[mdsaab]

The civic is a fantastic drivers car, and has more than what you listed out in your requirements. The only drawback i see in the civic is the bootspace or clearly put the lack of it. While packing for a trip i always wish there was just that little bit more space. But have learned to live with it and pack lighter and more efficiently too. You should be able to get a better discount on the nov 2010 model which was offered to you. Around 1 lakh would be ideal. Dont forget to wave your checkbook in front of the sales rep, this almost always does the trick. Also before paying a cent make sure you visit the stockyard and thoroughly inspect your alloted car. No matter how much the sales rep says you cannot drive the car, make sure you drive it a few hundred feet atleast.

Hope the civic works out and i am sure you will love it. It truly is a fab car.
Good luck!

P.s remember to rub in that a new civic with sunroof has just been launched and that the sales rep is going to have one heck of a tough time selling and older 2010 model.

[Auto_Fan]

Update:
Visited Pandit Auto today morning at 10:30am. Had spoken with the sales person last evening that we will visit them with the family since my family did not see the car. I'm very pleased that I did visit the showroom. Here is why:
- This is the ONLY Tata-Fiat showroom in Pune
- The showroom is an absolute disaster. No place to park, no place to sit or walk inside. It's full with Tata cars. Nobody cares for anyone around. Even my sales rep did not show up for good 10 minutes after I walked in and called him on cell phone. T-Jet was placed among other cars - whatever happened to the exclusive place and coffee. Forget coffee, nobody asked even for glass of water.
- I had specifically taken a confirmed appointment since my 2 yr old daughter can't stay for more than 1.5 to 2 hours away from home. Still the demo car was nowhere around. When it finally arrived, it was with full of dirt inside out. My wife sat inside with a big Q - Is this REALLY a demo car?
- Before we get out for TD, I could see that the fuel tank was empty - asked about this to the sales person. He excused and went inside the showroom. Came back and asked us to get out and wait since he had to go to fill the petrol
- After 20 mins he came back. The fuel gauge was still touching E. He said he put petrol worth 500, and our TD started. By now, it was already 11:30 and we could take only a short TD since we had to head back home in time for my daughter's lunch time. I had taken the TD earlier anyways, so it was more for my family.

Overall impression from family was that the car was "good" - nothing spectacular. My wife specifically liked the sun screen at back, did not like the headroom at back, esp at left and right corners, and liked the size of the boot. We NEED big boot.

With the kind of attitude shown by Tata-Fiat I'm getting nervous. I mean c'mon, if this is the attitude before buying the car, what it would like when I got to them to sort out some problem???

In all probability, T-Jet is out of my finalists simply because of the dealer.

It's just going to be ANHC, or Civic. Going soon for Civic TD. Will keep everyone posted.

In the mean time, thanks a ton to everyone who provided their great inpunts - I'll reply to everyone by tonight.

[GTO]

Considering that the next-generation Civic has already been unveiled (Link to thread), and that it will be headed to our shores in 2 or 3 quarters, I don't think it's a good idea to spend 15 lakhs on a Civic today. Also keep in mind that you can get 2 - 3 year old Civics for as low as 7 - 8 lakhs.

In your case, and if you're open to buying pre-owned (which I highly recommend), start searching for used Civics. Plenty of cars available with <25,000 kms on the odometer at 1/2 the price. And a used Civic will blow away any new 10 lakh rupee sedan in terms of overall product.

If, on the other hand, you must buy new, test-drive the ANHC / Linea T-Jet / Vento diesel and update us. Each of these sedans has a long list of pros & cons, well-discussed on the forum (use the search tool). You could also wait for the next-gen Civic which will be safer, faster etc. But please, don't spend 15 lakhs on a new Civic today.

[mdsaab]

I do agree with GTO here, if you can wait for the new civic there would be nothing like it.

Else my second choice would be the ANHC.

Although to the mind the current civic does not make economic sense. It still is a car which pulls hard at the heart. If it were me i would still put my money down on one, but would chose the one with a sunroof.

