BHPian derthom recently shared this with other enthusiasts: Hello esteemed members, I have returned with some news. I have gone in the opposite direction of my initial plan and ended up buying the car that I’ve had my eye on for more than a year now. I am no storyteller but I will try to keep you engaged as much as I can with this sequence of short stories.My best man at the weddingLast year has been a roller coaster ride, with me finally getting hitched at the end of the year. I had also intended to upgrade my trusty Honda City to a slick White Grand Vitara AT, but life and the NEXA showroom had other plans. So, for all intents and purposes, my sweet boi, the Honda City, was my designated wedding car. I even drove it from my house to the venue because hell, I just love the bloody thing. Life after marriage started in 2025 and my wife is familiar with our Honda for a while (she’s been seeing it since we were dating in 2022), its grown on her too, but the manual is her weakness and the lack of autohold, a stiff clutch and a seemingly low idle RPM always kept her away from the steering wheel. In fact, anyone who drove my Honda would always stutter before they realised that the clutch is sensitive and the car needs a little blip of the accelerator to get it to move. Alas, much like a parent watching their child graduate, I spent time and energy into restoring my sweet Eileen back to its true glory but that joy seemed to be short-lived. Slowly, the newness of my old car was wearing us thin, mostly because of the problematic clutch and the lack of a volunteering co-driver and the noise insulation inside the cabin wasn’t doing me any favours with Bangalore’s traffic getting wilder and more rowdy since 2022. I realised the time has come for a new, better car, but I didn’t know what to get or when to get it. When the Windsor went proSometime in April, there was chatter of the Windsor EV Pro being launched, and that news once again reignited the old flame of getting a new car. Of course, the Pro sounded very promising and seemed to be the right fit for my use case, with the extended range (the ADAS was a bonus). So when the day came, May 8th, they launched the Windsor at 17.50L for the first 8K bookings (I don’t recall the exact number), but I was on the list and thus began my foray into MG’s world of EVs. I went over to the MG Kalyan Nagar showroom, the staff are accommodating and helpful, saw the Windsor EV Pro, my wife and mom were very impressed checking out the car and its features. The only downside was the gigantic screen and its lacklustre performance. We live in a world where a phone costing a mere 6K has fluidity and speed faster than the Windsor screen, or maybe I drank too much of their complimentary coffee, either way, the lag was bothering me and using the screen while driving is another feat in itself. Nonetheless, they didn’t have the test drive car in the pro version so we took the regular one out for a spin. I had driven the car before last year when it launched and driving it again after 6 months, the car had been worn down a fair bit. The windows creaked when we rolled it up/down, and in the silence of the EV, that was noticeable, the AC did okay, can’t complain but the ride was nice, till we hit the ORR (Ring Road) at higher speeds the suspension showed it’s prowess. Coming from a sedan, my standards were not calibrated for this body style but something felt off. I’m not an expert enough to fully describe how it felt but it was floaty and I felt less in control. Still, I figured it was a new body type and I would sooner or later get used to it; the screen bothered me. I had a discussion with my wife and she wasn’t also fully sold on the reliability of the screen and essentially the EV experience (long distance travel etc), and with a heavy heart, I withdrew my booking. This is the same time the ZS EV price dropped again to 17.5 for the base from the 19L tag. Seeing the trend and potential leaps and bounds the EV space will keep making, we decided that maybe 5-6 years from now, EVs and it’s battery chemistries will more or less stabilize and become more accessible and potentially won’t suffer from these constant price drops. Back on the saddleFor now, I was back to ICE, and I wandered back to NEXA, Toyota, Hyundai and Honda. The story gets a little annoying here because I am a salesman’s bittersweet customer, I know what I want and make their job easier but will haggle for discounts. First Up, Honda I figured that me being a City owner would give me some favour or leverage when I went to dealerships, but I was met with pretty much dull enthusiasm at both Whitefield and Magnum Honda. They were hesitant on discounts and were giving me a low price for my sweet oldie but goldie Honda City, about 1.9-2L, I was expecting way more. Don’t get me wrong, the sales staff are good, but they are slow to move on making me the final deal. I know for sure that negotiating is part of the buying experience but Honda’s staff always seem to tap out too early in negotiations. Still, my bias and love for the brand kept me interested. I took my wife and mom to the Magnum Honda at Mekri Circle on a Sunday. There