[kalyan_hyd]

One month of intense research over the internet(T-BHP mostly), at the car dealerships and a few test drives have finally materialized in the form of us owning a Honda City V MT. This post is about my journey since a month in a lookout for a car that would fit all our needs(to start with) and then go on to satisfy our whims and fantasies.

All views expressed here-in are my sincere and humble opinions and are not directed at upsetting/ hurting anyone.

Features we deemed must:
* Car for five people
* Car much comfortable/ luxurious than our current car(Santro)
* All power windows
* Electronic power steering
* Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) with EBD
* Manual AC with heater
* Central locking/ Remote locking facility

Features we deemed optional:
* Airbags
* Auto AC
* Alloy wheels
* Stock music system
* Fog lamps
* Rear defogger/ demister
* Tilt adjustable steering column
* Driver seat height adjust


Initial budget: Rs 7 lacs

Cars that fitted our tab initially:
1. Hyundai i20
2. Skoda Fabia
3. Swift/ Swift DZire

Felt that if we could stretch the budget by 50k, we could go for a wonderful sedan like Fiesta. It had been a dream to own a Honda/ Toyota vehicle and the idea of stretching that far(by 3 lacs) didn't seem so good until I read a few articles and ownership reports here on T-BHP.

Stretched budget: Rs 10 lacs

Cars that fitted our tab later on:
1. Ford Fiesta
2. Fiat Linea - Later dropped this due to concern about its power, city drive-ablility, after sales and service issues, etc. I personally did not feel great about the appearance of the plastic components in the interior of this car. On the plus point, I noticed that the stock music system was that of Blaupunkt and the high end versions had Auto AC. This car is surely high on features.
3. Honda City

Test-driven:
1. Ford Fiesta
2. Honda City

Felt great at the wheel in both the cars. Both Fiesta and City were high on power and features that we wanted from our new car.

City felt much smoother to drive but getting in and out were a bit of an issue initially(since I am used to Santro). It had more space for the people in the rear compared to the Fiesta. I liked the interiors and the stock music system of City much better than that of the Fiesta.

My confidence was top-notch while test-driving Fiesta, it made me feel at home. Driving City made me feel like I was in a big car and I was a bit skeptical about managing bumper to bumper traffic and being able to turn the vehicle in a U-turn. City also had all the concerns about upgrading like getting accessories after-market(Upgrading the music system or getting rear parking sensors, etc might void the respective warranty if not done in the way suggested). A feature that I did not like much in Fiesta was its indicator and headlamp switches.

Both cars had their pros and cons and on deliberation we finalised that since we are not planning for another car for atleast 5-6 years, we could aswell go for a Honda now. So, we finally chose Honda City 1.5 V MT - Alabaster Silver. We got everything on our wanted and optional lists out of a new car except for the Auto AC feature. I feel Honda could have gone ahead and provided Auto AC and reserve parking sensors as standard fitments in the car.

Booking to delivery process:
* Made the booking on 10/12/2009 with Pride Honda, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad. Applied for loan on the same day.
* The car was available in stock and was allotted on 12/12/2009. I inspected the same and was happy to see Michelin alloys on the car. I also got the VIN number of the car and verified from T-BHP thread about VINs that the allotted car was of November, 2009 manufacture.
* The finance and our other payments were all cleared by 17/12/2009.
* We scheduled for delivery on the 21/12/2009. Reached the place at about 3 PM. As we were planning to take delivery shortly after 3:45 PM, I figured out I would be needing the extra time to perform the PDI checks, had the list from T-BHP in my pocket.
* After the PDI, I signed all the papers, making sure that I read everything. As suggested and deemed very important too, I took along my uncle while I was doing the PDI and signing papers.
* We presented gifts to our sales rep, our sales consultant and the finance guy. We had requested for a driver to drive the car to the temple. My folks felt that we should start driving the car only after the pooja was done.
* Left the showroom with all smiles at about 4 PM and went to a temple nearby my home. Got the vahana pooja done and came back home by 6:30 PM. Thats when the initial pictures of the car were shot. In the dark, it almost looks like a 'Polished metal' one. In the day-time, it is distinctively 'Alabaster silver'. I am posting three pictures of the car now, two from the evening we took the delivery and one from another morning. This weekend, I would be able to post some more shots.

