[joslicx]

Originally Posted by vinayasurya

It will be interesting when the Chevy launches the 800 cc spark.

But you see Spark is available at Alto prices, has almost same FE and is bigger size but it is still not sellingeven half as much! Are you sure a 800cc car can do the trick for them?

[aseem]

Originally Posted by joslicx

But you see Spark is available at Alto prices, has almost same FE and is bigger size but it is still not sellingeven half as much! Are you sure a 800cc car can do the trick for them?

Probably never, the car itself looks quite unusual to me. Somehow even with the funny headlights A Star is way ahead of Spark in terms of looks. In addition the kind of goody A Star has Spark is left wanting. Lastly no one wants a GM when compared with MUL in India.

[harry10]

No TD yet for this but i saw the first A-Star in person while coming to office today. It was same white colored demo car as Vivek has reviewed on previous page. Must admit it looks much better than the pics i had seen earlier and IMO looks bigger than an i10.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by joslicx

But you see Spark is available at Alto prices, has almost same FE and is bigger size but it is still not sellingeven half as much! Are you sure a 800cc car can do the trick for them?

No, GM can't do a trick with that. They have to prove it using their products. Consider GM's failed or not-so-successful product range in India:

Opel Corsa, Corsa Sail hatchback, Corsa Swing station wagon, Astra, Vectra, Chevrolet Forester, Optra, Optra Magnum, UVA, Captiva...

Only Tavera, Aveo and Spark have made some success. So, nearly 75% of their products were not successful in Indian market. Need more proof?

The good-will that Maruti has, among Indian consumers, is not attained by a single day. It is based on their experience for long long years.

.

[jesal]

i did drive this car as well. neat car but not worth 5 laks for zxi model at all since that is the only model that is worth getting. the rest is just engine and body for sale. it would be nice it on road zxi was for rs. 425k max. ill give this car a pass and wait for the jazz i guess not sure now what to get.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by jesal

i did drive this car as well. neat car but not worth 5 laks for zxi model at all since that is the only model that is worth getting. the rest is just engine and body for sale. it would be nice it on road zxi was for rs. 425k max. ill give this car a pass and wait for the jazz i guess not sure now what to get.

You can expect a price range of 7 lakhs OTR for Jazz, if they give all the goodies including ABS, Airbags etc with it.

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by vivekji05

The i10-like built in head restraints could do with some more padding because normally, at a comfortable back rest angle, you would find your head a few centimetres away from it and not resting on it, which can be tiring on long drives.

Well they are not head rests but as you rightly said head restraints, they are not there for resting the head while driving

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by enter

>> 400 Rs is the difference in the insurance (as I was told) between A* and i10.

i10 would have been a better car if the running cost of both the cars were same. What I was arguing is that if the running costs were different, it essentially means that the calculations change.

Do I need to elaborate more on why the calculations change? I will be happy to do that.

Dude, we dont have the economy figures for A* so there's no point compairing the two purely on fuel efficiency and running costs.Going by your logic Tata Nano would better both the A * and i10 simply because the running costs are lower.
Apart from that the difference in insurance cost cant be Rs. 400 a month which is Rs. 4800 for the whole year.

[enter]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Dude, we dont have the economy figures for A* so there's no point compairing the two purely on fuel efficiency and running costs.Going by your logic Tata Nano would better both the A * and i10 simply because the running costs are lower.

Oh no, you dont get, I am not saying i10 is bad or nano is good. All I am saying is that running cost is "one of the factors". Yes you are right, the FE figures have not come yet. But in my opinion, and this can be wrong, that running costs of A* will be 20% less than i10. Hence, I chose A* coz, its a better VFM than i10 overall. Moreover my requirements are for 3 people and mostly city drive, with ocassional highway ride. I also believe this is the majority..

Btw, if NANO gives 67 bhp of power, with looks, interior, front seat space, i think it will definitely be a better car.. !! and even if it is not 67 bhp, for 1.5 lakhs, it will be a hot selling one.. and worth considering..

Apart from that the difference in insurance cost cant be Rs. 400 a month which is Rs. 4800 for the whole year.

I think the figures are the following:

i10 1.2 magna, insurance is 14500

A* LXI, insurance is around 10000 a year.

[vinayasurya]

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

The good-will that Maruti has, among Indian consumers, is not attained by a single day. It is based on their experience for long long years.
.

Maruti too had failures, remember Grand Vitara, Baleno, Zen Estilo ( which replaced hugely successful Zen ), Zen -D , Esteem D. Merely putting a Maruti name on any product won't sell.

As far as A* is concerned , it too early to tell that it will be success or failures. As there aren't any new cars in that price brackets, it is likely to sell well the early months.

And I think space do matter. I believe it is one of the reason why Zen Estilo failed.

[Gangsta]

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

You can expect a price range of 7 lakhs OTR for Jazz, if they give all the goodies including ABS, Airbags etc with it.

atleast jazz's ABS will be much reliable. When i had a test drive of the car. I tried emergency brakes at around 60 kmph and 70 kmph. Car skids like anything lol.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Gangsta

atleast jazz's ABS will be much reliable. When i had a test drive of the car. I tried emergency brakes at around 60 kmph and 70 kmph. Car skids like anything lol.

Are the emergency brakes also on the ABS system?

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by enter

Oh no, you dont get, I am not saying i10 is bad or nano is good. All I am saying is that running cost is "one of the factors". Yes you are right, the FE figures have not come yet. But in my opinion, and this can be wrong, that running costs of A* will be 20% less than i10. Hence, I chose A* coz, its a better VFM than i10 overall. Moreover my requirements are for 3 people and mostly city drive, with ocassional highway ride. I also believe this is the majority..

Btw, if NANO gives 67 bhp of power, with looks, interior, front seat space, i think it will definitely be a better car.. !! and even if it is not 67 bhp, for 1.5 lakhs, it will be a hot selling one.. and worth considering..



I think the figures are the following:

i10 1.2 magna, insurance is 14500

A* LXI, insurance is around 10000 a year.

Oh Brilliant, now why dont you compare the Insurance figures of the lowest model i10 with A8* instead of what you have done above!
It fair to compare the A* with the i10 1.1 not 1.2 which is clearly a class above.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

It fair to compare the A* with the i10 1.1 not 1.2 which is clearly a class above.

There you are!
It is a fight between Astar and i10 1.1!
So a straight fight between Economy and Luxury (read space)!

Other cars like Spark, WagonR, Estilo etc dont matter here.

[kreddy]

".....the boot space is surprisingly good and A-Star promises to swallow a fairly large amount of luggage, more than either the Zen Estilo or i10."

This is from November 2008 Overdrive magazine intial report of A-Star from Paris Motor Show.

Can we trust these auto journalists?