hellknight
BSD init pwns System V
I'm offended
. Just got out of bed to reply that Chevy Beat is NOT junk. It is one of the best VFM petrol cars out there. The engine is fantastic, although not in the league of Punto or Swift or Honda's i-VTEC but, pretty good for a 5 lakh rupees fully loaded car which comes with climate control, rear defogger, all power windows, height adjustable seat, 2-DIN music system, nice superbike inspired speedo and tachometer. The underpowered thing may be true about diesel version (1.0 L, 58 PS, 150 NM Torque), but the petrol version has good power (1.2L, 80.5 PS, 108 Nm @ 4400 RPM). It is a proper B-segment car. You can easily pull from 10 kmph to 90 kmph in the second gear.Tried it loads of time (yeah, I'm an enthusiast, I like to revv my car
). And when I went to Chandigarh-Ambala highway, the car was effortlessly cruising at 130 kmph, with 4 people & their luggage onboard with AC on in the month of May! Also, the tense on the highway problem is due to the undertyred nature of the car (155/70/R14). Upgrade to 165/70 R14 or Michelin's 175/70-R14 and the car becomes an awesome handler. Couple that with the Hydraulic Power Steering (petrol version only), the car becomes fun-to-drive. Moreover, that HPS unit is s-w-e-e-t. You'll love it on the twisties and bends. Trust me, driving this car exclusively in the hills since last 2 years. It isn't crap like the units from Hyundai (Electronic Power steering) which are pathetic. The same goes for Toyota Liva's steering too. Both of them feel like you're driving a car on an arcade machine instead of the highway. Absolutely no feedback from the tyres. And there's a lot of understeer due to those EPS units. Only Fiat Punto, Ford Figo unit's are better than the Chevy Beat's HPS unit (personal opinion).
Regarding VW Polo, it is pathetic. It has a three cylinder commuter oriented engines which don't justify its high price. It simply isn't in a league of these cars as they are 4-cylinder units. The only 3-cylinder unit that is making headlines around the world since last two years is that awesome Ford EcoBoost engine (3-cylinders, 1.0 L, 125 BHP, 175 Nm torque).
I would've gladly went for Fiat Punto 1.4 petrol (yeah, I'm a petrolhead, no diesel crap) if my dad wouldn't have rejected Punto due to (his opinion) about the looks of the car 2 years ago. I'd even buy Fiat Punto today. So, if I were RCuber, I would go for Fiat Punto 1.4. His running is minimal & it is a mind-blowing driver's car. So, petrol wouldn't hurt.
Are you kidding me? VW Polo isn't a premium hatch, VW Polo GT is. The GT version is a proper hatch from VW which has awesome engine, 1.2 TSI, 7-speed auto DSG gearbox (although would've liked flappy pedal gearshifts) & traction control & EBD along with airbags & ABS. Please update yourself. Saying that Polo is a premium car is saying that i20 Sportz is a sports car because it has a Sportz tag on it (although no increase in horsepower, the showroom people failed to explain that why it is named sports).
Last edited:
hellknight
BSD init pwns System V
RCuber said that the waiting period is as high as 8-12 months in Bangalore.
desiibond
Bond, Desi Bond!
Updates from my tests (may help you too):
The first car we tried was Punto and wife’s response was “this interior looks like Indica, its cramped. Punto is puss puss, I don’t want it”. I felt the same. Ride is good but everything else is ……
Swift: great suspension, great steering feedback and good gear lever. Feels underpowered, rear leg room is a ?, have to come down to 2nd gear a lot.
Sail: great cabin, good looks. Accelerator was creaking a lot, steering was poor, gear and clutch were very stiff and not good.
Amaze: not at all amazed by its looks and interior.
Etios: bloody huge cabin, a proper sedan and the hatchback too is huge, can stick to 3rd gear and drive at 20kmph, butter smooth suspension (able to handle any kind of road with eased, we tried bumpy dirt road and was impressive), solid pick up and accleration, turning radius (4.9 mtr) is less than that of Punto and Swift even though this is a sedan, amazing brakes, rich looking interiors, dual air bags, ABS with EBD, full specced stereo with steering mounted controls to take calls via Bluetooth, 15” alloy wheels, 1496cc/90 PS/132Nm engine, 585 litre boot, electric power steering, fog lamps, glove box cooling, 7 bottle holders, defogger, immobilizer etc. Cant ask for more in a sub 9k sedan. The price is 8.56L and it includes cashless, zero-depreciation insurance from Toyota.
ecosport: long wait, very very poor rear seat space, many blind spots, the test vehicle did 3000 kms and there is a slight wobble while accelerating from near zero, pay the price that is set on delivery day, not current price and there is now 12 month wait for this. In short, this one is just an over-hyped mini-SUV (tall hatchback is what this exactly is). Add a lakh or two and get a proper SUV. Dont get fooled by the looks of it (least practical car in under 10 lakh budget).
