Warning : This is a rather big story - please bear with me or better jump to the section you like.

For a middle class family in India, owning a car was considered an unnecessary luxury that only the rich can afford. But due to the boom we have now, more and more middle class family end up not just dreaming but actually owning a car. We are one such family.

I have spent most of my life on my bicycle and even a moped was a luxury for me which I could afford only 4 years ago. But things have changed and we could afford a car and our search began.

Used Vs New Dilemma
The single most problem that we had to overcome was to convince ourselves in spending 4 Lakhs on a depreciating item. So as could have expected of us we decided that we better take a used car which will not dent our pockets. But then we were always afraid of some bad item passed on to us. We then thought we would go with Maruti True Value cars , but then those with less than 25k km were close to their new counterparts. And our car was supposed to be the first in both the families and we did not want to limit the joy by going for a used car. Finally the warranty (peace of mind) with a new car and the smell of freshness you get in a brand new car was something that we did not want to miss. So off we went for the new car direction


Alto - Let's Go
As soon as we decided that we will take a new car our choice automatically fell on the Alto. Somehow we could not muster the courage to talk about other bigger, better cars. The Alto is a fine car, nimble and extremely city friendly. Good mileage and dead-cheap maintenance. But once we sat inside an alto in the showroom we immediately rejected it. The space inside is very less and will not suit us. Still it is a good contender for a first car, just remember the space and the fact that since the AC is extremely powerful (+) the pickup drops dramatically (-). Just that we wanted space and so we moved ahead.

Wagon - R Duo
My wife ruled this out as she was not convinced about its safety. I tried then felt that we should both be happy and so dropped the Duo. The Duo is very good in terms of economy since LPG running cost is almost same if not better than Diesel. But there are a few things to note
- LPG filling stations are not that many in every city
- There is usually a big queue in such bunks
- The capacity is only 22 litres which means more trips to bunks
- The spare wheel space is taken up by LPG cylinder and hence limited boot

WagonR Vxi
I liked the looks of Wine Red new WagonR but my wife hated it like anything. She could not consider it as a car in the first place though she liked the space it offered. So we dropped it.

Indica
We had a look at Indica diesel since one of our friends too had it and was quite happy with it, but I did not want a diesel with my running of below 1000 km per month. Indica Xeta (petrol) was also ruled out due to poor dealer/service , but personally I feel that for 3.3 L the Xeta is a very good car and people should try it out before deciding.

Santro
This was the toughest. We both were happy with the looks of Santro and since we had used it for our driving classes we were pretty familiar with the car too. It has good lower end torque and will be a breeze in the city. It is better built than the Marutis and has a wonderful slick gear box. So why we dropped it. Move ahead to Estilo

Estilo - Way to Go
I had been closely following the estilo - right from its launch and heard that it had WagonR's engine (Good), WagonR's gearbox (bad) and Alto + WagonR platform (good). Its engine was slightly refined for better fuel efficiency. The owner's report was also good. I checked the car and found that the space was a bit less compared to WagonR but with our family of 4 (which will become 3 in the long run) it did not worry us. But those with 5 need to check the back seats for space (Better do a test driver with your entire family). So we decided to go for it. It was newer compared to Santro and comes fully loaded for the price. We took the Vxi version. See a complete list of what is extra in Vxi compared to Lxi below in a separate section



Estilo Looks - Caution:Subjective Area
It depends on people. To me Estilo looks excellent from rear, rear-3-quarters, front-3-quarter and side. From the front it was just good. My wife also liked it a lot, slightly more than Santro but extremely happy compared to WagonR.

Estilo Space
It depends on your needs. The front 2 seats are very spacey. You can easily step in to the car, the seats are wide enough to comfortably hold medium to slightly built people. If you are generous with your food you better find it out in Test drive. The rear as I said holds 2 comfortably. If you need to fit in 3 then it has to be 3 medium built person or 2 heavy with 1 kid or some combination like this. The car looks cute from outside but is quite spacey from inside. The boot space is generous and larger than Santro, might be a little less compared to WagonR petrol.

Estilo A/C
It comes with AC and heater. The AC is just remarkable. It cools within seconds and does not eat into the car's power. All in all a perfect AC and the best in its class.

Estilo Interiors
The interiors are of completely beige color in Vxi and this helps to brighter the car. It also gives a high end look to the car. The plastics are of a decent quality too. The instrument cluster looks trendy with the Orange/Yellow combination. There are 2 digital trip meters and a digital odometer. There is a tachometer too which is missing in Santro. The centre silver console also adds to the beauty. The steering wheel is 3 spoke and of Beige as well.

Comfort/Luxury
Estilo scores big time here. The top end comes with all 4 power windows (driver's auto roll down). It has Power Steering for effortless manovouring. It comes with OVRMs which means the side mirrors can be adjusted internally (electrically). There is Central locking with keyless entry/lock.

Troubles
We were waiting for issues with the Gear Box. There were horror stories about the gear box being very rubbery and long. We did not find any such trouble in our car except that reverse gear is a bit hard to engage and the gear brushes the co-passengers leg sometimes

Estilo - Mileage
Our car seems to give 12+ km/litre with AC on 70% but I will check it properly with tank full to tank full method and then confirm. It should increase after a couple of services and settle around 15-16 km/litre.

Estilo Lxi Vs Vxi
1. Defogger in Rear
2. Body Side Moulding
3. Wheel Caps - Full
4. Black out Film
5. Front Fog Lamps
6. Body coloured side door handles
7. Body coloured Outside door mirrors
8. Tachometer
9. Lights Off and Key Reminder Chime
10. Accessory Socket
11. Power Windows Rear
12. Remote Keyless entry
13. Electrical OVRMs
14. Vanity Mirror
15. Full Beige Interiors
16. Wider Tyre
17. Silver Centre console Finish

Pratham Motors - Bangalore
We booked our Champagne Beige Estilo Vxi on 13th of September in Pratham Motors and the car was delivered the very next day complete with registration and number plate. They were very professional and friendly. One Mr. Hemanth Kumar handled our case (on a strong recommendation from another friend in our apartment). He helped us and took great care to answer all our queries. I am extremely happy with them.

Compared to WagonR Vxi
1. After considering discounts Estilo is cheaper by 5000
2. Looks trendy compared to the boxy WagonR (subjective)
3. Monoform design can cut through the air, whereas WagonR's design blocks the air
4. Engine and Gear box slightly refined compared to WagonR
5. Interiors are excellent in Estilo
6. Body colored mirrors, door handle
7. Antenna (ariel) for better FM reception
8. Lesser headroom compared to WagonR
9. Rear Power windows (WagonR has only front)
10. Key-less entry (not present in WagonR)
11. OVRMs electric (not sure about WagonR)
12. 4 Speaker provision built in (only 2 in WagonR)
13. Slightly better fuel economy in Estilo

Compared to Santro Xo (top end model)
1. Airbags are offered in Estilo (not in Santro)
2. Keyless entry (missing in Santro)
3. iCats Engine Immobilizer security in Estilo
4. Maruti has more/better service centres and widely spread too
5. Interiors of Estilo too good compared to Santro
6. Santro's Gear Box is one of the best whereas in Estilo it is just ok
7. Santro is strongly built whereas Estilo is like WagonR or Alto
8. Estilo comes with Antenna (aerial)
9. Estilo Mileage is definitely higher by 2 or 3 km/litre
10. Estilo is newer design, and might have longer life whereas Santro might be re-modelled or phased out.

Photos

You can see the complete set of photos here

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Will update the review with photos and more information