Which car to buy?

[venkatcr]

Actually Suri, I have gone beyond the stage where I worry about the looks of a car. It should drive well, give good mileage and have low maintenance. In terms of interiors, I am ready to rip everything and redo it the way I want. That way I can also rewire the car for music and install some good systems.

About 15 years ago, a friend of mine used to do this. He used to get a brand new Ambassador and send it straight to the mechanic. The mechanic used to rip the car to its frame, re-weld the frames and the body, strengthen the suspension, and build completely new interiors.

I just spent 40,000 on my swift re-doing the suspension about 2 weeks ago. The suspension is already making noise again, and I am sick to my bones.

Cheers

 

[suri]

Actually Suri, I have gone beyond the stage where I worry about the looks of a car. It should drive well, give good mileage and have low maintenance. In terms of interiors, I am ready to rip everything and redo it the way I want. That way I can also rewire the car for music and install some good systems.

About 15 years ago, a friend of mine used to do this. He used to get a brand new Ambassador and send it straight to the mechanic. The mechanic used to rip the car to its frame, re-weld the frames and the body, strengthen the suspension, and build completely new interiors.

I just spent 40,000 on my swift re-doing the suspension about 2 weeks ago. The suspension is already making noise again, and I am sick to my bones.

Cheers

sorry about the swift -:sad:

but, i do remember those days - with the ambassadors -

like you say, it would be sent to the workshop - immediately after delivery - extra welding - luxurious roof upholstery - KOYA bucket seats - do you remember the floor-shift conversion?

felt very good - to get that feeling i would need to spend upwards of 50 lacs!!

it was easier to feel good in those days of (socialist) deprivation!:lol:

regds
suri

 

[teky]

I can very well remember this, My Dad's brother used to have a Amby with Isuzu diesel with Bucket seats and the exact floor gear you're talking about. It was a heaven to travel in with it's chilling AC. The exhaust note as well, sounding like it was going on prowl or something.

 

[suri]

I can very well remember this, My Dad's brother used to have a Amby with Isuzu diesel with Bucket seats and the exact floor gear you're talking about. It was a heaven to travel in with it's chilling AC. The exhaust note as well, sounding like it was going on prowl or something.

yeah teky, exactly!! regds

and do you remember having seen the fog of condensation blowing thru the ac vents?

 

[reignofchaos]

Actually I have been thinking of the Indica as my next car. Given our road conditions, the Jap/Korean/US and other cars seem to have trouble in terms of suspension, rusting etc. Would a Indica make sense? When I took a test drive 2 years ago, the car was very sluggish in pickup, but I have seen a lot of taxis moving fast. What am I missing? A diesel Indica would be tempting in terms of fuel costs, and in terms of low maintenance if it has been designed and built to withstand Indian roads.


Cheers

It depends on what car. Generalizing that all Japanese, Korean or US cars have trouble on indian roads is a little exaggerated. It all depends on what car you buy. Maruti's quality standards of late have gone to the dogs. They used to be nice, well built cars but these days they are built like tin cans and things seem to fail at will.

There are well built cars from Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi which can easily stand up to the abuse of Indian roads. My car (a 2007 Lancer Cedia) has seen 40k of potholed bangalore roads in three years and has held together beautifully. The only things I've had to replace in it have been the horn and brake pads and the total amount I've spent on maintenance is about 20 grand at max including everything. Its almost as good as new and people are shocked most of the time when I tell them its three years old.

I'm surprised that the thread creator is even considering an Eeco. I'm not sure what it offers that draws anyone to it - especially someone with an automobile engineering degree. It runs on leaf springs like an ox cart or a truck. It has absolutely no safety features, has zero frontal protection in case of a head on collision, doesn't even have basic features like a heater and defogger or adjustable mirrors. The center of gravity is probably 3 feet up in the air because of the way the cabin is designed. It rolls like a boat inspite of the fact that the suspension is hard as a rock and ride quality is as bad as an auto rickshaw.

The only redeeming feature in that vehicle is probably the space and a reasonably okay engine. I'd not touch it with a ten foot barge pole.

My suggestion to the thread creator would be to buy a ford figo. Its the most sensible vehicle in your budget considering everything.

 

[suri]

My car (a 2007 Lancer Cedia) has seen 40k of potholed bangalore roads in three years and has held together beautifully.

but-

that car - the cedia - is a superb car - and not to be compared to the usual cars- unusual value for money.

 

[dinyaar]

Hi
Eeco?????????????????

