[ShivWason17]

I stuck to my original budget during my last car purchase, albiet going through the pre-owned route. The budget decided was 18 lakh.

It was 2020 post first wave period when I was in the hunt for a new car. I was open to SUVs & Sedans both. Options considered were as below-
1- New Creta (Wifey did not approve)
2- Kia Seltos (I did not feel comfortable in the driving seat, I am not a big fan of the infotainment system jutting out of the dashboard)
3. Harrier (Loved the looks of dark edition, but did not have the confidence of going for a 20 lakh TATA at that point of time)
4. Hector (Did not like the driving dynamics & van type looks)
5. Rapid (I really wanted to go for it and save a lot of money but again it did not feel like an upgrade from Brezza)

Verna was not considered as I have never liked that car. New Honda city & Thar were still to be launched but it was highly unlikely that I would have gone for either.

That left me with going through the pre-owned route. Checked many options before coming across a 2019 Octavia 1.8tsi L&K which was only run for 12k km. The car was listed at 18 lakh and the seller agreed at the final price of 17.25 lakh plus the commission of Cars24. The total price including RC transfer was well under 18 lakh.

The car prices have gone insane after the implementation of BS6 in 2020, the preferred models in all the above options (except Rapid) were over my budget. I feel really lucky to have found this deal within my original decided budget.

[yashg]

Originally Posted by WhiteKnight

I started with used-car route with ~18 Lakhs budget.
...
the idea was sown and now it is the matter of how deep one go into the pit. Eventually we went the deepest, with Jeep compass 4x4 S, crossing 36 lakhs on road.

Same here. Casually started looking for a replacement for my 2015 Aspire with a budget of 15L in mind. Have now (almost) made up my mind for the Compass Petrol S for 30+. Haven't jumped the gun yet. Will probably do in next few months pending blessings from the better half.

Who knows even I may end up going deepest down the rabbit hole and get the Trailhawk.

[VikramCS]

Originally Posted by GTO

Even if you go over-budget though, don't fret, as long as you got the car of your dreams. Keep it for 10 years and you'll be happy - be sure to read this article of mine on expensive cars (How a more expensive car can work out cheaper (if you hold onto it for longer)). Moderator Crazy_Driver recently jumped a full segment up from the Taigun to the Compass, but I know he's going to keep the Jeep for 10 years. Ditto with Mod Vid6639 who simply couldn't resist the allure of the Skoda Kodiaq.
[/ATTACH]

Thanks GTO. Takeaway here is it's worth stretching budget and retain the car for longer period.
I cannot vote, but, i was lucky to find a suitable car this time closer to my budget. On previous occasions, had to stretch a little. But, this idea is worth considering for future purchases

Regards

[ThePatientMan]

Voted for (way) Over Budget.

Mid-2017 - I was happily driving around my 2012 model Swift (VDi) which had done 81,000 kms + then. My daily drive was 70kms in peak Mumbai traffic and my left knee had started protesting. But the last straw on the Camel's back was on the day when it took me 3 hours to cover a distance of 35kms (Byculla to Thane in evening traffic).

Started looking for a replacement vehicle with two primary considerations :

1. Preferably full auto (TC/CVT - DSG as last option)
2. Budget - Roughly in the range of 12L

Shortlisted and test drove the following :

1. Dzire ZDI - Same engine / output as outgoing Swift, Jerky AMT + felt wafer-thin. Rejected
2. Duster - Jerky AMT which made you feel every gear change. Rejected
3. VW Ameo - Rejected because of lack of rear seat space
4. VW Vento - Was way beyond budget + the sales rep showed no signs of willingness to negotiate on rates
5. Did not consider a Skoda for its ASS horror stories

Then in Aug 2017 Hyundai launched its new-gen Verna with a Diesel + 6 Speed A/T combo. Drove it and loved it from that very instant. Booked it immediately even though it was way above my budget (cost me Rs 15.5 L on road with 2 yrs extended warranty).

The odo is currently at 56,800 kms and the car has proved to be a gem. Plan to keep it for at least 3 years more and have never regretted my purchase even though paying the large emi's really proved difficult during the two years of lockdown induced salary cuts.

[TheVegabond]

The poll result says it all!

Not only in case of cars that I purchased, I overshot the defined budget while purchasing my first 2 wheeler - I went out to buy a Hero Honda Splendor and came back home in a Bajaj Discover, a good 10k (25%) over the original budget, and yes 10k was a significant amount in 2007.

