[jessie007]

Diesel hatchback ready reckoner

With a plethora of diesel hatchbacks in the market now, the car buyer is confused as to which one to choose. In this comparison I’ve compared the main diesel hatchbacks on various parameters, ranging from the vehicle’s cost, features available, servicing and running cost and even the resale value.

Following are all the parameters in detail on which the vehicles are compared:

1) Vehicle cost (Approx Rs 5.5-6 lakhs price range ex-showroom price Delhi)*
2) Technical specifications (Note: Kerb weight is variant specific)
3) Features set (only the main/major ones)
4) ARAI mileage
5) Warranty & free service details
6) Servicing cost (till 50,000 kms) – from ownership reviews by BHPians
7) Running cost (taken as 75% of ARAI mileage for 50,000 kms)
8) Overall cost of ownership (running + servicing cost) at 50,000 kms
9) Resale value (at 3 years & 30,000 kms) – from CarWale.com (Good condition, Individual seller)
10) Net ownership cost (Cost price + Running cost + Service cost – resale value) for 30,000 kms – In this case all parameters are for 30,000 kms (not 50,000 kms).

Notes

• It is to be noted that I’m considering resale value at 3 years & 30,000 kms for both petrol & diesel cars, but in essence people buying a diesel car would ideally run the car for a minimum of 50,000 kms before selling, whereas petrol cars are generally bought by those with lesser running and hence are generally sold at a lower mileage vis-a-vis a diesel car.
• The registration and insurance cost is taken as 5% each for both as a rough figure. Diesel hatchbacks less than 4 metres in length and engine capacity below 1500 CC are taxed at 5% of the ex-showroom cost and the insurance is also around this mark. For petrol Swift & i20, both are taken as 4%.
• All major parameters are colour graded (green-good, orange-average, red-bad) via conditional formatting to highlight each car’s standing within the segment
• Comparison of higher variants with safety features (ABS & Airbags) will follow soon (Rs 6-7 lakhs)

Features

• All the variants have the basic feature set – HVAC & power steering

• Other features comparison:

a. All cars have atleast central locking (Figo, Liva, Swift & Vista have remote locking; Micra even has keyless entry & push button start)
b. All cars have front power windows (Liva, Micra, Sail U-VA, Swift & Vista have rear power windows also)
c. Figo, Micra, Sail U-VA, Swift & Vista have electrically adjustable ORVMs
d. Music system is offered in the Figo (plus bluetooth), Punto, Micra & Vista (plus bluetooth)
e. On the safety front, the Liva, Sail U-VA & Vista have ABS, and the Micra has an airbag for the driver (no ABS though)

• It is to be noted that in addition, the Vista even has front fog-lamps, height adjustable driver’s seat, 60:40 split folding rear seat, rear wash/wipe and defogger

Servicing

• For servicing cost details, preference has been given to scanned bills and seniority of BHPians and their vehicles.

• Preference is given to more recent servicing cost

• In the attached excel sheet that follows, one can click on any hyper-linked service cost and it will take you to the thread where the service cost of that particular vehicle has been mentioned by a fellow BHPian

• Servicing cost is taken as per BHPians reviews. Even though the overall cost might be higher due to non-scheduled service related expenses, but I’ve considered only the core expenses of parts / labour as mandated by the manufacturer for that particular service. So essentially a scheduled service will include changing oil, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter change plus the labour charges. The cost of engine flushing, decarbonising, brake pads change is not included. However, the cost of coolant, brake & clutch fluid, transaxle/gear oil change is included as per the service schedule at 20/30/40k kms.

• For Liva and Micra, the service cost for the Etios & Sunny respectively have been considered as there are no service records for these hatchbacks on Team BHP for a period of 30,000+ kms. Since both the cars share engines with their sedan siblings (Sunny albeit with a VGT) the cost is assumed to be similar. I’ve taken Rs 1200 as labour charges post the free service period and Rs 1200 extra for services at 20,000 km interval (i.e. 20k & 40k kms service) towards the extra cost of changing coolant, brake & clutch fluid and transaxle/gear oil.

