[beemer5499]

I have two distinct cars.

1) Primary - 2025 XEV 9E as my daily car which I really love driving and gets a lot of attention and is a great car overall but it’s electric so may not be suitable for long road trips

2) Secondary - 2023 Audi A4 as a secondary car which can be my weekend car or for occasions. Mahindra doesn’t have the luxury tag despite 9E being a great car and very close to luxury cars. A4 is also a great car for when I miss the sound of engines but acceleration and response is not as good as 9E but the driving confidence, all around visibility and chassis is better than 9E

Bonus (Tertiary) - 2024 BMW 330Li which is used by my brother in Bangalore presently

It's a distinct primary & secondary car situation, both oozing with character. Electric Vs Petrol, RWD Vs FWD, Indian vs German, SUV Vs Sedan, Good interiors Vs Luxury Interiors, Kinda Toughie Vs Softie.

The only thing common between both the cars is that they’re black.

Strangely enough, after 3 back to back car upgrades for 3 cars, we do not have any beater car. XEV 9E is going to be our beater

Currently, the garage has XEV 9E, BMW 330Li and Audi A4 (Hyundai Creta 1.6, Ford Endeavour 3.2 and Honda City 3rd gen are for sale right now)

I wish we could get a Thar as a beater

[athray9]

Back home in Chennai, Dad has the Skoda Kodiaq 2.0 TSI and mom has the BMW 320d G20.

Both Dad and Mom use their respective cars as their daily.

For city drives, Kodiaq is used more due to the stacked up parking

For long trips with driver, they use the Kodiaq.

For self driven long trips they use the 320d.

Things change when I make a trip to Chennai

I use the 320d for most of my drives be it city or long when I am alone. It's just so much fun on highways especially in Tamil Nadu where the highways are really good. I always do a trip to Trichy and Karur whenever I travel to Chennai and the roads are very smooth and compliment the 3-series's handling and power and what blows my mind is that I am guaranteed to at least 15 km/l if I drive enthusiastically and I've achieved 21km/l when I drove on normally.

When we travel as a family to Trichy/Karur, we use the Skoda Kodiaq due to the comfortable rear seats, insulation, amazing ride comfort from DCC and the smooth engine. You can go at decent speeds while passengers are sleeping in the car and listen to some good music in those Canton audio system which would literally mask the distance so well. I used to own an X3 30i and X3 M40i back in US. The Kodiaq is comparable in many ways to the X3.

But yeah at the end, it's finally 2 cars serving two different purposes. You can't call anything primary here since both have their own purpose at home.

[Axe77]

My approach would generally to have a beater car and a preferred car for self although the purpose for each can differ. The drivers for a beater might generally be guided by which one is more comfortable to be chauffeur driven in rather than anything else.

Over the years, I have had either two cars at home or three if I count my mum’s but her car has usually not been predictably available since she often spends time away in Pune for 5-7 days a month since the last several years.

Cars that have overlapped at home and how they’ve been used / considered:

1. Dec 2023 - now | GLC and 3GT: The 3GT (bought Oct 2015) is the volume runner / beater since its got a better back seat than the GLC (bought Dec 2023) and it’s also diesel and cheaper to run. Now I also send it frequently to Pune when my mum goes with my driver instead of her taking her 2018 Grand i10 for these trips. Grand i10 is the super beater when it’s in the house when we’re going to small / cramped places.

2. June 2022 - Dec 2023 | 3GT and Jeep Meridian: The Meridian (bought June 2022) even though brand new was the ultimate beater since it had a better back seat than the 3GT and was generally more hardy. Not only was it the chauffeur driven beater but even I enjoyed driving it very often, both within the city as well as on many highway drives. For highway runs I’d be equally game to take the 3GT or the Jeep - the latter would prevail if there was questionable terrain involved in the trip.

3. June 2018 - June 2022 | Grand i10 and 3GT: My 3GT was our sole car for all practical purposes (since the G i10 belonged to mum) while the Hyundai (bought June 2018, by selling her Honda City) was the beater for us when it was available or when we needed a small car to go to specific places. But otherwise, most of our needs were met by the 3GT, whether self driven or chauffeur driven.

4. Oct 2015 - 2017 / 2018 | 3GT and Honda Civic + City: Our garage then comprised of my 2009 Honda Civic A/T, which got sold in 2017 and mum’s Honda City A/T which got flipped for the Grand i10 A/T in 2018. The 3GT was our first German luxury car and used as such specially in the first year as such with the Civic / City being the beaters which the drivers used more heavily. Very quickly though the 3GT became the primary car given to driver and self driven. The charm of the Civic was that it had hands down the best back seat, when looking for a comfortable chauffeur driven drive. The catch preventing it from becoming a thorough beater was that it was far more expensive to run (FE wise) than the diesel 3GT.

5. 2012 - 2015 | Nissan Sunny and Honda Civic / City: We bought the Nissan Sunny in 2012 selling my wife’s i20 with the sole objective of it being a comfortable chauffeur driven workhorse with my 2009 Civic being the comfortable luxury car. It was our first diesel and also a manual car so the Civic was made the self drive car (or chauffeur driven for back seat luxury) while the Sunny was the comfortable and economical to run, runabout. The City remained mostly with my mum during this time although we simply rotated the Sunny for whoever needed it with the driver.

