Both Sedans and Compact SUV do a little more than just take you from point A to B—they do it in style. Each has its own strong points—sedans offer more space while compact SUVs are better equipped to wade through Mumbai rains. But sedans—on the new car market—are costlier, at least by 20 percent. Do things change if you switch to used car market? Would you find enough good deals for both if you had maximum budget of Rs. 5 lakh? Which category offers more bang for the buck?
To answer that question, you first need to find a way to identify best deals in both categories. And used car website don’t help much—they give you lots of filters but no way to compare cars across models, variants, age, usage.
You now have help. The Cartoq Data Science team has built a Machine Learning model that estimates the TRUE PRICE of a used car, after accounting for all sorts of variables – brand, model, age, mileage, car type. With all factors accounted for, it predicts the TRUE PRICE, which then becomes the basis of comparing across cars. The best deals are those where listed price is lower than the TRUE PRICE.
The best deals on sedans and compact SUVs listed below are based on our analysis on May 18, 2019. These specific deals might not be available by the time you read this.
But the list offers useful pointers—actually a big surprise—for your search:
• There is an acute shortage of Compact SUVs in the Rs. 5 lakh bracket so you would be lucky to find one.
• Honda City is your best bet since it was the undisputed market leader during 2010-2015 period.
Let’s now look at the Best 3 Deals each in sedans and compact SUVs:
SEDANS
Recommendation #1: Honda City 1.5 V AT
Year: 2012 / Mileage: 45,300 / Asking Price: Rs. 475,000 / Ex-showroom price: Rs. 12,31,000
Why Buy: It’s an Honda which means its well made. It’s got automatic—the smoothest and the most fuel efficient one in its generation. And is available for less than half the new car’s price.
Recommendation #2: Honda City 1.5 V AT
Year: 2011 / Mileage: 44,000 / Asking Price: Rs. 442,600 / Original Price: Rs. 12,31,000
Why Buy: This Honda—the same variant as above—is a year older that the first entry but has similar number of kilometres. And its Rs. 30,000 cheaper.
Recommendation #3: Honda City S MT Petrol
Year: 2013/ Mileage: 37,756 / Asking Price: Rs. 450,000 / Original Price: Rs. 10,27,000
Why Buy: A slightly newer and somewhat less used, this Honda comes with all the good bits you expect from a Honda. But its not an auto—perhaps the reason the Cartoq TRUE PRICE pushed it to third spot on the list.
Buy it here
COMPACT SUVs
Recommendation #1: Ford EcoSport Titanium 1.0 EcoBoost
Year: 2015 / Mileage: 21,896 / Asking Price: Rs. 500,000 / Original Price: Rs. 914,000
Why Buy: If you are a driving enthusiast, then the only entry on the list, Ford EcoSport Trend 1.0 [EcoBoost}, is just the SUV for you. You get great handling associated with Fords backed by great fuel economy and power of the EcoBoost engine. In fact, EcoBoost engine is one of the more advanced engines to have hit Indian market. And Titanium version comes loaded with features. With just 20,000 Km, and price tag that represents a discount of over 40% over a new car, this Ford is great value as well.
In Summary
There are great deals to be had on used sedans even though they cost much more than compact SUVs on the new car market. But if you want to check out your options amongst compact SUVs in Mumbai, read this.
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