[SAS]

Originally Posted by rrsteer

Safari is proving tough to sell. The high odo reading is the major issue. 3.25 lakh is what am being offered.

Don't just blindly go on the odometer reading. If you have maintained it well and serviced it regularly with oil changes on time, etc, then it shall serve you well till around 200000 kms. I would suggest you keep the safari for at least 5 years after which most of the problems come up.

From personal experience of owning a high mileage santro and alto, the santro was less reliable and had more parts replaced although it was driven lesser than the Alto. Reason being it was around 2 years older.

I would suggest you keep both cars. Your safari till around 5 years and the M800 till 7 years.

[rrsteer]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

This which car question was driving me & my family crazy. At various times we checked out an Altis, Innova, XUV, Duster, Etios, Manza, Safari, Ertiga, Ritz and even a Thar. Every day there was discussion around this which would end up going round in circles. Finally, today I went ahead and made the booking.
We booked the Etios Diesel GD with the safety pack. Quite surprisingly, the car was made available to us within 2-3 days. I don't know what possessed us but we made the booking for delivery in October of a car available almost off the shelf!

Any which ways, I look forward to owning the Tata Safari (my existing car) & Toyota Etios. I must say no one in the family except for me wanted to do away with the Safari. It looks like for a long time our garage will consist of only Toyota & Tata. While like many of my ilk, who as they grow older, become risk averse and want to play safe with money become die hard Toyota fans, the ladies of my house have fallen for the space & comfort of the Safari and don't seem to look beyond it.

[rrsteer]

Originally Posted by rrsteer

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!
We booked the Etios Diesel GD with the safety pack.

Unfortunately, after having booked the Etios I was left unconvinced that the right decision was made. So it was back to the drawing board again.

I will quickly list my 3 major requirements below:

1) The car would run a lot. An average of 3500 km per month

2) We as a family of 5 adults tend to travel together a lot. So the car needs to be spacious & comfortable

3) Should be a great highway cruiser

Given the time I have spent on thinking about the new car purchase, I have distilled 5 cars and need to choose one among them. I'll request your help in choosing one. I have listed my options below in order of my preference


Toyota Innova:

Positive: No one can go wrong with this.

Negative: The engine is not powerful. Also, I like the 2+2+3 option. So one member has to sit in the last row. That last row is not fit for 4 members among us. Which effectively means my sister will always be confined to that last seat.


Tata Safari Storme

Positive: We all love the Safari. The additional improvements speculated for the Storme, would make it the best SUV in the markt, atleast in my eyes.

Negative: The people working with Tata Motors are discouraging me to buy the Storme. They insist, buy the present Safari. Why? They tell me I will most certainly face issues with getting replacement parts, should I land in such a situation. And I just can't afford a downtime with my car.(This situation plagues the Aria too, and my brother faced this)


Mahindra XUV 500

Positive: Overall a good car with great features and comfortable too

Negative: Mahindra dealer in my city is pathetic and to add to that the car itself is troublesome.


Nissan Evalia

Positive: Its hugely practical for my need. And that claimed FE of 19kmpl, hurts no one.

Negative: The LOOKS! Everyone positively hates it for that


Mahindra Xylo

Positive: The space & the engine. Apart from the fact that it will be cheapest to buy.

Negative: Everything else.

[madan80]

Originally Posted by rrsteer

1) The car would run a lot. An average of 3500 km per month
2) We as a family of 5 adults tend to travel together a lot. So the car needs to be spacious & comfortable
3) Should be a great highway cruiser

Toyota Innova:


Tata Safari Storme

Mahindra XUV 500

Nissan Evalia


Mahindra Xylo

Negative: Everything else.

Am I missing something or have you left out the Maruti Ertiga - the LDI comes with ABS, great for Highway, sufficient for 5 adults and enough luggage space. Also, the maruti network is good.

EDIT i forgot to check if youve bought something already - considering the last post was August '12.

[rrsteer]

Originally Posted by madan80

Am I missing something or have you left out the Maruti Ertiga - the LDI comes with ABS, great for Highway, sufficient for 5 adults and enough luggage space. Also, the maruti network is good.

EDIT i forgot to check if youve bought something already - considering the last post was August '12.

I bought the Innova. The Ertiga was small for our needs and the rear bench felt uncomfortable. All other cars that I mentioned were atleast a size or two bigger.

[madan80]

Originally Posted by rrsteer

I bought the Innova. The Ertiga was small for our needs and the rear bench felt uncomfortable. All other cars that I mentioned were atleast a size or two bigger.

Nice! Thanks for the update. So have you retained the M800 or the Safari?