Hunting a Good Petrol Hatch / Sedan. New OR Used

[amiti]

Thank you all.

I test drove following cars --

1. Amaze automatic vx-- Good space, visibility. However the engine always felt strained and there was a constant humming sound with AC on -- Rejected

2. Etios Petrol Vx -- Excellent space, visibility and better ergonomics. However it felt like driving a diesel and rear was bumpy all the time, checked the air pressure also. My liva diesel was better than this car -- Rejected

3. Maruti Dezire zxi-- The car had 52k kms on odo. Super silent, easy to drive. However space is tight, many blind spots, but better than above two cars. Dezire does come in auto minus airbags, so no point in test driving automatic -- Kept on Hold

4. Nissan micra cvt -- Back in sep 13, I had liked this car. However this time when I took a longish test drive, I observed, lot of vibrations inside, lack of power -- Rejected

Next in pipeline are honda cvt and manual, verna automatic and manual, i20 (it's underpowered but still take a TD of same), i20 auto (hope to get a TD, but they have skimmed the safety features and no sunroof on automatic), Vento Tsi, i10 grand, i10 grand auto still does not come with ABS and airbags.

Will keep you posted, let your views come by.

 

[amitpshelke]

@Amiti : Looking at your preferences I would like to comment some lines,

- Are you thinking of buying a car that will be driven by you & your wife; If so that you can opt for AT else simply choose a MT, that will be an added advantage since most MT has 3-4 kmpl mileage difference in actual Indian road & traffic condition.

- Think first of choosing between a Sedan or Hatchback or NotchBack as each of the segment has its pros and cons.

- Choosing a Sedan can give you a large boot and comfort, but maneuvering in City traffic will not be an ease.
- Choosing a Hatchback, you will have to compromise on boot and little bit on comfort but maneuvering will be great in traffic and parking wont be a trouble.

- Well you might be surprised with the third part "Notchback" or simply you can say a 4 mtr sedan. [MS Swift Dzire, Tata Indigo eCS, Honda Amaze]. Here you will get a little more satisfaction of some more ltrs of boot.

* A big "?" on buying a Petrol or Diesel

Considering your monthly run around 1000kms and a car giving 14kmpl, you budget comes for a petrol car is around Rs. 6000 per month and Rs. 70,000 a year. [This can be good decision point on buying P or D].

The other half, not buying a Diesel car is for its maintenance cost. So now a days both engine type requires almost equal maintenance. Diesel Motors are now smart enough!


Looking at your budget to spend, around 11 lacs, my suggestion would be,

HatchBack :
- Fiat Punto 90HP [Diesel] [a powerful car with 15 inch tyres & a typical Italian design]
- Maruti Suzuki Swift [ZXi/ZDi] [a big dominator in this segment]
- Hyundai i20 Asta [Petrol/Diesel] [this will give you a luxury car features + optional sunroof]
- Renault Pulse [Top variant Diesel only] [You will love to drive this car, but ABS not available]
- Volkswagen Cross Polo [A typical German car]

NotchBack :
- Again Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire [ZDi] [a big dominator in this segment]

Sedan :
- Ford Fiesta Classic [TDCi] [Best in class diesel car]
- Fiat Linea [a classic looking car, good for highway drives]
- Hyundai Verna [Diesel]
- Honda City [Petrol] [think of little bit on maintenance, but best in class petrol car]

Check out for Launch date of Maruti Suzuki Sx4 S-Cross.
Above suggestion are as per my knowledge and research.

 

[amiti]

Thanks for your detailed analysis. Below are my comments

@Amiti : Looking at your preferences I would like to comment some lines,

- Are you thinking of buying a car that will be driven by you & your wife; If so that you can opt for AT else simply choose a MT, that will be an added advantage since most MT has 3-4 kmpl mileage difference in actual Indian road & traffic condition.
Amit -- Car will be driven by me only. Tilted towards automatic for added comfort.

- Think first of choosing between a Sedan or Hatchback or NotchBack as each of the segment has its pros and cons.
Amit -- Both would do, it actually depends on the car i like.

- Choosing a Sedan can give you a large boot and comfort, but maneuvering in City traffic will not be an ease.
- Choosing a Hatchback, you will have to compromise on boot and little bit on comfort but maneuvering will be great in traffic and parking wont be a trouble.
Amit -- As I mentioned I need comfort and then mileage, I drive 70% in city and 30% on highways. Don't really care if its a hatch or sedan. But as rightly pointed by you, I am tilted towards hatch, I am ready to compromise on few things.

- Well you might be surprised with the third part "Notchback" or simply you can say a 4 mtr sedan. [MS Swift Dzire, Tata Indigo eCS, Honda Amaze]. Here you will get a little more satisfaction of some more ltrs of boot.

* A big "?" on buying a Petrol or Diesel

Considering your monthly run around 1000kms and a car giving 14kmpl, you budget comes for a petrol car is around Rs. 6000 per month and Rs. 70,000 a year. [This can be good decision point on buying P or D].
Amit -- Petrol only.

The other half, not buying a Diesel car is for its maintenance cost. So now a days both engine type requires almost equal maintenance. Diesel Motors are now smart enough!


