[gauravdgr8]

I owned a U-VA until last year and one thing I can say about GM is their build quality.

The car when sold had 42k on the odo after 42 months and not a single niggle or rattle.

Went ahead and checked the Sail U-VA yesterday. The very first thing that came to my mind is, why did GM combine name of two models which did not do well in the market? Remember Opel Corsa Sail and Chevrolet U-VA. Strange if you think about it seriously.

The car is a good package put together. Front looks decent, side is boring and the rear looks like was designed along with the 1st gen Indica.

Space-wise its roomier, however need to sit with 5 adults and compare it with the Vista. Bigger boot was always a plus for the U-VA and continues to do so.

However, the quintessential question I asked myself was: What makes the car costlier than the Vista, when the engine has been co-developed by GM.

Yes, GM cars are more reliable, however in the Service part, they have a lot of ground to cover.

Given the fact that the Vista refresh has generally had no major issues reported, if GM had priced the car same as that of the Vista, they would have taken a portion of the cake.

Would I trade in my Vista for the Sail U-VA?
Answer: No

Reasons:

1. Most of my trips are now by road and therefore cannot take a risk with GM on-road assistance. Tata has more coverage.

2. GM dealers are known not to stock many a spares which are on the costlier front. If the Sail U-VA sales do not kick in, things like radiator, front bumpers, headlamps are hardly in stock which might leave us stranded if something was to happen on the highway. This happened to me 2 months back and TATA did not disappoint.

3. I already paid 70k more for Vista VX over VXI Swift (which I was planning to buy). Now paying an extra 47k over the Vista VX does not make it a value proposition.

4. My Vista looks more elegant (subjective and that's why I mentioned My Vista)

[Harshal.Bhosale]

With the Sail UVA, I feel GM has not managed to create that wow-factor, something that'd make people want the car. The car, although a good design, seems to me to be mediocre in every way. Its got good interior space, a very tractable engine, decent build quality. But there's no factor in which the Sail outclasses its competition. I feel every car should have its own trump card.

To give an example, I play a word-association test. When I think of Maruti and Toyota (say Swift and Liva), I think of 'reliability'. When I think of Honda (Jazz, Brio), I think 'refinement'. When I think of Ford and Fiat (Figo, Punto), 'driving dynamics' springs to mind. For VW (Polo), its 'solid build'. When I think Tata its just 'space, space, and more space'! So on and so forth.

Now when I come to GM, what do I think of? What do they have on offer that distinguishes them from the other manufacturers? What is their trump card, their ace up the sleeve? What is their DNA?

I have no answer.

Nothing, no phrase comes to mind this time. (Well, I'd kinda associate 'American Muscle' with GM, but that's reserved for the Cruze only!). Nothing excitingly special about the Sail U-VA. My personal opinion.


Edit:

Originally Posted by Rehaan

The Sail has no USP inside or out. It doesn't stand out from the crowd. There is no one thing that people will feel the need to talk about. This doesn't speak badly of the car, its just a balanced all-rounder.

Just read this. Resonates.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

...Looks could be a factor. But there are cars in India that sell despite looking hideous. Thing is, it's purely subjective so it's hard to come to that conclusion?

I'd say it has more to do with image than looks. It is perhaps perceived to be a budget offing? Maybe the U-VA tag is shooing people away from it? I had a feeling that the U-VA tag would probably blow up in their face...

The entire comments were from GM's brand perspective. Agree that there are ugly ducklings with huge waiting period.

To put it better, can GM afford to bring bad designs & still expect decent sales? I think they already have the answer. I am kind of surprised that people care two hoots even for the warranty offered.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

...They explicitly mentioned that the Sonic twins would be too expensive to localize, assemble and sell in India and that profits would take a hit. Well, at least they would probably sell given the appeal they carry!

