[Old_School]

My Red Sauce Pasta - 2015 Exotica Red Fiat Punto Evo 1.2P Dynamic [Preowned]

My stupid heart wanted a Fiat from childhood [because I learnt driving in a Premier Padmini hand gear] and I eventually got one. This purchase beats all logic, requirements and future considerations. Hopefully this becomes an informative read for everyone.

Previous car ownership history

My previous steed was a 2008 Honda CityZX VTEC Plus, which was also preowned. The car was purchased in 2020 for just under 2L with 62k kms on the ODO. I renewed registration after 15 years and extended it for another 5 years. The Honda City was a gem. No niggles, no faults and rock solid reliability. Every electrical component worked like a charm and I did not have to change anything on the car this entire ownership period, apart from engine oils, coolant and brake fluids. I did change both the front tyres as the car had different sets for front and back. The rear tyres were Goodyear Assurance Triplemax 2 and the fronts were worn out MRF ZVTVs. I replaced the front two with the same GY Triplemax 2. The City has taken me to multiple long trips and never had an issue. It in fact behaved like a new car all throughout. Been to Goa twice, Mahabaleshwar, Hampi, Nagarjunasagar dam and Bidar.





Why a semi OHC? [Dolphin HCs are love it or hate it]

- Wanted t VTEC powered city but finding a clean type 2 is a challenge
- Wanted a “do it all” car. Commutes to roadtrips, everything from one car
- Read a lot of reviews and understood that you cannot go wrong with any Honda City
- Found a VTEC ZX top model with ABS, Airbags, genuine ODO, Alloy wheels, non accidental and untouched electricals at the cost of my bicycle.

The positives

1. Rock solid reliability
2. The best engine in this world [almost]
3. Fuel efficiency of 13 in the city and 19 on highways from a 1.5L 100 bhp car
4. Space and comfort is top notch [I am 5’6”]
5. Stability at triple digit speeds is impressive

The okayish

1. Steering is a bit vague, not as lifeless as my i20 though
2. Not easy getting all genuine parts now [which is normal but a pain]
3. Low ground clearance makes like difficult in bad patches

The car was sold for 3 reasons

1. Infamous honda rusting issues - Lower doors, areas around hinges started showing bubbles and rust. The bottom running board also developed minor cracks with signs of rust
2. Validity of BS3 cars - With the pollution norms becoming stricter, I was not sure when the state might ask to scrap it completely, considering the car was already in it’s second life
3. Honda ASSC takes ages to get official spares, including basic items like air filter and fuel filters. My first service after purchase took 9 business days just to complete bare basics. Next time onwards, I did the general service myself and boodmo got me all the stuffs I need

The car was eventually sold in Nov 2024 after clocking another 26k kms in 3.5 years and sold with a depreciation of just INR 20k. This is in Hyderabad where I stay due to my work.

I currently own a 2013 pre owned i20 1.4 CRDi sportz in my hometown Kolkata, which was purchased pre-covid and has been serving as an all rounder workhorse since then. The car was purchased at 43k kms and the ODO is currently running at 68k kms. The i20 also has been a delightful possession so far. The only issue that needed attention was filling up AC gas once, apart from the regular services at a 10k kms interval. I will share a separate ownership thread on the i20 too.




Our first car that my family bought was a 2004 Midnight Black Alto LX. That was the car which I drove the most. The car literally had bare basics but it was a Maruti that was solidly built and drove us close to 1.41L kms before it was sold to a family friend who lives in a neighbouring village outside of Kolkata. So, I still get to see the car and it is still giving service reliably. We sold it because Salt Lake RTO was not willing to renew a BS2 car twice. So we bought the pre-owned i20.



Sold the City and time to consider a new car in Hyderabad [pre-owned]

My daily running is low, which is around 16 kms max and some occasional long highway trips once in 2 months. Also my work allows me to WFH 3 days in a week, so the overall usage is pretty limited. My road trips are however long [most go to places from HYD are an avg 600 kms apart].
I am a big fan of preowned cars because lateral upgrades are financially the most sensible thing and if you know what and how to check a used car, then pre-owned cars can be gold [learnt that from T-Bhp]. I have been driving a car since 2006 and worked on all the cars that me and my family owned. I am no great mechanic but I can manage general services and minor suspension repair works by now. I also have a large collection of tools that help do these jobs. I am learning basic electronic work now and hopefully become better in that area soon.

