How my new car search ended with a clean 2018 Honda WRV done only 6K km

I was about to book either the 2022 Maruti Alto or Celerio when I came across this pre-owned car.

BHPian tc89 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Prelude

Thought about buying a new car this year, my very first and the budget was 6L max 6.5L all-inclusive.

Predominantly this vehicle would serve as a get-around town vehicle. Wanted to travel with the family and the constant rains were a pain to use the two-wheelers.

• Mom - A car with easy ingress and egress
• Dad - Just buy one you can afford to maintain easily
• Wife - Just buy a car!

Initial ideas

• A new car
• A used car
• Pimp out a Bajaj Qute

Idea #3 was discussed many times, with 3 people opposing and yours truly trying to convince them that it's a great idea, however, 3 against 1 is a sure loss and though I still think it would be a great idea, the family feels I've lost my mind.

Idea #2 to buy a used car was always something I was willing to consider. I had heard that you can find great deals and great cars. I searched for many months but without avail. The cars had a lot of km on the odo and were too old. The low-mileage vehicles were either the cars I didn't like or were out of my budget. All in all, nothing quite got my attention but that was about to change soon (more on this below).

Idea #1 then became the defacto choice and the hunt began.

Brands considered

Maruti Suzuki

• Top contender. Was not a fan due to the zero importance given to safety. They were within the budget, and practical and their maintenance was affordable.
• Models considered: Alto K10 (2022) & New Celerio
• Mom liked the Celerio and I the K10

Hyundai

Santro and i10 Nios. Didn't like these ones at all. I've read many stories about how Hyundai has dropped quality.

Honda

Out of budget

Tata

Horror stories I've read here about aftersales support made me not even think about this and were out of my budget.

Mahindra

Out of budget

Nissan

Magnite. Impressive variants and price made me consider stretching the budget a bit and finally didn't decide to go with the Magnite.

Renault

Kwid and Kiger. Not a fan, dropped.

I was about to book the Celerio / Alto (mostly the Celerio), when casually browsing I came across Honda Auto Terrace and there I saw this pre-loved 2018 WRV 2018. Was the top-end VX model. Clean body and interior (as much as I could judge from the pics). Was a bit out of budget. Was ONLY 6.1K km driven. This factor that led me back to idea #2 and had a hunch to check it out once, just to satisfy myself that if something is too good to be true it mostly is.

When we went to check it out we actually found the body was super clean with no rust or major damage anywhere. A few scratches here and there spoke of its origin. Interior was quite good, needs some cleaning but nothing had deteriorated. Seat covers were new, sunvisor still had factory plastic covers, plastics all around were quite new. None of the panels had any scratches, digipad had its plastic, and there was a sunroof ( I didn't know this till the 2nd check-out visit).

Engine bay was clean. No rust anywhere. Wheel wells were clean. No rust. Very very slight rust on the front discs. Boot was clean. Spare wheel was never even taken out.

Everything felt like it was in its place and overall dad and I were quite impressed. Test drive was good, everything was tight, no squeals and squeaks. No unwanted engine or brake sounds.

I was now seriously considering this one and so was my dad. We gave one offer to the Honda dealership which was a good 75K lesser than the quoted price and left because the deal didn't seem to work out because of a 25K difference. During the day this car was on my mind and I called the salesperson and tried speaking to him. We arrived at a 15K difference and I blocked it.

Next, I was apprehensive of only one question. Was this an untampered 6K car or am I missing something here? The next 3 days were spent searching for a 2nd hand car inspection service. Go Mechanic was booked but they acted up and didn't arrive. Finally, one of our contacts who was in the car business agreed to check it out and gave the green light.

Some of my friends told me to blindly buy this one as they thought it was a rare opportunity - a 6.1K km driven Honda was a new one for all practical intents and purposes.

Finally, we bought our pride and joy home. And of course, I had to stretch my budget. My mom likes the ingress and egress, she loves the sunroof, dad has a twinkle in his eye every time he drives, and the wife is happy. And I feel content that they are all happy.

More miles to go more smiles to see. More to learn about cars, and more memories to be made.

Here's what BHPian TheVegabond had to say about the matter:

Congratulations on your first car!

Honda WRV is a very underrated car. It has a classy interior along with best-in-class cabin space. Strangely Honda did not give it the 1.5 i-vtec and there is no AT as well.

One of my close friends was looking for a sub-compact SUV and did not like any of the options available in the market because each of the cars had shortcomings which proved to be a deal breaker. That's when I asked him to check the WRV and his family loved it instantly. He has absolutely no complaints in his 2 years and ~30K kms of ownership.

Here's what BHPian rajeevsulu had to say about the matter:

My wife's colleague has a WRV and swears by the car. I was a little reluctant to go with his views till I drove it for a decent distance. It is a fantastic car. One can have solid fun in the city. If this had the 1.5 i-vtec, it would have been havoc!

Here's what BHPian deehunk had to say about the matter:

There are a lot of one-sided reviews about WR-V that it lacks power and torque, people who have not driven this car may think that it needs the 1.5L i-vtec engine. This is really a fantastic car to drive if one has good driving skills.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.