[bangaloreguy]

Voted : Other (Nissan Kicks 1.3 Turbo CVT)
It offers excellent value for money. The Jeep Compass petrol AT is also a fine vehicle if you can stretch.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by sid3091

Hello everyone,

I just sold my ford ecosport, and are looking for a suitable replacement.

We also have a 2015 renault duster AWD which we'll be looking to trade in (or sell if the trade in values are crap).

I haven't driven the harrier yet, but considering its size, I won't really be pushing its limits too much.

Both Ecosport and Duster have impressive handling.

Specially being used to the ecosport, Harrier steering will feel like a disaster at high speeds around curves. It is too sensitive and remains so at speeds. It does not weigh even a little as speeds go up.

The 2.0 diesel is so much fun though. It's capable of serious speeds effortlessly, but what's the fun when the steering Spoils it?

My suggestion: Pre-owned Jeep Compass 2.0 diesel. It's the perfect upgrade from an ecosport

[sid3091]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Both Ecosport and Duster have impressive handling.

I've told the VW/Skoda/Kushaq dealers that I'm going to wait. I hope the new T-Roc will launch this year. For approx 24-25l OTR Delhi it makes the most sense to me.

[heydj]

All SUV in this choice are almost same and differentiated a little here and there in terms of specs.

Jeep Compass is a desirable product however in my view reliability is going to be a concern so why take the trouble & financial pain.

Few years back I used to let my heart decide what to buy and ended up getting Rapid Tdi over Hyundai/Maruti options. Till date I am paying for that with no end in sight.

Hence Creta gets my vote, it has almost everything plus Hyundai reliability.

[garybella]

Even I am in a same confusion. Confused between Taigun and Kushaq's 1.5 manual. I have test driven Kushaq but not taigun. I have found Kushaq to be a good ride and handler, just that on sharp bumps the suspension makes noise.

I drive mainly on Highway and bad roads and for me I'll pick one which provides good comfort on bad roads. I know both cars are same but I have heard that suspension setup in both cars are different. I am more inclined towards taigun (as it is cheaper, better fuel efficiency of the two with few misses and also looks good IMO) though but have not driven it yet.

Just because of good ride quality, I was about to pick Tata Nexon but dropped my plan as there are too many nexons we see on roads these days.

[Kaus2002]

Originally Posted by sid3091

Thank you. Since I can't locate the edit option I'll just add them here:

@sid3091: a lot of new vehicles planned for this year.
If you can wait and hold on your Duster for a while you may see some good options coming in.
Nobody knows the actual timeline of these cars, since you have an option to wait, you can take this chance. Following vehicles you can consider ..
1. Creta rival from Tata
2. Creta rival from Toyota/Maruti.
3. New Sub 4m from Jeep.

In case you are planning to wait, why not book a XUV700 along side. In case if you don’t find anything that you are looking for in next 6 months, you would be Somewhat close to getting this car delivered to you .
I am pretty sure it will tick most of you check boxes, take a test drive and see.

[arungoks]

Hi,
I have been a Team BHP reader for so long and have learned more about cars than from any other blogs or videos from here. So I am asking for advice of the BHPians about my next car.

Current Car: I drive a first generation Celerio VXi AMT. While I have read a lot of reviews/comments about how annoying AMT is, I have no complaints about the gear box. It's been with me for more than 7 years. The car was mainly used for going to office and usual grocery runs. It has only 34450 KMs on its odo. Last ~2 years, running has been next to nil, thanks to COVID. So I am planning to keep the car with me if everything permits.

Need for change: My native is 8 hours drive away from my current location. We used to go in train. But COVID brought the need for a safe, reliable car which I can take for such long drives. I have driven the Celerio on couple of long drives, and I can say that it's not built for that purpose.

Requirements:
1. It should be an automatic - my years in the US changed my mind about automatics. Now it's a must have for me.
2. Should not be too big - While I appreciate a full blown SUV or a Sedan, I don't want to drive one, at-least not in India.
3. Good GC
4. No Sedans - Somehow I have developed an aversion towards them.
5.I don't care about sunroof/subwoofer/mood lights etc. But then I will be going for the top model, so I think some of these will be present anyways.
6. Budget is 15-16L.
7. I am a very sedate driver, so the figures like 0 to 100 in x seconds doesn't matter to me. The car should take me from point A to point B, with some comfort.

