Thread Starter
#1
Well this is my first ownership review on this thread so please take into consideration some points.
All stuff written on this page is strictly according to me or my father’s (who uses the car primarily) opinion. Although both of us have a lot of knowledge/interest and experience respectively towards cars in general we may still be wrong.
Secondly I will prefer to write in points to make it to the point (also haven’t written an anything like this since forever)
Third I am just expressing my opinion and have no intention to hurt anyone’s feelings.
The start
Well it started in Dec 2012 when I had just come home for vacations and came to know that my father had decided to change our 1998 M800 with a new small car. In fact he had booked a white wagonR lxi and I was shocked. I tried to convince him to cancel the booking as I didn’t like the wagonR at all. In reality I wanted my father to keep our M800 reason being although it was 15 years old it had just done 56000 kms. It was absolutely perfect mechanically and on the looks front it was ok .I checked its F.E and it came out to be 16.5 in city. According to me it would have lasted another 15 years easily. But my father had certain problems such as Ac not affective at all, steering hard and also the car was approaching its 15nth year which would have required a FC. Since my dad had already booked wagon R there was no point of arguing (also u get a craving for a new car once u start thinking in that direction) so I didn’t argue much. What I did argue upon was the choice of the car and I won. My dad finally agreed and told me to go ahead and cancel the booking.
What we needed
1 a small inexpensive car
2 basic luxuries like AC,PS,frontPW,CL
3 budget not fixed but we already have a Honda city which has done close to only 25000 in past 6.5yrs thus usage is very less which is divided among 2 cars so there was no need to spend more than 5lakh(P) or 5.5lakh(D) on a car.
4 VFM is very important to me
5 To be kept for as long as it is working (don’t believe & cannot afford to spend money on a depreciating asset every 2/3 years )
6 Most important: I come under the category of enthusiasts so I had to have the best car I could buy in this category after thorough research (after all I don’t get to buy a car every other day)
Shortlisting and selection
I considered all the hatchbacks as budget wasn’t fixed Also base/mid variants were considered as we wanted only basic luxuries like AC,PS,frontPW,CL.
So here goes
Around 3.5 on road->
1 eon –TD it & rejected it because my father felt the engine wasn’t refined and was underpowered. He also mentioned that there was vibration in pedals even at low speeds. So it was out .Mind you it was excellent VFM at 3.3-3.4 on-road but we decide a car by its engine first so it was out.
2 alto 800 & K10 – no need to test drive but somehow felt instead of spending 3.3-3.4L on these cars it was better to spend a lakh more(since we could afford it) and buy a much better car like a brio/beat/i10 base models. After all these cars are based on a 10 year old platform.
Around 4 on road
3 beat P – read the reviews, knew that its engine wasn’t as good as Honda/maruti hence rejected it
4 wagon R – practical but an old platform hence not VFM
Around 5 on road –
Here is where the action begins-
1 Nissan micra/sail uva petrol – their engine wasn’t as good as Honda/maruti hence rejected it
2 polo P – big (remember we wanted a small car for the city),Low FE,unrefined petrol, expensive ASS and also the base model was around 5.5 on road .So it was rejected
(BTW I love a red polo/red punto , they just get my heart ticking but they aren’t very practical- will buy these when I can afford the luxury to listen to my heart)
3 i10 – now this is a fully loaded car at this price(after huge discounts of 50k ) But didn’t go for it as it is very very boring, have driven them so much that a new car wouldn’t feel new at all even if I bought one, Unreliable/low FE,going to be replaced with a newer model soon
4 Brio- Hate the looks inside and out. Didn’t want another Honda (will become boring) although I trust and respect the brand a lot. Somehow this is the only Honda I don’t like. It is immensely practical but I think the maruti twins Ritz/swift overshadowed it in my decision.I didn’t even TD it due to the mentioned reasons
5 swift P – one word-love it in blue/white. A rare choice where both heart & mind agree.
Was in consideration till the end.
6 Ritz P – Gr8 engine,MASS,I like the looks especially the face lifted front unlike others.
Around 5.5 on road
1 figo TDCi- extreme VFM, gr8 car with added advantage of diesel at 50k more. Was in consideration till the end.
Now the final choice-
Didn’t buy figo D Why? – well with low usage diesel was not making sense . Turned out to be a great decision since prices of diesel were deregulated and currently the price difference b/w P&D is down to 14 from 20.