Overall, the process went on very smooth and in a pleasant manner. Haven't had the time to take the car out for a proper drive yet due to work and also the political situation here in Hyderabad.

[Laxminarayan]

Hey Kalyan,

Congratulations on your new car, neat write up too. Take good care of her and she can easily serve you for another 10 years. Have a happy and safe drive.
Also saw lot of your posts on the discount thread. Did you get any discount and freebies on your purchase?

Cheers,
Laxminarayan

[joecherian]

Congrats Kalyan, myself being a new member of Honda family, am sure Honda will not let you down in your expectations. Enjoy the city. Make sure you respect speed breakers or else they will shout at you.

[Mevtec]

Congrats Kalyan for the new car.The car is very good,trouble free and fun to drive.Drive safe and enjoy the car.

[nairrk]

Indeed good write up and your reveiw /selection between the two cars were well explained.

Good car too!

Safe Drive - Cheers!

[xenxer]

Congrats kalyan.. Great choice. Great car. Enjoy your ride. Be safe

[nandans2005]

Kalyan,

Welcome to the ANHC Family

Congrats on the purchase. Great decision !

would you mind sharing why you opted for the V MT? and why not the SMT?

[INDIAN_VAGABOND]

Congrats Kalyan and welcome to the club.

It is indeed a great decision going for the TOP VARIANT - VMT.

Do keep posting the ownership reports ..

[svsantosh]

Great choice there. Love the color. Have you Re-Done the audio or OK with stock? Have you budgeted it out?

[kalyan_hyd]

Originally Posted by Laxminarayan

Congratulations on your new car, neat write up too. Also saw lot of your posts on the discount thread. Did you get any discount and freebies on your purchase?

Thanks for the wishes. We got a corporate discount of Rs 15,000.00 on basis of my wife's job at Wipro Technologies. We were offered some discount(50%) on the sunfilm but my dealer's quotations were very vague so I decided to get that done outside.

Originally Posted by joecherian

Congrats Kalyan, myself being a new member of Honda family, am sure Honda will not let you down in your expectations. Enjoy the city. Make sure you respect speed breakers or else they will shout at you.

Thanks for the wishes, Joe. Yes sir, I have to deal with as many as six speed breakers on my way to office each day. My first drive through them was pretty smooth but that was with just my wife and I in the car. With more people and some baggage in the back, I might have to be really slow and extra cautious. Will be following your and other thread's on ANHC to see what approach people suggest to deal with the breakers..

Originally Posted by Mevtec

Congrats Kalyan for the new car.The car is very good,trouble free and fun to drive.Drive safe and enjoy the car.

Thanks for the wishes.

Originally Posted by nairrk

Indeed good write up and your reveiw /selection between the two cars were well explained.

Thanks Nair Sir, your thread on Fiesta gave me immense information on the same and helped me zero-in on these two cars. I had considered Chevrolet Optra, Mitsubishi Cedia, etc too but only felt comfortable in dealing with two cars at the end: Fiesta and Honda City.

Originally Posted by xenxer

Congrats kalyan.. Great choice. Great car. Enjoy your ride. Be safe

Thanks for the wishes.

Originally Posted by nandans2005

Welcome to the ANHC Family
would you mind sharing why you opted for the V MT? and why not the SMT?

Thanks for welcoming us into the ANHC family. As per my observations, front fog lamps and alloy wheels were worth the 40k difference in the prices of S MT and V MT. I read on other write-ups that fog lamps costed around 15k and alloys costed about 20k if we wish to have them fitted on an S MT. On the other hand, I do not like the silver lining on the inside door handle and neither do I like the chrome door handles in V MT version.

Originally Posted by INDIAN_VAGABOND

Congrats Kalyan and welcome to the club.
It is indeed a great decision going for the TOP VARIANT - VMT.

Thanks for welcoming us into the club.

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Great choice there. Love the color. Have you Re-Done the audio or OK with stock? Have you budgeted it out?

