Buying a car within a budget of Rs 50-75 lakh

I’m a doctor practising in Chennai and I travel 50km daily in the city in the rear seat of my Toyota Innova Crysta. On weekends, I drive my 2018 BMW X3. I want to buy a car with good rear-seat comfort because I suffer from back pain. My budget is Rs 50-75 lakh. Should I buy a new or used car? An SUV or sedan? For a new car, I’m considering either the Lexus ES 300h or Mercedes C-class,and if I go for a used car, it could be either a Toyota Land Cruiser or a 2017-2018 Lexus SUV. Also, I am looking at low maintenance, safety and good resale value from the car.

Balasubramaniyan, Chennai

A new car is always preferable as you are sure of what you are going to get and choose to specifications to your liking. There are lots of good used cars today, however, in the luxury segment, they are more of a gamble as maintenance costs can shoot up if the car had faults which were not spotted earlier. For your requirement, a sedan is always better because they typically offer a better ride quality than an SUVs and are easier to get in and out of. SUVs, by their nature, have beefed-up suspension and large wheels that are good for bad roads, but the downside is that they transmit the shocks to the passenger.

Hence, for the both reasons above, it’s better to stick to your first option, between an ES 300h and a Mercedes C-class. The ES 300h is far better as a chauffeur-driven car as it has more space, the ride quality is very good and the rear seat has recline function that adds to comfort. The hybrid powertrain is also very smooth and ideal for city driving.

The C-class is more cramped in comparison, and the rear-seat under-thigh support isn’t very generous. The only advantage of the C-class is that it is substantially cheaper than the Lexus ES 300h, and we feel the resale value may be a bit better too. However, overall, it’s the ES that is better for you.