Being a significant upgrade, I wasn’t too specific about the fuel efficiency as long as it was above 10 km/l.
BHPian Reckoner recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Hi All, this is going to be my first post on TeamBHP. I have been an avid reader for the last 18 months and gained a lot of knowledge & insights about the automotive industry. Though I am still a novice in this regard, it has given me essential & basic knowledge about how to judge cars and make more informed decisions.
I will keep this post crisp so that it relates to my experience & has minimum overlap with other posts/forums. I won’t be talking much about NVH/steering feedback/engine refinement etc. as these have already been covered extensively.
Reason for buying a car: I was getting married in Feb 2021 and wanted a safe car for my family. The past drive was my father’s owned Alto K10 (2015). So, doesn’t matter what I buy, it definitely would have been a significant upgrade over Alto K10.
Budget: Rs 10-20L. (A very wide range I know!) I did, however, have a hard stop at Rs 20L as I would be taking a loan for it wanted to keep my EMIs manageable.
What mattered to me the most:
- Safety – Wanted to have a safe car as I would be having a regular commute on the Delhi-Jaipur route. (GNCAP/NCAP doesn’t matter to me much)
- Bells & Whistles – While to a true automotive fan, these things doesn’t matter. However considering my age (<30) and I want to keep the car for a minimum of 7-8 years, I wanted to get all features I can. (The ventilated seat was my priority)
- Spacious – We as a family somehow always end up with too much luggage to carry.
- Manual Transmission – I was against automatic cars. Though they are very easy to drive, I am not looking for that comfort at this age. Even my dad (60+) can drive cars very easily. He is fitter than I am. Hence, automatics were ruled out.
- Showroom driven car – In the family, there is still not much acceptance of buying 2nd hand cars.
What didn’t matter to me:
- Petrol vs Diesel (Neither too high running nor too low) – Expected was 12K km per year.
- Brand – Except Maruti, I was open to all brands
- Fuel Economy – Unless it’s as low as 6 – 8 km/l. Anything above 10 was good for me.
Cars shortlisted/TD’d:
Kia Seltos / Hyundai Creta
Pros:
- Didn’t feel bulky to dive at all.
- Responsiveness of turbo engine
- All bells & whistles
- Ventilated seats in my desired trim
Cons:
- Not a car for 5 people
- Boot space on paper looks good, but not practical. (My cousin owns a seltos and it can’t fit 3 trolleys)
- Creta didn’t have a manual for the top model (only DCT). Reliability?
Kia Sonet / Hyundai Venue / Tata Nexon
Pros:
- Nothing substantial as per my requirement
Cons:
- Wasn’t spacious at all
- Felt that steering was coming into my chest every time I got in the car or got out of it
- Very expensive top models (~15-16L INR).
Tata Harrier
Pros:
- Extremely spacious (felt a segment higher than Creta/Seltos)
- Amazing looking panoramic sunroof
- Discounts available on 2020 model
- Handbrake <3
Cons:
- Top model didn’t have discounts and was 20L+
- Huge blind spots owing to A-pillars & C pillars (Wasn’t feeling confident in test drive despite having 9+ years of driving experience)
- IRVM & ORVM weren’t giving enough rearview. (A huge negative for me as I look a lot in IRVMs & ORVMs while driving)
- No ventilated seats
MG Hector
No it wasn’t considered at that time.
In Dec month, after a lot of thought, decided to go ahead with Seltos GTX+ trim. Despite obvious negatives. Was offered a delivery date of the First week of Feb (right before the wedding).
In Jan first week, saw the announcement of the MG Hector facelift and found that it has improved significantly in terms of features over the ongoing model and decided that I will definitely have a look over this. The very next day I went to the showroom along with my dad. Saw the car in flesh and had a TD of the previous model. Spoke to SA over the phone, he mentioned that facelift is in the showroom and can visit anytime. Made an appointment and showed up at the scheduled time.
TD experience: (TD Vehicle – Sharp DCT)
The sales executive took me to their designated TD route. I tried hard acceleration & braking. (Found enough response in both). Remember I was coming from Alto K10 experience as well
Pros:
- Features were all there which were offered in Seltos top model.
- Comfortable in the city due to soft suspension
- High seating position (Even Fortuners were almost coming at an equivalent level)
- Price – Only 40-50K difference between Seltos & Hector. On-road was costing me 19.8L (Below 20)
Cons:
- No long term reliability of brand (only 1.5 years in the market as of then)
- Won’t fit in our home as our parking space was only 15ft long
There were a few things that made me inclined towards Hector.
- While it is of the same dimensions as Harrier, I didn’t face any issues in visibility that I faced in the Harrier.
- Secondly, the boot was S P A C I O U S!
- Thirdly, the new front grill looked amazing (Chrome+Piano black means maintenance hassle, but worth it).
