[mgastor2022grey]

Hey guys, hope you are all doing good.

I have recently being thinking about doing a lateral upgrade / replacing my car, hence posting my queries here.

I know that I have posting about how I love driving my Astor 1.5L NA CVT and how the car has become really sporty and aggressive after 30K and how much I love driving it. But, as a petrolhead, the bug has bitten me and I have been lately thinking of replacing it with another car.

Is it a viable option? The car has run 38K kms as of now. Immaculately maintained, no issues and drives just like how it drove on day 1. The car has been bought on February 2022 for a replacement of my Vento. Its just been 2 years (approx.) and I want to know your opinions on this.

I have come across certain used car examples:

1) https://www.carwale.com/used/skoda-o...ot=0&dc=0&rk=7

2) https://www.carwale.com/used/volkswa...t=31&dc=0&rk=1

3) https://www.carwale.com/used/bmw-3-s...t=0&dc=0&rk=14

Is it a good idea to upgrade to these machines instead?

BHPians, need your view on this.

Cheers!

[Sreesh1009]

There are two ways of going about this conundrum:

1. Don't sell

You have the perfect car at your disposal with a good amount of features and more importantly a nice engine and gearbox that suit your needs.

Keep the car and invest the money to grow it for a bigger and better purchase.


2. Sell and YOLO

Sell it and buy one of the 3 options (after a proper evaluation). You only live once, after all.

If you're thinking on the lines of the Germans then keep the Astor as a city car. The NA+CVT will give better mileage and you can use the other car as a fun highway/long weekend drive car.

Hope this helps!

[Geo_Ipe]

Originally Posted by mgastor2022grey

Is it a good idea to upgrade to these machines instead?

BHPians, need your view on this.

No, it is not a good financial idea to sell your 2 year old Astor. All these used options were available in 2022 also & ideally you should have gone for one of them instead of your Astor.

If you really want to follow your heart, then you may, for which no opinion from anyone else should matter!

OLX browsing is a leisure activity for most of us and it should remain that!

[Axe77]

Financially you’ll always lose disproportionate money selling a 2 year old car and this doesn’t make sense in pure money terms. BUT, this is a huge jump you’re getting in sheer product terms. If financially it’s not a pinch, then all by means go ahead. It’s a lovely upgrade and being an ex Vento owner, one you will appreciate for a long time to come.

I’d veer towards something more recent like the 2021 Skoda Octavia as opposed to a 2017 BMW. I generally prefer crossovers / SUVs to sedans but from this list, the Octavia would be my pick. It’s a year newer, ground clearance isn’t really an issue for even the most rubbish city / touring conditions and it’ll feel sportier to drive than the VW.

PS: On a lighter side note, the handle ain’t going anywhere, even if the car moves on.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Please reconsider.

It’s a bad decision in financial terms. The Astor is as good as new but has depreciated, you won’t get much for it.

Secondly, going for a used petrol car is not a wise decision. These cars were not E20 compliant, and you will be opening yourself up to major maintenance related headaches in the long term. As for that said BMW 320d, it’s a HR26 (Gurgaon) registered car. The 2017 model is 7+ years old now, and cars of that age go for half that what is being asked. 5+ year old diesels really have no resale in Delhi NCR anymore. If you really want to go down this road, please check up with multiple dealers or scout for personal owners to make a deal. Catch is that owners are now also aware that they will get nothing, so somewhere this starts reflecting on the maintenance. Especially with these premium brands that demand big bucks after 5-6 years. Inspect the car thoroughly.

[GTO]

The only way to soften the blow of selling a car early, is to swap it for another used car. That's the beauty of lateral upgrades. What you lose due to depreciation, you gain due to depreciation.

All the cars you have linked to (Octavia, Tiguan, 3-Series) are mighty upgrades to the Astor. Swap only if:

- You aren't losing too much money on the Astor. Demand for this car is poor.

- You are getting a great car at a good price.

- Financially, you aren't stretching yourself thin.

- This sounds like an impulsive buy, so sleep on it for a couple of weeks.

End of the day, the heart wants what the heart wants.

[OpenRoads]

To begin with Astor with a peppy 1.5l engine and cvt gearbox is not a bad choice at all. Selling it at this point of time is kind of a mistake in terms of monetary value. I wouldn't trade my new vehicle maintained with utmost care for a second hand car.

If the itch is too much then buy another one but keep this as well. So that if it seems like a wrong decision then you can resale the used car and keep enjoying the Astor bought at the first place.

[mgastor2022grey]

Originally Posted by Geo_Ipe

OLX browsing is a leisure activity for most of us and it should remain that!

Man, agree with you big time. I kind of got my hopes high that many people would ask me to go ahead. Definitely not purchasing another car now. Retaining my Astor! Sorry Astor for doubting you

Originally Posted by Axe77

PS: On a lighter side note, the handle ain’t going anywhere, even if the car moves on.

Originally Posted by OpenRoads

If the itch is too much then buy another one but keep this as well. So that if it seems like a wrong decision then you can resale the used car and keep enjoying the Astor bought at the first place.

Not replacing the car now, made my mind. Decided to retain Astor for the next 4-5 years and then switch to a Bavarian beast (take that, BMW fans!)

Thank you for all the support guys, really happy to be a part of this forum. Happy motoring!

[Guna]

Originally Posted by mgastor2022grey

Is it a good idea to upgrade to these machines instead?

BHPians, need your view on this.

Cheers!

I don't know about TN but at least in Karnataka, getting a out of state car is a big headache and you will end up paying few lakhs as road tax.

