Hi friends,
Well I have been a member of Team-BHP for over a year now, more like a silent one considering my number of posts but there has never been a day without spending a couple of hours reading all that my fellow BHPians have to say.
I'd like to repeat something that has been said a few times now, that Team-BHP is by far the most un-biased and complete car forum I've seen. Kudos tom all members and the moderators for maintaining the quality through the years.
Recently, I have been facing some sort of a predicament. I live in Mumbai and am looking for a vehicle thats costs me no more than 12-14 lakhs, that seats five people in decent comfort and that just 'fits the bill'. It took me one day and five Auto dealers to realise that I'm so lost.
Fuel type was never an issue, We've had a list of petrol vehicles that I have been extremely happy with, starting with the 118 NE (super spacious with its super slick gear box), a Zen(carburetor) followed by a Zen-Carbon, now a Ford Fiesta and a Hyundai i20. So all our cars have been petrols and we were pretty happy with them until now. Well our two year old i20 has done 28K despite of having a Fiesta as well so it really does make sense for us to own petrol cars any more because these fuel prices are killing me..!!
The first and the obvious choice was the
Innova. It is by far the best combination of practicality and luxury.. hands down.. It is the most suitable vehicle for my family and the advantages of an Innova have been discussed quite a few times on our forum so I wont get into that.
Nevertheless I have two issues and two issues only with the Innova. First and foremost I am terrified of using the Innova in Mumbai traffic daily and especially without an Auto transmission. I'm sure there would be quite a few members who would not agree with my statement but it is personal feeling.
I have driven the Innova a lot in the city and the highways including a 3000Kms drive from Mumbai-Bangalore-Mysore-Coorg-Bangalore-Mumbai. So its just my take on the basis of my experience.
Secondly, I have an image issue with the vehicle. I'm still on the right side of 30 and just not too keen on driving an MPV that incidentally is also a favourite with the 'taxiwallas'
So the Innova not being the 'perfect' choice is put on hold.
Currently using the Hyundai i20 my elder brother is very keen on the the
ANHV but being a six foot plus, I wasn't exactly a fan of the i20 and I was definitely not looking foward to the low seats of the new Verna.
Ofcourse the car is a much better option that my current i20. I don't wanna stir up a hornet's nest but I think the Hyundai i20 is still a half-baked product. The car has all the frills but has an under-powered petrol engine, bad steering, not so great suspension and low seats. (Please don't shoot me)
I also feel that the
ANHV is the perfect example of a decent vehicle with a stonker of a diesel engine and an automatic transmission which is not exactly state of art but will get the job done and with all the bells and whistles you would want in you car but loses out on the basics -Rear seat comfort !
Also, after driving the Ford for such a long time now I really didn't appreciate the steering feel and the suspension on the Hyundai.
So the
ANHV is out. (p.s I didn't get the auto version to TD)
Volkswagen Vento - Now that's a car I would want to buy.. or should I say I wanted to buy. I've always preferred a car with straighter lines than the curvy designs. Great quality, nice diesel engine and its German..!!
I could have lived without the Auto transmission, but again the rear seat just threw me a punch that I could't handle. I mean I can understand if a rear wheel drive has a large transmission tunnel but I think Volkswagen really messed it up with a 6 inch plus tunnel that for all practical purposes has made the Vento a 4 seater.
Plus, I'm absolutely not interested in buying a car from dealers who think if no end to themselves. So the Vento was out.
I have always had mixed feelings towards the
Chevrolet Cruz. I had used it for a day during a friends wedding and I just didn't know where to place it. I definitely did not like the rear seat and roof messed up my spikes.
"hmm KC think about it.. what if I ignore those issues for a few minutes.. Its a nice car, it has a 'POW'erful diesel engine and Auto transmission and it also fits our budget."
But somehow it just didn't strike a chord. I was not too happy with the plastics inside and well i could't really ignore the rear seat and my messed up hair now could I..??
We did approach the local Chevy dealer but they flatly refused to give us an Auto tranny vehicle for TD. The lady over the counter made a killer statement "Sir a lot of 'bade company ke directors' buy the auto version even they are content with a test drive the manual version"
BEEEEEEEEP wrong answer lady. Although it does makes me wonder about those 'bade companies' whose directors would be doing such things.
