[supertinu]

I also voted over budget. Though I havnt gone dramatically over budget with my last 2 purchases of Figo and XUV500, I did decide to buy the top variant in place of mid variants. For XUV500 at the time W8 was about 2lacs extra over W6 but all the features made complete sense and I am glad I didnt skimp out. For future also I sort of have decided to buy top variants of the car I choose.

[TheWall]

Voted Underbudget.

Have upgraded to a Honda City from a Polo GT TSI last year.
The main reason for upgrade was space. None of the VAG 2.0 products excited me.
Was looking to book a Honda City VX CVT with a budget of around 15-16 lakhs.
Purchased V MT for 2 reasons.
1. Driving CVT after being spoiled by the DSG felt like a downgrade. Honda City MT is super smooth, clutch is super light and it is just felt so easy even though going back to a manual from DSG.
2. Sunroof was a no-no since I cannot stop my kids from peeping out of it when I'm busy driving.
Except for the sunroof and digital instrument cluster you don't miss a lot.
Saved a cool 2-3 lakhs too. Super happy with the purchase.

[saurabhgupta710]

Voted: Under budget

We are first time car owners and drivers, too! As a matter of fact, I learnt driving in Oct'20 to ensure i know how and also to have a 4WLR driving license.

In the start of 2021, we were looking for: Hatchback with at least 4 star safety rating, and under 7L OTR (non-negotiable, without any accessories, EW/AMC etc.).
Eyed: Tata Tiago XT - bs6 1.2L petrol engine, settled for the same.

While, being very very conservative, i was trying to not bet much money since i have never really been in the driving seat and wasn't sure if I will really use the car.
Looked at pre-owned route, the costs of cars that we could like/shortlist were as much as 80% of new car (Spinny, Mahindra First Choice, Local Market, FB Ads, Olx, etc.).
So we decided to take the plunge and start to look for a new car instead. Settled happily with the car that we eyed, with some good negotiations and discounts for price ~10% less than the planned budget (without any accessories, EW/AMC etc.).

Even after adding on a bunch of accessories, there' a window for us to reach the initially set budget.

[gomnivazca]

Falling under all the brackets on my 3 cars.
1. Under Budget : Original plan was to buy New Altroz Diesel but ended up pickup a used Figo Diesel from my friend (This is more of postponing my new car purchase plan )
2. Planned Budget : 2013 Nano
3. Over Budget : Back in 2016 i wanted to buy another Nano, but was found the prices were up by 30% compared to my 2013 purchase. So ended up buying an Alto Lxi

[thmsfrnnd]

Under budget!!

Wanted to get my hands on XUV 700 but ended up buying a Honda city zx version. Saving money to invest in a property.

Looking to purchase a pre-owned Mahindra Thar in the next 3 years. I am sure many would have bought it for fun and adventure and few of them now realize how impractical (family use) it is. Hope to find one in a good condition!!!

[doomketu]

Somehow ended up within budget. When i got the car in 2019, i was setting a modest budget of 8.5L based on financial stability and savings plan. Heart wanted a Rapid and wife wanted a duster ( we almost booked the Entry level duster for 11) but saner minds prevailed and we settled for the Dzire.
No regrets at all. Maybe in the next few years once we start the inevitable hunt for the car , who knows if we will manage to be disciplined.

The thought process at the time was to get a car immediately as it became the need of the hour , with Prominent points allocated to it being an Automatic for wifes benefit and an easy to maintain car.

what helped us stay in budged was the overall costs we associate with the ownership and usage per month that we attribute to it. With this as a baseline we managed to avoid the allure of the rapid or the Duster.

[SJM1214]

For my two cars. I knew what exactly, I was looking for. According to my budget, the cars (Brezza and Ertiga) were finalized and bought precisely. We had to go out of budget for the father/wife's car. We started considering a Wagon R and ended up buying a WRV Petrol. That was way out of budget.

[rideon74]

Voted over budget. Though in my case, there's a twist: I feel I hadn't gone over budget enough.

Shouldn't have let my head (& the Mrs.) rule over my heart in the last round of deliberations leading to the Kushaq. Should've just gone for 1.5L MT variant. That said, the 1.0L MT I presently own is a ton o'fun, but there are times when I think back and...

Anyways, the next time I'm going to ensure I win the final round of the heart vs. head (& wifey) battle

[KiloAlpha]

Voted for "Stuck to original budget".

BUT
To begin with, I decide which segment is affordable to me, and this is a very wide range of budget. In that segment, I decide which car I want to buy. I narrow it down to the exact model & variant. Then, I check the price, and set my budget accordingly. Then, I arrange my personal finances so that I am able to afford to both buy the car and maintain it for the first 5 years.

So technically, I am always on budget because I set my budget based on the price of the car!!

[guyfrmblr]

According to me, I'm always over budget as I always end up buying something higher than what I had initially planned.

According to my wife, I'm always under budget as I always provide her an estimate that is way over the actual price of the cars in my bucket list so that I won't have to negotiate with her while finalizing the model I want

[Samegoodkid]

totally overbudget..

I was to book a Wagon R while drooling over a Jazz.
A pat on shoulder, I turn and I see my my dad nodding in approval for the Jazz.

Went and gave the cheque the next day.


yes, if it wasn't for that pat on shoulder, I would have gone with a Wagon r (again a very practical and great car).


regards,
Samegoodkid

[jaskiratarora15]

I started my car search in 2020. It was to be my first car, so I had built up a certain hype in my mind. Test drove the Hyundai Creta Turbo petrol, which at the time was my dream car. Turned out to be super boring. After that, test drove Jeep Compass, used BMW X1 (2018), Audi Q2, Audi A4. Finally stretched my budget thanks to ample waiting and got myself a 330i Sport. The heart wants what it wants

[NirmalK]

Voted for Over Budget.
Wanted to buy the cute looking Nano and ended up with elegant Elite i20. Hopped a couple of segments.

[TheHelix0202]

Not a car but a bike. Was planning to go for a pre-owned 2015/16 MY KTM 390 Duke.




But as fate would ordained it, this bad baby is going to make its way home soon -




I do love both of these machines though, I’ll definitely get my hands on the first gen bike in a few years.

[punto_]

Voted for Over Budget.

My first car was a Punto D Emotion variant which costed around 6.7L on road. In 2011, it was a stretch by 1L, originally planned to spend less than 6L. Keep the car for good 10 years and 1.2L kms later sold to Cars24.

Next came the Abarth Punto which costed me lot more than market value, but I didn’t regret it. I didn’t overspend on it as I was in a position to afford it easily. I always wanted to own a Abarth and found a very well kept car from a fellow bhpian, closed the deal asap. After 1.4 years and 10000 kms later, sold the Abarth for a very good price.

Abarth sale came purely with an itch to switch to an automatic. Originally planned to not spent more than 15L, so I came close to book the i20 N line. It didn’t click for me.

So went ahead with the Slavia 1 AT. My heart really wanted the 1.5 DSG but it was out of budget esp with the new home it didn’t make sense. I went over my budget by 3.5L with the Slavia but I’m very happy with the car so far. Hopefully it will serve me well for next 7-10 years.

I know I’ll keep thinking of the 1.5 DSG, if I didn’t buy a new home, I would have gone with the 1.5 eyes closed.