Excited about my first Caaaaaaar

Yes I am :) I am so very happy that I could complete this particular resolution. Just came back after having a look at my car at the showroom. It was being washed, will be polished later and made ready to reach my place on 11.11.11. What makes this day special is my parents' 29th wedding anniversary and the exclusivity of this once in hundred years date! Destiny was certainly at work!

I remember the buying process began last year, when I was having dinner with family. Dad expressed his expectation, of me being the first among all my cousins to buy a car. It would be a great sense of pride for him. But I was not earning enough to afford a car back then so chucked out the idea. Research process did start though, Maruti Wagon R being my earliest preference. One of my best friend, Pushkar, already has this car and he recommended this one considering my financial condition and family requirements. I visited a showroom, had a look and quite liked it too. Few days later I saw the same vehicle as a cab. Ego crept in and I decided not to buy any car which is used a cab. This meant pushing my budget, which was not possible at that moment, so the whole idea had to hibernate.

Year 2011 brought in a good appraisal and soon began a passive research for my car. New Maruti Swift was set for launch by mid 2011 and it was one of the cars I always noticed. It was spacious from inside thus suitable for my family members (Wagon R was not spacious enough for my family). It was not one of those cars which were also used as a cab. It reminds me of Mini Cooper, needless to say the design is inspired by it, and nothing wrong with that. We relocated to New Panvel mid year and thus arose the need of a car for all of us to go together comfortably for social or any other such gatherings.

Then crept in the idea to go for a pre-owned car, so that we all can get used to it and it was less capital intensive as well. I visited a few dealers but was not really convinced by the whole idea. One fine day mom comes across a car loan advertisement from State Bank of India in The Times of India. It was a fantastic offer, felt like it was too good to be true. Car loan of upto 7 years, with upto 85% of on-road price being financed. No processing fee and no pre-payment penalty. EMI of Rs.1725/- per lakh @ 11.25% floating rate, valid till 31st December 2011. Mom suggested to try for this offer and go for a new car itself. I was skeptical at first but when everything seemed manageable we went ahead and booked our car. On Friday, 11th November 2011 a brand new Tata Manza would be mine! (Yes, and not Nissan Sunny)

When Tata came up with this car last year I could not resist noticing it. It looked beautiful from outside and it's features were good too. A good looking sedan which did impress me but was never really a serious contender for my first car until a friend gave me a ride in his Tata Manza roughly 2 months back. Aniket, my MBA batchmate, is a neighbor and we go out to play Badminton on weekends (planning to commence Tennis very soon). On one rainy day he brought his car to pick me up and thus my first encounter with this beauty. It seemed big, good looking from inside, powerful AC, stylish dashboard with integrated music player. The ride was smooth and I just loved it! 

So as soon as I met my loan eligibility criteria, I suggested my family to go for Tata Manza. I asked them to take a ride in Aniket's car and they did; simply loved the car. With a firm decision we approached the showroom and asked for petrol variant. Sales person suggested to go for a diesel variant instead, as it has Fiat engine which is more powerful, has better mileage and fuel costs would not burn our pockets much (Petrol currently @ 72, soon approaching three figures!) We went ahead with the suggestion and chose Tyrian Wine (rich purple shade). Unfortunately this color was only available in top variants and we could not further extend our budget :( After careful consideration we chose to go for Dew White as we did not want any of our vehicle to repeat colours (Bajaj Chetak - steel grey, Hero Honda Super Splendor - red and Honda Activa - black; all these colours eliminated!)

I always loved sedans and had a craving for a big and feature rich first car. We stretched our budget from 4.5 lakh to 7.2 lakh, a big deal for us actually. Really happy with the way this has turned out and eagerly awaiting my Tata Manza, with plans of my next car at the back of mind already (It would be an SUV). 

Do call me for a ride guys, I shall happily oblige :)