[vishnurp99]

Hi All,

I am in the process of finalising my first car purchase. I had gone through most of the relevant posts and have also taken test drives of all the options.

A bit about my requirements -

1. I am inclined towards diesel since my running is upwards of 1200 kms a month.
2. The car will be self driven 95% of the time. So drive comfort is a priority.
3. I prefer a good handling car with moderate power to a higher powered car with bad handling
4. VFM is a priority.
5. Ideally the car should have a reasonable resale when i sell it in 5 years time.
6. I see 3 or 4 people using the car most of the time. So reasonable space on the front and the back will be required.
Also good ergonomics is a must. I might have luggage once in a month for some outstation trips.
7. I am inclined towards more successful models in terms of sales. This is because i anticipate better A.S.S and resale for these vehicles.
8. I am inclined towards hatchbacks since i will be driving in city/suburbs most of the time. I work in the mcity office in chennai and stay in
camp Road area. So home-office-home and the weekend outing would me most of my driving


Regarding my prior experience with cars, my parents have a santro and fiesta. We also had just sold a Palio 2003 ELX at a price of 1.3 L. The selling price of our Palio is also one of the reasons for this post. I had picked up the palio in 2002 after some research. That was
also supposed to be an opportunity for me to demostrate my judjement.Dad just signed on the cheque. The car was good to us and we really enjoyed it.
However the resale was a huge disappointment. As a matter of fact when we sold our zen (jellybean) around 6-7 years old in 2004 we had got 1.3 lakh.
I would like to pick up a car with a good resale if that is possible.

SWOT Analysis of all the cars that i have considered.


Ford Figo TDCI.
Strengths.
1. Smooth Engine, Good to drive.
2. Very Good Handling and ride. Took the car to 120 and it was totally planted at that speed.
3. Reasonable looks according to me.
4. Already have a ford. So relationship with the service center.
5. Good Space, Good Ergonomics, Good Interiors, Everything felt durable.

Weaknesses/Risks.
1. According to the overdrive test Figo takes around 20 seconds to reach 100K. Ritz in comparison takes only 15 seconds. I guess this could be a
big issue once i start living with this car. Surprisingly when i drove it it seemed quite punchy to me and the GTO review and lot of other
feedback has confirmed the same. Ford also claims around 15 second for 0-100. However i am inclined to go with overdrive
since they are a successful automagazine.
2. Resale could be an issue.
3. Safety is an issue. According to the car magazine the Figo is not crash tested at all. This is a deal breaker according to me.
4. FORD A.S.S is not too good.
5. Looks not futureproof.
6. Waiting Period.

Swift DDIS
Strengths.
1.Smooth Engine. Good to drive.
2.Good handling. Drove a relative's vehicle which was well maintained. He only had good things to say about the car.
3.Reasonable looks.
4.Good A.S.S.
5.Good ergonomics at the front.
6.Crash tested according to all the magazines.
7.Ready availability if i don't insist on color. This was a surprise to me.

Weaknesses/Risks.
1.Space not good at the back.
2.Bad ride qualtiy.
3.Somehow the car seemed to give out all kind of faint rattling noises. Nothing major. I noticed it only because the music system was off.
4.Not vFM in my opinion.
5.Old Model. Resale could be an issue after five years

I20 Diesel.
Strengths
1.Smooth and Poweful Engine
2.Neutral Handling.
3.Good Looks, Space, Ergonomics
4.Good Resale
5.Good A.S.S
6.6 Speed Gearbox. haven't testdriven this but i hear it will be out in the next few weeks.
7.Safety.
8.Good Resale even 5 years down the line.

Weaknesses/Risks.
r1.Steering Feel not good.
2.Expensive
3.Not as FE as the swift or figo. Let me know if this is not the case.
4.Somehow the drive experience was not as good as the figo or swift.
5.Ride quality on the firm side. Not as good as Figo.

VW Polo Petrol.
Strengths.
1. Good looks, Good build, Good Quality.
2. Petrol was responsive.

