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which car to buy ???

Many of u must have got an idea from my fb status that my family is in plans to buy a car probably during Diwali ...
And we have got so much confused having so many options . Anyways, we have finalized a few .

Petrol options :

2) Hyundai Verna fluidic

3) Honda city

Diesel options :

1) Volkswagen Vento

2) Hyundai Verna fluidic

First of all I would like to know petrol or diesel ...
The car will be in nagpur and running will be more ...

Now read some funny discussions that is going on in my family regarding the car ..
The biggest problem is we all are engineers and all from NIT (including dad) so everybody starts talking of technology... My youngest brother who has joined Maruti few months back, talks of Maruti tech ...
Initially my dad had plans for Honda city but the other day our neighbor bought it and he decided not to buy that ...
Oh !!! male ego .... Also my dad swings the budget non & then ... One day he says 10 lac and the other day he comes down to 7 lac ... He hate ford like anything ... He says "ford to lena hi nahi hai " ...

So guys , give some suggestions ... I have got headache reading the brochures of all cars ... The more I read the I get confused ...

Comments

Anonymous said…
Fluidic verna starts 10.5 upwards for the diesel version...reg, taxes, insurance extra....
same with Vento with reg to price..great car, but bad after sales, esp if ur not in a metro...rare chances that u fine a VW service center close by....high maintenance costs....consider Dzire or SX4 DDiS....
Sakshi said…
I am not going to talk tech!
:D
Alright, My vote goes to Volkswagen! Anyday!

Honda City, a complete non no, they recalled the city back recently due to various defects.

Hyundai Verna, I have ONLY heard that it is good. But my experience with a Hyundai car is amazing! I think they make nice sturdy cars.

Your dad thinks like my mum, and I have no idea why is he against Ford. Figo, is a great drive. It was way above my budget else would have bought that.

Chevy, big cars are also decent! In small car segment, my beat gives me a great mileage and a great drive. Love my car!

Another big car in this budget that can see is Toyota. All toyota cars have a great resale value, and all of them are value for money.

Ankit helped me wonders when I was buying a car. So you can ask him too!
raj alakshendra said…
@ anony
Thanks for ur suggestions but the prices of verna is r wel under 10 .. I have checked its on road cost ..
and there is VW in nagpur ...

@sakshi
I forgot to mention that we r going for a sedan ...
And we dont get totota under 10 except etios , which my bro rejected ...
after u too rejected honda city , the fight comes down to vento & verna ...
btw i have got a nice review of new verna ...
raj alakshendra said…
ans yes i am waiting for Gandhi's comments and also dion & chiru words...
muktesh said…
dude.. as far as I know your dad's driving skills, no technology is gonna last long. H'es gonna screw the gear box, clutch plate, etc in a year :P:P:P Plus he wont be driving car for long distance and try to keep it for weekend use only. So "diesel version is out". Left is petrol version cars. So Verna is for looks, and city stands for value for money. Apart from that City has good resale value. Now we are left with that EGO Problem. well no feature can replace that :P:P After all its a brand in itself now.
- Muktesh
Unknown said…
What happened to the old Toyota Corolla, or FIAT Linea?

If neither of them works for you, then even my vote goes for Hyundai Verna.
Tapas said…
You must go for diesel.
I agree with Shayon, Fiat Linea is a good car, specially Fiat engines are the best we have around.

but If u have to choose out of Verna and Vento. Then Verna would be my choice bcoz of its looks and feature list.
Here I come! Since I also plan to buy a car soon(actually waiting for City's new version for Jan) so have been test driving a few lately.

Here's my feedback after test driving Verna.

Pros:
1. The new Hyundai Verna has got quite a kinetic design with a lot of cuts at the right places.
2.The interiors are fairly good
3. The best thing is the kind of equipment(advanced music system, USB port etc) which they have provided .
4. 4 airbags
All in all, it's equipment laden and is more than what you can ask for in the 7-8 lakh segment

Cons: 1.Doesn't inspire confidence while driving. Not truly a driver's car. It's not very precise and you end feeling a little unrestful while driving it. Doesn't give peace of mind while driving in city traffic.
2. Poor quality of metal used. The sheets of metals used are quite thin and that's one of the reasons it becomes unstable or wobbles at higher speeds. Doesn't inspire confidence at highways too.
3. Claustrophobic Backseat: The rear window lines are quite high so even a tall person, you feel like you are sitting in a pit
4. Poor under thigh support at the backseat
All in all, go for it if you're a little budget conscious and are not bothered with things like space,driving experience etc.

