[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by kgkaran

The last post here was in May 2013. SO bringing in the question again... folks what may be the best (reliable, VFM, comfortable... speed and huge power thrills don't matter so much) car - manual or auto available in the market today?

Am driving a Skoda Laura 2011 MT Diesel as of now... looking to upgrade as the extended warranty is about expire, and I cannot afford a Skoda out of warranty

I am open to Petrol as well. Budget would be around 14-15 on-road. Does it make sense to wait a while for the new Corolla/Civic to be relaunched? Or for the Elantra facelift?

Thanks folks for your suggestions...

Mod Note : Please avoid typing with excessive dots.........like................this.

Thanks

If you want reliability, VFM and comfort, I would suggest the Elantra if you want reliability, VFM and comfort without compromising much on dynamics, I would tell you to go in for the E4 petrol auto/diesel manual variants of the Renault Fluence. Really a solid performer in this segment which is unfortunately overlooked.

Honda has no plans of launching the Civic in the near future and as I have always said, I do not believe the Corolla will be VFM only reliable and comfy since that seems to describe every Toyota not only the cheap ones but even their Fotuner and Camry have equipment lists that cannot even rival today's premium hatches or C segment sedans So unless they change that, I highly doubt they will allow their 14-15 lakh D1 segment Sedan to offer more than their 25+ lac models

[kgkaran]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

If you want reliability, VFM and comfort, I would suggest the Elantra if you want reliability, VFM and comfort without compromising much on dynamics, I would tell you to go in for the E4 petrol auto/diesel manual variants of the Renault Fluence. Really a solid performer in this segment which is unfortunately overlooked.

Honda has no plans of launching the Civic in the near future and as I have always said, I do not believe the Corolla will be VFM only reliable and comfy since that seems to describe every Toyota not only the cheap ones but even their Fotuner and Camry have equipment lists that cannot even rival today's premium hatches or C segment sedans So unless they change that, I highly doubt they will allow their 14-15 lakh D1 segment Sedan to offer more than their 25+ lac models

Thanks so much and really sorry for replying late. Got stuck up somewhere due to which all decisions also went on hold. Back in the market now. The Fluence is now available only in Diesel as per the dealership. Not sure if a 1.45L engine is worth it for 16-17 lakhs?

Agree on Honda - its a shame they are not relaunching the Civic soon.

Not sure I agree with you on the Corolla though. The 25+ lakh cars all have been in the market a while now. The new Corolla will have to compete with the equipment lists of the Elantra, Octavia and Jetta. I believe they will have no choice but to launch with all the bells and whistles. They have also opened up prebooking. So may not be a bad idea to look at one.

Thoughts?

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by kgkaran

Thanks so much and really sorry for replying late. Got stuck up somewhere due to which all decisions also went on hold. Back in the market now. The Fluence is now available only in Diesel as per the dealership. Not sure if a 1.45L engine is worth it for 16-17 lakhs?

Agree on Honda - its a shame they are not relaunching the Civic soon.

Not sure I agree with you on the Corolla though. The 25+ lakh cars all have been in the market a while now. The new Corolla will have to compete with the equipment lists of the Elantra, Octavia and Jetta. I believe they will have no choice but to launch with all the bells and whistles. They have also opened up prebooking. So may not be a bad idea to look at one.

Thoughts?

If you aren't averse to diesels, please do check out the Fluence the small motor and power/torque figures really musn't put you off. It has got useable power which is displayed in its in-gear acceleration times that are much faster than powerhouses like the Cruze (this ought to be the 100th time I am explaining this to someone) Really doesn't feel underpowered, has the best ride quality in its segment, loads of features (both safety and gizmos), refreshing yet sedate looks inside and out, plenty of space and the exclusivity factor. Please just test drive the car and you might see that the few people that do buy the car, aren't really plonking down big bucks on something that they are "not sure is worth it"

Coming to the Corolla, well let's just hope so. The Camry which was launched quite recently at around 30 lakhs due to it being an import, offers only 2 airbags, abs and ebd (similar to the Ritz and a downgrade from your Laura) also has no lining in the glovebox and other such omissions that really don't make it worth it IMO (unless reliability is a supreme priority). Just seems like poor brand marketing if they allow their Corolla to offer more than what their high profile clientele has been getting. So it could go one of two ways can't be sure at this moment.

Cheers!

