[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by pavi

I think that is mainly due to the soft suspension Ciaz is having and not because of Maruti improved the fit and finish by leaps and bounds..

Really? Soft suspension and hence less rattles? So a hard suspension equipped car will keep knocking itself and its passengers all over and hence more shakes experienced by the internals of the car and subsequently rattles surfacing earlier than expected?

I think they have also applied some factory damping on doors as I did not notice ‘water falling on a hollow door panel’ sound when I washed my cousins Ciaz last weekend

This is something true and is quite evident from the fact that Ciaz does feel silent of all MJD cars from Maruti stable.

I have an example of a Ciaz that has done 70,000 Kms in 3 years. It was sold as the owner upgraded to a Crysta and for sure whenever I have been inside that car, it felt better in terms of NVH and for that matter rattles as well. This car made regular visits to Mangalore through all the ghats that touched the coast (Sampaje, Shiradi, Charmadi, Kuduremukha, Agumbe) and none of these roads were in pristine condition.

[pavi]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Really? Soft suspension and hence less rattles? So a hard suspension equipped car will keep knocking itself and its passengers all over and hence more shakes experienced by the internals of the car and subsequently rattles surfacing earlier than expected?

Compared to a relatively hard suspension car with almost same fit and finish, a soft suspension car is expected to be having less rattles. That does not mean that a hard suspension car will always rattle, it also depends on the fit and finish. As far as I have experienced, most of the dashboard and plastic panels in the new Honda City are relatively well damped with liners glued to most of the touching points. I have seen them in real as I have done door damping and usual plastic parts damping. But these plastic trims rattle more as Honda has increased the suspension stiffness there by sending more vibrations to the different parts of the car body including the plastic panels.

Note : I don’t have scientific proof for the above statements, this is my analysis and understanding.

[luvtandon]

Guys have almost finalised Honda City Vx CVT and I'm getting the following offers on it right now :

1. Free Comprehensive Insurance.
2. Exchange Bonus - 30k
3. Corporate Discount - 8k
4. Free Accessories worth 10k

Now the issue is that should I go with the above or wait for March and see if I can get something more out of it.

Thanks in advance.

[DPetrolHead]

Originally Posted by luvtandon

I'm getting the following offers on it right now :

1. Free Comprehensive Insurance.
2. Exchange Bonus - 30k
3. Corporate Discount - 8k
4. Free Accessories worth 10k

Now the issue is that should I go with the above or wait for March and see if I can get something more out of it.

Is this for the 2019 model? If yes, you might wait for March.
Check with your sales guy if any 2018 manufactured model is available? You will get more features and way more discounts than this.

Cheers!

[luvtandon]

Originally Posted by DPetrolHead

Is this for the 2019 model? If yes, you might wait for March.
Check with your sales guy if any 2018 manufactured model is available? You will get more features and way more discounts than this.

Cheers!

Yup this is for the MY19 car, haven't asked the SA yet, will definitely ask for, but do company's offer more discounts in March ?

[DPetrolHead]

Originally Posted by luvtandon

Yup this is for the MY19 car, haven't asked the SA yet, will definitely ask for, but do company's offer more discounts in March ?

First you should definitely check for a 2018 model, even if you have to search for it at various showrooms. And yes, the chance of getting a better discounts in March is more, because of closing of financial year coupled by overall decline in sales of passenger vehicles. So, the discounts will be definitely be same, if not more.

Cheers!

[greendream]

Originally Posted by luvtandon

Guys have almost finalised Honda City Vx CVT .

Can’t you postpone your purchase ?
As you might be aware the 5th generation is around the corner.
Reports and rumours say 2020. But then with Honda, you never know.
Say a late 2019 or early 2020 launch, would bother me if I purchase the car now.

[daf23]

Originally Posted by kpkeerthi

Can someone who owns Ciaz tell me how the car fares in the long term?

We have a Ciaz Zxi+ at home since 2015, it has clocked around 40K kilometers.

If you take my opinion, it's a good city car only and lacks the punch on the highways. The engine gets noisy post 100 kmph and it really feels light.

