Hello All!
Umpteen hours of pouring over reviews and keeping all apprehensions aside, I finally decided to go for Indica Vista Safire (Aura Gala-red color)
. I'll give a brief description of my thought process and also seek answers to some lingering questions.
Before I start, this is my first post on T-BHP, a wonderful forum which I am lucky to be a part of and which I've scanned day in and day out over the past few months. Also, this would be my first car and my first driving experience (actually I had driven briefly in US, but that's completely different experience what with Auto-transmission, discplined driving etc.).
My needs: A car which is modern yet affordable, spacious yet cheaper, good-looking & exclusive yet is accessbile (from service point of view). I also wanted the car to be used for a longer duration (being influenced by this wonderful post:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/owning...rade-swap.html). Having no background in cars, I was open to any thoughts which world-wide-web would throw at me.
Options: Since I wanted a modern car and a limited budget (5L stretchable to 6Lmax), I only looked at newly launched cars for each major car companies: Maruti: Swift, Dzire, A-star, Ritz, Hyundai: i10, i20, Tata: Nano, Vista, Mahindra: Logan, Chevy: Spark, Uva, Aveo, Ford: Fiesta , Fiat: Palio, (Punto). I had initially looked at buying a used-car but dropped the idea after various cautionary advices received from well-wishers, especially considering that I am a first-time driver.
First-impression: Car=sedan, cost-conscious=diesel, so putting these impressions together and considering my budget, I wanted to go for Logan. Ofcourse, this was before I did any research and the decision changed the moment I started analysing my needs more practically.
Post-research on various forums and discussions with friends:
Decision 1:
I would not go into details of giving pros-cons of each of above cars as these have been much widely discussed, but the list ultimately came down to i10 and Vista. Obviously cost-wise vista was cheaper but had read many-a-scary tales of TATA A$$. Ultimately, however, I decided to go for Vista for following reasons:
1. I believe (or rather hope) that TATA A$$ is *improving* and with time, as they serve more niche section of people (with Jags, Puntos, Lineas), they would be forced to improve.
2. I am aware that I might be required to spend considerable time with service centers considering the niggling problems that TATA vehicles are known for -- and I am mentally ready for that (At the back of my mind, I am being positive that this way I would atleast learn about automobiles in general and cars in particular).
3. I dont like the shape of i10's front. Though this should not be a glaring reason to not go for the car, I thought that if every morning when I look at it, I keep getting turned off, what's the fun, eh?
4. Other factors: cheaper spares, hyundai-plant-shifting-(i20)-production-from-india-effects?, Indian company (flattery jingoism, actually).
Decision 2: Petrol v/s diesel: My daily commute would be <30 kms for a year atleast after which there were chances that it might go to ~ 50 - 55 kms/day. In the beginning, I wanted a diesel (knowing that diesel is cheaper than petrol), but having read numerous threads of diesel v/s petrol, I ultimately decided to go for petrol although knowing that my commute would increase in future. Reason:
1. I wanted to keep the option of CNG open, considering its cheaper than diesel, environment-friendly and hoping that while I use petrol car, the availability of CNG and CNG-cars/kits would be more and hence technology would standardize - I can always get a kit fitted after-market.
2. Though Vista Quadrajet is more accomplished car(whatcar rated it best amongst Ritz, Punto, Swift and Vista), the cost difference (1L initial cost difference+ interest lost on 1L + 10 - 15% higher maintenance cost) simply didn't justify it. Additionally, I thought that this being my first car, I should not get carried away with 'turbo-kicks' and stick to sedate driving, whilst enjoying the pleasures of petrol engine.
And so, Indica vista safire it is then!
Buying process:
I mainly dealt with 3 dealers in Mumbai, of which 1 is very close to my home: just 2 blocks away and hence was topmost in my mind. However, if I had received a better deal from other dealers, I was ready to go for others too. Ultimately, all 3 provided almost similar quotes, so I decided to go for the closest one.
Dealer name: Wasan Motors, Borivali
Salesman: Aniket/Kuldeep.
Cost: 3,94,200 (Ex-showroom) + 14802 (Reliance Insurance) + 33594 (Registration & service charges) + 2000 (Logistic charges) + 4425 (2 yrs extended warranty) = 4,49,021/-
Discounts: 14802 (free insurance) , 4000 (corporate discount) , 2000 (dealer discount).
Final cost: 4,28,000/-
Freebies:
Mudflaps,
Matting
Steering cover
Sunfulm (Garware - 45% heat reduction)
Teflon coating (onetime)
Dealer experience (so far): Good (though, I must say that I had went with a printout of all issues vista owners had listed in T-bhp and carwale forums, but they feigned ignorance to most issues. They said most problems have been taken care of by TATA in first 3-4 months of launch which included: A/C problem and power -steering).
Questions:
1. I have asked for PDI at their Bhiwandi stockyard. I've been alloted a vehicle with chassis no: MAT 611241 GPE XXXXX. The dealer interpreted this number (G) as July manufactured. Can anyone please decode the above and confirm? I reckon that there is a typo (or intentional?) by dealer in giving me the number based on information on other threads which have MAT numbers having 9PE (instead of GPE) in which case it comes to May 2009. I had specifically asked dealer to get a vehicle later than May 2009 so if it is indeed May manufactured, I'd refuse acceptance of delivery. Is there any other way of confirming manufacture date before registration other than decoding chassis number?
2. I have the PDI list (thanks to T-BHP), however, do they allow test-drive of vehicles at stockyard. If not, would only visible inspection + confirming engine/chassis number suffice?
3. The dealer is giving onetime Teflon coating and Garware (45% heat reduction) sunfilm. Since, cooling problems have been reported in Vista, should I buy better sunfilm from dealer (or aftermarket - would this void warranty or be more costly)? If yes, then should I ask the dealer to provide underbody anti-rust (3 yrs warranty) instead of Teflon+sunfilm (the dealer says that anti-rust costs 2500/- and hence he can provide that only if I forgo teflon (1K) and sunfilm both)?
4. Any other words of advices/recommendations/warnings are most welcome!
Thanks for your patience to go through this longish maiden post!