[Arwin07]

Background:

I am 32 and we are family of 3 with my 3 year old kid. I barely know how to drive. I am a safe, sedate rider with 80000+ kms in motorcycle with no accidents (touch wood). My family has never owned cars. Though I got my driving licence 14 years back, the only driving I do is in annual refresher course in driving school for one week every year.

Strange commute:
Due to a recent relocation, my commute is 40+40km once a week (on weekends) and my car will be idle for 5 days a week. With miscellaneous drives and 500+500km drive to hometown, it comes to around 5000km a year. The drive will be 75% in wide, city roads (Chennai), 25% in 2 lane state highway with heavy truck traffic.

I do not want to go for Ola/Uber though it will be far cheaper. This age won't come back and I am keen on owning a car.

Requirements:

- Budget 5 lakhs, pre-worshipped car. Stretchable to 7 lakhs by taking a loan.
- With my very low running and weekly two days running, Petrol car will be sufficient. (Exception is it is my last chance to own an Ecosport Tdci.)
- As it is my first car and with no prior experience with cars, I need a reliable, fuss free ownership.
- Need a safe car. 4 or 5 star safety rating.
- Though 75% of the drive is in city, as it is my first car, I want to master Manual transmission before going to Automatic.
- Minimum 2 airbags, ABS. Additional airbags, ESC are good to have.
- Not keen on performance in my first car. Just a sedate, relaxed drive.

Options considered/ Thougt process:
Though all the above requirements scream Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai hatchbacks, I don't consider them for lack of safety.
I am searching for pre-worshipped cars through Spinny, Cars24. The values given below are based on Spinny, Cars24 and OBV.

Cars with 4,5 stars in Global NCAP:
1. Tata Nexon (5 star)
2. Honda City (4 star, unstable body shell)
3. Honda Jazz (4 star, stable body shell)
4. Volkswagen Polo (4 star)
5. Toyota Etios (4 star)
6. Mahindra XUV 300 (5 star)
Tata Altroz, Punch, XUV 300 are recent launches and not readily available in used car market yet.

Cars with perceived good build quality but untested in India:
1. Ford Ecosport
2. Toyota Yaris
3. Toyota Corolla
4. Skoda Rapid
5. Volkswagen Vento
6. Honda WR-V

If Ford had not exited India, Ecosport would have been my default choice. But now unsure of maintenance, parts availability as my first car.

Toyota Corolla, Etios, Yaris are all out of production. Same doubts of maintenance, parts availability as my first car.

Ownership reports of Volkswagen, Skoda cars doesn't inspire confidence as a reliable car- Vento, Rapid, Polo.

Of the above cars, preworshipped 2015-18 Polo, Jazz, Etios and 2013-15 Ecosport, City comes to 5 lakhs budget.
Polo: Great solid built car but got ABS, airbags only on top models in old cars available in used market.
Jazz looks promising, though sold in low numbers relatively.
Etios in used market all have 80000+kms on odo.

2016-18 Honda City, 2017-18 Tata Nexon comes to 7-8 lakhs, stretching my budget.
2018-19 City and Nexon come to 8-10 lakhs.
2018-19 Yaris comes to 8-9 lakhs.
2010-14 Corolla comes to 4-7 lakhs.

Honda City looks premium with good interiors. Wonderful 1.5 i-vtec NA Petrol engine, reliable, fuss free ownership. Cons:Unstable bodyshell in NCAP.
Tata Nexon: 5 star rated, good all round car.

I do not have enough knowledge and experience to select my first car. My choices are not restricted to the above cars. Please guide me towards selecting my first car, fellow Team BHPians.

[aquavivarium]

Hello , for sedate cruisers CVT box is perfect. Look for a Jazz Or Yaris CVT.
both are very reliable and ' fill it and forget it " type.

Since your usage is less, go for a C segment sedan or SUV .
A S- cross or a corrolla will be a steal if u get a clean car.

