Buying a Premium Hatch / Sedan Under Rs.7 Lakh

[srinivas sr143sr]

Hello Guys,

Im Srinivas from Hyderabad. Please help me in giving your valuable advice for purchasing a car for my Brother-in-law. Height 5.9' (both)

He had a used a second hand Hyundai Santro GLS 2007 model in the past. To be very specific he doesnt have enough sufficient knowledge about the minute details of Cars. So i am guiding him for the purchase and my advice is what makes him to purchase the car now.

so please help us both in this reagard.


> Your Budget: may be around 7-7.5 lacs max. If its around 7 it will be good

> New or Used: New

> Your Location: Hyderabad

> Top Five Priorities: 1.Comfort, 2.Safety and design, 3.Driveability and Luggage Space 3.Low Maintenance

> Monthly Running: May be weekend rides and occasional week days say max 200-300kms or may be below specified

> Type of Fuel: Petrol preferably

> For What Purpose: Regular Use and occasional long drives

> Seating Capacity: Maximum 5 Adults)

> Type of Segment: Sedan, Good/premium hatchback

> Car Priorities: Maruti Swift/Dzire, Hyundai i20, Xcent, Honda Jazz(maybe)................ What about TATA ZEST...????


Guys, here comes the story as per i know....

Preferred brands are Maruti, Hyundai as they are having wide networks, good customer feedback, good engines and with good ride experience, good internals, low maintenance, decent resale value.

Coming to Maruti....

Maruti Swift and new Swift Dzire
(In specific we like Swift RS model in swift)

Pros as i have heard from various reviews:

1. Un matched driving capability when compared against Hyundai's
2. Uncompared engine quality/durability/poweroutput
3. Good riding experience while in turns or in city traffic
4. Low maintenance and good company support
5. Good looking especially new DZire and our(family) favorite Swift RS model

Cons:
we have sat in the Swift. we felt that seats are not big enough to give enough comfort, (both drivers cabin and rear seats when compared to Hyundai's). Head room is low.
Boot space is too low when compared DZire vs Xcent



Hyundai's


Xcent:
we have visited the showroom.
Pros:
mannn... un comparable features... Cooling box, rear vent AC, Climate control, bluetooth, Large boot.. almost 100 litres more compared to Dzire.. and much features, air bags, etc for our range 7-7.5lacs.. These features are not even available for the topend DZIRE
Cons:
Dont know when compared to Dzire..
Please specify if any....

outside Design wise Dzire is clear winner. No doubt about it.. it looks almost like 10 laks car....!!!!!
For good Driveability and fun Swift/Dzire



Biggest cons i have heard: for a month(dont know which month it is) Xcent sold units are around 4500 and for DZire its almost 15-17K.
why it is like that..??? Anything wrong with Xcent...????



Resale value of Xcent..??? Can anyone tell me...


Hyundai i20:


Premium hatchback which is costly but a clear competitor for Swift.
i cant compare with it. exterior wise i20 is clear winner.


And also its presence on road is unmatched...!!! mann... what a car..!!!



Cons: May be fuel efficiency..???
When compared with Xcent the features i have specified above, we can get them for around 40K rupees less.

Although i know that we cant compare both as they are in different leagues.


Hyundai Showroom guys advice: he advice us to go for Xcent (sedan) sx model as we have already had a hatch back(Santro).


Honda JAZZ

heard about magic seats..
Later came to know that they are only for top end model.. Any idea guys..??? Please give me details...


We have visited the Hyundai showroom on Sunday and those guys are very friendly and waited till we got there and explained very well about their cars.


whereas we made a call for Honda showroom at 7.30pm that we want to visit their showroom, they said that they will be open till 8PM. by the time we reached there, they closed their showroom and no one is even getting from their chairs inside to welcome even.. very very arrogant behaviour....!!!



Not but not the least.
TATA ZEST


features wise no doubt best car as i have heard. But dont know about car space and comfort.


CONS:
some say that they are good only for a few years..??? I dont think so..
Bitter Truth... Very bad resale value for petrol variants.....


how will be the performance and maintenance in long run...???