Like last time, I started searching for cars that do not have GenZ tech, yet have strong DNA. It had to be petrol from a usage standpoint and I tried searching for something that comes under BS4 norms at least. I was not bothered about engine capacity, power or fuel efficiency. While I was open to budgets, the Hyderabad used car market is highly unrealistic and over-inflated. Let me start with a max 5L limit is what I thought.


Cars I considered [Petrol + Manual]

1. 2012 Honda Civic: Tough to find and finding something neat is a challenge. I found one but realized that it was a wrong posting. Someone changed the headlamps, bumper and tail lights to convert a 2007 Civic to look like the last outgoing and posted it as a 2012. Also the ODO looked tampered as the gear knob wear and the brake pedal wear did not raise confidence on the 61k kms claim. Plus 2007 means back to BS3, which is something I wanted to avoid.

2. 2013 Honda City V: Found many but overly inflated prices. Good examples were priced over 6L in Hyderabad and they are from dealers. There was one which was an E variant. From a feature and value POV it was not making sense. So dropped this and kept searching

3. Fiat Linea T-Jet: Every other Linea was a MJD and finding a petrol one was rare. I found one in dust within my community and reached out to the owner asking him if he is willing to sell. He said no and for reasons which I too believe in. He loves his Fiat and so do I.

4. Fiat Punto Abarth: Considering the last batches were sold as low as 9-10L, I was hoping to find a good example under or at 5L range. But I was so wrong. Any Punto Abarth listed anywhere in India today no matter what condition is an average 7-8L from price expectations. Also finding something which is not modified is rarer even. While I am super cool with a tuned car, I feel, if I do not know the owner, the tuning reliability becomes questionable


5. VW Vento and Polo TSI: While there were many listed, even from owners, most of them underwent some sort of major fault debug. I checked 3 vehicles and found all of them with some light on the dashboard which kept me away. One car even had complete service history and the bills were appalling. While searching for Vento, I checked a few Polos too, but all of them had accidents and no insurance. The search gave me typical “German cars are unreliable” vibes [which is subjective]

6. Fiat Punto/Avventura 1.4 Evo: Again, like Linea, most Puntos or Avventura on sale are MJD because that’s what they sold more. Also not many Punto Evos are on sale. I like the previous gen Punto for the looks, but most of the postings are again BS3 cars. Also the very few old Petrol puntos that are available on sale are 1.2 and not 1.4. The search continued.

7. Other cars which were considered but ruled out due to over inflated used car market in Hyderabad - Ford Ecosport Petrol, Honda CRV, 2012 SX4 petrol zxi, 2014 Fiesta Classic 1.6 Petrol, 2012 Corolla Altis 1.8 and 2012 Honda Jazz X

The Fiat Punto Evo 1.2 Dynamic saga

One fine day, searching through OLX, yes OLX!, I saw someone posting a Punto EVO, Exotica Red Petrol, which is 2015 and run just 23k kms. Too good to be true? So, my excited heart thought, let me DM this individual and find out more. So I pinged him privately waiting for a response. Excited me kept refreshing my inbox every 30 mins to see if that person responds and he does eventually. We exchanged numbers and I gave him a call.

I found out that the individual is a director in clinical science in one of the major Pharma companies in Hyderabad and he does not use this car much but bought it in 2015 out of impulse. More good news flows in, that he has all the service history, the owner's manual and all the genuine Fiat stuff that he got during delivery. I was quick to get the vehicle number and checked the two Mopar showrooms in Hyderabad, which the owner mentioned where services were done and found the genuinity of the ODO of the car. I checked for accident history and Mopar was kind enough to share it for free. Car happened to have one insurance claim in 2016 which was a minor accident, where one of the front headlamps was replaced and the front bumper touched up. The second was a small scratch on the right rear door, which did not go via insurance but the right rear door was repainted. Both done at Mopar and the service engineer assured me that the pre fix images are minor and I do not have to bother about structural integrity of the chassis or any main frame. Also all the services were verified by Mopar too. So I go and see the car, thrice.

