7 Tips on Buying a New Car – A Beginner’s Guide

So you are planning to buy a New Car but the problem is that there is so much to choose from and that is what is driving you crazy? So before you embark upon the path of choosing which car let’s get into a need analysis for what all you need to decide first:

1. Is it your first car?

Buying a car is a big decision, as it is not a onetime investment, but requires constant upkeep to be in a good shape and condition. So the thing is if this is your first car so you need to decide on one factor as to how long are you planning to stick with it. Generally one should look at upgrading a car within 3 to 3.5 years, but in the Indian context we still look at keeping the car for about 5-6 years or more. The other question that needs to be looked into is have you honed your driving skills well enough to be on road with a new powerful car, if you are not sure why not buy a cheaper second hand car to get your skills upto the mark and then move on to a new car. (Used car Guide coming soon)

What_Car_MotorBash

 

 2. What is the primary purpose of buying the car?

This is very important as to what are you buying the car for, is it for daily commute to office and a few shopping trips to the mall, and a seldom visit to weekend destination near you city. Or are you a road warrior looking forward to long drives and long weekends and explore what we have on offer in terms of highways.

If you are city commuter with well defined travel paths, than you should look for a practical car that is can fit into tight spots has got a smaller turning radius and is comfortable and easy to drive, the AC in the car would also come very handy to fight the heat and pollution during traffic jams. A good hatchback with decent bootspace will serve the purpose.

For a Road warrior a lot of other things come into picture like a bigger boot to stow away supplies for those road trips and still have enough space to seat you and your family/friends.

Once the above is sorted, you need to decide about the fancy stuff that the modern cars have got on offer nowadays. There are so many of them to look into so we will read all about them in the last question.

 

Maruti Suzuki DZire CS MotorBash
Click to Read our Comprehensive Review of New 2012 Maruti Suzuki Dzire

3. How much are you going to drive in a month?

Now we look at the high price of petrol and the first thing to cross our head is why buy a Petrol car. Diesel should be what one should buy. But really does one need to spend that extra buck to buy the diesel. So let’s have a look at a small comparison: 

Petrol_Car_or_Diesel_Car

The above working is done at an assumption that you would be driving more than 40 Kms daily, which generally is not the case. Although it looks as if petrol vehicles cost you too much to run, but if you look at the above working you will see that it is not a very wise decision, you can also check out the Nissan website which helps you to decide on what fuel to select through a small slider type interface.

If your monthly running is more than 3000 Kms a month than surely a diesel vehicle is something which is more practical as the cost recovery period is very low. 

WagonR review
Click to Read Our Comprehensive Review of WagonR

4. Number of people in the family?

Are you a part of DINK (Dual income no Kids), Single, Just Married or Living with a big joint family is what will define the size of the car you would look for. A lot of people think a bigger car is a better car always but that’s not the case, as already mentioned above one should always look for the most practical car, thus depending upon the number of members and how often do you plan to ferry all of them together decide on the size of the car, the current set of choices available in the market gives one a lot of flexibility to decide on the vehicle type. With the likes of Maruti Ertiga or Tata Venture or may be the next in line Indica XL (spied earlier by us). The number of choices is exceptional.

 

MotorBash Ford Fiesta review
Click to Read Our Comprehensive Review of Ford Fiesta TDCi

5. Do you love wide open and empty roads?

So you are the one who is more of a city dweller looking for a car to take you to office and an occasional trip to the super market or the multiplex. Or on the flip side you are you the one looking for a weekend to test waters on wide open roads in and around the city. It will define as to what kind of a car you should look for in terms of power delivery. So think about all these factors beforehand.

Toyota Etios review road test
Click to Read Our Comprehensive Review of Toyota Etios

 

6. Most important what is your budget?

I have talked a lot of gyaan and now coming to the most important factor, the budget. It is very easy to be lured into stretching your budget and go for a bigger or a higher spec-ed car. But a sincere advice would be to stick on a budget and try and limit your purchase to the same. A dealer personnel would always try to oversell you the products. A lot of factors define over selling like higher commission, non-availability, stock pressure etc.

You should just remember that it’s your decision and not the sales person’s. So stick to the decided budget and look for the best bargain possible.

 

Ford Fiesta Classic test drive review
Click to read our Comprehensive Review of Ford Fiesta Classic TDCi

7. And How can I forget what does all those Gizmos Mean?

There are so many gadgets and gizmos that might confuse you while buying, so are all of those important or do they really enhance the performance or the driving dynamics of the vehicle:

  1. Cruise Control: So the sales person is hard selling the top end model to you and tells you about cruise control as a significant feature upgrade in the top end model. What actually is cruise control?? It is just a feature which allows the driver to set a speed of the car and sit relaxed only handling the steering wheel, but the Indian road conditions make it a non-useful feature which requires you to use the clutch and brakes regularly.
  2. Auto Lights/Wipers: Do you really need these?? Practically I don’t think so, but you need to decide

Keyless entry, Push Button start etc…We can go on and on listing down the goodies and features that are on offer. We will talk about them in depth possibly some other time. Let’s move to the more important ones.

  1. EBD, ABS, Airbags & Other Important Safety Features: We, at MotorBash, would definitely urge you to try and get these safety features if you have the budget. In fact, even if you don’t, save up a little and get the top-end of a car which generally comes with these features among smaller cars. And they are generally standard in mid-sized and bigger cars. These are life savers for sure for you and for your family. Miss out on any feature in your car but make it a point that you do not miss out on these safety features (as much as you can!)

There are many other gizmos that the modern day vehicles come equipped with but do you really need all of them is what you need to look at judiciously.

At the end I would say buying a car is a big decision the above information is just to better equip you to make that decision, in case you need any advice or help to make a more informed decision on car purchases, get in touch with us at motorbash@gmail.com.

We would be happy to help…..

 

This Article is written by Auto-Writer, our Special Guest Writer

 

3 thoughts on “7 Tips on Buying a New Car – A Beginner’s Guide”

  1. The only bad thing is in our country diesel MAY get hiked by 1-3rs max once in 3-5 yrs…. petrol prices are totally contrary….. also considering the re-sale value of diesel to that of a petrol…

    But, as per the table, a diesel car is defnitely for the longer haul…

    Reply
  2. This is really a very useful post. Thanks very much for such tips. Choosing a car is an important decision that merits careful planning. Before buying a car, most buyers are faced with an equation that goes such: “What is it going to cost me? Will that equal what I’m about to acquire?” Think about how you plan to use the car before you shop for one, whether you intend to use the car for daily commuting, recreation, weekends and evenings out, driving in the city or on highways. Here are some more tips.
    http://www.carmainc.org/planning-to-get-a-new-car/

    Reply

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