[pganapathy]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Optra is phased out. Chevy has already stopped the production of Optra. Even if you get one that would have been manufactured in early 2012. Why would we want to select a car which is phased out.

Personally, I like Optra TCDI for its raw power and space inside the vehicle. But, it has terribly outdated interiors.

I agree that it is a car that is phased out/getting phased out, but it does tick all the boxes in Vivek's list. I find that provided spares are easily available, keeping an outdated car is not a major issue. We have an Esteem at home and service for it is just the same as our Omni and Alto.

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by pganapathy

I agree that it is a car that is phased out/getting phased out, but it does tick all the boxes in Vivek's list. I find that provided spares are easily available, keeping an outdated car is not a major issue. We have an Esteem at home and service for it is just the same as our Omni and Alto.

True pganapathy. Maintaining esteem may be cheaper. Not the same case with Optra. For the Diesel variant, it needs to be serviced every 5k kms or 3 months which is too low in this modern era. Instead, he can stretch the budget and get the Cruze. Getting an Optra at this point may not be a wise decision .

[pganapathy]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

True pganapathy. Maintaining esteem may be cheaper. Not the same case with Optra. For the Diesel variant, it needs to be serviced every 5k kms or 3 months which is too low in this modern era. Instead, he can stretch the budget and get the Cruze. Getting an Optra at this point may not be a wise decision .

I didn't know that the Optra diesel needed to be serviced every 5,000 km. Every car in existence today seems to need a minimum of 10,000 so that is sad. In that case, the Optra may not be a great option for him. Am grateful for how peaceful the Esteem is to maintain, which is why whenever dad brings up the issue of selling the Esteem, I dissuade him. The only problem with it is GC, which is bad. The roads in Coorg, where the car is based, only let you drive in second gear at like 20 kmph. Such is life.

[souravc]

Originally Posted by Vivek Jayan

Which will be a better choice? Also we were considering the new Chevy Cruze because of its bigger engine, road presence and features. Will it suit our requirements better? Is it worth the extra lakhs or should we stick to the lower segment? I'm desperate for suggestions Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you.

I have owned a Vento TDi since March 11 , done 31K kms - can vouch for ride quality, fantastic highway manners , high speed stability and frugality . As long as you have a VW workshop within manageable distance , you should be happy with the Vento. Where you miss out on certain features vis-a-vis Verna ( most of them you can buy after market), you gain on a few important qualities in the Vento .
On the comparo vs Cruze , it depends on your specific requirement and budget. Ideally you should TD it after a Vento and decide. You may find the lag in the Cruze a pain in the cities and the back seat of the Vento a much better and airy place to be seated in

[sam_boy]

Originally Posted by Vivek Jayan

You see, my family of four is planning to buy a diesel sedan to be kept as a long term vehicle for at least 5 years. It is to be used mostly on the highways of Kerala which has a mix of good high speed roads and dangerously uneven and curvy ones as well. The car has to be capable of maintaining decent speeds without having to work the gear box a lot. High speed stability and good fuel economy are a necessity. We have short listed on the new Vento and the Verna owing to their powerful, yet frugal diesel engines. We like the Vento better because of its superior driving dynamics and build quality over the Verna even though the latter has more features. We ignored the new Fiesta altogether owing to its cramped rear seats and a rather odd rear end design (seating at least 4 people in comfort is a must for us!)

Welcome to the group Vivek.

As far as highways are concerned Vento/rapid scores well. They are comfortable and you can easily reach 3 figure speeds without much work. They are fun to drive too.

Now coming to bad roads, the Vento or rapid's Gc can be a bit of worry. If you are very particular on the GC, will suggest you to look at linea 2012 edition. It is definitely a better car than Verna but a little slower than Vento. Avoid Verna as it is very uncomfortable at higher speeds particularly for rear passengers.

Happy shopping.

[Vivek Jayan]

Originally Posted by YashD

I too would suggest you to go for the Vento. Its the best car for highway driving, would have suggested you Verna for city usage but for highway driving and cornering nothing beats the Vento. As you can spend till Cruze do check out new Elantra and Laura too. You might get some good offers in laura currently. Avoid Cruze, the handling is really pathetic of the car according to a lot of owners I know it has reliability issues too.

We've thought about the Elantra but felt that it too would have the same clueless suspension setup of the Verna. We own a new i20 right now and its pretty unsettling on highway speeds and sometimes scary! I remember doing a quick overtaking maneuver and the car felt like it was rolling on water! Besides is it really worth it considering that it has the same diesel engine as the Verna? If you don't mind can you please specify the reliability issues with the Cruze?