• There are no records of some services (highlighted in red font), so if any BHPian has the bill for that service please tell me the amount, so that I can update accordingly

• With a running of 50,000 kms, cars with a 15,000 kms service interval (Polo & Punto) will require only 3 services whereas cars with a 10,000 kms interval will require 5 services

• Important point to note is that other than the Swift and Punto there are no or few reviews of any other diesel hatchback having run for over 50,000 kms. Though it is understandable as some are recent launches. Vista is the only other vehicle to have more high mileage / long-term ownership reviews.

• Standard manufacturer’s warranty is considered, even though one can opt for extended warranty. Hyundai & Maruti are most stingy in terms of mileage during warranty period – mileage is important as diesel cars are usually bought by those raking up a lot of kilometres

Some Insights

• If one runs a diesel hatchback for 50,000 kms the cost difference in servicing is not much between the cars. If we consider it as a percentage of the vehicle’s purchase cost, the percentage of service cost vis-a-vis the cars ex-showroom price (Delhi) varies between 2.6% (Vista) to 5.5% (Polo)

• On the other hand the percentage of fuel expenses w.r.t. to the total cost (vehicle on-road cost + service + fuel) is quite significant and varies between 26-30% over 50,000 kms

• The total cost (running + servicing) per kilometre varies between Rs 3.05/km (Liva) & Rs. 3.59/km (Figo)

Other Parameters

• Petrol and diesel prices taken at Rs 70 & Rs 50 respectively as a round figure, as per the current prices in Delhi (Rs 69 & 49 approx)

• Difference between petrol and diesel prices is down to 30% (Rs 20 approx)

• It is to be noted that the difference between the ARAI mileage of the lowest (Figo 20 kmpl) & the highest (Liva 23.60 kmpl) is 15% and the difference on running cost over 50,000 kms will be around Rs 25,000 – which is not a huge difference if one considers it as a percentage of the cost price of the car itself (at around Rs 6 lakhs).

• If we consider the resale value, there is a difference in the overall cost of ownership (including the on-road price of the car) between the highest (Punto) and lowest (Figo) at around Rs 50,000. Here the initial purchase cost and resale value really comes into play. The Swift diesel has an incredible resale value and the Punto (& even the Vista) lag behind due to quality issues & suspect After Sales Service. Real world resale value may differ according to various market dynamics, so this is just a guess-estimate. On the other hand the Figo is quite competitive due to its low purchase price (on-road cost).

Diesel vs. Petrol

The current petrol or diesel car conundrum is there in every car buyer’s mind. With the price of diesel increasing and a difference of around 1 lakhs between a similarly specced petrol & diesel variants, it seems diesel cars might lose their sheen soon. Even though the break-even in terms of kilometres driven might seem significant, but if one considers resale value (estimated) the break-even distance comes down substantially. This is mainly due to the recent strengthening of diesel vehicles' resale prices, which might not be sustainable in the long term with the government finally biting the bullet and allowing diesel prices to rise in small increments as per market dynamics.

• I’ve compared Swift petrol as well to give a fair idea of the ownership cost of petrol versus a diesel. The Swift is the most popular, powerful and fuel efficient petrol hatch (with both petrol & diesel variants), therefore it is considered. Swift along with i20, together contribute to majority of car sales within their segment.

• Difference between petrol and diesel prices is down to 30% (Rs.20)

• Break-even can be calculated with or without considering the difference in resale value of petrol & diesel variants. If we consider the resale value then the break-even distance comes down substantially

• Diesel engines are inherently more fuel efficient (thermal efficiency between 40-50% versus 25-30% for petrol) and less susceptible to sudden drop in mileage under hard acceleration or frequent stop and go traffic (i.e. low engine speeds & in lower gears), as they produce most of its torque at low engine speeds (1500-3000 RPM). On the other hand, driving a petrol engine car (with similar displacement) with a heavy foot or at low engine speeds (i.e. in lower gears) results in a higher penalty in terms of fuel consumption as the torque is comparatively quite low and peak power is achieved at a higher RPM range (4000-6000 RPM). Also car variants with diesel engines give a mileage which is very near to the ARAI mileage with a normal driving style as compared to petrol car variants which require a consciously economical / efficient style of driving to achieve mileage which is similarly near the ARAI mileage. Have personally experienced the same with my diesel Punto and sister’s Santro.

