Hi All,
We are a family of four living in Pune. We never owned a car; mainly because we never required it all these years. Recently (now that its been so long we never had a car) I brought up the topic of buying a new car. I was kind of tired riding my Honda Unicorn and Honda Dio to Office/ Restaurents / Hotels or damn, even parties sometimes.
So finally Dad gave in and we decided to buy our first Car.
The Hunt:
The rising Petrol cost was a concern and in the next 2 years when, most probably, petrol touches Rs.90/litre most of the cars would retire into showcases.. So one thing was for sure that it had to be a Diesel Car. Due to this decision the choices that we had reduced.
Dad gave me a budget of Rs. 9 lakhs. And for a Diesel car under that Budget, as I said, the choices were limited. I wanted to buy a good car as well and not settle for a very small car.
So my initial choices were as follows: Swift Diesel/ Hyundai i20 Asta/ FORD Figo/ FORD Fiesta Classic/ Volkswagen Polo/ The low end new Verna Fluidic/ Skoda Fabia.
The Swift had an excruciating 7 month waiting period. Sometime I don’t understand how a company can do business when its competitors are providing a competitive product in under a month/ month and a half.
Volkswagen Polo was out of choice as there is only one Service station in Pune 18kms from where I stay. The Skoda was out of scope even in my dreams. I personally have 2 friends who are members of the hallowed “Ex-Skoda Owners Club” and very soon my neighbour, a director, will also follow suit after his company stops paying his (on an average) Rs. 30000-per-servicing-cost.
The choices finally came down to the FORD Fiesta Classic and the Hyundai i20 Asta. The Fiesta was for Rs.7,96,000 approx. and the i20 was for Rs.8,08,000 (All on-road-mid-June 2011 figures).
I realized that for the same price the i20 was offering a huge load of features. Not that the Fiesta is a bad car- it’s a great make but then we never travelled long enough to be able to do only with the boot-size of a Sedan.The only thing it brought to the table was the boot and the i20 had a decent sized boot. The Verna Fluidic low end version was in the budget but then the 9 Lakh version is really a Low-End. It has absolutely no features and it’s a 1.4L in the usual 1.6L variant range.
This is perhaps the time when I came across the Team-BHP Community. After doing a lot of reading across the community, a test drive, I decided that It would be a Hyundai i20 that will be our first car. I thank all the people who have posted reviews about these cars.
I inquired about the car in two showrooms. Kundan Hyundai and Sanjay Hyundai.
Kundan Hyundai is essentially a two – wheeler dealer (from what I came to know) who recently entered the 4-wheeler market. The showroom is small and the Sales Executive was not ready to tell me what freebies he could throw in for me.I kept him on hold and went to Sanjay Hyundai. Sanjay Hyundai is one of the oldest Automobile dealers in Pune and also the most respected fellow. The showroom is huge and the service station is also very big. The Sales Executive was friendly and was ready to talk to me about giving me a good deal. Both Showrooms matched the price though.
In the meantime the Pune Mirror (A Times of India Supplement) ran a news article-front page- about some discrepancies in a sale conducted by Kundan Hyundai. Some internet searches also didn’t yield very favorable stories. I decided to go to Sanjay Hyundai. I had choices.
I paid an advance of Rs. 25000 for booking money and told him that I would pay the rest in 15-20 days. (I got the car without Loan.)
Freebies:
The dealer was ready to give me a Cash Discount of Rs. 3000; Leather Seat covers (Beige and Brown combination); Car Body cover; Filming (Though not very dark); Floor Mats and Mud Flaps.
Though I think that I spent an extra amount of money on the Insurance. Its only after I went through some more forum discussions that I realized that I could have got a cheaper Insurance from outside. I also opted for a Third year Extended Warranty for Rs. 8500/-
The day I went to him with the Final Amount Cheque, I insisted the Sales Exec to take me to the Stockyard to show me my car. I was so thrilled on seeing it that I just couldn’t wait for the RTO clearance. 7 days waiting period was perhaps the longest wait I have ever experienced.
The Delivery:
15th July, 2011 was the D-Day.
I called the Sales Executive at Sanjay Hyundai, Pimpri Showroom and fixed a time for the car delivery.
Reached the showroom with a friend before time. The Sales Exec was ready with all the car papers. He sat down and explained every piece of Document that he gave me. The car was waiting outside with a a big garland hugging its bonnet.
The sales guy then started the "Congratulations and Celebrations" song on a customized speaker panel that the showroom had made up.. It was kinda cheesy but, Hey Whatever! It made me feel special.
I clicked few pics and then the exec clicked a pic of mine with the car (with his camera), went inside and took a printout of the same and got it set in a Glass Frame and gave it to me..!
A lady came and gave me a small bag of Chocolates! He also gave me a Rs. 1000 coupon for my 1st paid service and a small coupon for 3 litres of Diesel at a pump with which they had a tie-up.
And I drove away in full bliss..!!
First I went to the pump where I had to encash the coupon and then top up the Fuel Tank to Full.
Accessories:
I drove to the nearest accessories store here - Poona Motors, to put few accessories that I had planned.
1) 3M Teflon Coating
2) Door Visors (Jet Black)
3) “Acorn” Reverse Parking sensors
4) Grey Colour Spoiler (For which I had placed an order 3 days in advance in order to match the Dark Grey Metallic color)
5) Car Perfume
6) Thick Floor Mats
All this for Rs.11,300. He was honest and clean in his work. Finished the job in 2 hours.