There are some rattles from the doors, dashboard and from the roof liner (near B-Pillar).

If you like driving, Ciaz is not the car for you!

[Aaron:)]

A close friend of mine has a 2 year old Ciaz that's run around 20 thousand kms, and it's already rattling. Nothing major, but there's always some perpetual rattling sounds, regardless of the road conditions. I have my doubts on the Ciaz's build quality.

[imidnightmare]

Stuck in the same mess. Have a 2010 City that I need to replace. Already have a Hexa and Octavia for major work and a Brio for the market trips, so this is a backup car really, for trips with the dogs and to fill in if the others are out. Don't want to spend much more than 13-14L - which is making this a tough choice. It'll largely be a chauffeur-driven car, but I would like an automatic (in case wife needs to drive) and don't want to compromise on safety.

From all I've read and seen, the City is not something I'm keen on, specially given my experience with my old (outgoing) City. Plus the CVT is absolutely horrid, going by my experience driving a Jazz. Acceleration is atrocious and makes me feel lifeless while driving. Wife is keen on Ciaz, but somehow I am very uneasy about it's poor power level and the fact that every MS car I've seen has rattles soon after purchase. In Mumbai suburbs, so the roads aren't kind and the driver is hardly as careful as I'd like.

Would have gone for the Rapid given the joy the Octavia has given me, but the 1.5 TSI seems a proper 'mare. Even the salesman told me that for a petrol, the Vento would be better - but VW service is something I really want to avoid.

Is the Verna actually a decent vehicle? I'm big on safety and joy of driving - and Hyundai has always made me uneasy. Also, the Hyundai ATs I've driven (rentals) have always seemed horribly jerky and ineffective (drove an i30 in Aus and TDed i10 and i20 a couple of times). Not TDed the Verna - and don't plan to since the feedback seems to be that the AT continues to be poor on Hyundais (my standard is high, given the DSG on the Octavia).

[balderash_12]

Voted for the Verna! A great list of features, good set of engines (bye bye Ciaz!) with a VFM price tag (City and Yaris are overpriced) with decent reliability and A.S.S (VW-Skoda ). Does not fully succeed in a particular area but does all things generally well. The only real downside is the rear space, but I am satisfied with it. Not outright cramped like the Polo

[aneezan]

Have a similar view with a few others here on Ciaz. The rattles bother me.

I own a 1 year old Ciaz S Diesel. Love the car for the silent, smooth and comfortable drive. Of-course the space was a major draw when I finalized it last year.
After spending more than a year with it, it still is better than a majority of the competition in the above parameters.



But i hate those rattles. They all seem to come from the dashboard, but cannot put a finger on where exactly.

[chaturgaurav]

Think none of these cars provide everything that the customer wants. Kia Seltos now provides that, but it is neither in the same category nor price!

Ciaz - Boring engine, historical AT, sedate driveability and light build quality.
City - Expensive and light build quality. New City is coming soon.
Verna - Expensive than Ciaz and Cramped rear seat.
Yaris - Simply Overpriced and looks unappealing to me
VW Family (Vento/ Rapid) - Cramped rear seat and unreliable ASS.
Linea - Its dead already

I will choose Ciaz over others because of its Price for what it offers. The engine though sedate, is at par with the segment. Huge space on offer and decently equipped.

[armaan_singh]

Hello Everybody,
This is my first post here and it's an important one for me at that. The big picture objective is to buy a car under 13 Lacs (OTR), and the below post highlights where I have reached in this quest, Team BHP has given me a lot of insight in the past into various automotive decisions(when I was not a member) so I know for a fact that the advice given here is as good as it gets. Without any further ado, will get straight to it.