Anyways my bade bhaiya wans't too sure about Chevy's after sales as well.
So sadly, the Cruz was out.. well to be honest it was never in.
The only Chevy I would ever buy would be the Captiva. Now that hits the sweet spot but it's a different story that hits my pocket a bit too hard
Okay so who's next.. it was like going through an extermination list !!
Now my bro said "Okay now we're really falling short of choices here so what do we have more. How about checking out the
Skoda Laura?"
and it started my train of thoughts... "hmmm we'll be stretching our budget a bit too much with this.. but should we give this a try.. think about it a brand new Skoda Laura. I know they messed up big time with the name but its German !!
BUT WAIT..
What if stops in the middle of the road with a conked off ECU ??
or what if I bang the car because of a duplicate brake discs and what if I don't get to see my car for a year after it goes for repairs ??
Me: Na bhaiya I think we should let it go. I'd rather use the A/C bus
We didn't even visit Skoda.
Now we were really out options.
We did look at the
Fiat Linea, which in my opinion is a great car but we have a couple friends who've had a nasty experience with their after-sales. Moreover, I wasn't too happy with their pre-sales. We had to wait ten minutes in an empty showroom for someone to ask us " yes Sir how may I help you "
He promised us a test drive the next day but didn't show up for a week after repeated calls.
FIAT with PAL - bad experience for the Italians.
FIAT with TATA - You guys never learn, now do you ??
We were initially not too excited about it but the
Toyota Corolla diesel was now looking like a bright star, our savior. Another visit to the Toyota showroom ended very quickly when we were told that the Toyota Corolla Diesel (top in the line) would cost us more than the Innova.
" Alright, thank you, we really liked your showroom so we came to visit it again See yaa"
COME ON TOYOTA WHAT WERE YOU THINKING..!!!
"Okay bhaiya... chalo lets go home and drive be happy with what we have because either we have some really high expectations or the cars we saw were actually having those problems. In either case.. its a big oops."
"Wait Chhota, we've spent the whole day looking for a car so what''s the harm in trying a bit harder"
"RIghto, bhaiya.. i know its gone to your head and you can't handle the shock but look around there is NOTHING MORE !!"
"There has to be buddy.. think what did we miss."
"Okay.. Lemme see..the new
Ta-ta Man-za"
" YOu gotta be kidding me... tell me you are " (No offense to anyone. The Tata Manza is a good vehicle, Its just not the one for us)
"Ofcourse I am, thats why I said there's nothing more"
" NO Lets go to Honda"
"What..!! Now wait a minute.. the whole idea of buying a new car is to get an oil burner so how does Honda come in the picture ?? "
Well, the argument ends with my bro reminding me of his 'bade bhaiya' status. So here we go again.
It did turn out a good decision because Honda had the best pre-sales behaviour and it was a welcome change after what we had been through the day. (Toyota was decent as well but Honda was better).
Ofcourse there was not much to do here. The
ANHC is great vehicle the only downside being its too beige interiors but nothing that I can't live with.
The
Civic is a superb vehicle but the low GC is a big no for Mumbai roads. I have seen my friend's vehicle touch bottom way too often and my mom's gonna find it tough to slide into the rear seat.
"Yes sir, so which is gonna be" the sales guys enquires as my brother starts walking towards the Accord...!!
"Bhaiya.. wassup.. I hope you don't plan to sell me to buy that car, cuz it still won't suffice so BACK OFF..!!
Anyways the visit to Honda was just that -a visit. They are petrol engines, so however good the vehicles are we are not gonna buy them.
So it all began one afternoon, where we we started with
Innova,
moved on to the all new
Hyundai Verna,
checked out
Vento,
and the 'bade company' directors
Cruz,
still haven't test driven the
Linea
absolutely rejected
SKoda,
laughed over
Corolla (It is not worth the price they're asking),
spoke about the
Manza,
and finally had some fun at
Honda.
The day ended.
Now, you may wonder what was this all about ? Well Its just the present car scenario from my perspective and if there is anyone who is as lost as I am then please let me know, we'll have a discuss it over a 'cuppa tea'.
Cheers.
KC