Bavaria Motors, Goa


Thread Starter #1
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,408
Likes
297
Location
Margao, Goa
Well here is my review of Bavaria Motors - BMW Dealer Pune and Goa

It all started because I was searching for the http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/automotive-shopper/4412-replacement-siena.html

As you may be aware, I was stuck with 3 cars:
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/ownership-reviews/1537-fiat-siena-1-6-elx.html
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/ownership-reviews/1310-red-hot-alto-spice.html
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...1-p3t3rs-crystal-white-i10-kappa2-sportz.html

The Alto was a real troublesome car and I was desperate to get rid of it. I had already picked up the i10 for my wife. The Siena was nearing 10 years and 85K Kms. Though it was serving well without any problem, I felt I needed to upgrade.

I was looking at the logical upgrade to a Siena. I considered the Civic, Laura, Superb, Sonata and Cruze. I was doing a bit of research on the internet. That's when I came across a lot of reviews of people upgrading from the above mentioned cars to the big 3 Germans. So I just thought "Can I"?
I have a habit of jumping. When I had to buy my first bike, I skipped the 100cc segment and jumped straight to the RD 350. When I had to buy my first car, I skipped the 800 and jumped to the Uno (800, Zen & Uno were the only hatches available then). So I thought why not give the Laura segment a skip and jump to the luxury brands.

I started by calling up Alcon Mercedes Benz, Goa, Bavaria Motors Pune (BMW) and Audi Pune for details. All 3 were quick to mail me the brochures and quotations. I was on board a ship so I made it clear not to send attachments to my ships id. I had to wait till I got internet access to get the attachments. BMW and Audi didn't have dealerships in Goa but they had sales executives to handle Goa. I was given their contact numbers by their respective dealerships in Pune. Mr. Straton D'Souza (BMW) and Mr. Tushar Bhandari (Audi). Meanwhile Alcon Mercedes Benz assigned Ms. Saniya Naik to attend to me. I gathered all the information and made a excel chart to compare the 3 cars. I also did a rough 5 year cost of ownership calculation. I was most impressed by the Audi and thought that I would go in for this car. As usual my sign off got delayed and had to be satisfied with email communication with the 3 dealers. During this time I was told that BMW (Bavaria Motors) was opening the Goa Showroom in Verna (quite close to my place). Suddenly I stopped receiving any communication from Audi. Tushar's phone was also diverted. I got quite irritated with the attitude of Audi. Then suddenly one day a I receive a mail from Tushar. So he's finally woken up, I was saying to myself. But then something was wrong with his mail. He's sent me a BMW brochure and quotation. Is he out of his mind. It took me a minute to realise that he has left Audi and joined BMW. I quickly mailed him that I was already in touch with Bavaria and Straton was handling my case.
Eventually I returned to Goa. Now for the test drives.

To be continued...

Mods please note, I will be writing this review in parts. People will post comments. Once the review is done I will report the last post and request you to put all the sections of the review as back to back posts.
 
Joined
Oct 23, 2009
Messages
9,164
Likes
330
Location
Chennai
Nice start but can you share why you felt Audi was cheaper to maintain compared to BMW and Merc?


I am not surprised with Audi's attitude , i have seen many reviews where Audi failed to live upto their premium tag.
 
Thread Starter #3
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,408
Likes
297
Location
Margao, Goa
Nice start but can you share why you felt Audi was cheaper to maintain compared to BMW and Merc?
I didn't mean to say that. I meant that I was impressed with the Audi overall. The features, looks etc. The Audi is also the most fuel efficient of the lot.


I am not surprised with Audi's attitude , i have seen many reviews where Audi failed to live upto their premium tag.
I can't really blame the executive here as he had left the company. The company should have asked him to hand over his existing customers to someone else before he left.

Oh okay , it will be really nice if you can put up a comparison of these 3 cars.
I did mention a few points of comparison in this thread http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/automotive-shopper/4412-replacement-siena.html


About FE IIRC A4 is the least powerful of the lot right? It should be more fuel efficient. I know it's lesser than 320d but not sure of C-class.
The A4 is less powerful. The C250 is almost on par with the BMW.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 23, 2009
Messages
9,164
Likes
330
Location
Chennai
Oh okay , it will be really nice if you can put up a comparison of these 3 cars.