Coming to cars, in 2014 I went out to buy a Maruti Wagon R and came back in a Hyundai Grand i10 overshooting the budget by 30% this time.

2022, went out to buy a Creta/Seltos and came back in a MG Hector overshooting the budget by 30% again.




Do I regret any of these buying decisions - not at all! In fact, after these purchases, each time I drove a Spenldor, a Wagon R or a Creta/Seltos (no offense to the proud owners of these vehicles - fantastic choices in their own rights), I felt happier with my Discover, Grand i10 and Hector. Not only that I got a better value for the extra money I spent, I felt more connected to these vehicles and could keep them for much longer as well.

Now, irrespective of the fact that we absolutely love this forum, there is a striking drawback of spending hours reading all the threads - we have consciously/unconsciously become very aware and simultaneously very critical of every shortcoming that are present in the vehicles available in the market. Take the safety ratings for example - there are so many people on the forum who swayed away from a Maruti/Hyundai/Kia solely because of the poor safety ratings. Most of the people outside the Team-BHP world still do not care (maybe unaware) about the safety aspect and you see these brands leading the sales charts consistently. In an another example, one of my neighbors bought a Maruti Desire AMT and he proudly said - "bhai automatic gadi leli hai, ab Honda City bhi fail hai meri gadi ke samne" - AMT and CVT are no different to him while DSGs/DCTs and TCs are out of his league.

The point I am trying to make here is that when we go out to purchase a vehicle, one big reason we end up overshooting the budget is the attention we pay to detail of every aspect of the vehicle. We (rather I) end up getting attracted by a higher variant or a car from a higher segment and then re-adjust the budget to match the new requirement.

[SoumenD]

As expected the poll is heavily skewed towards Over-budget folks. YOLO afterall

During my new car purchase 3 years ago started with a budget of 8L. Test drove cars from 7-12L (OTR Bangalore) range. Ford Freestyle->Grand i10 AT->Nexon AMT->Ecosport AT->i20/Baleno CVT and finally settled with a Jazz CVT eventually overshooting budget by a cool 35% to 10.7L

No regrets though. Just posted 3 year update on Jazz thread. Link (Honda Jazz : Official Review)

[rachitarora1985]

Voted for "I stuck to the original budget". My current ride, Ciaz, was bought pre-owned in 2020 (Mfg year 2018, registration year 2019) from a gentleman who was shifting abroad. I could close the deal in the budget I had in mind. My previous 4 cars were all bought pre-owned by my dad who somehow always manages to find clean, less driven and hardly used cars.

[d.j]

Our car buying decision kept on postponing, so the budget as well kept revising from time to time during these last 15 years. In beginning when we arrived to the city, it was 10, moved to 20, revised to under 30 and finally paid under 40.

The first car we decided to buy was Honda Jazz in those years, paid but canceled the booking as it didn't excite much and decided to put money for other purpose.

Second we paid was Jeep Compass, at launch, but didn't like the dashboard design, gear box combination, so cancelled the booking and decided to put the money for other purpose.

Third, what we loved was Skoda Octavia, didn't pay, dropped, not sure why. Finally ended up buying Tiguan. So yes we did went up the budget, same time its very unlikely that we would do it again in future.

Regards/DJ

[Kartikaygaur]

Did not really have a budget in mind or I should say the band was quite wide. Needed a replacement for the XUV500, started with Creta and Seltos and finally bought the Innova 2.4 VX which was around 50% more than the price of Creta and Seltos variants being considered. Could have probably bought the Fortuner budget wise but the Innova seemed better suited to our use case. In fact, it was the top choice among all options under 50L.

[streetfighter]

I too had to go "over budget" but no regrets on getting the C5 Aircross. Budget wise, I was comfortable and decided that I'd go with the top end Jeep Compass, but after the test drive, the apathetic automatic gearbox and the rattling issues made me look elsewhere. Although the Citroen was a little over budget, it ticked (almost) all the things I wanted from my next car... great ride and comfort, unique looks, and decent diesel mileage. My family loved it at the first sight. Since I didn't want to go for a car loan, I had to stretch and dip into some of my emergency stock and saving; the stock market highs helped too and I plonked in all the amount in as I knew the stretch would be worth it. I keep my cars long and each drive with the C5 gives that nice happy feeling



"One Life, Live It"

[aviator47]

Totally agree with @GTO here. Initially when I was looking into buying the City 5G, my budget only allowed me to buy the base variant. But with the additional features in the top end variant, I stretched my budget from 14 to 17 lakhs. Now that I think about it, it was a good decision. I’m planning to keep the car for a long time (~10 years), and forget about 10 years, even in my 7 months of ownership, those extra 3 lakhs don’t seem much now. And the cabin experience enhanced by the additional features for those extra 3 lakhs made the budget stretch totally worth it.

