Before I begin, I do not mean to pass generic judgement about ANY car. Car is a very personal thing and what works for one may not work for another person. Each car is good at something, so no offence to anyone, this is purely my personal experience! So, take a chill pill before you read on! :)
For quite sometime, I have been contemplating a new car purchase. I would just procastinate the new car purchase - primarily for two reasons:
1. Want of going with a 7 seater (likes of Scorpio, Innova, Xylo etc)
2. Trying to time my purchase considering the pros and cons of car lease v/s direct purchase
After much deliberation, I decided against a 7 seater (will tell about that story later) and decided to go with "another" hatch back.
The requirements were:
- It should be a spacious enough to carry 5 adults in comfort
- Diesel Engine COMPULSORY
- Overall ride quality should be very good, especially on long drives
- Able to handle speeds in the range of 100-120 without sweating it out on highways
- Should not cross INR 7Lakhs on Road
- Reliablility
The intial consideration was:
- Toyota Liva D
- Ford Figo
- Maruti Swift (top dog, favourite to win)
- Maruti Ritz (Ugly rear, but fall back plan for looooooong Swift wait periods)
- Chevy Beat (For those of you who understand Kannada - "Aatakkuntu - Lekkakilla"... Poor thing, out of competition even before it began!!)
- Tata Vista (for the heck of it - no real intention of buying this....a clear underdog)
- VW Polo (Charging me a fortune for the 3 pot engine and a mediocre interiors!!!?? )
Chevy Beat and VW Polo did not quite stand a chance because Beat is no where near to others in terms of space and engine size is not adequate for highway driving. Polo, i was not able to correlate the price and the package offered. Serviceability outside big cities was also a factor.
Then, one fine morning in the month of Dec 2011, my brother and me decided to check out the hatch backs. Right from the word go, there were a couple of contenders who were disqualified even without a test drive - Chevy Beat and VW Polo.
The previous night I had seen some ad about "Tata Vista Sedan Class" and thats how we decided to check out this car, though pretty much with a fixed mindset of not going in for this car.
We just called up Concorde Motors and they confirmed that the car is available for test drive. We landed there on a saturday morning. Frankly I did not have much expectations but, boy! I was pleasantly surprised. I was attended to immediately and we checked out the Spice Red VX QJT Vista on display.
We were pleasantly surprised with the interiors. Excellent trim level in terms of gizmos and features. The door closes with a nice thud. Lots and lots of space both in the front and back. My brother who is 5' 11'' was able to sit comfortably at the back seat without hitting his knees against the driver seat with my normal driving position which I push the seat back quite a lot. The sales guy was with us all the while and finally it was time for the test drive.
There comes the "Summer Sparkle" QJT VX. I get into the driver seat and the first thing I noticed was that the A/C was very effective. The summer sparkle colour is no where near the one they show in their website and looks very different in reality. I merge the car into Hosur Road traffic and the car is a breeze to drive in the traffic. The low end torque was simply awesome. The car was simply raring to go forward. The seating was super comfortable and the view from the driver seat was simply awesome. With three passengers and A/C on, the car could move on 2nd gear from stationary position at signals. Whenever turbo kicked in at 1750 rpm, the drive was simply exhilarating. I was really impressed. The Blue 5 player, steering mounted controls, good quality audio, Height adjustible driver seat and host of other features just put me at ease in the first 5 mins of the test drive itself. The car is equipped with ABS and that is a huge plus on my long drives. I did a good test drive of like 25 kms and the impression that the car left on me was remarkable. My brother and I are not TATA car fans, but both of us were pleasantly surprised and agreed that the car was truly "Sedan Class".
The only question I had on my mind was After Sales Service and reliability.
Then comes Toyota Etios Liva Diesel. The things that I noticed were:
Lacklustre interiors, lower seating position, poor low end torque and a price tag of 7 Lakhs + on road for ABS GD_SP model and lack of so many features including the essential tacho meter!
Then came ford figo. Honestly I liked the drive, I thought the engine was comparable but not as enjoyable as the national diesel engine - 1.3 QJT. I felt that the interiors were bland and the back seat seating was not as comfortable as Vista. The seating position was also slightly lower as compared to Vista. Now the seating position, I believe makes a lot of difference on my 650 KM two way week end trips.
Swift, definitely the car to go for even if the backseat comfort and space is not great, but....the ridiculous waiting period is simply not happening. The ritz, I never the liked the way it looked and add to it, the backseat space, was only a fall back option for swift. I never had my heart set on Ritz and i learned that even Ritz has couple of months of waiting for VDi.
In hind sight, I thought Vista was really good compared to the other rides but I am aware that it comes with the service rider. I just wanted to do a second test drive of the vehicle.
Fast forward to 20 Feb 2012, I revisit Concorde. The reception I get at Concorde is really consistent and good as my last experience. I said i wish to take a test drive, the vehicle was arranged immediately - the same "Summer Sparkle" VX QJD. The car had clocked a couple of thousand of kms from my last drive and looked soiled from inside, but I dont hold it against the car per se. The drive - was exactly the was i felt two months back! The salesperson said he wished to show some capabilities of the car and takes to the wheel.
There you go, he accelerates the vehicle, slams the break to demonstrate ABS, displays the suspension ability, ability to handle corners ...man! the deal was sealed pretty much there. Although the reliability and durability concerns are still there at the back of my mind, that is where I thought of starting this blog, which will record my Vista experience "AS IS" in the coming months and years.
