The What Car Thread - Helping You Choose The Right Car!

TSIVipul · Aug 1, 2012

Disclaimer:As usual,I killed my time making a long report.So you need to have a stone heart to go through it.Not for faint hearted or children aged under 18.

Hello again guys,let’s get it straight.This is the third thread of the car-buying series made by me.The first two threads are as follows:-

In the first thread we discussed that which car can be suitable for a person at a particular income group without affecting him financially.Or say what car can never make a big hole in your pocket based on your income.
In the second thread we discussed about the finance thing.How to plan it out,where to get the finance etc etc.

Okay,so now you know about the income bracket you come in,you know the amount you can safely spend for your dream wheels and their happy running.Also now you know how to plan your finance etc etc.So now let’s move on to which is the set of wheels that will really suit you.In other words which is the car that will suit you best.
BTW,before moving ahead,let me tell you that car buying is always done by two ways:-

By heart.
By head.

If you are buying the car by heart then there are no limits,you can buy whatever you want.You can even use an Aventador for Raid De Himalaya only because it is an AWD.But if you buy by head or even a head+heart combo then we can discuss it further.In other words,this thread ends here itself for those who buy car by heart only.While head or head+heart users can safely proceed further.

Okay,so we will move chapter-wise and the chapters are as follows:-

Identify yourself..
Why you need those wheels?
Have you planned your budget?
The small wonder-THE HATCHBACK THING.
Luxury on move-THE SEDAN THING.
Made to move people-THE MUV THING.
Let the road never end:THE SUV THING.
A confused breed-THE CROSSOVER THING.
Your surroundings.
The roads you negotiate.
Your image and the neighborhood thing.
The parking space is always important.

TSIVipul · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

Chapter 1
Identify yourself..

First of all I am no Asharam Bapu to tell you to go some spiritual way and recognize yourself.We want a car,we want to get indulged in all the MOH-MAAYA of the world.So here let’s identify ourselves the way we are.
Okay,so you are a doctor,an engineer,a businessman,college teenager,a newly married guy,you are settled and rich with kids,a retired old man or even a 10 year old child.
Why to identify yourself?Simple it is,after the yamaraj’s invitation you won’t take anything with you but until you are alive,everything you own is solely yours and hence you need to live your life,you need to enjoy everything at its best.Hence you need to decide your current car according to your needs,what you expect from your car?What you expect from your life and all.
Always remember,your car tells other people what sort of person you are.It is an extension of your personality it tells others about who you are. Don’t believe my words?Okay then think yourself when you last time declared a person drunkard on seeing his car or you declared someone billionaire after you saw his S Class or Bentley.Hmm,you did that,you surely did that and hence you know that car always represent you on the road.
So always selecting a car that suits you and your lifestyle is always sensible.I am sure none of you will like to see a 90 year old nanny driving a rally Ferrari Enzo at 10 kph on a highway nor you will like a teenager boy driving an old Amby at 140 kph [lol]

.Same way,the car must suit your personality as well as your needs.
Take it this way:-

A teenage guy:Any car that stands out of crowd.
A married man:A car that is comfortable,practical and of course looks good too.
A businessman:A luxury car which can double up as an office on wheels any time.

There is a bit too much to discuss so let me finish this chapter here itself..

Chapter 2:
Why you need those wheels?

This is an extension of Chapter 1 and hence I’ll keep it quite short,it is a very simple sounding and complex question.I know you need a car,you know you need a car,your family,your neighbor and even your kid knows that you need a car but WHY?I am sure its not for buying vegetables etc.
Here you need to figure out for what purpose your car will be used for most of the time.For going to office,shopping,for going to Mahindra Great Escape or Leh trips,what the reason is?BTW,no car is ever bought for any one reason there are lot of them but still for buying that perfect car for you,you need to know 1 or two or even 3 solid reasons for what you need the car,the works which can’t be carried out without the car etc etc.They are many but always there is one on the top of all.

