Team-BHP - Fun-to-drive car under 5.5 lakhs?

We need a manual car for 5-5.5 lakhs.The car will be doing 30-40 kilometres in Delhi everyday.The car should not be very expensive to maintain ,safe, have mod potential and most importantly put a smile on my face when I drive it.No particular requirements as we have more cars for family and highway use.

Cars considered -

Polo GT TDI

Good engine, german build quality with a lot of potential.

Have hardly found any in the used market,looking for the facelift models after 2014. Found one on the team bhp classifieds.

http://classifieds.team-bhp.com/buy-...gen/Polo.html/

I talked to the owner and the car has been remapped to 130 bhp and 300 nm and all service records are available. Is it a good buy?

Honda civic

After reading many threads on the old civic I am willing to buy a 2011-12 manual petrol civic which will give me less FE and will be more expensive to maintain compared to other options but then I think that these cars are a dying breed.Also love those VTEC engines

Ford Figo 1.5 tdci

Like the power and torque on tap but handling and build quality is not as good as the older generation.

Fiat abarth or Linea t jet

Hard to find in the used market, not as reliable as other options but will be a pure driving experience thus considering it.

Any insight / help / advice would be appreciated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverado (Post 4704679)

Gen 1 Swift with 1.3 Petrol engine.
Try for a ZXi, and then you can spend the spare cash on mods.

I had a used Gen 1 Swift Vxi for 2 years. I know that its 1.3L petrol engine was from the Esteem. I'm curious to know if that engine is to be considered a great one. Mine was great to drive as an overall package of course; I had no complaints at all with its power or handling. The 1.3L engine gave way to the 1.2L Kappa engine I think in 2011-12...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guna (Post 4704666)

Consider Tiago/Tigor JTP and may be Baleno RS as well.

The baleno RS would have been a good buy but want to stay away from maruti because of the build quality and lack of safety.

I could not find any Tiago JTP for sale in delhi

I would go for Figo Diesel in Titanium or Titanium plus variant. Sweet engine, good steering and handling, practical car with good FE too :) Ford doesn't have good resale value, so might be easy to find one within this budget too.

Polo would be a good choice if usage is minimum. Good car both in 1.5 diesel and 1.2 TSI options. BUT I see that you have mentioned that car shouldn't be expensive to maintain, have had a polo for few years, would be a good idea to skip this one.

I agree with many of the suggestions made here.
If I were you I would consider the following;

1. Tata Tiago JTP for sure - thats as close to a hot hatch as we have today in our market at that price range.
2. A used Maruti Swift ZXi Petrol and spend a goodly sum of money “doing it up” mechanically as well as otherwise.
3. My own addition here would be a Maruti Gypsy (probably because I have one as my “hobby car” - and one can indeed seriously “do it up” with some good quality and street legal performance modifications and become good to go.

A brand new 1.2 Petrol Ignis delta variant at 6L. It ticks inexpensive to maintain, mod potential, manual, super reliable better 4 cylinder petrol, dual airbags, ABS standard across all variants. Yes it's quirky but I can vouch as an owner that this design grows on you. If you mod it tastefully it can give you excellent results. Some google search will tell you how tasteful sticker works can change the look of this car :D. The biggest plus in this car is that it isn't selling great. So expect good amount of discounts on old stocks too.

I would say stick to petrol. The Kizashi is a dammed good option in manual guise (from personal ownership experience :D ). More reliable and easier to maintain than you might think. Maruti folks at every service center try their level best to do what you ask of them when you drive up in the car.

If you're in the mood for a zippy little hatchback, then try out the old 1.6 petrol manual Fabia. More roomy than a Polo and definitely the most mature hot hatch to come to our country.