And yeah, am going for Etios VSP
The first car we tried was Punto and wife’s response was “this interior looks like Indica, its cramped. Punto is puss puss, I don’t want it”. I felt the same. Ride is good but everything else is ……
Swift: great suspension, great steering feedback and good gear lever. Feels underpowered, rear leg room is a ?, have to come down to 2nd gear a lot.
Sail: great cabin, good looks. Accelerator was creaking a lot, steering was poor, gear and clutch were very stiff and not good.
Amaze: not at all amazed by its looks and interior.
Etios: bloody huge cabin, a proper sedan and the hatchback too is huge, can stick to 3rd gear and drive at 20kmph, butter smooth suspension (able to handle any kind of road with eased, we tried bumpy dirt road and was impressive), solid pick up and accleration, turning radius (4.9 mtr) is less than that of Punto and Swift even though this is a sedan, amazing brakes, rich looking interiors, dual air bags, ABS with EBD, full specced stereo with steering mounted controls to take calls via Bluetooth, 15” alloy wheels, 1496cc/90 PS/132Nm engine, 585 litre boot, electric power steering, fog lamps, glove box cooling, 7 bottle holders, defogger, immobilizer etc. Cant ask for more in a sub 9k sedan. The price is 8.56L and it includes cashless, zero-depreciation insurance from Toyota.
ecosport: long wait, very very poor rear seat space, many blind spots, the test vehicle did 3000 kms and there is a slight wobble while accelerating from near zero, pay the price that is set on delivery day, not current price and there is now 12 month wait for this. In short, this one is just an over-hyped mini-SUV (tall hatchback is what this exactly is). Add a lakh or two and get a proper SUV. Dont get fooled by the looks of it (least practical car in under 10 lakh budget).
And yeah, am going for Etios VSP
Last edited:
ashs1
Padawan
Coincidentally, i also was in the process of deciding a car to replace my almost 6 year old zen estilo. in the budget of upto 6-6.5 lakhs.
My options were like these :
in hatchbacks :
Swift : pretty much an all-rounder, but backroom might be a bit cramped. Interiors come only in black, which i loved & my mom hated.
Brio : a good product from honda, but the design had everyone in my family giggling. imo, the design is a bit too childish for family car..feels like toy car., but handling & driveability is good..Priced a bit premium.
Liva : nice car, but unfortunately, it was a no from the beginning. Few of my friends who previously owned a corolla & qualis were disgusted by the Service centre in our city.
in sedan :
Dzire : almost same as swift, except it has a bigger boot, beige interiors & a bit slower acceleration due to increased weight. ( mostly not noticeable to drivers who don't fret with these things ).
Amaze : i gotta say i loved this car very very very much. It was practically better in almost every department when compared to swift dzire. but dzire has a strong point of after sales service & cheaper spare parts. Liking of Car design depends on personal taste, but i felt it was much better designed than dzire. had a fluidic design whereas dzire feels a bit mechanical. ( no offence meant, ). Waiting period for the cheapest 2 base versions in our city is huge. The Dealer said we would get it by January or Feb 2014. Such is the response to the car. The third variant ( amaze S or something ) & onwards variants have lesser waiting period & cars could be delivered by September end. The third variant was perfect for me, but unfortunately it costed about 70k rs more than what my max budget could be extended.
Others : Ecosport - not really much into SUVs as i am looking for family car, but still went ahead & had a test drive. Felt good, but the waiting period is a big dampener.
In the end, I've decided to go for a maruti swift for these reasons. :
1. we're a family of 3persons. Extra space is not much of a requirement at the moment. Swift seemed to be comfortable enough.
2. The after sales service is impeccable. we don't have a complaint against maruti till now.
3. The resale value is probably the best. My 6 year old car in good condition fetched my about Rs 2 lacs !!! All other companies too offered exchanges, but all of their offer were approx. Rs. 1.5 lacs.. This Made me even more confident in investing a maruti suzuki car.
P.S. : Maruti also launched a limited version : Swift RS. ( only in Vxi & Vdi ). The only difference is RS has new decals ( white & dark blue strips ), New black-blue coloured leather seat covers, New Music system( not present in Vxi/Vdi models ) & some other addons for an extra Rs. 24,500.
