My top choices were the Nexon, City, Altroz, Jazz and Tiago in that order.
BHPian Arwin07 had shared his dilemma before with other enthusiasts.
Background:
I am 32 and we are family of 3 with my 3 year old kid. I barely know how to drive.
Requirements:
Budget 5 lakhs, pre-worshipped car. Stretchable to 7 lakhs by taking a loan.
With my very low running and weekly two days running, Petrol car will be sufficient. (Exception is it is my last chance to own an Ecosport TDCI.)
- As it is my first car and with no prior experience with cars, I need a reliable, fuss free ownership.
- Need a safe car. 4 or 5 star safety rating.
- Though 75% of the drive is in city, as it is my first car, I want to master Manual transmission before going to Automatic.
- Minimum 2 airbags, ABS. Additional airbags, ESC are good to have.
- Not keen on performance in my first car. Just a sedate, relaxed drive.
Options considered/ Thought process:
Though all the above requirements scream Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai hatchbacks, I don’t consider them for lack of safety.
I am searching for pre-worshipped cars through Spinny, Cars24. The values given below are based on Spinny, Cars24 and OBV.
Cars with 4,5 stars in Global NCAP:
- Tata Nexon (5 star)
- Honda City (4 star, unstable body shell)
- Honda Jazz (4 star, stable body shell)
- Volkswagen Polo (4 star)
- Toyota Etios (4 star)
- Mahindra XUV 300 (5 star)
- Tata Altroz, Punch, XUV 300 are recent launches and not readily available in used car market yet.
I do not have enough knowledge and experience to select my first car. My choices are not restricted to the above cars. Please guide me towards selecting my first car, fellow Team BHPians.
BHPian arwin07 had the following update to share on the matter:
Prologue:
Ever since I started working in 2015, I have always wanted to own a car. I was in a tier 3 city then and I was not confident to go to pre-worshipped route. The options to buy used were limited to OLX advertisements and local garages. I was apprehensive of Odometer tampering. I had no money for a new car as I had just began earning.
In 2018, I had savings to buy a new car. As a fan of Ford/VW/Skoda, I decided on Ecosport after considering Polo, Rapid and Aspire. My wife vetoed on the plan for new car as we don’t have a own house and so we used the savings as down payment.
In 2022, I am 32 and it’s finally time to own a car. Our family’s first car. The inciting event was a close call while riding motorcycle. The need for a safe metal cocoon.
Car searching process:
I had been tracking cars in Cars24 and Spinny multiple times a day for the past 3 months, bordering on obsession to spot a car within my requirement.
Every week I shortlisted 3-5 cars and test drove them on weekends. As I barely know to drive, my 2 uncles helped by test driving. (P.S: One of them owns a 2013 VW Vento 1.6 and the other 2016 Honda City). My experience with. Cars24 and Spinny app is positive. Both have very practical interface and filters. I meticulously prepared list of cars with all parameters I have for comparison.
Used car market in Chennai is flooded with Honda Jazz, City but only very few Nexon, Altroz, XUV300 (probably because they are launched only a few years back), Yaris, Corolla (low sales numbers, so less cars in used market?). My top choices were Nexon, City, Altroz, Jazz, Tiago in that order.
I flirted with the idea of buying 2018 Ford Ecosport 1.5TDCi Titanium plus on seeing a TeamBHP classifieds. It’s my dream car+engine and has 6 airbags, TCS, ESC. But before I could come to a decision and before even calling the seller, the ad was missing the very next day, probably sold like a hot cake.
The Honda City-s available in used car market all have 70000km and above in odo or 2nd owner and above or ridiculously priced. In my 3 months search, I couldn’t find a decent Honda City (odo less than 50000km, less than 6 years, upto two owners, not more than 5% Orange book value).
Test drives and finalising:
The few Tiago up for sale were given thumbs down by my uncle after test drives. In one Tiago, steering pulled to right even after Cars24 refurbishment.
8 Honda Jazz were shortlisted. After discussions in Honda Jazz forum, came to know that S, SV versions do not have ABS but have 2 airbags. So those versions were rejected. We checked Vehicle documents (RC, Insurance, Service records) and after scrutiny, test drove 4.
Booking:
I found a car which matched most of my requirements in a late-2017 Honda Jazz VX MT Petrol with 23000km in odo, first owner, perfect service records for a price exactly 5% above Orange Book Value. It has rear adjustable head rests, 60:40 foldable seats, magic seat, all black interiors being pre-facelift model but doesn’t get Android Auto.
After test drive and checking vehicle documents, I booked the car by paying a refundable advance of Rs.25000. (I had previously booked a Jazz SV MT. The advance amount was promptly refunded when I cancelled the booking.)
Delivery and Trial period:
After paying the full amount 5 days after booking, the car was delivered to my uncle’s house the next day. Cars24 has a 7 days/500km return period within which the car can be returned for full refund. So my uncle drove the Jazz for the next 1 week instead of his trusted Vento. He took the car to work on weekdays and to Mahabalipuram on weekend- he drove 500kms and was satisfied. During the trial period, he took the car to his trusted FNG who found no issues with the car. After one week trial period was over, RC transfer process began.
Simultaneously, I began to learn driving in a nearby driving school. RC transfer and driving classes (one hour personal class twice a week) were completed in 3 weeks. I have driven only 100km so far and never exceeded 60kmph being a newbie. It returns 16-18kmpl in highway and 12-13kmpl in city.
Post-delivery shopping:
The previous owner has a comprehensive insurance. Cars24 gave only a third party Insurance in my name at the time of delivery. I got a Zero depreciation insurance with Engine cover (only Cholamandalam MS gave Zero dep for 5th year in a car with no Zero dep previously).
Honda provides extended warranty for 5th year at Rs.9475. But as per terms of the extended warranty, I have to service my car every 6 months despite a meagre 5000km usage in a year.
I am shopping for a TPMS, Child seat for my kid (Graco DLX 4ever) front+rear dashcam (70 mai Pro+ A500S).
My overall buying experience from Cars24 is positive and fuss free.
Keyword: How I ended up buying a pre-owned 2017 Honda Jazz as my first car