One for the dad

WHICH CAR?

I want to buy a car for my parents who live in a rural area with no service stations within 50 km. At most, they may use the car for 10,000 km per year.

The car will mostly be chauffeur-driven except when I visit. I'm looking for safety, reliability, ride quality, capability to handle bad roads (not paved) and potholes and long time durability. A boot and 5-plus seats would be nice but we can sacrifice that. My budget is five to seven lakh, but I can stretch a bit if need to. Here is the list of cars and what I'm thinking about them

1. Maruti Swift: looks good in all aspects except for the boot and rear seat space.

2. Tata Indigo: all the people I talk to recommend this, economy, rear seat comfort etc, but I'm skeptical as I haven't seen you strongly recommend it. Reliability? Do you think it has reached a point of refinement wherer you can recommend it?

3. Honda City "" reliable but low ground clearance.

4. Tata Safari "" used Safari or base Dicor (after a long long stretch). I personally love the Safari and have respect for it since reading about your London-Cape Town trip in it. Is reliability an issue again here?

5. Toyota Innova "" base model

Raj, via email

If you can afford the base model Innova (with power steering, please) then that will be the best buy. It can do a fair bit of off-roading, so bad roads won't be an issue. It will be reliable and economical too (the diesel, that is).

Carbon dated

I am planning to buy my first small car. I am looking for power, performance, fuel efficiency and ease of maintenance. The Maruti Zen seems to score well on all these counts. The Alto is too low on power. The Indica has power but makes too much noise and is troublesome to maintain. I dislike the Santro, Wagon R and Swift for their looks. I would go for the Zen but do you think it is dated? Secondly, does the Santro beat the Zen in performance?

Jayprakash, via email

The Maruti Zen is a well built car with decent performance and fuel efficiency but it is past its prime. But if you like it, nothing should stop you from buying one. The Santro and the Wagon R are both more modern cars and hence more user friendly and easy to drive. Modern cars will fetch better value when you plan to sell too.

Small problem

I would like to purchase a new car.
Here's my criteria.
Family: 4 adults + 1 child
Budget: Rs 3 to 4 lakh
Usage: 9 to 10 km per day
Availability: Approved CNG kit fitting possibility
Important: Fuel economy and least maintenance

Nirav C Shah

If fuel economy is important, go for the Alto. It is not too spacious, but for four adults and one child, it should be fine. It is fuel efficient enough not to warrant a conversion to CNG. And it is a reliable car, so don't worry about maintenance.

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