Go for this only if you like the new colours.
My options were like these :
in hatchbacks :
Swift : pretty much an all-rounder, but backroom might be a bit cramped. Interiors come only in black, which i loved & my mom hated.
Brio : a good product from honda, but the design had everyone in my family giggling. imo, the design is a bit too childish for family car..feels like toy car.
, but handling & driveability is good..Priced a bit premium.Liva : nice car, but unfortunately, it was a no from the beginning. Few of my friends who previously owned a corolla & qualis were disgusted by the Service centre in our city.
in sedan :
Dzire : almost same as swift, except it has a bigger boot, beige interiors & a bit slower acceleration due to increased weight. ( mostly not noticeable to drivers who don't fret with these things ).
Amaze : i gotta say i loved this car very very very much. It was practically better in almost every department when compared to swift dzire. but dzire has a strong point of after sales service & cheaper spare parts. Liking of Car design depends on personal taste, but i felt it was much better designed than dzire. had a fluidic design whereas dzire feels a bit mechanical. ( no offence meant,
). Waiting period for the cheapest 2 base versions in our city is huge. The Dealer said we would get it by January or Feb 2014. Such is the response to the car. The third variant ( amaze S or something ) & onwards variants have lesser waiting period & cars could be delivered by September end. The third variant was perfect for me, but unfortunately it costed about 70k rs more than what my max budget could be extended.Others : Ecosport - not really much into SUVs as i am looking for family car, but still went ahead & had a test drive. Felt good, but the waiting period is a big dampener.
In the end, I've decided to go for a maruti swift for these reasons. :
1. we're a family of 3persons. Extra space is not much of a requirement at the moment. Swift seemed to be comfortable enough.
2. The after sales service is impeccable. we don't have a complaint against maruti till now.
3. The resale value is probably the best. My 6 year old car in good condition fetched my about Rs 2 lacs !!! All other companies too offered exchanges, but all of their offer were approx. Rs. 1.5 lacs.. This Made me even more confident in investing a maruti suzuki car.
P.S. : Maruti also launched a limited version : Swift RS. ( only in Vxi & Vdi ). The only difference is RS has new decals ( white & dark blue strips ), New black-blue coloured leather seat covers, New Music system( not present in Vxi/Vdi models ) & some other addons for an extra Rs. 24,500.
Go for this only if you like the new colours.
hellknight
BSD init pwns System V
Point duly noted. In the future, I'll never take my future wife when going for a Fiat Car.
. Did you took it beyond 100 kmph? If yes, did the steering provide you proper feedback or did it lack the feel? IMO, Etios is awesome. the only thing that I dislike about it is the centrally mounted speedometer. That should be in front of the driver.
OP
Figo Zxi is almost finalized, main reasons for this would be that we were comfortable sitting inside the Figo, Swift was too cramped. Did a TD on Figo and was satisfactory.
we spent lot of time sitting inside the showroom cars adjusting the seats position and stuff. lots of legroom both in front and rear, also boot space is huge. When we sat in the swift, we were like "err.. this is not comfortable..", so somehow we were all happy with Figo.
there is some deal where we get 30K worth free accessories(if booked by tomorrow evening), like spoilers, different guards, reverse parking sensors, etc etc. (loads actually)
Edit: Booked Figo Zxi . getting some accessories like spoilers,fog lamp , RPS etc, its not the 30K deal which I mentioned above.
now we have a choice of a free gift, either Nikon coolpix cam, Microwave oven, PS2 or Sony Bluray player. I think we could either go for cam or Bluray player.
we spent lot of time sitting inside the showroom cars adjusting the seats position and stuff. lots of legroom both in front and rear, also boot space is huge. When we sat in the swift, we were like "err.. this is not comfortable..", so somehow we were all happy with Figo.
there is some deal where we get 30K worth free accessories(if booked by tomorrow evening), like spoilers, different guards, reverse parking sensors, etc etc. (loads actually)
Edit: Booked Figo Zxi
. getting some accessories like spoilers,fog lamp , RPS etc, its not the 30K deal which I mentioned above.now we have a choice of a free gift, either Nikon coolpix cam, Microwave oven, PS2 or Sony Bluray player. I think we could either go for cam or Bluray player.
freshseasons
King of my own Castle
Wow . Congratulations...Ford Figo is really a great choice and in these days when people are going ga ga over swift i always thought Figo was much better choice in terms of value , space, driving maneuverability, FE etc.