Weaknesses/Risks.
1. To tell the truth, Polo was my choice till i took a testdrive.However the interior room in the back is not good at all.As a matter of fact
I felt it was more cramped than the swift.
2. Cost of Ownership
3. 3 Pot Engine not refined.My bro who also took the testdrive was constantly commenting that the sound was like an old indica. I didn't find it that
that instrusive but as the car grows old i expect the coarseness to increase and refinement to go down.
4. Waiting Period


Ritz DDIS
Strengths.
1.Smooth Engine. Good to drive. Turbo lag. I am positive that it's more than swift's.
2.Reasonable looks.
3.Good A.S.S and Resale.
5.Good ergonomics at the front and back.
6.Crash tested according to all the magazines.
7.Ready availability.

Weaknesses/Risks.
1.Not VFM. Maruti seems to be charging a premium for it A.S.S.
2.Looks. I guess i am the only person who likes the looks among all the people i have talked to :(.
3.Small Boot. According to overdrive though it's bigger than figo. I have to check this one out since i felt that figo had a bigger boot.
4.Overdrive rates figo better than ritz. However if you read thru the article you get the feel that ritz is the better car but figo
just marginally wins because of the cost advantage. So this is just a marginal weakness.

Grande Punto MJD
Strengths.
1.Solid Build. Good Engine. Linear Power delivery when compared to Maruti MJDs.
2.Looks... The looks are exceptional.Infact Polo or any car doesn't come close to punto
3.Reasonable Space
4.Crash Tested and 5 Stars.
5.Handling/Steering exceptional.

Weaknesses/Risks.
1.Tata dealers who sell FIAT seems to have a soft feeling for their own products.They point customers who come for punto to manza. FIAT A.S.S
already has a bad reputation and with these dealer tieups i don't see FIAT making any progress in the near future.
2.Sales Dropping Unfortunately.
3.Resale anticipated to be poor
4.Ergonomics/Interiors did not appeal to me much. Figo which looks smaller seemed to be much more spacious to me.
5.Huge Turning radius.
6.Not nimble in traffic when compared to a ritz or figo or swift.

Manza- Test drove it but it was a big car and didn't appeal to me. So not including it here.

Please help me by pointing out points i have missed or noted incorrectly.

I was kind of inclined towards figo before i came to know about 0-100 timing and the safety record. I still might consider it since it's really
VFM and my parents are very happy with the Fiesta till now.Swift and ritz are still contenders but carwise i don't think they are as good
as the Punto or even Figo.Morever i have to pay a premium for M.A.S.S. i20 ticks a lot of boxes but the steering feel is my biggest gripe here.
If it was in the punto price range i would have gone with it but like i said earlier VFM is important. PUnto is the best option in terms of car
but I see it a palio Part 2 in terms of resale.As a matter of fact i might still have gone for Punto if not for the explicit convassing
the sales guy was doing for manza. Polo is out because of space and the engines.

So all in all I am pretty convinced that I need help to arrive at a decision.Let me know about the bits which might not be accurate in my
analysis.Also Please recommend based on my requirements.

[StarVegabond]

My view after reading your analysis

1. Blindly believing an auto magazine because they are famous is not right

2. Unless you intend to race the car whther the car takes 15 seconds or 20 seconds to reach 0-100 does not matter. I belive the avg speed in Chennai city is just 15-25 KMPH, so it really does not matter.

3. When it comes to Diesel cars, Tata seems to be the best (IMO).
You may also consider FIAT Linea, it might require you to stretch your
budget. Linea Diesel is a great car, now most of the initial issues are
also sorted out.

4. When it comes to A.S.S. and re-sale value Maruti is the king

5. I would suggest you to believe your analysis and data and not other opinion.

[neo45007]

Seems you have done good research; so I will keep the answer simple :-

1) i20 Diesel
2) Ritz Diesel or even Petrol should be good for 1200 Kms per month (Due to K-series Engine).