My suggestion is a SWIFT. Something like the LXI should be around the 4/4.25 mark. Or then a Ritz.
IMO the VW polo & Skoda Fabia are over priced for nothing special and so is the honda Jazz.
Heard good things about the Figo and I personally like the way the Punto looks.

Venkat am truly shocked that u need to change a clutch every year!!!!!!!!
Am still on my first clutch in my old Honda Vtec and on my third clutch in a 15 yr old M800. Hope u are not being cheated as there are tons of fake MGPs at least in bbay.
Rgds

 

[reignofchaos]

a friend is going through a similar dilemma......he's deciding between i20, Figo, Swift and Polo.....so far the i20 seems like the best option. I can personally testify that the interiors, fit and finish, and ride quality are top notch. It feels like a much more expensive car. My friend drove it and said it was pretty nice to drive, but he couldn't really take it out on the highway to test the engine under strain. And the features they throw in for the price are excellent, for the same price as the mid-level Polo (roughly 5.93 lakhs on road in Bangalore), they provide integrated music system, climate control, rear window defogger....and i like the funky multi-information display on the dash, makes you feel like you're in a much more expensive car. I haven't driven the bugger though.

The only downer the i20 has is a totally disconnected steering wheel and an underpowered engine in the manual petrol. Haven't driven the automatic which has a 100HP petrol. That should be better. However the steering is a deal breaker for me but for folks who don't care much about those finer aspects, it could well be the perfect car.

@Suri: I totally know that and that is how I buy cars - by how they drive and not how much fuel efficiency they give or how cheap the spares and service are. If the car is good, it won't break and spares would really be a non issue and if you have a reasonably powerful engine, its very easy to get good fuel efficiency out of it if you keep the revs in control. The fuel efficiency for my car never drops below 10-11 in the city and I don't keep the revs in control most of the time . Why buy something that advertises good FE and cheap spares as their only virtues and take the fun out of driving. Makes no sense to me!

 

[suri]

Hi,Am still on my first clutch in my old Honda Vtec

hi dinyaar - you drive/brake on gears? - still on my first clutch at 68,000 km -

respect - suri

 

[prash2k01]

IMO you should go for RITZ
for your requirement it is best suited......it you compromized with the rear looks..............
1. it is 20k cheaper than Swift
2. basic is apx to 3.9Lk+25k-30k (reg+ins) and - now a days 30k discount on it (check newspapers) and you can also negociate for freebies and additional discounts

 

[dinyaar]

hi dinyaar - you drive/brake on gears? - still on my first clutch at 68,000 km -

respect - suri

Well this was my favourite car so no one touched it. Its a Sept 2001 car & has done only 38000 kms and its on the ORG clutch in spite of my wife using it exclusively for the last 2 years

Am sorrry I dont get your question Suri regarding drive/brake on gears? Ya I use the gears a hell of a lot to lose speed too if thats what u mean.

Actaully I see a few guys bash Jap cars here and thats a surprize!! Super VFM. This CITY has been trouble free. Just changed the brake pads last month and frankly I cant think of any major expense that I have incurred on this car. The body too does not corrode and I live by the sea. Guys here were fondly mentioning the amby/fiat days. Those cars felt tough but my fiat would corrode every few years and one had to send it for patchwork.

I actually prefer this car over the civic & the accord the few years that I owned one. Another super car IMO was the old Zen. Had one of the first few that were fully imported and that was a great car too. Wonder why Maruti replaced that with the estilo?
Rgds

EDIT : Sorry my wife says its 41000 kms and the clutch feels 'vague' so better check it out first thing tom. Must be just the setting.

 

[thevortex]

Actually I have been thinking of the Indica as my next car. Given our road conditions, the Jap/Korean/US and other cars seem to have trouble in terms of suspension, rusting etc. Would a Indica make sense? When I took a test drive 2 years ago, the car was very sluggish in pickup, but I have seen a lot of taxis moving fast. What am I missing? A diesel Indica would be tempting in terms of fuel costs, and in terms of low maintenance if it has been designed and built to withstand Indian roads.


Cheers

What do you think the Indica might be able to offer you in the case of suspension or rusting? I honestly dont think those are the Tata brand's strengths. Their USP and indeed their strength is seating/shoulder space and value for money. Anything else they do not come first in line.

About the engine, there should be no issues whatsoever. They have the same CRDi unit that Fiat uses and indeed what the Swift Diesel also uses, I think. That engine is a hoot. I actually experienced my head being pulled back when I accelerated in 2nd and 3rd gears. No mean thing for a small 1.4 litre diesel engine. I drove the Fiat Palio diesel but all three vehicles actually use the same engine - tuned slightly differently, I hear. But the heart is the same.

