Fortunately, options are many here and also the suggestions you get are many as well - biggest challenge for a NRI is deciding between an Automatic versus manual. Two wheeler is out of the question, don't even think about riding a bike to work - it could save you some time and Rs, Rs but within the span of 3 months, I have seen at least 3 cases of bikes falling down, bike rider getting bruised etc. Given the amount of dust, smoke and car population (which has increased many folds, especially in routes heading to tech parks), it is not worth the savings.
Factors favoring an Automatic:
- It is a quick transition from US to here, at least as far as the car goes. The automatic ones are much smaller here and after few months, the cars like civic, corolla look quite big on Indian roads! These cars looked so much smaller on US roads but it is so surprising to see them looking so much bigger here, when they are put in a large pool of smaller cars.
- If you plan to drive in a short time, automatic is a good choice since you don't have multiple things to deal with - learning the stick shift, dealing with crazy, random traffic, people running across the road in unexpected places etc.
- I would say quality and finish of cars available are very much comparable to US and all of the basic things are available. I was surprised to see one of my friend's got a multi-feature car deck fitted to the car - which had navigation, rear camera, stereo with video display etc. A/C is very common these days and helps avoid good amount of pollution exposure.
- Drive fatigue: This was a surprising factor - people driving a manual are experiencing leg pain and hand pain, due to constant use of hands to change gears and the use of clutch. With the constant stop & go traffic, it is not surprising to hear that.
Factors favoring a manual:
- Mileage: Automatic can give anywhere from 9-15 kms/liter where as manual can consistently give above 15kms in the city. With the petrol prices at Rs. 75/liter, this can make a significant difference in petrol bills.
- Most of the cars are manual here. So, why not get used to driving one? If you have a need to use one of your friend's car, the skill of driving manual car can come in handy. If you don't get a manual, the chances are that you will not start to learn driving one.
- Some people said driving a manual has the advantage of better power when it comes to overtaking or pulling ahead in signal but I haven't seen that to be a real advantage. With so much of traffic, there is only so much space for you to pull ahead of everybody else. When it comes to driving over highways, these days things have improved and vehicles do move much faster on the highways.
This was the speal given by the car salesman when we bought our car, I think which made sense - if you are driving long distances often, buy an manual since the fuel cost can be a significant difference. If you are using the car for shorter office commute, buy an auto since the distance is not very large and the convenience can easily beat the cost difference.
Eventually, we ended up buying an automatic, Hyundai i10, which is a favorite NRIs car here in Bangalore. It has been working very well so far - gives a mileage of 10+kms average and is pretty smooth. Feel I can drive this baby in few days since it is easy to handle.
Factors favoring an Automatic:
- It is a quick transition from US to here, at least as far as the car goes. The automatic ones are much smaller here and after few months, the cars like civic, corolla look quite big on Indian roads! These cars looked so much smaller on US roads but it is so surprising to see them looking so much bigger here, when they are put in a large pool of smaller cars.
- If you plan to drive in a short time, automatic is a good choice since you don't have multiple things to deal with - learning the stick shift, dealing with crazy, random traffic, people running across the road in unexpected places etc.
- I would say quality and finish of cars available are very much comparable to US and all of the basic things are available. I was surprised to see one of my friend's got a multi-feature car deck fitted to the car - which had navigation, rear camera, stereo with video display etc. A/C is very common these days and helps avoid good amount of pollution exposure.
- Drive fatigue: This was a surprising factor - people driving a manual are experiencing leg pain and hand pain, due to constant use of hands to change gears and the use of clutch. With the constant stop & go traffic, it is not surprising to hear that.
Factors favoring a manual:
- Mileage: Automatic can give anywhere from 9-15 kms/liter where as manual can consistently give above 15kms in the city. With the petrol prices at Rs. 75/liter, this can make a significant difference in petrol bills.
- Most of the cars are manual here. So, why not get used to driving one? If you have a need to use one of your friend's car, the skill of driving manual car can come in handy. If you don't get a manual, the chances are that you will not start to learn driving one.
- Some people said driving a manual has the advantage of better power when it comes to overtaking or pulling ahead in signal but I haven't seen that to be a real advantage. With so much of traffic, there is only so much space for you to pull ahead of everybody else. When it comes to driving over highways, these days things have improved and vehicles do move much faster on the highways.
This was the speal given by the car salesman when we bought our car, I think which made sense - if you are driving long distances often, buy an manual since the fuel cost can be a significant difference. If you are using the car for shorter office commute, buy an auto since the distance is not very large and the convenience can easily beat the cost difference.
Eventually, we ended up buying an automatic, Hyundai i10, which is a favorite NRIs car here in Bangalore. It has been working very well so far - gives a mileage of 10+kms average and is pretty smooth. Feel I can drive this baby in few days since it is easy to handle.
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