Originally Posted by Axe77

For the requirements listed by you, the Vento seems to be the perfect choice. I wouldn't pick the Verna, it's high speed dynamics as well as ride quality aren't realty great. Th steering is pretty mediocre too. The Vento will provide all the attributes you need for your usage. The cruze is a tempting proposition too. Whether its worth the extra moolah is really your call depending on budget. No point event looking at the Sunny / Scala from what you've outlined.

True that!! We were strictly looking for a premium product and the Sunny doesn't even come close! Besides who would want a car named Sunny!? They might as well name their next car George or Johnny for all i know! No offence Sunny owners, its just a personal opinion! Seriously, Nissan has no idea how many prospective buyers(talking about people I know here) haven been put off just because they named such a massive and imposing car Sunny!

Originally Posted by pganapathy

Welcome aboard TBHP Vivek. With regards to your car, do consider the Chevy Optra. Yes, it is not as modern as the Cruze but is cheaper and more spacious as well. Am not sure about the reliability as someone mentioned that the Cruze does have some reliability concerns.

The one thing I would suggest you do also consider when buying a car is the A.S.S. Both VW and Skoda seem to making a mess of it and spoiling their own names for some unfathomable reason.

Thank you, you're right. The Optra is a good car but its been around for so long and dad doesn't want any outdated cars owing to his experience with buying a Ford Ikon in 2007! We feel that the newer cars are better engineered and have better technology built into them.

I've read about Skoda owners having pretty horrible experiences with the after sales service so we're not looking that way. We've been to a Skoda showroom to check out the new Fabia and their SPs treat us as if we invaded their private territory or something!

Originally Posted by souravc

I have owned a Vento TDi since March 11 , done 31K kms - can vouch for ride quality, fantastic highway manners , high speed stability and frugality . As long as you have a VW workshop within manageable distance , you should be happy with the Vento. Where you miss out on certain features vis-a-vis Verna ( most of them you can buy after market), you gain on a few important qualities in the Vento .
On the comparo vs Cruze , it depends on your specific requirement and budget. Ideally you should TD it after a Vento and decide. You may find the lag in the Cruze a pain in the cities and the back seat of the Vento a much better and airy place to be seated in

Yes I've heard countless praises about the Vento's superior driving dynamics and hearty congrats to you for having the pleasure of owning one! I wanted to know whether the Cruze can hold its ground against the handling and highway capabilities of the Vento. Correct me if I'm wrong but I've read the review of the 2012 Cruze on Team BHP and it says that the turbo lag of the car has been fixed. Also, will turbo lag be an issue on highway speeds? I've never had the chance to drive a turbo diesel so it would be of help to me if you could kindly enlighten me on this.

Originally Posted by sam_boy

Welcome to the group Vivek.

As far as highways are concerned Vento/rapid scores well. They are comfortable and you can easily reach 3 figure speeds without much work. They are fun to drive too.

Now coming to bad roads, the Vento or rapid's Gc can be a bit of worry. If you are very particular on the GC, will suggest you to look at linea 2012 edition. It is definitely a better car than Verna but a little slower than Vento. Avoid Verna as it is very uncomfortable at higher speeds particularly for rear passengers.

Happy shopping.

Thank you so much! Yes I've told dad about the Linea and its brilliant suspension setup but he's wary of the after sales services and the interior quality. We had the privilege of owning a Premier Padmini and the Fiat Uno. Both had servicing issues back then though the latter was an impressive machine! It kind of hurts the wannabe designer in me to notice such a beautifully designed car like the Linea suffering from dwindling sales due to such silly reasons. If they've made such a strong and looker of a car with so many plus points, why can't they just give it a strong engine and a decent interior!?

[Prodigyy]

Originally Posted by Vivek Jayan

You see, my family of four is planning to buy a diesel sedan to be kept as a long term vehicle for at least 5 years. It is to be used mostly on the highways of Kerala which has a mix of good high speed roads and dangerously uneven and curvy ones as well. The car has to be capable of maintaining decent speeds without having to work the gear box a lot. High speed stability and good fuel economy are a necessity. We have short listed on the new Vento and the Verna owing to their powerful, yet frugal diesel engines. We like the Vento better because of its superior driving dynamics and build quality over the Verna even though the latter has more features.
Also we were considering the new Chevy Cruze because of its bigger engine, road presence and features. Will it suit our requirements better?

Welcome to the conundrum of the Diesel sedan vivek !!

Well, all your requirements are easily fulfilled by the Vento, since you shall be using the car primarily for the highways, there should be no other option apart from the Vento. Verna is definitely way behind the Vento when it comes the requirements stated by you. Verna is no doubt a very very good car, but it has this serious handicap of having a poor high speed drive dynamics.

I'd suggest that the Vento is a no-brainer if there are some VW Service stations in the vicinity of your place. If there aren't then i suggest you look towards the Sx4 or the Linea 2012, though the latter has a perennially poor re-sale value when compared to other cars of this segment.