Well, I did read about it. From what i recall, they didnt want to launch it because of the high import content. But am not able to relate to 'high price after localisation'. If they localise, how can it still be expensive? They can always cut on extra features & keep the price in check. The reasons I wanted Sonic twins to be launched was because

1. Those look smashing
2. Fresh branding.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Maybe the U-VA tag is shooing people away from it? I had a feeling that the U-VA tag would probably blow up in their face.

That was the first thought that occurred to me when I read this TD report.
Why GM, why? You're killing a baby right after birth!

Even Tata made a big time mistake by attaching 'Indica' to the Vista, but the Vista does seem to be selling in decent numbers.

[anu21v]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

That was the first thought that occurred to me when I read this TD report.
Why GM, why? You're killing a baby right after birth!

Even Tata made a big time mistake by attaching 'Indica' to the Vista, but the Vista does seem to be selling in decent numbers.

Actually I am surprised. There are examples such as Verna/All New Verna, Honda City/New Honda City/All New Honda City and even the fiesta/All New Fiesta. Why should be it any different in the case if UVA?

In the Case of Vista, Tata has continued selling Old Indica alongside new Indica Vista, which should have been the concern to the customer. This is not the case with UVA. old U-VA has already been discontinued.

[subratasenn]

Originally Posted by Harshal.Bhosale

With the Sail UVA, I feel GM has not managed to create that wow-factor, something that'd make people want the car. The car, although a good design, seems to me to be mediocre in every way. Its got good interior space, a very tractable engine, decent build quality. But there's no factor in which the Sail outclasses its competition. I feel every car should have its own trump card.

To give an example, I play a word-association test. When I think of Maruti and Toyota (say Swift and Liva), I think of 'reliability'. When I think of Honda (Jazz, Brio), I think 'refinement'. When I think of Ford and Fiat (Figo, Punto), 'driving dynamics' springs to mind. For VW (Polo), its 'solid build'. When I think Tata its just 'space, space, and more space'! So on and so forth.

Now when I come to GM, what do I think of? What do they have on offer that distinguishes them from the other manufacturers? What is their trump card, their ace up the sleeve? What is their DNA?

I have no answer.

Spot on. There is nothing special in the car so that it would stop me from buying something else. Not even VFM factor, where Figo and Liva tend to compete. I would rather go for Swift than buy Sail at this price point.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Seems like all the marketing hasn't worked.

The only time I saw the Sail after the media-drive was at the dealership 2 minutes from home and just after it was launched. I haven't spotted a single one on the road yet. I wonder what the issue could be. Perhaps the inflated price-tag? Had it been 40k cheaper, would it have done well? Somehow, i don't think so.

Yes, there's something terribly wrong with the pricing of Sail. The price-tag is too inflated. If I have to buy a boring car like Sail I'd rather go for Liva, which is equally boring but comes 50K cheaper.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by anu21v

Actually I am surprised. There are examples such as Verna/All New Verna, Honda City/New Honda City/All New Honda City and even the fiesta/All New Fiesta. Why should be it any different in the case if UVA?

In the Case of Vista, Tata has continued selling Old Indica alongside new Indica Vista, which should have been the concern to the customer. This is not the case with UVA. old U-VA has already been discontinued.

What I meant was Chevy ought not to have used the name of a model that was not a success in India. The others you've listed were quite successful.

As regards the Vista, though the Indica was selling quite well, it was always associated with a taxi image.

[qaqa]

I test-drove the Sail Diesel today. I found the car incredibly spacious - very close to the Jazz as far as usable space is concerned (I had done a test drive of the Jazz just minutes earlier). Rear seats were also pretty comfortable.

However, there are some serious ergonomic issues -

1. Clutch foot - there is no space next to the clutch, at all. You need to rest your clutch foot *under* the pedal. This means that the driver ends up doing a cycling motion to put his foot on the pedal. After a 15 min test drive in traffic, my left leg started aching. I had the same issue in the Vista as well.

2. Raised pedals - There seems to be quite a lot of gap between the pedals and the floor below. You have to really lift up your foot to operate them. Also, I felt that the floor in the footwell was gently sloping away from the driver. This made the sensation of raised pedals much more prominent.

