[Modifiedsachin]

I forgot to mention: -

I drive 60Km a day (30 one way to office) for 5 days, 20 on Saturday & Sunday to small visits with family & monthly 400kM (app 200 Km one way) trip to relax with family. So approximately 20000 Km per year.

This might play some part in selecting the car.

[arununo]

Originally Posted by Modifiedsachin

LINEA 2012 butter smooth.
MAIN PROBLEM, AM GETTING SOLD TO SOMETHING WHICH ACTUALLY DOES NOT EXIST OR ITS A REALITY.
PLEASE CLARIFY SOON AS MY FAMILY IS FORCING ME TO CLOSE THE DEAL IN THIS OR MAX NEXT WEEK.

Welcome to the linea conundrum! I am yet to find an answer. Will have to finalize soon. Test driving the skoda once more to positively accept or reject.

Good to know I have friends sailing in the same boat :-)

[Modifiedsachin]

Originally Posted by arununo

Will have to finalize soon. Test driving the skoda once more to positively accept or reject.

I tried RAPID twice with family, by the time my father is sitting beside me he likes the car, the moment he goes on back seat with my 1.5 year daughter he says straight no for RAPID because of the hump. So I am ruling it out. And almost sold to LINEA but do not know if it is a reality for what is improved in 2012 version.

[arununo]

First of all, a big thanks to GTO,carwatcher, Sathya_sc, bnzjon, sandeep mohan, nishant gandhi! Your threads helped me tilt the decision in favour of FIAT T-Jet Plus. Booked. Bossa Nova colour, May 2011 manufactured, Final OTR at 7.9 after all discounts and accessories. So its not going to be diesel after all. Sweetening the deal was the news about petrol getting 2 rupees cheaper. Cheers all!

However this is not the end of it. I am going to replace my Indica by the end of this year with a diesel. So I am still following this thread.

[nitinr30]

Hi @aruuno,

Would you mind sharing the details of the dealer you booked it from? Are they clearing stocks and still have more? Very tempted to replace my 6 yo Santro. My usage is similar to yrs and was holding myself to get some good deals on diesel...even if i buy on year end.

Thanks in advance. Cheers.,
Nitin

[idofsuresh]

Originally Posted by rbarney

Thanks infotech58. There is only one dealer in Bangalore and he isn't even willing to provide me a test drive car even to my office which is nearly 10KMs from dealer's office. I must go visit the dealer showroom for test drive. Moreover, I live on the other side of Bangalore and if the behaviour is this during test drive, I don't think regular service will be any better so although I have tried this, I am skipping Nissan Sunny given this limitation as well.

Originally Posted by infotech58

That is true about most Nissan dealerships in country; browse through forums and you shall find each Nissan Sunny owner complaining about bad experience at the dealership. I guess Nissan Dealers are all up to replace TATA/FIAT as worst experience in the country.

The problem is there is only one dealer and only one test car for the entire Bangalore. It is obviously not sufficient and hence all the TD issues. I am in the market for a car around this segment and I had a TD at my home cancelled and no show on another TD schedule. However, they were courteous, energetic, welcoming and provided TD when I visited them. In fact a rare dealer who did not have the "Know it all" attitude. I won't equate lack of sufficient TD cars to bad after sales service. It is a good product, it meets the frugal family car need to a tee, historically Japanese cars are reliable, very low on maintenance and there are very happy owners in this forum.

[gishu]

Between the Vento highline and the New Ford Fiesta, which would be a better bet ? (70% Expressway driving, not a power/speed driver (yet), 2 passengers, Diesel, ABS+Dual airbags (mandatory),will definitely hold on to the car 3-4 years+)

Based on my TDs, personally leaning towards the Fiesta due to its 'fun to drive' characteristic. Vento is overall the 'head'/'logical' choice.

