[sjain2054]

Originally Posted by buzzy_boy

I bought an XUV 700

I also have my eyes on the new Swift as my second car.

Thanks for sharing. I loved going through your ownership report. The XUV is indeed a solid car - from what I read because I have never driven it. Yes, the new Swift seems to have great handling and I remember GTO's comment somewhere that said "I also love the new Swift". But, without the Boosterjet engine, the Fronx will be a better option.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Absolutely nothing in the new-car market will satisfy your requirements. Used options are the only ones worth considering.

Used budget cars - Fiesta 1.6S, Fiat Punto Abarth or Linea 1.4 T-Jet.

Used 15-20 lakh spectrum - BMW 3 Series E90 and F30 (328i can be had in the 15 lakh budget but the B48 in the 330i is the more refined and efficient motor between the two. Good examples of the 330i can be had for 25-30 lakh.

Used 20-30 lakh - F56 Mini Cooper S

Originally Posted by buzzy_boy

I'd recommend waiting for the Altroz racer.

Swift - Sad that they didn't launch it with the booster jet engine though.

While you're at it, why don't you check out the Fronx booster jet manual?

Originally Posted by sunikkat

Unfortunately no current new car will give you that raw feel and being connected. If you need that you have to go for that old Fiesta’s, Linea or old BMWs which in my opinion is not wise considering the age of cars.
But new cars does make it up and more with the engine options. If in your place, I would have increased my budget and gone for a new Virtus GT or an used Octavia.

Thanks for all the inputs. I am taking away the following -

1. Forget the "connected to the road" feeling that Ikon 1.6 or the Baleno 1.6 gave us in the late 90s because none of the current cars on sale have that.

2. But the current lot of cars still give immense driving pleasure because of the amazing drivetrains and modern tech. Some of these are - the new Swift for its chassis, the new Fronx for the engine and MT combo, Virtus GT etc

My thoughts: Yes, I think you guys are right. If I have a low budget then these are my only options. I guess I needed to hear it from someone else. Unless I go all in and get the Byd Seal or the M340i. I cannot spend that much right now.

3. Among used cars, the old BMWs and Fords are not worth it. They must've given immense driving pleasure back in their days but they are not worth the trouble now. If I am going the used car way, I should stick to 2018/19 or newer Octavia 2.0 TDI, VW 1.2 TSIs. I do not have the budget for the Mini Cooper or the F30s up keep.

Long story short (too late?), I'll stick to the realistic options within 15 lacs and test drive the hell out of them before finalizing on the ONE. From my research, the Honda City makes most sense to me and there are so many in the used car market but I do not want the Manual Transmission and apparently the CVT is not very good in terms of driving pleasure. So, I'll continue the search.

Thanks a lot. Cheers.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Absolutely nothing in the new-car market will satisfy your requirements. Used options are the only ones worth considering.

Because we are on this topic, I wanted to make a small observation for you as Teambhp Support team.

Bhpians have purchased and maintained some really good cars. The ownership reports are such a joy to read. After a while they tend to upgrade and sell their cars in the used car market. I think we should aggressively promote to them the idea of listing their cars here on Teambhp first. It really helps some of us who do not know where to buy a used car from. Example, other than Spinny & cars24 I have no idea where to buy a used car from. I do not know any dealer.

I know that you have a Bhpian cars for sale thread. But it is very under-utilized. There might be a way to make the Bhpian owned cars classifieds stand out and encourage folks to display their cars over there before they sell it off in the open market. Example, V Narayan's awesome Volvo went to a used car dealer when some Bhpian might have bought it if the Bhpians knew about it.

We cannot force the Bhpians to display their cars on Tbhp classified but sometimes making such features stand out and visible helps a lot towards that goal.

Originally Posted by sunikkat

I would have increased my budget and gone for a new Virtus GT or an used Octavia.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Absolutely nothing in the new-car market will satisfy your requirements. Used options are the only ones worth considering.

