Trying and buying experience - New Zen Trying and buying experience - New Zen
After carrying out research and reading up on Team BHP and driving around in various models and cars, I had zeroed on the Santro, but ended up buying the Zen. Why? Can't explain precisely, but I think these were the
main reasons:
1. Zen was more pleasurable to drive
2. Long drives in a Santro had been quite painful, so wanted to experince something else that was more comfortable
3. Looks
apparently, this was a heart vs head matter. So to sort this out, visited the 3 Maruti showrooms in Pune and the two Hyundai ones. Overall, these were the findings:
1. Zen did not have the space
2. Zen was noisier, and the road filtered through more
3. Zen was much more fun to drive
4. Zen had better handling
5. Zen had better looks
The truth be told, Zen appealed more to my biker heart than the Santro.
Other points were more or less the same. To negate point no 2, I decided to fit in tubeless with alloys (Thanks, Satya, for your inputs re this) and hope for the best ... fortunately, the trick worked and now the ride is quite smooth compared to the 'test' cars I had driven.
Why, then, did you not consider the more powerful cars, which would have handled better, and probably given your biker heart more thump?
The cars I looked at were Getz, Palio, Petra, Ikon Flair, Esteem. Was not interested in Tatas since I wanted to keep the car for a long time. Lets see, budget was max 5 L and an absolute max of 5.5, if I really liked the package. Getz premium was high, Fiat cars were ruled out since a friend of mine had a servicing agency for Fiat in Pune, and he v. stronly suggested not to go in for a Fiat car since I was itnerested in keeping it for a long time and the servicing was not great at all. I know ppl here have had different experiences, but this is one guy i trust, so went ahead with his advice. Petra and all were Ok, but the difference in prices (and EMIs!) and with ASS a suspect, ruled it out. Also, the final on-road with tyres, system and accessories was crossing 5, and my wallet was sweating, so let it go. Palio I found to be too sluggish for my tastes. Esteem's driving position was cramped for me, so did not pick it up. Did 2 test drives, but the car did not appeal to me at all.
Getting back to the point.
Head said Santro, and had decided on it, but something was niggling ... so gave myself a break and re-visited the analysis and talked to some more guys, and dug up more of team-bhp.
There was still some doubt...
So one fine day, headed out to hit the Maruti and Hyundai dealers in town, drive their respective vehicles, and try to decide.
All the test drive vehs were old, but Santro with 31000 was better than Zen at 32000. explanation was it was not serviced at all since the car had a punishing schedule of test drives. Anyway, took both the cars on different terrains, roads etc. Tried to compare both the cars on similar surfaces. In ride and handling, Zen scored; in silence and shock absorbers, Santro scored. With Zen, I could 'nip around', with Santro, the tall boy loomed up whenever you tried to do tricks on the road.
End of the day, I wanted the Zen.
More tomorrow. Have to go home now. Will put photos as well after I get them on my computer.
Cheers!
Simran
PS - dunno why but was not able to post on the other forums. If there are strict rules on posting such info on this forum, my apologies. |