- Fourthly, was still within budget. Felt like going 1-2 segments above Seltos without any incremental cost.
Booked the car the same day: White (single tone)(Sharp Hybrid MT Petrol). The SA was not aware of the single-tone collar option in the new model. Showed him the website, he went and checked with 1-2 people and then took the booking. (Total time taken 2-3 hours). I was promised delivery within 2 weeks.
The experience of MG was the best among all brands. KIA, Hyundai, TATA showrooms didn’t have the proper experience. Too much overselling at all places which I didn’t face at MG. I was okay with no discounts being offered, however, the SA got me Rs 13K benefit through lower insurance costs. I didn’t have to bargain much there.
Got delivery on 21st Jan 2021 just 12 days after delivery. PDI went smoothly as per the Team-BHP checklist. Post-delivery went to a petrol pump for getting tank full and then visited the Moti Doongri temple in Jaipur. (Almost 100% of a new vehicle in Jaipur comes to the same temple for the first Puja).
13,000 km update:
I must say that I have had a very unique experience of owning this vehicle during the covid period (April-May 2021).
- Had used this as an ambulance 2-3 times. The car was able to fully accommodate a hospital stretcher with the closed boot. (Front passenger seat had to be moved forward)
- I used it to regularly ferry 2-3 oxygen cylinders. I and my cousin used to load/unload. Thanks to almost flat boot, was able to do it with ease
- I had taken a family of 6 (4 adults+2kids) to the airport with all their luggage (4 full-size trolleys & 7-8 other hand baggage) to the airport. I really wished that I had taken a pic before/after all this was loaded in the car. I had folded down one rear seat to accommodate all luggage
- The car had enough space to carry 1BHK in it and helped me when I relocated to Noida in December 2021. (8-10 cartons of stuff, luggage and everything + 2 front passengers)
I can’t think a single case out of these where seltos would have served the purpose. Hence, I think that I made the best choice between the two options.
After owning for close to 13 months & 13000 KMs later, I can list my likes & dislikes which may help others to make a better judgement:
Likes:
- S P A C I O U S! If you are a heavy traveller, definitely much better than any other car. Harrier won’t offer a similar space at all.
- Planted feel while driving. Enough traction at any point of time even on bad expressways (KMPL for example).
- Easy to drive & manoeuvre owing to 360-degree cam
- Responsive enough for overtakes or emergency brakes
- Ventilated seats – I feel this is a necessity in Indian geography and should be a standard feature across all makes/models. I have used this feature almost 12 months out of 13 so far. I really can’t go to the car which doesn’t have ventilated seats.
- Panoramic sunroof – Though not very useful in our environment, however, gives a very airy feeling just by looking through the glass. Used extensively in winters and on my trip to Uttarakhand.
- Rain sensing wipers – The speed of wipers varied depending upon rain intensity & vehicle speed. It Works 9/10 times like a charm. There have been very rare instances where I had to control them manually.
- No lock/unlock button inside. If the car is running all doors get locked. To unlock, either turn off the ignition which will unlock all doors. Or, pull the lever to open any door. In the first pull, the door gets unlocked and on the second pull, the gate opens. I haven’t tried what happens if one tries to open it while a car is being driven. This one is a bit safety concern as well as there is no manual override. If electronics fail then what?
Dislikes:
- Soft suspension – While it was very comfortable at first, now the car feels bouncy
- Laggy infotainment system. Sometimes it doesn’t pick up inputs. Very difficult to use even by the passenger when the car is being driven on poor roads.
- No manual AC controls. All are through the screen. Can’t control AC unless the infotainment comes to life which sometimes even takes up to 40-45 seconds.
- 215/55 R18 tyres. Should have 235/60 at least.
- Goodyear tyres make a lot of noise. Can feel at avg highway speeds. This is the only noise I don’t like in a car.
I am deliberately not covering points like NVH, storage space, boot light/puddle lamps etc. as there is nothing new to add there.
Overall verdict: Satisfied with the purchase. Though I am planning something for the suspensions in near future.
One thing I noticed on the MG Hector’s owner group on FB was about extremely poor fuel economy. I haven’t faced it. I am getting 10-14 km/l in the city and 15-21km/l on highways consistently. In one trip of 190 km, I got an economy of 21.3 km/l as per the MG app. My tank to tank economy is very similar to what is shown by App.
I will post a screenshot of it if I find it somewhere.
I drive usually at 36PSI tyre pressure. (It does lead to a bit of harsh ride comfort, however fuel economy shoots up). Once a petrol pump filled it up to 42PSI, no alarms on TPMS even when TPMS reading was 46PSI at 40 degrees Celsius temperature.
Keyword: 13,000 km with my 2021 MG Hector: Upgraded from an Alto K10