[PRATAYA]

Good morning all my Team bhp™ friends, seniors and casual members.
I am just graduating out of my college and i would like to own a car albeit used for my personal transport as well as family use.
Background of car useage in our family.
We personally have never owned a car before. Until 2020 when my father shifted to thailand for work and bought a 2012 honda accord 3.5 v6 as his first car. It is an automatic and boy he does love his car's transmission and power.

Back in india 🇮🇳 .I have recently graduated and I along with my father have bought the idea of owning a family car time to time.

In a jiffy the basics .
My budget is around 3 lakhs ± ₹50000 give or take.The cars in consideration should not be over 10 years old ( except Toyota and Honda) .I expect to be the second owner or at least the third owner. I will preferably avoid 4-5 owners unless there is a very detailed service record .

The requirements.
Since this is my first car, I don't have a very clear idea of what to look for and i hope to turn towards the team bhp forum for advice.
The basic requirements are as follows:
1.Car should be mechanically reliable.
2.Car should be from a current manufacturer.
3.Maintenance should be on the lower side.
4.Spare parts availability should be okay if not great.
5.Good driveability is a must.
6.F/E should be 12-13 kmpl in city.

The wishes .
1.A drivers car.
2.Rear seat comfort adequate for long rides.
3.A good form factor / presence on roads.

The dilemma .
1.Buy an automatic or a manual?
2.Hatchback or sedan?
3.Lower ground clearance with a higher scraping chance or high ground clearance with body roll.
4.German or japanese or indian make?

Many people have suggested many cars but i feel that nowadays too many choices in used car market actually confuses me.
Tata, hyundai and renault has been a hit or a miss in the reviews of my peer circle . TASS has been a huge pain in the butt for one of my friends who however swears of the reliability of tata motors as his og indica (1999) has already clocked 2,50,000 kms way back in 2018 . As far as i remember he was offered many times to sell the car for something newer he denied.

Regarding hyundai , one of my closest friends has been a hyundai addict. Their first car was a santro XING followed by a i10 and then an used sonata, lastly the Verna .The serviceability of hyundai has been excellent, however he and his dad swears that hyundai quality is not what it used to be. Only 3 year old verna has rattles and squeaks at every pothole and undulations on road. XING is chugging along happily but truth to be told they accepted it was getting hard to upkeep the car.

Renault had the crappy reviews the most. Subham,my relative told he once saw a renault kwid in the service bay that had its lug bolts cut loose doing 80 kph according to the maintenance guys. Scary for me because i will have an occasional highway run that would see speeds excess of 100 kph. Also i personally felt that cost cutting is most glaring in renault.

This leaves me with Honda, Suzuki, Toyota,Mahindra.

Volkswagen and Skoda.
First lets talk about the germans from my perspective.
The germans are like a noble lady, good personality, good behaviour, gracious presence, but too costly to maintain. Especially older models with obscure service history. I saw a 2014 polo on olx for 3,48,000 with flawless paint and interior but didn't dare touch with a 10 foot pole as it had DSG transmission. Same for skoda except i found plethora of 2011-2015 superb for 3,50,000-4, 00,000 in pristine condition. They depreciate like crazy but as i have heard that repair cost for such cars are crazier.
I want some honest advice if it is worth the money yo buy a used skoda or volks!

Honda -
Oh the love for honda has been since childhood. The sleek civic that catches your eye even today or the big boy accord that was the only v6 in the market. Gone are those days. The reliability of honda is better than its competition. I narrowed down to a 3rd gen city preferably the later 2012 -2015 models as i believe earlier models didn't come with alloys. The city is relatively safe as it had 2 airbags as standard along with usual seatbelt warnings. Found a few honda civics too but usually 2008 or older models that would have to be re registered or tax fail for like 10 -12 years so i belive it was not worth it.

Suzuki -
The most found cars on used car market. Alto and wagon R. They are great city cars but i feel Alto's driver seat to harsh for my butt and even rear seats lacks any under thigh support or contours. Moreover they are tin cans . One good car i found is the SX4 kind of ugly in looks but who cares . However its tad difficult to find one in good condition or one that hasn't been riced . Ciaz was way out of my budget and dezire sedan is boring in my opinion. Suzuki swift hatchback is one contender in my used car hunt.

Mahindra

M&M has literally only suv like tuv, xuv,bolero and scorpio. I believe they are way overpriced for their age and their ( bolero and scorpio) handling is much to be desired.Also bolero i believe is too basic in todays age as a private vehicle. M&M fans please dont bash me

Toyota -
Same issue as that of mahindra way overpriced for the age and kilometers driven. My neighbour owner an 2005 qualis that had 2,00,000+ kms on its odo before it broke, it was sold for 2,50,000 plus one year of tax that the buyer had cleared. The only worthwhile cars i came across were etios and corolla.
Etios however , according to team bhp posts lacks something like a seal that lets rainwater in and isn't too good on its ac. Would like clarity from some etios owners.
Corolla or the corolla altis are really good cars and they tick all my boxes. Finding one is a challenge as most of them listed online has 3-4 owners or ones that has around 10 listings each showing same car at different places.