Looking at your budget to spend, around 11 lacs, my suggestion would be,

HatchBack :
- Fiat Punto 90HP [Diesel] [a powerful car with 15 inch tyres & a typical Italian design]
Amit -- Good car, but not interested in punto
- Maruti Suzuki Swift [ZXi/ZDi] [a big dominator in this segment]
Amit -- Dezire zxi is a good contender. I have this in mind if I don't like other cars.
- Hyundai i20 Asta [Petrol/Diesel] [this will give you a luxury car features + optional sunroof]
Amit -- i20, yet to test drive. Again only petrol
- Renault Pulse [Top variant Diesel only] [You will love to drive this car, but ABS not available]
Amit -- Not interested, more over not in a car which doesn't have safety features.
- Volkswagen Cross Polo [A typical German car]
Amit -- Not interested.

NotchBack :
- Again Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire [ZDi] [a big dominator in this segment]
Amit -- No diesels

Sedan :
- Ford Fiesta Classic [TDCi] [Best in class diesel car]
- Fiat Linea [a classic looking car, good for highway drives]
- Hyundai Verna [Diesel]
- Honda City [Petrol] [think of little bit on maintenance, but best in class petrol car]
Amit -- Considering only verna 1.6 or city cvt

Check out for Launch date of Maruti Suzuki Sx4 S-Cross.
Above suggestion are as per my knowledge and research.

Thanks for you good suggestions. Liked it.

 

[amiti]

Test drove more cars --
1. Grand i10 manual -- Zippy and good to drive and better suspensions compared to old i10. AC was not at all good (i10 grand owners please shed some light on this. This TD car was driven some 14k kms). Shortlisted.
2. Grand i10 Auto -- Found little bit strained than the manual. ABS, Airbags missing. A strict NO unless they bring on safety features. Rejected
3. Polo Tsi -- Excellent power. However I was looking for vento, since there is no TD car available in Vento tsi. Visibility and service costs major set back. So will have to let this go off the list. Rejected
4. Verna 1.6 Again -- This time also I felt boat like feeling and my daughter was not comfortable behind. Rejected
5. Micra CVT again -- The car had lots of vibrations and the rubber-band effect was prominent. Rejected

From new car list I have three cars left --
Grand i10, Dezire zxi, City cvt vx. I am concentrating first on comfort. So I am OK with hatch or sedan.

 

[Ajay Sreedhar]

From new car list I have three cars left --
Grand i10, Dezire zxi, City cvt vx. I am concentrating first on comfort. So I am OK with hatch or sedan.

All three different segments !!!!
My pick would be the city. Since your priority list has comfort at the top

 

[amitpshelke]

So you have shortlisted 3 segments. Now I would suggest you re-think on BUDGET, RESALE VALUE.

My choice would be "DZire zxi".
- 15'' inch tyre
- a little more boot as compared to Hatch
- Mileage will be best among all the options
- Service Center availability.

[If you have budget to buy City cvt, think of Diesel Dzire... a proven engine from long time :) ]

 

[_Ankit_]

Honda City my choice. Dzire rear seat has problems. Honda has better automatic than Maruti. It's petrol engines are awesome and when they combine it with automatic, you feel like driving for hours without any relax.

 

[anshuman8]

Since you prefer used car also - Why not try a good Gen 3 Honda City as its a discontinued model so resale prices will fall, should be able to get a 1-1.5 year old model wiithin 8 lacs.

 

[amiti]

Yes, I am on lookout for a used honda city as well. Saw one honda city 12k kms, June 2013 mfg. This guy was quoting 8 lacs. I offered him 6-6.5 lacs. It was a VMT model.
Was not able to figure out why he was selling it.

Test drove 2014 Honda City VX mt model. Much better than outgoing honda city. It's much bigger, wider and longer. Good features too. Tomorrow will be test driving the City cvt model.

 

[anshuman8]

Yes, I am on lookout for a used honda city as well. Saw one honda city 12k kms, June 2013 mfg. This guy was quoting 8 lacs. I offered him 6-6.5 lacs. It was a VMT model.
Was not able to figure out why he was selling it.

It would be pretty good deal at 7 lacs. If you can get it go for it. Check the service history as well.

 

[amiti]

Dear Friends, took test drive of Honda city CVT. This car was SV version so it didn't had paddle shifters. The car was easy to drive, also had an little upright dead pedal similar to that of hyundai. Now I am royally confused.
On the mileage side the MID showed only 10 kmpl, while the manual showed me 17kmpl. However Honda claims more mileage on CVT.

 

[_Ankit_]

How much car had run ?
The more odo the more mileage . It will increase .
Mileage shown is due to skinny tyres .

Buy Honda City CVT without any thinking .

 

[amiti]

How much car had run ?
The more odo the more mileage . It will increase .
Mileage shown is due to skinny tyres .

Buy Honda City CVT without any thinking .

The new city manual had run some 800kms which was showing 17kmpl on MID
City CVT had run 230 kms and was showing 10kmpl on MID.

Honda city has skinny tires, they should have had given some meatier rubber with 1" increase in alloy size.

 

[amiti]

Friends,

After test driving grand i10 again to check the AC effectiveness, I must say there is some problem with grand's AC, which is much lesser effective than out going i10. So I am striking off grand i10 from my list.

Only car in consideration is City CVT. Need someone to throw more light on city CVT's AC and mileage.

 

[pravin1987]

if you want a car with low cost maintenance, it's has to be maruthi dzire and Honda city. you can also try dzire diesel, great car and gives you good mileage.