Please help me to decide guys.. Did i made you bore by writing a long story... Oops..

 

[vikyjoshi]

Re: Help and valuable advice needed for purchasing Car

Coming to Zest,

The car has a great QJD fiat diesel engine which is proven to be work horse. No issue with that any ways. the Revotron petrol engine is also good and no issues reported by that engine too.

The Car is fully loaded with all the bells and whistles you would want from a luxury car.

I have a 2 year old storme and is still going like a new one. Zest will be no different.
Zest so far is a issue free car. No major issues reported on the car so far. close to 35K zest on road and no major issues reported on any website.

Niggles, every car has. Show me a car which has no niggles. Its a machine and there are bound tobe niggles. Question is how are they fixed.

TASS is good and improving. I have had good experience with Concorde Sanath Nagar, and Tejaswi. No experience of Malik cars.

IF you decide on Zest, firstly you will be faced with apprehension, criticism from people around you. But ifyou have faith and take a leap i am sure you would enjoy every bit of ownership.

Regards to hyundais and suzukis I cant comment as I have no experience of owning or driving them. We have old dzire PEtrol and i dont like it. But that is a very old car 7 years so not relevant in current context.

Resale value of Zest i dont think so it should be low. It is a fantastic car. And its not a taxi car yet. So resale will be high.

 

[TSIVipul]

Get him a Hyundai Xcent if petrol ins the fuel of choice. No more comments from my side, the SX will fijt the budget and will keep the owner happy in long run. IMO it is the best all rounder package of all the cars you have mentioned above.

Rest you can get in touch with the member furious-driver, he owns one and can give you a better insight than me at least.

 

[Gurrala74]

Frankly speaking you wont get a premium hatch/sedan in your budget with the minimum safety features. Stretch your budget to 9 lakhs at least

 

[acechip]

outside Design wise Dzire is clear winner. No doubt about it.. it looks almost like 10 laks car....!!!!!

No offense to the OP, but, the mind boggles at this thought. Agreed it sells the most, but its looks can be safely acknowledged as being vastly inferior to others in its class. Personally, I consider this sub-4m compact sedan class a genetic mutation/anomaly in the world of automobiles. There is a compromise in all aspects of design.

 

[TSIVipul]

^^Put aside everything, this is the post (and the quoted part) that made my night

Hence proved: Beauty lies in the eyes of beholder.

 

[srinivas sr143sr]

Re: Help and valuable advice needed for purchasing Car

Coming to Zest,

The car has a great QJD fiat diesel engine which is proven to be work horse. No issue with that any ways. the Revotron petrol engine is also good and no issues reported by that engine too.

The Car is fully loaded with all the bells and whistles you would want from a luxury car.

I have a 2 year old storme and is still going like a new one. Zest will be no different.
Zest so far is a issue free car. No major issues reported on the car so far. close to 35K zest on road and no major issues reported on any website.

Niggles, every car has. Show me a car which has no niggles. Its a machine and there are bound tobe niggles. Question is how are they fixed.

TASS is good and improving. I have had good experience with Concorde Sanath Nagar, and Tejaswi. No experience of Malik cars.

IF you decide on Zest, firstly you will be faced with apprehension, criticism from people around you. But ifyou have faith and take a leap i am sure you would enjoy every bit of ownership.

Regards to hyundais and suzukis I cant comment as I have no experience of owning or driving them. We have old dzire PEtrol and i dont like it. But that is a very old car 7 years so not relevant in current context.

Resale value of Zest i dont think so it should be low. It is a fantastic car. And its not a taxi car yet. So resale will be high.

Hi viky,
Thankyou for your valuable inputs for TATA Zest. what you have said gave me an idea about car. will definitely visit showroom for having a look.. :)

Diesel needs more maintenance..???? and we choose to take petrol as ride will be not so high.

Cheers,
Srinivas T

Get him a Hyundai Xcent if petrol ins the fuel of choice. No more comments from my side, the SX will fijt the budget and will keep the owner happy in long run. IMO it is the best all rounder package of all the cars you have mentioned above.