Swift - i won't suggest unless u r okay with the waiting period.

[better4worse]

Well you have done the SWOT analysis and it is abundantly clear that you want good resale value and is fairly concerned about the A.S.S, that puts TATA, FIAT and to some extent FORD cars out of contention (sadly though!). I am sure the ride quality will put you off i20. That leaves the tried and tested Maruti Swift in the fray. I think its a close call between the Swift and Figo for you !

[rpmx1000]

All things being equal, go for a Figo. Swift is too old and too familiar.Every T,D and H has a Swift.
Handling + ride quality + space + mileage -> Figo is better
And I have a good feeling Figo resale value will pick up - It is already a sales success AFAIK.
If confused, toss a coin

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

1. Blindly believing an auto magazine because they are famous is not right

+1. Read through the forum, and you'll know that these magazines have bias, one way or the other!

In my personal opinion, OD is biased towards all things VW/Skoda.

Originally Posted by vishnurp99

5. Ideally the car should have a reasonable resale when i sell it in 5 years time.
7. I am inclined towards more successful models in terms of sales. This is because i anticipate better A.S.S and resale for these vehicles.

IMO, the fight is between Figo and the Maruti twins. Figo is better VFM, you are already familiar with service centers, hence it should be an easy decision.

0-100 will be less compared to the Swift, however it could be better to drive in the city with the minimal turbo lag.

Titanium version comes with ABS + airbags too.

[formel_eins]

You are going to clock around 1200 Kms and you intend to change the car in 5 years so a petrol car should fit the bill. In such case a petrol I20 would be a good choice and with the recently launched variants of Era, sports you have choice of equipments too. I dont know why you felt that Polo is cramped,

Rear knee rooms (max - min) in mm:
Polo : 812 - 584
I20 : 800 - 590
Figo : 784 - 596
Punto 800 - 585

** figures from overdrive

[breezydrive]

Originally Posted by vishnurp99

I20 Diesel.
Strengths......

Weaknesses/Risks.
r1.Steering Feel not good.
2.Expensive
3.Not as FE as the swift or figo. Let me know if this is not the case.
4.Somehow the drive experience was not as good as the figo or swift.
5.Ride quality on the firm side. Not as good as Figo.

i20 seems to be only car worth buying, wait for test drive, hope they sort out the issues! Resale value after 5 years would be a problem in all other cars.

[keyurshah]

I agree with Vegabond, that AFA diesels are concerned, there is no beating Tatas.

But then TASS may be the deal broker in your case.

i20 - I would not recommend for the reasons already specified by you and others.

Swift - The car needs some changes desperately. Maruti is overdoing with the car now. Compared to other cars - I find its interiors dull, suspension hard when you are on rear seat (though the dealership attributes this to sporty suspension, but for me it meant discomfort). And space is another minus.

Figo - Its a very good and peppy car. A must candidate.
I would even put Punto in the same league.

While you are seeing the cars, I would urge you to check out the Vista too. It has great space and its a good VFM.

If you are not in hurry, wait for the Toyota small car to be launched. It should really be a good alternative. Expected around July.

[oss]

Figo D does 0-100km in 15.5 sec (NOT 20sec). And since you mentioned you are going to be driving primarily in the city, it hardly matters whether it is 15.5sec or 13.5 sec (Ritz-D)

[k!ng_@thur]

One clear req for you that you possibly have not put down is good ground clearance (being acquainted with the area you are talking about)...

[sachinayak]

Originally Posted by k!ng_@thur

One clear req for you that you possibly have not put down is good ground clearance (being acquainted with the area you are talking about)...

If this is indeed true and you are "willing" to be able to think out of the box, then I would recommend you a "used" Ford Fusion.

It will have pathetic resale value, but if you are buying a "used" car, it works to your advantage. Superb interior space, good engine, best-in-class ground clearance, best-in-class boot space, great handling and extremely practical (unless you wish to go by the talk-of-the-neighborhood). A new Fusion would never be a VFM proposition (to me at least) but a pre-owned one makes it a very attractive purchase.

