New Car Choosing Guidance: Budget Rs.7 - 9 Lakh


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My family owned a Tata Indica DLX 1999 model and we sold it in order to buy a new car. We started shopping .

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

> New or Used: New

> Your Location: Madurai, Tamil Nadu

> 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 or Diesel

> For What Purpose: Regular Use and occasional long drives

> Seating Capacity: Maximum 5 Adults

> Type of Segment: Sedan, Good/premium hatchback

Our budget is 7-9 lakh . We prefer both variants , petrol or diesel .

The monthly average commutation is 150 KM, occasionally the long trip would be once in two months or in some occasions and such will cover 600 km per trip.

(Please Note: I am sorry for this lengthier post. But it includes my own car choosing experience , so I think others like me get benefited by it. )

Our valuations for the new car are

Exteriors:
1) Must look stylish .

2) I need fog lamps .

3) A good amount of chrome .

4) Auto folding and internally electrically adjustable ORVMs

5) Front and rear wipers with multispeed option for front

Interiors :

1) Spacious front and rear seat. Rear seat must hold 3 normal sized persons without any squeeze.

2) The drivers seat must be comfortable. It must have driver seat height adjustment , Tilt steering ,steering mounted audio controls and easily accessible control buttons on the driver side dashboard.

3) I need Distance to Empty display and remaining fuel display. I like the gear shift warning .

4) I want all warning features such as seat belt warning , hand brake warning etc .

5) I want atleast 4 cup holders (2 in front and 2 in rear) . Want a considerable storage space in the cabin .

6) We need the Driver arm rest but it not available some models we saw .

7) The cooled glove box is would be an added advantages as it is available in Hyundai brands (Xcent and Elite i20) .

8) NVH (Noise,Vibration and Heat) levels must be low as far as possible

Riding ,handling and driving
1) The cars suspensions should good and it should know the Indian roads very well .

2) The steering should have good response and responsive atleast upto 120 kmph .

3) The Gears shifts must be easy and we want a good gear ratios

4) Should not feel turbo lag in driving

5) Must have excellent brakes. ABS + EBD are important .

Safety :

1) Must have ABS +EBD brakes

2) 2 airbags

3) engine immobilizer , perimeter alarm etc

4) I want maximum safety features

General points :
1) There shall not be waiting for more than 2 weeks for delivery.

2) Good after - sales service and spare parts availability .

I have first short listed :

1) Fiat Punto
- rejected due to low reputation for fiat and worst resale value.We not test drived but we liked it.

2) Tata Zest
- feature rich for money given . But rejected due to noisy AC noise , poor interiors finish and make us to suspect the longevity of the fixtures as it may generate rattling.

3) Hyundai Elite i20:
The seating was not felt comfortable for us in test drive and little bit

pricey.

4) All new Ford Figo (2015 brand)
Feature rich . Suits our needs . When it crosses 120 kmph (Diesel) the driving did not inculcate confidence for pushing it further . Boot space is very low.Just ~ 240 liters . But selected for consideration. The dealer is not giving any assurance for the time required for delivery. No test drive given in petrol variant even after many requests.

5) Ford Figo Aspire
Seems to be excellent for our needs . Diesel variant is good even after in crossed 120 kmph and touched 150 kmph . The boot space of 357 litres is enough for us. But no test drive given in petrol variant , after many requests , they have promised to give a test drive in petrol on 12-oct-15 . Due to budgetary constraints , petrol variant alone could be purchased only if the car is as good as its diesel variant, of course except fuel efficiency when compared with diesel variant . But we shortlisted the diesel and petrol, since we liked the Car.

6 ) Honda Amaze :
The amaze is good car because the driving comfort is good. The rear legroom is good but the seat is not spacious and when 3 seated , it is very squeeze and makes to suffocate in long run . The looks are good but we shocked when we saw the AC controls are old styled with Manuel controls that rivals dont have.(All other cars have Digital AC controls ) .The car have less features when compared with its rivals. The cost to feature ratio is bad , that is some even basic features are available only in top varients thus the feature segmentation across the varients are bad and messy that makes the buyers to go to top varient . Thus the budget shoots up.

The car is costly when comparing with Aspire with respect to features both offer , that is the Distance to empty display , Digital Ac control , auto ac , auto climate control , wiper speed adjustment and some more not available in Amaze but available in Aspire.

