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-   -   Honda Amaze vs Maruti Dzire vs Hyundai Xcent (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/sedans/135202-honda-amaze-vs-maruti-dzire-vs-hyundai-xcent-11.html)

Why not Dzire? If it's only for city drives, why not? It has Maruti reliability, good ASS and the 1.3 MJD is brilliant in terms of reliability.

I'm sure that Amaze is better in terms of power figures, but for a second car, I would pick Xcent. Simply because of quality. I think Hyundai's are very reliable but service might be slightly more expensive. IMHO, for a car that will run about 50k km in 7 years(average for a second car), service costs might be the same.

Do the math: Amaze will give you better FE and service might be cheaper. But Xcent is a lakh cheaper. In my usage(as the avg mentioned above), Xcent will save you money.

Yes, I am very satisfied with overall Honda ownership. However, Xcent feels to be a much better overall package in its segment.

The Xcent's clutch is lighter w.r.t. Dzire (very important factor since my wife shall be the principal user of this car). Secondly, decently specced Dzire falls in Amaze territory (read as about a Lakh costlier). For that price I'd like to go for Honda.

Folks, what is the right market price for a pre-owned Honda Amaze i-Dtec MT (July 13)? It has driven about 8000 odd. Sorry if this is not the right section for this query.

I know this might be a strange question, and I'm comparing apples and oranges. But - I'm seriously confused and would appreciate any inputs that the forum members can give me!

I have a budget of around 7 lakhs for a petrol car. What I want are decent mileage, good city driveability, reliability, and maintenance costs. It'll mostly be driven by a single person on fairly easy roads, with maybe a long trip once or twice a year, for a total distance of about 7,000 km annually. Space inside the car is not a constraint. I enjoy driving, but do not redline or even go into the higher rpms :)

I have booked the Zest, and have also done a short test drive. I quite liked the car.

I just took a test drive of the Rapid. I quite liked this car too. And the solidity is, of course, reassuring.

The main reason to TD the Rapid is husband's idea to make use of an ongoing offer of lower pricing along with a good financing deal. What this essentially means is that if I stretch my budget by around lakh, I get a car from a higher segment. The finance deal works out pretty sweet, considering that I intend to take a loan to cover a large part of the car cost.

I own an Indigo and an Indica, so am no "Tata-Basher" and am aware of the TASS experience. I have no experience with anything Skoda.

Now my questions:
1) Without considering difference in the initial costs, which is a better option: Skoda or the Zest?
2) What FE can one expect from the Rapid petrol with sedate driving in the city with medium traffic conditions?
3) Is the Skoda ASS a deal breaker? Considering we are comparing Tata and Skoda?
4) How expensive will it be to maintain a Skoda petrol? How much would be average annual maintenance costs? And how expensive are Rapid spares compared to Tata spares?

To complicate things, I need to take this decision before the launch of the Zest, i.e., before the 12th Aug, giving me very little time to figure things out!!

Thanks in advance for your help!

If I were you, I would have heard to my brain instead of the heart and gone for Zest.

We all know about Skoda's shoddy after sales service examples. Also Skoda's spare parts are also costly. Sales and service outlets are also less as compared to TATA.

Buying a car is one thing and maintaining it other. I would want my car to be fuss free and have spares priced sensibly and easily available, so from my side Zest it should be!

Rapid will be more expensive but is also a car from another segment. So my thoughts:
1. Zest is lighter than Rapid and I expect it would have better fuel efficiency although not a lot more. A friend's Vento petrol gives him 9 kmpl in Bangalore so I would expect Rapid to be somewhat similar - expect zest to be around 11 kmpl in similar situations.

2. After Sales Service - the advantage is on Tata's side because although their After Sales Service is not that great any mechanic outside can repair it and Tata sells parts outside top. That makes it cheaper.
How much cheaper - hard to say.

3. Depreciation - both depreciate but my personal opinion is that Rapid depreciates more - more so the petrol.

4. Pleasure of driving every day: Rapid is sure to make you feel good about the car every time you get in.

Considering you already have a Tata, my thought are to buy something other than Tata but I hate to suggest to go buy a Skoda although their cars are very very nice - just that their service later sucks and you don't have any option of other service centers.

Bottom line
Simple no nonsense car - zest.
Exciting upmarket car - feels good but expensive - Rapid.

The Zest looks wonderful on the paper and in our own official review. But as you said the Rapid is from a different segment and its unfair to compare the two. I am usually against suggesting Skoda to any one but the recent radio advertisements for the Rapid do look promising since they are offering 5 years/ 1L km warranty which will cover all your fears of dealing with Skoda after sales. Also the interest rate being offered is around 7.99% IIRC. All this makes the Skoda a very lucrative option. If you can extend your budget then go for it.

I see this in a different way. Hope I am correct:

The Zest is a new car and yet to be launched whereas the Rapid is there in India since a fairly long time so Skoda does know how the car behaves and so does the general public.

I feel it is better to stick to a car that has done at least 6 months in the market from release. Reason being, we'll get to know whether the car is worth buying or no!

Word-of-mouth helps a lot in knowing what the car is in reality. So knowing the average feedback here on T-BHP and from friends / colleagues, the Rapid makes a sensible buy if you can stretch your budget.