Hello Experts,

I have come across a 2016 Jetta Diesel Automatic Highline with 71,000kms @ 11 lakhs asking price. I will, obviously, negotiate. The person is an army man and the car photos look very good. He also has all the maintenance bills etc. It is listed on TeamBHP classifieds.

https://classifieds.team-bhp.com/buy...en/Jetta.html/

Please guide me on the following -
1. On the face of it, does the car's price look ok or is it on the higher side?

2. I have zero knowledge on how to check a second hand car for buying. What should I do about assessing the car? If the price part is clear then I will visit the owner and take the car to a VW service center.

3. Do you think the car is too old and might give problems being a German? Should I drop the idea and move on?

[iliketurtles]

Originally Posted by sjain2054

Hello Experts,

I have come across a 2016 Jetta Diesel Automatic Highline with 71,000kms @ 11 lakhs asking price.

Please guide me on the following -
1. On the face of it, does the car's price look ok or is it on the higher side?

Hello there. This car must have been priced at 22-23 lakhs back in 2016. To price it at 11 in today's day and age is laughable. Even if pristine, it's overpriced by 3-4 lakhs in my opinion. The gulf in price is too large if you ask me, and cannot be overcome. The problem lies in the wildly unrealistic asking price.

Originally Posted by sjain2054

I have zero knowledge on how to check a second hand car for buying. What should I do about assessing the car? If the price part is clear then I will visit the owner and take the car to a VW service center.

First of all, check the service history. See if there are any things missed out on, or that will be coming up soon as an expense. This includes your brakes, suspension, and tyres. Check when they were recently replaced. I assume the car will be up-to-date on its insurance and annual maintenance given the bonkers price.

Then, look at the below pointers

• Check the interiors for wear, particularly the roofline, which is known to sag
• Try to get hold of an OBD scanner to ascertain the state of the car, if there are any errors. You can also take it to a trusted woekshop to get it scanned for errors.
• I had a water pump failure on my Jetta. This is something to keep an eye out for, others have had it too.

This is off the top of my head.

Originally Posted by sjain2054

3. Do you think the car is too old and might give problems being a German? Should I drop the idea and move on?

It's not that old to be honest, but it will throw up issues that need fixes, some more expensive than others. My opinion; you should look elsewhere. A 3 series of a similar vintage can be had for not much more than his asking price, and I would pick a 320d over a Jetta any day of the week. It's a no-brainer. You'd be surprised at how similar the maintenance costs are too.

[sjain2054]

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

Hello there. This car must have been priced at 22-23 lakhs back in 2016. To price it at 11 in today's day and age is laughable. Even if pristine, it's overpriced by 3-4 lakhs in my opinion.

I had a water pump failure on my Jetta.

My opinion; you should look elsewhere. A 3 series of a similar vintage can be had for not much more than his asking price, and I would pick a 320d over a Jetta any day of the week. It's a no-brainer. You'd be surprised at how similar the maintenance costs are too.

Hey, thanks a lot for your comments. Since you have owned the Jetta, these inputs are valuable.

I will reach out to the chap and see if he is willing to go down to 7.5-8 lakhs and only then will I talk further. Having said that, I do not think he will go down 30% on the asking price. The awesome suspension tune on the Jetta (vs the Octavia) make me think that I should, at the very least, give it a shot.

Eventually, I think I will have to look at something else. 2015-2018 BMW 320d cars will be for about 15-18 lakhs today? I am making a wild guess. I have no idea about these things. I see an ad for 2015 BMW 3 Series 320d Prestige @ 15.65 lakhs that has run 66000kms. I wonder if I should take a look and negotiate.

https://www.spinny.com/buy-used-cars...ars-in-pune/s/

[IshaanIan]

A Jetta 1.4 tsi can be had comfortably within your budget at the end of the day handling will be much better with a small light petrol motor in the front.

[iliketurtles]

Originally Posted by sjain2054

I will reach out to the chap and see if he is willing to go down to 7.5-8 lakhs and only then will I talk further. Having said that, I do not think he will go down 30% on the asking price.

