[arjab]

Yes. Bought myself a Jimny MT in December '23. I played the self appointed Santa Claus to myself.
From a need perspective it was totally unnecessary as there were two other relatively new vehicles in the household and the addition of another was completely unwarranted.
From an emotional perspective my heart decided to clobber my brain unconscious of all rational thought.
What remained in my pea-sized brain were lovely memories of old Gypsy days and rides, the magical prowess of that "second lever" into pulling me out of slush & muck, the bouncy but tough as nails ladder frame chassis, the "clickety-clack" of all largely mechanical functions and the sheer character of the vehicle.
The family doesn't like it as it is small and cramped.
The Miss'us arched her eyebrows as if I have self-nominated myself for admission to the mental asylum.
The kiddo' is at her cantankerous best as the "Jimmy" does not have a hole in the roof and
The family Golden Retriever looks at me contemptuously, because, well, he doesn't fit!
Do i regret buying? No.
Do i like it? No.
Do i love the Jimmy? Yes.
And that sums it up

[IamNikhil]

My XUV 700 was bought purely on impulse. We had booked the Creta actually, which was to be delivered on 14th October, 2021. The XUV 700 launched in the 1st Week of October, and I was invited by the neighbourhood Mahindra dealership for a test drive on the 4th. The moment I took the vehicle out for a spin, I realised this is the car I want. My parents fell in love too. Next thing I know, we cancelled the Creta, booked the XUV 700 when bookings opened on 7th October and the car was delivered on 21st December!

Purely trusted my gut and kept my fingers crossed that I don't end up repenting my decision. It's now been 2 years and definitely the niggles have resulted in some frowns; but the smiles far outweigh the frowns everyday I drive the car.

[FAIAAA]

Interesting thread.

I make up mind fast about cars I don't like / won't purchase and then through a process of elimination zero in on cars on my list. So the preference list is well thought through/ deliberate.
The purchase process/ timing has been impulsive on most occasions
1. Corolla Altis in 2011 - strolled into a Toyota dealership in Feb end. It was one day before month end, took a test drive and the sales person offered me a deal I couldn't refuse. Next day went in arranging finances and doing a auction between 3-4 dealers for the car I was trading in( sell price increased by a Lac). Delivery was late evening as dealership was desperate to do so before month end.
2. 3 series after a BMW event at Buddh International Circuit
3. Verna - within weeks of launch so commanded a waiting period. Was in touch with multiple dealerships across cities. Was in NCR on work when one of the dealerships called to say they can arrange a car ( cancelled by another customer). This was on Thursday and we drove out with the Car on Sunday.

On a related note, I have never quite understood or experienced this phenomenon of waiting period. Hence I don't pre book. I am in touch with various dealerships. Invariably, some customer who has been allotted a car cancels leaving the dealership with stock. At that time, they don't want another booking but a customer who is willing to take immediate delivery. This way, I have had "immediate delivery" offers for many cars including XUV700, Thar, Scorpio N, Jimny, Verna, Virtus and so on.

[One]

Originally Posted by wheelspinner

[b]
I live in a small city with empty roads and fairly decent transport modes.

Genuinely would like to know what place this is - I thought decent public transport facilities are far and few in our country.

[subbu567]

My Jimny purchase in July 2023- probably fits the bill of an impulse buy. On the verge of retirement and with two other cars that are reliable for a family of 3- a 3rd car was unwarranted. But there you go, heart over head and ended up owning my bunny(her name). Do I hate the decision - yes. Should I have waited -yes. Do I love the car- absolutely yes!!

To top it my family hates the car :( They are used to the airy panoramic view of Innova and dont like the dark, gloomy and cramped interiors.

But hey! - Two years later when we would have moved to our farm in Coorg, people would realize the visionary I am !! I hope....