Rest you can get in touch with the member furious-driver, he owns one and can give you a better insight than me at least.

Hi Vipul,

yes.. as per the showroom guy and you, Xcent SX is having many features when compared to DZire. Your insights are most welcome.

the same question i am asking. can you please tell me why the volumes of Xcent being sold are low when compared to Dzire...??? Is it due to More Brand value..?? (Maruti..??)

Cheers,
Srinivas T

Frankly speaking you wont get a premium hatch/sedan in your budget with the minimum safety features. Stretch your budget to 9 lakhs at least

Hi Gurrala,

As per the quotation we received at Hyundai, for around 7.3-7.4 (may be 7.5) lacs we can get i20 sports without alloys. But for around that amount we can get Xcent SX with airbags, alloys and all the good features.

9 lacs is too much for us.

please give your insights

Cheers,
Srinivas T

No offense to the OP, but, the mind boggles at this thought. Agreed it sells the most, but its looks can be safely acknowledged as being vastly inferior to others in its class. Personally, I consider this sub-4m compact sedan class a genetic mutation/anomaly in the world of automobiles. There is a compromise in all aspects of design.

Hi acechip,

by saying that it looks like a 10 lac car, i mean that its (latest Dzire) premium looks (at least outside) with its new headlamps, chrome finish front single grill and chrome finished backside grill and its looks (subjective).

It is may be one of the best points for its selling numbers.. (i think)

It is may be inferior but not vastly as far as i know..

i know some extent about cars, but comparing each and every element atleast outside is not possible for everyone, its only possible for keen observers and the guys know fully about cars.

And majority of people who owns cars doesnt even know whats the difference. In their view i said it looks premium

And yes agreeing to what you have said if we compare it with Xcent, AFAIK it(Dzire) is missing lot of features but good feedback and good engine is what making me to think about it...

My question: Why Maruti hasnt upgraded the features of Dzire like that of Xcent..???

Please add any insights or your experiences about the above cars dude... it will help...

Cheers,
Srinivas T

^^Put aside everything, this is the post (and the quoted part) that made my night

Hence proved: Beauty lies in the eyes of beholder.

hehe.. explained about that part above...

Cheers,
Srinivas T

 

[Akash1886]

Re: Help and valuable advice needed for purchasing Car

can you please tell me why the volumes of Xcent being sold are low when compared to Dzire...??? Is it due to More Brand value..?? (Maruti..??)

My question: Why Maruti hasnt upgraded the features of Dzire like that of Xcent..???

Dear Srinivas, MSIL products sell majorly due to brand reputation. If product wise you may judge then their products do lag behind in features, aesthetic finish than what competitors are now providing. As far as their product features go, they do know, people here in India are OK with what we give so why to unnecessary invest more when still they are earning profit out of existing products.It is not just difficult rather it is impossible to defeat MSIL in car sales in India.

Regards

Akash

 

[srinivas sr143sr]

Re: Help and valuable advice needed for purchasing Car

Dear Srinivas, MSIL products sell majorly due to brand reputation. If product wise you may judge then their products do lag behind in features, aesthetic finish than what competitors are now providing. As far as their product features go, they do know, people here in India are OK with what we give so why to unnecessary invest more when still they are earning profit out of existing products.It is not just difficult rather it is impossible to defeat MSIL in car sales in India.

Regards

Akash

Hi Akash,

Thank you for your insights and observations. What you have said is right and perfect.
good observation.. " As far as their product features go, they do know, people here in India are OK with what we give so why to unnecessary invest more when still they are earning profit out of existing products "

But i think Maruti swift Dzire should get those features. Hmm.. its like monopoly and enjoying the brand value..

Please add any of your experiences on above cars :)

Thanks,
Srinivas T

 

[Akash1886]

Re: Help and valuable advice needed for purchasing Car

i think Maruti swift Dzire should get those features. Hmm.. its like monopoly and enjoying the brand value..