7)Honda Jazz
The most stylish car in the segment .Feature rich. Me and my father starts to orbit around it due to it sporty and appealing looks. But , ho no , the rear seat head rests are very short that it stops at half of the neck. We cant rest the our head and our head recliend fully and touched the boot cover .In front the A-Pillers are very big that blocks side view very much that makes even street on the side not visible. Apart from the head rest and A-piller , Jazz is an "heaven rider" .... yes, of course .


We did not visit Volkswagon , Chevrolet , Mahindra ,Skoda , Maruthi Suzuki and

Nissan.

Ok. Now the final short list.

1) all new Ford Figo (2015 new brand)
2) Ford Figo Aspire
3) Honda Amaze

So , We are confused. So pls suggest a car from above list. If any good car in the "did not

visit"list or not listed here , you are welcome to suggest .

Thank you.
 
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Out of the ones you shortlisted i would suggest you go with Honda Amaze Diesel, would be the right upgrade both in terms of space and features coming from Indica. Indica owners are generally spoilt for space i know as i owned an Indica earlier. Amaze has got good discounts going on so try and see if you get a good deal.
 
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I would suggest Zest, Aspire, and Xcent that may fit in your budget.

I would rate Zest as best amongst 3 purely for the value offered. The diesel Qjet engine is tried and tested. and you get AMT option as well.
 
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You say your monthly running is 150 kms?? There is no use of buying diesel cars then. I would suggest you diesel only if your monthly use is at least 1000 KMS.. Remember, for the diesel variant, you will spend 1 to 1.5 lakhs more than the petrol variant. So with minimum level of running, you will not achieve the break even point for the extra monies spent.

So you choose for petrol variant. Among the cars you said, the best deal will be Honda jazz. It is very practical and good to drive. Also Honda is giving 7 years of warranty( 2 years standard+2 years extended+3 years any time warranty). So you will definitely have a fuss free ownership. The other car will be Ford figo aspire. It is also good built and have good safety features. The fords are always good to drive.

But both the cars will come around 8 lakhs with all the safety features.

So I would also suggest you to go to toyota and look out for etios. Etios is a very practical part. But it may not be stylish when compared to jazz or aspire. 3 people are a easy fit in etios. And toyota generally will be easy on pocket in maintenance.
 
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You say your monthly running is 150 kms?? There is no use of buying diesel cars then. I would suggest you diesel only if your monthly use is at least 1000 KMS.. Remember, for the diesel variant, you will spend 1 to 1.5 lakhs more than the petrol variant. So with minimum level of running, you will not achieve the break even point for the extra monies spent.

So you choose for petrol variant. Among the cars you said, the best deal will be Honda jazz. It is very practical and good to drive. Also Honda is giving 7 years of warranty( 2 years standard+2 years extended+3 years any time warranty). So you will definitely have a fuss free ownership. The other car will be Ford figo aspire. It is also good built and have good safety features. The fords are always good to drive.

But both the cars will come around 8 lakhs with all the safety features.

So I would also suggest you to go to toyota and look out for etios. Etios is a very practical part. But it may not be stylish when compared to jazz or aspire. 3 people are a easy fit in etios. And toyota generally will be easy on pocket in maintenance.
But I need millage .. apart from this ARAI ratings , practically Diesel cars giving good millage when compared to ARAI. But petrol cars millage is bad when compared to it's ARAI rating..

So please suggest about this millage problem ,,

2nd , Diesel cars have best resale value than petrol in Tamil Nadu(I dont know about rest of India )

3rd Diesel engine of a car 'C' offering 2 times Torque when compared to petrol engine of the same car 'C'. Ex torque of ford figo aspire diesel is 215 Nm but petrol is just 112 Nm. So engine power also a consideration

So please suggest me on this millage , resale value and engine power differences of petrol and diesel engine .
 
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So please suggest about this millage problem ,,
Mileage, most of the companies give Arai figures which are conducted in controlled environment, at a speed which we seldom drive for long. there is no breaking so one cannot achieve ARAI figures for any cars. You knowthe famous Volkswagen-gate as well.

So what ever mileage is reported by fellow users that should be your yardstick for any car. I am sure TAI has thread for almost every car you are looking at and people must have reported the mileages as welll. That should be your yardstick.

By my experience, achieving Maruti ARAI figures is much more difficult than coming close to Tata ARAI figures. I have never obtained more than 15 on my WagonR since I have purchased it. Where as I am getting around 13 on my Storme.

engine power differences of petrol and diesel engine .
I have driven both and many people have many preferences. I prefer Diesel cars purely for the diesel grunt and the way the engine (I call it ) communicate with the driver.

