The car is ready but the launch has been delayed due to the trouble at Manesar. Around Diwali will be a safe guess

Simanpreet, the older Skoda Fabia Diesel with the 1.4 litre TDI PD engines as well as the 1.4 litre petrol engine had problems. However, with the new 1.2 TDI CR, 1.2 and 1.6 petrols, there are many satisified customers of the product as such. After Sales Service of Skoda is not great and needs improvement, in my opinion. Coming to the Punto, the…[Read more]

As a strong and powerful hatch, the Punto makes a much better case. It truly is a very solid car with best in class suspension and GC. The 1.3MJD is a renowned performer too. While the support may not be upto the mark, I’l still rate it better than Skoda service

Simarpreet, my original idea was to help you between the Fabia and Punto. Now that almost all other cars in the fray, you have to tell us all your priorities again. Regarding service backup, it is better to suffer poor service back-up from Tata and pay less than suffer poor service backup from Skoda and pay more for it as well. While almost every…[Read more]

Service bills for the Fabia are usually in 5 figures, at times well in 5 figures. As a Maruti owner, you will not like the support or service and also their attitude in general. While Maruti dealers normally work as if you are doing them a favor by coming to them, my experience with Skoda is that they think they are doing you a favor by servicing…[Read more]

I don’t have the costs with me but I will try and find out. A Punto needs to be serviced once in 15,000 m as it uses synthetic oil. The oil is 3.2 litres at Rs 800-900 /litre. The oil filter is around 400, the air filter is around 300 and the fuel filter is around 1700. Service labour should be around 750. I will double check these figures from my…[Read more]

Correction in the above, a Punto needs to be serviced once in 15,000 km. If you add these figures, it comes to around Rs 7000 per 15,000 km. Which is less than 50 paise per km. But please let me double check. Except for synthetic oil, these figures are for my Palio Multijet with the same engine, but the oil filter could be different on the Punto.

Sid is the in-house Fiat expert but yes, it should cost around 7000 buck and thereabouts. 1700 is damn expensive for a diesel filter. The one for my Scorpio(non CRDE) for instance costs Rs 450.

Yes, the fuel filter is expensive for a Fiat, especially because it needs to be replaced every 15,000 km instead of 20,000 km for a Maruti and (from what I hear) 30,000 km for a Ford Fiesta. But Fiat has been known to be conservative with regard to fuel quality and engine tuning, even as compared to other companies using Fiat MJD engines.…[Read more]

Probably a WagonR with 60,000 – 70,000 kilometer on the odo (by Delhi prices). You will get one at around 1.75 lakhs. You can also look at Santros in that price range. Prices of second-hand petrol cars has dropped after the recent increase in prices so take advantage!

WagonR, Santro, Alto – pick any one of the three. All of them run well for a long time.

As a fun-to-drive car a 9/10. But on all other counts, the car is not a great buy. It isn’t fuel efficient, spares are expensive, and the service network is really poor. It’s a nice car, but not a practical choice.

To add to what Roshun said, it looks too plain, even outdated, if I may say so, in the face of today’s competition. Buy a pre owned Lancer for cheap if you want to have fun with it.

Reliability, Maintenance, comfort and mileage, if I consider all four of these, I am inclined towards either the Verna or the Sunny. If you bring fun to drive into the equation, things change and the VW / Skoda twins come in, so does Ford Fiesta.

I too am inclined in favor of the Verna and the Sunny. Ford Fiesta is also a very good car but for all its virtues, resale value is not the great. I’l pick the Linea before the Rapid/Vento. These two take the wooden spoon when it comes to maintenance.

Mridul, I assumed you were looking for a diesel. If you want petrol, then the Honda City makes a strong case here. It is a petrol sedan that ticks all your requirements. The petrol Verna and Sunny also exist. There is also a dark horse in the form of the Ford Fiesta petrol automatic. It may be a little smaller inside than others, but it is an…[Read more]

I believe we were all talking about the diesels and not the petrols. I don’t think the Vento/Rapid/Verna auto boxes are anywhere near the 6 speed twin clutch Powershift on the Ford. The only competitive option to the Fiesta automatic is the City AT. This Ford should be your first choice if you are looking for a petrol sedan, followed by the Honda…[Read more]

Petrol? diesel? automatic? What exactly are you looking for? As of now, we are speculating here….

Buy the Corolla diesel ONLY if you are driven by a chauffer or you are extremely fuel-efficiency conscious because it is not a great car to drive. I can only think of Verna and Sunny for your requirements given your priorities. Another possibility is the SX4 diesel, but it’s not very comfortable especially for the fifth passenger.

Yup, the Corolla’s overall driving experience is not as good as the others, but is does make a better case as a chauffeur driven car. If that is how you are going to be using the car, look no further than the Toyota as it has the best rear seats by a long shot and is going to be the most fuel efficient too. But in case you are going to be driving…[Read more]

Price is not that great. Top end diesel Duster with all options will cost almost 12.5 lakhs on road. That is similar to a top end Hyundai verna diesel. But it is not as sophisticated as the verna inside, and not that many features either. But overall quality is much better than Scorpio, or even XUV500.

There are 3 basic problems in the duster. 1. Price. They are providing too little equipment for the money they are asking, model to model. The car just cannot be described as good value. 2. Rear seat space. Its not generous by any definition, just about adequete. 3. Turbo lag. This problem is restricted to the 105hp version, the lower one is fine.…[Read more]

Not very good VFM, priced high, and features need getting used to, rear seats are not spacious.

No, not likely. At the most an ECU remap can remove some of it, but may affect top-end power. If one does not like the turbo-lag, then the 85 PS Duster would be better as it does not have much lag.

Hyundai i20, for the good overall mix it offers – good engine, plenty of features.

In diesel, I guess its the i20. Very good looking feature rich car.

I20 which is more premium and pricey. Figo which is cheaper and more VFM. (Top end variants have been considered.)

Skoda Fabia

The upcoming model has minor facelift changes – headlamps, bumper, grille and tail-lamps. If you want this, wait till Diwali, but there’s also a risk of a price increase (especially on diesel cars) by then.

Yes, everything about diesel is under discussion and may change suddenly. Even today, there was news that the government is urgently considering increasing road tax on diesel cars. The new Figo won’t be very different (from what we have seen in spy photos etc) so its safer to buy quickly.