Shortlist:
1. Ecosport Petrol AT - I finalized on this, but then came the news. So I had to remove it from the list. Still I am mentioning it here because I really liked the car.

2. Sonet GTX+ DCT - Liked this car. Not sure about the crash ratings, but it has a lot of safety features, so I think those should compensate for the rating, not sure though. Another problem for me is the DCT, this thread is giving me some confidence but I would still prefer some advice.

3. Sonet Diesel AT - I am not sure if I need a diesel car for my usage. Also the whole DPF issues are making me stay away from diesels. Then came this thread (All your questions about DPF & BS6 Diesel answered by a Diesel Calibration Engineer) where I could see how to manage the problem or avoiding the problem. Still I can't decide on this. I can take it only for long drives, and Celerio can still work as my daily driver.

4. VW Taigun 1.0 AT - This is beyond my budget, but I can safely stretch it. Also this will give more sense to the decision to keep my Celerio.

5. Brezza 2022 AT - I can wait for it's release as I am not in a hurry. Anyways, this will be out of the shortlist if they still put the 4 AT in it.

Wife didn't like the looks of Magnite, Kiger or Venue, so I don't think there is any point in discussing them.

Compared to Taigun, I didn't like Kushaq, so not counting it in. Current S-Cross is also not in the list and I don't see any news about the new one coming to India.

I have driven Sonet DCT and current Brezza AT from this list. Liked Sonet as it's a new car, has every feature. If the new Brezza gets the 6 AT and new interiors, then I would say it will give some serious competition to others in my list.

I am looking forward to suggestions and opinions from the forum, also if I have missed out on any options, please let me know.

[asmr]

Originally Posted by arungoks

Hi,
I have been a Team BHP reader for so long and have learned more about cars than from any other blogs or videos from here. So I am asking for advice of the BHPians about my next car.
...
I am looking forward to suggestions and opinions from the forum, also if I have missed out on any options, please let me know.

Disclaimer: I own a Taigun 1.0 AT Topline, driven 2030kms in the 2 months I have owned it. January was a flop due to the Covid wave. Have posted a review in the Initial ownership section too, if you are interested.

8 hrs on Indian roads can mean anything between 400-550kms with sedate driving and breaks in between. If you are making many such trips in a month, it might make sense to go for a diesel vehicle.

That said, if you are going for a petrol vehicle, do keep in mind that Taigun 1.0L will give you max mileage even on the highway ONLY if driven sedately. Other than that one concern, plus the lack of under-body protection, I haven't faced any issues with the vehicle.

Superb ride quality, very comfortable seats (front ventilated ones), very good touchscreen console, very spacious interiors, excellent fit for both city and highways driving - these are all the plus points. Service and customer care experience is ok this far (great buying experience for me though!) but remains to be seen how it will go in the future. And as it stands, 2022 models of Taigun come without some features due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage.

Interestingly, in your shortlist, Taigun is the only 4.0m+ long vehicle and the others are all sub 4.0m. I had looked only at the Creta & S-cross before I ended up buying the Taigun. It was a conscious choice not to go for sub 4m vehicles since most have cramped 2nd rows.

So, if you can stretch to 20L or so OTR and need a car right away, I would say go with the Taigun. If not, you should wait until the 2022 facelifts come your way.

[AjinkyaP]

Originally Posted by arungoks

I am looking forward to suggestions and opinions from the forum, also if I have missed out on any options, please let me know.

How about MG Astor?
Super 1.5 CVT fits in your budget.
Its neither too big nor too small, NA petrol + CVT should rule out any reliability concerns plus the value for money proposition is highest in the segment IMHO.

[KuvamBansal]

Hello Everyone.

This is my first post on T-BHP. Became a member recently after following the forum for over a decade. Pls excuse the mistakes.

Being a car buff all my life, I never imagined I'll be so confused in buying my first car. So, I request my fellow enthusiasts to kindly guide me home.