Chose ritz lxi over swift lxi Why? - Remember we wanted a small car for the city and swift is big at least bigger than ritz. With the increase in budget the size of cars was also increasing. Hell even ritz is sorta big for the city (not quite but I think in the city smaller the car better it is).So decided to put an end to my greed .One other point swift was 34k more expensive than ritz even for the base version lxi.
So ritz it was – in silver Why Silver? I don’t know if it’s only me but I kind of like only one or two colours on a particular car. I think ritz looks best in silver. (I haven't seen the new grey till now so I don’t know about it)
So ritz lxi was booked in silky silver
Buying-
Wasn’t home while taking delivery of the car but here is the price breakup approx.
Ex showroom price – 4.44
On road – 4.78
Discount – 13k
Exchange with M800- 50k (with bonus)
Accessories – none
Got to see the car around 15 days after taking delivery and it looked stunning. Now it was time to spruce up the car.
Aftermarket accessories
I was pretty sure that I will buy aftermarket accessories this time (coz they are VFM) when I decided to get the base model lxi so here goes.
Already fitted
1. Cl/key less entry-Autocop DX model -3100
Was fitted by an excellent technician without any wire cutting.
2. mats-rubber – 450
Didn’t like the packy poda or the noodle carpet ones
3. wheel caps(with black rims painting)- 900
600 for aftermarket ones 300 for black painting
4. side and rear protector-350+700
Side ones are aftermarket the rear one is MGA from outside dealer
5. body coloured door handles/ orvm & side guard side and rear protector- 1500
I find the painted protectors much better. What do you guys think???
Now the price of these accessories will seem very good. But it was a pain to get them fitted. In the process I have completely lost my faith in aftermarket dealers. It’s a pain to deal with them. I have faced them before and knew they are a pain in the a** but their incapability and disrespect for other’s cars just baffles me.Anyways I still have to get each of the accessories fine-tuned so to say.
Very small things have to be done such as
1 after fitting autocop I find the inside door locks very hard have to find a solution
2 a part of side protectors have come off will get them stuck
Still to be done
1. power windows front -6800
2. music system with front speakers-5000
Now some pics . Will continue the ownership experience in next post.
The car with the wheelcaps & painted side protectors
Painted rear bumper guard Mga
Ciao for now
All stuff written on this page is strictly according to me or my father’s (who uses the car primarily) opinion. Although both of us have a lot of knowledge/interest and experience respectively towards cars in general we may still be wrong.
Secondly I will prefer to write in points to make it to the point (also haven’t written an anything like this since forever)
Third I am just expressing my opinion and have no intention to hurt anyone’s feelings.
The start
Well it started in Dec 2012 when I had just come home for vacations and came to know that my father had decided to change our 1998 M800 with a new small car. In fact he had booked a white wagonR lxi and I was shocked. I tried to convince him to cancel the booking as I didn’t like the wagonR at all. In reality I wanted my father to keep our M800 reason being although it was 15 years old it had just done 56000 kms. It was absolutely perfect mechanically and on the looks front it was ok .I checked its F.E and it came out to be 16.5 in city. According to me it would have lasted another 15 years easily. But my father had certain problems such as Ac not affective at all, steering hard and also the car was approaching its 15nth year which would have required a FC. Since my dad had already booked wagon R there was no point of arguing (also u get a craving for a new car once u start thinking in that direction) so I didn’t argue much. What I did argue upon was the choice of the car and I won. My dad finally agreed and told me to go ahead and cancel the booking.
What we needed
1 a small inexpensive car
2 basic luxuries like AC,PS,frontPW,CL
3 budget not fixed but we already have a Honda city which has done close to only 25000 in past 6.5yrs thus usage is very less which is divided among 2 cars so there was no need to spend more than 5lakh(P) or 5.5lakh(D) on a car.
4 VFM is very important to me
5 To be kept for as long as it is working (don’t believe & cannot afford to spend money on a depreciating asset every 2/3 years )
6 Most important: I come under the category of enthusiasts so I had to have the best car I could buy in this category after thorough research (after all I don’t get to buy a car every other day)
Shortlisting and selection
I considered all the hatchbacks as budget wasn’t fixed Also base/mid variants were considered as we wanted only basic luxuries like AC,PS,frontPW,CL.
So here goes
Around 3.5 on road->
1 eon –TD it & rejected it because my father felt the engine wasn’t refined and was underpowered. He also mentioned that there was vibration in pedals even at low speeds. So it was out .Mind you it was excellent VFM at 3.3-3.4 on-road but we decide a car by its engine first so it was out.