But first a little background -:

1. I am in the market specifically for an automatic vehicle, given the immense traffic vows in Gurugram. Also Petrol would be the choice, given our 10 year diesel rule.
2. I currently drive a Hyundai Elite i20 Sports In the manual guise from 2015 (this for reference is before Hyundai went and messed up the feature list for anything below Asta) The feature list on this car is indeed extensive, but the ones I absolutely adore are the neat touches like the Auto Dimming IRVM and the rear camera integrated into the IRVM.
Though for some reason the AC compressor needs a replacement as does the central locking and as per the service center a complete suspension overhaul, for reference the car has just run 25,000 KMs so a little disappointed honestly.
3. In our garage we currently have a 2017 Fortuner Diesel Automatic , a 2017 Brezza Diesel Manual, a 2013 Vento Diesel Manual and ofcourse the baby i20 in petrol. On a side note though , the above cars are not my daily drivers barring the Hyundai.

4. I have a strict budget of 13Lacs, because I did the maths and with my down payment and interest calculations, the installment works out to roughly 20,000.per month which is my upper limit.

5. I have had a plethora of test drives and I will highlight the experience of all of them below in no particular order.

6.My primary objective is to buy a Sedan, however I have seen some SUVs as well (more on that later).

7. My drive is mostly in the city along with a monthly trip to the hills. Also I mostly travel alone or at most with one other occupant so things like rear space, rear AC vents, and even boot space for that matter are not deal breakers for me.

8. I am not really looking to make any major after market modifications on the car, so need my most of the needs to be met by the car as is.

9 Lastly, I have also explored some preowned car options in a bid to get a D segment Car at a lower price point, but again more on that later.


With all the above out of the way - will get straight to the list of cars I went through - also for reference I did all of this in the months of January - March, so some things might have changed given the BS 4 - BS 6 paradigm shift.

1. Maruti Suzuki Ciaz : Quoted on road price : 12 Lacs with some discounts for the top Alpha Variant.
I had a love at first sight kind of attachment with the Ciaz, it looked gorgeous while plonked at Nexa's Gurugram showroom, I could certainly imagine myself driving around this beauty. I hadn't taken any appointment but since this showroom was at a walkable distance from my office, I just strolled in. The SA was a friendly guy and at least at the face of it he didn't have a very hard selling attitude.
IMO the treatment you receive while buying the car is pretty much as good as it will ever get, so it's a good place to start.
The TD vehicle was readily available and the SA let me take a good 10KM drive around all kinds of roads. The first thing i loved about the Ciaz, was the sheer plush feeling in the cabin, unlike a lot of people I am really fond of opulent beige interiors, and the Ciaz had at least going for it in abundance. It drove just fine for me, it didn't make me jump out of seat, but it did the job just fine. I also liked the instrument cluster with the graphics for power and torque consimption, while it maybe a gimmick it looked cool.
I made sure to test the hill hold feature on an incline and it worked like a charm too, with no rolling back. The seat bolstering was good too and it gave me a very planted feeling. Highway cruising seemed good on the 2KM of open space I had, and the old school 4 speed torque converted seemed to do the job just fine.
Coming to a few niggles, the Infotainment system wasn't the best one out there, in fact it had the same one from our 2017 Brezza and while it had all the bells and whistles on paper it just didn't feel slick enough, I figured using it on the highway would be a pain.
Also the faux wood trim on the dashboard looked shoddy at best, and I wish MSIL would have just omitted it or at least stuck with a darker shade that wouldn't make its plastic lineage so apparent.
A sunroof would have been a great addon, but that's entirely unchartered territory for MSIL so far so that's that.
That being said, overall the Ciaz was what you would call a good car, like the Jack of all trades but a master of none, but for me it ticked almost all the boxes I had in mind.
The SA tried to coax me into closing the deal there and then over a glass of cold coffee from the next door cafe, but so far as far as I was concerned the Ciaz was at top spot out of one. So I politely informed him I'd take a week or so to take a call. But I must add the black one looked splendid to say the least, maintenance nightmare I reckon but it did its bit to charm the heart.
I went home and mulled over it for a while over a glass of tipple, and I ended up seeing multiple youtube reviews, and almost all of them echoed what I didn't want to hear, that the Ciaz was good but lacked steering feedback and that the engine lacked raw power, compared to its rivals.
I didn't exactly get that feeling when I drove it but then again I didn't really have much to compare it with so off I went the next day to meet its aforementioned rivals.