Honda City
For me, the interiors of any car matter as much as,if not more, the exterior and this is what makes the City the leader in the pack. When you sit in a City,you feel like a King. The engine is very refined and it inspires the right confidence both at low and high speeds to make you feel like "Wow, I could drive this bitch a little harder". It's very very spacious and the quality of material used inside is the best in the class. And with the price cuts ,it's a real value for money

The only cons with Honda city is that the equipment is not as sophisticated as that provided in Verna/Vento
Remember that going for some other car because you neighbors have got a City is bad logic although it's emotionally justified :-D They'll have a better machine than what you'll get.

So here's how I will rank these cars
1. City 8/10
2. Vento: 7/10
3. Verna:6/10
However, the lower rating doesn't necessarily mean that you shouldn't buy Verna because it is very pocket friendly and is the cheapest of all three and has a good network of dealers spread across the country and has good resale value too.

For doing your research,use this website www.team-bhp.com.It is the biggest forum for car lovers in India
Btw, as I mentioned earlier also, City is going to launch a revamped version in Jan.It'll almost look the same with a few minor exterior changes but the level of equipment provided is going to increase so that it matches with the other cars in its class. So the only drawback it has will also get struck off.

As Shayon suggested you may also wanna check out Fiat Linea. Quite a decent machine.Should have done better in India but due to dealership problems,it's Indian story has not been sanguine so far. Go for it only if you're buying the upper end T-Jet model which is going to be expensive. The lower ones aren't very impressive. Anothe big drawback is poor resale value. Again, resale value is something which you might or might not be important for you ,so just think for how long do you plan to drive the car you're buying.
Here's the link to the review of recently launched Nissan Sunny.Check it out. Nice car-great value for money but seems like the engine is not great a high speeds.But that shouldn't much for you as you are not going to drive it much beyond 100.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/108106-nissan-sunny-test-drive-review.html
Ankit said…
new verna: wathc out for shockers & turning side forces.(old verna looks like dabba but is a better car)

honda city: driving pleasure

vento: good, if u need a gud diesel, however jst work out if it makes economic sense(is your drive more than 40km/day).

toyota corolla: my vote-buy once & forget everything else.(
higher side on budget)

on a low side budget:
SX4: cost of ownership is low+ having a relative in maruti cuts down replacement parts cost by 50%..
raj alakshendra said…
@ all

reading all the reviews , it seems no car is good :( :(

The perfect car is still to come !!!
Unknown said…
I still don't understand... why not Fiat Linea.

And well, here's an interesting forum post by a Ford Figo owner

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/108827-ford-figo-story-defective-lemon-1-2yrs-stressful-ownership.html
@ Raj,
I've been out of the Indian car business for a while now. I'm currently looking for a car here in the US!
But here's my 2-pence for what it's worth.
Diesel cars may have been cheaper due to the price of diesel, but I'm not so sure that holds today (in the US at least, the prices are comparable). Diesel cars require a lot of maintenance (from my summer at the TATA Motors service center in Goa) and may prove expensive.
I'd prefer a petrol car- it's a lot quieter too!
About specific cars, I really don't like US made cars (Ford, Chevy, etc.), at least the ones made here in the US. They don't inspire confidence (not like the US muscle cars of old). But that's my opinion of the cars on the roads here.
The Asian cars (Japanese and Korean) in the US are the cheapest and last fairly long, but the body material seems flimsy and they take a brutal beating (cars start wobbling at high speed). I'm not sure whether this applies in India too!
Maruti is the cheapest of all options I guess, but they make dubbas (Sorry G-man!), that feel cheap to drive in (not sturdy at all). The gear stick shakes so much after a few uses (it feels like you can pull it out of the gear box!)- definitely not like my Fiat Uno, now that was a sturdy car!
On the whole, I'd prefer a European car (VW, BMW, Volvo, Fiat) because they're sturdy (but a dash expensive). I understand Fiat has had huge problems in India (I know from past experience with the family Uno!) and I'm not sure if that will ever end.
Of all the cars you've suggested, I'd pick the Honda City (I've not seen the VW one) because as Mann said, you feel like sitting in it and driving that baby, all the way to Hell! But the down side of buying a good car in India (like the City) is that it's going to get bruised and banged and nicked in a crowded city and after a few months or a year it's going to look as bad as that Maruti parked at the side of it!
But the punchline is this: Listen to the folk in India before buying the car (they've seen those cars more regularily than me). And most importantly, every purchase comes down to a last leap of faith, so just jump!