2 alto 800 & K10 – no need to test drive but somehow felt instead of spending 3.3-3.4L on these cars it was better to spend a lakh more(since we could afford it) and buy a much better car like a brio/beat/i10 base models. After all these cars are based on a 10 year old platform.
Around 4 on road
3 beat P – read the reviews, knew that its engine wasn’t as good as Honda/maruti hence rejected it
4 wagon R – practical but an old platform hence not VFM
Around 5 on road –
Here is where the action begins-
1 Nissan micra/sail uva petrol – their engine wasn’t as good as Honda/maruti hence rejected it
2 polo P – big (remember we wanted a small car for the city),Low FE,unrefined petrol, expensive ASS and also the base model was around 5.5 on road .So it was rejected
(BTW I love a red polo/red punto , they just get my heart ticking but they aren’t very practical- will buy these when I can afford the luxury to listen to my heart)
3 i10 – now this is a fully loaded car at this price(after huge discounts of 50k ) But didn’t go for it as it is very very boring, have driven them so much that a new car wouldn’t feel new at all even if I bought one, Unreliable/low FE,going to be replaced with a newer model soon
4 Brio- Hate the looks inside and out. Didn’t want another Honda (will become boring) although I trust and respect the brand a lot. Somehow this is the only Honda I don’t like. It is immensely practical but I think the maruti twins Ritz/swift overshadowed it in my decision.I didn’t even TD it due to the mentioned reasons
5 swift P – one word-love it in blue/white. A rare choice where both heart & mind agree.
Was in consideration till the end.
6 Ritz P – Gr8 engine,MASS,I like the looks especially the face lifted front unlike others.
Around 5.5 on road
1 figo TDCi- extreme VFM, gr8 car with added advantage of diesel at 50k more. Was in consideration till the end.
Now the final choice-
Didn’t buy figo D Why? – well with low usage diesel was not making sense . Turned out to be a great decision since prices of diesel were deregulated and currently the price difference b/w P&D is down to 14 from 20.
Chose ritz lxi over swift lxi Why? - Remember we wanted a small car for the city and swift is big at least bigger than ritz. With the increase in budget the size of cars was also increasing. Hell even ritz is sorta big for the city (not quite but I think in the city smaller the car better it is).So decided to put an end to my greed .One other point swift was 34k more expensive than ritz even for the base version lxi.
So ritz it was – in silver Why Silver? I don’t know if it’s only me but I kind of like only one or two colours on a particular car. I think ritz looks best in silver. (I haven't seen the new grey till now so I don’t know about it)
So ritz lxi was booked in silky silver
Buying-
Wasn’t home while taking delivery of the car but here is the price breakup approx.
Ex showroom price – 4.44
On road – 4.78
Discount – 13k
Exchange with M800- 50k (with bonus)
Accessories – none
Got to see the car around 15 days after taking delivery and it looked stunning. Now it was time to spruce up the car.
Aftermarket accessories
I was pretty sure that I will buy aftermarket accessories this time (coz they are VFM) when I decided to get the base model lxi so here goes.
Already fitted
1. Cl/key less entry-Autocop DX model -3100
Was fitted by an excellent technician without any wire cutting.
2. mats-rubber – 450
Didn’t like the packy poda or the noodle carpet ones
3. wheel caps(with black rims painting)- 900
600 for aftermarket ones 300 for black painting
4. side and rear protector-350+700
Side ones are aftermarket the rear one is MGA from outside dealer
5. body coloured door handles/ orvm & side guard side and rear protector- 1500
I find the painted protectors much better. What do you guys think???
Now the price of these accessories will seem very good. But it was a pain to get them fitted. In the process I have completely lost my faith in aftermarket dealers. It’s a pain to deal with them. I have faced them before and knew they are a pain in the a** but their incapability and disrespect for other’s cars just baffles me.Anyways I still have to get each of the accessories fine-tuned so to say.
Very small things have to be done such as
1 after fitting autocop I find the inside door locks very hard have to find a solution
2 a part of side protectors have come off will get them stuck
Still to be done
1. power windows front -6800
2. music system with front speakers-5000
Now some pics . Will continue the ownership experience in next post.
The car with the wheelcaps & painted side protectors
Painted rear bumper guard Mga
Ciao for now
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