[johannes]

Well I've never been an impulsive person. And when it comes to buying a vehicle I've always been a hardcore fan of Jeeps and 4X4's since childhood. we grew up with a WW II Ford MB that my dad had for almost 40 years . until he sold it off without even letting me know in 2008 and left me shattered . Then came the Ex-Army MM550 XDP in my sights and fell in love with it. spent about a year hunting for a nice army disposal MM550 going to Guwahati a number of times until the Jeep found me . its been my primary and daily drive to work and fishing/offroading trips since march 2009 and this march I'm still planning to renew my registration since it will be crossing the 15 year milestone with me. Of course I've a few headaches occasionally with the Jeep but it's a Jeep thing. Jeepers will understand :-) .

[zeus_700]

My XUV 700 was an impulsive buy. Just by the butch looks and the features on offer. Having been a owner of Honda City 3rd gen for 10 years, I could have settled for a top end Honda City 5th Gen but for the impulsive decision on XUV700 AX5 and ended up shelling out 4 more lacs from my actual budget.

I am now in a love - hate relationship with XUV700. The hate is majorly due to fringe issues offered by Mahindra.

[HighOnSpeed]

Impulsive buying is not in my nature, but like most human beings, I too sometimes falter. My impulsive purchases are mostly driven by lucrative offers that are too good to pass up. I will not mention the cars, but I have managed to get upto 30% discount for brand new cars. Recently, a lot of them would have purely made an impulsive decision to buy the Jimny(Dec '23 inventory disposal by MSIL) due to the price cuts.

[vinodrkn]

Mine was a funny situation. I had a VW Vento Diesel, manual. I wanted to move to an automatic transmission, did enough of searching and analyzing over months (this was late 2018-early 2019), comparing cars, doing test drives, and finally decided to go for a VW Vento TSI - simply because no other car gave the kind of drivability that a Vento gave (not as much as the Polo though, which I owned earlier before the Vento).

I spoke with the VW dealer on the color, delivery date, accessories I wanted, and went with the cheque leaf to pay the advance. The sales guy who was taking care of me was not there to do the needful, and he nonchalantly said over the phone that he had some other work to attend to. I asked if there if a finance guy whom I could hand over the cheque to, and they said there was no one there in the team. Met with the manager, and she had a callous attitude as well. Shocking to say the least, and 10-years of being a diehard VW enthusiast went out of the window. That was the end of it.

I drove down straight from the VW showroom to a Hyundai outlet, and test drove the Elantra. Went to a Honda showroom after that, test drove the Civic. Came back to the Hyundai showroom, did another test drive of the Elantra, the product manager was a great person to talk with, and I gave him the cheque that was originally meant for the VW booking.

Happy with the Elantra - it is a fill it, shut it, drive it car. And of course, one feels princely with the great customer service that Hyundai is known for

[sentifool]

I tend to research a lot and watch all reviews for a car before buying it and bought a Tata Altroz petrol for my father that way. But my dad does buy stuff impulsively as soon as he realizes a need. Back in 2015 one day mom was not feeling well and we lived in a tier 3 city in Punjab, he went to the showroom and bought a Alto K10 within a day so that he does not have to rely on someone or public transport in case of medical emergencies. No regrets as it is primarily used as a city car and it is a tremendous car for that.

[car-dent]

My 2018 S Cross Diesel was running just fine at 115000kms on Odo and was serving me well, but i had a mild itch to get a new car, so i was passively looking at new car launches like seltos,etc but with no clear intention to buy those because buying a new seltos/Creta didnt really feel like a upgrade.

This was when in a whatsapp group, i came across a Hector Diesel top variant less than 2 yrs old, with less than 20,000kms on the ODO. This felt like a perfect upgrade and immediately we finalised the deal. I got so much more car at the price of a mid variant Creta/Grandvitara. I got the car in August and have driven approx 12000kms since and i am loving every moment with the car.

[Toni]

I mostly buy my cars if my current car starts giving trouble and is old to change it.

