Best Cars If Your Salary is Under 200k

So you’re a salaried employee, and your salary is around close to a 200k figure, and now you are planning to buy a car. First of all, you should know that 2 lac salary is more than what 80% of Pakistanis earn in salary, you are more in an upper segment employee salary budget.

Unfortunately, even if you’re on an upper-segment salary budget, due to extreme inflation, the 200k/month income is still not enough to buy a good used car, and a brand-new option is far from approaching. 

But nothing is impossible. If you save some money for about 1-2 years, you can buy a reasonable entry-level car. Here are some options that you’ll get as per current market prices:

Suzuki Mehran 2014-16

Mehran is probably the most convenient option we can suggest. The 14-16 model condition will be good enough to get your job done. Why do we recommend it? Here are the reasons:

• It’s EFI; no other car in this budget will offer EFI
• Up model, so no issues of rusting in the chassis
• Cheap parts, so cheap, even cheaper than CB150F
• No resale issues; no other option in this budget will give you better resale than Mehran does

You can get this car for 9-10 lacs depending on the condition. What do you expect from this budget? 4 tyres, a roof, engine and all the basic functions that a car can do, Mehran does that. 

The parts are cheap, and any mechanic can work on it, which is good if you’re employed because, with a full-time job, you can’t spend your whole day getting the car repaired at the mechanic’s workshop.

Suzuki Cultus 2004-10

Cultus is also a good option if your preference is comfort over maintenance cost. It’s not that comfortable like other new cars out there, but better than Mehran, much better. It got a 1,000cc engine and an AC that works fine even in the hot days of summer.

Here are some good things for this car:

• 1,000cc engine, no underpower, feeling like Mehran
• Good AC
• Comfort is better than Mehran

Here are some cons of Cultus than Mehran:

• Expensive parts, very expensive considering the price of this car
• Breakdowns very easily due to more engineering and old model
• The specific model year will not be an EFI engine like the Mehran 
• Down model than Mehran

Daihatsu Cuore 2005-07

Cuore is another good car. As compared to Cultus and Mehran, Cuore has got a very good built quality + ride quality of this car is much better than the above two Suzuki’s. The only downside is the parts prices, which are very high compared to Suzuki cars at this price. Here’s the shot summary:

• Very good built quality than Mehran and Cultus
• More comfortable
• AC is better

Downsides:

• Very tight in cabin space
• Low to no trunk space
• Expensive parts and not easy to find

Note that if this car is fully maintained, it can give you about 10-12 Kmpl of economy, but if it is not tuned or the engine has malfunctioned, it can drop to 8-9 Kmpl like a reborn. That’s how the engine of Cuore is designed.

Suzuki Alto 2004-07

Alto is also a good option, not the best, but a good alternative to Cultus 1st generation. The reason why people choose Alto over the Cultus is the price and resale. Alto, a 1,000cc compact hatchback, offers all the basic features that Cultus offers, but the price will be lower than Cultus of the same model. That’s why many people buy Alto. However, cabin space is a bit shorter on Alto than on Cultus. 

Here are some pros of this car:

• Cheaper than Cultus

Downsides:

• Not good resale
• If the engine is not maintained, fuel economy will be worse