All the alternatives that were considered, and why you zeroed in on this particular car
I was in the market to look for an Automatic car, my previous car was a 2007 honda city Zx. I was very satisfied with it but the Delhi Noida traffic was taking its toll on my left leg and hand. Had a word with my family and budget was decided not more than 17L, I wanted a sedan.
• I test drove the
CIVIC the car was scraping with 4 adults, the auto-box was not as exciting as it’s manual counterpart, nothing much had changed since it’s launch.
Also, my dad has trouble getting into the back seat, they are really low.
I moved on.
• Then I went to the
CRUZE this car really speaks “
Too old to rock n roll, too young to die”. I couldn’t really feel the oomph I was looking for in a sedan.
I drove this car, it’s gives the adrenalin rush but really I am not going to be on the highways much often nor do I wait for the signal to go green and i should see the rest of the cars disappear in my in RVM. I wanted to feel like sitting in a Lazy-boy chair and watching my favorite TV channel with no outside disturbances in my private home theatre kind of feeling.
• Next, was the
Skoda Laura Automatic Tdi DSG test drove it, fell I love with each and everything from the sitting position to the drive to the driving experience to the OEM music system to the reach sitting and more and more.
The discounts it had were tempting and I tasted it, I had booked Skoda Laura Tdi DSG Ambiente, but at the back of my mind I had this thought running “what if this car just stops in the middle of nowhere” and the stories of “Mechatronic” failures in numerous cars was the deal breaker.
The Autobox of skoda has a high failure ratio. So, backed out of this deal, although the car was very neat and absolute no nonsense.
• Finally I heard,
Corolla has been upgraded to 7 speed AT box - On my way to office just dropped in the showroom, the sales person was very helpful and was clear cut on everything. “No discounts, No freebies”, 3 months waiting but if there is a cash payment the Pearl white can be arranged in 10 days.
Test drove it, fell in love with it. I took it near the Stadium at Lodhi road, the road was amazing the drive was orgasmic.
The backseat, this is the best in this segment.
At one point, I wanted to run away with this test car itself.
Booked the car and set the date for delivery 11sep2011
All this while the sales staff would call me and update me about where my car was, car has arrived in the stockyard, the documents are ready, the car will be taken to RTO today etc.
- Complete booking & delivery experience from the dealership
- On-road price, discounts etc.
• On road price 16,94,000 excluding the accessories.
• No discounts.
On Sep 11, 2011 the new Altis came in our family.
Exterior:
• Exterior front has changed with new grill and broader headlights, liked it very much
• Taillights cluster has changed a bit too, did not like it that much
• Interior has now a darker faux wood which looks neat
• Overall it’s pretty spacious and neat looking car.
• All wheel disc brakes
Interiors/ features:
• Sunglass holder is a joke It’s more like a mobile phone holder
• Optitron meter is good, has all the red, blue, green lights
• one thing I noticed is that I cannot rest my right elbow on the window until I have used the “power controlled seat” to be set to maximum up it can go, I am 5.10
• DVD music system is OK with 6 speakers, NO GPS (very sad)
• Bluetooth connectivity is nice
• Driver side gets 7 way power seat
• Lots of cubby holes
• Miss the height adjustable front arm rest, it can slide though
• No rear ac vents, but the AC is chiller and easily cools the car in under 3 min
• Auto dimming rear view mirror
• Parking assist
• Eco Mode [shows you are driving economy mode]
• Lower back support is a boon
• HID lights are amazing
• Auto Lights on based on the ambience is a great feature to have
• Passenger side seat belt chime is irritating, sometimes if I keep a heavy item on the seat the sensor starts detecting it and rest is “beep beep” for 90 sec
• Push button start / stop
• Cruise control
• Audio controls on the steering wheel
• Tilt & telescopic steering is neat feature to have
• 2 airbags

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Engine:
2ZR Dual VVT-i 1798 CC (1.8-litre)
140 PS of power at 6400 rpm
173 Nm at 4000 rpm torque
• The new 7 speed auto box is very refined
• The rubber band effect is negligible
• The car pulls amazingly fast
• Maneuvering in traffic is pretty easy now but steering wheel is heavy
• Avg. I am getting now is around 11 – 12 kmpl
Overall very roomy car and is nice to drive around the city. Will soon be testing it out on the Highway and the Hills and update further how it goes.