City will really stretch your budget.

Happy motoring dear

[Arwin07]

Thank you for suggesting S Cross. S-Cross should be in the list of cars with perceived good build quality but untested in India. So another car added to the list for consideration.

A quick check reveals 2015-18 S-Cross 1.3 comes to 5-7 lakhs.
Pros: Maruti service network, fuss free ownership, reliable, decent all round car.
Cons: Untested in NCAP.

[ron178]

Originally Posted by Arwin07

Cons:Unstable bodyshell in NCAP

Wouldn't recommend fixating on this at all. An unstable passenger compartment or footwell in the offset test doesn't mean the passenger compartment has collapsed or even that it has become compromised, it's just a small penalty for increased probability of variation in intrusion across different units (poor repeatibility) or under slightly different loading conditions. You can have perfect structural performance in the test (all A-pillar/steering column intrusion values within higher performance limits) and still have instability. Even with a stable passenger compartment you're going to begin to see increase in intrusion at speeds not much higher than the test. That's why instability of the passenger compartment is just -1 point. It concerns validity of the result more than the actual crashworthiness performance, and is sufficiently penalised (eg. biomechanically the City was better than the Jazz).

Presumably someone in the publication team at Latin/Global NCAP assumed that instability was the cause of the structural failure in the first rounds of tests and started printing it in capitals like that. It's quite misleading.

If you want to explore the current results beyond the stars, look for decent (at least not poor or weak) protection to critical body regions like the head, neck and chest in the test, because those are regions you cannot survive without, but before rejecting cars that are marked down for protection to the legs, look for more important technologies like side and curtain airbags which are not covered by the current tests. Also look for crash avoidance technologies if possible, like electronic stability control (ESC). Unfortunately it's rare to be able to find ESC in used cars, and since you want reliable, I assume the Polo GT is out of the question.

Remember that the Global NCAP India ratings were originally for research only and use an outdated protocol (2013 Latin NCAP for adults and 2010 for children). They do include an important part of safety but also ignore quite a lot. This is what Global NCAP's Secretary General has to say about that protocol:

When Latin NCAP started, the assessment protocol was even less complex than the first Euro NCAP assessment protocol from 1995.

Also, please remember that Global NCAP issues separate ratings for adult and child protection. Since you have a three year old child, please look in the Global NCAP reports at what child seats the OEM recommends for the 3 year-old and how they performed, it's a very valuable and often ignored part of the assessment. The child seats and protection performance of 18 month-old and three year-old children are included in a table under the adult dummy visualisation chart.

My pick here would be (if you can stretch for one) a 2017 facelift Honda City ZX (they added ISOFIX and standard double airbags), combined with a Joyson Neo child seat (available as an original Honda accessory). It had good adult protection performance in the Global NCAP frontal offset test, full protection for the three year-old child with the Joyson Neo seat installed forward-facing using ISOFIX, and the ZX version was available with side thorax and head-protecting airbags.

[Swapnil4585]

Originally Posted by Arwin07

Toyota Corolla, Etios, Yaris are all out of production. Same doubts of maintenance, parts availability as my first car.

2010-14 Corolla comes to 4-7 lakhs.

I recommend the 2010-11 Corolla (price below 4) and 2011-14 (price below 5).

Not sure of the Etios and Yaris, however you can source most major parts of a 2010-14 Corolla without any issues - more so since you are based in a metro.

I have a 2010 Corolla along with many senior BHPians and on that front, you can be assured that maintaining it won't be difficult.

The only two negatives related to this car are the 15-year rule and the size required for parking / driving in congested areas traffic (if at all you would).

It is a great highway car and does not require any untoward maintenance most of the times provided the previous owner has maintained well.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Arwin07

2016-18 Honda City, 2017-18 Tata Nexon comes to 7-8 lakhs, stretching my budget.

These should be your top choices. New enough & not too old, proven reliability, family-friendly and great first cars. Don't go for cars older than this, even if its a Corolla. Because its your first car, reliability & a certain amount of freshness are important.

