The buildup
It was around 2009 end the necessity of learning to drive and owning a car struck me,as i missed lots of opportunities of driving on t-bhp meets and with friends .Before that i was happy to be called as crazybiker46
The first criteria in choosing a car - Width of the car
My house is located at a tight spot where you have to reverse into a narrow road (width < 2m) and go about 50m in reverse , any hatchback bigger than say i10 will be tough on a daily basis
Bought an used Maruti 800 to learn the art of driving & reversing for myself,bro and dad
Wanted to buy a diesel as new car ,so Figo and Ritz where the primary options but failed on dimension test.
With no option for a small diesel car i had decided to go ahead with Hyundai i10
I was following Beat diesel through the forum but launch seems to be delayed and also pricing was uncertain.i had decided to give Beat D a try if pricing is around 5 lakhs
Finally Beat D got launched and pricing of LS suited my criteria.Took a TD and impression was far better than i expected (my feedback is in Beat D review thread)
Also brought the TD car home for dimension test and felt ok for doing it on a daily basis, will definitely need more practice & patience
Finalised on Beat D as this car is meant for my family (3 people will be using the car),if it had been solely for me i would have gone for i10
Booking
Negotiated on exchange value of my old car and got a decent price.Regarding discounts/freebies offered 3k or central locking only
Checked out if there is more freebies/discounts via friends and relatives as customers ,surprisingly all Sales exceutives approached were offering the same
Booked the car on August 13th ,pushed for further freebies and SE offered floormats,mud flap and 3M wax coating
Expected delivery date was 2 weeks
Car arrived on August 25th ,paid remaining amount with 5k in balance on same day. Did an inspection ,noted down VIN and Engine number
Registration happened next day , we wanted to take delivery on Eid so had to wait till 31st August
Delivery day
It was chaos as i said delivery time as 12PM to make things ready but i was planning to reach at 2PM only
So the SE whom i was dealing with made an appointment for TD with a customer on 2PM at a far place from dealership
So all delivery process was done by couple of other guys and with T-bhp PDI checklist on hand i was running all over the dealership to cross check everything
And the final price came nearly 1k less than the price quoted by dealer 5,15,538 on booking with central locking,floormats,mudflap,3M wax coating
Evrything went fine except for tyre pressure (was low) and i inisisted on wiping the car once again as i found dust accumlations at some places (was done by 3M guys)
After the key hand over it started raining and we drove out with 5 people on board
Initial review
With 5 people on board i had to adjust gear shifting as car was moving at snail's pace when i shifted outside turbo range
Intelligent launch support support system - Car was able to move effortlessly on gradients with half clutch
Suspension and steering are very good so far
Braking - I think it could have been better,had a scare when an autorickshaw jumped in from nowhere .On braking i'm always low on confidence
,i break early and it was raining,may be due to that
Haven't taken car for a good drive even in city till now as its raining like hell here,planning for a madurai trip to drop cousin after Onam holidays
Hope i have covered all points i intended ,will update if anything i missed pops up in mind
Pics of car at decision making road