Day 1 - morning 9am visit on a Saturday

The car is clean and stock. Bare bone stock. The only issue was the 10 year old tyres [JK Vectras 165/80 R14] are stock and full of peeking out puncture repair dips. The owner agreed that the tires are bad and he faced roughly 7 punctures around all four tyres. Even the stepney tyre was in poor shape and had signs of bubbling and cracked sidewalls. The interior is in fantastic shape, except the cheap seat covers which are not like bucket fit but look like some slip on. I was informed that the seat cover and the steering cover were Fiat free accessories that he got. So no wonder free stuff felt like free stuff. The exterior of the car had one more minor issue. The owner went to some aftermarket accessory shop who tried fitting a Swift’s door side beading as Punto specific door beading was not available, only to realize that the gum won’t stick due to different body shape/contours. So they took it off leaving some poor gum stains on the car. Not very prominent in photos, but a close look will make the gum stains evident. I checked the car thoroughly, specifically the known accident areas. The first owner was a gentleman who did not try to hide any info and gave me all the details I needed. He also told me to take my time and he is not looking forward to inviting dealers to inspect. I set expectations that I might take multiple days to make a call and he was okay. I test drove the car and found it as good as new. The car starts in the first crank, the engine is smooth inside out, no leakages anywhere, no rust, no repair marks on the inside of the engine bay and no cracks on the various engine and suspension mounts considering the car is run way too less. The suspension was smooth and no weird noises from either steering rack, suspension, brakes or clutch. Gear shifts were okay and rubbery. But that’s typical Fiat gear shifts. The clutch is a tad hard but responds well even with small releases. Mechanically sound and verifiable via Mopar is my day 1 take away. I told him that I will be back tomorrow.

Day 2 - the immediate Sunday

By now I have developed some love for the car and I wanted to look deeper. I took my lift jack stands [which I use for general service at home] and some essential tools. I reached there by 11am and lifted the car up to check for any anomalies under the engine and the entire floor. The car has an engine guard which has no signs of damage and so is the entire underbody. Everything looked clean and stock. I removed the engine underbody protection cover to check for any oil drips and found none. I removed the front wheels and checked for any cracks in the CV joints, tie end rods, suspension arms and mounts. Everything looked soft and rubbery and surprisingly not hard and cracked. The paint of the car is also fantastic, considering the car was parked under a proper garage and also had a silver cover. The garage being in a big gated community is clean and surroundings did not give me any indications of rat issues. But careful me checked for all the rubber pipes and hoses and the wiring areas to ensure no tears/cuts. Took it for a spin again and this time a fast drive around ORR. Filled in fuel and set the trip to zero to check for avg FE and overall highway characteristics. Again to my big surprise the car felt rock solid even with skinny and old hard rubbers. The dry grip was good but the tires are noisy. High speed rumble strips did not de-stabilize or make any surprising noises. Highway drive of 48 kms showed an efficiency of 17.2 kmpl with AC on. The high speed steering response was good and ride comfort was top notch. The seating position is a bit weird but I know I can adapt and adjust to that. The car had height adjustable seats and steering has adjustment for the rake. Well day 2 was good and now I am convinced that I want this car and wrap up the negotiations.

Day 3 - same week Friday

Friday is a lighter day at work and I called the owner and showed final interest and willingness to go for it. I said I wanted to see the car one last time and finalize everything face to face. I reached his home around 2PM and saw all the purchase documents. I already had a look into service documents, owner’s manual and the insurance stuff. Some price negotiations involving the current IDV, changing all 5 tires, changing the seat covers and a Fiat estimated general service cost, I finalized the deal at a fantastic price. I understood that the owner wanted a hassle free transfer to someone who will care for the car and was not looking to sell this one out for money. I made a friend in the process and got the car home by paying a token amount and transferred the rest when the RC was transferred to my name. Hyderabad RTO is pretty fast and seamless. Everything was done officially via the RTO website and via basic govt fee. I got the RC updated on the RTO app within 24 hours and got the RC card in 5 days to my address. Now I own a Fiat and I am happy.

Verdict

This is a heart purchase, so finding solid rationale behind this ownership is difficult. Like I mentioned earlier, owning a Fiat was a childhood dream and I learnt driving in a black premier padmini when dad was posted in Mumbai.

I will use this car as a daily driver and try to use it more than I need to use a car. I am happy that I found one in neat condition and decently maintained. Also I love the look of the Punto, so I will turn back and look at the car twice whenever I park the car. I am not a touchscreen and sunroof person, so I do appreciate minimal but essential features in a car, which this car has. Hopefully I will plan some road trips too.