2. Hyundai Verna : Quoted on road price : 12.5 Lacs with some discounts for the SX Plus automatic variant, which is one below the top of the line.

Now truth be told I was in no real mood to take a jump from a Hyndai to another Hyundai, and while the experience at the showroom was pretty much at par with Nexa, with a similar friendly SA, who even lent me a cigarette as I had forgotten mine in the basement parking.
The moment I sat in the TD Verna, my apprehension turned into reality, to put it in simple words, the Verna just doesnt feel like the upgrade it should to someone coming from an elite i20, the quality of the cabin is very much at par with the car I already had , and I was never a fan of the dual tone beige and black interior and the Verna had the same.
The fabric upholstery wasn't to my liking either, and moreover it was exactly same as my current car so it didn't help matters either, I felt it would certainty rob me from the "nayi gaadi feel" .
That being said, the moment I started her up, things changed substantially, the driving position seemed perfect albeit a little cramped at first but I was comfortable, and my height for reference is 6'2.
While exiting the basement itself in the car started introducing me to her plethora of features which either I hadn't heard about or at least never bothered about, starting from tailgate opening up by scanning ones leg below it, though to be honest it took a few tries but I could certainly see myself using this feature often with a full load of shopping bags. Then moving to cornering headlamps, they lit up automatically moment I was moving up the levels in the basement, and it suddenly made so much sense given we have no dirth of dimly lit basement parkings. Once on the open road , I have to say she felt slick and amazing to drive, The 1.6 Litre NA engine mated to the 6 Speed torque converted definitely left me much more excited than the Ciaz and while I would call myself a sedate driver, the extra rush I got while overtaking was fantastic, the ICE seemed far slicker to use and she even had a sunroof to add to the bling.
The niggles were apparent though:
She was a stunner to look at , no doubt but she felt cramped inside and while rear leg space wasn't my criteria anyway, she was indeed quite cramped there too.
The seat bolstering was also pretty bad after coming from the Ciaz and even with the extra features at least in my mind she didn't give me that plush feeling I had from the Ciaz. But this could be hugely due to the color palate on the interiors which truth be told could be fixed post purchase without much of a hassle.
But all things put aside , at least temporarily in my mind I had a new winner. The Verna was now my pick, and for 50K over the Ciaz, at least my head told me it offered a lot more for the price.
The SA here too tried to coax me to close the deal, but this time over chai and not cold coffee !
He even offered me an exterior car coating as part of the deal and I felt I had room to squeeze in a few more accessories but I chose to save that for the day I would finally make the deal, and here too I gave the 1 week timeline and moved.

It was a Sunday and since I was out of the house already I felt why stop now, I had a little "sutta" break and proceeded to meet the rest of the clan.

3. Honda City : Quoted price : 13Lacs with some discounts for the mid speed V variant.
Now a little background here, i had previously personally owned the 2004 Honda City, and she gave me an extremely hassle free experience overall. But having been through the prices online, I knew this time she wasn't fitting in my wallet. Even the Mid Spec 'VX' variant was at least 80K over my upper limit and it lacked half the things I needed. But with that in mind I chose to pay them a visit anyway.
Walked into Prestige Honda at MG road, and was greeted to a dull looking showroom with a bunch of uninterested people roaming around, so helped myself to the car parked in the showroom and began getting a feel of the car, she seemed well built but I noticed straight off the bat that the ICE lacked android auto which was an instant downer for me.
Anyway after around 15 minutes of being by myself I was greeted by a rather unenthusiastic SA, to whom I mentioned my requirements, now the conversation went ahead like this : (translated from hindi)
SA : "Have you seen any cars so far ? "
Me : "Yes the Ciaz and the Verna"
SA : "Did you like either of them ? "
Me : "Yes I liked both of them but I want to have a look at all the options in the market before putting my money somewhere"
SA looking miffed : "If you like cars like Ciaz then Honda City is not for you, it's way over your budget"

