Car & Bike Suggest me a family automatic car, preferably well under 10L OTR (lesser the better)

I appreciate the suggestions here but most people aren't recognizing that I am a first time owner and any other manufacturer other than Maruti or Hyundai is a gamble. I have to consider things like how far is service center from my home and what if I am somewhere away from city and car breaks down and I need assistance (RSA) from manufacturer and such other things. I understand many of you are conditioned to many cars and hence these things may not be top on your list but a new buyer I have to. Consider Nissan, even when I live in Mumbai, nearest Nissan showroom is very far for me.
I am mentioning again, the 10L OTR was probably a mistake to write and I should have mentioned 8L or something.

With regards to bells and whistles, I don't want any fancy features that add no value but with a car that I intend to hold for several years, I also don't want to compromise. I totally understand safety aspect and all but since Tata and Mahindra started advertising on that front, more people know better and make informed decisions. But even today, you will see people (here as well as TeamBhp) driving cars that were never tested. I have seen people to assume (perceive) a car is safe if it is not yet tested while cars like sPresso which actually got tested and got 0 stars get all brickbats (and rightly so).

What I am trying to find is a middle ground which fits in my budget, offers comfortable features, is reasonably safe and rides nice and yes, has to be an automatic. Upon further researching, there are 2 cars that I have sort of drilled down to for now, Hyundai Santro Sportz AMT and Hyundai Grand i10 Nios Sportz AMT. I am going to check them today in showroom to see how they are.
 
@raksrules Get the Nissan Magnite Turbo CVT XL.
Best of both worlds. Good built quality and smooth transmission.
You'll thank me later.
Though I'll recommend a used car as well since this would be your first car here in India. It would be wise to polish your skills on a ‘cheap’ second-hand car and then upgrade to a new one.
 
MadAxe said:
@raksrules Get the Nissan Magnite Turbo CVT XL.
Best of both worlds. Good built quality and smooth transmission.
You'll thank me later.
Though I'll recommend a used car as well since this would be your first car here in India. It would be wise to polish your skills on a ‘cheap’ second-hand car and then upgrade to a new one.
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No used car at all. I am not well informed to buy one.
 
Completely agree with you on Maruti/Hyundai. Not everybody is an auto head. Most people just need a car that gets the job done. I was very clear about two things - car should have a 1 year service interval and it should have service centers close by.

Got a Ciaz and have never been to a service center apart from reasons of accidental damage. The service center is 20 mins away, they pick up do the service and drop the car. While people may say they may damage the car but at least i haven’t noticed anything bad in the 3.5 years of owning the car.

I would have suggested Altroz and Jazz too but they have a 6 month interval. Everyone needs to prioritise the time, you may not want a car that adds to the troubles. My father has a lot more time than I do and he is happy owning a car that is a lot more fun to drive but needs more visits to the service center. Both of us are happy with our choices. Its about knowing what you want.

Personally I have a dislike for Hyundai due to high service costs in later. So i would go with Baleno since it offers more space. If you hold the car for long, you will still have the same car when your kids have grown taller. Just think about that too. You might not have realized that you have a problem with space since you have only owned big cars Until now. As a 5.10 guy who had to sit in a hatchback for years, behind my father who is also 5.10, I would say space is an important parameter. It is not very comfortable in slightly longer drives. If you budget permits, just think about that too.
 
Not much of options we have at 8L bracket with Automatic. Santro , Nios / Wagon R , Celerio, Ignis / Tata Tiago.

Upcoming Baleno is launching soon , try for old models you can get some discounts hopefully
 
raksrules said:
I appreciate the suggestions here but most people aren't recognizing that I am a first time owner and any other manufacturer other than Maruti or Hyundai is a gamble. I have to consider things like how far is service center from my home and what if I am somewhere away from city and car breaks down and I need assistance (RSA) from manufacturer and such other things. I understand many of you are conditioned to many cars and hence these things may not be top on your list but a new buyer I have to. Consider Nissan, even when I live in Mumbai, nearest Nissan showroom is very far for me.
I am mentioning again, the 10L OTR was probably a mistake to write and I should have mentioned 8L or something.

