New Car petrol/cng or Diesel in budget of 5 lacs

hello,

This is my first post to carwale. I am planning to buy my first car in December 11. My budget is around 5 lacs and I am planning to take an auto loan. 

My monthly run would be 2500kms and this would include mostly city driving in Delhi. My main criteria is comfort, mileage, low running cost and low maintenance. One most important feature I am looking for is power windows in the car.

Please suggest whether I should go for a petrol variant and have cng fitted into it or a diesel car.

Welcome to carwale Karuna.

For your running I would suggest a diesel car than a petrol or a CNG as it would give you more savings in the long run. In your budget you can get the indica eV2, beat and figo. In terms of space the indica is the best but the pros for this car are TASC and the taxi image. If TASC is good in your city and you are not much bothered about the image then this is a good choice as it gives good FE as well. The beat is not as spacious but it too returns a good FE. You can get the 3 years/ 1 lac kms zero ownership package along with the car which will ensure you only spend for petrol. Performance is decent and not too great. the figo if the VFM of the lot. It has got almost everything. however some people have complained about the ground clearance of this car but that again is an issue only if you drive the car with full load. If you can increase your budget you can get a few more options.

Thanks for the quick reply centaur.

I would ideally be driving alone or maximum two people. I do not like indica.

Wouldnt petrol car with cng fitting be low on running cost too? Since I am buying a car for the first time, is CNG difficult to maintain. I do see many cng refilling stations in Delhi.

I have heard from people that diesel is heavy to manage by female drivers.

I can increase my budget to 5.5 lacs only.

Please suggest.

what about the Ritz LDi. Should be in the budget in Delhi. This is easy to drive and spacious than the Beat. ASC is better than the Ford. With the powersteering in the ritz, city driving for ladies wont be a problem.

Next best is the Figo for the space and here also I dont think any issues for lady drivers since the power steering is quite comfortable.

I am not aware of cng compared to diesel. But if you are going to do a retrofit, then the warrenty could be void and incase you do occasional long rides to non-cng regions you will be stuck to running on petrol.

all the best

a diesel car doesnt behave different for male and female drivers . Jokes apart but there is nothing like that. 

its not that diesel is difficult to maintain. there are lot of people out there spreading unwanted rumours. Diesel is slightly expensive to maintain and that is why we suggest for diesel cars only when the monthly usage is atleast 1000 kms or more. That way the saving made on fuel expenses can be used towards the extra maintenance involved.

For CNG the problem is that you lose boot space because of the CNG tank. Also the maintenance for CNG cars starts to increase more than petrol or diesel as time passes by. This is because CNG is a dry (gas) fuel and operated at a higher temperature as well. So the engine parts tend to wear out a bt earlier. however these days companies like Maruti do say that the parts in their CNG engines are more durable and last longer. So if you are keen on CNG you can look at cars like Wagon-R or the newly launched i10 as well.

Yes Even I also heard the same that maintenance is very expensive, well watever it is, diesel cars are best in giving good mileage and performance than petrol cars.

Diesel cars have higher maintenance and that is primarily the reason why we suggest for diesel cars only if the running per month is atleast 1000 kms so that you can use the cost saved on fuel to pay the extra maintenance. however it being 'very expensive' is exaggerated.

Folks!

I have done test drives in the last few weeks of many cars and have shortlisted Ford Figo Diesel EXI and Beat Diesel LT variant. I am confused about which one to go for.

The car would ideally be driven by me alone within the city most of the times and running cost is surely important.  Therefore beat fits the bill. But I liked figo more due to space, comfort and higher visibility on the road as I have just started driving.

Your feedback, especially users of these cars, would be helpful.

Friends!!

No replies???

Please suggest.

You need to prioritise your preferences. If running cost is the most important then go for the beat and if space is more important go for the Figo. Between I doubt if there is a huge difference in the running cost of these cars. It might be marginally different IMO