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Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Bangalore
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The Old Order Changeth, yielding place to the new, yet again...
Well, here goes guys, another saga of car buying, put down on paper. This time, for my folks in Madras.
The time frame in which the below detail process was accomplished has been over the last 6-7 months.
We needed to change my parents car from their elderly (8year old) Tata Indica V2 DLG Turbo Diesel. Frankly that car was getting a little long in the tooth, and was subject to some amount of "user fatigue", at least from my side, despite its considerable mid-life makeover and major nip and tuck job in 2010, 4 years after it was bought. Now, while there is absolutely nothing wrong with that car, it still needed to be put out to pasture, in favour of youth, refinement and specifically, 'safety kit'.
Requirement:
We wanted a more refined, petrol-driven, modern, easy to handle, service, drive and park, comfortable, versatile, spacious vehicle for them and their luggage, with all possible safety features and comfort/ convenience features that people like my parents, who are in their middle-senior years, will appreciate. They drive on average around 800 kms a month max, and in the last 8 years their Diesel Indica has just clocked 51000 odd Kms. They do not really need a Diesel, quite clearly, and as a Senior Gent, my Dad will be much more comfy in a Petrol. He does not like Chauffeurs, preferring to drive himself as far as possible and he is an excellent driver to boot. Most of their usage is in the City. However, they make three or four trips up and down on the highways in a year between Madras and Bangalore and they also like to go to Ooty and other places to catch up with friends etc. They have always preferred to travel by car, wherever they go, especially when the trips are within the region in which they are based. My Mum needs a car in which she can travel in great comfort so the springing of the vehicle cannot be "hard" and it should not "crash" over the bumpy roads we drive on. She needs ease of ingress and egress and a comfortable front seat to sit in - she never sits anywhere else except the front passenger seat, on account of her health condition(s).
Special Occasion:
This upgrade is a special Gift on the occasion of my Dad's birthday which is coming up in a bit. Like the brand new Indica Diesel with which (at his request) we replaced my Dad's old Petrol Esteem 8 years ago, now it is the turn of the spanking new I20 to take the place of the Indica. To quote an old saying, "The old order changeth, yielding place to the new!" Change is the only constant and all the other platitudes come to mind now...
What better gift can there be from an automobile enthusiast to the one person who taught him everything he knows about cars, maintenance and care, driving, etiquette, road manners and driving techniques! Dad has crossed the 70th milestone and is well underway into the septuagenarian group...all his life he has tried to create a better life for us all- and now we are happy to return the favour in some measure with a nice new car for him to enjoy.
Choosing the car:
After much fiddling and waddling, hemming and hawing and researching for the 'right' sort of vehicle - we spanned the gamut of new vehicles available, of the sedan and hatch type and we spanned a huge number of used vehicles too, in the hope of finding a bargain amongst all the Toyota Corollas and Honda Citys and Skoda Lauras and all the rest of them out there. We considered the Ford EcoSport but found the cost too high plus the waiting period too long. We thought of the Honda City but despite everything, the Honda boys have slightly short-changed the consumers in terms of kit, we felt. Unfortunately they, in their infinite wisdom, also murdered the lovely, versatile, clever, classy, off-beat, refined, comfortable, stylish little Jazz which we would have loved to consider seriously! The Fiesta Classic is way too long in the tooth for our taste though a great car in its own way. Now with its recent 'last ditch' price reduction of one lakh, it seemed very attractive indeed, but its nearness to the end of its natural lifecycle reduces its attractiveness.. The Figo is just too small. The Ford Fusion would have been lovely but that was also discontinued. Same goes for the Linea whose prices were significantly reduced but I still carry baggage about Fiat's service.
New Car or Used?
My Parents, my wife and I would always prefer to buy cars brand new if we can afford it, rather than buy "used" - regardless of however good the deal is and however tempting the vehicle / category/ segment may seem.
The Shortlist:
We finally narrowed down the choices to the Skoda Rapid (which was more of a whim because frankly it is quite expensive at the price), the Skoda Fabia (which I liked a lot), the Fiat Grande Punto (whose looks I am completely smitten with), the Chevy SAIL and SAIL U VA, the Swift, the Swift Dzire and the Hyundai I 20.
