[shancz]

Originally Posted by newuser24

- I would rather go for the 1.5L + venti-seats than the 1.0L so that I have a more powerful engine for my future needs allowing me to retain the car for a lot longer.

- Any thoughts on this folks?

- Getting the 1.5 DSG is satiates the power needs but your requirement on performance (point 4) was adequate not exemplary
Anyway if you decide in the 1.5 DSG I advice people to get max warranty (6 years at present), adhere to the maintenance schedule and set aside 3 lakhs in a "DSG fund" if/when you need to repair the DSG unit after the warranty period is over.

- If you're going to use it sparingly then it doesn't make sense to spurge that much, IMHO. Just get what meets your requirements with reasonable maintenance.
I would also suggest looking at the Brezza and look at which model meets your requirements rather than desires. If the VXi meets your needs then get that rather than getting the top which has a steep price delta.


PS :
Also check out and use the multi-quote feature (How to MULTI-QUOTE (when replying to a thread) on Team-BHP) so we get notifications when you reply to any posts

[EVMAN]

Hi! newuser24, I am exactly in same boat as you. However this is not my first car and my budget is 20L.
My requirements are similar to your
1) First and foremost is safety - One big reason for not shortlisting Creta and Selatos.
2) Reliability - I like my cars to be reliable. Just routine service should be enough to maintain them.
3) Comfort - for my family and me especially on long highway drives.
4) Fuel efficiency - I am expecting monthly running of 4-5K kms.
5) Performance - I am a sedate driver. But it is always good to have power.

I also took test drive of I am MG ZS. I was simply blown away by the performance. It tick all the boxes. I am big fan of EV's. I don not have range anxiety issue. my only problem is I have no way of charging it at home or office. Otherwise this would have been my choice.

I took test drive for strong Hybrid Hyryder just after 30 mins of taking test drive of MG ZS. It was just a formality as I knew after any EV test drive ICE cars will feel very dull. But I was surprised how it drove. Especially the pick from stand still was similar to EV. It was a short test drive but it convinced me Hybrids are interim solution till the time I figure out how to charge them at home.

We keep our cars for long. By long means till the time NGT allows us. My current car is about to complete 15 years by end of this year. Another car at home will complete 15 years in couple of years. Maybe at that time I will go for the EV.

I had already ebooked Hyryder on the 1st day of booking itself. I will most probably will be going with the top model of Hyryder which is 22.5L on road Delhi.

Looks are subjective but please visit showroom of Maruti and Toyota to have a look. Both look better in person. Please do test drive of both the cars and decide.

[Sidjohri]

Voted for 'Others'. Go for the New Grand Vitara or Brezza - MS' solid reliability, ample features and exceptional ASS will give you unparalleled peace of mind and miles of uninterrupted driving pleasure. Their build quality has also improved considerably. Go check them out in flesh & blood and pick a variant of your liking.

[PrasannaDhana]

Is it mandatory that you spend 25 lakhs on the car?

You are a beginner with majority usage inside city. Why not buy something slow like a punch or Renault kiger (non turbo)? Get experienced in driving for a couple of years and then get a 100+ bhp car?

I am bigger than you and I had no issues driving/traveling in either of those cars.

Don't go for the bling right now. Just hone your driving skills and then we shall jump to the fun category

[klassics45]

Originally Posted by newuser24

Hello everyone!

I am looking to buy my first car (also driving for the first time) with a maximum budget of 25L. Here are my requirements in decreasing order of importance.

I would love to hear your thoughts on my shortlist and any other suggestions you have.

Taigun should be the perfect car for you. Please don't listen to people who advise about getting a small car or a used car. It's all about getting used to the vehicle and it will take a week or two. Just drive slowly for a couple of weeks so you can understand its size and power.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by klassics45

Taigun should be the perfect car for you. Please don't listen to people who advise about getting a small car or a used car. It's all about getting used to the vehicle and it will take a week or two. Just drive slowly for a couple of weeks so you can understand its size and power.

Disagree totally!

Getting used to the vehicle is one thing- the ergonomics, dimensions and handling characteristics

Getting used to power is another thing - a 70 bhp car takes time to hit 100 kmph, while doing illegal yet very common highway speeds beyond 130 kmph is almost impossible. While a Taigun (not even talking about 1.5TSI) will hit 100 kmph within 10 seconds and keeps pulling beyond that very effortlessly.

A beginner has to get accustomed not only to his car and that power, but also in reacting to how other road users behave at various speeds. I drive 130 km on a daily basis on an average. I see atleast 3 to 5 idiots daily who would end up in an ICU or worse in a mortuary if the other driver hasn't been careful enough to evade/avoid them in their path.

