Thread Starter
#1
Background:
This is my 3rd car (2 being pre-loved and 3rd is brand new) in past 3 years in the below order
1) 2007 Honda City ZX vtec (2011~2012)
2) 2009 Fiat Linea MJD Emotion (2012~2014)
3) 2014 Nissan Sunny XVD
My initial hunt for car started with Lancer and I couldn't find a genuine specimen in market. Finally ended up buying a NHC City ZX vtec. Though the intial consideration of running was very less and the choice of Petrol seemed to be perfect, soon after buying the car we started realizing the I made a mistake (monthly running was more than 2.5k km against the assumption of <1000km) Tried the possibility of alternate fuel (LPG) but even then it was not affordable. Around 6 months later sold the car and started the hunt for Diesel car. Again hatchbacks were not in my consideration as I don't have parking issues / city drivability issues. Came across a well maintained Fiat Linea MJD Emotion and without a second thought bought her home.
Linea served me for past 2 years except for a breakdown (alternator failure) last November. Though it is recovered in a couple of days, the incident got stitched in our hearts (myself with wifey and parents standing in the midst of highway on a Saturday late night, around 11:00pm, after completing the day full of driving and roaming, with hunger, tiredness, my god, it's horrible) Soon after returning from that trip parents started pinching me to sell the vehicle and get a new one. I tried convincing them either to retain Linea or if at all we need to get another car, let's go for a D-Segment used car (Cruze / Jetta / Laura) were my consideration. But all that I could do is convince myself for a brand new C-segment car.
Sold the Linea a couple of weeks back.
Search:
Being working in projects for past 5+ years, I knew how the Budget vc Actual gap will be and how the same will be closed. So started the search with a budget of 8~9L and finally fixed 10L as my budget.
One thing I made clear, rear seat comfort is most important than the driving pleasure. Though I will not find a chance to enjoy the rear seats, I give importance to my parents comfort.
Criteria:
- Price <10L (OTR)
- Diesel
- Safety (ABS must, Airbags Optional)
- Rear seat comfort
- Sedan prefered
- No Hatchbacks
- No sub 4m sedans
- No TATA / Hyundai / Maruti (No offense here. Personal choice)
Cars Considered:
- Ford Classic
- Ford EcoSport
- Skoda Rapid
- Volkswagen Vento
- Fiat Linea (Facelift)
- Nissan Sunny / Renault Scala
Out of the above list I loved Duster, but the one with safety features is very well out of my budget and dropped.
1) Ford Classic Titanium
+VFM (<8.5L OTR)
+Proven work horse
+FE 20+kmpl
+Wide spread network
+Balanced ride & handling
-Cramped interiors
-Outdated (may phase out anytime in near future)
Verdict: Rejected
2) Ford EcoSport Trend
+Stylish
+Within budget
+High GC
-Cramped Interiors
-Long waiting period
-Frequent price hikes
Verdict: Rejected
3) Skoda Rapid Ambition Plus
+Solid Build quality
+Torque monster
+Better highway performance
+Premium look interiors
+Gear shift, simply superb
-Skoda After Sales support
-Rear seat comfort is almost same as Linea
Verdict: Considered
4) Volkswagen Vento
+Same as Rapid
+Lot of offers / discounts
-NVH is on the downside compared with Rapid
-Safety features available only on Highline variant
Verdict: Rejected
5) Fiat Linea Dynamic
+Known devil (better than unknown angel)
+MJD Engine
+All Safety features and lots of bells & whistles
+Solid Build
+Balanced ride & Handling
-No offers for facelift Linea
-Doesn't give a New Car feel (though comes with both interior & exterior changes)
-Rear seat comfort
Verdict: Waitlist
6) Nissan Sunny / Renault Scala
+Again a very well know devil
+k9k Engine
+Space, space & space (at rear)
+More discounts
-Driving pleasure (Compared with Linea & Rapid)
-Service network (but I can live with it)
Verdict: Considered (Nissan Badge)
Out of Rapid, Linea & Sunny the Japanese machine won the race.
Variant Selection:
Initial consideration was XL variant (Mid Diesel) which comes with ABS, Airbags, auto AC, etc etc.
But later made the decision to go with XV (XL + alloy wheels + smart key + electrically folding ORVM + etc)
And coming to the color, wife prefered Balck and when I said "OK" with conditions apply (she should wash the car everyday) it was dropped
I had 2 choices, Bronze grey / Blade Silver. Almost everyone liked Bronze silver (to avoid the boring silver color as we already had Alto, Wagon-R, Beat in silver)
Booking Experience:
Made booking with Ramani Nissan Tirupur, with below offers
Cash Discount : 25k
Insurance : Free
Accessories : worth 10k
10.47L On-Road (excluding the above benefits) No waiting period.
