Suggest Me a Driver's Pleasure Hatch.

[Tornado]

It seems that I will have to handover my Manza Aura diesel to my kids and my friend's kids and a chauffeur for their school purposes.As monthly expenses for my kids are going to be 9000 INR /month and for my friends they'd are going tobe approx 18000 INR /month, if we send them by a school van (pvt) .So it is better to share my own car , fuel expenses and chaufferr's salary for the school travelling of the kids. As kids would get benefit of travelling in a safer and AC car as compared to non AC ECCO (pvt school van) .And expenses would be more or less same IMO.

So I am thinking of a hatch for self .And I would be travelling alone in it.

Daily Running 65 km (50 km highway and 15 km notorious pune city traffic)

Top priorities - Light on pocket ,driving pleasure , ground clearance , FE , ASS , fit and Finish.

Previous driving experience -UNO-FIAT Diesel, Wagonr BS 2 , Wagonr BS 3 , Tata Indigo LS Diesel , Manza diesel.
AFA driving pleasure for me is concerned Uno ranks first but sold it off due to poor and costly ASS.
Indigo LS ranks second , but it was little underpowered as compared to MANZA .Manza power is awesome but only problem is poor underthigh support as my manza seat is not height adjustable, and the blind spot at the base of A pillar.


Wagonr driving pleasure is ok but not better than above mentioned cars.
Please help me in choosing fuel also as I am in dilemma in view of falling petrol prices and rising diesel prices.
My height is 182 cm including shoes.
Most of the time I would be driving alone.

 

[Vishwas]

Tornado, given the daily mileage, its better to go for a diesel hatch only, don't bet on falling petrol prices, they will definitely shoot up unknowingly.

You forgot to mention the budget to spend.

Top priorities - Light on pocket ,driving pleasure , ground clearance , FE , ASS , fit and Finish.

I feel ritz is an apt option to buy, given your height and your history of driving tall boy cars, ritz would somewhat satisfy you, it has high quality plastics, needless to say about MASS.

Only thing is to upgrade the tyres to reduce the body roll(Not very much necessary unless you plan to give a competition to the cleverly swift )

 

[Superbad]

my pick would Be the figo.
Just for the drivers pleasure.
Else swift should do fine too.

 

[alexddas]

The best driver's hatch back as per my experience is the first santro Zing the one before eRLX engine.The response to throttle is unbelievable and the steering control is extraordinary.
Now PuntoD gives a good feel for me.

 

[Raja]

Polo , punto , swift , figo .

For better ride quality - sail UVA .

 

[Gurrala74]

@Tornado

I agree with Vishwas suggestion of Ritz, but strictly change the tyres to 185 section while buying to avoid the bodyroll of a tall boy.

Apart from that I suggest you the new Vista an excellent pick

Yes, As Raja told Sail UVA is excellent to drive. If some body asks me between these 3 cars, I will pick Sail UVA for its design and space, driving pleasure and most important is its warranty package. No worry on the reliability of engine and FE as this is the same famous Fiat multijet.

So for your height others like Figo,Polo,Swift never suits you as they lack head room and height seating positions and hyped prices(no offence for any owner here).

 

[Superbad]

figo and hyped price?

@op what do you mean for driving pleasure.
More horses,more torque,
No turbo lag, stiff suspension for sporty ride, soft suspension for moving along bad roads?

Would be better if you define your subjective drivers pleasure.

 

[patkar_a]

My pick would be Ritz, excellent car with a tall boys stanza.Has a body roll but ok types,tyre upgrade might help.
Breeze to drive in traffic and excellent behavior on highway.
Diesal having good FE, and good Support of MASS.

 

[Gurrala74]

@SB

My comment of hyped price is limited to Polo and Swift and not for Figo. Figo is not suitable for the tall persons and gives a claustrophobic feel and with the driving position gives a fatigue feeling after 50 to 100km drive. Also suspension issue is irritating in bad roads

 

[singh890]

Looking at your daily driving i would say go for a diesel hatch and I would suggest you to choose one of these: Polo, swift and i20 (If your budget allows, since you didn't mention your budget).

I recently took a TD of all three of them (i20 Sportz, Swift ZDI and Polo Highline) with one of my friend as he is looking to buy a diesel hatch for himself.

i20: i20 has a good list of features and interior quality is very good. i20 has the advantage of 6th gear. And personally i think i20 has the best setup when it comes to space. It has very good front legroom, good rear legroom and good amount of space for the boot. Also it has the most powerful engine out of all hence good amount of torque as well.

Swift: Loved the butter like smooth gears of swift and the legroom for the front seat is good as well as for the rear (better than i20) but than the boot space is the lowest among all 3 of them.

Polo: I guess it's one of the most solid built hatch in the segment and has the largest boot space. I mean it's huge considering a hatch. But then it has less rear legroom because of the big boot space. Also since it's heavier than i20 and swift it had a more stable ride. Also polo has very good stock speakers and the quality is really good.

 

[anshuman8]

My suggestion for you sir (in order)

1. PuntoD
2. SwiftD
3. FigoD
4. i20D
5. VistaD90(It would be replica of Manza though)
6.SailD
7.RitzD
8.BeatD

 

[Gurrala74]

@Anshuman

May be Beat doesn't suit for a 182cm height person

 

[swift&furious]

Light on pocket ,driving pleasure , ground clearance , FE , ASS : Swift Diesel
Light on pocket ,driving pleasure , ground clearance , FE, More passionately owned by the owners : Punto Sport.
Top quality and well built, Fit and Finish : VW Polo GTI

In the above if you are specific on petrol go for Swift ZXI with eyes closed ( one more point added the best resale value for a petrol or diesel hatch has to be swift )

 

[Music_Swift]

My pick-Fiat Punto 90HP for pleasure driving.Bharath,you have many choices like Swift ZDI,Polo 1.2 HL TDI,i20 Asta CRDI and others.But,my pick is,Swift ZDI and Punto 90HP.

 

[Tornado]

Thanks a ton friends for the helping posts.
I too feel, it is either Punto 75 D or beat D.
I want to save money hence thinking of sparingly used cars too.
There are two beat D in pune , LSD 20 kkm, for Rsr 4.25 L.Other is LT Opt 34 kkm , for Rs 4.5 L.
Friends, please opine about real time experience of GC and driving pleasure of the beat D.

Yet to find an used punto D for resale in Pune.
Newly set Fiat caffe has Punto manufactured in May 12 with discount of Rs 60 k.So base (Active D75} model would cost me Rs 595000 OTR.
Frankly speaking my budget is not fixed.
The SA said that ASS cost is not more than Swift D as spare part prices are reduced now a days.
I request the owners of Puntos to post the recent experience with the FIAT ASS.

I did not considered swift and ritz as they demand high resale value which they do not deserve.

Figo cost of ASS + GC is a question mark for me.

As I am thinking of using it for self (1 person most of the time ) , I have not thought of the big premium rear comfy I 20. Same is true about VISTA, though i20 is more pleasing than it for driver.Also family members including me won't like to enjoy the replica of Manza (front and interiors) once again.Also 75 bhp is more than enough for1 occupant IMO.

BTW, No one have adviced me LPG as fuel option , it is available near my home.

One of my friend who owns both SKODA and VW (Octy and Vento) said that he doesn't remeber a single occasion where he didn't paid less than 40 k/50 k Rs whenever cars visit the ASS for running repair.Hence adviced me to stay away from them .As a thankful gesture , I too advicedhim to sell out atleast Octy erliest ASAP,, no no not me .!