If I am asked by a beginner rider on what motorcycle to buy, and if he says he can spend 3.5 lakhs, I would recommend him a decent 125 or at most 150cc commuter bike so that he can understand the motorcycle as well as the behavior of other road users before graduating to more power.

What you are suggesting is like suggesting a beginner to buy a KTM 390 because he can afford it.

Do all beginners on a KTM 390 end up crashing? No

But

Is the probability of beginners on fast bikes crashing more than that of beginners on slow bikes crashing?

Absolutely yes!

I am not saying the OP doesn't know driving. I am suggesting a safer path of getting experienced in a safe car that can't get to crazy speeds quickly so that even in the case of some error or carelessness, the OP could still end up free of an accident or injury.

[klassics45]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Disagree totally!

I'm taking the optimistic route that the beginner will accustom to a 110 bhp car and you are taking the conservative route that is better to be safe than sorry.

It depends on the driver. He might feel the car is fast and be cautious or get excited and drive even faster.

[Girish_Umre]

I must admit, it feels good to be writing down about my dilemma here although I am not sure if it is that big of a predicament as I think it is.

But you see it's a matter of Heart over mind. The Heart desires for the classy and elegant VW Taigun whereas the mind has been busy processing data thrown at me by the world (By world I mean Family, Friends, Google) and it has zeroed down on one name it has heard most frequently, the bold and hulky XUV700. The mind has every reason not to follow the heart here simply because it got a lot of flak the two previous instances it did. Let me explain.

It was the year 2013 and the humble yet mighty Omni had already served us for 6 years. It was our daily commuter to work and had seen numerous trips to Mysore, Bandipur, Coorg, MM Hills and Nandi Hills. But that was it. Dad was too fearful to let me take it elsewhere except for the mostly straight and boring BLR - MYS road. Nobody in the family owned a new car at that time. There were 2 more omnis apart from ours and a couple of used Zens and santros and strangely even they stuck to the same BLR-MYS road. Then one of my uncles upgraded to a new swift vxi and another bought an i20 magna. Like most Indian families it didn't take long for us to follow suit. Dad greenlighted our search and entrusted me (a bluff) with the responsibility to finalise a good car (Read low maintenance and excellent FE aka Swift petrol). He in his mind was fixed on the swift and let me select the variant and color. I who was going to drive our new car 99% of the time has no say in the selection and this did not sit well with me primarily because the swift petrol didn't excite me. Well, if it was entirely upto me I would have bought a used Chevy Optra SRV 1.6 or a used Palio. I knew better than take the names of these two cars in front of my dad as he would realized that his son wasn't as wise as he thought him to be and doubled down on the swift. But I was too young to be wise. Nonetheless, I went to the maruti showroom with my mom and carefully and repeatedly stressed on the one thing which would provide me an opportunity to convince him to look elsewhere. The waiting period. And it worked! Next option. The i20. I immediately shut it off by telling him that Hyundai focuses more on the gizmos and tech rather than the car itself. Which car was on my mind he asked. Skoda rapid I replied. He had no idea about Rapid and hadn't seen it but agreed to visit Skoda showroom with me the next day. I was joyed but it was short-lived. "All eyes (bad eyes) are going to be on us if we buy this car boy",(meaning big car = big money in everyone's eyes) were his first words as he set eyes on the rapid. The rapid was rejected rapidly . Managed to convince him to at least test drive the Fabia just to drive home my point that it's not just maruti and hyundai that know how to build a car. To my horror the Fabia TD vehicle was a diesel (petrol was away on a home TD) which had terrible lag, engine was very loud with too much vibrations. My dad gave me a look which I definitely don't want to remember. "Just book the i20 tomorrow" I was ordered. So much for my plan (I'm not sure if I had one in the first place). Visited Trident Hyundai Sadashivnagar the next day to book and was offered a TD. Having already driven my uncle's magna I was enquiring more about the feature spread across variants. The 1.2 MPI NA on the i20 had more or less similar numbers as the swift and with no other play up my sleeve, finalised the sportz 1.2 MT, unwillingly went ahead with the booking. Fortunately and just randomly I thought of calling my childhood bestie, a big motorhead himself, before booking and what a good thought it turned out to be. After hearing me out he was curious as to why I hadn't given VW a try and I narrated my ordeal at skoda to him and that I expected something similar at VW. "Don't Underestimate the German's macha"(slang in kannada for dude) was his reply, which was enough to convince me to visit the nearest showroom and I knew the VW palace cross was less than a couple of kms away. Straightaway left for VW and enquired about the POLO, VW's only car I could afford at the time. The display vehicles were a silver petrol highline and a white GT with all the sports body kit which left me drooling, but how does it feel behind it's wheel. Was offered the TD and I took it. It was love at first TD. The fist thing which impressed me was the low end torque. No frequent downshifting required. The power available at any gear was better than any maruti/hyundai I had driven. I loved the robust note of the engine. Suspension was setup perfectly for all roads provided you were at the right speeds. The interiors was laid out well with good quality hard plastics. Nothing premium but excellent bang for the buck. The seats were comfortable. Good audio setup. Ergonomics were spot on with loads of storage space. But, all these observations were mine (the driver) and not a single thought about the rear passengers. The rear width was less than manageable for three adults with poor leg room. No rear AC vents! No rear camera. As I said, these cons weren't even noticed. I had made up my mind. It was going to be the POLO and nothing else. I kept telling myself that I was the one driving it and I've covered everything (from my point of view only). Mustered enough courage to break this news to my father but only after discussing various aspects with the SA, mainly those which I anticipated my father would use to try to convince me otherwise. As expected he came at me with higher cost of service/spares, reliability, FE and our skoda experience. But I had ready answers for all his queries and he angrily agreed to ok the booking mostly because the SA promised delivery in ten days. It was a silver colour and I had a trouble free wonderful 4 years with the polo. Even my dad made peace with all the cons and genuinely, but never around me, appreciated the polo. Sadly my dad's lower back problems were so bad that even getting in and out of the low hung rear seat was becoming a painful affair, let alone sit in it for longer durations. I had loads of fun driving the polo and would rarely give up the driving seat to anybody but I had to upgrade to a SUV or a CSUV. The good thing however was that my Father in law bought it from us and I could use it whenever it was free.

