I decided to buy my first car in october 09. I had not decided about the time line then, and was thinking "it would be soon". Neither had I made up my mind on which car to buy. I would go ahead and tell about the journey and the final destination.
What is the budget?
around 4-4.5 lakhs. May go up to 5 lakhs if really tempted.
Requirements:
- good city car, easy to drive, occasional highway trips
- Petrol car, my expected mileage (500-600 p.m.) could not justify the diesel price delta
- need not be a head-turner, decent looks is OK
- decent space at front, rear and boot
- overall comfortable car
- colour has to be Red
Nominations: Oct 09
- Beat, was very impressed with its spy-shots.
- Figo, nothing impressinve, boring car
- i10, very common, overall good no-problem car
- Swift, rear space is a concern
- Ritz, a strict no-no from wife
- Spark, another contender, good for city, don't like central mounted IPs
- Vista, don't like central mounted IP, saffire is not attractive
- i20 out of my budget, otherwise hands down winner
Nov 09
- Beat, still the favourite
- Polo, if only I can afford
- Figo, not stunning, but started liking it
Dec 09
- Let us wait and see what happens in 1Q10. so many things are bound to change - Beat, Polo, Figo launch. Auto-expo surprises. BS-4 emission norms. Decided to start showroom visits from January.
Since January, I have been making visits of different showrooms to decide on the car. I would now list down my impressions and comments about the cars I have taken a look at.
Beat:
Stunned by Beat's pricing, I visited Chevy showroom.
- On first impression, the Beat looked small. The front is really huge and eye-catching, but the rear is very small, like an a-star.
- Went for a test drive. did not like the pull of the car very much with 5 people on board.
- The front seats, and interiors are very good,
- The AC is superb.
Spark:
- seemed more spacious than beat
- The central IP is very dated
- the ride is not very good, the car felt very very light
- was getting a good offer for a 2009 model, but only dark grey colour was available
Figo:
After not liking Beat that much, I was eagerly waiting for Figo. Figo was like 90% decided. Just needed a walk-around and test drive to confirm.
Went for a look the day it arrived at showroom.
- Design is as I expected, good and under-stated.
- Very spacious
- dash board design is just OK
- steering felt good
- boot is huge
- rear windows a disappointment
- seats are on firmer side, not as comfy as Beat's
- some engine noise was creeping into the cabin
- Overall impression positive. needed a test drive before confirming
In the following weeks, I gathered all the info available on internet on Figo. Somehow did not like the Petrol engine reviews. The TDCI is very very good, but I don't need a diesel.
By this time I was also thinking about couple of other cars on a higher budget.
-
new Swift with K-series engine : I enquired Mandovi on Lavelle road. I decided against Swift primarily for waiting period. I could not digest waiting 2/3 months for B-segment car which is 6-years old. Very arrogant of Maruti. Swift demand was always there, why did they not increase production? The not-so-warm response from the dealers did not help either.
-
i20 : just love this car, but way over my budget. I kept on getting tempted evry now and then to go for a Magna. Very stressful times to resist the temptation.
On 6 th march, after BSY's Karnataka budget, I realised the need to hurry things or spend 8-10k extra. Wife has been constantly telling me to "stop waiting for the next big thing, and book a car". So we sat together and had a discussion about which car to go for. By this time my budget was in a mess. It ranged from Spark to i20. After much deliberation we short-listed 4 cars - Spark, i10, Figo, i20.
The D-day:
Next day was a sunday, we visited Chevy showroom to take final quotation for Spark.
Then visited Ford for Figo. Both of us liked the car, but I was a bit apprehensive about the new 1.2L engine.
Next stop was Hyundai. We called them the previous day to arrange for test drive. We met the salesman, and discussed about prices and quotations for both the cars. Then went ahead and took a test drive of i10. The ease of drive really impressed me. i20 was ditched then and there, it was beyond our reach, and I finally managed to resist the temptation once and for all. It was now a straight shoot-out between Figo and i10. Wife was still not bought on i10, and kept on praising Figo's space and interiors. But she saw the logic in a tested, trusted, no-tension car like i10, compared to the first small car of Ford. We were inclining towards i10. The sales guy offered a February made model with a pre-budget price. That meant a straight 9k discount.
So that's it then. We decided to buy an i10. Finally we decided to book a car.
