[mwzd]

• Cars short listed

innova, anhc, magnum, linea, grand vitara, laura

innova: good space, decent fuel efficiency but needs a driver

anhc: love everything, worried about a/c

magnum: like the looks and the specs, but no abs

linea: looks good, but... fiat...

grand vitara: maruti is a major plus, new model expected soon, might be slightly over budget

laura: luxury car, great FE, solid built and handling but a.s.s. sucks it seems so i'll pass

• Price range

max 14L otr

• Maintenance & After Sales Service (A.S.S.) expectations

yes, a.s.s is important, why i crossed out the laura. low cost of maintenance would be great.

• Average distance traveled per month

500k-1k city + 3/6 trips per yr - from mumbai to pune / goa / tirupati / maybe up north etc

• Chauffer driven / self driven

90% self drive

• Whether the vehicle will be shared by other members of family

have other cars too, but 3 ppl normally, 5/6 max.

• Any specific requirements from car (ex. Better luggage space, responsive engine, rear seat comfort)

good FE (12+), good a/c, smooth suspension, easy to drive, comfortable seating, abs, airbags a plus

• How long you intend on keeping this car (and how important resale is to you)

at least 5 yrs, maybe more, resale is not as much of an issue

I'm confused honestly speaking, innova seems the best of the lot now but self driving it to parties etc is a bit uncool, would have loved the laura, meets most of my requirements.

[sudev]

Although am a fan of Grand Vitara but from your short list Magnum would be best fit. Yep I would too advise to stay away fro Laura due to A.S.S. issues and horror stories. GV is useful only if you are looking at some adventure in your driving - even once year. You will find MASS all over the country and the current model is "relatively" quite inexpensive to maintain copared to parts prices of other SUV's.

[gowda79]

As per your info provided Innova/GV/Laura these are out and only Magnum/ANHC is left.

I would suggest go for the ANHC is the best bet and i think you can adjust with the A/c, as you have mentioned Magnum does not come with ABS and safety cannot be taken light.

[hondadude]

I would recommend current GV. If it is slightly overbudget now then new GV might be out of reach. Due to currency situation everything that is imported as CBU (especially from Japan) has become very expensive.

Honda is increasing the price of CRV by 3.5L ex-showroom and HM has increased price of Montero significantly as well. So extrapolating from the above, GV should become more expensive by around 1.5 to 2L, assuming the new one continues to come as CBU.

[lamborghini]

Hey bro,
Please stay away from the Laura. There are enough horror stories going around such as:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...its-users.html
and
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...rned-year.html

You will find lots of customer problems in those threads or do a search on T-BHP for more information.

Also, avoid the GV as the FE won't be that great, specially in Mumbai.

Since your budget is 14L max OTR, why not look at other vehicles such as the Corolla, Magnum?
I believe you should be able to get a Magnum with Airbags and ABS in your budget with some change left over for better tyres for improved braking. Also, you can check out the Corolla and Civic, both superb vehicles and very reliable too, though my pick would be the Magnum.

The Innova will be very bulky for self use and the anhc is simply not worth it with its poor interiors and features. The Civic E is slightly more expensive and come with better interiors as well as more class.

[madhukar_n]

14L .. why dont u consider the new corolla altis ???
from your choice i guess GV is good(a good 1-2L more than ur budget) - i have driven it many times.(my bil has it) .. magnum looks good and its A.S.S will be better than skoda..

actually looking at the horror stories .. i am relieved that we bought a GV.. we were debating between a GV and a laura..

[Gagan.js]

Stay away from Skoda.

Im guessing you are going to be driving it alone most of the time with no family so why Innova? It's too big

Consider Civic and Corolla altis? Easily under 14L OTR
a.s.s. is good from these two, plus comfortable and will give you some sort of a luxury feel.
I think you can get them for like 12-13L OTR depending on the models of both

[lamborghini]

Originally Posted by madhukar_n

14L .. why dont u consider the new corolla altis ???
from your choice i guess GV is good(a good 1-2L more than ur budget) - i have driven it many times.(my bil has it) .. magnum looks good and its A.S.S will be better than skoda..

I am not a big fan of the GV. He doesn't need an SUV, given that he will be the primary user and the FE is lower than what he wants.
Also, my cousin has the GV and I have sat in his car multiple times and I was not all that impressed. I mean its a 15L car and shares parts with a 4L Swift!

[mwzd]

Originally Posted by sudev

but from your short list Magnum would be best fit

Thanks sudev. Don't you think the lack of safety features is not a good thing though?

Originally Posted by gowda79

I would suggest go for the ANHC is the best bet and i think you can adjust with the A/c

Probably, as for the a/c I have a friend who says sun film really helped him work around that, maybe I can do the same.