About FE IIRC A4 is the least powerful of the lot right? It should be more fuel efficient. I know it's lesser than 320d but not sure of C-class.
 
Thread Starter #5
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,408
Likes
297
Location
Margao, Goa
Continuation of the Review...

Well I finally returned to Goa. Got in touch with all 3 dealers again. The BMW showroom was up and running. Merc and BMW readily agreed to give me a TD whenever I wished. Both offered to send the car to my house. Since Bavaria Motors was nearer to my house, I decided to go there first. I forgot to give them adequate notice but I called when I was 15 minutes from the showroom. I called up Straton and told him. Unfortunately he was in Belgaum with the TD car. However he quickly called up the showroom and asked for someone to attend to me. He then called back to let me know. He said that I can check out everything and then the next day he would bring the TD car to my house. I actually wanted the car at my place as my parking and access road is a bit cramped and I wanted to make sure the car fits.

I arrived at the brand new Bavaria Motors showroom at the Verna Industrial Estate. What a massive showroom it was.
I was welcomed by Mr. Elvin Martins. I immediately noticed the attention to detail. I'm not used to people addressing me by my title. However he did it as he probably noticed it in my email signature. We were offered some Cappuchino and Cookies. The cups had the BMW logo on them. Looked real cool. All the staff had a small BMW badge on their suit collars. We were then shown a BMW 320d Dynamic (Mid version) and then a fully loaded 330i. He spent a lot of time explaining each and every feature. I made it very clear that I was just exploring the possibility of buying a BMW and even if I did it would be a CE. I didn't want them to waste their time showing me stuff I couldn't afford. I was then explained in detail about the variants, pricing etc. I asked about the BSI package. I was given all the details about BSI and BMW secure. the details of the finance and insurance was taken care of by another representative Mr. Kelwyn Colaco. I asked about the transfer of my NCB and they agreed to do the same. I had a lot of questions about warranty etc. I basically told them that I wanted BSI and Secure so I know exactly how much the car will cost me and I won't have any surprises if anything fails or I have an accident. I then mentioned that I was also looking at the competitors. He asked which ones? I told him that I was looking at the A4 and the C Class. Here's where you get the the real difference in attitude towards competitors. A Maruti salesman would have said a lot of bad things about Hyundai and Tata. No such thing here. He acknowledged his competitors as great cars but BMW was better. Typical European style. Reminded me of the time when I was buying Beer for the ship. The Grolsch Beer salesman had come on board. I told him that I usually order Heineken or Becks. To this he said, "They are both great beers, but we are equally good if not better". Anyway back to cars. Elvin to me to TD the other 2 cars but give BMW a call so they can keep their car ready nearby. he want me to TD the BMW again immediately after the other car and see the difference. I must say he was really confident of his product.

After this I was taken for a tour of the dealership. I met with the service guys and shown around the workshop too and explained how the service, repairs etc were done. He urged me to check out the Mercedes service station and see the difference. I then thanked him and the others and left.
Overall I was really impressed. A 3 Series customer in a BMW showroom is like a 800 customer in a Maruti showroom. But that's where the similarity ends. The experience is a premium one even for the customers of the cheaper models. What I liked was the attitude "You not just buying a BMW, you're becoming a part of the BMW family!". I do hope the customers are as well treated after buying the car. I expect that it will be so as they would want the next car I buy to be another BMW.

I will continue with the TD experience, comparison with the A4 and C Class, the new 3 Series launch and a bit about Bavaria Motors at the Grape Escapade.

To be continued...
 

350Z

Core Team
Joined
Aug 10, 2009
Messages
21,187
Likes
7,835
Location
New Delhi
Great review. Really enjoyed reading through it, keep it coming.
I arrived at the brand new Bavaria Motors showroom at the Verna Industrial Estate. What a massive showroom it was.
There are two premium car dealerships situated next to my Ford’s dealership – Audi and BMW. Audi Delhi is vast enough to be compared to a full sized shopping mall and although BMW’s Deutsche Motoren is spread in fairly big area too but it looks so tiny in front of it.

He asked which ones? I told him that I was looking at the A4 and the C Class. Here's where you get the the real difference in attitude towards competitors. A Maruti salesman would have said a lot of bad things about Hyundai and Tata. No such thing here. He acknowledged his competitors as great cars but BMW was better.
I was always let down with sales persons who try to pull down other brands and cars when I went shopping. BMW sales person’s attitude was sure a professional one.

