[bharathsolomon]

Guys,

I am planning to sell my Baleno which served me really well for 7 years and I am trying to buy a replacement. I have narrowed down the choice to Sunny and Vento.

I will drive the car myself and usually drive 500 to 1000 kms every month depending on the usage.

Please let me know VFM car from the above 2. If you have any other car in mind in the same segment and budget please let me know

My requirements

1. Good Mileage bcos it will be mostly city use in Chennai ( bumper to bumper)
2. Safety features
3.Comfort and drive
4. Good after sales service.
5. Good resale value

Bharath

[neo007]

Extremely similar situation as my brother who's also looking for a car in the same price bracket.
He is also using a Baleno. Will be using the new car for around 1000kms/month.Has to face Juhu to lower parel, mumbai's which is any thing around 1-2hr drive for him one way mostly in bumper to bumper traffic.
To add to all your requirements he wants a car that's also great to drive. To make his life easy in my imo he should get a good diesel auto, but sadly there aren't many except the fluidic verna or he has to upgrade to a laura or the cruze.
He has so far tried two cars which imo are ideal according to what he wants.
First he tried the Linea T-Jet.
He loved the car but was not happy with the driving position & comfort esp the placing of the pedals in the foot well & the steering. Also one is always apprehensive about the service part as for as fiat is concerned(dunno how much of it is still true). Although the test drive experience was very nice.The sales guy throughly explained the car & it's features, they also got it all the way to my house in juhu for the test drive on a Sunday.
He liked the Vento Diesel as well but was not happy with it's initial pick up in the first gear & found the clutch a bit to hard(but that could be also due to it being a test vehicle), he is 6ft+ so he also found lack of head room at the rear & the sales experience was very ordinary. He had to wait for an hour on a Sunday eve to get a test drive & no sales guy was interested in explaining the features of the car + there is a 4 months waiting period.
I feel it's a tough job to get yourself an ideal car these days.
All the best
Cheers

[oxyzen]

Originally Posted by bharathsolomon

1. Good Mileage bcos it will be mostly city use in Chennai ( bumper to bumper)
2. Safety features
3.Comfort and drive
4. Good after sales service.
5. Good resale value

As for point 4 & 5, the best option to go for is Honda city.
And as for Safety & Mileage is concerned, City will be spot on.
Comfort is not something you will complain about.
And the Honda engines are the best of the lot.

In case you are looking for diesel, the Vento will do just fine.

I would not venture into Nissan as of now. Although Sunny comes as a nice package, I am still sceptical about the company's growth in future. Their product planning is also not upto my likings.

[mayankjha1806]

If you want a Caaar then it would be Sunny otherwise a Vento .

I have not looked at Sunny but looks like the USP is space, if you need is primary space then look at Sunny, otherwise if you are happy with space of Vento and want better drivers car then it would be a Vento.

As you have narrowed down to these two other options are not recommended otherwise there are quiet a few options in this price range from all manufacturers.

BTW for point 5 above you should look at Japs mostly (Minus Nissan), so try Honda. Toyota or our good old Maruti. Nissan resale is too early to judge also because of its wafer thin presence.

[Gautam Misra]

Originally Posted by bharathsolomon

I have narrowed down the choice to Sunny and Vento.

Between the two, go for the Vento.

I will drive the car myself and usually drive 500 to 1000 kms every month depending on the usage.

This again tilts the scales in favour of the Vento as it is a better drivers car.
IMO given the petrol prices at this point of you can look at diesel cars. (This again eliminates the Sunny.)

Other cars you can look at -

Linea (Discounts on offer)
Dzire (Go for it if you like the looks)
Fluidic Verna (Looks great / Gizmos)
Fiesta (Classic / New Ford Fiesta)
Tata Manza (Tons of space / VFM Car)

My requirements
1. Good Mileage bcos it will be mostly city use in Chennai ( bumper to bumper)
2. Safety features
3.Comfort and drive
4. Good after sales service.
5. Good resale value

IMO (with great respect to the other cars) the Dzire or Fluidic Verna would be the closest to satisfying all the above 5 conditions.

[ghodlur]

In your requirement list if you could have added the budget too then it would have been easier to suggest the cars. Looking at your daily running a petrol car suits the need if you are comfortable with the current petrol prices. Since you have thought of choosing between a Sunny and Vento, I would suggest a Vento for the fact the VW is far more setablished than Nissan as far as service network is concerned. By your Vento option I am assuming that you are interested in the petrol one, right?

Other options as suggested by forum members can be looked at - esp the Honda city and Ford Fiesta (new/Classic). All the best.

[Durango Dude]

For a self driven low mileage car the best that comes to mind is the Honda City, which is getting a face lift. It has great mileage, performance and A$$, no better car no better combo. Nissan has just one dealer in Chennai I think and if you get shortchanged there you have no place to go.

[D'Artagnan]

Hi, I would recommend you take a test drive of VW Vento. The car is built like a tank but it feels nimble too.

You've got comfortable body hugging seats that come on the Vento. Body legroom in the rear seat is ample.

Safety wise: Once I accidentally used my left leg to brake while doing 60kmph. Though I cannot say the exact time, it was very quick in coming to a halt.

The steering feels light in the city and as the speed builds up it becomes tight, so you can feel confident about a relaxed drive within the city and also when you go for a trip.

Mileage: This car runs on water. Believe me I've filled up the car (diesel) and have been driving around the city; quarter of a tank over and 200 kms covered. That's about 14.5 kms.
Note: my driving style is relaxed and I drive to extract the maximum mileage from the car.

