Advice on buying a car?
I assume that it is a new car and shall further elaborate my ideas about choosing the car.
Now all middle class people are also buying cars and it assumes important significance in their lives. We do not change cars as rich people do, even then, it is equally important to choose a car which would be safe as well as the one which do not surprise us with problems of repair.
The balance:
I am not an automobile engineer, so these are my common observations.
Some years ago I could not stop or the brakes did not work as I expected and the old, second hand purchased(my brother purchased) Fiat took me straight in to the muddy paddy fields and landed me there after barely escaping an over run by a truck. All of our family members are inside including my parents. That was the end of the story for me as far as fiat is concerned.
I would not a take a Fiat car now even if even someone were to give it to me free!
ZEN:
The Zen from Maruthi is a very popular car in India and I think they are even exporting this car.
I have taken a Zen car, a diesel one from our relatives and started on a journey of about 400 km to & fro.
It was top of summer season and the tar on road melted due to heat, creating lumps of one feet or less here and there on’Rajiv highway’ from Hyderabad to Godavarikani coal fields. I found the car to be very unstable at high speeds. Finally, to cut short the story, at one point by mistake it went over the lump and the whole car, the front engine part jumped up and fell with a thud like the ones you see on circus shows making my brother to lose control of the steering! Nothing happened, car did not over turn. But we had to go off the road, open the bonnet and check whether all the engine parts are still there! . Every time it goes little potholes(you can not help it) it gives shocks. Every time on little, minor lumps it sometimes lifts its back wheel as if a dog would urinate on a pole by lifting its leg.
A few days after, again I had to go on the same route for a pilgrimage and this time I have hired an Indica, diesel.
I told the driver about the lumps and even located it for him much ahead of it. The driver deliberately ran the car over the lump while we are tensed up. Nothing happened, we did not even felt that there was a lump of tar on the road. My wife and daughters sitting in the back did not even know that it went over that spot.
While at another place the driver increased the speed and deliberately went over a bigger one for demonstration of his car’s ability to take on the road. And indeed not even once we felt that it was going over these mounds of tar on this road in the intense summer.
If you are tall like me(six feet=: not an inch more and not an inch less) the dash board in ZEN would come nearly about stomach level, and this would make you feel very awkward particularly if you have just a minute ago shifted from a car like Indica.
This means your family members height and your height is important when choosing a car to buy!
Some times in cars like Maruthi, you have to take a yoga asana posture to get in and to get out.
Maruthi 800:
I travelled, unfortunately in a non-AC, Maruthi to a remote village, with my relative. Several times I got out wherever there was a boring pump and I pumped the water on me drenching my clothes and purse just to survive in the heat inside Maruthi! Remember it is not an Ambassador and heat inside would be too much to bear.
Maruthi, you feel like a matchbox inside and without AC it is simply horrible.
Interiors:
If you read reviews on Mouth shut many members describe interiors in great detail.
Even I thought that it was unnecessary.
But that is not correct.
Interiors are very important to give a cosy feeling. If you check a DLS version of Indica and a DLG version, then you are sure to find why interiors are important. In DLS version the plastics looks so cheap that you feel they are modified version of card board and you feel that you are inside an auto rickshaw.
My friend advised me to go for DLG only and nothing less than that while the lady in the show room told me that most people buy only DLS . I went there actually to buy DLX version of Indica.
Finally when I bought DLG version, I was happy with my decision.
You definitely need front two doors automatic ones as my friend told me and this you will soon realise if you are at the driving wheel. So many times sitting at driving wheel you would have to close the windows of the other side.
You will also soon realise the importance of a central lock. It is very important to have this one. You may remember, long back, you may be thinking why there was any need to have remote for your TV? Now can you imagine a TV without a remote and be happy with it?
When I shifted to an Indica DLS of a known person, I realised why I had taken good decision by buying DLG version. The interiors are important after all and mouthshut members are not foolish to emphasize the interiors in their reviews.
Equally important is the child lock. You may think the importance of a child lock only depends on family. But you will soon realise the necessarily of a child lock even if it means there are no children. Doors of they can be opened only from outside means they are safe with your angry wife and her arguments during travel .
Except in Maruthi 800, I think in most of the cars a power steering has become a standard fitment. No description is required for a power steering, without it you can not survive. Even Maruthi pay extra for power steering.
Petrol OR Diesel?
Yes, of course, Diesel! Now the latest technologies made a diesel engine as pleasant as petrol. Many times, sitting after sometime only you would realise that you are sitting in a diesel car. You can not imagine a “rock age” Ambassador Diesel and its noise or its starting trouble. Now those days are gone. Diesel engine lasts longer with least troubles . I have a diesel Indica and I know that there are no vibrations even on a clutch pedal or accelerator.
It is as good as any petrol car inside.
The difference in petrol and diesel prices have increased and the diesel car gives the same mileage per litre of diesel as a petrol car gives the mileage per litre of petrol and that is the technology of the day.
Once we have the car we realise we are travelling more than we have ever imagined when we did not have the car. You would realise the good fortune of owning a latest diesel car.
At present for those who have plenty of money Scoda diesel car is indeed a superb car. It is unmatched as far as I know even for people with lots of money because I think Scoda petrol gives only 5 kmpl while diesel gives a little more!.
The safety:
I travelled in Maruthi van and while it was taking an’S’ shaped overtaking it nearly tripped over and I profusely thanked God because we did not die on the road.
My family went in a Sumo and indeed it tripped on one side and hang on to a cliff of small culvert by the Gods grace it did not fall down deep beneath.
When you buy the car, safety come as first consideration and the next is interiors and cost.
The spares should be easily available and the servicing is essential . It does not matter even if it is Mercedes E class, you can not run a car without a proper servicing and after sales service.
After all service is most important and that is where Maruthi scores a point.