Budget Rs. 15-20 lakh: Buying my first car

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While the Seltos ticks all the boxes for me, it’s safety report and record makes it a questionable choice.

BHPian KadiNiSikhiya recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi,

I’m looking to buy my first car in January 2022(cannot wait beyond this as my wedding is in February). The last car we bought was back in 2005, a Maruti Esteem VXi. For the upcoming buy, my requirements are as below:

  • Budget: Rs. 15 lakh(easy)-20 lakh(Hard).
  • Range: 100Km+ whenever driven, as it’s not going to be a daily driver but rather family mover(3-4 people) over long distances for vacation/pilgrimage.
  • Fuel: Owing to general wisdom that petrol engines are low maintenance w.r.t diesel ones and the lower cost of petrol variants, I’m inclined towards Petrol.
  • Mileage vs Performance: Whenever it will be driven, it would be on longer routes and sometimes on poor roads, I opt for performance.
  • Comfort vs Carriage: As my parents are both 60+, I want something that has good 2nd row features and comfort. But as long-distance travel requires some luggage, that some is summed up in our household, so need a good amount of boot space too.

Now here’s what I have evaluated. All sub 10 lakh SUVs (XUV300, Sonet, Venue, Brezza, Nexon) are small when it comes to luggage carrying capacity.

In 10-15 range, I’m considering mainly Seltos HTX G. Creta is ugly for my taste, Taigun and Kushaq aren’t “feature rich” plus costly service and spares for them. Don’t like MG Astor either. Scorpio, my mother doesn’t like it.

While the Seltos ticks all the boxes for me, it’s safety report and record makes it a questionable choice. Now inching above the 15 lakh bracket puts a strain on my budget but I get the option of XUV 700. Not considering Hector or Harrier here.

In case of 700, as per the review thread here, diesel makes more sense and that too 7 seater version and it will come in useful if in case the in-laws too join us for a trip. But the basic AX3 7 seater misses out on key features of safety and comfort and while AX5 has curtain airbags, it misses out on Cruise Control and also its on-road price is just shy of 20 lakh, a costly proposition considering what it doesn’t offers.

Here’s what BHPian Sushil Pingua had to say on the matter:

Hello Brother KadiNiSikhiya,

The Maruti S-Cross hits your requirements bang on. Has the best build quality among all Maruti models currently on sale.

Easy on budget with the top model which is feature laden.

Comfortable over long distances for the rear passengers as well.

Very easy to get in or out for the aged parents.

Performance and boot space are balanced for a 5 seater. Frankly speaking if considerable boot space is required then a 6/7 seater vehicle with last row folded down does the job like my Honda BRV which is a 6 seater but we always travel max 4 people and fold the last seat row to use it as additional boot space – it amounts to truck-load space.

Enjoy.

Here’s what BHPian TorqueMonster had to say on the matter:

If you are not keen on an SUV, why not go for the Honda City. It will easily seat 4 people comfortably, has a really competent petrol engine and for 40k more than your budget, you can get the top end ZX model for 15.4l. If the budget doesn’t permit, you can always get the VX model too, which is also well equipped. And since it is a sedan, Boot space is aplenty in it. If you are not wanting SUV’s this ticks your bill perfectly.

And as for SUVs, the Seltos is feature-rich but safety is an issue, while other cars don’t seem to be your priority. You always have the S-Cross as the backup choice, even though I personally feel the car to be slightly dated wrt competition, it is still a good car.

Here’s what BHPian lamborghini had to say on the matter:

Have a look at the S Cross. Specs on paper aren’t great, and it doesn’t have the butch SUV look like the seltos, neither is it feature rich.
But for the asking price you get a sturdy, abuse friendly, comfortable, well driving car. Effectively its in sub-4M category in terms of price despite being a segment higher. I expect the next gen S Cross to take the pricing closer to seltos / creta levels (as previous generation S Cross was priced similarly to previous generation Creta).

The Seltos is a good all rounder but for safety as you rightly pointed out. Plus Hyundai / Kia aren’t niggle free either as some threads on here would elaborate.

If you can deal with lower kit, but better handling, performance, safety, etc., have a look again at the Kushaq. With Skoda’s 6 year warranty, maintenance would be lower as well. I wouldn’t say Skoda spares are more expensive than Kia either as both are equally premium brands.

XUV700 has a long waiting period so getting one before your wedding may be difficult though it is a great all rounder on paper.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

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