Please add any of your experiences on above cars :)

MSIL products have long selling life cycle in general. They like to extract even the last drop of profit before rolling out a cosmetically upgraded version of their vehicle let aside a technically enhanced face-lifted version. Apart from average selling products like Kizashi, A-Star, Vitara they have held the Indian buyers with good grip. As said in my post earlier, they will not invest in enhancing/upgrading their products until and unless they feel the pressure of loosing out to competition. And they are over-confident simply because we the buyers have blind faith in MSIL. We should evaluate a product in unbiased manner. For my views on Maruti Dzire, you can check this link.

Regards

Akash

 

[manish12345]

Hi, srinivas. For around 8 lakhs you can get some good cars. Yes xcent is premium and good than dzire. I personally don't like dzire.
tata zest is also very good it has improved very much once test drive it but you should sacrifice on resale value still don't know about resale maybe it will be good because it is not using as taxi. I have driven bolt ride quality improved very much and interior are aslo improved. Xcent or zest for you.

 

[acechip]

Re: Help and valuable advice needed for purchasing Car

Hi acechip,

by saying that it looks like a 10 lac car, i mean that its (latest Dzire) premium looks (at least outside) with its new headlamps, chrome finish front single grill and chrome finished backside grill and its looks (subjective).

It is may be one of the best points for its selling numbers.. (i think)

It is may be inferior but not vastly as far as i know..

i know some extent about cars, but comparing each and every element atleast outside is not possible for everyone, its only possible for keen observers and the guys know fully about cars.

And majority of people who owns cars doesnt even know whats the difference. In their view i said it looks premium

And yes agreeing to what you have said if we compare it with Xcent, AFAIK it(Dzire) is missing lot of features but good feedback and good engine is what making me to think about it...

My question: Why Maruti hasnt upgraded the features of Dzire like that of Xcent..???

Please add any insights or your experiences about the above cars dude... it will help...

Cheers,
Srinivas T



hehe.. explained about that part above...

Cheers,
Srinivas T

@Srinivas, you may be a bit surprised to know that I have owned and enjoyed a Dzire, albeit in its previous avatar. When I purchased this car, my sister (who is from abroad) took one look and started laughing ! What is this frog that you have brought, she asked! Of course, she also realized the practicality of that car, with its large, squarish boot and that Fiat sourced 1.3MJD (Indias national engine).
But at the end of the day, it was a Maruti. Frugal, but dul, d the competition began to move ahead. Today, MSIL may have revised the Dzire, but it is still ugly. And With cars like the Zest in fray, which have a more powerful engine as well (enhanced version of the same MJD) as well as better dynamics, the Dzire leaves much to be desired for.

This 7-8 lac budget is always dicey. One can add a couple lac and get into mid-size sedan or large hatch territory. Unless your BIL needs a large boot, something like a Punto Evo/Avventura, Elite I-20 or a Polo TDI would be a great car as well.

My recommendation within the compact segment: Zest, followed by Xcent.

 

[srinivas sr143sr]

Re: Help and valuable advice needed for purchasing Car

MSIL products have long selling life cycle in general. They like to extract even the last drop of profit before rolling out a cosmetically upgraded version of their vehicle let aside a technically enhanced face-lifted version. Apart from average selling products like Kizashi, A-Star, Vitara they have held the Indian buyers with good grip. As said in my post earlier, they will not invest in enhancing/upgrading their products until and unless they feel the pressure of loosing out to competition. And they are over-confident simply because we the buyers have blind faith in MSIL. We should evaluate a product in unbiased manner. For my views on Maruti Dzire, you can check this link.

Regards

Akash

What you have said is true analysis Manish. Its very bad on their part (MSIL) to wait till the decrease in profits and then add new features. The customer who owns a car just before their upgrade will be bakra ((Goat) sorry to use such a word). The more numbers is what making them to neglect and go in such a way.

I have gone through your Review dude. Nice pics. Good job with tiring efforts. You have covered all the car with your cam. I can just say Thankyou here for your work.

Got an idea about the details of Dzire

Thanks,
Srinivas

Hi, srinivas. For around 8 lakhs you can get some good cars. Yes xcent is premium and good than dzire. I personally don't like dzire.
tata zest is also very good it has improved very much once test drive it but you should sacrifice on resale value still don't know about resale maybe it will be good because it is not using as taxi. I have driven bolt ride quality improved very much and interior are aslo improved. Xcent or zest for you.