• It is to be noted than sales of diesel cars outnumber those of petrol ones in a mature market like Europe, where the price of diesel fuel is slightly higher than petrol.

• I have mentioned segment averages (green column) for most parameters considered. One can easily compare a particular car’s parameters with that of the segment average to ascertain whether it is above or below segment average

Resale

Resale is a debatable topic and is purely driven by the prevailing market dynamics. Following are some of the points regarding resale value. I have checked resale prices from carwale.com and in some cases made an informed assumption in case of cars that have been launched within the past three years.

• Resale value of Liva and Micra are just estimates (Jan 2011 at 30,000 kms value less Rs 50,000 – this amount has been arrived by checking the resale for say Ford Figo in the same year and calculating the difference in resale value)

• For the Swift – resale value of non-ABS ‘V’ variants has been considered

• Due to the model nomenclature change the resale value of Aura ABS has been considered for the Vista

P.S. I've done so many calculations that there are chances of some errors. Dear BHPians, please report any anomalies to me, so that it can be corrected accordingly. Thanks

[jessie007]

A snapshot of the comparison sheet, followed by an excel sheet of the same:

• Please note one can enter the number of kilometres travelled in cell B51 to arrive at the running cost (fuel efficiency as per 75% of ARAI) for that many kilometres travelled.
• Similarly one can also alter the price of the fuel (as prevailing in your city) in cells B63 (Diesel) & B64 (Petrol).
• Please note that the same will not hold true for Total running cost as we are considering servicing for 50,000 kms, though one can add up the cost oneself depending on the kilometres travelled - e.g. for 45,000 kms one can add up the service cost as follows:

1) For cars with 10,000 kms service interval - add the cost of first four services
2) For cars with 15,000 kms service interval - add the cost of first three services



Grand-Comparo1.xlsx

[thoma]

Originally Posted by jessie007

...

Great effort! Though I couldn't go through all the info, for the buyer, it indeed is a true ready reckoner.

Surprised to see that the i20 having more turning radius than the Punto. While test driving, I felt that the Punto had to be steered like a boat, in terms of turning circle, not steering feedback.

A couple of clarifications regarding the Micra. The Micra XV diesel do have the tachometer. Please can you cross-check the brochure? My brochure says so. Another thing is the ground clearance of the Micra. I had been searching online for the same and couldn't find it. Can you share with me from where you got the GC of Micra to be 149? My sales executive had been maintaining it to be 170, but even the brochure do not speak about GC.

The Ritz, Beat, Pulse and the Indica would have completed the quorum.

[jessie007]

Thanks Thoma.

You are right in a way, as the older Punto (pre 2012) had a greater turning circle than the i20 at 10.8 m. But in the 2012 variants its has been reduced to 10 m and also the ground clearance has been increased from 171 mm to 185 mm

Thanks for your inputs on the Micra. You are correct - the XV variant does have a tachometer. I'll correct the same in the sheet in due course. No mention of the Ground Clearance in Micra's brochure but it is stated as 149mm for diesel and 154mm for petrol on Team BHP's official reviews and on most sites and magazines, so it should be around that much only, unless Nissan has increased it.

As far as the speel from car salesman is concerned, they are only interested in selling a car and would go to any length to convince the buyer. I feel, we as BHPians are more knowledgeable than the average car salesman/advisor.

It is not possible to include all cars in the comparison. But the Ritz should be similar to Swift with a slightly lower purchase price and a lower resale as well, compared to the Swift. Pulse and Micra should also be similar with the Pulse having a slight disadvantage of a higher cost price with the same engine as in the Micra and similar features set - Renault's servicing cost could also be slightly higher than that of Nissan's, but since its a new launch, no data is available for the same. The Beat is a segment lower and the Vista is already there, whereas the old Indica is mostly considered by taxi buyers nowadays.

[a4anurag]

Good effort Jessie007.

Nice insight and a comparo with the biggest fight of the time for any buyer with respect to fuel prices and the car to buy.

Many of them keep buying a diesel and drive low as the refuelling cost is low. Rs 50 per liter compared to Rs 72 for petrol.

