[sam264_2000]

Originally Posted by steadfast

… You are already driving a high seated Zest which drives more like a crossover than a sedan. The feeling of sitting-on than sitting-in is a huge difference. Just take long test drives of City to answer the question above.

You are spot on. It didn't occur to me as much as it did to my wife who accompanied me on another TD we had last Friday. Zest is taller than City and in that aspect she felt we are sitting a bit lower. I drove around bumpy roads and the ride quality was good, no doubt! In fact, I would say better than Zest which has a stiffer suspension than City and the bumps and the undulations could be really felt inside the Zest. The City did not scrape anywhere though.

Originally Posted by hdman

Sam264_2000: Did you make a decision on the car?
…I TD’d City iVtec MT last weekend and I loved the car… I felt the suspension was on a softer side compared to Zest which I liked. The engine is a massive powerhouse IMO..…. Zest was my first sedan and the ride is truly incomparable to a hatch. Not just the high speed stability but the the way the car grips on sudden undulation of roads, is such a pleasure.....My only concern is safety. Weight and ride height is important for road safety - both of which are better with Zest than City. As the market moves to high riding crossovers and SUVs a low riding car is at a disadvantage from a safety point….. Having said that, if I switch from Zest today, I am very much inclined to get a City.

Thank you for sharing your feedback on Zest and I concur. Need for power and an automatic transmission are the major reasons why I am letting go Zest. Yes, compared to Zest, I liked the suspension of City for daily commute. High speed stability of Zest is too good due to CSC (Corner Stability Control) feature. I have taken City on highway earlier and feel it’s not that bad – we don’t corner at 100kmph, do we? I am trying to be a more sedate driver now a days – it’s more peaceful and safe rather than trying to save 15 minutes by driving at insane speeds. Personally, I don’t consider City unsafe compared to the Zest.

I almost decided to book a Golden Brown City ZX CVT this past weekend until my wife said she would like to sit in Creta once before booking the City to ensure she is not missing on anything (she did not accompany me the 1st time I TD'd the Creta). And to my surprise she liked the "view" and of course the touch screen which is admittedly better than City's. Other bling notwithstanding, I liked the CRDI + TC combination. Power delivery is linear and seamless. So we are now scratching our heads if it’s worth plonking 4lakh extra for Creta SX (O) Diesel AT (I am not in favor of buying a Creta Petrol. If it’s petrol – it’s iVTEC. Period.) Given our usage, the numbers don’t add up. Let’s see – fingers crossed!

I would recommend that you too TD a Creta before finalizing on City. Nothing to loose. Note that Creta has a waiting period of 5 to 8 months depending on the variant you choose.

[sam264_2000]

Update: Sold my trusty, safe, reliable and solid Tata Zest on Feb 15th after an absolute fuss free ownership of exact 6 years and 62000 kms. It was quite an emotional moment for me. I LOVED what the car offered at that price point - sturdy build, lovely Harmon Kardon infotainment, space and easy on pocket to maintain. Below are the ownership costs from my G-sheet that I maintained:

On-Road Price: Rs. 7,17,229 (XT Revotron)
Total cost of 5 yearly services: Rs. 39,009 (1 year/15000km service interval)
Average fuel efficiency: 13kmpl (lowest 10.1 kmpl & highest 15.8kmpl)
Total fuel cost: Rs. 3,55,362
Total Insurance costs for 6 years - Rs. 49658
Battery changed in April 2018 - Rs. 4500
Tyre change in July 2020 - Rs. 20000
Miscellaneous expenses (tail light replacement x2, wheel balancing, alignment & rotation, wiper change, spark plug changes) - Rs. 11257

My current daily ride is my wife's Celerio AMT until we have Zest's replacement which is still TBD!!

[Fury]

This query is on behalf of my cousin who has already sold his I20 and is looking for its replacement. The car will be an office lease so factors such as resale and maintenance will take a back seat (since its taken care as part of the lease)

Primary requirements are as follows:
- Safety- 6 airbags, ABS, ESC, Traction control
- Diesel or Petrol but must be fuel efficient since he makes frequent Bangalore-Kochi trips. Since his last car was a diesel, he is slightly biased towards it.
- Generous boot space
- Automatic (strict NO towards AMT)
- Generous Passenger space, preferably must be able to seat 5 in decent comfort for long trips
- Android Auto is a must
- Max budget of 20 lakhs on road (Bangalore)

Cars considered so far are:

Honda City ZX automatic
This is the currently shortlisted car and while it meets most of his requirements, he is not so sure about its efficiency at highway speeds when compared to a diesel and its highway manners due to the soft suspension. These are not deal breakers however and unless he gets a better option he will be proceeding with the City.

Kia Sonet
Space was the obvious deal breaker but till recently he was willing to sacrifice that due to the excellent diesel automatic power train. However, the recent safety concerns with the Seltos GNCAP and the added pressure from family for a more spacious car brought this option down to second place.