* The ford was definitely more fun to drive. (Will reconfirm again with a TD.) The front is definitely a better place to be than the Vento. The looks also appealed more to be - as opposed to the elegant but staid Vento
* The vento is definitely more VFM; power, spacious cabin,better rear cabin (however not a dealbreaker for me). The sub-par AC and the rear end hump are turn offs. Other quirks: no free servicing for the initial year + 'any electronic mods void the warranty' claim made by the salesperson.
* The Vento based on the salesman's estimates would cost 15K every year to service. The parts also appear to be priced way up (e.g. a set of AC levers were said to be ~2K.. and broken on the TD car-human misuse quoted as the reason). Ford had a worst case estimate (4.5K x 2 yearly).
* The Vento would probably win on the reliability aspect long term. I'm assuming there would be better parts availability due to higher units sold.

Can some Vento owners who've had the car for a couple of years shed some light on ownership costs? From the resale P.o.v., which would be a better bet?

Thanks for reading
Gishu

[aniket.tiwari27]

Originally Posted by gishu

Between the Vento highline and the New Ford Fiesta, which would be a better bet ? (70% Expressway driving, not a power/speed driver (yet), 2 passengers, Diesel, ABS+Dual airbags (mandatory),will definitely hold on to the car 3-4 years+)

Based on my TDs, personally leaning towards the Fiesta due to its 'fun to drive' characteristic. Vento is overall the 'head'/'logical' choice.

* The ford was definitely more fun to drive. (Will reconfirm again with a TD.) The front is definitely a better place to be than the Vento. The looks also appealed more to be - as opposed to the elegant but staid Vento
* The vento is definitely more VFM; power, spacious cabin,better rear cabin (however not a dealbreaker for me). The sub-par AC and the rear end hump are turn offs. Other quirks: no free servicing for the initial year + 'any electronic mods void the warranty' claim made by the salesperson.
* The Vento based on the salesman's estimates would cost 15K every year to service. The parts also appear to be priced way up (e.g. a set of AC levers were said to be ~2K.. and broken on the TD car-human misuse quoted as the reason). Ford had a worst case estimate (4.5K x 2 yearly).
* The Vento would probably win on the reliability aspect long term. I'm assuming there would be better parts availability due to higher units sold.

Can some Vento owners who've had the car for a couple of years shed some light on ownership costs? From the resale P.o.v., which would be a better bet?

Thanks for reading
Gishu

My vote goes for Vento TDI Highline.

- Good looks, clean lines.
- Excellent quality of interiors. Seems built to last. No panels gaps etc.
- Best of both worlds - Nice ride and good handling.
- Powerful engine - though a little noisy but that should not be a deal breaker. 5 passenger, luggage in the boot, AC on and still the car easily does 140+. Though I did not stay at the speed for long due to safety reasons but for whatever duration/times it was, I felt very confident.
- Mileage : With sedate driving you can manage 19-21 Kmpl. Thats what I acheived on my recent Mumbai trip. ~21 while going to Mumbai and while returning ~19 due to traffic and more uphill climb. In general, I have constantly been getting 15-18 kmpl with city+highway mix rides.

In my opinion - this is the best proposition in that segment.

My Vento is 3 months old with 7050Kms on the odo and I am completely satisfied.

Regards,
Aniket

[gishu]

Made my mind up - New Ford Fiesta Diesel Style edition it is (9.6ex-showroom). However I'm getting different answers from the dealerships w.r.t. what's the delta between the Style and the Titanium+ editions ?

Here's what I've dug up so far from the brochure/ford india site/multiple dealerships... for the approx 1L+ diff

* Alloy wheels (~20-25 k to get aftermarket)
* Audible Parking Sensors (5K-ish)
* USB (sigh!)
* Bluetooth and Voice Controls (not crazy about them)
* Electric ORVMs i.e. adjust mirrors with a old-skool joystick and ORVMs won't auto fold on shutdown (nice to have)
* Front reading lights ? The New Fiesta Titanium+ has just one cabin light (front). So the style owners need to hang a pocket torch eh?
* DTE, Fuel computer and assorted stats on the LCD display (meh!)
* Aseem's thread mentioned different seats in the Style.. but AVK Ford says there is no difference

Can someone (hopefully with a New Fiesta 2012 Style variant) confirm ? I've called around 3-5 dealerships and there is ONE car which is in a remote stockyard. All the TD cars are Titanium+ Moonbeam Silver (intentional?). Thoroughly confused with the dealership answers..

