The road to buying my new car - Part I - Petrol Models

It was back in 2010 i wrote my last review about a car. That time it was about TATA NANO. NANO was the most expected car of that time. Something everybody was looking into very eagerly. Read my post from the below link

http://rajeevdaniel.blogspot.com/2010/08/tata-nano-test-drive-feedback_28.html

Now I myself wanted to buy a new car. Was not fixed on what I want. Inititally was looking for a low price petrol car which can suit my daily needs. A doubt that central government would increase diesel price soon added fuel to that decision. Started looking into the options. When looked for a range of 3 lacs, in front of me I saw MARUTHI ALTO and HYUNDAI EON. I had long back discarded Alto. Reason - very less space inside. Even NANO had more space than ALTO. So I went to check out Eon. I was impressed with the looks of the car. Hyundai has done well in giving the car a noticeable look. The ERA+ model of EON costs around 3.6lacs. Mileage claimed to be 20+. But the test drive of Eon changed my opinion. On higher speed the body of EON jerks. The ride is not so smooth. I had a better experience with my friends ESTILO which i had tried earlier. I felt it very much smoother than EON and it was of a comparable price and better spacious.

The price band was increasing. If i can consider ESTILO, i could also consider WAGON R. And now my price was standing near a 4.5lac. Then why not the all new HONDA BRIO??? For around 5 lacs Honda is offering its all new low cost car. I decided to have a look at Honda Brio also before taking the final decision.

BRIO comes in a 1200cc HONDA SOHC i-VTEC engine which should be familiar to all HONDA lovers. From the test ride experience the engine is smooth and awesome. The gear shifting not bad. HONDA claims a mileage of 18+ for BRIO. Its is coming in four models - EMT(entry), SMT, SMT(O) and VMT(full option). The base model was costing around 4.25lacs and each successive models will have a difference of around 40k each. I was attracted to the feature set of SMT(O) coming at a price of 5.35lacs(with discounts during the time) on road. It had its own integrated audio & speakers and steering mounted audio controls. Along with driver/front passenger airbags and ABS and also a hell lots of features. My brother didn't like its rear looks. But overall i found the car ok. It was the first car shortlisted by me.

Read about the Diesel models i checked out from the below link

http://rajeevdaniel.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-road-to-buying-my-new-car-part-ii.html