Processed the loan with SBI and got it approved on 29th April.
PDI & Delivery:
Did PDI on the day of delivery (just before Registration) A couple of days back got the VIN number and verified the vehicle history and found everything is 'OK'.
Reached the dealership on 2nd May 9:30am. Handed them the documents for registration & asked them to wash the vehicle before inspection. 7km on odo and everything was intact.
I was promised that registration will be completed by 2:00pm and vehicle can be delivered by 3:00pm. I had other commitments and said I will take delivery after 4:30. Sales executive was kind enough to deliver the vehicle at my door steps (around 50km away) but I always wanted to take the delivery from dealership only.
I reached around 4:45pm and as promised the vehicle was kept ready (waxing done + flower garlands) Signed the documents, got all the necessary papers, manual, warranty booklet, etc. Got the keys + sweets
Accessories:
Got mud flaps and floor mat from dealer (few others to be chosen by next week, put together worth of 10k)
On 3rd May taken the vehicle to Sun Enterprises - Coimbatore and following accessories were fitted
1) Seat Covers : Custom made (Color selection by wifey)
2) Full floor mats (PVC)
3) Head lamp upgrade (Philips 100/90W)
4) Hella Black pearl horns
5) Reverse Parking sensor (Torq)
Quality of seat covers were good, but the mistake they have done is I asked them to put steering cover, of same color as the seats. And what they have done is made a custom steering cover of same material from seat covers.
This looks a bit odd and imperfect. Will get them changed ASAP. (I went out for lunch when they stitched steering cover, else this could be avoided)
Driving Experience:
Likes:
* New car feel
* Practical driving position
* Lots of space at rear
* Lot's of features when compared with Linea (i-key, Alloys, Air bags)
Dislikes:
* Ride & Handling is not at-par with Linea
* Need to stretch the thumbs to reach horn pad
* Brakes were not inspiring
* Fog lamps were just for show-off
Covered 633km (80:20 highway / city) and I managed to get 22.6kmpl (MID value, will update the actual FE after the next tank fill)
Restricting less than 2.5k rpm for the run-in period.
Attaching few snaps. Lot more the come soon.
Cheers.
This is my 3rd car (2 being pre-loved and 3rd is brand new) in past 3 years in the below order
1) 2007 Honda City ZX vtec (2011~2012)
2) 2009 Fiat Linea MJD Emotion (2012~2014)
3) 2014 Nissan Sunny XVD
My initial hunt for car started with Lancer and I couldn't find a genuine specimen in market. Finally ended up buying a NHC City ZX vtec. Though the intial consideration of running was very less and the choice of Petrol seemed to be perfect, soon after buying the car we started realizing the I made a mistake (monthly running was more than 2.5k km against the assumption of <1000km) Tried the possibility of alternate fuel (LPG) but even then it was not affordable. Around 6 months later sold the car and started the hunt for Diesel car. Again hatchbacks were not in my consideration as I don't have parking issues / city drivability issues. Came across a well maintained Fiat Linea MJD Emotion and without a second thought bought her home.
Linea served me for past 2 years except for a breakdown (alternator failure) last November. Though it is recovered in a couple of days, the incident got stitched in our hearts (myself with wifey and parents standing in the midst of highway on a Saturday late night, around 11:00pm, after completing the day full of driving and roaming, with hunger, tiredness, my god, it's horrible) Soon after returning from that trip parents started pinching me to sell the vehicle and get a new one. I tried convincing them either to retain Linea or if at all we need to get another car, let's go for a D-Segment used car (Cruze / Jetta / Laura) were my consideration. But all that I could do is convince myself for a brand new C-segment car.
Sold the Linea a couple of weeks back.
Search:
Being working in projects for past 5+ years, I knew how the Budget vc Actual gap will be and how the same will be closed. So started the search with a budget of 8~9L and finally fixed 10L as my budget.
One thing I made clear, rear seat comfort is most important than the driving pleasure. Though I will not find a chance to enjoy the rear seats, I give importance to my parents comfort.
Criteria:
- Price <10L (OTR)
- Diesel
- Safety (ABS must, Airbags Optional)
- Rear seat comfort
- Sedan prefered
- No Hatchbacks
- No sub 4m sedans
- No TATA / Hyundai / Maruti (No offense here. Personal choice)
Cars Considered:
- Ford Classic
- Ford EcoSport
- Skoda Rapid
- Volkswagen Vento
- Fiat Linea (Facelift)
- Nissan Sunny / Renault Scala
Out of the above list I loved Duster, but the one with safety features is very well out of my budget and dropped.