I have to say that line stung me too much, that too coming from an SA who had a prospective buyer, I expressed my displeasure at his statement and I think he eventually realized his mistake, but for me the experience was ruined there and then, left a bad taste in the mouth and at that point his justifications didn't seem believable either.
The TD happened, but due to the lackluster experience before it, I was kind of put off. Putting that aside as well, she drove well but I really didn't enjoy the CVT gearbox one bit, even at the light tap of the foot, she would revv hard but the speed didn't increase in a proportionate manner.
The mid Spec variant had apparent shortcomings and it simply didn't cut it for me. Though i have to say it was certainly a comfortable car to drive.
The uncomfortable TD came to an end, the SA offered me a cup of coffee and gave me his best price, though I think we both knew where it was headed, I bid him goodbye and left the showroom, no 1 week commitment made here.


There was final stop left for the day and I wanted it to end on a good note. It was time to visit the most reliable rival in the clan and the safest too on paper.

4. Toyota Yaris : No quoted price.
The Yaris was an interesting car for sure, it offered safety features at par with cars a segment above, but then it was priced for some variants also at par with cars a segment above. But the reliability of a Toyota is something I swear by, it's by far the only car in the list which I knew would give me a more or less hassle free ownership experience no matter what and for that alone, I was willing to skimp on some of the features I knew it lacked like the below par ICE and the fact that I'd have to settle strictly for the base variant in the automatic guise (I wish more manufacturers would have an automatic option for all their variants rather than keeping it reserved for the top tier) .
That being said, I walked into the showroom and the overall environment reminded me strongly of the dull scene at Honda, so without any help, i again gladly helped myself to the parked Yaris, now firstly IMO it really isn't a good looking car, its functional yes but it certainly lacks the WOW factor, but again it's a Toyota so that's forgivable, and it was overall a comfortable car to sit in, and the quality felt like it was built to last, even the gear lever was same as the one in the fortuner at home so i knew it was sturdy, and the interiors were surprisingly nice too.
I really wanted to drive her once though, because I mentally I was cancelling a lot of her niggles due to the Toyota badge , and the drive could have answered the rest.
I got out of the car and looked around, all the SA's were sitting on a sofa oblivious to the rest of the world. Eventually I caught the attention of one of them , and he slowly came over to me, he was certainly not energetic but neither was he rude (I had clearly lowered the bar to a great extent after the Honda experience from 30 minutes ago). I felt like the lack of sales in general was visible on his face so I decided to take matters into my own hands and straight away ask for a TD, I was more than happy to avoid the sales pitch after a long day anyway.
However in the same retired fashion he told they didn't hve any car available for a TD, he said if I wanted to try the manual I could wait for an hour as it had gone for servicing for a faulty clutch - loved the honestly though !
Ended up staying for a coffee and a chat anyway, and yes he was indeed disgruntled due to the lack of sales, he had apparently moved over from Nexa thinking Toyota would look better on his resume, but that didn't work out too well for him but that's a story for another day.

Long story short - I never got to the test drive the car at all, even after a few attempts from my side to call a couple of other dealerships in the next few days. Hence no price quoted and Yaris was ticked off the list.

Some other notable omissions :

The Vento seems to be the sensible choice for many owing to its brilliant German engineering however the look of the car feels pretty dated to me, and we already had on in the garage, so never looked at it. The same goes for the Rapid in terms of the looks department, and the A.S.S from what I've heard isn't something best to read about but not to experience.

So far, the heart still said Ciaz, but from the value per feature perspective, basically the head said Verna.
The other two are eliminated.

Now I'm not a big fan of SUVs in general, straight off the bat the middle initial "U" stands for utility and I dont have much utility for a car of the shape to be honest. But since the entire country was talking about them and getting hooked onto them, I felt maybe something was wrong with me and I too should jump on the wagon.

So the chase continues below :

1. Mahindra Xux 300 : Quoted price : 12.5 Lacs with some discounts for the W8 AMT Diesel variant (one below the top variant).

