There’s no doubt that someone who’s shopping for an image car has different needs than someone who wants to get decent gas mileage. But here is heavily price driven and this has remained its mainstay feature over the years. Continuing this tradition, we give a segment-wise break up of vehicles on a price basis below:
Economy segment (up to Rs0.25mn)
Maruti Omni, Maruti 800, Padmini
Mid-size segment (Rs0.25-0.45mn)
Premier 118NE, Ambassador Nova, Fiat Uno, Zen, Hyundai Santro, Daewoo Matiz, Tata Indica, Maruti 1000, Contessa
Luxury car segment (Rs0.45-1mn)
Peugeot 309, Tata Estate, Sierra, Esteem, Ceilo Executive, Honda City, Mitsubishi Lancer, Ford Ikon, Opel Astra, Fiat Sienna, Opel Corsa, Daewoo Nexia, Hyundai Accent
Super luxury segment (Above Rs1mn).
Mercedes Benz and other imported models
When it comes to deciding which car to buy, logic is thrown to the winds as the heart rules over the head. But if you frame out the reason why you want a car, you can actually narrow down your search and get what best meets your needs. Keep asking yourself, “How am I going to use this vehicle?” The longer the list, the better. We’ve provided some examples below. Don’t restrict yourself to these, but use them as a guideline for your potential choices:
1. commute to and from work
2. go on extended (1 week) family vacations
3. go camping
4. do daily errands (must have cargo space for 8-plus bags of groceries)
Now go back through these reasons that you want and need this vehicle, and underline the most important points. You’ll probably find three or four primary uses that will make up 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the vehicles actual use time. Based on your answers, begin crossing out, the major vehicle groups’ as well individual vehicles that don’t fit your vehicle use profile. Any Multi Utility Vehicles will better meet your need.
You may find that even after performing this “negative elimination”, you might still have several categories left. Perform this elimination process in an iterative fashion and you are sure to whittle it down to a single group choice.
