Santro + ? Alto, Spark, Swift or i10

hello friends,

finally my wife is buying a new car. to be used in bumper to bumper traffic of Delhi roads, maximum usage as of now 1000 km per month, may increase upto 1500 km pm later on, her budget is only 3 lac and is keen on Alto, (3.1 lac on road Delhi) i told her to go for a better car, her main concern seems to be fuel efficiency, while my main concern is safety of the passengers, especially since she is going to drive.  also told her that new Alto with K series engine is going to be launched tomorrow (thanks carwale members) and one must opt for that if really keen on Alto .

i own a Santro GL CNG, since this is going to be second car at our home, i suggested her to go for Spark 1.0 LS, 3.5 lac onroad, remaining amount of 40k i've to give her..  

now my query; is't a good decision to go for Spark when i already own a car of the very same price, similar looks and feel and almost similar features (Santro). we may alternatively drive both cars.

if Spark is not a good idea, is it worth spending 1 lac more and going for the lower version of Swift (Lxi petrol) or even i10 1.2 Magna (kappa engine). i don't want to stretch my budget more than that while contributing to my wife.  After all this would be her personal car and would be in her exclusive custody and she would be driving it most of the time.  So my likes and dislikes are secondary only and she would like to have one with good reliability, fuel efficiency, less complaints and good dealer network.  She likes Alto, also likes Spark and will buy Spark instead of Alto if i contribute, but she has got some apprehensions about swift mainly because of its bigger size.  i10 she is saying is owned by every second person on the road and she is not very keen on it.

I'm a big lover of i10 cars, but since i own a Santro is it a good idea to go for an i10.

i can't think of any other car within this range, which would be suitable for her.   Figo, Punto, Polo, Micra etc. ruled out for various reasons, major reason being poor dealer network and poor after sales service.

pl put in your valuable suggestions

with that kind of driving distance, u need a diesel car wont fit in ur budget.

u shud consider ones having company fitted lpg kit.

I think answer of your question is in your question itself.

For me i10 Magna 1.2 is the best car in 4.5 lakh budget. But in your case, the bedget is limited to 3.5 lakh. In addition, your monthly usage is to the tune of 1000 kms. Hence fuel efficiency should be an selection criteria here. It is everyone's social duty to save energy resources. Petrol is just not a Rs 50 per liter commodity, but it is the outcome of tremendous efforts of Oil Engineers and above all it is limited resource of energy.

From fuel efficiency point of view, no car can beat Alto. Alto is cheap, easy to drive in city, fuel efficient and it has excellent ASS supoort from Maruti Stable.

I think it will be very wise idea to give your wife 40K and go for Spark LS as both of you are liking Spark. I think Spark is the best car below 4 lakh budget. It gives better driving pleasure than Estilo, Wagon R, Santro and offers a very good VFM buy within 4 lakh. It has better interiors and cute exteroir looks too.

It seems, most of the time you will be driving your Santro and your wife will be driving the new car alone, so no need to spend 1 lakh more for bigger car. You can drive 20,000 kms by spending that saved amount. Safety features like ABS and Air Bag are not available in that range.

It will be better to test drive the above cars and decide on the basis of budget, usage and requirement.

pl see this link,

http://hubpages.com/hub/alto-vs-spark

towards the end it says

"if a person is ready to spend for the Spark, then one can also consider the Santro Xing GL which comes at 3.36 lakhs and the Spark LS at 3.23 lakhs. Santro Xing is definitely a far-far better buy than the Chevrolet Spark."

this is what is confusing me, i.e., whether idea of a Spark after having Santro is good or not, if not which other car would be the best.

Santhanam

Santhanam what happened to your native car arrangement?

For your wife, I would recommend new Alto itself. It is a compact car, and going by my wife's experience, a small car would help ease driving in the traffic immensely.

If you were going going to opt for a sedan as an alternative, I would have recommended swapping cars, and you going with the bigger one.

Stick to Alto for low capital and running expenses, and universally available service.

Thanks Krishna for that advice,

native they have considered and dropped the idea of a new car for now. continuing with the same arrangement of hiring taxis once in a month.  

here in Delhi my wife requires one car for her exclusive use, that's why i don't want to impose my wishes on her, otherwise i suggested i10.  plus i won't be getting it much for driving.  i would convey your suggestions to her.

In case i'm giving her my Santro and myself going for a new sedan, my dream car is Ford Fiesta--do you have any other suggestion? i can't afford one Fiesta right now--no budget--one closely associated person is going to sell his 4 year old Corolla (80k km run--very good condition)--should i buy it--don't know the price but carwale carvalue suggests anything between 4.25 to 5 lac.  if i opt for it i can give Santro to my wife--but then both of us will be getting old cars--instead, if she buys a new hatchback she would feel one new car for her.

Go with Alto w/o a second thought since fuel efficiency is one of the criteria. It's light weight hence easy to drive in traffic especially for ladies. You will have different brand cars your house just to mention.

A 4 year old corolla, and also by someone known is a good buy. The 80k use in 4 years means it has been well used over this period, about 1800 km/mo, but it should do fine, as it is a Toyota. You will incur a bit higher maintenance, but that's no biggie.

Otherwise, stick to Alto for the wife.

Thank you so much Krishna for that advice. will the Toyota Corolla do fine for another 80k km.

Santhanam