About us: Ours is a 3 member family with me being the youngest at 29 years old, staying with my parents. We have previously owned a Maruti 800 (1992, 1999) and Maruti Zen (2004). Currently we own a Nissan Sunny XL Diesel (2012). The car has served us really well with no complaints. It has run 78,000 Kms with no fuss. Since we stay in Ghaziabad (Delhi-NCR), we need to replace it soon since it completes 10 years in May'22 and becomes obsolete. We would have loved to hold on to our car for a couple of more years if not for the stupid NGT regulation

Requirements & Constraints: We are looking for petrol MT car in the range of ~15 Lakhs on road (with hard cutoff of ~16 Lakhs). We are very sedate drivers and never cross speed limits. Even on highways, we generally drive at 90-100 KMPH only. We are open to considering all body shapes but Sunny's boot space has spoiled us, so hatchbacks have been ruled out. We generally keep our cars for 10+ years. Also, not ready to take the pre-owned route. Since we have been driving a sedan for 10 years, we have always been conscious about speed-breakers and big potholes. The car has scrapped underbelly occasionally but nothing major. Thus a higher GC will be most welcome. We began TDing the cars last weekend and below is the list of cars considered:

Shortlist

Honda City
City has been our aspirational car from the word go. Even when we brought the Sunny in 2012, City was the top contender and lost out only because it didn't have a diesel mill. Coming back to the 5th gen City, we really loved its elegant design when it was launched last year. Visited the showroom this month to see the car in flesh for the first time. Really loved the car's exterior and interior. However, the headroom felt a little inadequate. Sunny offers much better headroom and City made us feel claustrophobic. Also, GC felt inadequate and thus we didn't even opt for a test drive.

Maruti XL-6
First car we test drove in our search. The main intention was to see the comfort of captain seats since parents are growing old. The interiors felt rudimentary. The NVH levels also didn't seem par and overall it was a pretty poor experience. However, will take a pause to applaud Nexa dealership. The car was vacuum cleaned before the test drive and dealership was very professional and courteous.

Kia Seltos (HTX 1.5L MT)
Immediately after driving the XL-6, we entered into Kia showroom. Initially, it was ruled out due to questionable safety rating, however since the showroom was just next to Nexa, we went in. Again a very courteous staff and were offered a test drive straight away. We were very impressed by the interiors, airy feel of the cabin and NVH levels. HTX model was decided and we were almost convinced of booking the car.

Tata Nexon
Next day, we thought of exploring the Nexon since everyone talks so positively about the vehicle. Entered the showroom and it was a mela out there (Sunday). However, staff was courteous and TD was offered. We didn't like the car since the TD vehicle was poorly maintained. Door-pad had cracks and the text on the push button had faded off. Also, the car felt a segment lower when compared to Seltos, thus we decided the drop the car from the list.

MG Astor
Since we were in Patpargang, wherein we have all car showrooms within 500 mtrs, we decide to check out the Astor as well. Again very friendly staff. We liked the car with nice interiors and pano sunroof. However, post the TD, felt that the roof-lining is very thin and car (with pano suroof) will be a hot chamber in peak Delhi summers. Thus it was decided that only variant without sunroof will be considered. Only concerns seem to be MG being a new and relatively unknown brand.

Skoda Kushaq (1L TSI MT)
Skoda was ruled out due to horror stories on the forum and issues faced by Kushaq owner's when it was launched last year. Casually walked into the showroom with no intention of taking the test drive. After taking a look at the car, the SA tricked us into taking a TD. We told him that we'll take TD only if he allows us to take it to the highway to check its performance. He promptly agreed and this was probably the mistake we made. We took it to the Hindon Elevated road - a more than 10 Kms access controlled road with sparse traffic. We floored it to 140 KMPH and it was rock solid. We were might impressed. Only downer were the hard plastics, slightly smaller cabin and dark theme which makes it look even smaller.

Just to be sure, we went back to Kia again and TDed Seltos on the same roads again at similar speeds and difference was clearly visible.

We have been impressed with Kushaq and I request fellow members to guide if we should go-ahead with Kushaq or stick to the likes of Cretas and Seltos'. Our main concerns mentioned below:
- Skoda ASS horror stories in terms of both cost and reliability. In our 3 decades of ownership, we have faced Nil breakdowns (we are not even sure how will we react if our car breaks down in middle of a trip )
- EPC issues, Rattles and other minor irritants being reported on the forum and fellow members complaining that the car is not of the usual Skoda quality (although we are moving from a Japanese brand and driving Skoda for the first time, thus have been pretty impressed)

Pls also let us know if we have missed any car that we should be considering.

