Car & Bike Small car for ~4L (Chevy Beat?)

DarkAngel

DarkAngel

Skilled
So my dad's old premium padmini is on the verge of giving up after ~15 years of service. :p Now need a new small car for ~4L.

I am 6 1" and dad is 5 10" tall. So front leg room should be more. Rear legroom is not an issue since my sis and Mom are ~5 4" and shorter.

Usually only the front seats are occupied. Monthly mileage expected to be ~400-500 kms and mostly consists of travelling within the town and rarely long trips (That too mostly ~150-200kms to and fro)

Will use the car for ~15 years or so. So need cheap spares, good service and reliability.

Eyeing the Chevy Beat LS ~ 4.3L OTR with free Insurance and couple of accessories + cost of speakers, audio system (~10k) (Will sell our old car for ~15k so the cost comes down to 4.25L)

Power steering is mandatory and I would also like fold-able seats, central locking and front power windows which the Beat LS satisfies.

Mom and Sis are hell bent on getting a green Beat but I am more inclined to the MS Estilo considering the reliability and cheap spares. (Though I too love the looks of Beat)

So what do you guys recommend? Is the Beat a wise choice for my requirements.

P.S: Only Maruti and Chevy service center and dealers available in my Town. Hyundai is not available in my town and the nearest one ~60kms from my town. So the choice is between Maruti and Chevy.
 
At 4L, Beat is the way to go :) (since thankfully its between Maruti & Chevrolet here). A-STAR is severly cramped and is out of question. As of Estilo ....its for chicks :p . If you want to go for cheap spare parts and keep for 15 years ...I think Chevy wont support Beat for that long for sure. Its better off to get a Alto K10...its must cheaper and VFM at around 3.5Lakhs(considering current discounts + bargaining).

I have a Beat LS Petrol and the experience is so far so good :D

Also to add up...take up the 3 years Maintenance Package as a freebie(Bargain for that instead of free insurance)

Insurance take up Tata AIG Comprehensive for around 10.5~11k (u will save up 3~4k on that compared to taking from in house dealer).
 
At 4L, Beat is the way to go :) (since thankfully its between Maruti & Chevrolet here). A-STAR is severly cramped and is out of question. As of Estilo ....its for chicks :p . If you want to go for cheap spare parts and keep for 15 years ...I think Chevy wont support Beat for that long for sure. Its better off to get a Alto K10...its must cheaper and VFM at around 3.5Lakhs(considering current discounts + bargaining).
I have a Beat LS Petrol and the experience is so far so good :D

Also to add up...take up the 3 years Maintenance Package as a freebie(Bargain for that instead of free insurance)
Insurance take up Tata AIG Comprehensive for around 10.5~11k (u will save up 3~4k on that compared to taking from in house dealer).
 
A big no to old Alto. There is hardly any legroom at all! I know that the model wont be supported by Chevy. But any comments on the price of spares and the reliability.

Is the new Alto K10 a tall car? Looks similar to the old one. Havent seen it from close quarters though.

Also the Car is for my dad. The reason we went for Padmini instead of Maruti 800 back in 1996 is the tall ride posture and legroom. He has back pain and cars with low ride postures are out of question. There shouldn't be too much crouching while getting into the Car.
 
beat is the way to go.

i used to travel with old MS Estillo ,i am 6' and it was not comfy so i swithced to swift.IMO in 4 budget only option with MS is new waganor(bit over budget) or alto k10 as suggested by supra.
 
My vote for the beat too. I own one and it is an excellent car. If you had honda, maybe i'd have recommended the Brio but if you compare it to the Zen Estilo, its a no brainer.

Zen Estilo is sluggish and looks very very dated.

Also, if i am not mistaken, the chevrolet spark has been around for 5-6 years(not sure?) and is still going strong, so the beat will be supported by GM for 10 years at least. they have also made significant investments in launching a diesel variant.

Also, don't buy the Alto/K10 since you are 6 1". I am close to 6 2" and when i went to test drive alto k10 i could barely fit inside.

the two drawbacks i can think of in the beat are high dashboard and less rear legroom but since in your case the driver is tall and rear passengers are short, it won't matter much.

Also what is the price of the LT variant there? If the difference is ~20-30k , i'd suggest consider that. Since you'd have the car for so long, you'd appreciate things like Automatic Climate Control etc. in the future.

P.S. - If you do buy it, think about the green shade, the novelty usually fades off in a couple of years. If you are keeping a car for that long, better stick to white/black/grey.
 
^^ +1 abt Green Shade. Sandrift Gery is very nice. I own a Black but its a madness to maintain it.

As of rear legroom, its way more than Old Swift/Alto/A-Star/Ritz/Estilo. As long as two > 6.1" ppl sit back to back there wont be any issues. Some tall TE reatrded :p members from Bangalore have sit back to back on mine and never had issues.

Cons are :

1. High dashboard setting...might take time getting used to coming from Indian cars. Use a cushion for first few months is the work-around :p

2. Slightly noisy engine (but the noise is quite peppy and sporty...I like it...but some ppl are not quite comfy that)

3. Thigh support for rear seat is not comfy at all ! But thats the case in almost all hatchbacks except Figo, Indica Vista etc.

Also I think LT will be almost 40~45k more exp showroom price and the corresponding increase of 5-6k in taxes, insurance, reg fees. Totalling upto 45k :p

Also I hate the glossy interior finish of the LT....get scratched like hell
 
^Thanks Manu, Supra. My dad took a test drive today and found it quite comfy. I guess LT is 40k dearer. He was thinking of a PS and I have told him nothing below LS. Its already above budget. Our old Car didn't even have an A/C. So even having one is big step up.