What’s good about a 2015 Punto Evo 1.2 Dynamic?
- Ride quality is top notch and the car feels like two segments above if you close your eyes
- Handling is good enough and the steering weight and feel is fantastic
- Compact size makes it easy to navigate in a chaotic and unruly city
- Solid build quality. I can compare, but it might create fanboy issues among many
- Strong AC.
- Stability at higher speed is impressive and at par with C segments
- Old school dials with orange backlit looks nice
- Has all necessary features I need [this is a bit subjective]

What’s ordinary
- Rear legroom is not great. It does not bother me much but my city had more.
- 68 bhp engine is down on power but I have discovered the sweet spot rpms and shifts
- Dynamic variant does not have ABS and Airbags. This is something I wish it had
- Headlamps are not great in terms of illumination. Ok for the city use though.
- Odd driving position but I am getting used to it
- Skinny tyres in dynamic variant but I also believe that wider would have been an overkill for the 68 bhp engine
- Most 1.2 cars in the segment have better FE figures. So far it is 13.5 kmpl in city with AC
- Fewer official service centers, but at least Mopar has Jeep. So there is hope









The first upgrade - The tyres

I went to Harsha Wheels in Khajaguda, a pretty reliable and reasonable tire shop that deals with Goodyear, Bridgestone and Michelin. I purchased new tires for my City earlier from the same shop and had a very good experience.

I did check for upsizes and found that 185/70 R14 as an alternative with the current steel rims. The only issue is with a negative 1.4% offset which means I will have to live with some ODO errors and a possible FE drop. Also wider tyres for an already sluggish and heavy car would result in further slowdown in performance. Some hard thoughts later, I decided to stick to stock size.

165/80 R14 is a popular size dominated by the taxi market. The shop owner told me to consider Bridgestone s248, Sturdo and Goodyear Assurance Duraplus 2. I was discussing with him about my daily running and after understanding that the car will not run a lot, he suggested I go for Goodyears, considering the tyres are softer and more comfortable. The so called long life tyres are hard and if not used much they tend to get harder and road noises are more.

I had a very good experience with Goodyear Triplemax2 on my honda city and in 4 years and some 30k kms in those, I never had a cut or puncture or any sidewall issues. I kept my alignment and balancing checks every 8k kms and rotated the tires every 10k kms. So I went ahead with the Goodyear Assurance Duraplus 2 165/80 R14 85T on the Punto. I changed all 5 at INR 3650/tyre.

The ride now feels plusher and the tyre noise is gone. I know this is the new tyre feel and it will take some time to understand how the tyres eventually perform. Since the car was on a dangerously old 10 year aged JK Vectras, I am happy that I have 4924 tyres put on immediately, than scratch my head over multiple options and tyre hunts. Again, this may not be the most sensible purchase but having a new tyre is better than what was on the car.







The first accessory

This is super important and stupid at the same time. Last week I got an official Fiat Abarth logo from a store abroad, which I could not resist. I believe if I put that sticker somewhere aesthetically nice, it will add another 50 bhp mentally. Should I do it?


The ODO of the car is at 23600 kms and I will update this thread regularly. I am planning a service at 25000 kms and will use the time to hunt for stuff over 99rpm. Thanks for reading till this line.

Mods: This is my first post. Request you to kindly help with any posting structure issues, if any. Thank you

[red_hot_punto]

Originally Posted by Old_School

My Red Sauce Pasta - 2015 Exotica Red Fiat Punto Evo 1.2P Dynamic [Preowned]

My stupid heart wanted a Fiat from childhood [because I learnt driving in a Premier Padmini hand gear] and I eventually got one. This purchase beats all logic, requirements and future considerations. Hopefully this becomes an informative read for everyone.

Really happy to see you purchase Punto Evo, the same model that I currently own since 2017. It's a gem on both city and highway rides. I have replaced few parts due to its aging like suspension kit, clutch pads & front tyres. Mods that I have done : body decal, spoiler, dashcam, reverse parking sensors, led headlights, halogen fog lamps, led cabin & number plate lights. But unfortunately putting it for sale with a heavy heart as I'm upgrading to Kylaq AT as ligament stretch of my left leg a decade back is showing its effect now to use not so soft clutch in Benguluru's notorious bumper to bumper traffic. However I'm going to miss it a lot as it has been part of our numerous memorable journeys without a single breakdown.