Originally Posted by hondadude

I would recommend current GV.

I'm going to discount the GV basically because of price issues.

Originally Posted by lamborghini

Since your budget is 14L max OTR, why not look at other vehicles such as the Corolla, Magnum?

I don't particularly like corolla / altis tbh.

Originally Posted by lamborghini

I believe you should be able to get a Magnum with Airbags and ABS in your budget with some change left over for better tyres for improved braking.

I wasn't aware that magnum came with abs / airbags even at the top of the line and i don't want to go for non-factory fitted parts.

Originally Posted by lamborghini

Also, you can check out the Corolla and Civic, both superb vehicles and very reliable too, though my pick would be the Magnum.

Tyvm for your advice, Civic a lot of people have been recommending but i'm told FE is 6kmpl. Would be expensive to run and maintain I think.

Originally Posted by madhukar_n

magnum looks good and its A.S.S will be better than skoda.

Sure a lot of magnum fans and I can see why.

Originally Posted by Gagan.js

Im guessing you are going to be driving it alone most of the time with no family so why Innova? It's too big

I agree but seems the most vfm in terms of price and features and otr cost.

Originally Posted by Gagan.js

Consider Civic and Corolla altis? Easily under 14L OTR a.s.s. is good from these two, plus comfortable and will give you some sort of a luxury feel.

I'll look into the civic, altis as i said before I'm not too convinced about. Will TD both though, who knows.

Thanks for all the inputs folks, much appreciated. With all the Linea fans here I'm surprised no one considers that an option. Seems some people are getting 19kmpl w/ that, plus its cheaper on the road.

[redeff]

I say that the GV, your running isnt that high so the F.E. wont matter that much. The car looks hot and has good presence. MUL has centers all over India ( remember the Kancha Ad? ) And its got an exclusivity factor to it. You can definitely go to parties in it!! And off road if you want to take your loved one to watch a sunset on an offbeat track! Take the manual and push for discounts!

[sameer_dg]

Optra magnum would be Value for money.

[ravibhat]

I feel you should go for Linea Diesel If you like it else it has to be Innova Diesel. The reason, Linea is complete package. Innova although its bulky I experienced its best vehicle to drive around inlcuding visibility among other 6 vehicles personally I owned. Reverse parking sensor make it easy to park it and top end Innova is loaded with goodies. Its mind blowing vehicle.

Remember Grand Vitara and Innova Petrol won't give Fe above 12kmpl in highway and city use expect around 8kmpl.

If you neglect FE I still suggest Petrol Linea or Grand Vitara or Petrol Innova.

Ravi.

[Gagan.js]

Hey your budget is upto 14L so why settle for a linea for half the price.

You should double check on the FE of civic

[umvarma]

Originally Posted by mwzd

I wasn't aware that magnum came with abs / airbags even at the top of the line and i don't want to go for non-factory fitted parts.

Magnum TCDi LT comes with abs and dual airbags. It has a wonderful motor and fits into your budget.

Regards,
Mohan.

[Samurai]

Looking at your requirements, I would say no to GV. In fact, my wife looked at this post over my shoulder and said that same thing even before I formed my opinion. GV is an overpriced vehicle to be used just a road car. I switched from my 2 year old Baleno to GV because I needed a rock solid bad road vehicle as my primary family transport. I admit it, it exceeded my expectations in all areas (bad road handling, reliability, resilience, maintenance cost, usability) except hardcore offroading. MASS is unbeatable, and it can use consumable items like oil/air filters and oil prescribed for SX4. That really brings down the cost of maintenance.

Originally Posted by sudev

GV is useful only if you are looking at some adventure in your driving - even once year. You will find MASS all over the country and the current model is "relatively" quite inexpensive to maintain copared to parts prices of other SUV's.

Exactly, you should go for GV only if you expect to take on bad roads on a regular basis. But if you are driving on good roads most of time, GV is an overpriced underutilised car for you. It is neither a softroader nor offroader, but a BadRoader. Besides, the FE comparison with 2WD sedans is not fair because sedans can't go where 4WD GV can go.

Originally Posted by lamborghini

Also, my cousin has the GV and I have sat in his car multiple times and I was not all that impressed. I mean its a 15L car and shares parts with a 4L Swift!

I have heard this unrealistic statement before, however I can't understand how that is possible. GV is a CBU from Japan, while the 4L swift is made in India. Is Suzuki Japan importing GV parts from Maruti India?

I suggest you look at Chevy Optra Magnum or Toyota Corolla Altis. They are more applicable in your case.