If you are puzzled between the reasons then let me tell you a simple ‘1 day technique’.If you promise me to use this technique the way I am mentioning then throughout your life you will never say “Kaash maine who kiya hota(I wish I did that)”.What the technique is?
Go and take a notebook or 4-5 A4 sheets,think why you need the car and within 1 minute write the first 5-10 reasons that came in your mind on first sheet.
Now after 2 hours do the same thing on an another sheet(keeping the first sheet away,without looking at it),now keep this sheet also away with the first one.
Do this totally 5 times at a gap of two hours each.Now after taking a gap of 2 hours again.Take all the sheets one by one and compare them,now cut all the needs which are not mentioned in all 5 sheets.I mean any need which is mentioned in even 4 sheets but not is in 5th must be cut.
At the end you will have just 2-3 reasons,and my dear these are the true reasons for which you really need the car.Don’t believe me?Do this exercise for anything you have or like and see is it valid or not?I am sure you will be surprised at the end.
Now I hope you know the reason for which you need the car.So now you need to figure out the money you will spend on the car,here I conclude this chapter.. [:)]

TSIVipul · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

Chapter 3
Have you planned your budget?

Though my first two threads were based on financial planning only but still this being a very crucial part has got a chapter in this thread too.
Actually car is bought for money and that’s the reason you can never leave the world’s MOH-MAAYA behind you following any sort of bapu or babaji.And if anything is bought for money that means money is needed to be spent and money spent without planning is money wasted and money spent after planning is money invested(A car can also give you high returns,though not as resale value but as a workhorse or by helping you out for all the works).And I am sure you are more interested in investing your hard earned money instead of wasting it.So making a complete PAISA-WASOOL planning must be no issue at all.
In short in the financial planning you have to plan out:-

How much you are going to spend for the car?
How much will be spent as a cash amount?
How much loan is to be taken?
What your CA says?
How much money you need to keep as a reserve amount?

You just need to take care of all these points and your financial planning is done.Rest for further reference you can visit the first two threads which I am again mentioning:-

Okay,so now you have planned why you need a car and how much you are going to spend?So now let me tell you about the categories of cars which you can buy out of your money:

Chapter 4
The small wonder-THE HATCHBACK THING.

I must say this is the most versatile of the car types.A hatchback is that small car next door.As the name suggests,it has a HATCH at its BACK,this hatch can be opened for accessing the boot of the vehicle.
Hatchbacks have a long-long range starting downright from your Tata Nano to some legendary cars like Mini Cooper or Mercedes Benz A Class etc.So what’s on offer can be easily understood if we divide them into four categories:-

Lower end(Budget) hatches:It includes your bare bone hatches like Tata nano,Maruti Suzuki Alto etc.These are small cars which are more suitable for singles than families.With the options available like A/C and Power steering etc you can get some ease of driving too but no doubt,the small size of these hatches gives them an un-rivaled advantage in the city or dense traffic.

Mid range hatches:Here you can start form the Santro and go till Beat.No doubt these cars are also made at a price and hence offer some more goodies and of course comfort as compared to the lower end ones,but one thing for sure will increase and that is the engine size and its power.

Premium hatches:Start from the Ritz and go till the VW Polo and these big,spacious and comfortable hatches can be classified into premium.What these hatches offer is sedan rivaling space and safety and even more performance.One thing forsure is that hatchbacks always offer higher fuel economy and a lower maintenance too.

Something extraordinary:Here comes hatches like Mini Cooper,Merc A Class,Ford Focus,Renault Clio V6 etc.These are hatches but are extraordinary,I am sure you people will feel happy if I say these are the queens or race track.Of course you get a lot of stuff for the money you pay.You get practicality of a hatch added to comfort,safety and a blasting performance.But then you pay a lot of cash for it,so at Xtra-ordinary amount you paid,you deserve some ‘X’tra ordinary thing too.
Now I hope you may have got an idea of hatches..so let’s move on to next category.. [:)]

TSIVipul · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

Chapter 5
Luxury on move-THE SEDAN(SALOON) THING.