Should I get the features written down and signed by the dealership? Sounds excessive.

[gishu]

Hooked up with a person from AVK Ford to their yard at Mankoli (~15 mins from Thane) to see a Style variant for real.

Confirmed: Feature gap is
Alloy Wheels, Audible parking Sensors, USB + Bluetooth + Voice controls, chrome beltline, ORVMs don't fold electronically, fuel stats

The style variant has everything else, dual airbags, ABS, CruiseControl, Auto AC, Goodyear NCT 5 tyres, tilt steering, et. all

Also verified that the car definitely has a cabin light . (Not sure what 'No front reading lights' on the ford website means). Also it has the same mechanism as the higher end to electrically adjust the ORVMs.. they just won't fold inwards.

[Sommos]

I'am planning to buy a new sedan in the C2 segment and have been checking out the market for the available options for some time now.

When I joined service 14 years ago, my family was not having any car. Since those days I have dreamt of the Honda City, and always wished that I could buy this car some day. When the search for the sedan started I thought that this time I’ll surely buy my “Dream Car”. The cars that I have considered and test driven are as follows :-
City 2012 model
Verna
Rapid
Vento

City was excellent to drive in the city but in bad roads it was bumpy. Did’nt get much feel of the steering. Plush interiors but lacks features.

VW showroom had the trendline model as the TD car. Vento was good and the engine was noisy but the vento highline diesel at Rs. 11.20 lakhs OTR was out of budget.

Verna was full of features but somehow I did not like the car. Plus the attitude of the dealer was something that I could not stand, though I own a Santro at present and hence know the dealer. The dealership had no TD cars, so could not do a TD.

Rapid definitely handles better than the City and maybe Vento also due to its suspension, but it has a powerful but noisy engine. Moreover I found it to be a very basic car with no features as VW has purposefully placed it way below the Vento in the market.

During all these visits to the showrooms I was accompanied by my wife and son. At this point it was sort of consensus in favour of the Honda City.

My wife started taking keen interest in this matter. Having a sedan was a long time dream for her and she wanted to make a valuable contribution in this purchase. One day during the morning tea she suddenly brought out the Linea out of nowhere. She had seen a Linea the previous day and the car caught her imagination. She insisted that I should look at the Linea, though FIAT was never in my plan. I booked online for the test drive of Linea T Jet and started reading the reviews of Linea in the net. I specially liked the ownership thread of J.Ravi and also his travelouge to Leh. In the meantime I had two test drives of the MJD but the Tjet was never brought for TD.
I have driven petrol car since my college days and I had neven driven a diesel car except for the two TD of MJD Emotion. I started the TD rather reluctantly and thought that I would obviously find some fault with the MJD Emotion to convince my wife against the car. But I must admit honestly that I was clearly knocked off by the Linea and actually I have started loving the Linea MJD after the second TD. I even TD the City immediately after the second TD of the Linea and was amazed to see the way Linea handles bad roads and sharp turns at reasonable speed as compared to the City.

Now the Tjet makes an entry. Since I had booked online for TD of T Jet about 3 weeks back, I put a mail at the CEO's desk at Fiat. The reaction was instant and the territory sales incharge contacted me the very next day for a suitable time for the TD. I also received a mail from Fiat HQ. I was shocked to know later that the TD vehicle came from 250KM just for me. The vehicle was mindblowing, a frugal beast, I should say. The power and acceleration was rocking and it amused my ten year old son. Even a freind, who owns a City did a TD with me and he was really impressed. After the TD, my only concerns are

a. One year old vehicle.
b. Mileage, as we both got 10.3 and 10.7 respectively.

At the end of the day I felt very embarassed that I put some people to trouble but the dealer was kind hearted and had no issues with this.

Now coming to my requirements,
a. Budget of 10L (typical for C1 segment).
b. My monthly usage is 1300-1500 KMs per month, mostly city driving with some long drive once/twice in a month. I am almost certain that this is going to increase with time. City driving in my case does not mean bumper-to-bumper drive, like in the metros. Roads in the industrial town are wide and less crowded.
c. I would love to have a car that is fun to drive in the highways coupled with better stability, handling and safety features rather than instant acceleration.

