[srinath34]

Please read this before considering Duster/Terrano

Renault Duster scores 0 stars w/o airbag in Global NCAP tests

[justwheels]

Originally Posted by SpoiledBratt

Dear friends,
I am currently out in the market shopping for a new car where my running is around 75 KMS / day for daily office commute from Faridabad to Noida. And also would make once a quarter highway trips. Most of the times it will be driven alone and weekend getaways in a quarter with family. I got an offer from the dealer for 12.4 Lacs OTR faridabad for Vento TDI DSG Comfortline and 13 Lacs OTR for Skoda Rapid Ambition DSG. Do you think this is a sweet deal?

Other cars under consideration are Scross 1.3 Alpha (OTR 11.9), Ecosport Titanium TDCI (OTR 10.7), Titanium+ (11.40) and Duster RxZ AMT (OTR 14.1). I am in a big fix what to choose and very confused.
I need to finalize in next 2-3 days. Can experts help please?

With 75 kms per day of city drive, I would seriously recommend try getting an automatic. Your left leg will get a second life. Although choices in automatic diesel are quite few so you might have to extend your budget a bit.
With the horror stories of GNCAP ratings for Duster, it is a turn down inspite of the wonderful ride quality.
And equally scary are the DSG stories of Skoda. So if not an automatic, I will recommend the EcoSport (personal bias if space is not first priority) or S-Cross for a well built Maruti.

[SpoiledBratt]

Originally Posted by justwheels

With 75 kms per day of city drive, I would seriously recommend try getting an automatic. Your left leg will get a second life. Although choices in automatic diesel are quite few so you might have to extend your budget a bit.
With the horror stories of GNCAP ratings for Duster, it is a turn down inspite of the wonderful ride quality.
And equally scary are the DSG stories of Skoda. So if not an automatic, I will recommend the EcoSport (personal bias if space is not first priority) or S-Cross for a well built Maruti.

Thanks Justwheels. I have dropped Duster from my shortlisting now after this news broke out. Now the contenders are Vento TDI DSG Diesel, ES Titanium+ and Scross 1.3 in the order as specified. Scross I think I will be able to eliminate from this list and hence if I am not buying Vento then it is ES. I have been having sleepless nights just to finalize which one to go with. Because I have daily commute of 75Kms inclines me towards an AT while on the other hand it generates fears of being stranded on highways though I am not expecting highways trips to be more that 5-6 times in a year. It is a very difficult situation for me. I am certainly going to keep the car for atleast 5 years and might sell based on the condition of the car at that time.

[Nonstop-driver]

Originally Posted by SpoiledBratt

I am certainly going to keep the car for atleast 5 years and might sell based on the condition of the car at that time.

Why not the Baleno CVT? You could save some money while buying to make up for the extra fuel cost

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Nonstop-driver

Why not the Baleno CVT? You could save some money while buying to make up for the extra fuel cost

What a sensible suggestion!
A good looking spacious car.
CVT Transmission
Nice and comfortable
Maruti's superb reliability and ease of maintenance
Ideal choice in fact!

[SpoiledBratt]

Originally Posted by Nonstop-driver

Why not the Baleno CVT? You could save some money while buying to make up for the extra fuel cost

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

What a sensible suggestion!
A good looking spacious car.
CVT Transmission
Nice and comfortable
Maruti's superb reliability and ease of maintenance
Ideal choice in fact!

Thanks guys. But I dont trust build quality of Maruti at all. I am not sure how better build Scross is compared to other maruti products, but Ecosport for sure is better built that Scross (my perception) (no offence meant to anyone). I have always heard in general from fellow bhpians that Scross is the best built product from Maruti stable available today. Hence my choices are limited to only selecting from these 3 - Vento, Ecosport and Scross as of now and on the other hand wifey approved all but vento

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by SpoiledBratt

Thanks guys. But I dont trust build quality of Maruti at all. I am not sure how better build Scross is compared to other maruti products, but Ecosport for sure is better built that Scross (my perception) (no offence meant to anyone). I have always heard in general from fellow bhpians that Scross is the best built product from Maruti stable available today. Hence my choices are limited to only selecting from these 3 - Vento, Ecosport and Scross as of now and on the other hand wifey approved all but vento

Believe me, the S Cross is way superior to the EcoSport in almost every possible dimension. Except that it does not have an AT.
However, I would not buy the 1.3 S Cross, I would ONLY buy the Top Spec 1.6.
I have driven the S Cross and I like it so much that if I didn't already own a Yeti, I would have most certainly considered buying the S Cross.
The build quality and fixtures and fitting inside the vehicle are very very nice indeed upto and including the leather seats in the variant that I drove.
It is an excellent car. Truly.

Plus it is sufficiently uncommon so as to be a head turner. And Maruti's reliability, extensive service network and general spare parts prices etc are most definitely factors worth considering.

