[TheDoc]

Avg distance travelled per year
Highway-5000km
City- 1500km I guess we'll use the santro mostly for this coz of the parking advantages


My Preferences
diesel preferably
A car with good mileage
Decent handling and performance
Shud be comfortable to ride on long runs considerin my height (188cms)

My dads preference
diesel/petrol
Mileage not that important
Good handling and performance, esp at higher speeds.
Very comfortable

Price range(8-12 lakhs)
not plannin on selling it for atleast 5 yrs, so resale value isnt that important.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by TheDoc

Avg distance travelled per year
Highway-5000km

I guess we'll use the santro mostly for this coz of the parking advantages

have you got that figure right ? 1500km per month, i presume.

i would close my eyes & buy the Civic.. i hope it will come under your budget.

[nitrous]

My Preferences
diesel preferably
A car with good mileage
Decent handling and performance
Shud be comfortable to ride on long runs considerin my height (188cms)

Im 185cms tall and very rarely find cars that i fit in.
One of those:Ford fiesta 1.4 ZXi(diesel)

My dads preference
diesel/petrol
Mileage not that important
Good handling and performance, esp at higher speeds.
Very comfortable

Like esteem_lover said, the civic is Purrfect.Buttt, u'll need to slightly stretch ur budget.

[goldie_malhotra]

Your requirements would seem like the perfect recipe for an Octy, but the backseat is seriously cramped for someone your height. The driver's seat can be stretched back enough for me (185 cm) to fit in.

Other good choices would be the Civic and the Corolla, both petrol, but have decent FE, and good handling characteristics. And quite comfortable too, esp Corolla.

Though I would seriously suggest that you try out the cars yourself to see which fits you ergonomically well, as I can understand why at times, because of height, one tends to find the position of the steering or pedals or the gearshift or controls a bit out of place. The seat height and the leg space and the foot-well also should not make one at unease.

And these things matter a lot when travelling long distances. In fact, sometime they matter more than the ride comfort of the suspension.

[TheDoc]

Backseat? I dont think we'd ever use that! except perhaps for the ice box!

Yea. the civic is in my budget, but the Honda dealers in Chennai seem to be horrible! Im jus thinkin of the After sales Service.

[adarsh76]

Well since your preferences have a diesel and a price range of 8-12 lakhs why not check out the Verna CRDi?

It has a real good performance and handling though handling is not quite upto Fiesta. Also there is an option of ABS and rear disc brakes, Impact sensing door locks (locks will automatically open on impact) which makes it safer but airbags are not present even as an option. FE also quite good as per some initial reports (18-19 on highway).

It has got good height and interior space too. But features are less when compared with the Verna Xi and XXi petrol variants.

Just check out the car and see whether it suits for you.

[ballkey]

The Civic MT might just be possible in your budget.

Alternatives:
Lancer cedia - from a good performance & great handling perspective
Elantra CRDi - from a good performance, dieseled highway mile-munching perspective.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by TheDoc

but the Honda dealers in Chennai seem to be horrible!

OK, tell us something new. I guess Honda needs to seriously look into this, unless they do not want potential buyers to move away due to the dealer attitude. The Sundaram guys suck. And that is saying the least.

The Civic looks like a good choice for you. So is the Corolla. The Octy too, but then having read too much on the forum about their high spares/maintenance costs, would not recommend that.

The Verna? Looks like the Verna is aspiring for the D segment. From the reviews posted here, it sounds like a nice car. But then prescribing it for all requirements, is stretching it a bit too much. A guy with a budget stretching to 12 lakhs and we recommend a C-segmenter.

[rahul_intlad]

If you want a diesel its the octy,dont mind petrol then its the civic.

[adarsh76]

Originally Posted by TheDoc

Backseat? I dont think we'd ever use that! except perhaps for the ice box!

Yea. the civic is in my budget, but the Honda dealers in Chennai seem to be horrible! Im jus thinkin of the After sales Service.

Well if you want a good after sales service then it's either Maruti or Hyundai. Now for a car which costs 8 lakhs it can be the Verna CRDi and one which costs between 8-12 lakhs will be either Elantra or Octavia. But Skoda's service isnt great either and service and spare parts costs are sky high.

Problem with Elantra is that its going to have a facelift and the new elantra definitely looks better than the current one. Same case with Corolla.

The newest cars are Verna and Civic. Its for you to decide.

[adarsh76]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

The Verna? Looks like the Verna is aspiring for the D segment. From the reviews posted here, it sounds like a nice car. But then prescribing it for all requirements, is stretching it a bit too much. A guy with a budget stretching to 12 lakhs and we recommend a C-segmenter.

LOL... he didnt ask for any specific segment. His budget is 8 - 12 lakhs. The Verna CRDi with ABS and rear disk brakes will cost more than 8 lakhs on road. And Civic was already recommended.

[supremeBaleno]

He might not have mentioned a segment, but his budget makes it clear where his requirement lies. A guy having 12lakhs to spare, is not actually buying just a car. He is buying an image / status apart from the requirements listed. The puny looking and very missable Verna does not even figure there - CRDi or otherwise. You might have noticed that no one even recommended the NHC Vtec, which again is above 8lacs, and one of the few with certain snob value attached to it in the C-segment. Goes without saying that the Verna is not even a distant match.

[TheDoc]

Well, i have an OHC and its kept safe in Coimbatore! I love the car, so a NHC is out of question.

Jus came back from the test drive of the elantra! the car seems decent, and i think i'll go for the Petrol
Also had a good look at the sonata, but they didnt have a MT so i cudnt test drive it. The car seems great and they r offering a 2 lakh discount(i read they offer a 3+ lakh discount somewherer in the forum, any ideas?) and this seems like a good option, right?

[rahul_intlad]

Well done.You beat us all at team-bhp.Both these cars are not that bad but not a single bhpian recommended either of the two cars.Just illustrating that we at team-bhp[ofcourse there are some exceptions] are becoming biased towards certain manufacturers and certain car models and not thinking from the owners point of view.This is not a very good trend.

[adarsh76]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

He might not have mentioned a segment, but his budget makes it clear where his requirement lies. A guy having 12lakhs to spare, is not actually buying just a car. He is buying an image / status apart from the requirements listed. The puny looking and very missable Verna does not even figure there - CRDi or otherwise. You might have noticed that no one even recommended the NHC Vtec, which again is above 8lacs, and one of the few with certain snob value attached to it in the C-segment. Goes without saying that the Verna is not even a distant match.

Well looks are very much subjective. That depends on the person who buys it. Also he did not mention about the brand image factor. If brand image factor is very important then it should be a Skoda rather than a Honda. But according to him Honda has a bad service. Skoda as mentioned by many people is very expensive to maintain as well as its service is also not upto its brand image.

For me the OHC is a great car in looks as well as in FE and performance. And the NHC is a dirty car in looks. Thats my personal opinion. If hyundai or maruti or tata made a car which was similar looking to the NHC I dont think anyone would have bought it. The Honda badge is a craze for people in India. Not much so outside India. For Americans and Europeans Honda is another lower cost car with less maintenance costs. Thats the reason why now even hyundai is starting to make huge in roads in USA.