Jun 27, 2007 12:19 PM
6622 Views
(Updated Jul 10, 2007 02:02 PM)
I was looking for a small car for my wife to be driven in congested city like Delhi, and test-drove Spark, Zen-Estilo and Santro. I was amazed by the smoothness of the Spark’s engine. The gear shift was smooth the ride was just WoW, even better than even my City-ZX. The air-conditioning was ok, and had minor impact on the pick-up, which is similar to other small cars. The interiors were good for the top-of-the line model, and placement of console panel in the middle was unique.
From outside, I loved it, but my wife did not like the head and tail lights. In comparison, Zen had bad engine and gear feeling, though the pick-up was similar. Interiors of Zen were similar to what we have been used to for years in Maruti cars, so nothing special. Santro’s ride was bad, but interiors were ok. But it is older of the two and on the verge of new model. The price of Spark is the only problem, which is 4.12L in Gurgaon, for which, I can buy a low end Swift with present day discounts. I don’t know about the maintenance cost and service provided by GM yet.
At this moment, the Spark looks like the best option, but looking at the discounts being offered for Zen, it seems new engine for it is round the corner and ‘Pa’ is also being launched by Hyundai soon. Should I buy the Spark now or wait for them? Depends on how hard my wife will push me to have the car sooner… ;)