Not much of a heartbreak there as the same day (in the month of Apr 2017) I handed over the polo (ODO 36K kms), we bought home a cayenne orange Renault duster 110ps rxz manual. Other cars considered. Top contenders were the Brezza and the Ertiga. And, yes you guessed it right, these were my dad's choices. Rejected the Brezza just because there were already so many of them on the roads. And again I was still too young to be wise for the Ertiga. The Ecosport was close to be chosen but I sat in the rear seat and chose not to. I felt more alive behind the wheels of the duster than the creta. Some other reasons for buying the duster. NOT A SINGLE OPTION FROM VW IN THIS PRICE RANGE!! Ingress and egress is no longer as painful for my dad as it was with the polo. Superb suspension setup makes spending longer durations inside the car more comfortable. Powerful 110ps with 245nm torque. Huge boot space. Big discounts on offer. My wife and I just loved the facelifted duster especially in cayenne orange. This is my present ride. Everybody from my family have absolutely no issues with the duster and see no reason to upgrade. It is I who no longer enjoys driving this on the highways. Why? The NVH levels and the wind noise make me go crazy at times. The stock speakers were the worst (Don't the French enjoy some good music?) and even though I upgraded with Rs 36k worth JBL GTO range speakers with amp, the NVH levels are just too bad over 80kmph to enjoy the music. Frequent downshifting to the first gear required as low end at second gear is non existent. Outdated interiors make Squeaky noises and rattles over bad patches of road. Although I have got used to it, the ergonomics are all over the wrong places. The AC cooling is not adequate on hot summer days. The high pressure fuel pump was replaced under warranty due to adulterated fuel as per the ASC! Due to Covid lockdown the EW was extended by a month(Fuel pump failed in the month of May 2021) and this saved me from being Rs. 57k lighter(replacement of fuel pump). The vehicle has made 4 trips to the ASC since (towed twice - the first time EGR was replaced under goodwill and the next visit was due to rodent bite). From the time the vehicle is out of warranty, ASC staff appear to be waiting for the annual service to rip me off. Ever present fear of the notorious fuel injectors which many other duster owners claim to have left them stranded on their highway runs. I was aware of most of the above listed troubles at the time of booking but the fuel injector issue is making me anxious. It is indeed a gamble if I decide to take the duster on any long journeys.

When I had to upgrade from the polo, I was so mad at VW for not having a car in the csuv segment and was eagerly waiting for the day they woke up from their deep slumber and realized the potential. I was mad that they have taken 16-18 months from showcasing the concept to actually launching the taigun/kushaq twins and it appeared that even 16-18 months wasn't sufficient as their products were found with 'n' number of niggles with concerns over the compromise in build quality and evident cost cutting which led me to believe their products are also overpriced. So I decided to ignore the VW twins.

Mahindra has done a excellent job with the xuv700. My brother in law bought an MX petrol recently and I went with him. I Test Drove it, fantastic in every way, no complaints whatsoever except for one thing which I'll explain later. The thing that stuck me with me the most is the bang or buck. At 18.5 lakhs (with some accessories - rear camera, alloys), this has everything you deem a necessity. My entire family including my in laws are for the XUV700. But it's too big for my liking. I'm not saying I would go for it if the 700 was smaller. All I'm saying is that I don't like driving cars of this size. I don't know why either.

Meanwhile 5 star safety ratings were awarded to the twins.