My last car Chevy Beat Diesel was over 10 years old. I use to service and repair regularly at the service station. After they stopped providing service and repairs I had difficult time in procuring parts and good mechanic, tried a few but they could not do the job properly. Therfore, I decided to change and buy another car to avoid regular hassles of repairs and expenses.

[vasanthn21]

I am not an impulse buyer when it comes to gadgets or automobile.

Guess it depends on the amount of knowledge one has. I read about GTO deciding to buy Thar in a week. I am presuming he already had enough knowledge about it to make such a decision and not regret it.

My first car was also a pre-owned one. And yes, buying a good pre-worshipped car tests one's patience. If you are able to gauge the condition of the vehicle on your own, best bet is to spread the word amongst friends, relatives and personal Whatsapp groups. Else, Spinny is a good option, of course you pay a premium, but get some peace of mind in terms of the condition of the vehicle, and documentation required for transfer of ownership.

I did a lot of analysis before buying my second car too, and after 1,15,000 kms it is still serving me well.

[unni246]

My 2019 Tiago was indeed an impulsive buy - replacing my 2006 Baleno

Regrets: Yes

Warning: Slightly Long post

My 2006 Baleno sedan started giving me occasional troubles with weak Suspension, coolant leaks ..etc by end of 2018 which started to make me think of an upgrade.

Initially I wanted to go for a used Ecosport, Figo or Freestyle as my budget was within 6 lacs (including the amount I fetch by selling Baleno)
However as we all know Baleno was terrible in the used car market and I wasn't fetching good value for many months. Also surprisingly I wasn't seeing much good deals on Used Ford cars too and many in the known circle werent ready to sell

Early 2018 I casually dialed Ford and Tata Dealers in my hometown (Thrissur) for possible exchange options. Ford never bothered to ring back, but Tata guys were prompt to follow-up and offered good exchange value (still not what I wanted)
This made me think on getting a new Tiago as the replacement. This way I could give my Dad a new hatchback which he could comfortably drive around and I could bring back the Fiesta to Bangalore for my use.
Next few weeks I spent gathering details on Tiago - TeamBhp, Youtube and Friend circle was definitely my go to options.

Reviews on Tiago were mostly positive and beyond, we also went to the showroom with my family including dad & mom for a test drive of the Tiago. Everyone was happy with the features and build quality, though me and dad were not happy with the power delivery as we both were driving 1.6 engines with 101 horses. Thought I could fix that later with a remap.
Also didn't consider the Tiago JTP as first thing it was out of my budget (7.5L on road) + showroom mentioned JTPs had a different service bay, which made me think it might be slightly risky in coming years as I am a person who keeps cars for longer.
So eyes closed and booked a Blue Tiago (to match with our Fiesta) top end manual, initiated Loan processing and delivery was planned for early May.

Delivery was slightly delayed owing to delays from the Bank side & RTO side, however by 3rd week of May I got the delivery done.
Delivery and the next few weeks were all uneventful and we were enjoying the car.

Coming to the snags:
After almost a month while on a visit to our village (almost an hour drive) I could see CEL popup on the console, however no issues with the car.
Called up ASC and they said to bring the car to diagnose. However when we cranked up the car again while returning this had disappeared.

Now this kept happening intermittently during some journeys and mostly we observed it was after fueling the car and then after a certain distance - however still nothing with the car, except for the CEL popping up.
Once we were lucky enough to get this to the service center and they scanned and informed its because of too much usage of Clutch :|

For almost a year we never had anything and I had brought the car to Bangalore too just to make sure it clocks some mileage before the free services and warranty gets expired.

After almost a year we started noticing that whenever we refueled and travelled for some distance and stopped, the car would have issues in cranking
My Parents and myself got stranded thrice due to this and at times car would crank fine after maybe 30 minutes or an hour.
We had to literally get the car towed couple of times in a span of 1 year and couple of times we were stuck in roadside for a while, post which the car starts fine.
After multiple service center visits, a fuel tank + fuel pump cleaning, starter motor fix, fuse fix, sensor changes ..etc finally it was traced that the ECU could be faulty.