@ Mann,
Oh yes, let's drive that bitch a little harder! Ha ha ha ha ha, that made me laugh so hard- I can picture you utter those words (with passion)!

D
@Dion
Seems like you're mind had been focusing on the innuendos too much :-P

Btw,I have been considering Chevy Cruze seriously.I haven't test driven it but it was love at first sight when I saw it parked. I literally had to run a bit to find out which car is that as it zoomed away.One of those infatuation phases I guess. Have even told my Mom who doesn't have any clue about cars in that segment about Cruze.Most probably, I'll end up buying this car,if I don't fall in love with some other car in sometime. But any particular reason why you don't like the American brands such as Chevy ?

We're using SX4 at home and I didn't like the car. The interiors aren't refined and the whole feel of sitting in its backseat ain't good .I don't know how good it is to drive though.
Sakshi said…
Man look at you all talk about cars! take the car out of the sentences, and well, a girlfriend may get jealous!

Any ways!
@Raj
I agree with Mannu, why not a chevy?

@Mannu
Chevy Cruz is awesome! My boss has this and like she said after sitting my Chevy Beat, that Cruz is the just the bigger form of my car *I am sure that there are more differences too!!*
But, I love the way the Chevy drives. It is SMOOTH, it is FANTASTIC!
It is a wow wow thing to drive. You ought to come and take a ride in my car!

Plus- Most of my office has one car or the other from chevy, and they are VERY happy with everything! :D
raj alakshendra said…
I am in nagpur now...I had a detailed talk with my dad on car topic ...
He will be keeping a driver and his dialy run will be 50 km on an average seeing the size of nagpur city .. So I suppose diesel wil be better ... Also he is more inclined towards vento ...

Today we went to Toyota n enquird about etios ... The sales guy said if u have 10 lac budget better go for vento in diesel segment ...

Tomm we will be going to hyundai & VW .

Btw dad said no to fiat ...
Chiranjit said…
@Raj,
u r going at right way.
raj alakshendra said…
i had test driven vento ... its cool ..

We also went to nissan ... we inquired abt sunny ... its has everything that is there in vento highline and at a cost lesser by 1.5 lac ..
coudnt do test drive of sunny as the demo was not there ...

should we final sunny ???
Chiranjit said…
Sunny comes with only petrol option. I think u mentioned Vento diesel is costier by 1.5Lac than sunny petrol version. That’s normal.
Avg. running cost of vento diesel:Rs2.82/km (with city cycle FE 17kmpl and diesel price 48per L )

and sunny pet. Running cost:Rs. 5.3/km (with FE 14.5kmpl and petrol price 75per L)

If you drive avg. 30km a day on vento it will take almost 4.8 years to recover 1.5Lac extra cost from sunny. with value of money and fluctuating price of crude oil let's make it 5year.
So, after 5 year you can enjoy the cheaper price of diesel over petrol (donno what will the price of petrol after 5year....more than Rs.100!!!!)
So, now your choice for petrol or diesel is purely based on how much you drive everyday. The more distance u drive the lesser time will take to recover the extra diesel engine cost.
Maintenance & service cost will be moreover similar for both cases as modern diesel engine does not require lot of maintenance like earlier days.
Sakshi said…
Just one more consideration, spare parts!
Nissan ka problem hai shayad!

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