The parking space is not a matter of concern for me.

I narrowed down my choices to :
Honda - City, Amaze, Brio.
Toyota - Corolla.
Tata - Indigo manza,tiago.
Hyundai- i20,grand i10,accent.
Suzuki - swift,sx4.
Renault- Fluence.
Skoda- None
Volkswagen- Polo, Vento ( manual only)
Mahindra - None.

I would like the valuable advice of team bhp members regarding the purchase of my first car.

-Thank you.

[Shreyfiesta]

Originally Posted by PRATAYA

the big boy accord that was the only v6 in the market. Gone are those days. The reliability of honda is better than its competition.

Accord wasn't the "only" V6 in India during late noughties, almost all cars in the entry-level premium car segment had V6 powertrains. Sonata, Superb, Teana, W204 C-Class (C230) and W211 E-Class (E280 CDI) had V6 powertrains.

Originally Posted by PRATAYA

I narrowed down to a 3rd gen city preferably the later 2012 -2015 models as i believe earlier models didn't come with alloys.

Third-gen pre-facelift City's V variant sold during 2010 to 2012 period comes with five-spoke alloy wheels.

Originally Posted by PRATAYA

One good car i found is the SX4 kind of ugly in looks but who cares . However its tad difficult to find one in good condition or one that hasn't been riced.

The SX4 is roomy, comfortable and affordable to maintain. If you don’t cover too much distance on a daily basis, the SX4 is still a good option to consider. M16 VVT ones can be bought for rock-bottom prices, drives decently, has a built-to-last feel and rides very well over our bad roads.

Originally Posted by PRATAYA

Corolla or the corolla altis are really good cars and they tick all my boxes. Finding one is a challenge as most of them listed online has 3-4 owners or ones that has around 10 listings each showing same car at different places.

Corolla holds its value quite well, this also means a second-hand example may not be as cheap as you might expect it to be. Most Corolla users relies on authorised service centers, so that you have a good chance of finding sparingly-used cars, thanks to Toyota's service quality. The 1.8-litre VVT-i enabled engine is trouble-free and reliable. Get the MT version to fully exploit all the 125bhp the unit puts out, ATs are fast but takes some of the driving experience away. Try to find out a post-2005 ABS-equipped car.

[shankar.balan]

Lovely to be reminded of these aspirational vehicles with good facts as below.
By any chance did the Ford Mondeo too, have a V6?
And did the Hyundai Santa Fe also have a V6 option?

Originally Posted by Shreyfiesta

Accord wasn't the "only" V6 in India during late noughties, almost all cars in the entry-level premium car segment had V6 powertrains. Sonata, Superb, Teana, W204 C-Class (C230) and W211 E-Class (E280 CDI) had V6 powertrains..

[Shreyfiesta]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

By any chance did the Ford Mondeo too, have a V6?
And did the Hyundai Santa Fe also have a V6 option?

Both Mondeo and Santa Fe had four-cylinder powertrains.

[anjan_c2007]

From your list of probables the Honda City, Amaze, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i 10/20/Grand, Suzuki Swift and SX-4 are the only ones that I will go ahead with. The others would not be worthy to buy as pre-owned cars. Some models in the list are discontinued ones whose spares could be a problem within a few years.

To select a good second hand car there are many thumb rules that are available here on this forum. If you get a low mileage, single hand used car with a clean bodyline and engine such a car could be zeroed upon. Patience is to be exercised and the search extends even upto 3-4 months to get the right one.

[PRATAYA]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Some models in the list are discontinued ones whose spares could be a problem within a few years.

Mr.anjan can you provide me with any insight about Boodmo for spare parts, assuming my pre owned car needs some maintenance .
Can they be trusted to send the correct part,are they oem or aftermarket.
Afaik, Honda's spare parts are not sold to outsiders at the dealership atleast in my local dealerships.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by PRATAYA

Mr.anjan can you provide me with any insight about Boodmo for spare parts, assuming my pre owned car needs some maintenance .
Can they be trusted to send the correct part,are they oem or aftermarket.
Afaik, Honda's spare parts are not sold to outsiders at the dealership atleast in my local dealerships.

Though off topic, I would suggest boodmo portal for procurement of good quality spares at reasonable prices. They try to, nearly in all cases supply OE spares but for the very few occasions when such OE is not available. But you can select from among the one or more makes that emerge and are for sale during your search. They pack the fragile spares too well and despatch these
quite promptly.

