[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Axe77

For all those rejecting the big 3 for VW / Skoda, personally I don't see how the VW / Skoda stable are any better on reliability than merc, BMW or Audi. They're just as unreliable if not even more and probably have much worse levels of service. You on spend less admittedly but you're not gaining on the reliability / cost of ownership front unless you opt for perhaps the Jap options.

It's not just about reliability. There are other factors like ground clearance, able to tackle little bad roads easily and having a full size spare tyre. Then there's rear legroom which none from Audi/Merc/BMW offer.

If you up the budget to 50L then you I would go for X3 or the E class. These offer the luxury or the practicality than the 3/C/A4 which are just too small and cramped for the type of money they command.

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by nakul0888

Isn't the Golf tdi just a Jetta tdi without the boot?
So even when fully loaded it should be less than a fully loaded Jetta, isn't it?

Or is it the Golf GTI that is going to be launched here? If that is the case then India is going to get its first true hot hatch from VW. I will surely put my money down for that one.

MK7 Golf is on the MQB platform. There is a rumour that it will be launched in India, to rival A-class / 1-series.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/volkswagen/golf

Should cost a couple of lakhs less that The Jetta, I assume...

[fine69]

1. Safari Storme Ladakh Edition + strengthening the car further in whichever way possible (suspension, A/T tyres etc.)
2. Polo GT TDI + Super Serious ICE + Cosmetic Mods

All this should be achievable within 30L.

The Storme would satiate the traveller in me and Polo would not let me get bored while in city. These two cars check all points in my book!

[eagle_bush]

1. A top end diesel sedan like Vento/Rapid 1.6.
2. Used 1.8 TSI engine car potentially a Octavia VRS or a Laura. Rest of the money well spent for the enthusiast inside you. Remaps, FFE's, headers, suspension et al.

One car would serve as the daily ride, and the other satisfies the power hunger!

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

It's not just about reliability. There are other factors like ground clearance, able to tackle little bad roads easily and having a full size spare tyre. Then there's rear legroom which none from Audi/Merc/BMW offer.



If you up the budget to 50L then you I would go for X3 or the E class. These offer the luxury or the practicality than the 3/C/A4 which are just too small and cramped for the type of money they command.

Yes. Those factors I fully agree with. Basically you can pick an E segment comparable car via the other Germans that offer a lot more car. I would seriously consider that as well rather than not having spare or driving a cramped car etc if budget was squished around 30 L.

[diffsoft]

Originally Posted by nakul0888

Just Imagine that you have got 30 Lakhs to spend on your new car.

What would you do?

.........

Please do share your thoughts.

If someone forces me to spend 30 lakhs on just cars, I would buy an auto hatchback for a small sum now, invest the rest in an appreciating asset, and redeem the money to buy a driver's car when atleast 75% of the roads I travel are worthy of the car.

Cheers,

[Sheel]

A Mitsubishi Pajero Sport or a Toyota Fortuner 4X4 and a Honda CBR 650F.

My garage will be completed with my existing Figo & CBR 250 & for few years, I can live happily, not repent & die a peaceful man.

Or give me 10L more & lemme buy a BMW S1000RR HP4

[Wanderers]

Hi Nakul,

Perhaps little late on board, but you have put up a interesting proposition.

For me it would be a catch 22 situation. Spend on 1 new car & wait till eternity till I get another one (my present case) or buy 2 cars or 3 cars perhaps and let the car match my boot on a given day

The catch is the buy itself.
But now, I feel it would be better to go for hire & fire (Rental) Schemes, given that all high end cars are available on hire.

It make sense to buy one car as an essential and go for hiring whenever you feel like driving long distance or on a holiday.

Even if you hire for 1/4 the year- 92 days @ 5000 per day for a Jetta or Fortuner ( fuel cost included). It comes to 4.6 Lakhs per year and for 5 years the spend would be 23 Lakhs, whose present value would be close to 18 lakhs.
Just a different thought.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Yes. Those factors I fully agree with. Basically you can pick an E segment comparable car via the other Germans that offer a lot more car. I would seriously consider that as well rather than not having spare or driving a cramped car etc if budget was squished around 30 L.

Excellent point. The Superb and erstwhile Passat are awesome options to the 3/C/A4. The Superb with it's limo like cabin and the Passat loaded to the gills with the 177bhp motor and a larger cabin than the german trio.

[Joe M]

To me, it'd all depend on the need. And I will go for two instead of 1 in this case. Based on many reasons, including the following:

Is a 30 lac German car 3 times or at least twice as reliable and hassle-free as a 10-12 lac Honda City/Corolla? Not even close.