Skoda Rapid:
The Rapid is a nice car and both Mum/ Dad liked it. But we were buying in Chennai and Gurudev is about as responsive as a block of wood and about as caring towards their consumers and potential consumers as perhaps a boulder would be.
Frankly they are as uncaring a dealer as one would hope not to have to deal with, in comparison to Vinayak in Bangalore who have been consistently good with me. Added to that the Rapid really does not have a lot of kit, given the price that they charge for it. Despite the discounts of 1 lac plus, the deal did not seem our type. And we all know that the Rapid is one of those "engineered for India" cars. If Im buying Euro then I would like to go the whole hog and not halfway.
Skoda Fabia:
The Fabia is a lovely car too and we all love its Solid Euro quality cues, safety features, solidity, comfort and other details, but the above perception issue with the dealership remained an irritant plus the Fabia does not have an essential thing - a 60:40 split folding rear seat, which is an essential in a hatchback in my opinion. It also comes with a significantly reduced feature list and has been actually de-featured to some extent, compared with the older gen Fabias which were available in 2008-2009, where even the front passenger seat had a height adjuster! This was the only other really strong contender to what was our final choice.
Fiat Grande Punto:
While I absolutely love its looks, I wasn't happy with the way I was looked after on a recent visit to KHT Motors in Inner Ring Road Bangalore, despite being the only customer in the showroom at the time. I am carrying some baggage in ref Fiat Service and possibly a mindset problem but nothing leads me to think on the contrary despite Fiat going it alone in the India market. I would not want my parents to be put to difficulty on account of servicing and the way they are looked after. Now the Fiat is a great car with solid build quality and ride and everything else, including safety, a big engine, fat tyres and many other attractions. However, somehow, it still seems slightly bereft of the features that its competition has. Sadly, the seats do not have a split foldable option at the rear and the flexibility of available and effective luggage space is also not that great in the Punto, unfortunately.
Chevy SAIL:
The SAIL just simply feels tinny and unfortunately, quite cheap. I do not like its overall 'tinny feel' despite the value for money pricing and decent feature list. Add this to the fact that Chevy recently faced issues and had to have a big recall and there was no way of knowing whether these cars being sold now, had had the issues attended to or whether they would undergo a recall later etc. I don't want my parents to undergo recalls etc. While this is an entry level sedan and quite nice sized too and it has a 370 litre boot, all this adds an extra 70-80k to the cost of the car! Unfortunately it did not inspire enough confidence in me.
Chevy SAIL U VA:
The SAIL U VA - an extremely comfy, versatile and spacious hatchback car. Nice and roomy in my opinion and came with a pretty decent feature list too, at a good price. This was very seriously in consideration. I decided against it only because of the same 'tinny feel' and the fact that my parents did not seem 'wow-ed' at all. I mean, when one is buying a brand new car, one has to 'indulge passion' a bit too!
Maruti Suzuki Swift:
We all liked the original Swift, indeed my wife had one and my Dad used to enjoy driving it when they visited us. Then these Maruti fellows have, as you know, been constantly fiddling with the design and tweaking it up and down almost every year or two since launch. This new Swift is a great car, no doubt, but we feel it is a little too blingy, in comparison to the older one. There is also the matter of the door sill being quite high, so it can be just a little bit irritating for my mum to get in and out of. Added to this, the lip of the boot is too high, so it is a task to hoist one's luggage in and out of the boot. Interestingly, irrespective of variant, it seems the Swift also does not offer a 60:40 flat folding rear seat, which is essential for a good sized hatchback car to have, in order to stow luggage smartly and unobtrusively!
Maruti Suzuki Swift DZire:
The Swift Dzire - this car ticked and continues to tick all the possible boxes for most car buyers in this segment of vehicle. Pricing, features, servicing, all kinds of safety kit ,entertainment and convenience kit, comfort, height from the ground for ease of ingress and egress for older people, reliability, maintenance and the list goes on and on and on. It also has a boot which is separate from the cabin and I personally like the Swift Dzire very much as a Taxi Cab when I am blundering about between home and the airport and when I am visiting other cities on work. It is just the right size to manage India traffic pains and is very comfortable too, in the back seat. The long and short of it is that it really ticks all the boxes. Yet, it did not quite cut it from our need/ want perspective.