S for sedan and S for status.This line seems to be 100% true in case of Indian buyers.Three box car or sedan is something that Indian customers believe it directly proportional to their social status,longer your car is higher is your status.
Coming to the real thing,sedans are having their cabin between both the sets of wheels which give them a longer wheelbase and hence of course a very big and airy cabin too.Since sedans have two highest priorities and those are performance and comfort,hence they are always good performer and comfortable at the same time,only they need to be ‘true’ sedans,not any hatchback tucked with a boot.Boot,oh yes a bigger boot as compared to a hatchback is always an advantage that a sedan enjoys.
Like hatches,sedans have a very wide range,in fact sedans have the widest range of all.starting downright from Tata Indigo eCS you can go upto the super luxury limos like Bentleys,Rolls etc all are sedans.Here I have kept just four categories:
Lower end or budget sedans:These include sedans like Indigo/Indigo CS,DZire etc.Though these sedans also come loaded with features but they are the ‘hatch-based sedans’ and no offence to anyone but these are the hatched on which a boot has been added.About features etc etc,you may rest assured that the sedan will never come bare boned.At least an A/C and power steering is something you will surely get as the standard equipment in your sedan.

Mid range sedans:Hmmm,start from Honda City and go till Jetta.This is the mid range,though these are premium cars in our market but still mid range suits more to them.In these sedans you get bagfuls of power,performance and of course unmatched comfort too.All this comes with an added advantage of safety as well.
A/C,central locking,a lot of gadgets,power windows etc are standard features in these sedans.

Premium sedans:Here you must start from a Skoda Superb and reach upto entry level German trio sedans.These sedans offer you nearly all the creature comfort with a power that can make you feel like a race car driver every morning on your way to office.Added to power and performance is a long list of equipment which can make even a girl’s cosmetic kit’s list too look puny [lol]

(I am sure now you will understand how long it can be).And no doubt the status is always attached to these cars.

Something extraordinary:When you pay high,you expect high and here is also no exception to this fact.Weather it’s the luxury of a first class liner or it’s the Lamborghini hunting performance,these sedans offer you both at the same time.Here for your cash you can buy some beauties whih can turn into fierce beasts with just a touch of a button.Do I need to say anything more?

Now let’s move to our people movers…

Chapter 6
Made to move people-THE MUV THING.

MUV(Multi Utility Vehicles)as the name itself suggests are the vehicles which offer a lot of flexibility as well as capability of moving people around in comfort at the same time.Have you heard the term MinivanIf no,then let me introduce you with our hot favourite Toyota Innova.Don’t be shocked,its an MUV or say it’s a minivan.I hpe now you would have understood the purpose of the MUVs.
Since it’s a quite small segment(at least here in India so I need not to be so much elaborative on it).Hence I’d take the two highest selling MUVs of our market which are Toyota Innova and Mahindra Xylo.Both of them offer a very hussle free ownership with powerful engines,decent safety kit,performance and of course a lot of comfort to keep you happy.

Chapter 7
Let the road never end:THE SUV THING.

SUV(Sports Utility Vehicle),as the name itself suggests-when muscle meet sporting intentions then it gives rise to SUVs.
Okay,take it this way:Take an MUV,put a torquey motor in it,add a good 4X4 system and some more ground clearance and your bare bone SUV is ready.Now you want something extra?Simple,then add it all and your premium SUV is ready.No doubt the comfort levels of SUVs are now a days even higher than that of the sedans of their respective segments too.So they offer four avantages and they are comfort+safety+presence+All terrain capability.
SUVs can be categorized as:-

Soft roader.
Off-roader.

Soft roader:Have you heard about 4X2 SUVs?If yes,then you can call them as soft roaders.Purpose is simple,the SUV should be a good and comfy mile muncher but must be able to take on light off roading too when subjected to it.Many SUVs currently available in our market like Tata Safari,Scorpio,Captiva,Skoda Yeti etc are all soft roaders in different guise.

Off-roader:You must call it hardcore SUV or say ‘true’ SUV.These vehicles are as much happy doing 120 kph on Mumbai-Pune E-Way as they are crushing the sand dunes of Thar desert or crossing some 3 feet deep water crossing.Okay,I know you are interested in such capabilities but they also come at a price.BTW,how to make such an SUV?Simple it is,take a soft roader and add 4X4 with lockable differentials,a low ratio gearbox and some special A/T tyres and your SUV is ready to crush any terrain you throw at it.

