[aveoman19]

I did read someone talk about buying a car based on the country of origin. To me, I am totally fine if any of my friends or family members buy Chinese cars. No judgements passed and if you're ok with it, then by all means. Make sure you throw a treat for your new car and I will happily join.

If it is my own money that is being used to buy a new car, especially given the current scenario, I would steer clear from using or buying anything Chinese, let alone automobiles. Again. The situation would have been different, had it not been the incident that shocked many of us in Ladakh. To be honest, pre 2020, I was considering a ZS EV for the family. Anyway, now that I've addressed the elephant in the room, here goes my reasons why I would overlook cars as of 2021.

1. Country of Origin: Yes. Already addressed. Anything Chinese will be ignored by me. My first preference will be something homegrown. If not, Japanese, followed by European and Korean.

2. Safety: Any car that performs poorly when it comes to crash ratings will be overlooked by me. I also reject cars that still come with lap belts in the centre rear seats. If in 2021, a car company has the audacity to give those lame lap belts, they don't deserve my money.

3. Torque: I love the rush of torque. I am a torque addict. I generally don't think twice before rejecting a car that has poor low end torque. I'm still ok if the feeling of torque is acceptable. An exception in this case is a High revving Honda engine.

4. Gearbox: I don't like AMTs, CVTs and IMTs. I'm Ok with Manual gearbox, a traditional torque converter automatic or a Dual Clutch gearbox.

5. AWD/4WD in SUVs: If I'm in the market for an SUV, as a rule of thumb, I don't consider "SUVs" without 4 Wheel Drive or All Wheel Drive. I would rather buy a premium or entry level luxury Sedan for the same money.

That leaves me with only few choices as I don't have a heavy industrialist or celebrity surname

Hatchback/Crossover: XUV300 W8 (O).
Sedan: Honda City ZX (the new gen).
Premium Sedan: Almost all of them would be considered except the Hyundai Elantra as it has a lap belt.
The only car in Hyundai that I would consider buying is the Hyundai Tucson Diesel AWD since it ticks almost all the boxes.
SUV: Almost all of them except MG Gloster for reasons already discussed.
There ends my budget and my search

[kamilharis]

Great topic to start a thread!

For some reason, I hate going with a mainstream brand or model, be it anything starting from mobile phones to Automobiles. For eg. I have used mobile phones from Siemens, Onida, Lenovo, Asus, Xiaomi, Honor, hTC etc but I never wanted to own a Samsung or Apple because 7 out of 10 around me own either of that!

When I was in the market to get the first bike for me, I had choices in Unicorn, Pulsar, Apache, etc with the budget I had. But I went with a CBF 125 (Honda Stunner) as I felt some exclusivity in that bike.

Similarly, when I was in the market to get my first new car, I had numerous options in Japanese and Koreans but I picked up a CHANGAN EADO, yes it's Chinese!

[krishnakarthik1]

Brand perception. How can you spend 20 lakhs on a Tata was the universal question.

People laughed at me when I told them that I was going to buy a Hexa. They did everything to stop me. Some even contemplated taking me to a Psychologist.

But it has been the best vehicle I have ever owned. So good that it's really tough to find a real upgrade. My purchase decision was based on my simple requirements which were, most safe and spacious diesel automatic less than 20 lakhs.

[KGS]

100% agreed . Buying an automobile in India comes with multiples factors that are considered or ignored.

An additional point in my opinion that sometime the brand ambassadors or the celebrities in ads also affect our decision.

When I was a teenager, my father was looking to buy a new bike to replace our 1978 Rajdoot. 100-125 cc was sufficient for us. Options we checked were Hero Honda Splendour & Passion and TVS Victor. (That time Hero and Honda were still together)

My vote was in favour of TVS Victor because :
1. Our neighbour had Hero Honda bike, so we should not copy him.
2. Sachin was the face of TVS Victor ads. ( I know , I know silly reason to select any bike )

Similar, was the case when we were buying our first car . Cars considered Maruti Suzuki Swift and Hyundai i20. With overwhelming majority of all votes (only one friend consulted) going to i20, I purchased it.

Looking at that time I think how naive I was. Even though I don't regret my purchases and they served my very well. Now I am much better informed and know my needs better. If I will purchase a new car today, I will do much extensive comparison and select a car based on it's merits .

