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View Poll Results: I regret my car buying decision due to:
Financial difficulty (EMIs of new car) 9 6.21%
Financial difficulty due to rising fuel costs 15 10.34%
Financial difficulty due to maintenance costs 6 4.14%
Boredom from the car 12 8.28%
I do NOT regret buying my car 111 76.55%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 145. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 19th June 2012, 20:25   #16
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Re: Reality bites! - The car purchase you wish you hadn't

I do not regret buying my Palio Stile Multijet. However, I did regret it about two years ago. It so happened that my then employer got out this car lease policy wherein the employee pays only the ex-showroom price (and VAT on the monthly lease rental), and company pays everything else (road tax, insurance etc) for 3 years.

So I went for Palio (since I wanted a diesel car, and my other 2 options were Swift and Indica).

However, after 2 years or so, the organization's policies had changed and (in my opinion) employees at my level (neither too high up, nor too low) were unnecessarily burdened. I wanted to quit the company, but I loved my car too much to return it to the company and forget about whatever I had paid. I also had absolutely no money to pay the outstanding lease amount (including company's contribution).

I was forced to continue for another 9 months, and I quit the company with just 3 months lease remaining (and I ended up paying only 13.5k extra, which was not bad).

I cursed myself for those 9 months. I hated going to office, but I had no choice.

Once I got the car in my name, I have been happy, happy and happy.
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Old 19th June 2012, 21:03   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by noopster View Post
I have to be honest: I covered 30,000 km last year.
Sorry for going OT
You're in real catch 22 situation. @30K per year neither driving comfort nor mileage and running cost per km can be overlooked.
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Old 20th June 2012, 09:09   #18
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Re: Reality bites! - The car purchase you wish you hadn't

Voted for A.

The car is not a regret, no sir not a bit. The term decision is. I took a bold step and bought a fully loaded Fiat Punto 90 hp Tuscan Wine (that adds 5K to the total, btw) on a bank loan for only 3 years term. Now the EMIs are hitting me hard. It takes out significant chunk of my monthly take home. But back of my mind I always feel good that this is gonna end SOONER than a 5 year or a 7 year loan.

Given that my usage is moderate and the car being a diesel workhorse, my fuel bills are not high. Hence, I can hedge my expenses on that front.

Last edited by SankalpDesai : 20th June 2012 at 09:10.
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Old 20th June 2012, 11:04   #19
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Re: Reality bites! - The car purchase you wish you hadn't

Ditto as Sankalp ji just said. It's the decision that i sometimes regret. I bought the Beat after the fuel prices were DE-regulated, but honestly, I never guessed the prices would take off this drastically. Ending up with 8-9k fuel bills every month which was perceived to be around 5-5.5k at the time of purchase. With the difference of 3k i could have easily afforded to pay the differential EMI for an entry level diesel hatch and enjoyed the consequent benefits.The loan gets paid off by October'2013, but by then the fuel prices would most likely touch the ozone layer, so no relief at sight.
The only solace lies in the niggle free car(touchwood) and very low maintenance costs(to early to judge at 30k?).
As for the car itself, I'm not going to part with it anytime soon. It has been a very loyal companion and i feel inclined to return the favor. I'm not going to drive conservatively either, that marginal difference in FE doesn't make sense at all. Rev freely as long as you can afford!
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Old 20th June 2012, 12:12   #20
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Re: Reality bites! - The car purchase you wish you hadn't

Back in 2010, I decided on purchasing i20 magna pertol. I liked the interiors and the huge boot compared to swift.
i20 Magna was 5.51 L on road in PUNE
SWIFT Ldi was 5.40 L on road in PUNE

Though the swift was devoid of all the features which i20 had, I selected the swift for its diesel heart.

I ended up spending 6.2L which includes ICE(35K), ALLOYS(18K) and TYRE UPSIZE(14K), CENTRAL LOCKING (7K), FRONT POWER WINDOWS (6K).

Jaggu's swift ownership review thread was of great help in the decision making process.

In 2.5yrs I clocked 23,000 kms. In retrospect I sometimes wonder I should have gone for VDi.

Trips done
PUNE > BANGALORE > MYSORE > BANGALORE > PUNE 2143 kms
PUNE > HYDERABAD > PUNE 1200kms
PUNE > JAIPUR >DELHI >PUNE --3334 kms

No regrets whatsoever.
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Old 20th June 2012, 12:23   #21
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I don't regret buying the Chevy Beat. However when I look at the fuel prices and the kind of money I need to shell out for petrol I wonder if a Beat diesel would have been a better choice. Of course last year it didn't exist. However if the scenario does not change my future cars would not be running on Petrol.
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Old 20th June 2012, 14:24   #22
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Re: Reality bites! - The car purchase you wish you hadn't

I don't regret buying my car for any of the reasons.

* Never had the financial difficulties, so #1 is ruled out.

* Fuel costs are low for me. That's because my daily running/mileage is nothing to write about. In 1yr 11months of ownership, I have covered only ~5500 kms. So even though it's a petrol car, I don't really spend a lot on fuel bills. (** This may change in a year or so)

* Maintenance costs are next to nil. If you consider ~1200/- as the cost of the free services then this amount is negligible as compared to some of the service bills of the other cars. Spares are pretty cheap too.