Buddy, let me put it this way. If Dr. Strange were to look through space and time, he wouldn’t find even one where someone would drop their price that much. And even if there were 1 chance in 14 million of that happening, this is not that timeline. Try if you will though. I could be way wrong.

Originally Posted by sjain2054

Eventually, I think I will have to look at something else. 2015-2018 BMW 320d cars will be for about 15-18 lakhs today? I am making a wild guess. I have no idea about these things.

You’re not far wrong. Decent to good examples of 3 series can be had for that much. Don’t bother with the Spinny one, it’s run a bit much for my taste. Here are just a few I found after a quick search. Keep at it. You’ll find one for sure.

https://www.carwale.com/used/cars-in...ries/d4469603/

https://www.carwale.com/used/cars-in...ries/d4781661/

Limit your hunt to cars having run 40-45k kms, and lovingly maintained.

[sunikkat]

With used cars my suggestion is go with the ones which are 1st owner, the chances of Odo tampering is comparatively lesser than 2 or 3 owners. To give an example, my Fiesta 1.6s which I sold at 72k kms in 2016 was available in lot of platforms for sale after 3 years and 3rd owner at some 50k kms.

As such German cars are very robust, my 8 years old (92k kms) Octavia TDI has been super reliable with only the running expenses. And it is stage 1 tuned since 3 years and 40k+ kms. Find a good FNG and you are sorted. But do all pre-checks before buying.

[sjain2054]

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

Buddy, let me put it this way. If Dr. Strange were to look through space and time, he wouldn’t find even one where someone would drop their price that much. And even if there were 1 chance in 14 million of that happening, this is not that timeline. Try if you will though. I could be way wrong.

In all his journeys through Space & Time, Dr Strange would not be able to spot the resolve of a baniya to save money. Having said that, I understand what you mean. Nowadays, the sabziwala makes a face if I ask him for free dhaniya at the end of it. So why will this army chap drop the price by 30% of (according to him) such a well maintained Jetta.

But more importantly, as good as a Jetta Diesel is, I think it would not make sense to buy it in 2024.

Originally Posted by sunikkat

With used cars my suggestion is go with the ones which are 1st owner, the chances of Odo tampering is comparatively lesser than 2 or 3 owners. To give an example, my Fiesta 1.6s which I sold at 72k kms in 2016 was available in lot of platforms for sale after 3 years and 3rd owner at some 50k kms.

As such German cars are very robust, my 8 years old (92k kms) Octavia TDI has been super reliable with only the running expenses. And it is stage 1 tuned since 3 years and 40k+ kms. Find a good FNG and you are sorted. But do all pre-checks before buying.

Yessir, points noted. I will keep these points in mind while using the filters on used car sites.

[Sensible_Speed]

Voted Hyundai i20 N-Line.

Hyundai is really doing something with their N-Line cars. It's not just a racy paint scheme and body kit. They've made tweaks to the chassis and suspension and steering to make it actually fun to drive. The 1.0 TGdi is not as good as the VW groups 1.0 TSI, but the exhaust note is cracking and responses are good too. It doesn't feel sluggish either. You can't go wrong with either gearbox option. The DCT is well tuned and the 6 speed manual now comes with the all important clutch pedal which was missing in the previous imt version. This is probably the closest we can get to a Polo GT today.

Having said that, the Honda City isn't a bad choice either. It has gotten softer over the years, but that engine still remains an absolute unit. So rev happy and forgiving. It is truly an engineering masterpiece. But the auto gearbox is a letdown being a CVT. Add to that the narrow track on the tires, soft-ish suspension and most importantly, a starting price of 14-something lakhs on-road Bangalore for the base variant made me rule it out.

In the Others section, the Skoda-VW models come to mind. They have good chassis, taut suspension and good handling dynamics. For a driving enthusiast, this is a no brainer. The engines are strong too. Price is again a hamstring here with not much being available below your budget of 15L.

A left field choice would be the Citroen C3 with the 1.2 turbo petrol. A brilliant engine and great suspension tuning. A bit sparse on features and many practicality misses, not to speak of management neglect from Stellantis today, make this a miss.