THE REQUIREMENT:
I started car-hunting in Dec last year as I had to buy one for my daily commute to office and maybe a trip to nearby places. I didnt start with any budget in mind but wanted something which is affordable on EMI+Fuel+Maintenance. Due to heavy fund requirements on personal front,I had a delimiter on my spending for the only eternal dream of owning a ride of my own. Like a wise guy, I went ahead compromising on my apetite for a Performance car and regretted my hasty decision to sell-off my Lancer back at home for peanuts.
Actually, Alto was an obvious choice plainly because of the Fuel efficiency and less maintenance, I knew it wont offer me a "Riding / Driving experience" very much like any Maruti vehicle. So, keeping this fact aside I started TD any other option available in the market that time. Here is the brief on everything which I test-drove:
A-STAR:
Few words - Disappointing bucket seat look-alikes, Boot design and space only enough to fit a Cat, Terrible leg room, Hugely different fuel economy on three ocassions when I test drove the machine. First time it gave me 19, then a surprising 22 and finally 17, all on the same route with same amount of people on board and the same model of the car. With no proper reviews around and outta whole chaotic experience I finally rejected it.
WAGON-R:
Everything was ok with it, the proven track record and highest sales figures that I could afford to let go the box-ish feel. The biggest disappointment came with the body roll while test driving it on 65Kph, it just lifted-off on a S-bend. It reminded me of my Safari DiCOR @ 75 and gave me creepies so the same end-result..rejection.
SWIFT:
Test drove both Lxi as well as Vdi, liked the Ldi due to the runing cost of the car but rejected it primarily due to two reasons a) Mom didnt like the overall look b) I saw the Hyundai Accent (a sedan) available in the market with all the kinds of discounts and costing almost same as Ldi. But still kept the Swift option in consideration.
Hyundai Accent:
Always been a choice in my mind due to its comfortable price and a decently powerful sedan, but had to reject it plainly due to the delayed delivery of the vehicle. The Hyundai dealership said the delivery will take atleast 2 months as then the consignments in the pipeline were all i10 and i20s. I was hugely disappointed and since I wanted the car within that month/week, I rejected it.
i20:
Great looks, rather the best of all but pricing was discomforting to the fact that conscience didnt allow me to spend that much on a hatch given the fact that it was less powered than Swift. A thirsty vehicle definitely, and hence resulted in rejection.
INDICA QUADRAJET:
Was getting a huge Tata Discount and this one was costing me under 4.5L that time, but the interiors and the exceptional noise of the diesel engine killed my wife's intention to utilise her Tata employment. But its a really great deal in that price for a decently powerful engine.
IMPORTANT NOTE: While purchasing a car, avoid taking women along. Sometime they behave as if they know everything and confident enough to reject things.
So far you must've realized about my budget with the kind of cars I test drove. Finally, went with the destiny and bought the Lxi (kept myself contended with the fact that atleast I own the top-end :P ). But then came some personal turbulence and I was under debt to fund an immediate requirement so couldnt think of taking a vehicle loan due to EMI constraint on the salary and here Alto came as a saving grace. Thanks to my prsonal savings and little support from family, that I pulled the machine in two days flat with complete down payment. It costed me a dead 3L all inclusive. The dealership sales and service till date has been really good and surprisingly punctual.
OWNERSHIP (7600+ Kms done so far since Mar-Apr'09)
As stated above, Till now my requirement has been a city commuter with an occasional trip to nearby places which I am quite satisfied with the car. not expecting much out of it, I started driving it very casually from day one and had been on all kinds of terrains (excluding offroadings) like Muddy potholed ones in Mulshi to spotless concretes till Kolhapur to twisties of Pirangut and finally to the hairpins of Bhimashankar and the Car has taken it all in its stride. It gave me all what was surely expected out of it, an amazing Fuel efficiency of 19+ in city and 23+ in Highway conditions (keeping it strict on its diet, only Shell super as fuel). My monthly fuel bill is approx 2700/- since past 7 months now. a simple math would give the average FE in these past 7 months with Shell Super for 7600+ Kms to be approx 21. I am not a regular AC user, use it only in the daytime mostly. Its still a stock car with no problems at all. Some of the general pros/cons which I noticed are as follows:
(+)ves:
- Great on fuel efficiency
- Amazing AC and the drop in FE after a prolonged AC usage is also not pocket-pinching at all
- Nice boot capacity
- Serious oversteer but feels good
, I do that daily in my office car-park (Its a Multi-level parking lot with all U-turns and one can learn drifting)
- My two free-services have costed me only 1k so far
(-)ves:
- Long distance Ride not at all comfortable
ROAD AHEAD:
After a couple of months, this one would be sent to the hometown and I'll be open to buy anything which could satisfy the long-standing craving for acceleration. I am open to a budget of 7-10L and would definitely want something to work for around 1L Kms with great performance and affordable maintenance. Perhaps this time the Fuel-Efficiency bug wont itch around prominently. So, suggest something guys. Nothing from Maruti this time.