[nanduchitnis]

Civic: Have money will buy. But Value For Money?
ANHC: 11,000 kms done in 2 months. One accident. Bill Rs 41 k all covered and paid. Please go for Zero Depriciation Insurance.
Fiat T-Jet: Linea a hugh plus plus. Dont worry too much about after sales service.

Go where your heartakes you.

Regards

Captain Nandu Chitnis

[drrajasaravanan]

Hi
Have to agree with GTO. If you can find a pre owned civic it would be great. But buying a civic when another new version is going to get launched might not be a good idea. I am currently looking for a preowned civic. Unfortunately in chennai the resale value of civic is bit on the higher side so have to wait it out till the new version is launched. I visited the tata showroom today and their approach sucks big time. Forget buying any product from them. Hope you take the right decision. Cheers.

[ampere]

Add to as said above, the new Fiesta is also due to make appearance soon!
That also should be added to you decision.

[Diesel9999]

Originally Posted by drrajasaravanan

Hi
Have to agree with GTO. If you can find a pre owned civic it would be great. But buying a civic when another new version is going to get launched might not be a good idea. I am currently looking for a preowned civic. Unfortunately in chennai the resale value of civic is bit on the higher side so have to wait it out till the new version is launched. I visited the tata showroom today and their approach sucks big time. Forget buying any product from them. Hope you take the right decision. Cheers.

TATA motors pre sales people sure dont know how to handle and sweet talk customers, but their after sales customer care is surely fantastic. They honour their warranty very positively and proactively and that makes some of the unreliability of the cars quite bearable

I had a hard time convincing Maruti guys to honour the warranty in my Dezire when the front suspension packed up at 12,000Kms. They said "you must have driven very rashly sir and we are not responsible for that! ". I had to fight big time with them.

Whereas for TATA, I never have any trouble convincing the service center that something packed up because of their fault.

[Sn1p3r]

I was in the same dilemma in May/June '10 but at that time Tjet and Vento were not in market. I bought ANHC due to my everyday commute and style. w.r.t Civic (we had it in family replaced with Superb 1.8) I am quite happy with the car.

If given an option for petrol car today, I would still buy the Honda.

Hope this helps. Cheers!

[suhaas307]

Have you considered the Vento? It's a wonderful car. Great levels of refinement, good performance and solid European build-quality. Expect it to be brilliant around the bends as well, as most Euro cars stick to the road like leeches to skin.

I'd suggest you wait a few months as there are several new cars on the cards. The new Civic should be something to wait for, although you might have to shell out a premium for that.

The new Fiesta should be out some time soon as well, and it's one helluva looker. And trust Ford to make a car that handles like a dream and performs better than cars a class higher.

If you are, however, in a hurry to purchase the car, then I'd suggest you look no further that the Linea T-Jet. It's a fantastic all-rounder, and ticks every box.

[Auto_Fan]

Update:
Did TD of Civic last evening. It's a great car for sure! Liked the seating, power, and handling/ride. Much better than ANHC (of course!). To my utter surprise, the boot is VERY small (for a car of size of Civic) - smaller than ANHC!
With the feedback from GTO and others about the new Civic around the corner, and the small boot size (one of my imp requirement is to have large boot), I think I'm not going to go for Civic. As it is, I was looking at it more from an opportunistic view anyways, so I'm not disappointed.

@fiat_tarun: As I mentioned earlier in my post, T-Jet is a great car but dealer in Pune is not up to the mark. So I will most probably not buy T-Jet.

@Rohit_Tripathi, ampere: I can't wait so I will pass the new fiesta. I haven't got time to figure out the details of new fiesta yet, but if the cabin space is going to remain same as that of current fiesta, I wouldn't buy it for sure. We had one and sold sometimes back.

@noopster: Agree with you re: your reasoning between Civic/ANHC and your own decision between Vento AT and Laura. Regarding Vento petrol, I somehow did not find it that fun to drive as compared to ANHC. That is the reason for dropping it. Maybe I'm wrong, but that is what my heart said...

@bluevolt: Agree with you. In all probability I'll have to drop T-Jet because of the dealer in Pune.

@RemingtonSteele: Thanks for your detailed reply. I sent you a PM.