Regarding the Tiguan Allspace, there is another thread where someone was about to buy a car which had gone through major DSG repair. In general don't buy an expensive VW if it is going to be out of warranty soon. Also, you will miss the nimbleness/chuckability of Astor with Tiguan Allspace (which is good for highways)

Edit: Just noticed that you have decided against swapping your car. It is a good decision

[newenergy]

Voted: Nay

Also good decision. Enjoy Astor for a few more years and who knows, you might be considering an EV by then. Also, Astor has a solid build and a nice car overall, you won't be missing out on much anyway.

[07CR]

Voted a strong NO! I feel you are happy with your car, but not satisfied with it.

I have bought 2 pre owned cars in last 4 years- 23 month old, 12500 kms driven, Ecosport S TDCI in June 2020 and a 7 month old, 5K Kms driven, Kia Sonet iMT Htx Turbo P in Feb 2022. Both these cars were fabulously maintained by previous owners and were excellent value to me (saved 6.5 L in total by going used route). I was happy with my Sonet but always was swayed by the swanking looking mood lights, auto dimming mirror, Ventilated seats and rear wiper of the top model Sonet.

Just like you, the upgrade bug bit me, and I was contemplating selling my pre owned Sonet 1.0 iMT Turbo HTX for a pre owned GTX Plus DCT turbo Sonet. You can read more about it -Here (Should I replace my used Kia Sonet iMT with a used Sonet DCT?). Long story short, turns out it was a accidental car, and the dealer was clearly trying to dupe me. I saw a few more specimens, and I started liking my Sonet more and have decided not to sell it until it starts throwing any tantrums. So do think over it, if it's just some snazzy feature, or something in a new car that has just caught your attention and which will fade out in a month or two. If that's the case, enjoy your Astor for a while instead of losing huge moolah by selling Astor for peanuts.

Post that we recently also replaced the aforementioned Ecosport S TDCI with a new Seltos GT Line DCT. There was no issue with car, just that my dad wanted a fully automatic car. Before buying the Seltos, we scouted many used cars, just because our pre owned buying experience with Ecosport and Sonet was spectacular. What I learnt was, that we were just too lucky with both Ecosport and Sonet, and the used car market out there is horrendous. Horribly maintained cars, scratches hidden all over (I like my cars spic and span), interiors were not even 50% as good as a new car. Therewere also a couple of examples were cars were having issues, and the dealer/owner was masquerading the car as in perfectly working condition.

Coming to your question about replacing the Astor, all of your options are from brands that are not known for making niggle free/ ultra reliable cars. I have read that MG's service, and cars have shown great promise in terms of reliablility and aftersales service. The service is also not too costly. You might be taking this fuss free nature for granted, so do check this point.

Coming to your pre owned cars that you have posted, I assume you have a budget of around 22-27L. Do check out brand new Verna DCT, Seltos Turbo DCT, City Hybrid, Creta DCT etc. cars. Hope this helps! Good luck.

[mgastor2022grey]

Hey guys, decided not to replace my car anymore, as many BHPians have advised. Also, began to love my car more than ever.

@mods, feel free to close the post if there will be no further discussion

[vattyboy]

Originally Posted by mgastor2022grey

Hey guys, decided not to replace my car anymore, as many BHPians have advised. Also, began to love my car more than ever.

@mods, feel free to close the post if there will be no further discussion

Nice decision bro!

Mg Astor is a very good car. I can feel that you need some more horsepower from the car so you are considering an upgrade. I can confidently say that maybe it will take 2 more seconds to reach 100-120 kmph but after reaching that speed you can easily maintain these all day due to the nice handling of Astor.

Plus Astor won the Title here on team-bhp- " Cars under 20 lakhs with the best Interiors with no cost-cutting".

A 2nd hand car can never match the reliability of the New car. You already know how we bhpians take care of our car. Drive your car for 60k km and then drive the car of another person with 60k on odo and you will notice the diff between your car and another car.

I suggest you never look for pre-owned in future also.

[mgastor2022grey]

Originally Posted by vattyboy

Nice decision bro!

Maybe it will take 2 more seconds to reach 100-120 kmph but after reaching that speed you can easily maintain these all day due to the nice handling of Astor.

Plus Astor won the Title here on team-bhp- " Cars under 20 lakhs with the best Interiors with no cost-cutting".

Drive your car for 60k km and then drive the car of another person with 60k on odo and you will notice the diff between your car and another car.

Hey man, thanks for your inputs. Yes, absolutely true that even though it takes 1.5-2 seconds more to reach 120 kmph that the VAGs and the Koreans, but definitely can cruise at mid triple digit speeds all day long.

Agreed about the best interior quality too. Car feels really premium.

And about the pre-owned route too, you are absolutely true. Saw a 2 series in person and the vehicle looks absolutely horrid! Looked like a 6-7 year old car while the actual age was only 1.5-2 years. And drove with a lot of rattles, too many battle scars and boy, what amount of hard water stains! Not to mention the horrendous swirl marks. Owner proudly told that he uses his kid's old shirts for washing the car to minimize the price of maintenance and recommended me to do the same! My car is 2 years old and all it has is 2-3 scratches due to Chennai's traffic condition.

By the way, read your Creta initial impressions today morning. Congratulations on the new car! Looks absolutely stunning. Wishing you many more happy miles of motoring

[B5glider]

Good decision brother. I recently was in my friends astor and the comfort levels were just too good. Thought should try mg next since i never sat in an astor before. Very under rated car from a market sales perspective for what it offers! On the other side, the octavia link you shared is juicy to think as well . One day will own an OCTAVIA!