As far as the Cruze is concerned, if your usage is primarily on the highway, then i guess the Cruze can make sense. Cruze should easily out-perform the Vento for a highway driving, that said, a city drive in Cruze can be a big pain with its prominent turbo-lag. Nothing much to chose between the two as far as the Authorized Service stations are concerned, though Chevrolet is decent enough IMO.

If you have the budget, and are going to use the car primarily for highway use, go for the Cruze. If you would have a substantial usage in the city, then Vento would fit the bill.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by Vivek Jayan

True that!! We were strictly looking for a premium product and the Sunny doesn't even come close! Besides who would want a car named Sunny!? They might as well name their next car George or Johnny for all i know! No offence Sunny owners, its just a personal opinion! Seriously, Nissan has no idea how many prospective buyers(talking about people I know here) haven been put off just because they named such a massive and imposing car Sunny!

Actually the irony is that I myself picked a Sunny D for my own requirements - but then these requirements were distinctly different from what you outlined. No offence taken at all though and each person has his own criteria but frankly the name never ever bothered me. In fact a friend of mine booked a Sunny soon after moving around in my car. If the public were swayed that much I doubt the "Laura" would have ever sold at all.

[Vivek Jayan]

Originally Posted by Prodigyy

Welcome to the conundrum of the Diesel sedan vivek !!

Well, all your requirements are easily fulfilled by the Vento, since you shall be using the car primarily for the highways, there should be no other option apart from the Vento. Verna is definitely way behind the Vento when it comes the requirements stated by you. Verna is no doubt a very very good car, but it has this serious handicap of having a poor high speed drive dynamics.

I'd suggest that the Vento is a no-brainer if there are some VW Service stations in the vicinity of your place. If there aren't then i suggest you look towards the Sx4 or the Linea 2012, though the latter has a perennially poor re-sale value when compared to other cars of this segment.

As far as the Cruze is concerned, if your usage is primarily on the highway, then i guess the Cruze can make sense. Cruze should easily out-perform the Vento for a highway driving, that said, a city drive in Cruze can be a big pain with its prominent turbo-lag. Nothing much to chose between the two as far as the Authorized Service stations are concerned, though Chevrolet is decent enough IMO.

If you have the budget, and are going to use the car primarily for highway use, go for the Cruze. If you would have a substantial usage in the city, then Vento would fit the bill.

Haha Thank you! Indeed this is a head smoking dilemma! Yes we will be using it for up and down runs across the state on highways mostly as we recently acquired an i20 for city driving from my father's company. Can you please comment on the ride quality and handling of the Cruze? I haven't come across many posts where they mention the Cruze's ride and handling. Most of them are astounded by its engine and looks and you can't blame them for that!

Me, my father and brother are all enthusiastic drivers (Hence the shortlist of cars with strong engines!). We all complained about the performance of our precious cars. Just when you felt like opening the throttle and doing some serious overtaking, you are reminded of the cars' mediocre performance! We hated having to deal with such inadequacies!

It is important that we achieve a good balance between strong performance and decent economy. Though it lacks the brand value and perfection of its German rivals doesn't the Cruze offer the best value for money here? I know it lacks the interior quality of its segment rivals but is it better than the Vento's? Will the car fall apart after a few years as some people have mentioned that it has "reliability issues"! Will it be a better long term-er for my family than the Vento?

I'm just showering questions upon questions ain't I?

Originally Posted by Axe77

Actually the irony is that I myself picked a Sunny D for my own requirements - but then these requirements were distinctly different from what you outlined. No offence taken at all though and each person has his own criteria but frankly the name never ever bothered me. In fact a friend of mine booked a Sunny soon after moving around in my car. If the public were swayed that much I doubt the "Laura" would have ever sold at all.

My apologies if I came across as being ignorant about the masses.

With utmost respect to you, I have to state that I guess the name is kind of odd just for us Kerala people! You see, the name Sunny is kind of a stereotypical name among the Kerala citizens of a particular community. I'm not mentioning which one in case someone finds it offending! But I've heard several people here in Kerala commenting on how such a big and sedate car got a name which is kind of childlike.

Just felt that they could have named it better. Giving it a more mature name would've changed the whole vibe of the Sunny which is actually a pretty mature car! It would've befitted its size and presence more. And like you mentioned, the criteria I put forward is different from what the Sunny offers. I guess I got carried away there!

[YashD]

Cruze handles like a boat, its pathetic on highways and now its een worse after that boost to power. Reliability issues which owners are facing, wheel alignment issues, braking issues, cery low mileage ( my cousin's car did not give more than 5-6kmpl). Just after 4 months of ownership my brother ha to change the brake pads which cost a whopping 20k. So, frankly avoid it. Elantra is much better to drive and handling too is the best till date if compared to any Hyundai ( own 2 i10, Verna and i20) have owned the Sonata Transform too so you can trust me on that! The features and stuff makes it worth taking the test drive but if you don't want to spend that much then go for Vento its too a great car! For excellent driveability you can even take a look at the Flence! Its too a great vehicle but yes low on power if compared to its competitors.

