[vkumars]

Mods : This a slightly long post. Please cut to multiple posts if so required.

Problem : How to avoid spending Rs.25K, the following months.
Solution : Spend Rs. 275K immediately.


Background :
It all began in March 2011, when I got a call from my insurance agent that the insurance for my i10 was about to expire in April. That set the ball rolling, so to say.

At that time, I was a completely (almost) satisfied owner of a Hyundai i10, which had run 40000 km, in just under 3 years. My only grouse was the mileage she was returning in the city, 11-12 kmpl with 100% AC on ( I was happy with the highway mileage of 17-18 kmpl, again with 100% AC on). Other than this, there were complaints from rear seat passengers while travelling on bad roads (which you can't avoid in Kerala). I was not too much worried about this, since I was rarely a rear seat passenger.

I normally like to keep my cars for at least 5 years. Before the i10, I had owned an Alto which I sold in 2008, after having run 60000 km in 5 years. I had plans to keep the i10 also for 60000km (or at least 50000). When my insurance agent called me, I immediately thought of Rs.5K which would be required in April. Unfortunately, that was not the end of the list.

I religiously service my vehicles, every 6 months. My next service was due in April. The car also had a dent on the passenger side front door where a scooter had tried to get too familiar with her. That needed attention. Now, while buying the car, I had got Underbody coating done (gives me peace of mind, if nothing else), with a warranty for 3 years (fine print might be mentioning a lot of unhelpful points). I had plans to get the coating done again.

Even after 40000 km, my car was still running on stock tyres. I knew that I would be getting a new set in the recent future. There might also be need for a battery change. Everything worked out to a tidy sum which I would have to shell out if not tomorrow, definitely the day after.

It was at that time that a new idea began to take shape. Why should I wait for 50000km before buying a new car ? Why not sell the i10 and buy a new car ? In the last few months my monthly running had also gone up to 1500 km per month. So buying a diesel hatch might also reduce my monthly fuel bills (wishful thinking, this. My experience so far has been that, the miles run increase so that original fuel expenditure remains constant).

By the end of the week, I was firmly decided on exchanging the i10 with a diesel hatch. But then, the million dollar question. What car ?

The Contenders:
I wanted a diesel hatch with good ride quality and lots of space (especially in the back seat), which also did not cost the earth. Seriously, there were only two contenders from the very beginning - Vista and Figo. I liked both. Of the two, Figo was the drivers car, while space was better in the Vista. Both were truly VFM. Both had some niggles which one had to live with. Both had inconsistent Service Centres. I finally chose Vista (I must admit that Gemi's Figo thread almost made me choose Figo).

I normally buy cars with no frills, only the essential features that I require and add what all accessories I require from the outside. So I chose the QJD Terra model - Arctic Silver, which came to Rs.507K on road in Trivandrum. My dealer was Mohandas Motors (chosen after reviews by JKDas and others).

Buying process:
The buying process went smoothly. I got a reasonable exchange value for my i10. Got Central Locking, Seat Covers, Mud Flaps, Steering Grip, Floor Mats and Underbody Coating as freebies. Paid the balance Rs.272K and got the Vista registered.

Delivery:
There were some hiccups during the delivery. The car was registered on a Saturday. They promised to deliver the vehicle on the next Monday by 4 P.M. Since I was without a vehicle at that time, I told them that they had to to stick to the delivery schedule.

At 12 noon on Monday, I got a call from their office that my car would be ready only by Wednesday. When I asked them why they could not deliver on Tuesday, they said that they thought I would not be taking it on Tuesday since it was not an 'auspiciuos' day.

I lost my temper at that time and firmly told them to make the car ready by Monday evening and that I would take it in an 'as is where is' condition. It worked and I finally got my car in a 'finished' condition by about 6.45 P.M.

What I liked more:
1. Huge Space
2. Excellent ride quality. Eats up bad roads.
3. Nice gear shifts - Not much different from i10 shift quality
4. Silent Diesel engine (Here my experience was been with Ambys and old gen. Indicas. I feel Vista engine is less noisy when compared Figo engine also).
5. Easy to drive in the city. Keep her at the right speed and in the right gear and overtaking is a breeze.
6. Light clutch. Not much of a strain on the left foot in B2B traffic.
7. Road presence, especially during the night. Trucks move over, thinking that a 'big' car is coming.

What I liked a little less:
1. Interior fit and finish quality (when compared to my i10). But nothing to raise a hue and cry about.
2. I thought AC was not very effective with a full load of people.

What I liked far less, even though was prepared for that:
1. Some niggles. One was noise coming from my front left suspension whenever the car went over some bad patches on road. The other was some 'tinny' noise coming from the central console.

What I liked far less, and was not that much prepared for:
1. Brakes. I had felt more confident in my i10. Good thing is that my cruising speed has come down and economy has improved.

Modifications:
Nothing much. Spent around 11K to get Pioneer 2390 + 2 speakers (front) - Pioneer + 2 back - JBL.

Owning her:
So far I am completely satisfied. I feel I have got more than what I paid for.

I have covered more than 2000 km (in less than 5 weeks) in cities and highways. The mileage has been 13-14 kmpl in city and 18-19 kmpl in highway (100% AC on).

The first service was done at 1000 km at Mohandas motors. The service experience has good. Both my niggles were taken care of during first service. Only thing is that there seems to be some communication gap between their Service department and office. A few funny incidences.

1. First I had tried to book the first service over internet. The Tata Motors website did not show Mohandas Motors address. So I tried to book a service over Mohandas Motors website. I could not book the service since a login ID was required. I was informed that someone would get in touch with me. Since nobody did, I called them up and booked the service over phone. Today, almost 2 weeks after the first service, a lady called me and asked whether I had requested a login ID and for what purpose (lol).

