Team-BHP - Used Baleno...dilemma

Hi,
This is my first post on T-BHP eventhough I've been a regular visitor for almost a year.. I'm from bangalore and is now planning to buy my first car. I've already decided that it will be either a new Swift Vxi or a used Baleno.
Last week I found a used baleno in Chennai, which I believe is a good option to consider. The specs are as given below

Baleno VXi, 2006 Model, single owner, Run :9000 Kms. Asking Price :4.15 Lakhs Negotiable... As per the owner, the car is in mint condition and is selling this because he has a diesel car for daily use. I haven't yet seen the vehicle..

Now here is my question...If I buy a TN registered car and bring it to bangalore,can I use it here without any hassles or do I need to pay the Road Tax/Insurance etc in Bangalore...If yes, how much will those expenses amount to? I've read somewhere that if I have a NOC obtained from chennai, i will be able to run the car in bangalore for upto a year..is this true? And finally is it worth buying a used Baleno at this price...? (I'm an avid fan of Baleno)

I'm really confused here,Shall I expect a few comments/suggestions from all those helpful people out here in T-BHP?

Thank you very much in advance.......

Quote:

LOL this is a first timer for me . I have never heard of issues with spares even for the 1st gen M800's and when did you find problems sourcing spares for the baleno ?

@rjstyles69:

We had this experinence first hand in December last year. Our car wan in repair for about a month and the excuse was that the part was to be specifically called for. its costed us a lot and yes it was confirmed by Maruti dealer in A'bad. I dont specifically remember the part because the bill went to company as it was company owned car gived to my dad.

The dealer said politely:
Maruti Versa, Maruti Baleno and Maruti GrandVitara have these problems. My dad raised the same question about the M800 as you have done, but he started talking about the numbers of units of each car sold and the cost of spares.

But I am speaking from experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AirWind (Post 824660)

I wouldnt buy a TN vehicle to run in KA - period!

You would be chased by the traffic police for mamool or by a goonda to stone whenever Kaveri issue crops up... road tax would be ~40k and there are flying RTO squads who would catch you on the fly... NOC will ONLY help with re-registration at a local RTO.

Actually you can drive around and the chances of the RTO catching you are about a 900 times slimmer than chances of a TN car getting stoned the moment the kaveri/hognekal issue comes up.

Even a KL/AP vehicle I would say no issues. You can always pull the "I just came for a wedding" line on the cops / RTO. however with a TN vehicle if there is an issue, they will not give you a chance to speak.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anish5225 (Post 823336)

Sorry forgot to reply about this...

1) Good choice of car
2) Good price.. push for 3.90
3) Try in Bangalore as well. You should find similar deals here. buying it in Chennai and getting Road tax etc done in bangalore does not make sense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vrooooooom (Post 824907)

Hey I am also planning to buy a Baleno. But you guys scared me. Its my frens Baleno and is also in a good condition. Any unbiased inputs from the Baleno club will be appreciated

Baleno is a great machine. My father went ahead for it in October 2005. We have done a lot of kms, mostly on A'bad-Vadodara Expressway and in Gujarat. Once when my parents were returning from a trip to Junagadh, Gujarat was in the strom where the rains played havoc in Saurashtra region, which is typically know for scanty rainfall and draughts. But this time it was bad. My parents had to venture in and they really appreciated the car. Very, very capable machine. I think it is one the favourates of T-bhp.

No other car has such a great combination of Space, Pace, fuel effeciency, ride comfort, The Best A/C.

But the fact is that the car is no longer in production and so procuring spare parts is not a plesant experience. We had a lot of trouble. Add in the fact that there are very less Balenos so obviously Maruti dealers might not be very happy to support( as we found out in our case ). This is the reality. We will have to sell off this car as soon as loan period is over, as spare parts are problem.

Even if Baleno is in mint condition, its not advisable to buy it. For example in Oct 2005, our Baleno had fully chromed front grille that had three horizontal bars. This grille looked really impressive. After the minor accident, the grill was not avaliable and when we got the car, we saw that the grille is of older model with only one Horizontal bar and rest portion as black honeycomb plastic, i.e. the grill with which Baleno was originally launched. It was procured from some old dealership as it was unused and definatly the quality was bad and the Suzuki logo came off. Reapplied it, but now you i.e both the persons interested in Baleno know what kind of problems might occur.

I have a Baleno too for the past three years and my experience has been otherwise. sometimes Spares can be an issue but in those case the dealership always gave me a loaner car..so what if it was an alto :).
My Baleno is 2005 June and has done 47K. It is a nice car and rarely gives problems unless you bang it somewhere. To me the driving position is really perfect and the seats, especially the front ones have amazing support..I think it is still a good deal but obviously try to get the price down a bit if you can.

I guess the Baleno somehow got lost in the "transition period" of maruti. An excellent and the most underrated car of the decade. (I've got a city) Guess had Maruti had the same management that Honda did, I can bet it would have been a better bet than the city. The specifications certainly indicate so but it's just not the specifications which matter. There are a lot more factors which go into the promotion and success of a car. Anyways, this is not important anymore. The question you should be asking yourself is not which car but how much time do you have to yourself to maintain the car. What are your expectations from it and how do you wish to treat it. As baleno is no longer in production and the other Bhpians have mentioned the problem of the spares, you would need time on hand to take care of your baby. Waiting for spares might make you regret on the decision. However, Spend another 1K on this car and you could beat any street racer hands down. Like I said, depends on what your expectations from the car are. However, if this is not so, and you jsut wish to drive around with your friends, then sticking to the swift would be a safe bet. Not only would it be a new car, you could go for the zxi which is quite good. Just remember to change the stock tyres to the michelins or the bridgestones or the yoks.
You could also check out the new "small" honda car which is due to come out in May/September and should be priced in your expected budget.

At the very end of it all, it's not the car that matters but the driver.
All the best and let us know what did you go for.
Cheers!
M2S