Diesels are savers in the long run if usage is more. I have been driving a Diesel Ritz for the past two years and completed 80000kms recently. I just love the car and the constant mileage it returns and I service the car every 3 months roughly (3300kms/month).

[jessie007]

As mentioned in my first post, following is the comparison of higher variants of diesel hatchbacks in the Rs 6-7 lakhs price range (approx ex-showroom cost Delhi)

Features

• Punto, i20, Micra, Polo & Swift have Automatic Climate Control
• All cars remote locking & immobilizer. Micra even has true keyless entry & push button start
• All cars except Figo have front & rear power windows. It is to be noted that Sail has power window controls on the centre console at the front
• Music system is offered in all cars except Liva. Figo, Punto, i20, Sail-UVA & Vista even have plus bluetooth, which is a notable omission in Swift & Micra
• All cars have electrically adjustable ORVMs – i20 & Micra also have a mirror retract/close feature
• Only the Punto, Polo, Swift & Vista have height adjustable driver seat
• ABS with EBD is standard in all cars except the Micra. The i20 even has disc brakes on the rear wheels
• On the safety front all cars have driver & passenger airbags except i20* & Micra that have driver side airbag only. Here the Vista lags as it doesn’t have any airbags in the VX variant, though one can pay about 84,000 more and get them, in addition to a touch-screen multimedia system with SAT-NAV & DVD, Automatic Climate Control & Alloys – which seems to be a pretty good VFM package

*It is to be noted that i20 has both front airbags in its Asta variant which is considerably more expensive than the cars being compared in this comparison. i20’s Asta (O) variant even has side & curtain airbags – the only car in its segment to have 6 airbags

Resale

• Resale value of Emotion Pack is considered for the Punto
• For Swift diesel – resale value of ABS ‘V’ variant plus Rs 65,000 (difference between Vdi & Vxi) has been considered, as ‘Z’ variant was not available then
• Due to the model nomenclature change the resale value of Aura + (plus Rs 20,000 added for the D90 engine) has been considered for the Vista



Grand-Comparo2.xlsx

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Indian Car Scene. Thanks for sharing!

[SKavuri]

Originally Posted by jessie007

As mentioned in my first post, following is the comparison of higher variants of diesel hatchbacks in the Rs 6-7 lakhs price range (approx ex-showroom cost Delhi)

Features

• Punto, i20, Micra & Swift have Automatic Climate Control
• All cars remote locking & immobilizer. Micra even has true keyless entry & push button start
• All cars except Figo have front & rear power windows. It is to be noted that Sail has power window controls on the centre console at the front
• Music system is offered in all cars except Liva. Figo, Punto, i20, Sail-UVA & Vista even have plus bluetooth, which is a notable omission in Swift & Micra
• All cars have electrically adjustable ORVMs – i20 & Micra also have a mirror retract/close feature
• Only the Punto, Polo, Swift & Vista have height adjustable driver seat
• ABS is standard in all cars except the Micra
• On the safety front all cars have driver & passenger airbags except i20* & Micra that have driver side airbag only. Here the Vista lags as it doesn’t have any airbags in the VX variant, though one can pay about 84,000 more and get them, in addition to a touch-screen multimedia system with SAT-NAV & DVD, Automatic Climate Control & Alloys – which seems to be a pretty good VFM package

*It is to be noted that i20 has both front airbags in its Asta variant which is considerably more expensive than the cars being compared in this comparison. i20’s Asta (O) variant even has side & curtain airbags – the only car in its segment to have 6 airbags

Resale

• Resale value of Emotion Pack is considered for the Punto
• For Swift diesel – resale value of ABS ‘V’ variant plus Rs 65,000 (difference between Vdi & Vxi) has been considered, as ‘Z’ variant was not available then
• Due to the model nomenclature change the resale value of Aura + (plus Rs 20,000 added for the D90 engine) has been considered for the Vista

Thanks jessie007 for the very useful comparison.
From the spreadsheet one could figure out the amount of time and effort spent for this.
The attachment below the picture is meant for downloading? I tried but all I see is garbled text.

