[streetfighter]

Originally Posted by 3WiseMen

How not to sell a car ft. Citroen

Ps. It's been over a week, the Citroen SA has still not called to follow up on the possible sale. Had this experience been more courteous, I'm sure I would have booked the car, as I am in the look out for an immediate delivery car. And the car itself is brilliant.

The Mumbai dealer is a hit or miss as has been pointed out earler in the posts. Some links:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5219209 (Citroen C5 Aircross Review)
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5252517 (Citroen C5 Aircross Review)

Originally Posted by sups

Sorry to know your experience. Anybody will be put off with this sort of behaviour.

On the contrary, the dealership at Pune, B4S Motors, has been brilliant. They have so far arranged three test drives, and all within very short notice. And in all these drives, they have been pushing me to go for longer duration test drives. If I compare my dealership experience for the last three car purchase (Hyundai, Toyota and Jeep respectively), the Citroen Pune dealership has been the best.

I can vouch for the Pune dealer too (B4S motors) as I got my car from them. Fantastic team and had a great buying (and first service) experience. I didn't have any problem as they did all the paperwork remotely (car is registered in Mumbai).

Don't let a bad dealer deter you from buying a good car. At best, you will have to visit their service center once a year, and best thing is the same people won't be there at the service center. Go for the C5, we C5 owners are a happy bunch

[3WiseMen]

Thank you all. Always trust this community with fine advice. My purchase decision isn't based only on the attitude of the dealership. Though it did put me off very badly.

The car is a great product. But unfortunately, my wife wasn't very comfortable driving it. She just couldn't find the right driving position and she felt it wouldn't be great for school runs. That coupled with the poor sales experience, didn't make me want to look this way.

But this experience for sure got me thinking, maybe one of the reasons why such a competent product is not being able to do the numbers, may be because of dealerships like this. If I were in their place, I would want to explain the superiority of my product and definitely ease customers into a new brand by giving all sorts of after sales assurances. I would probably do everything in my poor to sell units, especially when in a seller's market I'm saddled with ready stock.

Given the poor roads in majority of Bombay, C5 would make a very compelling buy, solely because of the superiority of its suspension. It just needs a little dedicated push.

FYI upon inquiry I've learnt that the Sales Advisor I had spoken with initially was one of the more senior guys.

[brohanv]

Originally Posted by 3WiseMen

How not to sell a car ft. Citroen

I understand, when one's shelling out the big bucks, they expect to be treated a certain way. To inspire a customer that you're a worthy custodian of all that hard earned money and faith is a tall order to live up to and this man clearly fails and how.

To the contrary, one of the best showroom experiences I've had in all of India including German brands in metro cities was with Celica Citroen in Kolkata. The man knew what he was talking about, at no point was there any pressure to buy the car, just words on its many merits, put patiently before in a pitch that lasted about 2 hours. And honestly, if my pockets were deep enough, with the brilliant car and sales experience, I would've put down the 40-lakhs down then and there!

Point being the human element of your experience fell short, but the car is brilliant and that's what you should focus on.

[prajwalmr62]

Originally Posted by 3WiseMen

How not to sell a car ft. Citroen

Sales team shouldn't matter to you once the sale is done, so check out the car and see if you like it. May be hang around the service area and talk to service team and try to understand how good they are at the job.

If I get a harrowing SA for a car I really love, I would in-return harrow the SA and try to get the best deal or change the dealership and find a better SA.

[Frusciante]

Originally Posted by 3WiseMen

How not to sell a car ft. Citroen
.

Wow. Terrible that you had to go through such an experience. I purchased my C5 from the same Andheri showroom and had a vastly different experience. The SA (a senior south Indian gentleman) was extremely patient and offered me and my family multiple extended test drives. Not only that, knowing that I had a big dog and the dog's comfort would influence my purchase decision, he invited the dog along in the the TD as well, even at the cost of messing up his TD vehicle a bit. Not only the SA, but the other support staff at Citroen Mumbai ( RTO, Finance) were extremely helpful. The SA even called me up after my purchase assuring me any and every assistance I needed. I think its just sheer bad luck in your case.

[ravibadam]

Pune Citroen sales and service is excellent. They have quite professional and talented team. Always there to help. Trust me car is excellent. Suspension is superb. Quite stable. I am using C5 since last 6 months, driven 7000 KM. Did long drives around 600KM at a stretch. No issues. In fact during long drive, senior citizens aged 74 and 84 were travelling with me and they enjoyed.