Hi Manish,

Will definitely visit TATA showroom and have a look at ZEST. earlier i was reluctant to visit, but now as all of you are saying its good, we will have look. Thankyou for your Inputs.

@Srinivas, you may be a bit surprised to know that I have owned and enjoyed a Dzire, albeit in its previous avatar. When I purchased this car, my sister (who is from abroad) took one look and started laughing ! What is this frog that you have brought, she asked! Of course, she also realized the practicality of that car, with its large, squarish boot and that Fiat sourced 1.3MJD (Indias national engine).
But at the end of the day, it was a Maruti. Frugal, but dul, d the competition began to move ahead. Today, MSIL may have revised the Dzire, but it is still ugly. And With cars like the Zest in fray, which have a more powerful engine as well (enhanced version of the same MJD) as well as better dynamics, the Dzire leaves much to be desired for.

This 7-8 lac budget is always dicey. One can add a couple lac and get into mid-size sedan or large hatch territory. Unless your BIL needs a large boot, something like a Punto Evo/Avventura, Elite I-20 or a Polo TDI would be a great car as well.

My recommendation within the compact segment: Zest, followed by Xcent.

Hi acechip,

Surprised that you own a Dzire. I dont know much about cars dude, you people have to say. And yes looks are always subjective. Some people doesnt like swift due to its looks and some may like only because of looks. As u said yes DZire falls back when we compare features with other cars.

Thanks for comparing the in detailed engine specs and yes i20 is also in our consideration. We are small family (4) and if we go for a tour it will be better if we have good boot space. so specified about good boot space.

One question: How is your experience with your Dzire apart from features. Can you explain please..??

Thanks for the details and your time dude.

Cheers,
Srinivas T

 

[Akash1886]

Re: Help and valuable advice needed for purchasing Car

Manish. Its very bad on their part (MSIL) to wait till the decrease in profits and then add new features. The customer who owns a car just before their upgrade will be bakra ((Goat) sorry to use such a word). The more numbers is what making them to neglect and go in such a way.

Cheers,
Srinivas T

Srinivas, I am happy you found the Review of Dzire useful. Maruti Suzuki is one highly laid back OEM existing in India. Also, the maximum info that an executive at MSIL would give you when purchasing a new car will be "Sir, a face-lift is planned but no info on date of launch" even if it is expected to come in week's time. This way the customer is left with no choice but to accept the existing one. And also one thing to be noted here is that MSIL is the one brand that has probably the highest numbers of limited/anniversary editions and these anniversary editions are nothing but a way for clearing the accessories inventories. Take any car of their say a Windsong Edition Swift hatch, tell me, one user-friendly feature that it has which makes it exclusive than a existing Swift? They actually don't believe much in revamping their car designs/features often.

Regards

Akash

 

[srinivas sr143sr]

Re: Help and valuable advice needed for purchasing Car

Srinivas, I am happy you found the Review of Dzire useful. Maruti Suzuki is one highly laid back OEM existing in India. Also, the maximum info that an executive at MSIL would give you when purchasing a new car will be "Sir, a face-lift is planned but no info on date of launch" even if it is expected to come in week's time. This way the customer is left with no choice but to accept the existing one. And also one thing to be noted here is that MSIL is the one brand that has probably the highest numbers of limited/anniversary editions and these anniversary editions are nothing but a way for clearing the accessories inventories. Take any car of their say a Windsong Edition Swift hatch, tell me, one user-friendly feature that it has which makes it exclusive than a existing Swift? They actually don't believe much in revamping their car designs/features often.

Regards

Akash

Oopss.. Sorry Akash.. Wrongly spelt your name as Manish. Multi quoting error

And yes, the limited editions and anniversary editions are little makeups for grabbing the attention of customers and making them feel that a new variant has come.

As i have already said only a few know about their cars. (Keeping car enthusiasts and some Urban customers aside)

Regards,
Srinivas