Your SUV can be any,5 seater or seven seater depending upon what you want form your SUV but if you want a vehicle in which the fun really never ends or say ‘the ROAD never ends’ then the off-roader or hardcore SUVs are the way to go.

Now let’s move to a confused breed..
[:)]

TSIVipul · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

Chapter 8
A confused breed-THE CROSSOVER THING.

Hmmm,leave an SUV and a sedan in a garage for a whole night and maybe you can get something like a ‘Crossover’ next morning [lol]

.Haha,leaving the jokes aside a crossover can be considered a vehicle which is meant to provide you sedan like comfort and driving dynamics with the added advantages of a soft roader.
Don’t get confused thinking what Xover [evil]

or Crossover it is,it’s a new category and no doubt is quite pleasing too.
There are a lot of cars like Tata Aria etc which fell in this category and no doubt if you really want the comfort of a sedan with the capabilities of an SUV then this is the way to go.

Chapter 9
Your surroundings.

Okay,so now let’s again get indulged in the MOH-MAAYA of the world and check out what sort of surroundings we have.As we say “While going on the world tour,first step is your own doorstep”.Its like if your doorstep is not suitable then it will spoil whole experience.

Take it this way:-
You live in some very congested part of your city,the road is just 6 feet wide and population is dense.Now adding to this is your house’s porch which is just 4-4.5 meters long.So now buying an SUV or a long sedan is like committing a suicide.First of all the scratches and dents your car can get are a pain in such an area and secondly I am sure you will never feel happy parking your dear car outside for the night.

Same way you have wide roads and good parking space but issue is that the tarmac is not visible anywhere nearby.Maybe your locality has good roads but the neighboring roads are full of craters and pits,then no hatchback or sedan can work for you as your first priority will automatically be an high GC SUV/MUV.

Similarly if everything is okay then you can buy any of the three.
Here we can say that hatch or SUV have a comparatively higher scope as compared to a sedan because its advisable to buy that long sedan only when the roads and parking space both are okay.If anyone of these is compromised then your sedan ownership may not be as happy as it must be.
In other words,your surroundings matter a lot.Buy hatchback if you live in some congested area,but SUV if you live in an area with no roads and buy a sedan if you have both parking space and driveable roads both present with you. [:)]

TSIVipul · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

Chapter 10
The roads you negotiate.

Hmm,just think of Mr.Natthulaal who bought a Honda City just 5 days back and now his car is parked in Honda A.S.S. because half of its belly has lost its shape because Mr.Natthulaal drove it on Manali-Leh highway [lol]

.I hope you have understood what this chapter is meant for.

Always buy the car after looking at the roads you travel or you are planning to travel.Now if your office is 50 kms away from your house and whole road is a highway then no doubt a quick sedan will serve you best and same way if you have to drive inside the city then you will find your small pocket size hatchback to be the best.And same way if you are a builder or contractor or a politician and you yourself don’t know which roads you may need to travel and when,then the safest and best choice is an SUV.

The point is simple,if you are a cross country mover then the SUV will be best for you.
Same way if you love quick mile munching on well laid highways then the sedan will give you pure joy.
And if you drive mostly in city and sometimes on highway then a hatchback will be good for you and if it’s a powerful hatchback then it will give you even more joy.In fact the powerful hatches are most fun to drive vehicles around.

Chapter 11
Your image and the neighborhood thing.

My first question is “ARE YOU MARRIED”? [cry]

If yes,than maybe you would have understood the connection between you being married and the neighborhood thing.
One day you park your car which you bought with your very hard earned money in the parking and reached your flat.In no time you feel something is burning somewhere,you try to find it out and you find out that nothing is burning,its your wife whose heart is burning right now.
As usual,you have understood that now you are in a problem but still you hold on your heart and approach your wife asking “Darling,what happened?Why so tense”?
My dear,she was waiting for this moment only and youdid it out of your innocence.An then you face the outburst “Sheena has City,Meena bought Civic,Raveena bought Safari,Derpina bought Corolla,Teena bought Corolla and YOU,your bought this Indigo”!!!