Went to Concorde today and booked my vehicle!
- Aravind Kamath Posral
For quite sometime, I have been contemplating a new car purchase. I would just procastinate the new car purchase - primarily for two reasons:
1. Want of going with a 7 seater (likes of Scorpio, Innova, Xylo etc)
2. Trying to time my purchase considering the pros and cons of car lease v/s direct purchase
After much deliberation, I decided against a 7 seater (will tell about that story later) and decided to go with "another" hatch back.
The requirements were:
- It should be a spacious enough to carry 5 adults in comfort
- Diesel Engine COMPULSORY
- Overall ride quality should be very good, especially on long drives
- Able to handle speeds in the range of 100-120 without sweating it out on highways
- Should not cross INR 7Lakhs on Road
- Reliablility
The intial consideration was:
- Toyota Liva D
- Ford Figo
- Maruti Swift (top dog, favourite to win)
- Maruti Ritz (Ugly rear, but fall back plan for looooooong Swift wait periods)
- Chevy Beat (For those of you who understand Kannada - "Aatakkuntu - Lekkakilla"... Poor thing, out of competition even before it began!!)
- Tata Vista (for the heck of it - no real intention of buying this....a clear underdog)
- VW Polo (Charging me a fortune for the 3 pot engine and a mediocre interiors!!!?? )
Chevy Beat and VW Polo did not quite stand a chance because Beat is no where near to others in terms of space and engine size is not adequate for highway driving. Polo, i was not able to correlate the price and the package offered. Serviceability outside big cities was also a factor.
Then, one fine morning in the month of Dec 2011, my brother and me decided to check out the hatch backs. Right from the word go, there were a couple of contenders who were disqualified even without a test drive - Chevy Beat and VW Polo.
The previous night I had seen some ad about "Tata Vista Sedan Class" and thats how we decided to check out this car, though pretty much with a fixed mindset of not going in for this car.
We just called up Concorde Motors and they confirmed that the car is available for test drive. We landed there on a saturday morning. Frankly I did not have much expectations but, boy! I was pleasantly surprised. I was attended to immediately and we checked out the Spice Red VX QJT Vista on display.
We were pleasantly surprised with the interiors. Excellent trim level in terms of gizmos and features. The door closes with a nice thud. Lots and lots of space both in the front and back. My brother who is 5' 11'' was able to sit comfortably at the back seat without hitting his knees against the driver seat with my normal driving position which I push the seat back quite a lot. The sales guy was with us all the while and finally it was time for the test drive.
There comes the "Summer Sparkle" QJT VX. I get into the driver seat and the first thing I noticed was that the A/C was very effective. The summer sparkle colour is no where near the one they show in their website and looks very different in reality. I merge the car into Hosur Road traffic and the car is a breeze to drive in the traffic. The low end torque was simply awesome. The car was simply raring to go forward. The seating was super comfortable and the view from the driver seat was simply awesome. With three passengers and A/C on, the car could move on 2nd gear from stationary position at signals. Whenever turbo kicked in at 1750 rpm, the drive was simply exhilarating. I was really impressed. The Blue 5 player, steering mounted controls, good quality audio, Height adjustible driver seat and host of other features just put me at ease in the first 5 mins of the test drive itself. The car is equipped with ABS and that is a huge plus on my long drives. I did a good test drive of like 25 kms and the impression that the car left on me was remarkable. My brother and I are not TATA car fans, but both of us were pleasantly surprised and agreed that the car was truly "Sedan Class".
The only question I had on my mind was After Sales Service and reliability.
Then comes Toyota Etios Liva Diesel. The things that I noticed were:
Lacklustre interiors, lower seating position, poor low end torque and a price tag of 7 Lakhs + on road for ABS GD_SP model and lack of so many features including the essential tacho meter!
Then came ford figo. Honestly I liked the drive, I thought the engine was comparable but not as enjoyable as the national diesel engine - 1.3 QJT. I felt that the interiors were bland and the back seat seating was not as comfortable as Vista. The seating position was also slightly lower as compared to Vista. Now the seating position, I believe makes a lot of difference on my 650 KM two way week end trips.
Swift, definitely the car to go for even if the backseat comfort and space is not great, but....the ridiculous waiting period is simply not happening. The ritz, I never the liked the way it looked and add to it, the backseat space, was only a fall back option for swift. I never had my heart set on Ritz and i learned that even Ritz has couple of months of waiting for VDi.
In hind sight, I thought Vista was really good compared to the other rides but I am aware that it comes with the service rider. I just wanted to do a second test drive of the vehicle.
Fast forward to 20 Feb 2012, I revisit Concorde. The reception I get at Concorde is really consistent and good as my last experience. I said i wish to take a test drive, the vehicle was arranged immediately - the same "Summer Sparkle" VX QJD. The car had clocked a couple of thousand of kms from my last drive and looked soiled from inside, but I dont hold it against the car per se. The drive - was exactly the was i felt two months back! The salesperson said he wished to show some capabilities of the car and takes to the wheel.
There you go, he accelerates the vehicle, slams the break to demonstrate ABS, displays the suspension ability, ability to handle corners ...man! the deal was sealed pretty much there. Although the reliability and durability concerns are still there at the back of my mind, that is where I thought of starting this blog, which will record my Vista experience "AS IS" in the coming months and years.
Went to Concorde today and booked my vehicle!
- Aravind Kamath Posral