[ashtrix]

Very interesting thread. Reasons why we buy a particular car or reject it can be very unique and interesting.

When I bought my first car it was a pre-owned Maruti 800 from my brother. Reason 1- I got the most reliable and reasonable deal and 2 - thought it better to set my hands at driving on an old car rather than brand new.

I replaced my Maruti with a Honda City and my shortlists at that time were Esteem, City and Corolla. Esteem was phasing out and Corolla was too big an upgrade from A to D segment and also its low mileage deterred me.

My next car was S Cross 1.6 Diesel. The built quality of S Cross and performance and fuel efficiency of its 1.6 diesel together with its ride quality, handling and braking really really impressed me. Also I was fed up with quarterly service of Honda City and its low ground clearance so sedans were not on my radar this time. My other shortlists were Creta and Duster. Creta was expensive and it's rear seats were claustrophobic and Duster guys never came for test drive despite several follow ups for almost 2 months. Team BHP reviews also influenced and helped in shortlisting and finalizing.

Now I am again in the market with a limited budget so no upgrade. No sedans for the same reason of low ground clearance. Jeep Compass, Innova Crysta and Tata Harrier are way too expensive. Creta SX and above are also very expensive and lower models dont have same safety features. And I dont want to be the only guy in town owning a Nissan Kick. Looks like I will continue driving an S Cross perhaps the Petrol this time.

[chinmaypillay]

If I had my way, I would be driving an Abarth Punto now as it is a true blue "car" with passion. But it has to be overlooked due to the family and continuous long distance touring consideration, thus Xylo in the garage And when the family gets used to such real estate, it is difficult to make them sit in smaller cars or low slung sedans.

When we were shopping for a first car few years back, Brio was actually the main hatchback we were looking and had almost finalised everything. But at the last moment, we just thought why not get a diesel and a little bigger form car, and we got the Figo. No regrets and the only reason Figo was sold was the above mentioned upgrade.

Maybe in the future would get a used Abarth as a second car just to satisfy my thirst. Hopeful and fingers crossed

[Rajeev.Ayyappan]

When I was looking for a replacement for my civic in 2016, I finalized the Superb and Elantra. Weeks of research and scouring team BHP later, I decided to go with the Elantra for the single reason of reliability and ASS of Hyundai. Every other parameter put the superb ahead (both were within my budget). And my gut feeling was reinforced later. In 2018, while on a road trip, the cars brakes were giving a grinding noise 100 km from my destination. I stopped at the nearest town and looked up Hyundai service Centres. There were three between my location and the destination. The brakes were changed in a couple of hours and I was on my way. The same situation with Skoda would have left me stranded.

I believe reliability plays a very important role in choice of cars in India where help may not be readily available

[ManneAtWheelz]

Originally Posted by GTO

- Admit it, we care a lot about what our family / friends / neighbours think

This is where I got succumbed to my family preference and got a Marazzo, else I would have been riding a Scorpio now, though the earlier car is also a good one to ride with. After all, personal peace of life is also important (if you understood what I mean by )

[charanreddy]

Here are my "exclusion criteria". I stay away from outliers and excesses. Let me explain.

1. Only Automatic : When I was scouting for a car 2+ years ago, A manual was a strict NO, given Bangalore traffic and my daily office runs. No point getting a manual just to prove one is a car nut. Prefer convenience and ease of use any day over bling / Cred.

2. No to manufacturers not invested enough in Indian market or are market failures : This ruled out the Skodas, VWs, Nissan, Datsun etc. Burnt my hands with Chevrolet, not going there anytime soon.

3. No Ugly ducklings (Both exterior and interior) : My first test drive in the Brezza was a major put off. Its just not a million rupee car. My Chevrolet beat had better interior.

4. No Unsafe cars : When I am spending a million rupees +, this goes with out saying. Will not touch lower range cars from the Maruti stables for this reason.

5. No White Elephants : I have heard Hyundai petrols giving single digit mileage. Just not acceptable.

6. No excesses : Stick to a pre identified budget. No cross shopping from two segments above and drowning in debt.

7. No Mechanically unsorted cars : Absolutely detested driving a Zen Estillo. Love the original Zen (owned one for a brief period of time). My test drive of the Amaze felt dynamically unsorted with a lot of wallowing over uneven roads. Not acceptable.