Cheers to you and your Punto. I'm sure you are going to enjoy with it!

Mine:

[ads295]

Great post, and wish you many happy miles.

That said, I've always wondered why most tBHP members shy away from disclosing their purchase prices for used cars.

I wrote in detail about the purchase experience of my Sonata V6 and included all financials.

Not meant for OP personally but wondering in general...

[theabstractmind]

Firstly congratulations on the buy. Hope it serves you well.

From my experience - I can tell you 185/70/R14 makes a hell lot of difference to the car's behaviour. Change them at first available opportunity and you will thank yourselves! Telling this from my own experience!

[Old_School]

Originally Posted by ads295

Great post, and wish you many happy miles.

That said, I've always wondered why most tBHP members shy away from disclosing their purchase prices for used cars.

Thank you so much. I am not entirely sure, but sometimes people get awesome deals between friends, or in general, and that price may not be the true reflection of what you can expect from the market. Just speculating. I paid 3L for the Punto.

Originally Posted by red_hot_punto

Really happy to see you purchase Punto Evo, the same model that I currently own since 2017. It's a gem on both city and highway rides. I have replaced few parts due to its aging like suspension kit, clutch pads & front tyres. Mods that I have done : body decal, spoiler, dashcam, reverse parking sensors, led headlights, halogen fog lamps, led cabin & number plate lights. But unfortunately putting it for sale with a heavy heart as I'm upgrading to Kylaq AT as ligament stretch of my left leg a decade back is showing its effect now to use not so soft clutch in Benguluru's notorious bumper to bumper traffic. However I'm going to miss it a lot as it has been part of our numerous memorable journeys without a single breakdown.

Cheers to you and your Punto. I'm sure you are going to enjoy with it!

Thank you. We both have a beautiful car. I am sure the Kylaq is going to be an amazing car too. Planning to go for the same red colour? Reds on Skodas look nice. I forgot to mention that my car has aftermarket parking sensors fitted by the previous owner [just 2 sensors at the back] and I have a dashcam that I am yet to install. Will share an update on the dashcam too.

I too have a pair of H4 LEDs, but a bit sceptical on putting them as I am concerned about light scattering and blinding on-coming traffic. I bought them out of excitement when I had the city but the city already had nightbreakers on them. So that LED box is idling in a shelf.

Originally Posted by theabstractmind

Firstly congratulations on the buy. Hope it serves you well.

From my experience - I can tell you 185/70/R14 makes a hell lot of difference to the car's behaviour. Change them at first available opportunity and you will thank yourselves! Telling this from my own experience!

Thank you. I was in two minds about the upsize. Next tyre change, I will definitely consider the 185s. Do you have a petrol Punto or a diesel?

[Utopian]

The Punto still looks so tasteful despite its age. Congrats for owning the red beauty. The wheelcap design also looks very good and to an untrained eye it will pass of easily as an alloy. Is all the chrome treatment aftermarket or OE?

[Old_School]

Originally Posted by Utopian

The Punto still looks so tasteful despite its age. Congrats for owning the red beauty. The wheelcap design also looks very good and to an untrained eye it will pass of easily as an alloy. Is all the chrome treatment aftermarket or OE?

Thank you so much. I agree. The design is clean and bold, yet simple. These wheel caps are actually attached with the tyre bolts and not the press fit type. So from a distance it looks like an alloy. Also the steel wheels are black, which adds to the elegance.

The chrome is OE, but those bumper corner guards are fitted by the previous owner. Although not a big fan of chrome, the OE quality is decent.

[theabstractmind]

Originally Posted by Old_School

Thank you. I was in two minds about the upsize. Next tyre change, I will definitely consider the 185s. Do you have a petrol Punto or a diesel?

I had one. Diesel. 2013 model which came with the same JK Tyres 165/80/R14. Car used to be a bit wobbly. Once I shifted to 185/70/R14, the car rode very flat. Taking on curves became easy. Steering response became very direct. Slight understeer remained, and a little reduced GC. But really it was worth. The car became more chuck-able - point and shoot types. And straight line stability especially under braking is unlike I have experienced in anything else, except of course, the Linea.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by Old_School

- Fewer official service centers, but at least Mopar has Jeep. So there is hope

Car looks hot in red and I am sure a layman won't mistake it to be 7-8 years old!

