Optra Magnum or Honda City

Dear,

I have owned 97 model Opel Astra, top model with CNG. I was planning for new car for some time. Just yesterday read Chevrolet’s current exchange scheme in which they are exchanging your old astra/corsa with optra. After taking test drive today, they valuated my Opel for Rs.One lac & 10 thousand.

My first choice is Honda city as it is much hype/popular car among Indians with best mileage etc but with current exchange scheme, I am bit puzzled as I have very limited information of optra & some of my colleague are dead against of optra due to various reasons, some suggest about its bankrupts rumors due to recent rescission, have limited days in India, some said about its low sale becoz of high maintaince, no better after sale service, low resale value etc. some says this exchange was the real reason of all above mentioned reasons.

Frankly telling you all that I have very limited knowledge of cars & their maintaince & importantly I have limited money in hand for down payment. Under current scheme, I ve to pay just 78 thousand for down payment which was the only reason; I am planning for Optra magnum LS (Exchange Scheme applicable with Magnum model only).

Some simple mathematic:

Current on road Price (Gurgaon) be Around        : Rs. 8.70 L

Valuation of my Opel Astra CNG                         : Rs.1.10L

Bank finance                                                    : Rs. 7 Lac

Down payment                                                 : Rs. 60k +Ist EMI+3yr warranty charges

Pl suggest me what to do? Should I go for optra or wait for adding down payment amt for Honda city. Your valuable suggestion requires urgently as this exchange scheme would ended by 31July,2009. 

Good day;

the magnum is a very good car and now they have a 3 yr/1lac kilometers 0 maintenance warranty. SO in this case you end up only paying up for the fuel you use. You will not have any maintenance cost or labour costs while you get your car serviced for 3 yr/1lac kilometers. The ride quality of the city is very good and also has the Honda tag attached to it. Honda has always been known for durable engines and good performance. With Chevy you are getting a pretty good resale for your opel too which I doubt you will get if you go for the city since this is a sort of scheme from Chevy. The city 1.5 E MT is cheaper to the optra 1.6 LS and has got better features as well. I would suggest you to get your car evaluated from a dealer to get the approximate price range. If you are getting more or less the same amount for the resale of your car then better go in for the city but if the price difference is big then the optra will make sense since you will be owning it for free for 3 yr/1lac kilometers with the only cost being the fuel bills. Also better take a test drive og both the cars and then decide. Have a look at this comparision too and check all the tabs for the differences between the two cars.

Evaluate the 2 cars independently of the Resale Value of your Old Car in the First place. See which is better car and suits you - go for that.

Say you get the resale from Chevrolet for 1.10 Lacs and outside - the worst resale you get is Rs.50,000/- Difference is Rs.60,000/-

When you purchase a car of Rs.9 Lacs, you should not bother about Rs.60,000/- and go for a better car which you will use 5-7 years in future.

My point is DO NOT BASE YOUR DECISION ONLY ON THE RESALE OF YOUR OLD CAR - THATS A TRAP.

Evaluate your requirement - running in kms.. Do you require a diesel car?? Testdrive both the cars and see which car you like more - based on your experience of test drive.

Take your family / friends and take their opinion.

Dont throw away 8 Lacs more Rs to save your already dead 60,000/- Rs. Take a prudent decision.

I am with Raju,do not lose good money to chase bad money.Sell Astra independently and go for most suited car for your needs.Throw in other options like SX4 ,Linea also.

In my view,Optra is very outdated model being sold by a troubled company,so it has to be rather extremely appealing which it is not.

Honda City is a good car but it is certainly very expensive for what it offers.It also has problem of very low ground clearance and less headroom.

Linea is fresh in looks but comromises heavily on performance and fuel efficiency,it too has poor head room.

SX4 is a powerful and value driven car loaded with features and best  ground clearance,its looks may not be as good as Linea and City

infact if you see the price difference between the city 1.5 E and the chevy 1.6 LS is around 30K. So even if you get a resale of 50k outside on your existing car which causes you to lose 60k (dealer gives 1.1lac), you will make up half of the lost amount in the showroon cost itself. Honda is definitely a class above the optra. Again for the initial 3 years or 1 lac kilometers the chevy will prove to be much milder on the pocket as its free of maintenance and service costs.

Thanks Legend, nipun & Raju for valuable suggestion.

Honda is much better . No comparison here.

hi

i would suggest you go in for the hondacity due 2 the following reasons-

• good drives car
• its a honda
• high resale value
• good service network
• bit pricy but worth it
• decent engine ie millage good
• good looks and new design

if ur looking for a diesel i suggest u go for the optra

check the link dude

http://ndtvauto.carwale.com/research/comparecars/compareSpecs.aspx?car1=1374&car2=1428&car3=1202&car4=1427