The Poona Motors guy also gave me an iPod Aux cable free of charge and also 2 boxes of Tissues..!!
Break up of the items: Spoiler and Acorn Reverse Sensors cost me Rs. 2500 each; Car Perfume Cost Rs. 300, Door Visors cost me Rs. 1200. Teflon coating Rs. 3000; Thick Floor Mats- Rs.1800
I’m posting a 500km Update on my i20 Asta CRDi.
My poor Honda Unicorn of 6 years (40000kms) felt ditched, I suppose. Since the 15th of July it hasn’t run anything more than 15kms..
I’m loving my new car. Its super smooth and very responsive and am loving the feedback that it is giving. Most of my driving was restricted to City usage only with limited runs on the Mumbai-Pune Highway where I touched the 6th gear for a few seconds, if not a minute. Most of the driving has been limited to the first three gears only in this traffic filled rainy season. I touched 140kmph once on the Pimpri-Nashik Phata Cement Road stretch. After that I got afraid and brought it down. I had never driven a car that fast ever..!!
My Driving style:
A friend of mine who has been driving for a long time advised me to keep the car under 2000rpm at all costs and hence I'm trying to do the same. So most of my Gear Shifts occur when the RPM touches 2000. So till now I havent heard my Engine shout/wail for help! I also do not floor the accelerator (At least not yet). Please feel free to correct me if I’m making some mistake here. Since I’m still in the run-in period Im not ripping the engine a lot (except once or twice when the devil tried to tempt me.)
Experience:
Positives:
Engine: The 1.4L CRDi Engine does its job well and fine. It is one hell of an engine. Noiseless and smooth. The gear transmission is like hot knife on butter. At the correct rpm count the Engine shows its true colours. It leaps like a beast.
1st gear power in the CRDi is amazing. The moment the clutch is released even by, like, 3 inches, the car starts moving. Till now I haven’t felt the need to use an accelerator in the 1st gear, except for few places.
The Reverse Gear is also well made and responsive. Since 6 gears are accommodated the i20 Asta Diesel has a different gear Shift pattern for the
Reverse Gear.
Glove Box: The glove box here is huge and can accommodate a lot of things comfortably.
Seat Belt indicator: If the co-passenger/driver does not have the seat belt put on, a warning beep goes on for 100 seconds. It is irritating enough for anybody to put on the seat belt. Being a person who advocates the use of seat-belts I'm very happy with that feature. The only isue is that the beep is really loud. Loud means LOUD. So some people can get irked by this feature, but as I said, I never drive without a Seat-belt so I’m fine with it.
Inbuilt Music System: The clarity of the music system is good. The audio is crisp and there is decent Bass.. Of Course, its not like a JBL but good enough. Please note, I'm very particular about listening to the noise/horn of the vehicles outside and hence even though being a huge music buff, I usually do not play music at excessive volume. I may be making a mistake while driving and hence honking by other vehicles could help me steer to the correct direction that is why, the arrangement.
Noise Insulation: My point above leads me to highlight the i20's Noise Insulation. Absolute Silence. Even by Diesel Car standards, the noise is extremely low. Its just the slight noise of a Diesel CRDi that can be heard. Very Impressed. Many of my friends were surprised when I told them that it was a Diesel Car after we went for a drive..!!
Gear Shift Indicator: Very important Feature and has helped me to shift correctly when I Over-sped/Under-sped at a particular gear.
OVRM Mirrors: This is a blessing. At most congested Traffic signals in Pune, I fold the mirrors hence get a better margin to drive and also save the mirrors from any possible crashes. (Once at a signal I folded them and saw a girl on her Activa shell-shocked. The expression on her face seemed as if she saw technology borrowed from Space Research)
Bluetooth: I can pick up calls from the bluetooth device. Hence no need to fiddle with the phone.
USB: Getting a great iPod experience. Thanks to the aux cable I got from the accessories shop.
Day/Night Rear View Mirror: Shifting the mode to Night reduces the Glare from the cars behind considerably.
Acorn Reverse Sensor: Though this is not an inbuilt feature and I had installed it separately, I would like to take time to mention about this gadget.Its a very good device and provides accurate distance warning along with an ascending Beep tone. I have installed it above my rear view mirror.
Negatives:
AC: The AC doesn't Chill quickly if the car has been kept idle under the sunlight for a long time. During overcast days when the weather is already cool the AC Chills the cabin immediately. But once it is baked under the sun the AC is pretty mediocre.
I usually don't try to chill it a lot anyways as my hands on the steering tend to become too cold and I feel uncomfortable. But once my Mom, Even after the AC was on after driving for 15 minutes asks me, "Didn't this car come with an AC..??"
Second Gear: This is a dead gear. I'm a little worried about it. Maybe because it’s a new car. I always have to downshift from the third to the second , only to again bring it down to the 1st. I'm worried if this could affect my Fuel Efficiency. The Second gear works well once the rpm crosses the 2000 mark. Then the car just leaps out like a Cheetah.
That is all for now friends.. Will keep posting as and when I get older with my Car..!!
Sorry if the picture quality is bad because they were all clicked from my Nokia Phone.. Haven't got the time yet to use my Camera.