[raneeshvijayan]

Hello Team BHPians,

I am planning a road trip later this year, will be starting from Pune and head down south all the way to Trivandrum and drive back to Pune (4 weeks trip - with the friends and family stops in between). Currently, I live in the US and as you can imagine, my daily drive is an Automatic car ( Audi A6 3T) and I find it challenging to quickly adapt to the manual gear shift and increased traffic whenever I visit India, and mostly I end up not driving during my India vacations.

This time I am planning to drive and I think an automatic car will help me quickly adapt to the wrong side (:-) ) and the changed traffic conditions. I am considering to to buy a used Automatic car (from Mumbai or Pune) and use it for my trip and then sell it later on. I have friends in the car sales business who can help me make this transaction with minimal damage to my bank.

Do you have a suggestion on what might be a good choice of car that is safe (ABS, airbags etc) and easy to sell it after my use?

Below are some of the options I saw in Carwale.com in my budget range (2-4 Lacs),

1. Skoda Octavia AT
2. Skoda Laura AT
3. Skoda Superb 2.5 AT
4. Honda Civic AT
5. Honda City AT
6. Toyota Corolla AT

I prefer a Sedan (so, Santro/i10 AT, is was not considered). Of these 6 options, I like Laura the most, but I am not sure how hard to find a good one and sell it later (considering the Skoda horror stories).

Am I missing any other good car with automatic transmission? Please suggest and help me make the right choice.

Raneesh

[Rajeevraj]

Why don't you just rent a self drive from zoomcar? They have the Maruti Ciaz AT , and also the BMW 3 series and Merc GLA if you are looking at luxury options. The Ciaz will cost you ~2000 per day fuel included and the luxury cars maybe around 5000. Don't think it makes sense to go through the hassle of buying and selling a car just for a few weeks use. Getting a good specimen for your budget will also not be easy.

[IshaanIan]

Go with the Corolla for minimum niggles

[raneeshvijayan]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Why don't you just rent a self drive from zoomcar? They have the Maruti Ciaz AT , and also the BMW 3 series and Merc GLA if you are looking at luxury options. The Ciaz will cost you ~2000 per day fuel included and the luxury cars maybe around 5000. Don't think it makes sense to go through the hassle of buying and selling a car just for a few weeks use. Getting a good specimen for your budget will also not be easy.

Rajeev - thanks for bringing it up that option. I checked Zoomcars and a Maruti Ciaz would cost me around 1 Lac+ other fees for 4 weeks. Following Ishaan's suggestion - there are Corolla's available around 2.5 Lacs range and its kinda looks great to me...

will keep my ears open for more suggestions.

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by raneeshvijayan

Rajeev - thanks for bringing it up that option. I checked Zoomcars and a Maruti Ciaz would cost me around 1 Lac+ other fees for 4 weeks. Following Ishaan's suggestion - there are Corolla's available around 2.5 Lacs range and its kinda looks great to me...

will keep my ears open for more suggestions.

Even I would suggest you to rent a car instead of buying & selling. Buying & selling would take away your time too say for searching, finalizing, registration etc and repeat while selling except for registration part.

You may have to compare cost benefits of both options i.e. rental cost + fuel cost in case of renting & registration cost + fuel cost + depreciation loss in case you plan to buy, so take your decision accordingly.

Before making a decision, do contact Myles & Zoomcar directly once as they may give good deals for month long rentals with unlimited km options which may really work out.

[raneeshvijayan]

Originally Posted by KK_HakunaMatata

Even I would suggest you to rent a car instead of buying & selling. Buying & selling would take away your time too say for searching, finalizing, registration etc and repeat while selling except for registration part.

You may have to compare cost benefits of both options i.e. rental cost + fuel cost in case of renting & registration cost + fuel cost + depreciation loss in case you plan to buy, so take your decision accordingly.

Before making a decision, do contact Myles & Zoomcar directly once as they may give good deals for month long rentals with unlimited km options which may really work out.

KK - I checked the Myles option, their prices are great, looks like I can get a Honda City for a month for less than 50k. What I did not like with this option is they will give a taxi plated car, that means I will be dealing with a lot of cops since I am planning to drive in 4-5 states.

Here is their Tax policy :

"When travelling out of state, please do check on applicable taxes for the states you are entering. It is also advisable to stop at the RTO check post to pay the government applicable tax. Please only pay for the least tax period that is applicable for your journey and is available as an option from the state. This could be as low as a one day charge and as high as full year tax. Non-payment of these taxes would make your journey less pleasant as this is a regulatory requirement by all states and you may be asked to produce the tax slip at various times.
As mentioned in the user agreement, all penalties pertaining to all such govt. levied tax will be borne by the customer directly."

