May 14, 2008 08:12 PM
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I purchased an Alto Lxi 2008 model(with ICATS, Immobilizer) on 12th April 2008, from Kothari wheels in Pune, one of the authorized Maruti dealer at Viman nagar in Pune. I would like to share my buying experience before I actually share my views on the car, I had decided on 4 car models after doing a lot of research, since buying your first car is always special for which I selected below given car models.
Car Model On Road Prices in Pune(Approx.) April – May 2008(Source: Carwale.com)
1) Chevrolet Spark 1.0 LT – Rs 4, 23, 832
2) Maruti WagonR LXi - Rs 3, 84, 841
3) Tata Indica V2 Xeta GLG 1.2 – Rs 3, 40, 226
4) Maruti Alto LXi – Rs 3, 16, 199
My criteria for choosing these car’s was based on following factor’s:
Fuel average: The most important, since I knew I would take time to learn tips and tricks of fuel efficient drive.
Maintenance Cost & After sales support: 2nd most important factor, ease of servicing the vehicle and availability of accessories and spare parts is important, also there’s no point going for a car that seems promising on looks, features and other stuff, you may struggle to get spare parts for the car and in case of a breakdown, you don’t have the option to get your car fixed at any random service centre, also if dealer is interested to pocket your money and forget you once the sale is done, maybe you need to re-think your purchase decision.
Driving Conditions: I was going to drive my car from home-office to-fro, a distance of 20 KMs travel 5 days a week of city driving and trip to Mumbai via expressway once or twice in two months.
Maneuvering & Overall Driving Comfort: I had never driven a gear based vehicle before, since my Honda Dio bike is a gearless scooter, Pune is known for bad road condition and small lanes, overcrowded roads, reckless driving incidents.
Luckily I waited for the prices to go down post budget was announced and I had strong desire to go for WagonR Lxi, sleek in looks, good turning radius and comfortable headspace which was a good alternative to my wife’s choice Santro Xing which somehow does not appeal me and has started getting being a too common sight on roads also it’s basic model was way beyond my budget. I was also thinking about good suspension and ample legroom and seating comfort, powerful engine of Indica V2 Xeta, Chevrolet Spark also caught my eye due to different looks & good review and ratings given to the car by a hatchback car test results announced by J.D Power auto test, I had just the knowledge of fuel efficiency about Alto in mind.
I had to do a lot of math on fuel efficiency of all cars and read a lot of articles and review on the net about car owners and their feedback on the car’s I had in my list, I also happened to visit an interesting post on a motoring website which clearly laid out the fuel advantage that Alto had to offer, which diverted my attention fully towards Alto, I was not in a mood to stretch my base budget for the car beyond 3.20 Lakhs, since I had to keep aside some money for a decent music system, some basic car accessories.
I booked Alto LXi wine red colour car on 2nd April by paying Rs 5000 as booking amount to avail free 1st year car insurance offered by the dealer, also got corporate discount, then made the balance payment later after few days, so my car’s on road base cost arrived to Rs 3, 10, 539. The sales person dealing with me Mr. Nitin Kolsekar and his supervisor Mr. Wahid Khan were very professional in their conduct and I had a decent experience dealing with them. Since my car RTO passing was going to take time the dealer made arrangements for conducting my car’s pooja during Gudi Padwa, on 7th April, the dealer also arranged a test drive that day for us, the very next week I got my car’s delivery as promised, on time.
Before taking my car’s delivery I went in for some additional accessories like(Accessory cost with fitting charges – Rs 13, 789):
Front Power Windows, Reverse Horn, Seat Covers, Left Side mirror, Engine Light, Car Floor Mats, Filming of glass, Ambipur car perfume.
Now about my car’s music system for which I chose Sony’s Xplod series(Total Cost with fitting: Rs 13900)
1) CD Receiver: CDX-GT470U(Output Power: 52W x 4, Frontal USB, AUX-in input, Folder browse function, Remote control)
2) Front Speakers: XS-GTF1625B(16cm 2-Way Coaxial Speaker, Peak Power 190W)
3) Rear Speakers: XS-V6942A(6 x 9 4-Way Coaxial Speaker, Peak Power 320W)
I bought the music system from Xplod Pitstop store at Kalyani Nagar, the shop owner was having sound knowledge of music systems and fitting procedures as he suggested me that my music player peak output would not cross 200W so there was no point going for expensive speakers I initially wanted to buy, he also suggested me to fit spacer’s above the tray installed behind hatch door for rear speakers as I was not going for a horizontal tray in the dickey area, since it would block considerable storage space in Alto.
I joined a driving class nearby my place eager to drive my first car on the road and had to wait for few days to get hands on experience to drive, now my car has clocked a distance of 414 KMs on the odometer till date, I am yet to get on to the tank-to-tank fuel filling as normally car owners do, I was given complimentary 5 Liter petrol coupon by Maruti dealer and later I have visited fuel station 3 times, I was advised by my friends to drive my car on 1-2 and 3rd gear initially since the car would take some time to deliver good average and the after my car’s first servicing on 12th May 2008(Odometer reading: 340 KMs), the steering, clutch and gears seem to be free to operate.
I was given a survey and feedback call from Maruti asking my opinion about the car, I am yet to mail them the feedback form given to me at the time of delivery, even I was impressed with the follow up done with me for my first servicing, they have a free pick up and delivery for car service, my first servicing was done for 1000 bucks, only charged for oil change, slight paint job and mending my left side bumper which I accidentally dashed to my parking wall, as I walked into their store to collect my car after servicing the sales person and his supervisor took their time out to meet me, asking me about the car condition and general chat, which made me feel that they definitely care for their customers. Review contd below.