was no one there, just one guy. I saw the City Sport edition and the regular City and all three of us felt that we should maybe just get the City again! The car just ticks all our boxes, and like I keep saying, I’m a fanboy to a fault. However, I figured I have driven hatches and sedans, the time has come for a pretend-SUV or the mid-SUV. Now with Honda in the rear view mirror, I set my sights on the Grand Vitara, specifically the Zeta because they just threw in ventilated seats, a pano-sunroof , digital MID and took away the spare tyre along with making some structural changes to enhance safety. I headed over to the NEXA near Mekri Circle, the one that was inaugurated by some top dog from Suzuki, and saw the inauguration placard by the entrance. They provided me the info I needed and had made an offer with maximum discount for 19L for the Zeta(O). I left the showroom, telling them to consider all discounts and give me a call once they give me a final price and delivery timeline. Next stop Nandi Toyota near Banaswadi, they also stopped the buck at 19L. I left wanting some time to think. Later that evening I was comparing the pricing sheets for GV and Hyryder and noticed that the ex-showroom price for the GV Zeta AT is 16.67L while for Hyryder G AT it is 15.94L. The Hyryder was a cool 70K lesser. Equipped with this info, I decided to drop NEXA like a hot potato and proceeded to lock in the Hyryder. I found another new dealership that just opened- Bharat Toyota in Domlur and decided to visit the next day. They also offered 19L but then I said Nandi is offering the same and they promised early delivery. Bharat dropped the offer down to 18.7L. I said ok and left. Now what follows is a flurry of back and forth between me and Nandi Toyota. I showed them Bharat’s offer they dropped down further to 18.5, I pushed harder, they budged to 18.3, I wasn’t done. The wild card entrant was Viva Toyota, who had the best salesman I met. He wasted no time bargaining, he went straight for the kill and offered 18.08L and even showed me in his inventory list that they had 2 in stock and would guarantee delivery by the end of the week. I was hooked and I asked him to make it even at 18L and I’ll sign wherever they want me to, plus exchange my Honda for 2.5. He finally said 18L with some accessories. I decided to go with Viva, and I told Nandi, they backed down. Viva was the clear winner but wait, what happened to Bharat Toyota? Well, they forgot about me. Since I’m in no hurry to buy and am always ready to walk away, they probably thought I was just window shopping. Nonetheless, I wanted to close the interaction with them and called up the salesguy and informed him that I’m going with Viva Toyota and thanked him for all the help. Seems like they thought I was bluffing because they said please come down to the showroom and they’ll give me something better. I said if there’s anything, say it on the phone because I was going down to Viva that very hour to book and turn-in my old Honda. Then I hung up and carried on to Viva Toyota in RT Nagar. In 20 minutes, while I was en route, the sales manager from Bharat Toyota called me, asking me to reconsider and come to their showroom to close the deal. I said I’m not driving from one end to the other, I’m going with Viva and I’ve decided. We reach Viva, I start the booking and paperwork, and now he calls me again. This time he has a number 17.78L and 2.6L for my old car, which undercuts Viva by 32K, a princely sum considering I was at the fag end of the discount cycle. I told the cool salesman at Viva, his face dropped. He said to tell them to give you the porforma invoice, otherwise don’t take their word. I had already signed a few papers for the vehicle transfer. I had to make a call – abandon the process at Viva or go ahead. The Viva guy told me, they cannot go lower than 18L. I called the Bharat Sales Manager again and asked him if he could honour the 17.78L on-road plus 2.6L for my old car? He was very confident and told me to come book the car. I asked if a unit was available, and he said YES, JUST COME OVER AND BOOK IT.The finaleSo I did. I left Viva. I felt like a villain, my crime? The relentless pursuit of a better deal. Am I guilty of it? Yes. My wife said she could never do what I do, but I cannot blame her. She hasn’t read about jaw-dropping deals that persistent members of teamBHP have closed. I only wanted to feel like them. I wanted to feel in control of the deal instead of being pushed into it, and now, even though I angered many a salesman, I finally felt I like had an upper-hand over my deal. To the moon with Bharat Toyota. This showroom opened in June 2025 and I was the first of very few customers. They are a direct subsidiary of Kirloskar Toyota, so they come pretty close to a COCO showroom, and their culture and professionalism showcase a Toyota-esque flavour. Everyone was easy to talk to, they didn’t push any extras on except the 1-year extended warranty, which was a sweet little surprise for me. We kicked off the process and in 4 days, the car was ready for delivery on the 18th of July, a rainy Friday evening. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