Hyundai Creta
Price is the biggest down point here since he is looking only at the top variant which comes to almost 22 lakhs. Since its an office lease, price range is pretty rigid. Safety concerns for a 22 lakh car brought down the preferance even lower

Tata Harrier, MG Hector
Price and also too big. Parking at his Bangalore home is pretty tight and while the city was a correct fit, anything bigger or with a longer turning radius will not fit so has to rule these big cars out

Skoda Rapid / VW Vento
Too old and outdated especially with the launch of the newer VAG cars

Waiting for Skoda Kushaq / VW Taigun
This is the most confusing option. He is a big fan of VAG cars and is really looking forward to these models. However, I am not sure the 1.5 TSI variant will be available for below 20 lakhs. Also, Fuel Efficiency is a concern for both 1.0 litre TSI and 1.5 TSI but I am guessing at highway speeds, due to the cylinder deactivation tech, the 1.5 TSI could be more relaxed and hence more fuel efficient. Boot space also seems to be a compromise for these cars but need to see it in person to confirm.

So the big question is whether to go for the Honda city or wait for the VAG twins? Any other options not mentioned are welcome too.

[VKumar]

Originally Posted by Fury

must be fuel efficient since he makes frequent Bangalore-Kochi trips

Honda City it is!

I have owned multiple VW and Skoda cars in past, and a few things I would like to share:
Turbo petrols can never be as fuel efficient as an NA If you ask them to perform, they take fuel. Especially on expressway speeds and while going uphill.
Buy a VAG yourself, but never recommend: Always remember, there is another component calls reliability. And VW cars love throwing the dreaded yellow emission light time and again! I just had mine illuminated 2 days back

So, till the moment everything is going good, your cousin will be all praises. If he faced a single issue, again he will say "you suggested it"! Maintenance is not a concern for anyone who is paying 10 lac, everyone can afford a service cost of 15k time to time. Issue happens when things fail in the middle of nowhere - nobody likes that.

My suggestion:
Honda City ZX CVT. Even before checking out the VAG twins, I am sure of a few points like:

• Better FE
• Better comfort, especially in the rear. In fact, City has an awesome driver seat too.
• More value for money
• Being a Honda, reliability will any way be higher

[S15]

Just curious as to why Verna didn't make it to the list?

[IshaanIan]

If your cousin is not keen on thrashing the car about, the Verna automatic is a peach ventilated seats for the summer, elantra derived suspension offering an extremely mature and planted ride and a sweet TC automatic gearbox all makes for quite the package IMO.

Check if any dealers have stock of the Civic, might get discounts on it and should feel like a proper upgrade

[Kosfactor]

Narrow the search down to Diesel + Automatic + SUV - and then you can further refine it using by checking if the brand has enough service points between A & B locations frequently visited etc and provide a few options to choose from after test drives before final decision.

[akash_v12]

Originally Posted by Fury

- Safety - 6 airbags, ABS, ESC, Traction control
- Generous boot space
- Generous Passenger space, preferably must be able to seat 5 in decent comfort for long trips

These 3 criteria seals the deal for the City ZX. It's got loads of space in the passenger cabin as well as the boot. It's also (relatively) safe and has got your necessary requirements. Preferably Petrol since the diesel still lacks in NVH.

Only if he prefers a SUV, He can take a look at the Tata Nexon. Safe car, good legroom but the only downside is that the Auto is an AMT. My parents have now owned the Vento TSI for over 5 years now, and here's a few things I'll tell you:

- FE can be average to bad in city roads. It increases drastically on highways until you've put your foot down.
- Seating 5 comfortably is a struggle due to that huge transmission tunnel.
- Maintenance can be easily 2-3x of other products.
- Joy to drive, as dad puts it.
- Very, very solidly put together.

Although, we haven't seen the Kushaq or Taigun in the flesh yet, it's safe to say that they might be game changers for VAG. Your cousin might want to wait a bit.

[Fury]

Originally Posted by S15

Just curious as to why Verna didn't make it to the list?

Biggest con of the verna, as per my cousin, is that rear seat space didn't feel considerably better than the Sonet and for a car that long, felt pretty cramped. If he is indeed going for a longer car like the city or verna, he would prefer to have that additional size made up for in terms of rear seat and boot space. City does that better than Verna

[TrackDay]

All options listed are good.

Originally Posted by Fury

Primary requirements are as follows:
- Safety- 6 airbags, ABS, ESC, Traction control
- Diesel or Petrol but must be fuel efficient since he makes frequent Bangalore-Kochi trips. Since his last car was a diesel, he is slightly biased towards it.
- Generous boot space
- Automatic (strict NO towards AMT)
- Generous Passenger space, preferably must be able to seat 5 in decent comfort for long trips
- Android Auto is a must
- Max budget of 20 lakhs on road (Bangalore)

As a 5th gen City CVT owner I can confirm that the car will take care of most needs listed here.

Originally Posted by Fury

Honda City ZX automatic
This is the currently shortlisted car and while it meets most of his requirements, he is not so sure about its efficiency at highway speeds when compared to a diesel and its highway manners due to the soft suspension.

Highway mileage on mine has been around 18-20 km/l on most drives (pure highway mileage). So that should not be a concern. Regarding highway manners, the cars handles well since it is a sedan at the end of the day. Usually I don't go above 90 or 100 on our roads and at such speeds the car is well mannered. You can read the review of my car here :

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ty-review.html (Athena | My 5th-Gen Honda City Review)