Tata cars as second cars are good, but as a first car! Well, I'm a bit skeptic. Reason for being Skeptic are:
1. You should do the PDI extensively well or take a friend of yours who will be able to do that for you.
2. If you don't know driving well, driving a biiiiig sedan will be problematic. Sorry for questioning your sedan decission.
3. It will take quite a lot of waiting time to reach your car to dealership from plant. However, Maruti will make you wait much longer.
In case you are already knowing much about cars, knowing driving well, above constarints won't be applicable.
Now, carwise it's the Best VFM. All the owners I have talked to till date are quite happy with Manza Diesel at least. Manza Petrol is also having good feedback but people complain about low FE.
Enter into an agreement with dealership you are planning to buy from with all the commitments written in their letterhead and get it signed and stamped. I did it on 7th of this month and paid 49k as advance. I had put across 5k of penalty from both sides if anyone faulters. Still to my surprise, I am seeing that few of the clauses are getting violated. Yes, I can come out of the agreement and charge the dealership 5k penalty. But, I didn't do so since I have got a very nice deal. Violations from agreement, but all with my permission:
1. Car is Oct, 2013 manufactured instead of Nov, 2013 (agreement says Nov, 2013)
2. Color Laser Red instead of Tyrian Wine
3. Car should have the PDI done by 28-Dec-13, but till now the car is in transport
4. If PDI is not done by 28-Dec-13, I can do it on 04-Jan-2014. In Jan if prce increases, nobody would get the same deal of December. But, I will get since I have the agreement and dealership seems to be on their knees due to violations from written agreement.
Hope, you understood how much mismanaged Tatas are. Without such written agreement, I would have lost my night's sleep!
BTW, today my SA sent me the VIN no. through SMS which I validated and found that the car is really Oct, 2013 manufactured. I'll tally the VIN with the car I am going for PDI at the time of PDI.
You may go through
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/automotive-shopper/15055-best-entry-level-diesel-sedan.html to see why I went for Manza instead of other cars of the same range.
Last but not the least, I would suggest you to go for Alto (may be that's why I have Alto as first car
![[;)]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Wink.gif "Wink [;)]")
) or any other small car preferably from Maruti or Hyundai. They have better ASS than Tata. If you still want a sedan, go for Swift Dezire. Well, but from VFM and driving comfort perspective, Manza is a well-balanced choice but I am not recommending it as a first car.
Is it wise/advisable to go for Extended warranty and AMC.
Will AMC bring the maintenance cost down? as this is my first buy i have no idea about it.
Thanks,
Prem
Extended warranty costs just 6.5k, also you would get some extra discount if you buy it, so effective extended warranty cost should be < 6.5 K for a 8L+ transaction. So, better to go for it. Also, without extended warranty, you cannot go for AMC.
Regarding AMC, you take it or not would cost you almost same, so better to go for it since it limits your expenditure may be by paying a few bucks extra. Remember that Manza Diesel has variable geometry turbo and that's why engine oil costs too much. Fixed Geometry turbos won't require such costly synthetic engine oil. So planned maintenance cost will be at a higher side, but other VFM factors does supress this concern.