2. On the next day after the service, I got a call from a lady from their office enquiring whether the first service way OK. When I replied in the affirmative, she asked me whether I owned a Vista or a Nano .

3. Today, I also had another call from them, saying that my Vista was due for first service.

I would capture some pictures and upload them during the weekend. Signing off for now.

[sachinj12]

Originally Posted by vkumars

1. First I had tried to book the first service over internet. The Tata Motors website did not show Mohandas Motors address. So I tried to book a service over Mohandas Motors website. I could not book the service since a login ID was required. I was informed that someone would get in touch with me. Since nobody did, I called them up and booked the service over phone. Today, almost 2 weeks after the first service, a lady called me and asked whether I had requested a login ID and for what purpose (lol).

2. On the next day after the service, I got a call from a lady from their office enquiring whether the first service way OK. When I replied in the affirmative, she asked me whether I owned a Vista or a Nano .

3. Today, I also had another call from them, saying that my Vista was due for first service.

I would capture some pictures and upload them during the weekend. Signing off for now.

for this, but.

Congratulations on your new car. Drive Safe :-). Many happy miles go you!

[Saanil]

Congratulations on your new car. If you do not mind me asking how much did you get for your i10?

[Naparajito]

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[gemithomas]

Congrats. Thanks for the mention. Its really good to hear that people are taking my thread seriously. I think i should now ask ford for some incentives

Vista indeed is the real VFM car. I think it really has much MORE to it than what we pay. I really liked the anniversary edition they had earlier with the leather dash. The only reason i did not want a Vista was the service issues i faced with my FIAT.

Some detailed pics would help

[smrtdvl]

CONGRATS & Welcome to the Vista club. As rightly said Vista is the best VFM car as of now. Being a proud owner of a Aura ABS i can say the moment my family took a test drive of her she swept them off their feet. Just like you Gemi's thread had already inclined me towards Figo but the family was in all praise for the Vista so bowed to the family

My vista is @ TASC for her first service so will hit the initial ownership thread sometime next week.

[vkumars]

@sachinj12:
Thanks for the wishes.

BTW, I finally got the Mohandas login ID today. A lady called and told me that they could not contact me before this, since there was an error in the e-mail address which I had entered on their web page. So they were contacting me by phone (number of which I had entered correctly). And, it took them more than 2 weeks to find out that the e-mail address was in error and phone number was OK (lol).

@Saanil:
Thank you. I got Rs 210K + 25K exchange bonus for the i10.

@gemithomas:
Thank you. Your thread is something which I have closely followed. BTW, I doubt whether Ford would be too inclined to give any incentives. At least, two people, myself and smrtdvl, took your thread very seriously and bought the Vista instead (just joking).

I hope that with Mohandas Motors around, I would not be facing the service issues that you did.

I would upload the pictures this weekend.

@smrtdvl:
Thanks for the welcome. It is nice to be a part of the Vista family. It seems you also went along the same path as I did, before buying the Vista.

Hope you have a good service experience. Looking forward to your ownership thread.

Nice review. Parents are planning to go for a diesel hatch. Right now trying to decide whether to go for Figo or the Vista. Or then wait for the Beat diesel for another 2-3 months.

This review helps make up the mind.

Congrats and thanks.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please use the "edit" button if posting within 30 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

[anshul_UVA]

Nice review. Parents are planning to go for a diesel hatch. Right now trying to decide whether to go for Figo or the Vista. Or then wait for the Beat diesel for another 2-3 months.

This review helps make up the mind.

Congrats and thanks.

[shankar.balan]

In 2006 I was faced with the same sort of choice as you've put down below.

My parents 7 year old Esteem VX was beginning to give trouble and would have created considerable expenses over the next few months.

So we elected to sell it on and got around 200K for it at the time. Putting in another 250K we got a brand spanking new V2 DLG Turbo Indica.

Last year (2010) that Indica had hit 32k kms so we spent another 40-50K on getting it up to scratch in terms of a general refurbishment (full servicing, revamped seats and interiors, new tyres with an up size, new alloys and so on) - It has done only 34K so far as of now and is good for atleast another 3 years/ 20k Kms in my opinion.



[quote=vkumars;2326323] Problem : How to avoid spending Rs.25K, the following months.
Solution : Spend Rs. 275K immediately.

[vkumars]

@anshul_UVA:
Thanks for the comments.

If it is for your parents, you can safely go for the Vista. One point which I did not mention in my review, but can be a deciding factor, is the ease of entry and exit in the Vista. You don't have to bend down to enter. Also, if your parents are going to be in the back seat, then there is really no choice. Nothing beats the Vista back seat.

The beat is a good car. I know a couple of very satisfied beat owners. Beat diesel is also likely to be winner. Problem could be : You might have difficulty in finding a comfortable position in the driver seat if you are not very tall. The rear seat of course cannot be compared to the Vista's.

If you are going for the Vista, expect some small issues to crop up now and then. Make sure you have a service centre to take care of the issues and you won't be disappointed.

@shankar.balan:
Well, well, well. And, I was thinking that I was the only one with such 'ideas'. Any way, happy to know that am travelling along a well trodden path.

BTW, the Indica Turbo (especially the DLG and DLX versions with Turbo and Intercooler) was one of my favourite cars. Really changed the concept of an affordable 'performance' diesel.

[bigvishnu]

VKumars, hope the Vista is doing great!

have been a silent follower of your thread, and last month got the new Vista VX.

would be good to hear from you on your experiences, niggles and other related stories. Also, did you do any more mods ? how is the FE? how about the AC? actually, a lot more questions. a detailed post with some pics will be great.

my initial ownership experience can be found here.