Skoda Rapid it is.

Clean, simple looking and mature in design that suits all.

Both companies that you are comparing aren't great to jump about on the ASC part so nothing much to worry be it Tata or Skoda.

As 'Drmohitg' has pointed out about the 5 year/1L warranty that Skoda is giving out, this is a steal knowing the Skoda servicing standards and reputation.

Once you avail this offer then you can be relaxed for the next 5 years from purchase as Skoda will do the needful if ever a problem arises.

Anurag.

Since the question is which one of the 2... Skoda Rapid.

Zest has given a very good first impression. That's it. How it lives up to it in the long run is yet to be seen. If the maker has a reputation for reliability, I wouldn't worry that much. Tata has had reliability issues in the past with their cars but hopefully they are bringing up their cars to match the competition. But that's just hope as of today. How true is that is yet to be seen. Rapid with a low interest and 5 year/1 lakh kms warranty makes a more sensible choice.

Let Zest be cheaper to maintain but Rapid would be even more cheaper to maintain within the warranty period if even one single major maintenance job comes up. When it's time to sell your Rapid, Zest and Bolt would have proved their worth. Then you could make a more informed decision for the next car. Or if you buy the Zest, you would be one of those customers to tell us how reliable the car is, as we don't know it yet.

Thanks a ton for your inputs, amit_purohit20, deep_bang, drmohitg, a4anurag, ajaypjayaraj. Much appreciate the points you all have made.

After having spent almost the full day yesterday reading reviews and ownership experiences, I realised that there are a couple of issues wrt engine overheating and wheel alignment that have been raised repeatedly on most online forums. Am just wondering if with these known problems, what good Skoda's A.S.S will be? Don't have full details about the warranties as per this deal but whatever I have read about the A.S.S makes me wonder if these warranties are worth the paper they are written on as these dealers will always find a way to point the finger away from manufacturing defects. Sorry to be so pessimistic; but our consumer protection laws also don't inspire much confidence, hence want to be better safe than sorry.

If i was in your position only practical line of thought would be this-
Am i living paycheck to paycheck or Am i having enough cash reserve for a meaty maintenance bill. 1L/5 years does look promising, but being available is one thing and 'To Avail' is another and this is exactly where Skoda atleast to me is losing the plot. Also, Indica XETA is a good workhorse(ok, a sort of! ) but the Revotron is yet to prove its mettle. I will put my money on the Zest only when i know what all changes TATA has done to the engine to cope up with higher stress levels due to the turbo. Revotron labs is indeed a master stroke by TATA. No second thoughts here.

Well, if Skoda ASS was good, Rapid was the obvious choice. But better to risk it with the known devil rather than the unknown one.

Rapid is still the more superior car of the two. It's based on your priority now.
It's the question of whether you need a full size sedan or a compact one will do.

Before you decide, have many good looks at the Xcent and Amaze. Also check for any discounts on the SX4.

From what I know and have experienced, VW (and so maybe Skoda) ASS is known to point the finger at the owner and say 'your fault' and decline warranty for crappy reasons. On the other hand, Tata ASS is known to be extremely lenient about warranty issues.
I use a Tata petrol (though a FIAT FIRE engine) and it is a very well put together vehicle, considering it is 4+ years old now it has held up extremely well. Also while buying the Tata, you could take a platinum AMC package for 3 years. It even covers rubber parts! So you dont spend much on maintenance.
About the long term reliability of the engine - it is a cast iron block engine and typically cast iron blocks are able to take higher pressures/stresses as compared to Alloy blocks (unless the Alloy block is designed with the stress in mind) and so are considered easier to turbocharge.
However, as you said you are on a schedule - do look at the Xcent as well. It is a decently well rounded car for that price and Hyundai ASS wont break the bank.

What variant of Rapid are you getting for 7L? The entry level Active MT that has neither airbags nor ABS is just under 8L OTR Delhi (without discounts). If you want basic safety features that in my opinion are essential when buying any new car you will have to stretch by another lakh.

Also the Rapid is long in the tooth now and the NA petrol engine is nothing to write home about. Zest is new and rather exciting, what with its 3 drive modes and the turbo petrol engine. Plus it is smaller, which makes it easy to drive and park in the city. Also means you will get more value in terms of features/rupee spent.

I would say go with the Zest.

My choice would be Rapid.
Zest is a new entrant in the automobile market and is yet to prove its potential. It looks very promising on paper but being a Tata it might have issues in the beginning, could be major ones or minor ones.
As some members have said, I would also say that one should not immediately buy a newly launched car.
Rapid is a car that will keep you very happy, the quality of materials used, the sense of confidence and safety it inspires every time you shut the door and hear that thud sound is something that only a German car can give.
Even if it does not have the most exciting motor among the competition it still won't disappoint you.
Although you have made it very clear that you want to chose between the Zest and rapid only, I would suggest you to explore other cars as well like Xcent, Amaze or even a Swift ZXI which will come with all the bells and whistles + safety features (ABS, EBD, 2airbags), peaceful A.S.S. Experience and we all know that the 1.2L K series engine that powers it is simply amazing.
Make your choice wisely. Good luck.