Booking to delivery process: 1. Booking : The booking experience was very nice. The Advaith Hyundai sales folks at residency road are very friendly and helpful. We were debating between electric red or blushing red, so they took us to their stockyard to have a look side-by-side. I booked the car with 10k. On a side-note, I found the finance folks at the showroom a bit of take-it-or-leave-it kind.
2. Finance: I had told the sales guy that I would let him know about my finance option - I was thinking between outside loan and company car lease. finally went ahead with car lease plan. Got the quotation from Advaith and submitted to office. No more paperwork. FYI, for outside loan I was offered 9.25% from Kotak.
3. Registration : The PO was released from leasing company to Advaith in 3 working days after repeated following-up with folks.
4. Delivery : The delivery happened on 19th March, exactly 11 days after bookig was made, and 3 days after finance was cleared. The Odo read 26 kms. One showroom person gave me a detail walk-around the car. Overall delivery process was smooth and quick. I went in at 1-30 pm, after fitting all accessories drove out at 4-30 pm.
The Car : i10 Magna 1.2, Blushing Red
The Price : The on-road price was 4.73. My lease amount was 4.52 lakhs. 6k corporate discount, and insurance is bourne by lease company.
The Dealer : Advaith Hyundai on Residency Road, Pemmaiah was the sales person, very friendly and eager-to-help. Was really impressed with his service.
The dealer offered :
- 6000 corporate discount
- panasonic ICE (or 5000 cash offer)
- mud flaps, door mats
- Teflon coating
- Sunfilm (garware classic)
- Remote Lock (hyundai)
Accessories purchased:
- Sony HU + JBL speakers (only front): 10500
- Fabric seat covers : 2000
- 3M sunfilm : 2000 (don't recal the name, probably CP35, go 500 cashback for the Garware)
- 2-yr extended warranty : 5430
- Hyundai OEM cover : 900
Pics:
Front:
Front 3rd-quarter:
Rear 3rd-quarter:
Top:
Interiors in Daylight:
Back-seats, decent space for 3 average persons:
Dash in daylight:
Instrument Panel, not a fan of the green backlight:
Sony HU (CDX-GT494U)integrated in the center console:
Driver's view of the dash:
Fabric seat covers:
The full dash:
Decent bottle/cup holder spaces:
Very small glovebox:
The "lucky scratch", got it on the very first night itself while parking. Brushed the car against a concrete electric pole, was very very upset
P.S.:
1. Thanks multiple BHP threads for the ocean of info and guidance they offered.
2. The opinions about different cars are entirely mine, and not offend anybody the least.
3. The post may have become a bit long, please consider
nice review, Excellent interiors by the way. Easily one of the best Hatchbacks in India. but i believe you are in the wrong section.
Mods please shift this thread to the appropriate section.
Mods, please shift this thread to " Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports" thread. I made a mistake.
Nicely detailed buying experience. Sorry about that scratch - but I guess you were yet to come to terms with your car's width, thus the scratch.
Enjoy your drive, and post your experience.
Mods, I have created a new thread in "Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports" section. Please merge/delete this thread. Thanks.
Congrats on your first car cuboid.
Very well written review and detailed pics as well.
Really sorry to see the first scratch on the first day itself. Has it been attended to or are you planning to get it done during first service..??
Congrats. The i10 is a nice car. Get the dirt off the speedometer.
Any mods in the pipeline? Fogs, alloys etc? Get the Hyundai shark fin antenna and some thicker rubber and your car will really stand out.
Hey congrats...
Didn't get this though. So are you trying to say that i10 has better rear space than a Swift?
Also why was Punto not even considered...?
Congrats on your new car buddy. That's a well written review with good pics. Its too sad to see a scratch on a new car. Any plan to upgrade the tyres?
I go mad at even a small scratch on the car. It must have really hurt.
Be more careful next time
Congrats otherwise on a nice car
Congrats Cuboid for the cute i10. Brilliant choice of color and excellent snaps. Now is the time to share some driving experience, you have pretty much covered everything else.
Wishing you happy miles with the i.
Congrats on your car. This colour of i10 is actually very pleasing. :thumbs up
Try to get yourself a rear spoiler, better rubber and seat covers.
Do keep this thread updated with your ownership experiences.