[fhdowntheline]

I have been a 2-car person for a number of years now. Currently have the Verna 1.5DCT as the 'flagship' car with the Swift AGS doing beater duties. Both of them have their respective roles: The sedan for longer trips, the hatch for intracity commutes. And both fulfill their roles excellently. The Verna has power, performance, comfort, capacity and long distance cruising efficiency, while the Swift has easy driving and maneuverability, excellent urban cycle fuel economy and decently good comfort for 4 adults.

[pyrodrive]

Originally Posted by Blooming Flower

I have an old gen Thar CRDe and a Fronx in my garage currently. The Fronx replaced the trusted Alto 800 after a decade of duty without a single flaw.

Both can be used as a primary vehicle as I am quite accustomed to live with bare-bone cars. Moreover, they are fuss free. Currently, the Fronx is serving 90% of the requirement even long road trips too, solely because of the comfort and convenience it offers for the family of three. Thar is strictly a 2-seater for me, and for some weekend run or tricky destination it is the chosen one. I am not much into recreational off-roading. But having a proper 4WD keeps the avenue open in case mind shifts its affinity to weekend OTR.

Hi Debo, glad to know you still have the red thar crde. She is a keeper. Remember we did the tricky descent from Sandakphu together . I have sold my thar in 2021 after nearly 1 lac kms, and since I didn't really like the new gen thar, I got myself an almost new pre-owned Thar crde again from the last lot(2019). It was a great decision and it is serving me well.
Apart from that I have an audi A3 for daily use and a honda city which is my wife's daily ride.

[Blooming Flower]

Originally Posted by pyrodrive

Hi Debo, glad to know you still have the red thar crde. She is a keeper. Remember we did the tricky descent from Sandakphu together .

Hi, catching up after long time. Yes. The memory is vivid. Gone are those days since I got relocated to Pune and then NCR. I miss north eastern Himalayas which has no match with the northern ranges here. Nice to know about your upgraded garage. Unfortunately, the red Thar has apprx. 3yrs life in NCR. I have to send it back home sooner or later where it can ply without any problem as on date. But don't know how NGT will act there too, and it may face an untimely death.

[motorworks]

Two distinct Primary and Secondary cars since 2008-10!

The primary car has always been a Diesel, meant for all the highway trips ( even though such trips have now reduced drastically since 2020 for various reasons). The secondary car is used by my wife, for school runs and other city errands. Her cars have never seen a road outside of Bangalore! And the secondary cars clock less than 500kms a month.


2008/10 to 2012–Dzire Diesel and an Alto

2012/13 to 2018–Rapid Diesel and a Brio

2018–2022/24–Creta Diesel and Elite i20


All of the above were manuals and now finally both automatics:-

2022/2024—current—Jeep Compass Diesel AT 4x4 and Nexon DCA.

I see myself retaining the above combination for the next 5-6 years at least since I think its almost too perfect a combination to be disturbed. Both ATs, both cars are loaded with almost all necessary features ( my wife’s nexon has a 360 camera, which helps her a lot, and its a Dual clutch AT), my Jeep Compass Diesel AT 4x4 is the stuff of my dreams, so no reason to change both anytime in the next 5 years.

[darkgamer]

We currently have 3 hatchbacks in the family:

1. 2017 Ecosport 1.5D: This is used by my parents. Now technically the Ecosport isn’t a hatchback because the door opens sideways, but that’s the best definition of this car. This will be replaced by an electric SUV by next year, preferably 7 seater and AWD.

2. 2019 i10 nios: This is our(mine and wife’s) primary car since the past 6 years. Now it’ll be used mostly by me or her to go to office or on crowded areas of Bengaluru. The car is automatic and quite narrow and small which is brilliant. This will be replaced by a proper 4x4 off roader car, something like the Thar Roxx or the upcoming Thar E over the next 2-4 years.

3. 2025 BE6: This is our primary, do-everything car for the next 10-15 years. It’s small enough to drive comfortably in the city, has enough range, safety and power to do long road trips comfortably, and is immensely fun to drive being almost 300bhp, RWD and compact, like a hot hatch.

We’d love to have a sedan in the family but the lack of options in D segment have made it impossible.

[Stryker]

Two cars, but I wouldn't really call it "Primary" and "Secondary".

BMW 330 Li M Sport Used for all highway jaunts, trips to Kabini, in city events, sometimes (nowadays very rare) to office. Runs about 9,000 kms per year.

Maruti Celerio Zxi Auto Actually my daughter's car, but given she doesn't take it to college I end up using it for local shopping drives, short distance commutes, etc.

[attrip2008]

Might be in the minority here, but I’ve deliberately kept both my cars in a similar segment — works well when the roles are clearly defined.

1. Creta Petrol AT (1st gen facelift) – My city runabout. Reliable, smooth, and easy to live with. The torque converter does its job quietly in traffic. It’s been a fuss-free companion so far.

2. Virtus GT – The highway mile-muncher. Gets called into action for longer road trips (typically 400–600 km/day). The 1.5 TSI + DSG combo offers great drivability and composure at speed. Makes highway runs enjoyable and effortless.

Looking ahead:
No plans to expand or upgrade the garage this decade.

That said, when the time comes:

• The Creta might make way for something a bit more off-road friendly — compact, city-friendly, but with a bit more muscle. Jimny is on my watchlist… let’s see what it turns into over the years.

• The Virtus GT could eventually be replaced by another engaging-to-drive sedan or a crossover with good dynamics — but that’s way down the road.

For now, both cars serve their purpose well. One for the daily grind. One for the open road.

Closing with a garage pic