* I never got bored of my ride. And looks like I won't be bored at-least for a few more years.
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Old 20th June 2012, 16:16   #23
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Re: Reality bites! - The car purchase you wish you hadn't

Quote:
Financial difficulty (EMIs of new car)
3 cars completely paid off (or bought outright). Only the Sunny has EMIs, but the savings in petrol alone pay off the EMIs.

Quote:
Financial difficulty due to rising fuel costs
Nothing beats the pleasure from a sweet high-revving petrol. I'll enjoy high-revving the petrol Honda even if petrol costs 200 bucks a liter.

Maybe it helps that the other 3 are diesels

Quote:
Financial difficulty due to maintenance costs
Jeep, Civic & Sunny (still under 4 year warranty) are trouble-free. The Mercedes is a terror to own from time to time (read once or twice a year, when things fail).

Quote:
Boredom from the car
Carefully planned garage so not applicable. Jeep, Civic & Merc are fun. Sunny is b-o-r-i-n-g & driven by chauffeur.

Quote:
I do NOT regret buying my car
Voted proudly!
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Old 20th June 2012, 17:15   #24
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Re: Reality bites! - The car purchase you wish you hadn't

Well, I bought a FIAT ! And that too, a Punto 90hp which barely sells. But still, I dont regret that I bought my Pintu.

But yes, when I bought the car, my daily running was approx 45 kms a day. Considering the rise in petrol prices, I thought its a wise decision to buy a diesel hatch. But my family liked the Linea instead of the Punto. I liked the Punto more as it was a hatch (more sporty) and this was for city use only, then why to unnecessarily lug the boot of the Linea around? The Punto came home...

But now my running has come down to around 10-15 kms a week and some short drives with friends once in 2-3 months! :-/
If I knew this was going to happen, I would have bought the pocket rocket - the Linea T-Jet.

Last edited by raj_5004 : 20th June 2012 at 17:17.
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Old 20th June 2012, 20:16   #25
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Re: Reality bites! - The car purchase you wish you hadn't

My first car was a Swift VDi and i upgraded to VW Jetta. If i regret i am such a douche to not know what i have.

I absolutely love both the cars though i sold the Swift.

I will add an A Star or an i10 and i will not regret that either as i do a lot of research that satisfies MY needs and more than my needss.
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Old 20th June 2012, 20:58   #26
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Re: Reality bites! - The car purchase you wish you hadn't

The owner (my Dad) doesn't regret this purchase, but somehow I don't relish driving our 2007 Swift 1.3P Zxi.

Redline each gear and it is fun, with the wide tyres and good handling making the drive more interesting. But drive it normally (who anyway redlines all the time)
and it is a pain due to the lack of low-end torque - the engine is as good as dead below 1800rpm or maybe even 2000rpm. It would be wrong to compare the
1.6litre engine of the Baleno to this car, but as a datapoint, at 1000rpm (just 300 rpm over idling rpm), the Baleno is alive and kicking. You can potter through
town at that rpm with the car in 5th gear at a speed of ~40kmph, without the engine lugging or feeling strained.

The Swift1.3 in comparison needs atleast 50kmph before you can think of slotting it into 5th and even then it feels like a strain.
I would have still been OK if atleast the car compensated this by giving great FE, but that is also not the case - the bigger engined Baleno again beats it in FE.
The only redeeming feature is the safety provided by the car - dual airbags, ABS and great handling and here it beats the Baleno hollow.

I won't say I am bored driving it, but would have like it better if it had the K-series engine. Wish we had bought either the Diesel Swift (did not go for D
since our running is very low - 26K kms in 5 years) or had waited for the K-series engined Swift (did not know they were coming with a better engine).

Quote:
Originally Posted by noopster
I covered 30,000 km last year. Assuming I cover the same distance this year that is close to 2.4 lacs in fuel costs alone which is just ridiculous.
A diesel would cost about HALF that to run.
Being a 2006 model, yours is also the 1.3litre Esteem engine. What's the FE you get in city and highways ?

Last edited by supremeBaleno : 20th June 2012 at 21:22.
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Old 21st June 2012, 10:45   #27
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Re: Reality bites! - The car purchase you wish you hadn't

Should of added after sales service from dealer. Hating my superb because of them. I am now trying to self diagnose the car whenever random lights come on
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Old 21st June 2012, 15:08   #28
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Re: Reality bites! - The car purchase you wish you hadn't

My car was delivered on the day the decision to raise pertrol prices by Rs7+ was announced. Perfect timing!

And to top it off - It's an automatic


Still, I don't quite regret it. I'm having fun.
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Old 21st June 2012, 16:27   #29
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Haha. This is hilarious. I can only imagine what you must have gone through. What car is this?

Also welcome to the TBHP family

Quote:
Originally Posted by the.city
My car was delivered on the day the decision to raise pertrol prices by Rs7+ was announced. Perfect timing!

And to top it off - It's an automatic

Still, I don't quite regret it. I'm having fun.
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Old 21st June 2012, 17:22   #30
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Re: Reality bites! - The car purchase you wish you hadn't

Had an esteem of 97 vintage which was bought towards the end of 2006. Spent more than the cost of the car on it to get it to shape, hence regret the decision as 'maintenance was too much'.
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