After much push and followups they agreed to do this within the Extended Warranty and I was lucky to save some 15K for the unit + labour.

Luckily post this we never had the issue, so I still believe its the faulty ECU from factory that caused all of this.

Summary of Snags:
1) In 1 month CEL Lights popping up and going away on its own, Fix: None (hasn't appeared after ECU change)
2) In 1 Year - Car cranks but does not start, mostly after refuel. Occurred multiple times and had to be towed twice. - Fix: ECU Change
3) In 1.5 Year - Car not cranking , battery fine - Fix: Some part in the Self Start motor assembly unit replaced (looks like there was a recall on this for the 2019 batch, but not informed by ASC. They were replacing the unit only once issue occurs)
4) In 1.5 Year - Car not cranking again, battery fine - Fix: Self start motor fuse upgraded to higher amp. (Looks like this again was part of a recall, but not done by ASC until complained)
5) After 2.5 Year - Harman Head unit touch screen issues, some areas of the touch screen goes non-responsive and doesnt respond to even a hard touch. Complained to ASC, they claim warranty is only for a Year and advices to go for service which could cost upwards of 18K including shipment to Pune. Also on researching I could see this was the case with 75% of top end cars which had the Touch screen system - probably an issue with that year's batch.
Luckily I had extended warranty from Bajaj Allianz as part of my Car loan and they fortunately honored a repair or replacement unit within 15K bracket.
Fix: Went for an aftermarket Android Unit

Multiple times I thought to myself as to why I sold the Baleno. Though it had minor issues, it never left us stranded on any of our trips.
6) After 4 years - Automatic AC not working, have to manually adjust the temperature setting. Fix: None, living with it at the moment. Service center has no answer.

Though I am happy with the car and a remap (WOLF) has made the drivability even better, I am always a little concerned on the car's reliability.

Conclusion: Though most people are still happy with their Tiagos I am still concerned on what issue might pop up next. Also Tata motors as such has improved a lot and come a long way, but there is scarcity of skilled technicians in every service center to handle the current tech in cars.

Thus I feel all these are perks that could come with an impulsive buy.
Possibly will skip buying another Tata car in my life


Just adding a picture to share the happy moments back in 2019 !

[satrikon_454]

My dad's the definition of impulsive car purchases. No wonder all our cars have crazy trust and abandonment issues! Anyway:

Case 1 - May 2019:

Dad and I were driving to work in our WagonR, but had to take a slight detour near home due to some procession. There was a Nexa showroom at a signal there that had an Ignis parked outside. Decided to drop-in and check the car out. Felt like an upgrade to the Wagon R in every sense, and they had some lip-smacking deals. 30 minutes in, dad told the executive to come to the office with us to confirm the booking. Got the Wagon R (7 years old at the time with ~35,000 km on the odo)evaluated by Maruti folks, OLX, and Cars24. OLX offered the best price, so timed the sale in a way that the car would be given the day we get the delivery of the Ignis. Different story that Nexa delayed it by a day or two, but yes, a week later we had the new Ignis Alpha MT standing in our parking in place of the WagonR.

Case 2 - December 2012:

We had a Ford Ikon and Wagon R as our steeds. The three of us at home were planning a trip to Goa, but ended up having a couple more people at the last minute. 5 in an Ikon for 600+ km one way would be a tight fit, so we started looking at alternate options (either hire a bigger car or take a flight). But, dad being dad, he started scouting OLX without any particular car in mind (the only requirement being a bigger car or one from higher segments). Somehow he ended up finding a 2006 Civic listing, arranged for a test drive, and 2 days later, we had a Civic parked downstairs accompanying the Ikon and the Wagon R. Oh, and we took the trip to Goa in the Civic 3 days after that.

These are just two of the most impulsive buys. Most of the other buys have also been pretty impulsive (Santro, Zen, XL6). If I recall correctly, only the Ikon, WagonR, and Ertiga have been ones that were given an overnight thought lol.