@Diesel9999: Agree. I don't think we have issue with ground clearance in Pune (at least for the roads on which I drive). As such I have never EVER srapped bottom of any car I drove in last 10 years - Indica, Accent, Esteem, Fiesta, i10, Swift, et al. Some of these were known for scrapping bottom (at least when they were introduced). Just my driving style won't let me do that. So I was not worried about that for Civic.
For the Tata ***, I know it quite well. I have 7 yr old Indica with me - but I never visited Pandit auto for my car. It was always B U Bhandari (who was a Tata dealer until sometimes ago). Pandit, OTOH, is a different story altogether, IMHO.

@mdsaab: Thanks. I did find Civic's boot small. I have to drop it because I don't find it worth spending 4.3L more. I also hear from other members that new Civic is around the corner.

@GTO: Thanks for stopping by. Agree with you on the Civic. I have decided not to buy the Civic
About pre-owned Civic - Pre-owned cars just don't work in my family, so I don't have that option.
I did take TD of all 3 - Vento, ANHC, and T-JET and have some of my readings in the initial post. Based on those (and other things such as delivery time of Vento Diesel), I'm currently leaning towards ANHC, although that was my last choice. What an irony... But then, the world is full of them

@nanduchitnis: Thanks. What is zero depreciation insurance? I'll check with the dealer as well.

@drrajasaravanan: Thanks. As I mentioned, the pre-owned cars never work in my family. Sort of a sentiment thing.. Can't help it.

@Sn1p3r: Thanks. It certainly does help. As I mentioned, I'm leaning towards ANHC as of now.

@suhaas307: Yes, I did look at Vento. Please see my opening post. And I can't wait, so fiesta is out of question. For now, T-JET has a bit question mark in my mind because of the dealer.

Folks, thanks a lot for your inputs. Keep them coming!

[RemingtonSteele]

Originally Posted by asw

Your opinions are very much biased and many of them are incorrect

I respect your opinion about me, thank you for letting me know that, let the thread owner take that call.

[PAVAN KADAM]

These are very peculiar 3 choices you have.

ANHC - A well refined entry level Sedan. A wise buy. Only if they had a Diesel version, it would have been icing on the cake.

T-Jet - An exciting car in both forms, Fantastic T-Jet, THE BEST DIESEL - Quadrajet.

Civic - This is a different car all together. Sporty, Comfortable and expensive. If you can get hold of a good used one at a nice price, you can skip both the above cars.

All the best.

[RemingtonSteele]

Originally Posted by Auto_Fan

@nanduchitnis: Thanks. What is zero depreciation insurance? I'll check with the dealer as well.

@Auto_fan: As I said earlier CIVIC is the best choice (as of now).
ANHC is a best overall package (read it best compromise) which you won't regret.

Above is a very important point raised by Captain.
Zero depreciation insurance is strict Yes Yes. Crystal Honda is offering free insurance, I believe its a dealer offer and not from the manufacturer's offer. Zero dep insurance comes at a premium and the dealer as every reason for not offering it if he is offering it free.
As some one said earlier; after all the negotiations are done, then wave the cheque book and ask for Honda assure zero depreciation insurance into the same offer , waving cheque book always does the trick.

One more thing, the dealer will be at height of desperation if you book beyond 28th of this month, you can actually strike many good deals just before March ending closure.

If you are going for the finance, the same thing applies. Finance comapanies get desperate during month ends and their knees go week during March end, try to begin finance negotiations beyond 25th of March, stretch and pull them down.
If you are going for finance then as always SBI should be your first choice. HDFC can be a first choice when it comes to private banks.
PM me if you need a good HDFC higher level contact in Pune to strike the deal. But do your finance institution home work before, to strike the right chords.

[devarshi84]

Since you considered Civic, Did you also look at Cruze? Why is Cedia thrown out of your list? Both are fun to drive and both have a good boot. Even Toyota Corolla with right set of tyres will make a nice performance car and looks decent in black.

Between a T-jet and ANHC, Please do check that Honda cars are High-revving Vtec gems but lack low-end torque usually needed in city driving. I own a Jazz and have to upshift frequently. Fiat on the other end is a half baked job. Between the two I will still vote for T-jet first.