[jessie007]

Originally Posted by SKavuri

Thanks jessie007 for the very useful comparison.
From the spreadsheet one could figure out the amount of time and effort spent for this.
The attachment below the picture is meant for downloading? I tried but all I see is garbled text.

Yes the attachment is meant for downloading. Instead of just opening the excel, try and save it first and then open.

The highlight of the excel sheet is that each service cost is hyper-linked to a page detailing fellow BHPians real service cost - most of the posts are with cost break-ups. For the overall servicing and cost of ownership calculation, I've taken into account real service cost as incurred by BHPians for their vehicle's servicing at various intervals.

Punto's GC has been wrongly mentioned as 171 mm; now, it is enhanced to 195 mm for 1.2 FIRE petrol version and 185 mm for 1.3 MJD.

http://www.fiat-india.com/specifications/?vehicle=Punto

[jessie007]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Punto's GC has been wrongly mentioned as 171 mm; now, it is enhanced to 195 mm.

http://www.fiat-india.com/specifications/?vehicle=Punto

Thanks for correcting. But since diesel variants are being considered, the ground clearance is actually 185 mm (195 mm is only for the 1.2 litre petrol variant).

[tbppjpr]

Polo also started coming with auto AC.

And there is warranty of 50 months/150K kms mentioned about Punto, is the extended warranty included there or that is stock warranty of Punto? If that is ext. warranty than other cars also come with option of extended warranty so that should also be included.

[jessie007]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

Polo also started coming with auto AC.

And there is warranty of 50 months/150K kms mentioned about Punto, is the extended warranty included there or that is stock warranty of Punto? If that is ext. warranty than other cars also come with option of extended warranty so that should also be included.

Thanks for pointing it out. VW has made so many feature additions and deletions in Polo & Vento, that this recent addition skipped my mind. I'll amend the same in due course.

Regarding the warranty for the Punto - it is the standard warranty only. The same is mentioned in their latest brochure atleast. I also got the same when I purchased mine in 2011. I've mentioned standard warranty only for all cars in the comparison.

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by jessie007

Regarding the warranty for the Punto - it is the standard warranty only. The same is mentioned in their latest brochure atleast. I also got the same when I purchased mine in 2011. I've mentioned standard warranty only for all cars in the comparison.

Please do check your warranty literature again, AFAIK there isn't any manufacturer in India who gives standard warranty of 50 months. It must be standard + extended warranty in your case. Even the Fiat website is showing 24 months warranty.

Please cross cheek all the data and post current updated date so that this thread doesn't end up turning into misguiding one.

[jessie007]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

Please do check your warranty literature again, AFAIK there isn't any manufacturer in India who gives standard warranty of 50 months. It must be standard + extended warranty in your case. Even the Fiat website is showing 24 months warranty.

Please cross cheek all the data and post current updated date so that this thread doesn't end up turning into misguiding one.

I've taken most of the information for manufacturer's websites and brochures and tried to give facts only. It is true that some aspects are changed by car manufacturers from time to time. I didn't find the warranty clause on FIAT India's website, but found the same in their brochure and mentioned it. They were earlier offering 50 months warranty plus RSA (Road Side Assistance) as standard. Though in the fine print it is mentioned that 24 months is standard warranty & additional 26 months is offered by a third party - but the consumer did get 50 months warranty at the end of the day 'without' having to shell out extra. Here is a screenshot of the same:



I have 3-4 brochures of the Punto - from 2011 to 2013. In trying to find the warranty clause, the above attached sheet was in mind. But in their latest brochure the warranty clause is mentioned but as a very fine print. The latest brochure does in fact mention a warranty of 2 years only but with 'UNLIMITED' mileage. So I guess they have reduced the duration but given unlimited mileage as a trade-off. So I do stand corrected and I'll amend the same in due course. It is for this very reason I've mentioned in my post that any anomalies be reported to me so that the correct picture is presented.

With 24 months warranty, the Liva & Sail U-VA better it as they offer a 36 month warranty, but the Unlimited Mileage warranty offered by FIAT for the Punto, is still the best in the cars being compared in this comparison - though it is highly unlikely that anyone will manage doing 1,50,000 kms in two years, but it reaffirms the manufacturer's commitment and confidence in their product.

Here is a screenshot of the same: