Quote:
Originally Posted by tarunjain Azen, it's very difficult to respond in any meaningful manner with the information available in your post. Struggling to understand your requirements and how you arrived at these options. A structured and consistent explanation will help you get helpful responses. I would advise you to read similar posts under the "What car" section and try to rewrite your post in a similar manner. |
Thanks for the reply.
Sorry for the lack of detail, Sir. I’d try to make it more clear.
My family has been saving up money to buy a new car for me and 80 Lakh is the very maximum we can hit. But to be frank, i don’t want to spend this much already and it’d be a purely heart based decision as the 80L is already a stretched out amount.
Now what are my requirements?
Personally i only value safety, performance, reliability and practicality. Outside that i prefer high ground clearance, high riding position and the ability to go anywhere. Which all hint towards an SUV.
I’d be driving alone 95% of the time. And at max, I’d have 2 more passengers. So 4-5 Seats is the max i need.
I prefer peace of mind, so low ground clearance would always be a nuisance.
I won’t be keeping my car for more than 4-5 years.
And it’d be under 80 Lakh.
Luxury, Comfort and Fuel Economy don’t matter to me.
Looking at all this, first i wanted a Performance SUV, but all of them were out of our budget. Hence i dropped my criteria for performance and wanted to go for an SUV. Checked out the Jeep Wrangler first, however the reliability, NCAP rating and pricing put me off. Then i went for Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, but unfortunately it hasn’t received any updates for years now and i don’t hope it’d get any soon either.
Next one was Ford Endeavor. Really liked the SUV and i was eagerly waiting for the BiTurbo version to launch given that the 3.2L version is not in the market anymore. But as Ford left the country, i had no other option than to find another vehicle.
Which was Fortuner. The reason i didn’t think about it first was the abundance. I’ve seen Fortuners everywhere, it was way too common hence i wanted something that’d stand out, a rather irrational criteria. But there’s no other option now and I’ve grown over that feeling. The performance is decent for an SUV, it can take me anywhere, but the pricing is a bit of a stretch. 56-60L? It’s a lot but it’s in our budget.
Similar was the case with Thar. As i already checked out Wrangler, the Thar felt a lot like a lookalike and it’s quite common on roads. But it’s even more cheaper and serves its purpose.
That was how i came to Fortuner and Thar.
Now as i listened to my heart and started seeking performance cars. I noticed that none were in our budget. Except BMW M340i (which is around 80L, on-road in Bangalore).
It’s fast, sounds great, handles well and looks well too. Practicality?
It’d fit 3 people easily, but the ground clearance is abysmal and would put me on alert mode 24x7, to make sure I don’t scrape the underbelly.
Depreciation would also hit the car bad. Which is expected.
Chances of vandalism are also marginally high, so i can’t take it anywhere peacefully. Riding position is something i didn’t like as well.
Given all these factors, an 80L investment didn’t seem right. So i was looking to lease this car for 2-3 years.
Maintenance Costs would add up as well.
I am not interested in any other BMW or luxury car at the moment. Only reason i was looking at the M340i was the performance factor.
So basically torn up between Head - An SUV which would take me anywhere i want and costs less overall (we can save some money) or heart - M340i to enjoy a performance car when i still have the chance and sell it back to the Dealer later. But obviously more expensive and it’d almost exhaust the money allotted for a new car by us.
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Originally Posted by Turbohead Hi Azen,
Can you share more about your usage?
1) how many kms are you expecting to run every month/day? Traffic conditions etc
2) What kind of terrain do you usually drive?
3) What percentage of your monthly run will be in the city/highway? |
Thanks for the reply Turbohead!
1. I’d say about 350-400 km per month and around 4000-6000 km per year. Basically most of my travel would involve :
A. On weekdays, traveling back and forth from college.
B. On weekends, I may go for a drive if I am free, so about 20-25 km on a particular day.
Which is why I wanted a petrol car instead of diesel, as mileage won’t be an issue. Traffic conditions would vary but I’d say busy traffic akin to what we see in Bangalore roads.
2. This is why I was worried about ground clearance as roads are pretty bad here. Filled with speed breakers, potholes etc. And I like traveling on weekends, so that’d be a mix of highways and bad roads. Nothing specific to say about the type of terrain.
3. City - 70-80% Travel. As for highways it’d be around 10-20%. Remaining goes for any type of adventure. Having an SUV brings peace of mind, but if I have to go for a sedan, I’d stick to just city and highways.