[ninjatalli]

Might be useful to go through this thread with a similar ask from another young bhpian who was looking to get his first (and used) car. Although he started out with a slightly different ask ("enthusiast car"), the relevant options and bhpian suggestions pretty much came down to most of the ones in your list.


https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-...r-4-lakhs.html (Best enthusiast / first car for an 18-year old college student under 4 lakhs?)

My personal recommendation (and this is what I did nearly 2 decades ago for a similar ask) - stick to Maruti. Swift/SX4/Ignis/Baleno are decent options if you get it in the price range. Alto K10 AMT is quite fun to drive so atleast give it a shot if you get used options. But I wouldn't be that picky on the transmission given your budget but go with the options available.

[Aakash118]

I will suggest you to go for a premium hatch or entry level sedan of 2015 or later. If you go for a premium sedan like corolla or even city, you will have to settle for an older model which is not recommended. Cars like Etios or Jazz will be great choices as they are reliable as well as safe. My full list of choices will be like this.
1st- Etios/Liva
2nd- Jazz
3rd- Swift/Ritz (Zxi only as lower variants lack airbags)
4th- Brio (vx only for the same reason as above)
5th- Polo
I also wanted to suggest Figo/Aspire twins but you want a car from a current manufacturer. i20 is also a good choice but is quite pricey in usef car market.

[Bibendum90949]

Ignis is one car I would like to see you adding to your short list. It's a solidly built car unlike other Marutis. The downside is pre-owned Marutis are very expensive since they hold value very well. At times or most times, it makes sense to buy new when it comes to a Maruti, especially if one is buying a 3-4 year old examples. A 20 year old Alto still sells at ₹ 1 lakh plus. So you get the gist there.

My other choice would be a third gen arrow shot City. A well maintained Honda can run trouble free for many more years. Since you lay emphasis on reliability, FE and ease of maintenance, Maruti is the numero uno choice. May be couple of years down the line, you can look for an appropriate upgrade.

Besides, you would do good to strike off Fluence from the list if you don't want to spend a good part of your life procuring parts and visiting garages, that's if you manage to find a competent guy in your town.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by PRATAYA

]
We personally have never owned a car before.

Very simple answer for your mate.

Stick to the Maruti Swift. Dont look in an my other direction.

Only one reason to consider alternatives, is safety. In that case, do shortlisting accordingly....

[DrCar]

I am an Etios diesel owner. Driven around 1.6 lakh kilometers.
I have always been servicing it at Toyota.

There is no issues during rain in the car. Toyota have changed beadings and seal from 2013 onwards model. Avoid pre 2013 model as those models were bit noisy due to poor sound damping in them. Also post 2013 model, as far as I remember, came with dual airbags and ABS as standard even in base GD model. (Though you might need to counter check above points with someone more knowledgeable).

No engine related work till date. Changed suspension and tyre once, also engine belt was changed as a precautionary measure. Other than that car is working flawless.

Petrol Etios is a more fun to drive car than the diesel. If engine choice and mileage isn't a issue, go for petrol one. You will forget about the dull exteriors once you keep using the car regularly. The basic package and strong fundamentals will win you over.

If you are able to get hold of a good Etios Cross, then go for it as you will get a spacious hatchback and a much livelier interiors compared to regular Etios and Etios Liva.

I was also looking at Honda City before buying Etios. But complaints of frequent rusting of the body kept me away from them. Otherwise a good condition Honda city will also keep you happy.

Avoid Corolla, Accord or Civic. These are higher segment sedans and occasional higher maintenance cost with huge depreciation will not allow you to enjoy the car much without peace of mind.

Thanks.

[VikrantD]

Etios Petrol Sedan. Super fun to drive and easy to maintain..

I picked up a 2013 model in 2018, a 5 year old car done only 17k. I am thoroughly enjoying the car and so is my family.

We have done long drives from Thane to Pune, Nasik, Panchgani, Goa, Gir and Saputara to name a few. The car has always delivered a steady 18+ on the highway at speeds between 90-100. Within Mumbai it's between 11-14.

Yearly servicing, battery replacement and I replaced 4 tires last year. It's more of a fill it shut it type no nonsense car.

I might sound stupid but I prefer the Etios to our C200 and Vento for those highway drives. It's that comfortable. I am not the features type of person, I go for the driving pleasure and overall safety. The Etios doesn't disappoint one bit.

[civic-sense]

Since you are looking for a driver's car, you can narrow your search to the polo, the swift and the city. Taking reliability and maintenance cost into consideration, I'd exclude the Polo. If you find a decent City within your budget go for it, else the Swift will tick all boxes.

[ArindamB87]

You can go for i20. The diesel sportz versions go for around 2l in olx for ~10 year olds. I bought a 9.5yrs old one for 1.85l but will need to pay the 5 year tax which is 25k.