Thanks a lot everyone for going through this detailed post. Looking forward to your valuable suggestions.

[vinitbarve]

Originally Posted by arungoks

Hi,
I am looking forward to suggestions and opinions from the forum, also if I have missed out on any options, please let me know.

I went through similar phase last year, will keep it simple
1. Safety Ecosport and VW Taigun win hands down. I own a taigun 1.5 GT and built quality is sturdy. Had a minor skirmish, but the car took the hit better than what my earlier Maruti took.. so if safety and built quality are your priorities, these 2 brands will score above Kia and Maruti

2. Brezza is the cheapest and most economical, so most pocket friendly

3. Sonet HTX/GTX offer best features, adequate boot space, light steering, comfortable handling. Turbo lag is annoying though.

So decide your priorities and go for the car and rank them by the best weighted average scores

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by KuvamBansal

Pls also let us know if we have missed any car that we should be considering.

Thanks a lot everyone for going through this detailed post. Looking forward to your valuable suggestions.

I would suggest wait for Slavia. Being a VAG it will definitely be fun to drive and might be more than Kushaq (assuming) considering its a sedan. More practical too with higher GC (though I dont like that in a sedan) and has a bigger boot.

If in your place will wait for Slavia or go ahead with Kushaq.

I might be in the minority, but I am an extremely happy Skoda customer - both with the car and service

[nadbe]

Team,

Needed inputs from the team members. I am looking for a car since May 2020.

Out of contention cars: Compass/tuscon- going out of budget, dont want to spend more than 24L on these, don't have much running , may be less than 8K a year, hence not looking at diesel ( will help avoid DPF regeneration routine as well). No clarity on new launches for city hybrid, s-cross upgrade, tuscon, TROC and the above 2 cars have relatively smaller waiting period.

Eventually I drilled down to following 2 options with relatively less waiting time
Taigun - GT plus
Alcazar petrol AT top model - 7 seater

I know the car belongs to different category, but my family size 5 with 2 kids below 5, so I was looking for 5 seater with decent boot space for luggage requirement. Hence have came down to above 2 options. For alcazar expecting last rows to be folded for 90% of the time, hence the increased boot size will be utilized. Though somehow attracted towards Taigun more, but limited boot space compared to alcazar ( with folded 3rd row), make us tilt towards Alcazar.

Note: I came from Honda Brio boot, so not sure if I am overthinking about boot requirement :-).


Which vehicle makes more sense?

Option B : Buy my relatives 25K run 3 years old Tata tiago AT and wait on the sidelines for some more time.

[kosjam]

6 months down the line, and it is surprising to see the poll results, with the Jeep Compass being the highest polled vehicle, and the Hyundai Creta not even coming in the Top 3.

Juxtaposed to this observation, is the fact that Hyundai Creta is the most consistent performer on the sales charts, be it MoM or YoY, while the Jeep Compass doesn't come even in the top 10 SUVs sold.

Two inferences can be drawn from this,
1. TeamBhpians, because of their inherent nature (like minded petrolheads) are not the best representation of the average buyers of vehicles, who primarily buy vehicles for commuting rather than as experience/love for the road

and/or

2. When a poll of this type is carried out, which is mainly academic in nature, people tend to poll with their hearts being given priority rather than the cold hard choice they would actually make if they were to put down their money right now.

Any opinions?

[Night Raven]

Voted for the compass. Actually I voted for the compass with my wallet too, about a month back.

Our beloved Punto had crossed one lakh kms in January. We had started looking for upgrade options since December 2021. Options considered were the top end variants of Taigun/kushaq, Seltos, Slavia and even Verna turbo. Only petrol automatic variants were considered.

One fine day went out to do test drives with my wife. Just thought of dropping in to the jeep dealership because it was on the way to Kia and VW dealerships, even though we had dropped the Compass from our wish list due to budget constraints. There was a 1.4 petrol sport manual getting ready to be delivered. Just had a look at the interiors and we both fell in love. The Taigun and Seltos even in their top trims felt a segment below after the test drives. Booked the 1.4 sport petrol a month later and got it delivered in the second week of February.