[SpoiledBratt]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Believe me, the S Cross is way superior to the EcoSport in almost every possible dimension. Except that it does not have an AT.
However, I would not buy the 1.3 S Cross, I would ONLY buy the Top Spec 1.6.
I have driven the S Cross and I like it so much that if I didn't already own a Yeti, I would have most certainly considered buying the S Cross.
The build quality and fixtures and fitting inside the vehicle are very very nice indeed upto and including the leather seats in the variant that I drove.
It is an excellent car. Truly.

Plus it is sufficiently uncommon so as to be a head turner. And Maruti's reliability, extensive service network and general spare parts prices etc are most definitely factors worth considering.

Thanks Shankar. Yes, I think I read somewhere in the forums here only - that if it is Scross it has to be 1.6. I agree hands down. I could have extended my budget to buy 1.6, but the issue is I am going to use it as my daily office drive for 75 KMS/day and hence based on the reviews the clutch seems to be bit hard from that perspective and i think I had a short test drive and I observed that as well. The clutch has a long travel in 1.6 while 1.3 clutch seems to be lighter and has much shorter travel.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by SpoiledBratt

Thanks Shankar. Yes, I think I read somewhere in the forums here only - that if it is Scross it has to be 1.6. I agree hands down. I could have extended my budget to buy 1.6, but the issue is I am going to use it as my daily office drive for 75 KMS/day and hence based on the reviews the clutch seems to be bit hard from that perspective and i think I had a short test drive and I observed that as well. The clutch has a long travel in 1.6 while 1.3 clutch seems to be lighter and has much shorter travel.

Even the 1.3 S Cross will be a better bet for that daily long drive, than an EcoSport will, for sure!

[SpoiledBratt]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Even the 1.3 S Cross will be a better bet for that daily long drive, than an EcoSport will, for sure!

Thanks Shankar! Let me discuss internally within family and come up on a conclusion.

[agambhandari]

For a 75Kms daily running in the city, you definitely need an AT and also a diesel one if i'm correct. For a reliable AT option in that segment the Duster AMT and the Creta AT are the only real options in diesel. For a Petrol one, there's a sea of options.

Since the duster is out due to the airbag thing,i would suggest looking at the Creta AT again, and if the budget is a stretch in that case looking at a used one. You'd be surprised to see easily 2 lacs off a lightly used one , about 10k kms run.

If you are okay with sedans, you should wait for the dzire, the AMT DDiS should be reliable and the space inside it also appears to be pretty good.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

For a 75Kms daily running in the city, you definitely need an AT and also a diesel one if i'm correct. For a reliable AT option in that segment the Duster AMT and the Creta AT are the only real options in diesel. For a Petrol one, there's a sea of options.

Since the duster is out due to the airbag thing,i would suggest looking at the Creta AT again, and if the budget is a stretch in that case looking at a used one. You'd be surprised to see easily 2 lacs off a lightly used one , about 10k kms run.

If you are okay with sedans, you should wait for the dzire, the AMT DDiS should be reliable and the space inside it also appears to be pretty good.

I agree on the AT part. But not on the Creta part.
The S Cross is vastly superior and much more driveable than the Creta in my book.

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I agree on the AT part. But not on the Creta part.
The S Cross is vastly superior and much more driveable than the Creta in my book.

I haven't driven them so cant say about the driveability, but definitely S cross does seem to have that european build quality which nobody really expected maruti to offer. But my suggestion is mostly because of the need for AT.

Otherwise S cross should definitely be in the running. The 1.6 has a bunch of Bhpian fans that have been corrupted by its massive Torque!!(think of it, 320nm, that's the same as your Yeti)

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

I haven't driven them so cant say about the driveability, but definitely S cross does seem to have that european build quality which nobody really expected maruti to offer. But my suggestion is mostly because of the need for AT.

Otherwise S cross should definitely be in the running. The 1.6 has a bunch of Bhpian fans that have been corrupted by its massive Torque!!(think of it, 320nm, that's the same as your Yeti)

Absolutely. When you accelerate in the S Cross 1.6, you get pinned to your seat, just like in the Yeti! Very difficult to get un-used to such lovely power.
The 1.3 is nowhere as good as the 1.6 but it does have the same build.
The Creta is not a bad car per se. But I don't like it too much personally because it has a very dark and dingy rear seat and makes one feel a bit cramped and gasping for light/ air. And it is quite tinny as compared to the S Cross.

[SpoiledBratt]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Absolutely. When you accelerate in the S Cross 1.6, you get pinned to your seat, just like in the Yeti! Very difficult to get un-used to such lovely power.
The 1.3 is nowhere as good as the 1.6 but it does have the same build.
The Creta is not a bad car per se. But I don't like it too much personally because it has a very dark and dingy rear seat and makes one feel a bit cramped and gasping for light/ air. And it is quite tinny as compared to the S Cross.

I am not considering Creta at all. I didn't like it personally for the same reason as you do. And hence it has to be between Scross and Ecosport. But I think considering and AT I am inclined towards Vento. Lets see what I finally decide but it is a tough task.