Probably will get beaten up to say this, but I doubt anything meets your requirement better than a used Fusion.

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by vishnurp99

A bit about my requirements -

1. I am inclined towards diesel since my running is upwards of 1200 kms a month.
2. The car will be self driven 95% of the time. So drive comfort is a priority.
3. I prefer a good handling car with moderate power to a higher powered car with bad handling
4. VFM is a priority.
5. Ideally the car should have a reasonable resale when i sell it in 5 years time.
6. I see 3 or 4 people using the car most of the time. So reasonable space on the front and the back will be required.
Also good ergonomics is a must. I might have luggage once in a month for some outstation trips.
7. I am inclined towards more successful models in terms of sales. This is because i anticipate better A.S.S and resale for these vehicles.
8. I am inclined towards hatchbacks since i will be driving in city/suburbs most of the time. I work in the mcity office in chennai and stay in
camp Road area. So home-office-home and the weekend outing would me most of my driving

While Figo, Polo and Punto score better on ride, handling and sturdiness but lose out on after sales support, The i20, Ritz and Swift have good After sales support do not have as good ride and build strength.

I feel the i20 CRDi offers the best compromise amongst your listed requirements here.

Regarding my prior experience with cars, my parents have a santro and fiesta. We also had just sold a Palio 2003 ELX at a price of 1.3 L. The selling price of our Palio is also one of the reasons for this post. I had picked up the palio in 2002 after some research. That was
also supposed to be an opportunity for me to demostrate my judjement.Dad just signed on the cheque. The car was good to us and we really enjoyed it.
However the resale was a huge disappointment. As a matter of fact when we sold our zen (jellybean) around 6-7 years old in 2004 we had got 1.3 lakh.
I would like to pick up a car with a good resale if that is possible.

The reason i would suggest staying away from Punto, Polo and Figo.

When i bought a Punto last year i knew i would get Palio like resale and poor after sales support(Confirmed now, refer my ownership thread), since i can live with these i opted for Punto.

For someone who cannot Tolerate poor after sales support, dealing with Tata service centers might prove to be very frustrating.

According to the overdrive test Figo takes around 20 seconds to reach 100K.

1. Look beyond 0-100 when buying a diesel. The Figo is very nice to drive in traffic, don't worry about it unless you plan to do traffic light sprints every now and then.

2. I don't trust Overdrive's figures, ACI is better.

Not as FE as the swift or figo. Let me know if this is not the case.

For performance and Peace of Mind i would suggest Hyundai i20 CRDi. i20's city FE is at Par compared to the competition. Out on open roads it has better FE than any of the cars with Multijet engines, Reason: Tall gearing(5 speed). Now since 6 speeds MT is out, i expect better in gear acceleration times.

[akshay_b]

Originally Posted by vishnurp99

Hi All,
3. Safety is an issue. According to the car magazine the Figo is not crash tested at all. This is a deal breaker according to me.

No car can enter the market without undergoing atleast 20 crash tests.

[vishnurp99]

@oss 15.5 is the ford claimed number but overdrive is independent right. That's why i put those numbers here.

@.anshuman Why do you not trust overdrive numbers? Don't these numbers have to be accurate? Won't overdrive get sued by the car makers otherwise?

@akshay_b Is this true in india also? I checked the car magazine again and the exact sentence was that the car was not optimised for the latest crash tests. They didn't have that comment about any of the other cars which were tested. They had practically tested everything else(Petrol) in this comparo.

i20 CRDI seems to be best out of the lot but it's also most expensive. It also doesn't give me that feelgood that i got while driving figo or punto. Could be the hydraulic steering on these 2. Total package wise it's the best.

I will get an ACI and also compare the figures. My thinking is that 0-100 is something which is totally objective and measurable. So ACI should also have around 18-19-20 sec but i will check.