[Hashim]

I have this Maruti 1000 car since many years and its serving me well. Now I want opinion from you guys that what should I do, shall I get this car refurbished at local garage and drive it for some more years or get a new car.
Some pics of the car:





I live in a place where road almost does not exist so what I think is even if I buy a new car it will get spoiled soon and maintenance will be heavy as new generation cars parts are costlier. With a budget of max 4 lakhs I think I have only three options:

1. Get this Maruti 1000 fixed and save lots of money for problems that arise later.
2. Sell it for peanut price and buy another car.
3. Buy a second hand Gypsy or similar vehicle that can handle these roads much better.

My usage is not much, just around 500 – 800Km per month but roads are real bad. I use the car for visiting clients place, buying stuff from market and going college (less than 1 year left then no more )

[GTO]

Not one to say this too often, but here goes : Sell it!

Your 15 - 20 year old Maruti 1000 is too outdated & too under-powered by current standards. I bet it's completely worn out too. Get rid of the car, I usually keep a 10 year cap on the vehicles from my garage.

Since you have a 4 lakh budget, get a used car with excellent ground clearance & solid reliability. My recommendation is a pre-owned Toyota Corolla.

- Lots of examples for 4 lakhs (and below)
- Bullet proof reliability
- Excellent ground clearance (far better than your Maruti 1000)
- Way more contemporary in terms of power, safety, space etc.

Other used options you can consider are:

- Maruti Gypsy
- Mahindra MM540 / 550
- Mahindra Scorpio
- Toyota Innova

You could also buy a new hatchback like the Santro, i10, WagonR and the like. Small cars have come a long way, and I'd consider either of these to be an upgrade to a worn out Maruti 1000.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by Hashim

2. Sell it for peanut price and buy another car.
3. Buy a second hand Gypsy or similar vehicle that can handle these roads much better.

I'll go with these two.

Going by these pics you posted, I feel, either those roads there are perpetually bad or you've given up the idea of cleaning your car.
I don't know if these pics are recently taken but the serious layers of mud and slush is horrific. It's not monsoon but where did you collect that kind of muck from?
That kind of slush cannot come from a regular tarred road (especially this time of the year). I would imagine you face a lot of undulating road surface there too.

With a budget of four lacs, I would go for a second hand Gypsy. You may get it well within that budget depending on where you're looking from.
Peanuts from Maruti 1000 can fetch you a good condition 2nd hand AC for your Gypsy too. I'm assuming you'll look for MG 413 only.

[Dushie]

Your Maruti is already too old and i believe has done good service.
Answer to your questions : -

1. Get this Maruti 1000 fixed and save lots of money for problems that arise later.
Check the cost for fixing the car and also how is the condition of the engine. Keep one thing in mind even if you fix the car completely a year or town when you sell it down the line you will not get much more that what you will get currently for selling the same. So is repairing or fixing the same worth it.

2. Sell it for peanut price and buy another car.
Well one fine day you have to sell this car, either u can sell it for peanuts today. Or after a few years by investing another 20 to 30 k on it. In the end it will sell for peanuts only whenever you need to sell it off. So why not sell it now.
3. Buy a second hand Gypsy or similar vehicle that can handle these roads much better.

U can look for the vehicles that are available in your budget. I don't know how comfortable you are dirving a jeep otherwise you could look for a pre owned Bolero jeep.

[DevilsCry]

Hi Hashim,

I'm was in same boat as you in 2010. I've a 1995 Maruti 1000 (I like to call it Esteem). My budget for a new car was also 4 lac only. My Esteem still had enough life left in it and needed refurbishing.

After a lot of calculating, I bought a Ford Figo LXi for 3.92 lac. I'm still looking for someone who would buy my Esteem. The problem is that everyone wants to only scrap it and hence offers only 10k bucks.

[Hashim]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

I'll go with these two.

Going by these pics you posted, I feel, either those roads there are perpetually bad or you've given up the idea of cleaning your car.
I don't know if these pics are recently taken but the serious layers of mud and slush is horrific. It's not monsoon but where did you collect that kind of muck from?

Exactly! I have given up cleaning, one fine day I did went for a wash and when I returned home the car was looking almost same as it was before the wash. And these pics are recent. Some roads here are always clogged with water and so the mud.

@DevilsCry: Here the scrap dealer will buy for 20k but my heart doesn't allow me to do that, cannot see my car cut apart and its body parts sold.

@GTO, you have given me a convincing option (Toyota Coralla) as after driving a saloon car for so long, I don't think I'll enjoy driving a Gypsy. I'll look for this car in second hand market now.

