First a little background about me and why am I so picky in choosing cars! Let’s see. I am an Indian living in USA for last "14-fourteen" years, that’s a big generation gap for anyone to decide buying car in India for the parents and during visits, yes that was my need.
I have driven about a dozen cars in USA, most of them were Automatic transmission, ranging from BMW 3-series, Mercedes-Benz SLK, C-class, VW-Passat, Ford Taurus (ugly car), Honda Civics, Toyota Corolla, PILOT SUV, Dodge Trucks, Lexus R and the list goes on and on. Never had any major issues while using these cars in USA, off course good road conditions and driving discipline of US citizens and generally north-eastern American clean and crisp climate. I have also got my hands dirty in fixing some of these cars out of sheer curiosity, well that apart.
Now, you know what a nerd am I in being so choosy. I visit India every year, and rent cars every year, same hassle, driver never shows up on planned day, rental cars breaks down etc etc and usual "Desi" issues/headaches that comes with renting the car. Finally, I got fed up and decided to buy my own "Desi" car.
Off course, it had to be Automatic, so my wife and my mom can also drive it, and who needs that other hand and other leg shifting gears and pushing clutch in Desi traffic (Mumbai-Pune-Nashik) when you can eat ice cream, change channels and show fingers to the rude drivers on road? This is a 21st century and I don’t at all buy the argument of buying a "Manual transmission" just because everybody buys it. in USA 99% of the cars are Automatic!
I have 2 kids (6 yrs, 1 yr olds), my Mom & Dad and wifey. Well, its a fairly medium size family, and guess what we all can fir comfortably in i-10. The dealership "Panchavati Hyundai" in Nashik is fairly good, they delivered the car on the promised date and made sure that the delivery was smooth. I had the best experience with them, kudos! I had paid all cash about 5.03 Lks for AT, it took dealership about 3 weeks to deliver the car, which was expected.
I had no previous Indian driving experience (and all 14 yrs, USA driving exp.), (also being on the other side of the road), but I drove it from dealership to my home in Nashik pretty comfortably, well honking is what I had to get used to. in USA it’s offensive if you honk, in India it’s welcomed if you honk, well different cultures.
Next trip, I drove the car from Nashik to Pune, it took me about 4 Hrs and smooth journey, we picked a day when the traffic was supposed to be little. Pickup is good, Transmission is as comparably smooth as in US and air-conditioning was very effective. My little kids were very happy because they didn’t have to use the car-seats (like in US its required), my parents were happy because we didn’t have to deal with the stupid drivers, my wief was impressed me driving in India for the first time, so everyone was very happy.
We bought the car in December, and its almost May, I am back in USA, but my MOM loves driving it. She took lessons from the driving school, the funny part was, I had to teach the instructor how to drive Automatic Transmission since they never drove it before, I didn’t want them to use one foot on brake and another on accelerator. All you use is one foot, no clutch so the other foot is free. Well, my mom learned it quickly and she’s having fun.
We installed a good music system (Sony Explode or something), the car had pre-configured sockets and all. My cousins, uncles and close relatives were quickly impressed by Automatic Transmission and they all enjoyed it, almost all of them said that they had a very wrong idea about it before. A couple of them went ahead and bought the same AT car.
I am planning to go back again in June with my family and taking them to many places around, this car is very comfy and well worth for 5 Lacs, take a word from a guy who drove a dozen cars in USA and drove in 7 different countries.