I would say before I could short list a car I made lot of research on many cars & read lot of reviews. When my financial position was viable for me to go for a car.
Simple decision to go for a petrol or diesel.... If you are using the car every day irrespective of no. of kms driven diesel would be ideal or else certainly you can go for petrol.
I liked
Honda Jazz very much but it was no where near my budget. Very expensive car not advisable.
Skoda Fabia - Comparatively very expensive car and service network is bad and spare parts are also costly.
Ford Figo - Initially my wife liked it but very short and service network is bad and spare are very very costly. American cars are not advisable
Nissan Micra - Only assembly is done in india and spare parts are not available in the market. Even comfort inside the care is not that good when I sat backside of the car. no thigh support. 3 cyl engine not powerful enough makes lot of noise, hence I didn’t take the test drive.
Hyundai - santro is very old car started way back in 1996 0r 1997 hence not advisable, i10 quite a small car when compared to price, i20 - out of my budget but otherwise underpowered. my father has got a santro car and had a horrible experience as it becomes old you need to shell out lot of money on service and spares.
I never had Maruti in my mind except the previous wagon r which was my favourite car. Then at last I visited Mandovi motors lavelle road bangalore. Generally anybody will have a good experience with maruti dealers as they care very much for the customers. I too had a warm welcome. I asked for a test drive of wagon r & ritz. but the person advised me go for a Ritz. I took the test drive and felt very happy driving it as it is big from inside and the power is also good with AC on. person explained me about the discount available and the time needed to deliver a car. If it is petrol you can get it with a max period of one week if it is diesel then it will take 1 - 2 months.
It’s a K series engine which provides more power and more mileage.
I took the delivery on Apr 28th.
I have driven more than 2K kms now and got the service done after one month. Pick and drop was available for the service. Rs. 0 I paid for the first service. They informed car has got no problem and engine oil top up has been done.
Extra cost:
Rubber beading
Sun Film
3.Spoiler
Music Player (Ken Wood) - 4 speakers on the door with 190 watts. and ken wood is the best and then next comes JVC and Sony
Alloy wheels (Maruti Brand) etc etc
All of the above costed me Rs. 40K
They gave Central locking (Automatic) free of cost. After one year I will get the Teflon coating done at free of cost.
Pros:
Big space
Comfort
Power
Mileage - Eventhough I am not so concerned but I am getting 12 - 13 kms in city with some time AC on and 14 - 17 Km on highway With AC on most of the time.
Spare parts are cheap
Service network is excellent. in case service is not done well they definately hear you.
Cons:
Less Luggage Space.