[Vivek Jayan]

Well thats pretty bad remarks about the Cruze (downright scary!)!! After going through the official review of the Elantra even I feel like we should consider it even though I'm not a big fan of their overly curvey fluidic design! Thanks YashD! I'm still going to hold on to the Cruze until I'm sure that the car is a waste! I guess the 160+ bhp engine is too tempting!!

Has anyone else heard of similar issues? Sheesh.. just when I had hopes on a powerful car!

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by YashD

Cruze handles like a boat, its pathetic on highways and now its een worse after that boost to power. Reliability issues which owners are facing, wheel alignment issues, braking issues, cery low mileage ( my cousin's car did not give more than 5-6kmpl). Just after 4 months of ownership my brother ha to change the brake pads which cost a whopping 20k. So, frankly avoid it. Elantra is much better to drive and handling too is the best till date if compared to any Hyundai ( own 2 i10, Verna and i20) have owned the Sonata Transform too so you can trust me on that! The features and stuff makes it worth taking the test drive but if you don't want to spend that much then go for Vento its too a great car! For excellent driveability you can even take a look at the Flence! Its too a great vehicle but yes low on power if compared to its competitors.

I disagree with your comments on Cruze and Elantra's dynamics. Cruze may not be an very involving handler, but it is nowhere as bad to be called a boat. Cruze's high speed stability is excellent. I have driven the car several times, i have no doubts over this car's high speed composure.

Elantra on the other side might be slightly better than Verna in Dynamics department but the fact is- it is at the bottom of the heap, i drove one recently and i'd rate Dynamics as segment worst without any second thoughts, spend some time with this car and even the boring Altis may start feeling sharp.

Not sure if you have driven previous generation Elantra, i owned one for years and drove it for more than a lakh kilometers. That car had much more sophisticated Multilink suspension at rear(compared to badly tuned cut cost torsion beam in current car), the springs were stiff and it was actually the best Handling Hyundai sold in India.

Santa Fe is the only dynamically sound current generation Hyundai i know of.

[Prodigyy]

Originally Posted by YashD

Cruze handles like a boat, its pathetic on highways and now its een worse after that boost to power. Reliability issues which owners are facing, wheel alignment issues, braking issues, cery low mileage ( my cousin's car did not give more than 5-6kmpl). Just after 4 months of ownership my brother ha to change the brake pads which cost a whopping 20k. So, frankly avoid it.

I dont think the same about cruze, in fact i own one since the past two years and totally love the car. Yes the space and the features are definitely behind the competition in this segment but engine power is undoubtedly its USP. As far as the handling is concerned cruze is definitely nowhere not a boat and has a very good high speed stability. Also the car hasn't really given our family any major headache over its course till date.

I haven't really tried out the new elantra though the earlier one was pretty good. Cruze is what i'll pick though over the elantra. Cruze can be a very reliable option if highway use is envisaged as the major role for the vehicle.

[YashD]

Well everyone has there own opinions. Personally did not have a good ownership experience at all and sold it off in just 8-9 months of ownership and bought the Laura. Basically, my experience made me against this car and well frankly I don't recommend Cruze to anyone after facing those troubles especially the Brakes one.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by Vivek Jayan

Well thats pretty bad remarks about the Cruze (downright scary!)!! After going through the official review of the Elantra even I feel like we should consider it even though I'm not a big fan of their overly curvey fluidic design! Thanks YashD! I'm still going to hold on to the Cruze until I'm sure that the car is a waste! I guess the 160+ bhp engine is too tempting!!

Has anyone else heard of similar issues? Sheesh.. just when I had hopes on a powerful car!

Vivek, I couldn't help but see the Duster flash before my eyes when you mentioned that the roads you will be driving on might be uneven.

Sure, it isn't as sophisticated as your quintessential sedan. It lacks some key features and the interior is just about average. But you will really appreciate the car's ability to remain composed at higher speeds while dismissing bad-roads. The ride quality is excellent and is much better than cars that cost twice as much! It certainly does not boast of sedan (Vento / Rapid) - rivaling handling, but it's quite sorted around the twisties and on the straight roads. it's reasonably powerful too. The 110 with its 6th cog will guarantee you good economy and it should pull strongly as well. The gearbox is good and the ergonomics aren't bad at all.

If you are open to other options and alternatives to sedans, the Duster is your best bet. If you can live with the iffy interior and the quirkiness, it's a brilliant car. it's got its fundamentals absolutely bang-on.

But if you're the kind who is enamored by quality-interiors and features / equipment, walk away and get something else instead.