Since mid size SUVs with my required set of features were not even close to my ticket size I started having a look at these "Compact" SUVs if you may. Though personally I would call them Bulked Hatchbacks.
That being said, I loved the looks of this baby Mahindra, it looked sharp with the 17 inch alloys and it didn't look puny compared to many of its rivals. I had requested a TD on their website, and a SA called me the next day, and fixed up a time for Sunday at 2PM, he never showed up and stopped answering calls as well I was a bit miffed initially due to the lack of professionalism but the next day he profusely apologized and even met me at my office at 6 in evening, and we took embarked on a long 16 KM TD till my residence.
Now the automatic in this car was only available with a diesel mill albeit a amongst the most powerful in its class.
The big problem though was the automatic itself since it was an AMT, now speaking only on my behalf , I really cant stand the jerks while upshifting or down shifting and this was one of the main characteristics of AMT boxes in general. I felt it big time especially In stop and to traffic and it was irritating at best. On a side note mostly while driving with the family , they feel its your lack of driving skills that are causing the jerks, who was going to explain them the driving dynamics of an AMT

Though it was a loaded car with the likes of Dual zone climate control, a sun roof and well heated wing mirrors and 7 airbags on the top spec variant. But again the top of the line W8 optional variant was in the zone of nearly 15Lacs OTR and the W8 variant was more in my zone thought it missed out on some of the above gimmicks.
The dash was a bit overcrowded but I didn't have many complaints with the interiors overall.
I ended the TD and called the SA in to my place for a cup of tea, he too had shifted over from Nexa but unlike the poor Toyota chap, here the sales of the Scorpios and Boleros kept him afloat and happy. Didn't make any commitments here either, kept the car in the back of the list, though not down right eliminated like some of our sedan options.

2. Maruti Suzuki XL6 : Quoted price : 13.3 Lacs with no discounts for the top of the line variant.

Was back at friendly Nexa town to take meet the Ertiaga's well fed brother in law. Saw the Ciaz from a distance and chose to avoid looking at it for too long last we have an awkward lover's moment. The same SA attended to me again, and yes this time the cold coffee was there even before I reached the TD stage.
At first glance, the XL6 is really not a bad looker, yes its relationship with the Ertiga cant be denied by either party ever, but that's not entirely a bad thing as the new ertiga wasn't a bad looker itself, I never really cared much for it owing to its overt friendliness with fleet owners but that aside it's a real steal for what it offers at a little over at that price point. But back to the XL6, it was a big car, it looked far bigger than the baby Mahindra and that's because in terms of sheer dimensions it was from a segment above.
It has the same engine and gearbox and combo as the Ciaz, and we took the same route for the TD as we did with the Ciaz.
For some reason though this car didn't feel as planted to me, the bolstering was lacking and the overall "Driving" experience wasn't that great at all, i also disliked the all black interiors though the ICE was far more slick than the ones its family were blessed with.
The 15 inch wheels though looked puny for this size of a car and for some odd reason it lacked things like the Auto dimming IRVM that its clan has even though it was clearly pricier.
That being said a car like the XL6 is best enjoyed when sitting in the 2nd row in the plush reclinable captain seats. Once I was there I enjoyed the comfortable drive and I almost got used to it in the short distance I was at the rear of the car. Yes this is indeed a people mover and it seemed just fine at that, in fact I could stretch a bit and say that's it's the innova for the masses. But I needed my daily ride and the XL6 didn't cut it for me in that regard and hence eliminated.