Why the Dzire did not quite 'cut it' for us:
1. The Maruti Dealers know that these are amongst the best selling cars in India and hence do not offer all that much by way of 'deals' .
2. I personally don't mind the little boot of 315- 320 litres, but it feels 'tacked on' and makes this car a sedan only in name. I feel that it is actually too small to serve a proper function for people like my folks. It is more of a boot in 'name' rather than in real 'function' and I do not like that. The mere presence of this 'boot' adds a cost differential of around 80-90K to the cost of the car!
3.My parents will have a 'neither here nor there' feeling with this vehicle because it most certainly wont fit all the paraphernalia that people like them like to carry about with them, when they are just two people and have a whole car to themselves.
4.Part of the luxury of motoring about as a twosome, is to be able to carry as much as you want, without constraints! I mean, we travel abroad or within India by air and my wife and I really travel light. However, when we travel in our own automobile, we carry all manner of things and rightly so - whats the point of having a luxurious and comfortable, completely controlled mode of travel/ transport if you cant carry what you want?
5.My parents subscribe to the same school of thought! In their case, in the Swift Dzire, many things will tend to spill over into the rear seat, most certainly and the worst of it is, that the rear seat cannot be folded at all. If this is to be achieved, it will require major surgery and I am totally averse to doing such things on a new car. I may, in so doing, also compromise safety and warranties etc, none of which I wish to do.
Hyundai I 20:
Finally the I 20 from Hyundai - I have never been overly fond of the Hyundai vehicles, always considering them as a bit of a compromise. I owned a Santro many years ago - 2001-2002 in fact. At that time, it was a better choice than a Maruti or Zen.Partially, this 'displeasure with Hyundai' I guess, could be some level of prejudice and 'snobbishness'.
Little did I realize how terrihly biased and wrong I was! My Dad tested the I 20 and both parents loved it. I checked it out very critically in the Hyundai showroom in Residency Road and came away impressed. I also tested my colleagues car and asked him innumerable questions about it till he started looking at me strangely and side-stepping me at times!
The Final Choice:
But, however biased one may want to be, one simply cannot ignore the sheer quality, value for money, features list, comfort, safety, flexi-luggage carrying capacity with those excellent fold-flat rear seats and their superb 60:40 split foldability, overall convenience and the overall package that the Hyundai vehicles give to the consumer. This Hyundai I 20 car really ticked all the possible boxes and made a great 'emotional connect' as well, with my folks. It is, in short, a 'near-perfect' pretty large-ish hatchback car which fits our need/ want state just brilliantly. There is no question about that!
Variant & Colour:
The car variant chosen finally is the I20 Kappa VTVT Petrol 1.2 Asta, which comes with 2 Airbags, ABS, integrated kusic system, bluetooth and otherwise great quality, overall good feel, nice dark two toned upholstery (and not that horrid beige), versatility, space, comfort, convenience and many many features, bells and whistles, most of which are desirable and greatly appreciated.
The colour chosen is "Sleek Silver" on account of its relative anonymity, the fact that it does not show dust, dirt and scratches easily and overall, is quite easy to maintain. The colour Silver still tends to look and feel premium, even over longer periods of time unlike all those other rich, dark shades, which tend to fade and look tatty as time goes by.
The VIN number was given to us a few weeks back before the decision was made; MALBB51BLDM609096. This was subsequently decoded by RSR and we are quite happy with the MY13 (Oct) model. The special deal offered to us was for the MY 13 Model - we were happy with the deal and the vehicle itself.
My unrequited desire:
I would have loved to buy the I 20 Asta (O) Petrol 1.2 with its 6 Airbags and Sunroof, but it has a two to three month wait period as it is not a popular variant in India.
Incidentally and irritatingly, this one, being also a 1.2, comes with rear drum brakes! I would have loved the 1.4 Gamma Petrol AT Sportz variant, but for the fact that it comes (most idiotically) with only one Driver Airbag and has a silly 4 speed AT Gearbox! I mean in this day and age, one would expect at least two front Airbags and a 6 speed AT Box or am I wrong here?
