ii) From time to time, there are several Professional ‘Group Road Test Reports’ that are published by leading Auto Magazines as well as put-up on Websites such as ours. Such Reports are by and large quite reliable, but based on Cars ‘as submitted’ to the Evaluators and assessed during the period they are with them. In other words, such Reports cannot predict the long-term behaviour or reliability/maintenance costs of a Car.

iii) On our Sites, we have some very exhaustive and user-friendly pages to help one evaluate a prospective purchase – such as.

a) Log on to either <cybersteering.com> or <indiacar.com>.

b) Access the above page and key in your choices of Makes/Models.

c) It will open up the entire database relating to the Models of your choice, including Users Feedback AND Links to Professional Road Test Reports posted on it elsewhere on the Sites.

d) You can go a step further by accessing the Link below -
http://www.cybersteering.com/cbmain/compare.html
and get the Specs of any two Cars of your Choice displayed side by side - by getting to the ‘Cars Comparator’!

iv) Having so crossed the first step, the next one is to decide whether you do a lot of b2b city driving or more of out station ones. Towards the former, for example, a Santro is hard to beat as excellent value for money but in the same Group, for more of outstation runs, a Palio-1.2/1.6 is a much better bet.

v) In each Group, Petrol-to-Petrol or Diesel-to-Diesel, locate which one has been the highest selling Car for the last two years. After all you can fool some people some times but not all the people all the times!

vi) One of the most FAQs is which one will have the lowest maintenance costs – post Warranty. I for one believe that none can answer this with predictable accuracy, for the variables are far too many. For example –a) No two pieces of the same production batch are alike, b) No two drivers are alike, c) No two driving cycles can ever be alike and d) above all – no two Cars preventive maintenances can ever be alike.

vii) Nonetheless, it can be a fair assumption that a Car which is –
a) highest selling in its class for the last 2-yrs or so and b) in turn has the highest ‘indigenous content’ will have its Spares most reasonably priced and freely available.
b) The opposite of this is that Cars with a high import content, though have ‘routine consumable spares’ reasonably priced to lure the customers for the initial purchase, their other spares which one starts needing after Warranty is over cost a Bomb.