Holiday purchase

I am working in Saudi Arabia and will be home on vacation in a month. I am looking for a car which is safe, handles well and looks good. I plan to cover 10,000 km in the car by going on long drives, especially to hill stations. The rest of the time the car will be used by my family within city limits. I have short-listed the Suzuki Swift VDi, Ford Fusion and the Hyundai Getz CRDi. I am also thinking of a used Tata Safari or a Mahindra Scorpio or Bolero. Which car would be most suitable for me?

Rithesh, via email

For Rs 6 lakh, you can get a very nice set of wheels indeed. The Swift VDi is not a bad choice going by the mileage you are suggesting. Ford does not make the Fusion anymore and the Getz diesel is far too expensive. Why buy used cars when you can buy decent new cars with enough equipment using your budget?

Priority pass

I am planning to buy a family car and my budget is Rs 3.25 to 4.25 lakh. The car will be driven for about 1,000 to 1,250 km a month, mostly in the city (Delhi). My priorities, in this order, are: 
1. Low cost of ownership (acquisition cost, mileage, resale value, maintenance cost, etc) 
2. Comfort/space 
3. Aesthetics (urban/trendy) 
4. Safety. Please advise me whether I should go for a petrol or diesel car and which make/model will best suit my requirements.

Sumit Agrawal, Delhi

You should choose between the Hyundai i10 and the Suzuki A-Star — both are designed well and are meant for city use. The Hyundai is more fun to drive when bought with the 1.2 Kappa engine, but the 1.1 version will serve you well too. The Suzuki comes with a 1000cc engine that is born to be economical. Both cars should offer 12-16 kpl in traffic — depending on AC use and the way you drive. Test-drive both cars before arriving at your decision.

Narrowed down

I have a budget of Rs 5 lakh. I want to buy a small/mid segment car which fulfils the following requirements: 
1. Be able to go through the narrow bylanes of old town areas (of Delhi) 
2. Come with a CNG variant 
3. Offer good fuel economy. What do you recommend?

D K Tiwari, Delhi

Instead of CNG, we recommend LPG. You’d find that LPG is better when it comes to quick filling at the fuel station, while the drop in power is marginal. Maruti Suzuki offers the Wagon R with the factory-fitted Duo option, ie, petrol/LPG. The Wagon R is a trusted car and its dimensions ensure that it is comfortable to handle narrow city streets. Its tall architecture ensures that passengers do not feel claustrophobic either. The car can give you extremely good economy when driven on LPG mode and it is not all that bad running on petrol too. The other very good alternative is the Hyundai Santro Xing LPG.

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