If there is one thing that I am slightly unhappy with in my choice, it is only the fact that the Petrol 1.2 litre Hyundai I 20's, irrespective of variant, do not come with rear disc brakes. None of the variants come with ESP and I would have loved more airbags than are present in this variant.
Dealer:
The dealer we chose to go with are Vinayak Hyundai - Amra Motors, who are a new dealer in Madras and are based out of the Chromepet/ Tambaram Sanatorium Area. I know they are quite a distance away from where my folks are located but they did all the running around and not us, so we did not mind really.
They are owned by the Vinayak Skoda chaps in Bangalore who look after me very well indeed and we are happy with the way their Madras Hyundai dealership are looking after us. Their GM, Mr Ganesh is a straightforward guy and I like doing business with him. I have never met him - only worked with him through the phone/ email. Everything is being done by remote control because of my relationship with Vinayaka Skoda in Bangalore.
Costs:
The deal given to us is quite comfortable (around 70k) off including all sorts of bonuses and discounts. The new I 20 car costs about 7.43 odd on the road. As per the VIN, it is an October 2013 manufactured vehicle. We have no problem with that. The value being given for the old Indica (around 1.85L) is also very decent indeed, given the general market for such cars. Our old Indica has been jazzed up considerably in its middle age, around 4 years into ownership, with bolstered re-upholstered, comfortable seats and interiors, an excellent further upgraded music system, nice alloys, fatter tyres etc and has been maintained extremely well by my Dad as well as run very little given its age!
We know we could have advertised it privately and gotten ourselves a bigger, better, more super deal but frankly did not want to go through all the botheration.
We much prefer to hand it over to the dealer for what we consider to be a 'fair price'. The major part of the cost of the new car is being put down as a combo of the old car, the discounts offered and a decent sized down payment as well. This enables acquisition of the car through a relatively minimal loan amount. This is the way we have gone ahead.
So the old car went off to the Dealer on 20th Jan. My folks are somewhat sentimental about their old car, being of the generation that bought things by paying 'cash down' and generally hanging on to their things for a far longer time than the newer generations, including us, do. Also, my Dad is very particular about preventive maintenance to the point of obsession and is a real stickler for looking after things properly and well, bless him!
These last few days my parents have been using my Sis's car until the new car came in. This has helped my Dad to acclimatize himself to a Petrol driven vehicle after around 8 years of driving that clattery -noisy engined Turbo Diesel Indica. It helped him in getting used to the softness, refinement and comfort of the noiseless petrol engine, its faster acceleration,greater responsiveness, newer proportions and dimensions, different controls and other vehicular behavioural characteristics. Last but not least it helped him of course, to get used to the softer clutch that these nice new refined petrol hatchback cars have. It also helped him to get used to the ABS and all the rest of it. So all good on that front.
Onward we drive:
Dad wanted delivery of the new vehicle in the final week of Jan 2014. They had originally identified Jan 20th and 24th as 'good days' but have finally settled on today, Wednesday the 29th Jan for the delivery, with the new car clad in its freshly minted registration and number plates etc.
There was also a bunch of requisite paperwork which had to fly up and down between bangalore and Madras and the RTO demands are quite stringent, coupled with the vagaries of the courier services. So 29th Jan it is then...though despite my being away overseas on work for the last week or so, I had accomplished everything by remote control as it were. It just happens that the RTO do not register vehicles on Saturday and the papers were only ready by then. However, Mr Ganesh, the Dealer GM has been highly helpful.
So the car has now been delivered to Dad and Mum. Puja done. Petrol Filled up. Now I guess it is time for them to hit the road!
I hope that this year 2014 brings my folks good luck, great safety, much peace and great comfort in their brand new I 20 - The SilverLightFoot!
Attaching here a few pictures of the nice spanking new car, taken by Dad after the Puja this morning, for you to see.
Yes, the photos show KUN Hyundai. This is because AMRA Motors, Vinayak Hyundai had, on my request, sourced this particular Silver Car for us, from KUN, since they had only White in Stock and we did not want White.
Cheers.
Last edited by shankar.balan : 30th January 2014 at 15:43.
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19th January 2014, 11:18
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