[livetodrive]

Jumped from 10 Lakhs worth Ford Freestyle to 25 Lakhs Jeep compass in 2020. A whopping 60 % leap. Reasons were price bump by Ford led to cancellation and then chose Duster Turbo petrol which we dropped due to handling charges issue.

So, to avoid 10 K handling charges for a 13 Lakh car I went to buy a car 12 lakhs pricier. Absolutely makes no sense. But by that time had already fallen in love with Compass so chose to go with heart rather than brain.

[Hickstead]

I started looking for a new car with a budget of 15 Lakhs. Test drove Venue, Sonet, Brezza, Nexon size of cars and not impressed with the real estate in offer. Now booked a Creta and waiting for it. Recently started thinking about Harrier/Safari/XUV 700 as well. So, for sure will be ending up with a huge over budget car.

[r24x7]

I stuck to my original budget , but I kind of regret now after reading the articles on TBHP about how buying that bigger car today will save you money on the long run.

I was inclined to buy the Figo Aspire due to the sheer value on offer , It ticked my boxes then in all aspects such as safetly , reliability and so on.

My Dad was pushing me to get the Ecosport. Problem was I wasnt mature enough then

I thought to myself on Ecosport vs Aspire: Same TDCI engine , same 5 seater at max ; what could differ? Just to get the ecosport , I would have had to shell out close to 3 Lakhs extra for a value I did not understand then.

Now that I understand that Ecosport is simply a car better built in most aspects - Not that aspire is any less. Just that ecosport is definetly better.

Today , I already have the itch to get a bigger car. May be I wouldnt be in this situation if I had got the Ecosport.


My stance has changed since then , I have started advising people to buy that bigger car today that would not make you look for an upgrade after 5 years. PERIOD.

[rugsrags]

We all have a habit of justifying our purchases especially when it comes to cars. I can justify being shabbily dressed with old worn out clothes ( my wife is appalled whenever she goes through my closet) but I can't stop the itch to look for an upgrade every 4-5 years for my cars. I wear clothes older than my cars!!

The budget has been something which I've mostly always shot up on.

My first car was a Getz gifted by my grandfather, which was upgraded to a Optra as a hand me down replacement by my uncle (perks of a joint family). When I joined the family business my first earning to the kitty was awarded by a budget of 8 lacs which was used to purchase a pre owned Honda Civic. Probably the only time I stayed under budget. I sold the Optra for 4 lacs and used only a quarter of the budget to upgrade myself to something so much better. Can still see the satisfied looks on my dad's and grandad's faces.. they have brought up their kid with monetary values in place, which are oh so important in small scale family run setup (or so they thought, boy were they wrong)

My next vehicle was a change i'd planned along with changes in life and had decided on an upgrade at the time of my marriage. Went around with a budget of 12-14 lacs as a replacement of my civic. Bought myself an Octavia instead at 22!

Since i'd crossed the threshold barrier of 20 big ones it was but natural to try and maintain myself there so at the time of my next vehicle decided on a budget of 20 and bought myself a CRV at 33.5 post discounts!!

Now the itch is raring again, my car is listed on the classifieds, change isn't really needed but I've thought of a budget of 30 and have been speaking to the sales people at Mercedes!! So I really don't know where I might stretch myself to as in today's scenario I already know nothing is going to be anywhere close to what i've thought my budget to be!!

In the meanwhile, while I was at it for myself I applied the same flawed budgetary concept for my dad too. At the time of replacement of his Scorpio with another Scorpio ( If he likes something his logic is that why not get another of the same likeable thing, the change only for a refreshed feel) I got him a Rexton instead. And in place of his Rexton the only logical vehicle was a Fortuner though he wanted to come back to a Scorpio again!

He's always had a sedan along with his SUV's so he had a second gen Accord, followed by a Camry, followed by the last gen Accord which I'd sold a few years back and I'm now going to use that as an excuse to up the budget and get home (hopefully) a Merc E or a practical Camry!! (Wishful thinking but just makes one realise the justifications one is able to come up with to get what one wants)