 

[thevortex]

psychotropic - the i20 is way too underpowered. The looks are good, but that is about it. It also offers a lot of safety features, but with that engine, I dont think its worth that price.

 

[venkatcr]

I also had a original City that was excellent. I kept it for 5 years and sold it after that. The issue was those days, my company used to maintain my cars. So I never bothered about maintenance costs.

I bought the Swift three years ago and it has been a major disappointment. When new, I installed broad tubeless tyres and alloy wheels. The car used to drag to the right all the time. I wrote to Maruti and they sent a senior engineer who checked the car and said it was because of the alloy wheels and tyres. So I went back to the shop I bought the tyres from, borrowed the original rims and tyres, and showed that the car had the same issue. The Engineer disappeared and the GM wrote a thank you note to me. In the last three years I have changed the clutch thrice, as after 10,000Km or so the car shudders in first gear. I am just reconciled to it.

I am not cursing all Jap/Korean/US cars. I had a Santro in between, and that was very good indeed. Excellent A/C, low maintenance, and good mileage. Unfortunately, it did not have the BHP I was used to in the City and I was mentally always comparing it to the City.

The father of a friend of mine has just bought a new Chevy Spark. The car usually gives 12 kpl. The strange thing is that the fuel gauge would suddenly show 'full' when there is no gasoline inside, and show empty when the tank is full. At those times, the car's mileage would vary from 6 to 8 kpl. Yesterday we had two senior engineers from Sundaram Motors (Chevy dealer) arguing that we should not mix the two issues and that we should address them separately. At the end of the day my father's friend was saying that he has lost 300KM of travel because of the strange behaviour of the car.

What I am trying to say here is that as long as I have a car that does not have complications, I think I will be happy. But that is the catch - to get a car without complications.

Cheers

 

[reignofchaos]

What do you think the Indica might be able to offer you in the case of suspension or rusting? I honestly dont think those are the Tata brand's strengths. Their USP and indeed their strength is seating/shoulder space and value for money. Anything else they do not come first in line.

About the engine, there should be no issues whatsoever. They have the same CRDi unit that Fiat uses and indeed what the Swift Diesel also uses, I think. That engine is a hoot. I actually experienced my head being pulled back when I accelerated in 2nd and 3rd gears. No mean thing for a small 1.4 litre diesel engine. I drove the Fiat Palio diesel but all three vehicles actually use the same engine - tuned slightly differently, I hear. But the heart is the same.

Actually the Palio, Punto and Indica have the same ECU tuning. Its only the swift that has a slightly different power curve. The Linea/Manza also has the same engine only with VGT which ups the power a bit to 90ps.

 

[denom]

So avidhyarthy,
I take the final toss is between the Eeco & the Figo???
, still think you will buy the Eeco

 

[suri]

regarding drive/brake on gears? Ya I use the gears a hell of a lot to lose speed too if thats what u mean.

exactly dinyaar! - that requires anticipation of the pattern - of traffic flow - and what a person or car might do - the car must be an extension of self-

and driving this way is the least strain on the drive-train, the transmission, and the brake systems

the old zen was a superb driver's car - and i have driven one with an esteem engine - that was real fun - and scary!

regds suri

 

[psychotropic]

but the i20 has 80 bhp compared to the 75 on the POlo and the 71 in the Figo, wouldn't those two be considered underpowered as well? Not to mention the three-cylinder-ness of the Polo?

psychotropic - the i20 is way too underpowered. The looks are good, but that is about it. It also offers a lot of safety features, but with that engine, I dont think its worth that price.

 

[suri]

but the i20 has 80 bhp compared to the 75 on the POlo and the 71 in the Figo, wouldn't those two be considered underpowered as well? Not to mention the three-cylinder-ness of the Polo?

hi psychotropic - but, really, -

hyundai 80 bhp = VW 56 bhp = ford (ikon) 51bhp -

well, in real-world comparison/ driving in traffic

regds suri

 

[dinyaar]

but the i20 has 80 bhp compared to the 75 on the POlo and the 71 in the Figo, wouldn't those two be considered underpowered as well? Not to mention the three-cylinder-ness of the Polo?

None of the above are fast cars so this marginal difference of figures does not matter.
MAybe the OP can check the AUTOCAR APRIL 10 issue as there is a GROUP TEST FOR PREMIUM HATCHBACKS
Rgds