Resale value: not sure of this arena, but I bet with the VW badge it must have a good resale value

After sales service: This is where the VW really comes into trouble, the dealer networks aren't that great and I feel the men in the workshop took a crash course by VW and were sent off to duty.
Note: This is from my personal experience, after spending roughly 3 days in the garage for just changing the sunscreen film and painting the rear spoiler I certainly wouldn't say they are fast. But the manager was very particular about getting the job done perfectly.

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by Gautam Misra

Other cars you can look at
Linea (Discounts on offer)
Dzire (Go for it if you like the looks)
Fluidic Verna (Looks great / Gizmos)
Fiesta (Classic / New Ford Fiesta)
Tata Manza (Tons of space / VFM Car)

The Fiat Linea is a great car. It has the looks and has a reliable engine. The engine is the Fiat 1.3L multijet diesel that Maruti uses in all of its diesel vehicles.

The Maruti Suzuki DZire is purely a VFM car with a good resale and service station network. I don't believe people actually buy it for the looks.

The Hyundai Fluidic Verna offers an AT diesel and is great for the city. Some folks do complain about the ride and handling though but to each his/her own.

The Tata Manza offers lots of space - enough to fit a suitcase between the front and rear seats, so it is great for the airport pickup/dropoff.

[_raVan_]

Also check out the SX4 Diesel. I suppose it fits all your criteria. Since you are not looking for a highway cruiser and only bumper to bumper traffic, it will suit your needs perfectly.

[volkman10]

Considering your pick between the Sunny and Vento have the below opinion. - reply in bold.

1. Good Mileage bcos it will be mostly city use in Chennai ( bumper to bumper)

Advantage - Vento

2. Safety features

Adv - Vento

3.Comfort and drive

Comfort - Adv - Sunny
Drive - Adv - Vento

4. Good after sales service.

Adv - Sunny? (too early to gauge VW, but so far seems good)

5. Good resale value

Adv - Vento



Cheers!

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by bharathsolomon

Guys,

I am planning to sell my Baleno which served me really well for 7 years and I am trying to buy a replacement. I have narrowed down the choice to Sunny and Vento.

I will drive the car myself and usually drive 500 to 1000 kms every month depending on the usage.

Please let me know VFM car from the above 2. If you have any other car in mind in the same segment and budget please let me know

Bharath

Any particular reason for shortlisting the above two cars?
IMO, you should be looking at the following list
City, Fiesta, Fiesta Classic, Manza, SX4, Sunny, TJet, Vento, Verna


1. Good Mileage bcos it will be mostly city use in Chennai ( bumper to bumper)
Fiesta Classic, SX4, City

2. Safety features
All would suffice

3.Comfort and drive
Fiesta, City, Vento, Verna (Personalized choice - do a TD & decide)

4. Good after sales service.
SX4, City - these two are miles ahead of the rest

5. Good resale value
City. Period.
All the others have a diesel version too that sells more in the market; as a result of which the resale value will always go down.


In addition to the above points, maruti has a good exchange offer deal on the SX4. If you can get a good deal on your Baleno, you might just get an additional (exchange offer bonus) discount on your new car

[BusyBee]

Originally Posted by neo007

Extremely similar situation as my brother who's also looking for a car in the same price bracket.
.. & the sales experience was very ordinary. He had to wait for an hour on a Sunday eve to get a test drive & no sales guy was interested in explaining the features of the car + there is a 4 months waiting period.

Originally Posted by captain_slow

I would recommend you take a test drive of VW Vento. The car is built like a tank but it feels nimble too. Mileage: This car runs on water.

After sales service: This is where the VW really comes into trouble, the dealer networks aren't that great and I feel the men in the workshop took a crash course by VW and were sent off to duty.

That sums up VW. Typical VW attitude since they have a gem of a car which lets them get away with their put on disdain towards their customer. Let the opposition catch up and these guys will be drooling when they see a customer.

Still, I'll vouch for the Vento Highline Diesel.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by BusyBee

That sums up VW. Typical VW attitude since they have a gem of a car which lets them get away with their put on disdain towards their customer. Let the opposition catch up and these guys will be drooling when they see a customer.

Still, I'll vouch for the Vento Highline Diesel.

Lets not generalize.

• VW (or any brand for that matter) dealers' sales teams are generally left alone to handle sales - generally the company provides guidelines while the dealers implement it with or without taking it into consideration. Hence the poor situation of pre-sales across the country. But do take into consideration that it is improving. Also take into consideration they did not anticipate the response the car would get (IMHO).
• Hell, I see more cases like @neo007 with Hyundai (Verna) than Vento!
• After sales service is the area where the manufacturer gets its act stronger & gets involved with proper training & equipment.
• In all the VW related threads on this forum as well as other forums, except for a few cases, I haven't seen many negative situations for after sales experience. And even with the few negative experiences, it mostly has to do with a few inefficient workers at the dealer.
• Also if one digs deeper, enough (problem) cases can be found for any manufacturer, even Maruti.
• Yes, their spares are not cheap, most probably the dealers put a premium on the actual value, and the indian market is yet to get spare parts outside the dealer network - but that will take time.

Sorry for the OT rant - I still see so many 2nd & 3rd degree opinions that get floated around without the narrator having experienced it. Yes, it does happen - but it's not so bad & certainly not at all dealers & with all TD experiences.

P.s. @busybee nothing against you please. Sorry if you felt offended.

Originally Posted by BusyBee

Still, I'll vouch for the Vento Highline Diesel.

+1000 to this. But only if you are looking at diesel as an option.

[neo007]

@ ninjatalli are you suggesting that my bro should look a the verna?? I've test driven it my self & i'ts unlikely that he may also like it, also there is waitng period of 6months+ for it!!!!.
In the event I'm tempted to look at good used car options.
Cheers