The brilliant showing at the GNCAP crash tests allayed fears over their build quality and I went ahead and booked a Taigun GT MT recently. But the lessons learnt (?) from past purchases are haunting me here. The rear seat width of the taigun is still not enough for 3 healthy adults. And what's with the rear seat design? Secondly both my parents and wife don't like the little brotherish size. Road presence matters to those who matter to us. Finally, even though I loved the Taigun as a package, does it qualify as an upgrade to the poor yet proud Duster.

PS. The KIA's and Hyundai's are not to my liking.

[sunikkat]

Good read, straight from the heart.

Looks like you are already sold to Taigun. The only deal breaker here would be rear seat space, it cannot fit 3 adults comfortably. If you can make peace with it, go ahead with Taigun. There are no better CSUV than Taigun GT and Kushaq 1.5 at that price range.

[Learner]

Dear BHPians
A friend needs advice regarding his new car purchase. Please guide him

"Seek your guidance in choosing a car for my family. We're planning to buy our first car, from the compact SUV segment which will mostly be driven in the city and occasionally on highways. After test drives, have narrowed down my search to 2 cars: Taigun 1.5 DSG and MG Astor 1.3 Turbo (TC). Liked the interiors of Seltos and Creta as well but ruled them out because of safety concerns.

While Taigun is definitely more fun to drive but it is a big stepdown interior wise and features wise as compared to MG.I am also worried about VAG DSG gearbox reliability. Have read multiple stories online of DQ200 breakdowns. Don't want that fear on the back of my mind everytime I drive.
Wife is more inclined towards Astor because of its interiors and lovely sunroof. Also it comes with reliable Torque Converter. Two worries I have with it is the low mileage (have seen it as low as 5-6 in some reviews) and also not sure about the brand MG as it is relatively new in India, and therefore no long term owner reviews available.

If anyone has experience with any of the 2 cars or have any suggestions, would greatly appreciate. Thanks."

[Col Mehta]

MG Astor anyday!

For those high quality interiors (far better than those disappointing ones in VW/Skoda twins), a more reliable TC gearbox and better road presence. The 1.5 TSI DSG is an amazing car to drive though (ofcourse reliability is a big concern with DSG). The recent safety rating of 5 star is a big plus, but then the Astor is an international product with good safety rating and by the look and feel of it, it does feel like one.

[agambhandari]

Since you will be driving mostly in city and lesser on highway, I believe the best choice is infact the 1.0 TSI AT Taigun, it is infact faster and smoother in the city then the 1.5 DSG and is yet cheaper and more reliable (at least the gearbox). Astor is more show than go and even the 1.0 TSI is faster than its 1.3 Turbo.

[FiatDiesel]

Originally Posted by Learner

Two worries I have with it is the low mileage (have seen it as low as 5-6 in some reviews) and also not sure about the brand MG as it is relatively new in India, and therefore no long term owner reviews available.

If anyone has experience with any of the 2 cars or have any suggestions, would greatly appreciate. Thanks."

Well I own MG Hector diesel for last 18 months now and I can vouch for brand and ASS. Quality of car is very good and they are responsive, attentive and take steps to keep customer happy without additional costs.

One of my friends own petrol Hector since 2019 and have adapted the driving style to ensure 10+ mileage. I tease him sometimes of why not Maruti for mileage, his response is that experience of car is not comparable with anyone.

Go for ASTOR.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by Learner

If anyone has experience with any of the 2 cars or have any suggestions, would greatly appreciate. Thanks."

My experience is only wrt to small test rides, but with my limited knowledge and the test drives, I would suggest the Astor anyday ( especially with your requirements).

About your two worries-

1) Mileage - It should 10-12 in city once you get accustomed to it's driving style. Also ensuring auto hold is disabled will improve the mileage by 1 kmpl.

2) MG Brand - I haven't owned any MG vehicle. However, with all the ownership reviews of zs ev and hector on TBhp, I believe the owners have only good words to say about the MG

[shamanth]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

Since you will be driving mostly in city and lesser on highway, I believe the best choice is infact the 1.0 TSI AT Taigun, it is infact faster and smoother in the city then the 1.5 DSG and is yet cheaper and more reliable (at least the gearbox). Astor is more show than go and even the 1.0 TSI is faster than its 1.3 Turbo.

Having driven VW T-Cross R-Line in Europe, same as VW Taigun 1.5 TSI. I test drove MG Astor mainly because Taigun here don't have ADAS unlike it's Euro counterpart.

But impression of Astor compared to Tiagun is like a segment lower, than Tiagun in terms of engine performance, pickup, the way it drives in high speed.

And ADAS in Astor is no way precize as VW T-Cross I drove in Europe. Does not inspire confidence at all.

Wish VW had released the model of ADAS tiagun would have booked it right way.