Value for Money_Fresh Looks

I started my search 3 weeks ago. Wanted to take a car for tax benefits under my salary's flexible benefit component. Value for money was a of prime importance. Key issues > 

- On road Price 3.5 L to 4.5 L

- Stability at High speeds / City usage is not going to be much

- Driving comfort

- Aesthetics

- Add-ons like power windows were not really  important

After doing a lot of research on data and opinions avaialble on net and from friends i had the following observations >

- Santro & Wagon R > good and proven vehicles in this segment (I have bought a Wagon R Duo for my dad last year and he is happy with It)

- If looking at Santro, i10 is worth a shot

- in i10 sequence, Kappa with 1.2 engine wins the race

After looking at marginal improvements for a small jump in price i even looked as high as getz & Aveo-UVA. (its personal but i am not impressed by the shape of Swift) At the price of i10 Kappa series i can afford a Aveo UVA (4.6 L on road Mumbai) which is an impressive car with good space, economy. In fact i found UVA to a great on value for money parameter but as this will be my first car i wanted a vehicle with smaller dimensions.  

Then i went out for test drives. Since it will be my first car, i took a friend along who owns an i10 era. I finally test drove Santro Xing LS and Spark 1.0 PS. 

Santro Xing was okay but left some space for refinment in perfomanve and aesthetics which has been addressed in the i10 series. Space is good for 5 people.

Spark did not have a smooth Gear shifting but i can live with that. Engine was amazingly silent and responsive. It delivers same 63bhp as Santro which has a 1.1 engine. Seating is just okay for 5 average build people. PS version lacks centre locking but the sales guy assured i will be getting autocop locking complementary.

Though i hve some doubts in my mind regarding GM's financial position and going away from trusted maruti suzuki and Hyundai stable yet there is something peppy about the Spark that attracted me. It does have some personality. We actually drove Spark first and we were not very sure of it. Then we drove Santro and again Spark. Could not see much value in paying about 50-60 K extra for moving from Spark to Santro.

To me it appears to be very decent value for money car (3.4L on road Mumbai) which will be efficient in the city and dependable on the highway (tubeless tyres included). Whatever little space it has, has been put to good use. For a Group of 4 this shall be a good drive.

I am booking mine on Gudi Padhwa. Really excited for it.

Will update further after taking my li'l girl out on the roads for sumtime.....

Value for Money. Good Looks, a peppy personality, smart interiors, silent engineNot much to complain about, Gear Shifting is not Great, hoping it gets better