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Friends, It is tough to select a good car in the market. Especially when you have so much of a choice around you.
Let me come to the story of mine.
It all started couple of months back when I decided to sell my Tata Indica Petrol. (I know that was a blunder I do not want to repeat ever in my life...to go for a Tata and especially petrol). I had it for 5 years. It was giving almost 10 KMPL in Highway..! And slowly some issues started in it, so I decided to go for a new car.
The following were the choices which I choose out of the lot. My preferences went in the following order:
Good Resale value, Service, Reliability, Performance, Fuel Economy, Features, ABS and Airbags for safety, Practical, Good for both City and Highway, Good looks,
Some of the cars I did not even consider for my requirements because of the resale value and service.
I know you might be wondering why I have resale value on top, when I am going for a new car. that is one of the criteria where I hurt my fingers big time with my Tata indica - petrol. So I decided not to repeat the mistake consciously.
I had 2 options.
1. Sedan
2. Hatch back
From the Category 1 - I was looking for Honday City - GXi, Hyundai Verna - CRDi, Mitsubishi Cedia - spirit, DZire.
From Category 2 - the choices were Getz, i10, Swift (Diesel and Petrol).
Sedan Test Drive:
Out of the 3 I would rate Mitsubishi stands out in its features and ride quality. You will feel like you are sitting in your couch and driving. However, for resale value, Honda City beats all. Verna is also fine, but I want to mention that the package is not very attractive like the other 2. After I test drove all these cars, came to the conclusion, GXi is the best choice for all the conditions which I had in my priority list. Dzire is out of question as the waiting period for test drive itself is too much and they said I need to wait for 9 months to get the delivery. I thought by 9 months time, there might be another 10 versions of other cars which might be launched...!
Hatchback Test Drive - All 3 cars are good. Getz failed in my first criteria of resale value. i10 and Swift were both nice cars. However, when evaluated, i10 was a risky proposition as it is newly launched, whereas Swift has a track record. It has both good ride quality, features are packed, security, etc. i10 I found is a bit small than Swift and definetely Swift has a good road presense. You can make some heads turn with swift.
I also boiled down to practical cars and I found all the Sedan Cars offer more space in boot which is not a mandatory criteria for my type of travel. Also, it occupies more space in parking, road,etc. So I decided to go with the basic need for commute instead of overdoing things and get into financial issues ( I think that is a fair advice to all...if you do not find the purpose of a sedan, I think you should go for a smaller car - which serves the purpose).
I drive everyday in highway almost 30 KM one way from home to office and in city approx 100 KMS over the weekends. So I thought I would go for Diesel because of the appreciations in the news papers and other comments in Carwale itself. However, when asked for the top end model again, there is a 2 months wait period and also, one of the second hand car dealer mentioned, for any diesel engine we generally need to wait and watch for 3 to 4 years as that is the time when the engines start giving trouble. Since Swift diesel was launched somewhere in 2007, I thought of taking less risk and went for petrol version.
However,I have not decided on which version to go for. I almost zeroed on VXi. But my final decision came in a spur of a moment when I saw Swift ZXi Model and was totally impressed with the ride quality, resale value, features, looks, security features and value for money.
I took the vehicle last week and I am already having a feeling that I have made a very good choice. I saw one more review stating the bumby ride for back seaters. I believe that is true to some extent, but for our road conditions, I would think even a very good car like BMW might have the issue.
I am yet to calculate the mileage but my guess work is approx >16 KMPL (with complete AC - both City and Highway combined). I think that is good.
For this price only Swift gives you this much feature rich vehicle. i10 is also packed with similar features but priced less. However, as mentioned before Swift is less riskier option compared with i10.
I would strongly recommend ZXi Swift for anyone...wholeheartedly.