3. 2020 Tata Nexon : Quoted Price : 12.6 Lacs OTR with no discounts for the top of the line XZA plus Optional variant,
I saved the best for the last, I have to say this, I know this is a compact SUV, and it's an AMT but i just love how she looks, real stunner and I just couldn't stop myself from giving her a look. I visited the Tata motors showroom in Gurugram and I was greeted by well fairly enthusiastic SA's who were rather busy as a lot of customers were there to see the Altroz. I had seen multiple videos on youtube, but none for the variant I was interested in, and none of the videos do justice to what she is in person.
A real good looking car, I had a chance to sit in the showroom car prior to the TD and I actually felt like it was a great driving position and for some reason the view from the driving seat made me feel like I was in a car much bigger than the Nexon and it had a sunroof as well along with some connected car technologies which I honestly feel will take a while to mature but are nice to have anyway. Luckily they had the exact model I wanted to buy availinle for the TD and within a few minutes I was in inside the car. The cabin was decent, though it lacked the beige upholstery I wanted. Overall though it was good place to be and the Indian in me got excited for a few moments as well, and I started her up ready to enjoy this car which for some reason I sort of had a crush on by then (Sorry Ciaz )
I slotted the gear into the Drive mode - and that's when the excitement started to vanish, the moment I gently left the brake pedal she leaped forward in a violent manner almost banging into the just delivered Altroz ahead of us ! Phew.
Yes she was an AMT but that sudden outburst was really not something I was expecting. I gave it a go a few more times and this seemed to be her nature in general, to leap forward when the foot is even slightly removed from the depressed brake pedal. This would indeed be a big problem for me, I wasn't in the mood to spend this kind of money and then get involved in this kind of a learning curve. Though to her credit she was far less jerky than the AMT on the XUV300, and the turbo petrol motor was very refinded with very little noise entering into the cabin.
I tried to ask the SA a couple of questions but he was engrossed in threatening someone from his village over a call with regards to the non payment of some dues. While I didn't expect much professionalism in the first place, if this was the etiquette during a TD with the customer I shuddered at the thought of how it would be at the service centers when nobody is watching. I really feel Tata should have a Nexa kind of set up for products like the Harrier and the upcoming Gravitas, Buyers in that segment deserve a slightly more plush experience.

Anyway the TD was alright, the car did jerk slightly if I floored the pedal but it was far more tolerable than the other AMTs I have driven. But that initial spring forward nature is not something I was looking to live with.
That being said, it did offer a lot of features too like ESP, Brake assist, Hill Hold control, even creature comforts like a sunroof and connected car tech, and who can forget the 5 star NCAP rating. I came back kind of happy and even though no beverage was offered to me, I told the SA I would seriously consider it and get back to him within a couple of days - Yes I had reduced the timeline commitment largely.

3 days later : The Lockdown started and that's when the decision came to abrupt halt, and that's still where we are for now, and maybe even for the foreseeable future.

Some Notable mentions :

I drove the Hyundai Venue as well and it drove really well with DCT, and even had enough creature comforts. It seemed like a good buy but it was too close to my i20 in dimensions and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get myself to tolerate its rear end.

I drove at least 4 pre-ownded Honda Accords (2008-2013) in the range of around 2.5 - 7.5 Lacs. They had their niggles but the idea of owning a luxury sedan at a fraction of the price seemed very exciting to me.
In fact I really liked the 2013 one which had just 58,000 KMs on the Odo and was simply plush in every sense. Though it lacked some basics like steering mounted audio controls but overall it was an excellent experience. The quoted pride was 7.5 Lacs and it was with a reputed dealer in Delhi, I can get the deal at 7 I think. Would love to save the extra money and maybe even keep some aside for its repairs at a later stage, but I have never bought a pre owned vehicle before so a little scared to say the least.

Even had a look at a 2010 Merc C 200 Petrol, and even a 2011 Super 1.8 TSI, and even though both were fun to drive and available at a steal for the segment they belonged too, the idea of a 10 year old German car doesnt seem like a great idea and after 5 years it would need to be scrapped given the 15 year rule for petrol cars so it would largely be a highly depreciating asset.

Also since then BS 6 has kicked in with full force and as I see it the Verna is no longer availinle at the price point it was offered at, in fact it's around 13.90 Lacs but i haven't had a chance to drive it.

So that's where we are right now, as and when the lockdown opens I intend to go and finalize the purchase.
Looking forward to your valuable advice and views to help me out a bit here. And I apologize in advance for this long post.


Thank You !

[iamitp]

In the same boat as you. Currently, the best bet seems to be the new 2020 Verna. I am personally keen on the 1.0 T-GDI variant.

A few months from now, the 2020 Honda City should also be in the running.

You might also consider a used 2015/16 Skoda Octavia or a Hyundai Elantra.

Good luck!