How to buy a car

People often make mistake while buying a car. I am not saying that people don't think before buying. Most of the people do a lot of research before buying a car. In spite of this they end up making wrong choices most of the time. The reason is that they are carried away by not-so-important eye candy features. They tend to ignore the essential ones.

The first step and the most difficult one is to ignore the price of the car(or any other thing you are planning to buy, like mobile etc). Just don't let price influence your choice for now. After this make a list of the cars you like in an order. I mean rank them without considering their price. You will be surprised to see that the expensive ones are not always better! It is very difficult to rank cars ignoring their price, but its important.

Apart from most of the general/common features it is important to think about these factors and features- mileage, exclusiveness and sun roof.

Firstly mileage. Everyone wants good mileage. But these figures are misleading. Don't prefer car A just because it gives 15kmpl over car B which gives 14kmpl. 1kmpl doesn't matter at all. So set a threshold. There should be significant difference in mileage, only then consider this factor.

Exclusiveness. I give this a lot of importance. I want my car to be the only one of its kind on the road. Everyone should look at it and it should not be easily available. Thats why opt for a limited edition whenever possible. Sometimes a limited edition C-segment car is much better than owning a D-segment car!

Other cool features. So these 'cool' features include things like sun roof, air scoops/vents etc. Tech features like instantaneous mileage indicator don't come under this category. They are not so important.

So that was just a glimpse of factors that affect car selection. There are other things, but the above were just a few of them. Rank them according to the features you are looking for, ignoring price. Then select the first car which falls under your budget. This method may result in the same car you had decided earlier but at least you will see that your choice is better than some of the more expensive ones :)

Tata Nano: First Impression

Well the Nano has been launched. Its currently the least expensive production car. Briefly the spec looks like this-

Max Power: 33Bhp @ 5500 rpm
Max Torque: 48 Nm @ 2500 rpm
Rear Engine, Rear Wheel Drive
Front Disc Brake

So the spec is not very impressive but sufficient for a car of its size and purpose. And there are couple of interesting things about this car. It has 21% more interior space but occupies 8% less space compared to Maruti 800. This is because of rear mounted engine and overall height. Now this low cost(initial and running) and small size makes it a perfect second car. So this car is not just for the common man.

Looks: Design is very good for a car of that segment. Overall its a full fledged car. I particularly liked the air vent near the rear wheel. Its just awesome!

Other Concerns: Now this low cost car will not cause any kind of traffic congestion in my opinion. People who use public transport obviously can't afford a motorcycle(~Rs.30,000), therefore the Nano is un-affordable for them. Some bikers might upgrade to Nano, but this will be compensated by other people who will use Nano instead of their D-segment cars within city limits. Autos might disappear from roads(which is a good thing). But one thing for sure is- Nano will wipe out used car market in the entry segment.

I believe rear mounted engine is also a cause for its low cost. How? in fwd cars both turning the car and driving the car forward is done by the front wheels. This leads to a slightly complex assembly. Debatable, but thats just my guess. Also hatchbacks have huge top hinged rear door to access boot. This requires a stronger C-pillar and a strong rear hinge to support the huge door, leading to extra weight and hence cost. Even this factor is eliminated in the Nano.

Now the most important point I wanted to tell. Is Nano a sedan!? I think so. It has a traditional 3-box design. The boot(in front), the engine(at rear) and the passenger compartment are all isolated from each other! So I am happy to announce that its not a hatch back :)