1) Ford Classic Titanium
+VFM (<8.5L OTR)
+Proven work horse
+FE 20+kmpl
+Wide spread network
+Balanced ride & handling
-Cramped interiors
-Outdated (may phase out anytime in near future)
Verdict: Rejected
2) Ford EcoSport Trend
+Stylish
+Within budget
+High GC
-Cramped Interiors
-Long waiting period
-Frequent price hikes
Verdict: Rejected
3) Skoda Rapid Ambition Plus
+Solid Build quality
+Torque monster
+Better highway performance
+Premium look interiors
+Gear shift, simply superb
-Skoda After Sales support
-Rear seat comfort is almost same as Linea
Verdict: Considered
4) Volkswagen Vento
+Same as Rapid
+Lot of offers / discounts
-NVH is on the downside compared with Rapid
-Safety features available only on Highline variant
Verdict: Rejected
5) Fiat Linea Dynamic
+Known devil (better than unknown angel)
+MJD Engine
+All Safety features and lots of bells & whistles
+Solid Build
+Balanced ride & Handling
-No offers for facelift Linea
-Doesn't give a New Car feel (though comes with both interior & exterior changes)
-Rear seat comfort
Verdict: Waitlist
6) Nissan Sunny / Renault Scala
+Again a very well know devil
+k9k Engine
+Space, space & space (at rear)
+More discounts
-Driving pleasure (Compared with Linea & Rapid)
-Service network (but I can live with it)
Verdict: Considered (Nissan Badge)
Out of Rapid, Linea & Sunny the Japanese machine won the race.
Variant Selection:
Initial consideration was XL variant (Mid Diesel) which comes with ABS, Airbags, auto AC, etc etc.
But later made the decision to go with XV (XL + alloy wheels + smart key + electrically folding ORVM + etc)
And coming to the color, wife prefered Balck and when I said "OK" with conditions apply (she should wash the car everyday) it was dropped
I had 2 choices, Bronze grey / Blade Silver. Almost everyone liked Bronze silver (to avoid the boring silver color as we already had Alto, Wagon-R, Beat in silver)
Booking Experience:
Made booking with Ramani Nissan Tirupur, with below offers
Cash Discount : 25k
Insurance : Free
Accessories : worth 10k
10.47L On-Road (excluding the above benefits) No waiting period.
Processed the loan with SBI and got it approved on 29th April.
PDI & Delivery:
Did PDI on the day of delivery (just before Registration) A couple of days back got the VIN number and verified the vehicle history and found everything is 'OK'.
Reached the dealership on 2nd May 9:30am. Handed them the documents for registration & asked them to wash the vehicle before inspection. 7km on odo and everything was intact.
I was promised that registration will be completed by 2:00pm and vehicle can be delivered by 3:00pm. I had other commitments and said I will take delivery after 4:30. Sales executive was kind enough to deliver the vehicle at my door steps (around 50km away) but I always wanted to take the delivery from dealership only.
I reached around 4:45pm and as promised the vehicle was kept ready (waxing done + flower garlands) Signed the documents, got all the necessary papers, manual, warranty booklet, etc. Got the keys + sweets
Accessories:
Got mud flaps and floor mat from dealer (few others to be chosen by next week, put together worth of 10k)
On 3rd May taken the vehicle to Sun Enterprises - Coimbatore and following accessories were fitted
1) Seat Covers : Custom made (Color selection by wifey)
2) Full floor mats (PVC)
3) Head lamp upgrade (Philips 100/90W)
4) Hella Black pearl horns
5) Reverse Parking sensor (Torq)
Quality of seat covers were good, but the mistake they have done is I asked them to put steering cover, of same color as the seats. And what they have done is made a custom steering cover of same material from seat covers.
This looks a bit odd and imperfect. Will get them changed ASAP. (I went out for lunch when they stitched steering cover, else this could be avoided)
Driving Experience:
Likes:
* New car feel
* Practical driving position
* Lots of space at rear
* Lot's of features when compared with Linea (i-key, Alloys, Air bags)
Dislikes:
* Ride & Handling is not at-par with Linea
* Need to stretch the thumbs to reach horn pad
* Brakes were not inspiring
* Fog lamps were just for show-off
Covered 633km (80:20 highway / city) and I managed to get 22.6kmpl (MID value, will update the actual FE after the next tank fill)
Restricting less than 2.5k rpm for the run-in period.
Attaching few snaps. Lot more the come soon.
Cheers.
Attachments
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