Mar 12, 2008 01:07 AM
12771 Views
(Updated Apr 03, 2008 10:00 AM)
Greetings folk, Yup I know I've been away on along hiatus- . Yes I've been itching to write reviews to a dime a dozen:) For now I'll start with this dinker of a car review. Cuz when I was lookin up reviews, I hardly found an informative buyers' guide. Our so called "Fast n the furious" inspired good folk got too carried away with poetic descriptions about how good was the car in setting the roads on fire kinda stuff! Fine! But buyers need more info. And so I did my surveys, & test drives for 6 months till I figured it out myself. Here its all in a nut shell-
Things to look out for while buying a car-(Here we focus on a Sedan)
Safety features. Bulit.
Fuel
Comfort
After sales service and back up(The most important of'em all)
Technology
resale value
Looks.
8.Value for money/ROI
If I had the dope, then in India I would have settled for no lesser than the Volkswagan Passat-its the heritage, awesome looks, best road handling experience(cream man!), and James Bond like features. Else the Lancer looks lean, mean, sexy and is a marvel to drive- Pity the poor after sales service/support & backdated technology with very poor milage-.
Chevrolet, Skoda, Ford, BMW, Audi(ahem) sedans are very good cars as cars, ie machines- But all the jazz fizzles out when you talk about customer service and after sales support. Parts and servicing are astronmical and kind of scarce cuz U have barely 1 or 2 outlets in a Metro. U work for 12 hours a day- U may not find the prospect of driving 30 kms to the nearest dealer rather appealing! I know many who are not so happy with these grand cars. But good cars! VAlue for money for the very high Price?? BRand and smooht drive on bumpy indian mud roads?! . What the heck is Honda giving ya eh? or BMW? If its is Passion backed with money for a good machine, Yes go ahead and indulge if you can. Lets forget value for money.
Which brings me back to this Suzuki SX4 & Verna from Hyundai- These 2 cars win hand down when it comes to pampering customers- Price, Their after sales service & support are world class & hey ain't they available at almost each nook and cranny? Don't you know that their servicing costs etc are reasonable as well?
Back to the machines. I am not going to go very technical here, no need.- SX4 is a reasonably good and very sturdy machine- nothing to go ga ga about, but very definately food for thought when you consider all the features and value for money. The gears are notty yes. Sometimes the pick up lumbers a bit- Big deal! am I racing F1? MIlage around 11-12 with AC on in City. New cars guzzle a bit. Steering is a wee bit less responsive at slow speeds.Handling at high speeds is very satisfying. It may not have that fine elegant smoothness of a Honda or Skoda, but then you won't miss it trust me. I'm happy considering the money I spent. A car with more or less all the jazz.
The Verna gives you all this, is a peppier car, but cunningly charges you a lot for ABS, wheels, bags, music and so on- Ddamned even a adjustable driver seat! Bad! the pricing is very cleverly phased up from vxi zxi lxi etc. I think the sucess has gone to their heads. They cant give you a generic package around 8.5 Lac? You can't configure a model. Verna's gear is smoother. But the None -ABS varient was terible enough to give each 3 of us veterans a bone chilling experience on Dickenson Road traffic.!The Engine is smooth, but the interiors are no where near the sx4. Give me the older 1.6 Accent GLe any day. That as the best car from Hyundai and I would've happlily bought it if they hand;t downsized and snipped the car. Bad move! In fact My aim was to buy the old accent.
The interiors, A/C music system, glass antenna of the SX4 are jolly good. They do a good job considering they come along in the package with no extra price! I really don't find much difference at all as I compared all these with the topguns. SX4's Big alloy wheels have a great grip and clearance. Yes the rear view is hindered a bit. But an expert gets used to it soon. Why crib? Else remove the head rests from the back seats. Do bear inmind U need to spend a lot to get features like ABS, bags, music etc in a Verna or other cars
I would say, this car would have looked greater had they reduced the height and made it look slender.
MAy sell your car? No mamma give you a better resale value than M Suzuki amigos! .
I had a few minor complains about my sx4 which is 4 months old. I felt like the king of England the way suzuki managers and engineers ran after me dawn to dusk to make sure everything is ironed out- I've never ever been so pampered in my life-
Thanks to Suzuki SX4 division's customer care efforts my sx 4 has NO MORE NOTTY GEARS, and has a very responsive steering. MIlage they said, and I know, will improve after a year or so. AT 5964 KMS the car is getting smoother by the day. NO great shakes like a batmobile- But when I look at the money I spent for everything- Its worth it. I didn't buy an aston martin with 8.5 LAc. So no comparision at all! I could've thought bought Verna if it was cheaper and they were flexibile in car configuration. adding one by one ABS, speaker/music, bags and alloy wheels the cost shoots up. I'm getting all that in SX4. Its a car alright?
If you consider yourself a smart buyer and value your money, don't have much of black to blow- for now you may buy an SX4 zxi. When the Western sellers realize the importance of after sales service and customer satisfaction(after sales) & slash those prices(the same cars are cheaper abroad), tax cuts etc, _may be then you can think of getting those grand bilaitee hot wheels. Until then no point really dragging a value for money car to be compared with a BMW
*NB: IF you can spend a bit more then the Mitsubishi Cedia is the best value for money car in the segment, considering its package, offer, technology and BRand legacy of Engines. I test drove one couple of times, and i'm very very impressed with what I hear as well. Hmmm.