I know its painful for you because you are very proud of driving that car you bought out of your money but wife has to hear about those cars everyday and she has to see them too.Oh yes,in this case your wife is less emotional than you and hence she wants a car that can make her brag saying “Oh Sheena you have a City,we felt is small and hence we bought a Civic.Oh Meena your Civic is base model,we felt like we need more facilities so we bought top model etc etc”.
So this way your neighborhood has a deep affect on your car buying decision,same way your position or say your image is also associate with your car.Like a GM will never look coming to office in a Swift when DGM comes in a Civic or same way a contractor will never look good coming in a Maruti when his supplier is coming in a Scorpio etc.So you always need to buy the car considering the image you have.A car can easily make or break your impression,so it needs to be perfect for you.

Chapter 12
The parking space is always important.

Here is a small incident that I remembered.When my friend bought his Polo 1.6 then he told his father that “Papa,for even lesser amount I am getting a Tata Safari” and his father replied “Abe use kya apne sir pe khadi karega?(will you park it on your head?)” [lol]

And soon the Safari deal broken because the guy had no parking space.
Well if you have a truck size parking space then its great,you can park even a truck there(I am quite intelligent)but if your parking space is limited,then you also have to be limited while choosing the length of your car.Else you can go for a rented parking space for your car.

That’s all…
NOW GO AND GET YOUR SET OF WHEELS…..

Thanks for reading…I hope you are okay!!

Iron Rock · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

Vipul congratulations on finishing a trilogy of threads covering various facets of car buying - immensely useful. Unlike most trilogies all of your 3 parts are equally interesting and important while buying a car.

Kudos to your effort ( and my personal thanks to your doctor, the medication seems to be having good constructive after effect [:)]

)

TSIVipul · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

Iron Rock said:

Thanks a lot sirji,now the series is completed.First one will have an idea about budget fixation,second is on financial planning and third one is on selecting the car.Haha,all three done..now I can go for SANYAAS any day.. [:D]

Your favorite place is Haridwar but I can take you to Gangotri,let's both of us leave the Moh-Maaya and go to Gangotri in your XUV.There we will take 'SANYAAS'.

Still thanks a lot,BTW,I haven't understood the doctor and medication point!!

vishnunarayanan · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

Nice Thread !
TSIVipul you have explained every thing quite straightly.
The most interesting and funny part was the "Your image and the neighborhood thing".

ParC · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

@TSI:I read the thread completely and even took a small view of the other two threads too and I must say that all three threads are very well written.Its a simply perfect trilogy with each thread perfectly relating to the another one.
I appreciate your hard work and the content you brought up.

dr_sachin · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

@vipul
Once again a 5 star performance,the effort you put is just too good.I was trying to write my ownership review from last 2 months but unable to do that and you write so good that not even a single line seems boring or faaltu.
A 5 star straight. [clap]

TSIVipul · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

vishnunarayanan said:

Thanks buddy.I have just wrote what I thought none else.
No doubt its the most interesting part,I'd like to hear about this form some of our married friends.

ParC said:

Thanks madam for appreciation.
Its great to know that you passed all three threads.

dr_sachin said:

Thanks buddy,BTW I think there exists one ownership review of your City in which you have shown a lot of pics too.Right?

dr_sachin · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

Na that's not mine.I had hacked others threads for my querries [evil]

.
No good in writing so never took a supplementary answer sheet in my exams.
If i could write like you i would have topped just by the weight of answer sheets. [lol]

TSIVipul · Aug 1, 2012

Re: The What Car Thread - Helping you choose the right car!!

^^Buddy I never in my life filled more than 20 pages in any exam(except mathematics).Not even in the engineering exams but still i believe that I performed quite well every time.
Its not quantity,it must be least possible written covering max possible.Which I always fail to write on TAI!!

singh890 · Aug 2, 2012

Very well written buddy. Will help a lot of future buyers. And don't take Sanyas netaji [;)]

.

Keep up the good work and nice trilogy.

The What Car Thread - Helping You Choose The Right Car!

TSIVipul

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