Help needed! Hi Guys,
I am planning to buy my first car. I have been doing quite a bit of research about the cars and short-listed Baleno, Fiat Adventure and Fiat Petra. I had a great first-hand experience of an adventure in an Adventure few months back. That was one of my first choices and today I have taken my wife to Concorde motors to show her the adventure. We went around 7pm so we couldn't take a test-driving. She got a feel of it but felt that it is too big to drive and park in city. Indigo was never in my mind, but since the fiat executive was busy for quite sometime, we had a look at Tata Indigo and Marina. I was surprised to see the legroom and the space in Indigo. I sat in the drivers seat and the rear seats, and I felt fairly comfortable. Baleno is another car in my list, so we went to Sagar Automobiles afterwards. This was in fact on the top of list, but after getting into Baleno, all my interest in it slowly fizzled down. I couldn't fit my 6.2ft tall body in the driver's seat comfortably.
We are planning to go and test-drive these vehicles tomorrow. I was also trying to find a Fiat Petra, but only diesel versions are available in Bangalore. We thought of test-driving the Petra diesel too.
I expect our monthly usage around 400-600km on average. My office is just 4km from my house, and I am planning to continue going on bike to office. My wife commutes 12km a day between home and office. She will be taking the car quite frequently to her office. I would like to know whether it is advisable to go for a diesel car for this kind of usage? Does diesel cars like PetraD or Indigo diesel have more maintenance costs compared to their petrol counterparts. What about their refinement compared their petrol counterparts? Any information on this regard will be highly appreciated.
I summarize my requirements below.
1) Short listed cars: Baleno, Adventure, Petra and Indigo
2) My price limit is 6lakhs. I will be using finance options for this buy, so the cheaper the better.
3) Maintenance and A.S.S.: I use it mostly Bangalore, so, I expect no problems with A.S.S. Indigo and Petra owners, please intimate me your experience about the maintenance and A.S.S. for these vehicles.
4) Average distance travelled per month will be around 500km.
5) Most of the usage will be in the city
6) Self driven
7) I will be sharing my car with my wife.
8) I want a good leg room both the in front and in the rear. Most of my relatives are quite tall, and, I am looking for a car which can accommodate 5 tall people (When my parents and my in-laws come to Bangalore, the car may need to accommodate 3 guys of 6-6.2 heights and 2girls of 5.10 and 5.11). This is the reason for ignoring all the small cars.
9) Resale value is at the bottom of my priorities. I am planning to keep it for 4-5 years at least.
Thanks Guys,
Hope I havn't bored you.
Regards,
Mohan. |