[AGupta]

My vote goes to Yaris. It's comparatively new, spacious, reliable, looks good inside out. If you can get hands on a Yaris, do have a serious look. I found it better than City, Verma, Ciaz in all parameters.

[VikramCS]

Hi,

A 4-5(max) year-old used Toyota/Honda fits your requirement well. Having owned both these brands, no hesitation in suggesting the following:

1. Toyota Etios/Liva (if you are ok with a hatch): Comes within your budget. Has oodles of space, is comfortable cruiser for a small family and has adequate boot-space for your requirement. Speaking about fuss-free ownership, reliability and long-term experience - do not want to repeat what has been said multiple times before - go with eyes closed.
I owned Liva Dual-Tone Petrol V for 3+ years, covered 22k+ kilometers. It was simply a JOY to own a Toyota. No complaints at all even if i try to nit-pick.

Please note that this car is not meant to be driven enthusiastically, but going by your requirements should be fine.

2. Toyota Yaris: No ownership experience, but, going by what i have heard by a couple of colleagues is better than Etios. Rest things are simply same.

3. Honda Jazz: Again, i strongly recommend this car, especially the CVT automatic. Spacious, Comfortable, ideal for highway cruising, large boot and safe. Only down-side is 6-month maintenance schedule (guess models after 2018 have 1 year, other owners please confirm).
Used Jazz are available in market, and, you can get a good example for around 7L.

4. Honda City: Sorry, no ownership experience, but, guess nothing more can be said as well. If you manage to lay your hands on good example, pick this up eyes closed.

P.S: Not included Corolla here, since i did not have the chance to experience one either in my family/friends circle.

My two cents: I strongly recommend Automatic cars (non-AMT) over MT. Hence, Jazz CVT, Yaris CVT, Honda City CVT should be your top picks. Even if you decide to drive enthusiastically, the combination of Sports Mode + Paddle Shifters (V variant and above in Honda Jazz/City, VX in Yaris) can bring a smile on your face. Going for MT at this point in your life, at-least according to me is not advisable, you may soon regret. But, the choice is yours.

All the Best

Regards

[Sran]

Good to see that you have set eyes on a manual. As a first car with a 5-6 lakh budget set your eyes on Maruti Baleno or Honda city. Look for a car not older than 7 years so as to have some life left on the mechanicals. You wouldn't want to own a car that is not on sale for 2-3 years as a first time owner. You are overthinking about NCAP, don't.

If you will stretch your budget to 8 lakhs then I would recommend you to buy a new car instead of going pre owned route as a first time buyer.

Originally Posted by VikramCS

Going for MT at this point in your life, at-least according to me is not advisable, you may soon regret. But, the choice is yours.

What is there to regret about owning and driving a manual. Please be clear so I/we may learn about it.

[Kumaran93R]

If your heart wants an EcoSport, go for it. Ford's ASS has been very good, esp in Chennai. You can also get the EcoBoost engine well within your budget. As an owner of the 1.6S cars, i can tell you that spare parts aren't a problem.

Other cars, I would recommend are S Cross 1.6 (rare to find) or a Vento TSI AT (great automatic, but dsg might give troubles). The 4th gen Honda City i-vtec is also good, but not as great as the previous one.
The Jazz's 1.2 engine is quite mediocre for the highways. The corolla is a great car, but will be a bit cumbersome for Chennai traffic.

