Suggestion Needed for a New Car Under 12 Lac.


350Z

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Firstly make up the mind on what segment you are looking for. It would help making the short listing process easier. My personal preferences for each segment are:

Powerful hatchback:It will offer me ease of driving,good FE and good performance too.Also the small dimensions will always be helpful in city,especially in terms of parking.
Honda Jazz and Fiat Punto 90 HP (Note that a Fiat won’t hold a favorable resale value after 5 Years).

Sedan:Any good sedan gives a good comfort and no doubt it gives a class too.It will give a more powerful engine,better boot and cabin space and will be safer too.In fact for a manager,the sedan suits best considering their job profile too.
I still stick to Honda City. Honda Civic is also a nice choice but due for an upgrade soon. Volkswagen Vento and Ford Fiesta should be the next close options.

SUV:I like SUVs also,I have driven Scorpio,Safari and Fortuner and I felt like they fill the driver with confidence and break the confidence of other road users.I believe that an SUV will be the safest vehicle for any women to travel in as nearly everyone is scared of the people driving SUVs.Should I wait for new Safari to come?
Skoda Yeti is an awesome car but would exceed the budget. It’s not a full grown SUV though in terms of dimensions but definitely worth a look since the major use is going to be within the cities. You could also check out recently launched Renault Duster apart from Mahindra Scorpio and Tata Safari.

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
Thread Starter #18
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Hello again guys,thanks for the valuable feedback of yours and I have got the crucial points mentioned too.

@350Z,I am confused if I need a hatchback or a sedan or an SUV.All three have pros and cons of themselves and since I am comfortable driving all three of them,so it adds more to the confusion.
Tomorrow is my holiday and I will be going for some test drives too.
Any suggestions for the test drives?
The cars I will be testing are Hyundai Verna,Mahindra XUV,Skoda Laura and maybe Rapid also and Yeti too if I get one,Honda city and Civic.I think these test drives alone will take the whole day.Any other suggestions?
 
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if you are thinking hatches then you could add the FIAT punto to the list.

same goes with the sedan , you have enough budget, hen you could try a linea, a ford fiesta(newer one).

also dont hesitate to ask for discounts on the fiat linea, punto, honda civic and ford fiesta.
 
Thread Starter #21
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Today I will go for test drives.There I will try to find out Linea petrol(t-jet) and Punto 90hp for testing.I have to go for the test drive of Tata Safari,maybe same time I will test the Linea and Punto too.
 
Thread Starter #24
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Guys I have test driven Tata Safari,Tata Aria,Honda City,Honda Civic,Fiesta Classic Petrol and Mahindra XUV 500.
Actually now I am even more confused and though I myself is unable to explain too much about test drives but still I will try to explain my experiences,but it will take some time as I will have to recollect and recompile whole experience because out of excitement I just drove the cars for half of the time.
Soon I'll post my experiences.
 
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Parc here are a few cents from my side to add to the chaos :-
Your requirements are pretty clear and your running is low so crucially fuel type/FE doesnt matter as long as the vehicle satisfies your zest. Also your budget is good enough for modern Sedan and SUVs, so i am not going to bother recommending a hatch(that would be only if you want to buy a hatch and save the rest for some jewellery ! ).

Firstly the Sedans

1) If you are a conservative no nonsense lady(Disclaimer: i am still working on understanding the woman kind, so my suggestions are going to be across the board) -> it has the be the Honda City - safest choice amongst sedans, hassle free honda reliability and decent overall quality.

2) If you are a conservative lady looking for ease of driving(Automatic) - I would suggest you to try out the New Ford Fiesta AT with the Dual Clutch box ( we did a drive sometime back(news section) and that could be a handy read )

3) Aggressive new age lady - If you are buying a sedan for the love of driving! - go check out the Laura TSI and Honda Civic - both are a hoot to drive. In my view Honda service experience is much better, btw i own a civic too so telling from experience , one of the best driver's car under 15 lakh! Cruze Diesel is also an option but it will not be close to the refinement and space of the above 2 being a diesel - but still its a diesel rocket!
Point 3 in sedans is much recommended if there is a Sabine Schmitz in you - in case you havent heard will send out a top gear link - She is one of the the top lady drivers around the "Green Hell" ( You should watch the video where she attempts the Ford Transit around Nurburgring against Jeremy Clarkson!)

Secondly the SUVs


1) If you are the modern aggressive/cold eyes stare in your face types :- XUV 5OO is a good option, stonking drive for a diesel SUV especially in the ghats it feels invincible, easy in the city as well as you require very little gear shifts(though not as short throws as in a civic or city) - also it will lack the absolute refinement of a petrol. It has a long list of features probably longer than any woman's make up kit - now that says a lot - so if its a feature rich SUV you are looking for - there is nearly no competition to the XUV at the moment. But mind you its essentially a softroader, it might be a little over designed but heck i think it still looks the best amongst the current crop - how else will it be the highest selling 10 lakh + automobile on the launch itself! most early niggles would be sorted by now.