[DevilsCry]

Originally Posted by Hashim

@DevilsCry: Here the scrap dealer will buy for 20k but my heart doesn't allow me to do that, cannot see my car cut apart and its body parts sold.

Same here. Even after 15 years of commercial abuse, I didn't want to dissect my Esteem but after 2 years of non-usage, its condition is getting so bad that scraping it is the best tribute I can give to this warrior.

Originally Posted by Hashim

@GTO, you have given me a convincing option (Toyota Coralla) as after driving a saloon car for so long, I don't think I'll enjoy driving a Gypsy. I'll look for this car in second hand market now.

I've had owned only pre-worshipped cars - 2 Premier Padmini and an Esteem. So naturally, my next car was a pre-worshipped Corolla or Civic. After intensive research regarding cost & maintenance and TDing, I found only one car to be a true upgrade from my Esteem - a new Toyota Etios model J (which costs 5.5 lac on-road in Delhi). So you might want to try a new Toyota Liva model J (costing 4.5 lac) instead of a 2003 Corolla costing 4.5 lac which has run 1 lac km.

I'm not exactly advising you. I just shared my experience since our requirements matched so closely. I ended up buying a Figo since I didn't want to be a part of Toyota's R&D team by buying newly launched Etios/Liva. However I think that Etios/Liva are fairly proven now.

[infotech58]

sometime these decisions are hard.
an uncle of mine has a 95 M800 and is reluctant of selling it; however his monthly run is only 200-300 KMs and the car has a lot of life left.

my opinion:
sell it unless you have some emotional value attached with this car. AND buy a NEW car instead of buying a used Gypsy or Corolla (they will demand at least some maintenance now and then in addition to the purchase price). Why not look at Petrol Vista; it has space, suspension to handle bad roads; cheap spares.

[oxyzen]

Originally Posted by DevilsCry

After a lot of calculating, I bought a Ford Figo LXi for 3.92 lac. I'm still looking for someone who would buy my Esteem. The problem is that everyone wants to only scrap it and hence offers only 10k bucks.

10K bucks?
Well I would have paid twice it if I had this offer 8 months ago.
We sold our 1997 Zen with 1.7L km at 50K. How can a 1000 be just 10K.

[james]

I would suggest selling this off when it has some decent value!
I would also suggest a used sx4 if you dont mind the rubbish mileage! We have had one since 2yrs and its been a joy to drive on bad roads. Actually im surprised noone mentioned the sx4. A gypsy would look macho but do you really think you'll be able to move from a comfy sedan to an offroader with a stiff (stock) suspension?

[DevilsCry]

I can't believe that I missed SX4! Thanks james for pointing it out! Hashim, I take back my suggestion of a new car. You should go seek a 2nd hand SX4! I love SX4 more than Corolla due to its sheer engine power and comfort over broken roads. Its huge tyres makes me wonder what's purpose of SUVs and jeeps. Not only it's within your budget but it's also a Maruti, meaning less parts costs.

The experience of riding my new Figo for 6 months of instead of my Esteem, I vote that you should let go of your Esteem and opt for a newer car.

Originally Posted by oxyzen

10K bucks?
Well I would have paid twice it if I had this offer 8 months ago.
We sold our 1997 Zen with 1.7L km at 50K. How can a 1000 be just 10K.

I never tried to sell it myself. Random guys would come knocking at my gate asking me to sell them the car. I think that they all are sent by a single guy, to dupe me into selling it for 10k only.

[Turbokick]

If you can sell your car then just sell it.
More you wait more difficult will be for you to sell the car and hence the problem. Spares and maintenance will be another headache in the future.

Honestly there is no point in investing in a car that won't even fetch what money you invest on it.


Btw if your 1000 can handle the road, then why not a standard hatchback?
If you are interested in used cars decent C segment sedan or even a Mahindra Bolero will do

[vigsom]

Hashim,

It is time to part with the 1000 ; go for a Maruti again -I'd suggest a Swift OR Ritz OR , stretch the budget a bit and get a DZire.

The Corolla is a good option but availability and cost of spares is an issue especially in non-metros.

[Hashim]

@james: Thats same thing I think, I don't know but thought of Gypsy feels right for the rough road (look at pics what they have done to it) but then I might not like the drive when compared with a sedan.

I would try to find SX4 in second hand market here, btw while coming back home I went to car dealer for Corolla but found a decent looking Hyundai Accent for sale. It was a 2007 model with original alloys. Price was 2.1 Lakhs. It was evening and not much light there, so will check it out tomorrow most probably and discuss about it in used car thread.

[IQBAL VEERJI]

Keeping in view the road condition around your home, in my mind comes one and only Mahindra 550,with good ground clearance and strong built.