Greetings,
After a lot of thought i have decided to buy a new car
Need for a new Car:
I am an IT professional and ride to office on a daily basis on my bike (A biker at heart), but following points have made me consider buying a car
1. Poor road conditions - They give me a backache at time, i need a comfortable office commuter
2. Trips outside city on weekends - I still can't give up on my long drives, too much addicted to it
3. Increased driving distance from home to office - A job switch caused the to and fro distance to go up by 15 KMS
4. Driving in wet / cold conditions - Reaching office in heavy and unpredictable Pune rains becomes a trouble at times
(by now you must have understood since i mention the word office so many times, i am a workaholic)
5. Growing pollution - it might sound weird but the pollution levels in city are having a bad impact on my health,
ideally we should all be driving battery cars to preserve nature instead of buying gas guzzlers
but that is a different argument and a never ending one so not now
6. Hatchback car for city drive - We own a Tata estate and driving it around tight city roads is not an easy task (trust me on this)
Planned purchase Date: March 2011
Budget: 5 Lacs
Monthly Running: 1000 km
Criteria: With Growing petrol prices, petrol engines are out of question, CNG or Diesel is the way to go for now
The Hunt:
I Know i am hunting for a car in the most densely populated segment which offers maximum options,
But here is my opinion on them (this is IMHO, no personal attacks are being made here)
1. Honda Jazz - I could buy 2 cars in the price of this car, and i dont even understand why it costs so much
2. VW Polo - They claim it to be best in class, i claim it is heavily overpriced
3. Skoda Fabia - I Love the interiors but I have both read and heard horrendous stories about the service network and i dont wanna be a test subject for them
4. Maruti Stable
a. Zen estilo - i respect the "Zen", but it is too outdated and the new design resembles Nano so a big NoNo
b. Wagon R - Good leg and head room but too common on the road and the feaure list is very short
c. A Star - Cramped interiors
d. Swift - A brilliant design, but a waiting period of 6 months put me off
e. Ritz - Diesel Model exceeds my budget :-(
5. Hyundai Stable
a. Hyundai Santro - Proven engine but almost everyone in family has it, no point in adding one more to the list
b. Hyundai i10 nexgen - Less leg and shoulder room, but for city commute, this fits my bill and requirements, hence shortlisted the CNG version
c. Hyundai i20 - I personally love this car but out of budget
6. Nissan Micra - Good leg and shoulder room and a spacious cabin, but excessive use of plastics and brand recognition / presence in India is less, besides diesel model costs 6 lacs
7. Chevy Stable
a. Beat - This was the car i had zeroed in at the start, but the rear is claustrophobic and my parents simply rejected it
b. U-VA - i really love this car's interiors but the exterior is too dated (I dont understand what italdesign was thinking while designing this car)
c. Spark - Too small, not to my likings
8. Tata Stable
a. Indica - This car has been here for ages but still has some niggles, still shortlisted DLS version
b. Indica Vista - Very spacious and VFM but if i gotta choose between indica DLS and Vista Quadrajet, i will go for DLS as it has been here for years and a proven engine
9. Ford Figo - Diesel engine is very good but the front panel rubs my knees, i did not expect this from ford
10. Fiat Stable
a. Palio - Too dated, not to my likings
b. Punto - Brilliant design, but it will not fit in my budget it seems
So finally i was to choose between 2 cars,
i10 CNG, Indica DLS
The Decision
I have finalized Indica V2 DLS Turbomax as i beleive more firmly in Diesel (My existing car is Diesel too) and this car will allow me to spend some money on a nice ICE / Alloys + Wheels / Customizations
I know i will be called by my friends as "CAB WALA" "COOL CAB" etc,
but hey we buy a car for ourselves, not for others, i have a mechanic here who has been helping me keep my TATA estate in running condition,
I Spoke to him as well and he said that this car may not be as fancy as its competition but it sure does the job and he said "If it is being used as a cab, it does mean it has done some good job on road and thats why people are still buying it"
Please advice on what add-ons i should be doing for this car..i have my list of accessories planned but i would be more than happy to hear it from the folks here
So come on and help me out here
I do have more questions but i will put them out in further posts before i book the car
Cheers,