop me from already planning on trading up my 2-year old Swift-D in another year or so for a Vento-D.
After reading GTO's post, however, I'm pretty sure that I'd actually rather use the Swift for at least another few years, enjoy this non-EMI period of my life, and get rid of it only when I can really afford to buy what I want.

Originally Posted by prajwalkashyap

Of course there is! Its a HUGE market out there! Buyers of these cars will be getting them at dirt cheap prices and will be ready to get some engine work done. These are the cars that move to tier-2 and tier-3 cities in most cases.

Prajwal

Originally Posted by KumaravelS

I understand from the seller perspective... but from buyer perspective? Is there a market for 10+ years, 2L kms+ ?

If you follow GTO's reasoning to it's full conclusion, then it doesn't matter if you don't get a buyer after 10 or 12 years, does it? Because by that time, you'd already have saved a CHUNK of cash by keeping your car that long. So even if you drive your car to a scrapyard and plonk down 100% of the cost of a new car (or a pre-owned one) you've still saved money compared to how much it would've cost you if you'd swapped your ride when it was 5 years old.

[hondacity]

+1 , cant agree more. Well, I used my original type Z ohc for almost 9 yrs before bidding farewell, expenses - only 1 set of wiper blades and silencer repair due to obvious reasons ( low ground clearance) .

Originally Posted by GTO

India is such a massive, diverse market that you'll find some buyer for every kind of product. 10+ year old cars with 2.0 lakh kms would go REALLY CHEAP. Typical buyers:

- Dealers if the car's condition is good. They'll clock back the odometer for sure.

- Taxi segment. Especially in demand if its an MUV or Jap sedan

- Those looking at a dirt cheap runabout. Either direct, or agents who will eventually sell the car to smaller towns & cities.

- Cheap-repair-and-flip artists. Small garages & dealers who'll perform the required mechanical work (for cheap), refurbish it cosmetically and then sell off for a profit.

On the other hand, if you own a model thats too outdated or not in demand (say, like a 118NE today), most of the buyer inquiries will be from scrap dealers.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by ghostrider

After reading GTO's post, however, I'm pretty sure that I'd actually rather use the Swift for at least another few years, enjoy this non-EMI period of my life, and get rid of it only when I can really afford to buy what I want.

I'm glad you found my article useful and saved some $$$

Originally Posted by hondacity

+1 , cant agree more. Well, I used my original type Z ohc for almost 9 yrs before bidding farewell, expenses - only 1 set of wiper blades and silencer repair due to obvious reasons ( low ground clearance) .

It's very important to choose a reliable car if you intend to keep her for long. The OHC was one unbeatable machine in terms of durability. On the other hand, say if someone bought an Opel Astra, I wouldn't blame him for selling it off earlier.