2) If you are a classy balanced city-modern types :- Renault Duster/ Upcoming Ford Ecosport - Now this is a new generation of urban compact SUVs - They will nearly handle like a car and have the GC of an SUV - the cross breed kinds -> again 5 seater softroaders at best! Nothing that is too great and nothing that is too bad, the compact SUV market will pick up in India especially for the car lovers who want to move in to an SUV segment without compromising too much.

3) If you are the New generation Nirma ladies type(sleeves up and get in to the muck)Tata Safari(Storme) - In the 4x4 guise this is a proper body on ladder frame SUV - so if you ever intend to go moderate offroading the stock safari should be fine. Excellent suspension /comfort - also the impending Storme will raise the bar up
 
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^^So finally ROCKy bhai also came up.
Hmm,that's quite a good piece of advise,but even better piece of writing.

Sirji please(Its a HUMBLE request) tell me about Activa and i20 riding species,maybe your experience can help me:tongue::stupid:..(I know this is off topic but I have mentioned it via my avatar)..
 
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Sedans: Honda City (You can get automatic transmission as well) or Corolla Altis both are good cars.

SUV: I think you should wait for new Safari storme to launch. Expected launch of safari is September 12. Or you can go for XUV500 but i am not sure whether bookings are open these days.
 
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Thread Starter #30
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Here are the test drive reports of first three(all are my subjective views so no offence to anyone please)

Tata Safari:There was a very calm and majestic looking white elephant waiting for us at the dealership.I opened the door and first word I spoke was WOW!It was big outside and even bigger inside.
Firstly my brother drove the Safari and passed it.Now I took the seat and drove the Safari into some population,then some broken patch and at last on the highway(I managed all this in just 14 kms)and everywhere I was happy driving the car.
Applied the methods told by TSIVipul and found that power was low before 1500 rpm,after 1500 its started coming up and even before 2000 rpm the power came up like tsunami of horses and it kept very well till somewhere between 3500-4000 rpm and then again the acceleration weakened.
Seats were perfectly placed,perfectly cushioned only the backrests were not that good.At lower speeds the ride was really poor,every bump could be easily felt but at about 80 kph speed it was very comfortable.
Though the offers are there but still I felt like some more features could have been given and the music system is really very much awkward looking.Steering was only one way adjustable but yes,the AC was mind blowing and no doubt the Safari is talkative.Yes,this car really talks to you and this is what makes it special.

Tata Aria:Before sitting I felt like it will be a Safari in the Innova gesture but as soon as I got inside,it was a totally different world.Where Safari looked good to us,it suddenly started feeling too basic and crude too.Aria was super silent inside,it had a lot of kit and wherever you touch you feel the quality.Though the plastic was still hard(even my Esteem also had soft touch plastic on doors etc)but everything felt like its built to last.
Seats were very comfortable,ride was better than Safari at lower speeds and clutch was also good but gearbox had something wrong.Not only Aria but Safari also had something wrong with the gearbox,they were like working with a gearbox made of rubber,like of small cars.
Acceleration was good and this car was more civilized than Safari in every manner,everything was okay but this car also misses a two way adjustable steering wheel.This forced me to keep my seat very near to the wheel,but after reaching the dealership,I was again lost in Safari!!

Mahindra XUV 500 W8:This test drive had a story too.
We reached the Mahindra dealership and found that test drive car was already gone for one test drive and there is one more couple already waiting for the test drive and then our turn will come.When I asked if they have any another car then the sales person said “Ma’am that car has some faults”.
Now running out of time I thought of leaving for Honda dealership but suddenly I saw an elderly uncle taking his white XUV 500 out of dealership after some servicing and I just approached uncle and talked to him and after talking for about 2 minutes he himself offered we brother-sister a drive in his car.Story over and now test drive experience:-
Brother drove the car and was extremely happy till then uncle told me that in 10,000 kms he found no issue only the music system was replaced some days back due to some major problem.After him I came to the driving seat and the first experience was seating position,fully adjustable seat and two way adjustable steering wheel help me find the perfect driving position in no time.Ther was a good view out and steering wheel was feather soft and responsive in the city.Suspension was simply great and most of the bumps were observed by it.Then I drove the car till 110 kph at a stretch and the ride was very good.
Then I tested the power delivery in third gear and found that this car started delivering good power after 1500 rpm and delivered very high power after 2000 rpm,far higher than of Safari and Aria but at 3000 rpm its acceleration was not as good as of Tata cars but still it has very wide power delivery,the car was powerful from 1500-4000 rpm and hence I felt that this will be aperfect car for mild taffic and city driving.
One thing for sure was not good,Scorpio or XUV both feel a bit too much electronic.Both are not as much talkative as the Safari or Aria was.Where both the Tata cars felt like they are reading my mind too,the XUV felt like it just takes input and does what it is asked to do like a computer.

Guys three are done,now I am in office and hence can’t write any more(even three also took more than 2 hours).So I will post more reviews after I reach home in the evening.But yes,Innova really drives better than all three of these.
 

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