3. Seats - I felt the shape was slightly weird with a bulge which was digging into the small of my back. Maybe the fact that the seats are a little
hard is accentuating the shape of the seat support.

4. Horn - Instinctively, I reach for the center of the steering to operate the horn, especially while turning etc. Strangely, the Chevy only has horn buttons on the wheel-spokes. Needs a lot of getting used to.

I'm on the taller side (6' 2") with large feet..not sure if the messed up ergonomics boil down to this.

Otherwise, this seemed to be a decent car. It has the formula to give the Swift a run for its money, IMHO. I'd buy it in a flash if only they could fix the ergonomic issues (or if it were to be exclusively chauffeur driven)

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by qaqa

However, there are some serious ergonomic issues -


2. Raised pedals - There seems to be quite a lot of gap between the pedals and the floor below. You have to really lift up your foot to operate them. Also, I felt that the floor in the footwell was gently sloping away from the driver. This made the sensation of raised pedals much more prominent.

I had a similar impression when I test drove the Beat diesel. In city driving, it becomes very tiresome to raise the foot every time one needs to use the clutch pedal.

But my colleague does not face this issue. I guess this issue is only for people over 5'11" tall.

[vinair]

Read this - http://indianautosblog.com/2012/11/c...ies-list-55697

Than shoving things that might just end up ornamental, this is a good strategy to let the customer do the choosing pick that they find functional.

I personally would love some kind of customization at the dealer level to make my car special to me. Again, for those who look for freebies than paid optionals, this may not make sense.

Imagine getting free pillows with a certain brand with some cheapo cricket stuff on it!!!!

[indianvirus]

Good morning guys,

I booked my sail last saturday, going through loan formalities right now.
It's white LS ABS variant. OTR price Rs. 5,76,907.00
If things go according to the plan, I would start "sailing" by 1st December.

Cheers....

P.S.: Any more sail takers here? Or am I the first one?

[subratasenn]

Originally Posted by indianvirus

If things go according to the plan, I would start "sailing" by 1st December.

Cheers....

P.S.: Any more sail takers here? Or am I the first one?

Looks like you are the first one in this forum! Congratulations for that.
Would be looking forward to your Initial Ownership report. That would also be the first in this forum.
Wishing you miles of happy driving!

[Rufus_M]

Originally Posted by indianvirus

Good morning guys,

I booked my sail last saturday, going through loan formalities right now.
It's white LS ABS variant. OTR price Rs. 5,76,907.00
If things go according to the plan, I would start "sailing" by 1st December.

Cheers....

P.S.: Any more sail takers here? Or am I the first one?

Congratulations indianvirus on your new buy. You'll be the first 'SAIL'or of Team BHP :-)

Eagerly waiting for your initial impressions. Happy mile munching!!

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by indianvirus

Good morning guys,

I booked my sail last saturday, going through loan formalities right now.
It's white LS ABS variant. OTR price Rs. 5,76,907.00
If things go according to the plan, I would start "sailing" by 1st December.

Cheers....

P.S.: Any more sail takers here? Or am I the first one?

Great job man. I would very seriously consider it if i were in the market for a hatch. I LOVED the car during the TD - chevrolet has just sold it so badly its not funny, plus somehow its an unsexy brand at the moment(unlike honda).

you must have a petrol one for sure - i would've expected more diesel sales, since the diesel is priced decently. but yes, they need to cut prices by 20k, and get a barebones model out as the starting model itself is 6.4L even though it comes with foglamps(!), driver airbag as standard - stuff Indians dont care about :(

[skartik2]

Originally Posted by indianvirus

Good morning guys,

I booked my sail last saturday, going through loan formalities right now.
It's white LS ABS variant. OTR price Rs. 5,76,907.00
If things go according to the plan, I would start "sailing" by 1st December.

Cheers....

P.S.: Any more sail takers here? Or am I the first one?

Congratulations!!!

I loved the car when I TD it.

Is it petrol or diesel?