Well about City and Tjet, I can simply say that Tjet felt better. I have TD City thrice on bad roads and Highways. First time I was thrilled by the Vtec engine and almost finalised my car. But when Linea came into the competition I have TD City twice against the Tjet and MJD respectively for I was not willing from my heart that the City should loose the battle as it was a dream car for me. After lot of resistance within me I have now almost discarded the CITY in favour of the Linea. The Tjet is a sort of addiction, that is my personal feeling. Once the turbo comes into play, the acceleration has no match. I have TD the TJet on a highway for a 20Km streach and my son was thrilled to see the speedo cross 100, then 120 upto 140 when I put on a hard brake to check the braking. There was no noise except for wind noise (from the front windows) and the whistle of the turbo. But again I had to restrain my heart. With my usage of 1300+KM (I am certain that this is going to increase when I have such an excellent car at my disposal) and with the increasing cost of petrol in India, my mind says MJD Emotion is the car for me.

The City V manual costs around 9.7L OTR and the Linea MJD Emotion costs around 10.2L OTR.

Now I would request the learned members of the forum to advice whether my line of thought is correct or I need to do a rethinking on the whole issue. Please offer your valuable inputs for I need to make a decision fast and I cannot make any further delay.

[Motoringlover]

Originally Posted by Sommos

b. My monthly usage is 1300-1500 KMs per month, mostly city driving with some long drive once/twice in a month. I am almost certain that this is going to increase with time. City driving in my case does not mean bumper-to-bumper drive, like in the metros. Roads in the industrial town are wide and less crowded.
.

A diesel sedan certain makes a strong case considering your high mileage on a routine basis, but since Tjet is not a very frequent selling car, you could make up by getting a higher discount. In others words think of it this way.

The cost per litre of petrol differential vs diesel can be covered to an extent by the upfront saving you get via discounts/exchange and others, lately I have heard discounts in the range of 2L on the Tjet. So just try to calculate how many additional KM's you would need to drive to cover the additional upfront cost for diesel car and how much time will you take to do it.

Good luck with your hunt

Best - ML

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by Sommos

I'am planning to buy a new sedan in the C2 segment and have been checking out the market for the available options for some time now.
…
Now I would request the learned members of the forum to advice whether my line of thought is correct or I need to do a rethinking on the whole issue. Please offer your valuable inputs for I need to make a decision fast and I cannot make any further delay.

Since you liked both the MJD and T-Jet, decide based on what make more financial sense. With the said running, the T-Jet will make sense if you are getting a huge discount (I can see a few of the members going for the T-Jet due to this reason). Both choices are from the same manufacturer, and hence there is nothing to differentiate on the ownership experience. And even the featurelist is pretty matched I guess.

[Sheel]

Amongst Rapid, Linea and the new Fietsa which has the best On Road behavior?

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by Sommos

The cars that I have considered and test driven are as follows :-City 2012 model
Verna
Rapid
Vento

I was surprised that Linea was not in consideration at all.
Also ladies are always correct, other wise you have keep hearing "Did i tell you...." arguments all the time..Jokes apart..
Linea TJET is a nice car, my brother has it and he is extremely happy with it (except for service issues, such he asked for some thing, service did entirely different thing). But petrol prices are so high, now he has a diesel car Indigo eCS which he drives daily and TJET for family outings during weekends (He should have sold the TJET and got a nice diesel car in place eCS, i guess he dont want to part with TJET). In your case, i would recommend the MJD. With the discounts on Petrol vehicles, the cost of ownership will be more or less the same over a period of time (Upfront discount on Petrol, but higher monthly expense on petrol), but the fact is, when you are at the pump, you will forget about the initial discount you got, and think only about the petrol/diesel bill that time. This will make you cut down on long trips. So if you are planning to make long trips with the new sedan go with Diesel now irrespective of the discounts on Petrol. But if Diesel prices go up later (for the record, i am supporter of diesel price deregulation) bad luck.