[Fury]

Something i noticed here in kerala is when we ask someone who always sticks with Maruti Suzuki cars on why the same brand, the first answer that pops out is "Resale". Ironically, in 99% of the situations, these people use the car for 10 years or more and will only sell if it starts throwing up issues. It is also close to impossible to convince such a person to move to a better car from a different brand that would probably suite his needs more and this stubbornness is due to a factor that in the long run would hardly give him any considerable monetary gain over choosing a better but less popular car.

I hope the coming generations would move away from such mindsets and choose whats best for their use regardless of the brand or country of origin.

[francisvellara]

I think this thread is great as a source of takeaways regarding how to go on about buying a car.

1. Read multiple reviews.
2. Test drive the cars. It's another thing to 'feel' the kick in of an i-VTEC or the plantedness of a German car.
3. Don't let anyone else decide what's fun for you. I thought automatics would be boring but our current car is an automatic and I enjoy driving it more than any other car so far.
4. Don't be hesitant to explore different manufacturers. If you really are convinced that they are not worth it, a test drive should only break or reinforce that opinion.
5. Don't take advice from people who are not experts but consider themselves to be.
6. In the end, it's your car and the only thing that matters is how much you enjoy the ownership of it.

In other words, it's easy to have biases, but don't let them prevent you from trying out cars.

[rajshenoy]

According to me, we tend to overlook brands that have had inconsistent service experience and it indicates lack of commitment to our market.

There is a reason why people prefer a Maruti or Hyundai over the likes of Nissan due to their perceived ease of maintenance due to large service network. We have seen GM pack their bags for the same reason as well.

I remember overlooking TATA brand(Swift vs Indigo) due to inconsistent service experience and have been hearing lot of promising improvements by the company in this regard. I almost(confidently) bought a Harrier but then lack of automatic made me look elsewhere.

KIA's great success has demonstrated that we are willing to take risk with a new comer.

[ScorpioYadav]

I, personally, steer clear of any manufacturer who provides the Wiper & Indicator stalks not as per Indian driving habits (wiper stalk on left & indicator one on the right side).
Being a marketing student & customer service professional, I, somehow, have this perception that what kind of a customer service can be expected from a co. which is arrogant enough to not customise its products according to the local requirements/habits ??
So, based on this rationale, I vehemently opposed my brother buying a Figo (1st Gen) & my father following suit with a 1st Gen EcoSport. And Ford was the recipient of the choicest expletives whenever I drove my Santro Xing after their Fords & the Wipers were put on instead of the turn indicators !! However, Ford did customize their stalks as per the Indian habits but now the news of their handing over their operations to M&M would again make people apprehensive of giving them an opportunity.

The service experience & reliability are huge factors for which Tata has to suffer a lot and had to fight hard based on the merits of their products & have only now started to alter the people’s perceptions about them gradually, however, it will still take their dealers & ASC personnel a long time to completely make Tata an automobile brand which the customers can opt for with their eyes closed.
When asked why he didn’t consider the Tata Zest before buying a Swift Dzire, a friend of my brother replied - Tata ki gaadiyon ka budhaapa achchha nahin hota. (Tata vehicles don’t age well).
Similarly, I was smitten by the Nexon right from the time it was showcased in the Auto Expo as a concept & in 2017, upon its launch, took a cousin to a Tata showroom & despite the product not having any shortcomings, he was trying to be nit-picky & find faults so as to alter my liking for the product. He even took me to a Maruti showroom to show a Brezza right after the Tata showroom & coming from the Nexon’s dashboard & interior, was immediately put off by the bland, non-appealing one on the Brezza. Despite that, still Brezza does double the nos. of the Nexon.

Another small thing which puts me off is the cost-cutting by the manufacturers & only providing the reversing lights on only one side of the rear of the vehicle. Looks very poor & ruins the symmetry of the vehicle. How much money do they save by removing a wire & a bulb assembly ??

Similarly, the space saving spare wheel provided is also a real put-off & again looks like a poor effort in cost-cutting.

These are all subjective issues & vary in each one’s case but these do play a part in considering or excluding a manufacturer/brand/model from one’s consideration set.