Thanks for the wishes. I think I am good with the stock audio for the time being. It was pretty good for my likes.

[nandans2005]

I read on other write-ups that fog lamps costed around 15k and alloys costed about 20k if we wish to have them fitted on an S MT.

I think you have saved more than what you are thinking. I enquired for Honda alloys, the dealer quoted 7 k per alloy and 18k for the fog lamps.

VMT economy is low, but you may compensate that with the comfort of not having to shift gears. i have a problem of not liking the automatic.

So go ahead & enjoy.

Keep posting & keep in touch.

[kalyan_hyd]

Originally Posted by nandans2005

VMT economy is low, but you may compensate that with the comfort of not having to shift gears. i have a problem of not liking the automatic.

I think there is a confusion here, Honda City has two variants in Manual Transmission, S MT and V MT and one variant with Auto Transmission V AT. Our's is V MT, so it still is a Manual transmission vehicle with Alloy wheels, front fog lamps and some other minor differences(Silver color AC knob, silver color inner door handle an power window controls, tweeters and rear exhaust steel finish) over the S MT variant.

I am of the opinion that the mileage shouldn't be a lot different over what S MT gives.

[kalyan_hyd]

Some accessories that I am planning for our ANHC:

1. Sun film: I did my research on the respective thread on T-BHP and concluded to go with 3M brand sun filming.
It would be one of these variants:
a. 3M premium series(3 year warranty): RE 50 on the sides with RE 70 on the rear. Quoted at Rs 4725.00.
b. 3M super premium series(5 year warranty): CR 50 on the sides with CR 70 on the rear. Quoted at Rs 10,000.00.

Am currently undecided about the front wind-shield filming. Might opt for CR 70 on the front too. Quoted at Rs 5,000.00.

2. Air-freshner: Personally, I dislike Ambi-pur. In some of the recent T-BHP ownership threads, I noticed that there are gel based freshners in the market these days. I will go around the stores here and see if something suits us. I prefer a mild smelling freshner.

3. Tyre puncture repair kit: Have to research where one can get this in Hyderabad.

4. High quality cleaning cloth and branded wax polish: Probably Formula 1 items, I know some are available at the Big Bazaar/ Future Bazaar stores.

5. Reverse parking sensors: My car dealer is being of no help in this matter. I talked to a few stores outside and got quotations for Autocop, Xenos and RajatDeep reverse parking sensors. I feel this is a very useful feature but I am vary about Honda electrical warranty in case I opt to get this done outside. So, currently I plan to wait and watch.

I read the owner's manual the other day and noticed the page where it clearly mentions that if/ when one opts to get some installatin work done at a dealer outside, one can discuss the same with his Honda dealer and/ or get the installation inspected by the Honda dealer so that it is done in tune with Honda's policies. What I understand out of it is that the dealer is obliged to help me if I choose to get the reverse parking sensors from outside.

Any suggestions regarding the above mentioned things and of those that I might have missed are most welcome. Also, if one can point out places in Hyderabad where we can get these, it would be a great favor.

[nandans2005]

oh yeah ! i was talking to my friend about automatics in the office when i was penning this post, so this mistake, i am absolutely sorry alright!

Sun film.

I think you should go in for sl.a. who has seen 10 years from now? isn't it? Its a very long shot!

Airfreshner:

Well, think well if you really need to have one in the car. I didnt see any requirement of this is in any of my car.

Puncture Kit.

It costs me about Rs.900 here in Bangalore. for your information.

Cleaning cloth:

I suggest you go for 3M cloths. These clothes are really brilliant. They really work well.

Reverse sensors.

I am not an expert on this, so i will let it be. There are loads of guys who can suggest you on this in the forum out here.

My other suggestion would be to get the seat covers done to save the original ones.

[Fstlndrive]

Congrats on your new ANHC!! I hope you are enjoying your new car, as I do. I would like to suggest you one thing is to fill the nitrogen air on the tires. I filled in mine. Regarding your rear parking sensors, I also wanted to go for one. But after driving in a month, now I cam comfortable parking and/or reversing. Now, reverse parking sensors are not in my list. I suggest that you drive some days and still if you need parking sensors, then go for it.