Green is my fav. color and I have been drooling over the Green Beat ever since its launch. Doesn't matter if the novelty fades.
 
even i have a black one and its a dust magnet. wish i had bought a white one.

if you like green, go for it by all means.
 
^ Yup, right from my bed spread to tooth brush everything I have is green. No way I am spending ~4.5L and go for another color when there is a green option that looks good. If no green color I too would have gone for the white. Looks good.

Anything else that I should be aware of before buying?

What music system do you guys recommend. Budget is a modest ~10k for the speakers + audio box with USB.:ashamed:
 
Bargain. There is always scope for some discount :D

I plonked in a Pioneer DEH-2390UB. cost me ~ 5k for the unit and 4 Pioneer speakers ~ 5k. Don't know the model number of speakers. Sounds decent, plays USB. I don't care for much else. Honestly i wonder why companies even make CD players now. instead of that in the same cost they could integrate bluetooth for A2DP and calls. I haven't played a single CD in my car.

Also good news for you. just now the September 2011 car sales figures were posted on team bhp. The beat sold 5254 units while the estilo sold only 1651 units. So there is a good chance the estilo will be phased out much before beat.

Just remembered, if I am not mistaken, you have to pay 5k extra for metallic colors including that green.
 
I have a JVC USB headunit along with JBL 4" Speakers....costed around 5k for HU + 4k for speakers.

While buying make sure u get from the latest Batch (say at max July Batch...newer is better).

Also bargain bargain and bargain for some freebies like Llumar/3M SunFilms. Also FM antenna is not standard...that is a must so try to get that as a freebie.

By any chance dont leave out on the 3 years CPOCC (Maintenance Package) as the freebie. Insurance shopping do it urself.
 
For the audio system you can get the standard single DIN Sony Xplod USB and AUX based player costs around 4.8k.

4 6inches speakers will cost you around 6K + 250 for the antenna so that brings the total up to 11K or so.

But what you can do is (If you want to save money) use tweeters for the front (They cost just 1.2K) so ur total becomes 4.8K+3K+1.2K+250 = 9.25K

I jut got the latter setup for my Santro some time back and it works for me...
 
Another satisfied beat owner here, I own a White Beat LT Just love White, looks very sporty , shines, giggles at you too :p
 
Ok so Hyundai service center is little far - what about Honda

The new Honda Brio is also good -

Honda Brio E - Rs 3.95 lakh

Honda Brio S - Rs 4.35 lakh

Honda Brio S Option - Rs 4.9 lakh

Honda Brio V - Rs 5.1 lakh

The Brio is powered by the same 1.2-litre i-VTEC engine that powers the Jazz. In the Brio, this engine delivers 88bhp of power and 109Nm of torque. The Brio S Option and V will get ABS, airbags and USB/aux-in audio system with steering mounted controls. The V also gets alloy wheels, fog lamps and a different seat trim.

And Eon is also launching - but dont have any idea about that
 
I would say if engine power and Honda badge means to you go for the Brio.But other than that nothing supports your requirments.Firstly honda service would be costly whereas in the Beat you can get upto 3 years service warranty.Also Beat spares are cheap to buy .Also in my opinion Beat would churn out better milage.It doesnt bother you but petrol saved is petrol earned .
 
sahib said:
I would say if engine power and Honda badge means to you go for the Brio.But other than that nothing supports your requirments.Firstly honda service would be costly whereas in the Beat you can get upto 3 years service warranty.Also Beat spares are cheap to buy .Also in my opinion Beat would churn out better milage.It doesnt bother you but petrol saved is petrol earned .
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my friend, you're totally wrong bout mileage point of the Beat. i-VTEC delivers a lot more fuel efficiency than any other engine anyday. My 1.5 Honda City i-VTEC delivers anything above 19kmpl on d highway and ~14 kmpl in d city. You can wonder the figures of a smaller and lighter car. The Brio would deliver above 21kmpl on d highway for sure and I've 2 beat owners as friends who speak bad about the chevy mileage and 1 of them has sold it and booked a Brio.

Secondly, after the beat diesel's introduction, the petrol beat has taken a big hit and not only the sales, but the resale has taken a huge hit.

So, Brio is a way better option than Beat.
 
Honda is also nowhere near my town. Have to travel ~60 odd kms for the nearest service center. Plus even if its available I wouldnt want to get a Brio since its very new in the market.
 
spawnfreak said:
my friend, you're totally wrong bout mileage point of the Beat. i-VTEC delivers a lot more fuel efficiency than any other engine anyday. My 1.5 Honda City i-VTEC delivers anything above 19kmpl on d highway and ~14 kmpl in d city. You can wonder the figures of a smaller and lighter car. The Brio would deliver above 21kmpl on d highway for sure and I've 2 beat owners as friends who speak bad about the chevy mileage and 1 of them has sold it and booked a Brio.

Secondly, after the beat diesel's introduction, the petrol beat has taken a big hit and not only the sales, but the resale has taken a huge hit.

So, Brio is a way better option than Beat.
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Offtopic: The fuel economy you are quoting is highly improbable. I own a city and its economy comes nowhere near what you say. Same goes for my friends who own a city.

OT: Brio might be new but Honda has a very high reputation in this country, leagues ahead of GM. Would suggest Honda over Chevrolet any day of the week.

The spares will not be high as previously quoted by sahib. My family and I have owned Honda cars for a decade now. Spares cost don't matter much because you would hardly need them. Service costs are relatively low. Reliability is synonymous with Honda (And Toyota). Having high service and spares cost for a car starting at 4L would be lunacy to say the least, which Honda is not known for. And 4 year extended warranty hardly costs much.

To add to this, Honda probably has the best engines in the market this side of D segment. Jazz, City, Civic and Accord's engines are pure bliss. Best fuel economy in petrol is pretty much guaranteed.

So suggest you give Brio a chance before rejecting it.
 
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