ANHC or Verna Diesel or SX4 or Ford Fiesta

Thanks a lot Ami. but yes these days with the gap in the initial costs between petrol and diesel cars closing up, diesel will definitely be the way to go in the future but in this case I personally feel petrol will be better

Hey Centaur, you are not wrong for this kind of usage petrol car is best. Reasons why I too suggested diesel is already disucssed before by fellow members. On papers Petrol should be the choice but keeping in mind other factors, one can pick a diesel car.

And as far as usage is concern, usage will definitely increase. When I bought Spark I thought I will drive it less than 500 kms per month because we will use Fiesta more but I've almost done 25k since november 07 and that too when running is nothing in last 3 months (less than 1000 kms)

Most people estimate the likely use of car on higher to be on safe side and blindly opt for diesel .Others ,having bought the diesel,overuse it to justify their decision of buying diesel car.It is very clear that considering the useful life of the car as 1 lac km ,and the additional cost of diesel engine variant around 1 lac and the higher cost of maintaining diesel version,the diesel engine does not pay back the additional premium being charged by car cos in India.Abroad the premium is much less.

I am sorry as I beg to differ - typically, the cost of running is lesser by 2 rupees a km for diesel car when compared to the petrol car. So, for 1 lakh kms, the fuel bills savings are 2 lakhs approximately.

Even if some one pays an extra amount of about 50 - 90K and picks a diesel variant instead of a petrol variant, the savings are still at 1.1 to 1.5 lakhs. And I don't think that the cost difference in maintenance of the diesel car for 1 lakh kilometers will be anything more than 15 to 20 K for the same usage on petrol.

So, with a diesel car, the savings for one lakh kilometers is still anything from 90K to 1.3 Lakhs - No wonder that Taxis always run on Diesel (in most cases).

Secondly, the longivity of a diesel car is always in excess of 1 Lakh Kms - It is for the order of 1.5 Lakh Kms.

Trouble is if your usage is so less that you will cover 1 lakh kilometers only in 15 years, then, the extra cost of diesel engine and the extra cost of maintenance is not worth it because a fixed deposit will earn you the more than what you will save by running a diesel car.

Last but not the least, diesel cars will in most cases fetch atleast 5% more resale value when compared to the petrol counterparts.

Regards,

K Prasad

@Kvsk Prasad: Very rightly said sir,i also think the same way.

I am providing the data for monthly fuel bill for the vehicle for my running ( I have added Fit Linea (D) to my choice list.) Linea= 2300, Sx4=3600, Verna=2200, ANHC=2800, Fiesta=2300. i have considered vehicle city and highway KPLs for the calculations.Cost of vehicle +_ 30000 does matter much when you are purchasing car at 9 lakh. What I am looking for are comfort, performance, maintenance cost, servicing and monthly fuel biils. resale does not matter much since I am going to use vehicle for next 6 to 7 years.

Post edited to separate 'quote'.

Verna's mileage is not as good as Fiesta

there seems to be some mistake in calculation. Fiesta will return more FE than the verna and hance the running cost for Fiesta should be lesser than the verna. There is no doubt that the verna will outrun the fiesta in performance because of its engine specs but FE will be more for the fiesta.