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by raneeshvijayan

KK - I checked the Myles option, their prices are great, looks like I can get a Honda City for a month for less than 50k. What I did not like with this option is they will give a taxi plated car, that means I will be dealing with a lot of cops since I am planning to drive in 4-5 states.

I think this is the case with any self drive car rental. You have to pay the state taxes at the check post for yellow board & self driven rental cars. Only private vehicles are exempt I guess. If you pay the taxes at the time of entry, you are good to go and taxes are also nominal as I saw in Zoomcar & Myles websites.

Let me correct myself if I am wrong.

So now, for you, it all boils down to whether you are alert & ready to pay taxes properly at the time of entering a state. In that case self drive would work out better. Otherwise, you may opt for buying a pre-owned car if you are ready to spare additional time & efforts for buying & selling.

[Captain Haddock]

If you can spare some time and effort, buying an used car makes more sense. If you are lucky you can make some quick bucks too. Stick to the old war horse-Honda city.

City offers better resale value, good reliability and since it's a long road trip service back up and ease of resolving possible problems should also be considered. City should be the most practical choice, corolla comes next, skodas are best avoided because in used segment they depreciate quickly and fixes are very expensive.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by raneeshvijayan

Rajeev - thanks for bringing it up that option. .

Buy a car if you going to keep it for 1-2 years. If only 4 weeks is the time you will be needing a car than i would suggest renting one. Remember a used car be it Toyota or Honda or anything else may not be as reliable as a rented and newer car. You dont know how the previous owner has maintained the car unless the seller is known to you.

Buying a good "used" car in India will take a month atleast if you were to find a well kept example. Expect most of the Odo's to be rigged and you may have to be ready to shell more for stuff like battery, tyres etc on a used vehicle.

I would suggest to stick between the Honda City & Corolla in the used car list you have mentioned.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by raneeshvijayan

will keep my ears open for more suggestions.

If budget permits, buying your own used car will always be more enjoyable and less of a hassle not to mention, you can use it however you like and it won't be some cheap variant with worn out tyres as is the case with most rentals. Like I said earlier, Corolla is the perfect choice for hassle free commute. I understand that you love sedans (so do I) but given that you intend on using this for a big roadtrip, why not consider something like the old CR-V my2003-2006 instead? Certainly got more character, handles pretty well for an SUV, is comfy and comes with VTAKKK afterall with our unpredictable Indian road conditions, SUVs are far more relaxing on long journeys

PS: if you hunt for it, you can even find a 2007 CRV that fits within the outer limit of your budget definitely worth it IMO

[landcruiser123]

Since you're considering travelling from Pune to Kochi, your main concern has to reliability and ground clearance. Go for a well maintained Toyota Corolla. It's the best bet.

The Skodas aren't reliable, and the Civic seems to love the humps a little too much (so does the City).

[xtremeshock]

Hi Guys,

Need some urgent help in deciding which car i should go for? This would be used by my wife mostly. She will be exchanging her Chevrolet Magnum Petrol with this car. Little bit about her requirements.

• Automatic, she does not care if its an petrol or diesel, however I would prefer a diesel as I do stay on the outskirts of the city, so for our new born a year from will need to go for his regular school runs, school would be approx 9kms from our home.

• She loves the Sedan shape and hates hathbacks and also SUV's, trying to convince her for a Creta though

• It has to have Start-Stop Button

• It has to have blue-tooth, basically the more features the better.

Have finalized the following:

Honda iVtec Petrol: Loaded with Features on the top of the line, 14.8Lakhs on road (Chennai), with a discount of only Rs.5000 and Rs.10000 as accessories. Love this car, even the auto does not have too much lag, space and comfort at the back seat is ample. The only issue with this is the Petrol motor, which will cause me to hesitate to use this car much.

VW Vento Diesel DSG: Already have a Skoda Rapid for my daily commute, hence this feels too familiar and that is also the issue with my wife, the features are OK, the touchscreen infotainment system not the best in-class, average, leatherette seats and costing 15 Lakhs on road. Feels like a step-down.

Chevy Cruz A/T: She loves this car right from the day it was launched, went to the showroom expecting huge discounts being year ending and also end of the product cycle was shocked to find out that it costed 21.5 Lakhs on road Giving a discount of 1 lakh, even then I felt this car overpriced. If they can give me this car around 17 on-road, will buy this eyes closed.

Creta A/T: Personally I love this car, drove it, its not an enthusiasts car but gets the job done with comfort. Loaded with features. 17.4 Lakhs on road. Only issue is that the wife does not like SUV Shape.

Any help would be well appreciated.
Thanks.
M