A 3 Series customer in a BMW showroom is like a 800 customer in a Maruti showroom.
Doesn't matters. A BMW is a BMW. :smile:

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
Joined
Sep 15, 2009
Messages
1,559
Likes
154
Location
Thodupuzha,Kerala
Great write up. I like the attitude of the BMW people. Wish other car manufacturers followed suit instead of acting like a bunch of politicians when you visit for a test drive.
 
Thread Starter #8
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,408
Likes
297
Location
Margao, Goa
The C-Class Test Drive
I called up Alcon Mercedes Benz for a TD of the C-Class. I told them that I would be dropping by at the showroom sometime during the week. However I got a call the next day that they were in my locality and wanted to come over to my place. I called them over. They arrived with a C250 Avangrade Black. Took it for a drive. My wife tried it out too. I was impressed. The car was as good as the BMW. The advantages (as per the Sales Executive) was the full sized spare wheel with an alloy. Also that Merc enjoys a better brand value in Goa. It was the default choice of the rich in the pre-liberation days. I pointed out that the Avantgrade and Elegance versions which came with this engine were out of my budget and the Executive (equivalent of BMW's Corporate edition) which I was considering had a different engine C220. They didn't have a TD car in this version. I said that I would not buy without a TD. They told me that the earlier versions of the Elegance and Avantgrade had the smaller engine. I asked for a list of customers who had these cars. I happened to know one of them but not well enough to ask him for a drive in the car. Another disadvantage was the lack of a maintenance programme like BMW's BSI. They did have the Star Ease Programme but it's just a kind of extended warranty. You still have to pay for servicing. Didn't call up the BMW guys for the back to back TD as the memory of the BMW TD was still fresh. Again I must say that the 2 Executives Vinay and Srijit were very good at their job. I then discussed the pricing etc with them. I said I would drop by at the showroom to check out the petrol. I did that in a few days time. We were welcomed into the showroom and given a tour and shown a lot of the higher end cars. Again the coffee was great. Lavazza it was. However I preferred the cups at Bavaria with the BMW logos. We were then shown a film on the history of Mercedes Benz. Then we were given the Petrol car to drive. I drove from the showroom to the stock yard. I must say I was really disappointed with the car. I told them that I would not consider the petrol. Not at all fun to drive. We were then show the cars in the stockyard. Checked out the Executive version and also the Elegance. Did not call up BMW again this time as I was sure I would not be considering the etrol Merc.
 
Thread Starter #9
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
1,408
Likes
297
Location
Margao, Goa
The A4 Test Drive
Things didn't go well from the begining. The Goa representative Armando called me to inform that the cars would be available. I scheduled a TD the next day. Called up BMW too and asked for a TD of the BMW 320D immediately after the A4 which they readily agreed. The next day I got ready for the TD and just before leaving called to confirm. Unfortunately the trailer had not arrived and the TD had to be cancelled. I called and cancelled the BMW TD too. Next day I called again and I was told that the cars had arrived in Goa and will be at the venue soon. So I proceeded to Verna (this is an industrial area of Goa and home to the dealerships of BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Ford, Toyota and JCB. My brothers as well as my industrial units are also located here). As I reached the venue I was greeted by the Audi rep as well as one of my friends who happens to be a DSA for finance. Again the A4 was not there. The cops stopped it as the trade plates were missing. After an agonizingly long wait, I got my hands on the car. Imediately took it for a spin. The slugishiness was immediately apparent. The car was perfect in all respects except for the engine and gearbox. I was also told that Audi is launching a Business Edition. However the dealer didn't have any details. Funny thing happened during the drive. I asked the SA to switch on the radio and as soon as it came on it went to Radio Mirchi. This is a channel my wife and me both hate. Seeing our expression he immediately switched to Radio Indigo. Here's another area where BMW seems to get it right. During the first TD, even the music playing in the car was to my taste. Anyway I had not called BMW as I was not sure when I would be getting the A4 TD. Since the dealership was just across the road, I called the BMW SA but he was at the RTO. He immediately arranged for his collegue Tushar (Ex-Audi) to give me the TD. Anyway he brought out the TD car (new one). The first TD I did was a maroon CE and this one was a blue one. The difference in the power and handling was immediately evident. There was absolutely not comparison between the BMW and the Audi.
 

Top Bottom