My priorities are a plush ride and quiet cabin, peace of mind, and good resale.
BHPian Guri recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Out in the market for a car with a plush ride and the best bang for the buck. Confused between the two-segments – desi/local stuff like Harrier and XUV D vs good discounts from Audi, Merc, Volvo, or BMW.
Looking for a plush ride and quiet cabin, peace of mind, and good resale. I’m in NCR and 90% of usage is on Gurgaon’s broken roads or with back-breaking unscientifically designed car breakers or rumble strips which are sprucing here and there daily.
Any rational thoughts and perspectives will be highly solicited here. Are cars with great discounts worthy of meeting my expectations?
Here’s what BHPian Beemer5499 had to say on the matter:
AFAIK, the entry level Merc, Volvo and BMW (I do not consider the 2 series) models are not available in the lower 40s even after discounts.
Audi A4 and Q3 might be available in the lower to mid 40s still and they are great cars for NCR given the suspension setup. Also the engine and gearbox tuning is great. Q3 might be a better choice for you if you often drive on broken and sometimes waterlogged roads off Gurgaon though the Q3 has a lesser interior quality if compared to the A4.
As for Harrier, I would not consider it given the horror stories of Tata Aftersales Service and the absence of a petrol engine as it doesnโt make sense to buy a diesel while living in NCR.
The XUV 700 is a great car with a great engine but obviously the interior quality and the luxury feel cannot be compared with the Germans. Also the price has increased by a lot since launch and it still has the typical Mahindra niggles.
Other cars that you can look at are the Hyundai Tucson and the Skoda Kodiaq as well as Volkswagen Tiguan if a luxury badge is not a must.
Here’s what BHPian heydj had to say on the matter:
There is a gap of 20L between 30 & 50. Also consider service cost and ownership cost of 50L cars over 30L. Quickly all of this adds up and answer becomes complicated.
Then consider extra loan amount in terms of interest paid on 20L and thar is another cost.
Here’s what BHPian raptor_diwan had to say on the matter:
Investing 30 lakhs in a product with a few niggles and an additional 20 lakhs for standard ( Quality ) features, I would recommend opting for entry-level luxury cars. Considering your requirements for resale value, perfect suspension, peace of mind, and a quiet cabin, spending an extra 20 lakhs will not disappoint you in any way.
Here’s what BHPian ike had to say on the matter:
Given that most of the usage is in the city, why not a used luxury car, entry level or otherwise? NCR I understand is the biggest preowned market and I’m sure you would be able to find something nice at less than the price of a new Harrier/XUV. The remaining amount can be parked for maintenance.
Here’s what BHPian gautam109 had to say on the matter:
Ironically, a close friend of mine who had an Audi Q3 for about 5 years recently sold it off and “downgraded” to an XUV 700.
From the 4th or 5th year onwards, he was getting repeated breakdown issues, poor ASS experience and expensive repair bills on his Audi. He had repeated suspension, braking and steering/alignment issues which took 2-3 tries to properly diagnose and solve. Parts were replaced (out of warranty) without actually solving anything. The car would be checked, clean bill given and something would break next week or month after check-up.
The final nail in the coffin: he was quoted 5 lac+ for repairs, which was downgraded to 2.5 lacs+ after escalating and even after this, the car did not handle anything like before.
His conclusion, at least w.r.t. his car was that:
- Despite being a marquee German luxury car, it has not aged well
- Anytime there is a problem, the service center just wants to replace parts, seemingly at random, at atrocious prices, and hope it solves the problem vs actually doing a root cause diagnosis and fix
While his experience may not be typical of the brand, his experience led him to write off the entire German luxury segment and switch to an XUV 700. He’s owned it for a bit less than a year and has had a good experience. The ride is nothing like a brand new Q3, but is quite good and far better than his 5 year old Q3. He also believes that the XUV’s longevity & ASS quality cannot be worse than what he experienced with his Audi, DESPITE shelling out a huge premium.
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