Is the total ownership cost, including depreciation of a 30 Lac car less than that of two lower class cars? Mostly no.

Do you get 3 times the satisfaction/transparency in services/parts at the dealership? No.

Convenience? If you have parking space, it's not a problem to have two cars, and is many times more convenient to have two. Very often different individuals in the family have different needs at the same time.

When going to a place with bad roads or too much traffic congestion or lack of parking space, you always have the cheaper, smaller car at your disposal and keep the other one clean. I know one guy who always drives his Fabia for all the local(<15km) trips when a dozen of other cars including Jags and S Classes take a rest at home. (Now he upgraded it to A Class.) I liked his method of choosing cars for the occasion.

If it's a big family, a 7 seater MUV/SUV + a fun to drive 5 seater hatch/sedan

You can go for one big/small car now and wait for a soon-to-be-launched car in the other category. If I were given this choice, I'd wait for the new Jazz to be launched, while happily using the other car.

You don't have to depend on a single dealer/manufacturer.

And so on...

[Amyth Prabhakar]

i guess for 30 lakhs you would have to only go for the base versions of the top brands that you are looking for. With BMW your choice gets limited to X1 and 3 series basic versions. with Merc i guess you will have to go for the hatch or C-class and similar story with Audi A4. Better to buy 2 top end fully loaded cars from other brands of your choice. If you can afford, add some more on top of that and go for BMW 520D or 530D, Audi A6.. or Benz E class.
You have to at least aim at mid variants of these brands. Its really not worth spending 30 Lakhs for basic variants from my perspective and this holds good for any budget range.

[SHANKY11]

I have been going through the same 1 car- 2 car dilemma for the last few months. And I have been contemplating upon various combos.

First of all, my primary needs are:
A chauffer- driven car for daily office commuting and city runs. The decision to keep a chauffer was hard to make because I am an enthusiast and I love to drive. But, practicality dictates that I waste a lot of precious time in commuting to and from office. And all that time can be utilized working, thanks to the advancements in technology and all the gadgets at our disposal.

Next point, I am of the opinion that a person like me (An enthusiast) cannot happily drive the same car himself which is chauffer driven most of the time. I might be wrong here, and people having experience in this regard can help me out. Hence, thats the primary reason for having 2 cars rather than 1.

So, I came up with various possible combos I could look into:

1. Ecosport Diesel (Self-driven) + Innova Diesel (Chauffer driven)
Rejected because of the long waiting periods of the ecosport and some negative feedback too. Also, an Innova, though very comfortable, does not make sense for city runs with 1 or 2 people max in the backseat. I had booked the ecosport but cancelled it within a month.

2. Next up, I replaced Ecosport with Duster and rejected it immediately coz number 1, I dont like the interiors and number 2, the reliability of Renault's A.S.S is always a question mark.

3. Then, I formed an all new combo i.e. the new Skoda Octavia (Chauffer- driven) plus a Polo GT TSI (Self- driven). I always wanted to own the Polo TSI. But, owing to my self driven needs, I need something which can be used for travelling to remote places and the TSI fails in this department. Its a great car for the city and the smooth highways but not for something like Ladakh. I might buy the TSI later when I have the option to accomodate a 3rd car at home. As of now, 3 cars do not make sense for a bachelor who lives alone in a congested south delhi colony. Maybe I can buy it for my wife next year when I get married. Then I will have the best of all worlds.

4. I replaced the Octavia with the fortuner and decided to use it as a Chauffer driven car in the city and also to use it as a self driven car for travelling. And to buy a TSI for weekend city drives. Somehow, I could not live with the idea of travelling daily to work in an old school diesel truck as it does not provide much comfort on the back seat. Low mileage was another aspect. Plus the point of sharing my ride with the driver eventually put me off.
Also, this combo was out of my budget. (30 lacs + 2 lacs max)

5. Next up, I replaced the TSI with Nissan Sunny/ Renault Scala (Chauffer driven) and to buy a used fortuner (A very close friend of mine was selling his 3 year old fortuner) as a self driven car. The only problem with this combo is that both the cars are too much apart from each other and I would soon end up taking my fortuner everywhere at social gatherings and places where I need to maintain my status. The sunny/ scala would not fit in the role of that. And I attend regular social events at least thrice a week. That would mean, going to the office, coming home and then going again in the other car or giving a lot of leaves to the chauffer.