The Duster AWD will also be a great pick. Best suspension of the lot, good engine and some off road ability too. The ground clearance and AWD helps with our December floods too. ��

[VikramCS]

Hello @Sran,

Sorry, i could not figure out how to Quote from a previous post in my reply. To your question: Summarized few key reasons why i suggest AT over MT to Arwin07:
1. Original requirement mentions 75% city usage. As we all know, AT provides more comfort in bumper-to-bumper city traffic.
2. Often, people initially plan to use the car less, but, once they get used to comfort of the car, usage automatically increases. Multiple road-trips, vacations etc. gets added gradually, and, in no time usage will increase. Again AT will prove more comfortable even during long-distance travel
3. In my personal opinion, don't think mastering MT is required to transition to AT. Market is already moving towards automatics, and with the introduction of Hybrid, EVs etc. AT will be default. Hence, there is no harm in directly choosing AT
4. Some of the Models already shortlisted have fantastic automatics (Polo, City, Jazz, Yaris, Corolla). Of-course there is a clear ask for reliable, fuss-free ownership, that's the reason i did not recommend Polo. Disclaimer: I have no ownership experience of Polo, but, have come across failure stories in their DQ200 DSG. However, this does not make Polo a bad choice, but, generally speaking, when going for used-cars, Japanese models are safe choice compared to a used Europeans.
5. I have personally seen people choosing MTs but changing over to ATs quite quickly, especially in Bangalore - all for comfort reasons.
6. I have driven MT for 15+ years, and after transitioning to AT can see a huge difference - reduced stress levels, left-leg and lower-back are happy, and, mile-munching is lot easier. I regret not changing over earlier...We all have enough issues to deal with, when a better option is available, why not make our lives easier

As stated in my previous reply - finally, it's the buyer's choice

Regards

[Arwin07]

Thanks for the wonderful, really helpful words of wisdom.

Update:
I test drove a good 2019 Honda Jazz S Petrol with 20000km on odo but didn't go for it as it doesn't have ABS.

Not even a single Yaris, Corolla, S Cross listed in Cars24 or Spinny. 1 or 2 Altroz, Tiago (4 star Global NCAP) listed but ridiculously priced.

Plenty of Honda Jazz and City. Used Honda City prices do not reflect the concept of depreciation. No concept of 2 year car with 30% depreciation, prices almost like a new car. Makes me think it's better to buy a new car without having to go through so much for pre worshipped car. But I don't have the budget.

My uncle is planning to sell his 2013 Volkswagen Vento 1.5 Petrol Manual with 90000kms on odo. Market price is 3.5 lakhs, well within my budget. His car is well maintained
And as it is my uncle, it's from known source. But 9 years old car with 90000kms on odo.

There are a few Honda Jazz 2018-19 V/VX 20-30000km on odo for 6.5-7.2 lakhs. 2016 Honda City V with 70000km on odo for 7 lakhs.

Does buying my uncle's Vento make sense for my requirement?

[EvilZombie]

As this is your 1st car, I really wouldn’t suggest to go with something that has done over 90k+. Yes its from a known source and if you really want to consider it, take a good look at detailed service records and also get it checked for possible maintenance/ upkeep costs.

A well maintained card which is not more than 3-4 yr old and has driven below 40k is generally a safer bet.

Nexon and EcoSports are excellent vehicles and have many options in the pre worshipped market.

[Hawk]

Why not start with a Tata Tiago or a Tata Tigor , both are really spacious and tested by GNCAP . They will have a small footprint hence easy to maneuver inside the city and they will come well under the budget of 5 lakhs . You can even get a new Tiago from the showroom for 6.2 lakhs on road .

I have seen many used Altroz XE (2020-2021) retailing for about 5.7 lakhs on the used market . They are also a really good option to consider or you can get it brand new for about 7.2 lakhs on road .

If i was a new driver i would have liked to start off with a safe and a car which has a small footprint . ( Just some months left for my license ) . The Tiago , Tigor and Altroz tick these boxes for me and hopefully i may be learning to drive on these cars in a few months

[KKapadia]

Why go Pre worshipped my friend?? You can easily get a decent new car in that much. Swift, Tata Altroz, Baleno, Magnite. You will get peace of mind and factory warranty. I would say avoid second hand cars. Pre worshiping will keep you busy visiting garages or may be even writing lengthy reviews about things going wrong. I d say go for new.