Can you elaborate on above quoted point? Is Mopar a subrand of dealers of Fiat? I myself am considering a Aventura by the year end for a stop gap measure of 2 years until I get an EV. But finding a service centre is a pain I can not afford.

[red_hot_punto]

Originally Posted by 07CR

Car looks hot in red and I am sure a layman won't mistake it to be 7-8 years old!

Can you elaborate on above quoted point? Is Mopar a subrand of dealers of Fiat? I myself am considering a Aventura by the year end for a stop gap measure of 2 years until I get an EV. But finding a service centre is a pain I can not afford.

Mopar when split shows up as "MOtor" and "PARts", is the exclusive brand for authentic original equipment parts and accessories for the millions of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep®, Ram, and Fiat vehicles. Basically Jeep brand vehicles are manufactured by the joint venture of Fiat-Chrysler and the same service stations that serve Jeeps will also serve Fiats. In Bangalore we have KHT Prime dealers who sell Jeeps and cater to their maintenance along with Fiats. In Pune it's Sky Moto Jeep. You can contact: 8551908070 - Sky Moto Jeep Showroom, Pune.

[red_hot_punto]

Thank you. We both have a beautiful car. I am sure the Kylaq is going to be an amazing car too. Planning to go for the same red colour? Reds on Skodas look nice. I forgot to mention that my car has aftermarket parking sensors fitted by the previous owner [just 2 sensors at the back] and I have a dashcam that I am yet to install. Will share an update on the dashcam too.

I too have a pair of H4 LEDs, but a bit sceptical on putting them as I am concerned about light scattering and blinding on-coming traffic. I bought them out of excitement when I had the city but the city already had nightbreakers on them. So that LED box is idling in a shelf.

I'm going for Candy White top end model and this time the color choice is from my better half, for Punto the color selection was from me! But I think it's going to be stunning with all black front grill without chrome and blacked out pillars!
On LED part I second your thoughts. After market LEDs are hazardous which I came to know only after their fitment. So I just follow a rule: In city traffic I will be always on low beam and on single lane state highways will switch to low beam as and when a vehicle approaches from opposite. I even switch to low beam when I tailgate any vehicle on any of the highways, be it SH or NH. Atleast I can do this from my part.

[Old_School]

Originally Posted by theabstractmind

I had one. Diesel. 2013 model which came with the same JK Tyres 165/80/R14. Car used to be a bit wobbly. Once I shifted to 185/70/R14, the car rode very flat. Taking on curves became easy. Steering response became very direct. Slight understeer remained, and a little reduced GC. But really it was worth. The car became more chuck-able - point and shoot types. And straight line stability especially under braking is unlike I have experienced in anything else, except of course, the Linea.

Thanks. Now I feel the tyre decision was in a bit of a haste, but I will plan an upgrade soon. If I can source a 98 PCD Fiat alloy that might even make the car look better.

Originally Posted by 07CR

Car looks hot in red and I am sure a layman won't mistake it to be 7-8 years old!

Can you elaborate on above quoted point? Is Mopar a subrand of dealers of Fiat? I myself am considering a Aventura by the year end for a stop gap measure of 2 years until I get an EV. But finding a service centre is a pain I can not afford.

Thank you. The previous owner did not run it much, but kept it well enough.

Avventura is a fantastic car too. From a purely looks POV, I like it more because of the tail mounted tyre. Although the tail gate opening and closing is a bit cumbersome, that's not a big deal considering the car is built like a tank and the engine is national powerhouse [1.3MJD]. I was also looking for a 1.4 Petrol Avventura but could not get any petrol one in the used market. Happy hunting. I hope you find an Avventura soon.

Originally Posted by red_hot_punto

I'm going for Candy White top end model and this time the color choice is from my better half, for Punto the color selection was from me! But I think it's going to be stunning with all black front grill without chrome and blacked out pillars!
On LED part I second your thoughts. After market LEDs are hazardous which I came to know only after their fitment. So I just follow a rule: In city traffic I will be always on low beam and on single lane state highways will switch to low beam as and when a vehicle approaches from opposite. I even switch to low beam when I tailgate any vehicle on any of the highways, be it SH or NH. Atleast I can do this from my part.

Nice! White is a forever good color that you cannot go wrong with.

I will try to see how the LED looks from a beam cut off line. If I see it scattered I will switch back to the normal 60/55.