After living in all this confusion for the last 6 months, I have finally decided (Hopefully) to buy a new XUV 500 AWD (Self driven) and a pre-owned Corolla diesel or Laura diesel (Chauffer driven). As I type this, I have an appointment today at a Mahindra dealership for booking the XUV. Somehow, Im still doubtful about the XUV owing to my past research since its launch. And I am still gathering reviews from people I know and fellow BHPians threads.

I hope people who read my boring and long story would understand my requirements and would help me out in making a choice. Any suggestions and inputs are welcome.

Also, need expert help on the use of AWD in an XUV. I dont know how the on-demand AWD works and if its really useful as compared to traditional 4X4 vehicles. My usage will comprise of 25% city runs and the rest highways with occasional trips to Ladakh and other such remote areas (Where I think the AWD will be useful). I dont want to do any serious offroading. Will the AWD still be useful i my case? Plz help guys. Your inputs can help me saving 1.2 lacs and a month's waiting period.

[shk 8896]

Nice question.
If I had 30 lakhs to buy a car or cars this is what I do

-Buy a Polo GT TDi/ Punto MJD for daily commute (Good handling diesels)
-Pre owned 7 seater like Ertiga for family or a Safari for expeditions
-Project car like City Vtec/ Palio 1.6 for the petrolhead in me.

The money approximately sums up to 22 lakhs. rest money pumped to my Project car maintainance and fuel
I am a guy who just don't care about the image so don't want to have a German in my garage.

But the problems are-
-I don't have 30 lakhs with me. I am still a student
-Parking space especially in metros
-Buri Nazar!!

Cheers,
Sreehari

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by Amyth Prabhakar

Better to buy 2 top end fully loaded cars from other brands of your choice. If you can afford, add some more on top of that and go for BMW 520D or 530D, Audi A6.. or Benz E class.
You have to at least aim at mid variants of these brands. Its really not worth spending 30 Lakhs for basic variants from my perspective and this holds good for any budget range.

First of all even the entry level sedans from the Germans have fully loaded variants. Generally speaking even the base variant is pretty well loaded. My base variant 320d comes with all the following features:

The base variant comes pretty loaded too and with the addition of Xenon lights and corona rings there is nothing much left to desire. It comes loaded with:

1. 8 speed AT transmission box with the 3 driving modes mentioned above. Also the AT box provides you with the tiptronic option for those times when you miss the manual shifts.

2. Servotronic steering i.e. the steering adjusts itself according to your speed. Pretty cool feature.

3. Rain sensor and auto head lights with headlamp washers and fog lamps.

4. Xenons with corona rings.

5. Dual zone climate control.

6. Roller sun blinds for rear back and side windows, a blessing after the sun films have been banned.

7. Electrical seat adjustment with memory function (2).

8. Engine start stop system and the auto start stop function ( found it little irritating although in cases of a long signal this can be quite useful in conserving some fuel).

9. Rear parking sensors.

10. idrive screen (16.5 cm) is a very useful addition as it adds a touch of premiumness to the whole package.

11. Brake energy regeneration system.

12. ICE supports Bluetooth connectivity and phone telephony is possible too.

13. Last but not the least the safety features are all there and these are standard across the 3 series range.

Couple of features that I am discovered in the car are (the list will perhaps grow slowly):

1. Both IRVM and ORVMs have the auto dim feature which is an absolute bliss. No more glare from the car’s behind.

2. As soon as you engage the reverse gear, the ORVMs change there position and focus on the area around the rear bumper to give you an excellent idea of the things behind.

3. The ORVMs open on there own if your car crosses speed of 40kmph.

Coming to the first upgrade to 5/E/A6: All these cars practically cost upward of 50L and have an even higher maintenance cost. How many of us in a lifetime will be able to afford a 50L + car unless we have inherited a fortune? It is in this scenario that ti indulge most people resort to buying the entry level offerings from these premium car makers. Please consider that a jump from this to the next segment is going to cost you a cool 20L more.

Originally Posted by SHANKY11

5. Next up, I replaced the TSI with Nissan Sunny/ Renault Scala (Chauffer driven) and to buy a used fortuner (A very close friend of mine was selling his 3 year old fortuner) as a self driven car.

Hi,
Can you please PM me or Email me the details of this Fortuner. I would really be interested in checking out the car. Unable to PM you because of your newbie status. Please drop me a PM or Email @ dr.mohitg@yahoo.com.
Thanks a lot.

[lurker]

why not these combos

1. Innova GX
2. Jetta TDi Comfortline

OR

1. Pajero Sport
2. Punto MJD/Jazz/Polo TDi

OR

1. Octavia Tsi
2. Linea Tjet