[streetfighter]

Citroen India has started their Twitter campaign for the new updated C5 Aircross - https://twitter.com/CitroenIndia/sta...83232011698178

[neel911]

The 2022 Citroen C5 is likely to be priced between Rs 37 lakhs and Rs 40 lakh

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/93956712.cms

MODS: Do we need separate thread for this

[Venkatesh]

Originally Posted by neel911

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/93956712.cms

MODS: Do we need separate thread for this

There's already an existing thread discussion on C5 Aircross facelift.

Link

[landmaster18]

At this point I am highly inclined to the new C5. Agree that does not make a value for money sense but there are some things for which you can really make a bit of an exception not totally ofcourse, but still.

Like I said, I am inclined towards the new C5 because I am blown away by the looks and the engineering. I was strongly considering the MG Astor and the Honda City. Running costs are low and each of these have some strong points.

Would need advice however on the following:

1. The average running expenses - monthly and yearly
2. If there is something exceptional and too much of a significant factor I should keep in mind before making the purchase.
3. I am also in the process of contacting the sales guys. I would be super thankful for any thing else I need to ask them, and I need to be aware of.

Thank you!

[streetfighter]

Originally Posted by landmaster18

Would need advice however on the following:

1. The average running expenses - monthly and yearly
2. If there is something exceptional and too much of a significant factor I should keep in mind before making the purchase.
3. I am also in the process of contacting the sales guys. I would be super thankful for any thing else I need to ask them, and I need to be aware of.

Thank you!

I do agree the C5 is a heart over head decision but you won't regret the "exception". The driveability and comfort of the Aircross is quite nice, and you will have a delightful time with it. The extra amount paid ensured peace of mind. Personally I haven't had any niggles till now over my 1 year of ownership (I was wary about the issues Compass, Harrier and XUV700 owners have faced). Are you opting for the new updated 2022 model or the existing one?

Regarding the queries:
1. I get a mileage on 11-12kmpl in Mumbai city which has high traffic and bad roads. On the highway long runs, I get around 16kmpl. As for service cost, you can opt for a 5 year prepaid service package which costs around 64k in total. Do take the extended warranty too.
2. Nothing exceptional here. Do your due diligence like one would do for any car purchase. Do the pre registration and pre delivery inspections thoroughly. Not sure what color are you opting for, I guess the Tijuca Blue color is getting discontinued, so better not opt for that (but dealer may give better discount on such models)
3. Do check options and offers from more than one dealer, contact another dealer even if that is in a nearby city/state. Dealers are notorious not to disclose the offers. Since this is a low selling model, some discount offer should be there. Also check benefits of payment upfront vs finance; Citroen India does have a scheme for better interest rate on finance.

Good Luck and keep us updated !

[landmaster18]

Originally Posted by streetfighter

1. I get a mileage on 11-12kmpl in Mumbai city which has high traffic and bad roads.

Good Luck and keep us updated !

Thanks and will do indeed!

Looking at the updated one. Either pearl white or the eclipse blue is my choice - the pearl white with blue inserts looks like anything unlike on the Indian market so far.

Most of my driving will be in bumper to bumper conditions only and am not keen on the highway for a number of reasons. So urban only it is.

[Frusciante]

I completely second all that @streetfighter said. As I also did mention in a previous post, there are newer cars on the block with more features for the price but in terms of sheer driving pleasure I have never had a 2nd thought on picking the C5 last year and would do so again. The maintenance charges also seem very much in line with its peer group. My car has been called in for a few updates 2,3 times so everything done was free obviously. The only consumables I paid for was a measly 200 bucks for ad blue top up. I also had a 3M rust coating done from the workshop at a discounted price. Mileage figures are as streetfighter has quoted. I have been quiet impressed with the follow through from everyone at Citroen - very proactive. One may argue it is because of a lower customer base, but it works out to your advantage.

Only call-out from my end would be the dealer tries to sell you an accessories package almost as if it is the engine of the car and you can't do without it. Good luck trying to dodge that. Lol. But then again, when you're buying a car north of 40L, a few embellishments costing less than 0.5% of the price won't kill.

Good luck on the purchase and looking forward to some pics and reviews.

[streetfighter]

Originally Posted by landmaster18

Looking at the updated one. Either pearl white or the eclipse blue is my choice - the pearl white with blue inserts looks like anything unlike on the Indian market so far.

Both are extremely good looking and I'm sure you will have a hard time deciding which one to pick
Be prepared to get a lot of attention wherever you go !!

[landmaster18]

About the mileage part of 11 kmpl, can you please tell me what your average speeds were like? I am looking at a comparison to South Delhi's traffic where the average speeds are around 20-30 kmph ish. Only looking at city conditions.

Thanks again!