With regards to bells and whistles, I don't want any fancy features that add no value but with a car that I intend to hold for several years, I also don't want to compromise. I totally understand safety aspect and all but since Tata and Mahindra started advertising on that front, more people know better and make informed decisions. But even today, you will see people (here as well as TeamBhp) driving cars that were never tested. I have seen people to assume (perceive) a car is safe if it is not yet tested while cars like sPresso which actually got tested and got 0 stars get all brickbats (and rightly so).

What I am trying to find is a middle ground which fits in my budget, offers comfortable features, is reasonably safe and rides nice and yes, has to be an automatic. Upon further researching, there are 2 cars that I have sort of drilled down to for now, Hyundai Santro Sportz AMT and Hyundai Grand i10 Nios Sportz AMT. I am going to check them today in showroom to see how they are.
Click to expand...
Get the Swift Dzire AMT then. Whatever model you find in your budget. It has great resale value too. Also a sedan like you're used to. Cant go wrong.
 
raksrules said:
As I mentioned, budget I said 10L because I am struggling to find something in lower price range. As someone who has no driving experience here, I don't think it matters to me whether it is AMT or TC or CVT.
Is the Santro Sportz AMT or the Grand i10 Nios a good option? I know the i10 Nios is 2 stars and santro not tested.
Punch sort of checks all boxes when it comes to safety + features but being new driver, I don't want any headache with A.S.S.
Because if I am ok to spend 8.55L OTR on Grand i10 NIOS then I can also get the Punch Adventure with Rhythm pack for little more.
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Tata seem to have improved their services and products for a while now. It shouldn't be a pain for ASS as they have a considerable network now as they are pulling in decent numbers (3rd in India right now). Also ticket size of Tata is higher than Maruti I believe, such sales and volumes should speak for themselves.
 
Given your concerns, I'd say go for the Santro or nios AMT. I wouldn't touch a maruti with a barge pole. Period. I drive an indica i bought brand new in 2007 and while Tata service was a pain, life is much better once you find a competent garage. Buying a Tata car still remains a gamble, and despite how much safer they are, I'm still not going to prod you to buy one, because hyundais these days are a pretty decent compromise. One thing I will say though is, if you're planning to keep the car for a while. Buy the next model or higher variant. The difference in emi is not going to be significant, and some things you really cannot upgrade along the way.

On another note, I recall we both got employed at roughly the same time. How did you manage without a car till now? I bought a car in pretty much a few months of getting a job because I've always wanted one :D and it's close to retirement age!
 
greenhorn said:
Given your concerns, I'd say go for the Santro or nios AMT. I wouldn't touch a maruti with a barge pole. Period. I drive an indica i bought brand new in 2007 and while Tata service was a pain, life is much better once you find a competent garage. Buying a Tata car still remains a gamble, and despite how much safer they are, I'm still not going to prod you to buy one, because hyundais these days are a pretty decent compromise. One thing I will say though is, if you're planning to keep the car for a while. Buy the next model or higher variant. The difference in emi is not going to be significant, and some things you really cannot upgrade along the way.

On another note, I recall we both got employed at roughly the same time. How did you manage without a car till now? I bought a car in pretty much a few months of getting a job because I've always wanted one :D and it's close to retirement age!
Click to expand...

Well I always had a bike with me and was using it when I was in India. Even after being married, bike sufficed. After my kid, I went to US for 5 years so no car needed in India. After coming back from US we decided to get a car and it sort of got delayed and now am buying.

We have finalized on the Grand i10 NIOS Sportz AMT and will be booking tomorrow. There is no EMI involved as I am paying full amount on delivery. I had kept aside 9L just for car.
We feel the Sportz AMT is a good value for money vehicle (within NIOS variants). I need to also cancel my Spresso booking.

At the end of day, what everyone in family liked, we want ahead and we don't want to end up in a situation where we regret buying a specific car (say Spresso) as we intend to keep for longer time.
 
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