Where as for petrol it kind of feels very disconnected, light, and does not give me the pleasure of driving. Yes I have seen petrol cars zipping around but still my choice is always Diesel. No matter the cost, or the average.

Well, electric will be the option i will choose over diesel provided we get infrastucture and technology and cost comparable enough.
 
Thread Starter #7
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Mileage, most of the companies give Arai figures which are conducted in controlled environment, at a speed which we seldom drive for long. there is no breaking so one cannot achieve ARAI figures for any cars. You knowthe famous Volkswagen-gate as well.

So what ever mileage is reported by fellow users that should be your yardstick for any car. I am sure TAI has thread for almost every car you are looking at and people must have reported the mileages as welll. That should be your yardstick.

By my experience, achieving Maruti ARAI figures is much more difficult than coming close to Tata ARAI figures. I have never obtained more than 15 on my WagonR since I have purchased it. Where as I am getting around 13 on my Storme.


I have driven both and many people have many preferences. I prefer Diesel cars purely for the diesel grunt and the way the engine (I call it ) communicate with the driver.

Where as for petrol it kind of feels very disconnected, light, and does not give me the pleasure of driving. Yes I have seen petrol cars zipping around but still my choice is always Diesel. No matter the cost, or the average.

Well, electric will be the option i will choose over diesel provided we get infrastucture and technology and cost comparable enough.
Thank you for this explanation . It cleared some of my doubts .
 
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But I need millage .. apart from this ARAI ratings , practically Diesel cars giving good millage when compared to ARAI. But petrol cars millage is bad when compared to it's ARAI rating..

So please suggest about this millage problem ,,

2nd , Diesel cars have best resale value than petrol in Tamil Nadu(I dont know about rest of India )

3rd Diesel engine of a car 'C' offering 2 times Torque when compared to petrol engine of the same car 'C'. Ex torque of ford figo aspire diesel is 215 Nm but petrol is just 112 Nm. So engine power also a consideration

So please suggest me on this millage , resale value and engine power differences of petrol and diesel engine .
Yes. I agree. Petrol cars have lower mileage when compared to diesel cars. And the torque is also higher. So you don't need to change the gears in diesel cars frequently. But in petrol, you need to work on gears because they are high revving when compared to diesels.

And one thing you need to note on mileage. Lets take in case, Honda jazz petrol and diesel variant. The Price of petrol basic variant is 6.2 lakhs on road, while the diesel variant is 7.6 lakhs on road. You are driving 200 kms per month, so make it 2500 kms per year. The petrol mileage comes around 15 kmpl and diesel comes to 20 kmpl(average). So yearly cost will be 10400 for petrol while 5800 for diesel. So you think you may save around 4500 on fuel expenses. Think of the service costs. Diesel's service cost will be higher than the petrol. And also you had paid 1.4 lakhs higher than the petrol variant than the diesel variant. So if you calculate the running costs, it will take many years to compensate that extra 1.4 lakhs spent on diesel. If you run regularly like 2000 km per month, you will soon compensate the extra cost spent..
 
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Also look at Maruti suzuki ciaz. The VXi+ model at ex-showroom price of 7.8 lakhs is really value for money. Its has ABS, EBD, 2 airbags, auto climate control, electrically adjustable mirrors, rear AC vents, parking sensor, multi function steering wheel, one touch up-down power windows, fog lamps, engine immobiliser, center armrest with cup holders, instrument cluster with distance to empty, average fuel consumption, door ajar warning, 6 speakers, etc. Its ground clearance is 170mm which is same as that of i20 elite. But the best thing about Ciaz is its space. Its longer and wider than even honda city and hyundai verna. The legroom is just too good, the legroom is more than that of i20, verna, city, tata zest and fiat punto. 3 people at the back will be more comfortable in Ciaz than in i20 or Punto or Zest any given day. Period.

As per suspension I saw some video reviews in youtube comparing the mid-size sedans by Autocar India. And they have said that the ride and suspension is better than hyundai verna. So hands down it will be better than i20 and zest. And to top it all, Maruti's after sales service is really great. I really suggest you to take a test drive and look at it, as pictures and videos don't do justice.
 

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New car-

Zest
Honda Amaze
Hyundai Xcent
i20
i10 Grand top end

New with Budget extension Or used car (less Milegae)
Ciaz
Ertiga top end
Ford ecosport
Honda City AT
Toyota Collora
Hyundai Verna
XUV 500 or Tata storme (If you are Ok with size)
 

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