[RahulNagaraj]

2022 Maruti Alto K10

Maruti Alto K10 Pros

• A much improved, well-rounded city car as compared to the outgoing generation
• Peppy performance with a healthy power-to-weight ratio
• Excellent fuel efficiency. ARAI figures: 24.90 km/l (AMT) and 24.39 km/l (MT)
• Convenient AMT available at a premium of Rs. 50,000 makes it the cheapest automatic car available in India
• Sufficient cabin space to accommodate four 6-footers
• Small dimensions, good visibility, light controls, AMT transmission & a tiny 4.5 m turning radius make it a great choice for city driving as well as first-time car buyers
• Good touchscreen ICE with Android Auto + Apple CarPlay + steering mounted controls
• Maruti's fuss-free ownership experience & widespread dealer network

Maruti Alto K10 Cons

• Significantly more expensive compared to the previous generation
• Narrow width makes it a strict 4-seater
• Basic ride quality. Feels wobbly over rough patches and can bottom out on when going over larger potholes
• Poor high-speed dynamics & NVH. Best driven at double-digit speeds
• Skinny low grip 145 mm tyres given the power on offer
• Missing essentials such as rear power windows, rear wiper/defogger, day/night IRVM, etc.
• Light, economy-grade build quality. Sibling S-Presso scored 0 stars in the GNCAP crash tests
• S-Presso offers a lot more at just ~15,000 more (greater space, larger wheels & tyres, body-coloured and electrically adjustable ORVMs, features like ESP with hill-hold (AMT)), etc.

Link to Review

Maruti Alto

Launch Thread

Renault Kwid

Launch Thread

Maruti Celerio

Link to Review

Maruti S-Presso

Maruti S-Presso Pros:

• Funky design stands out from the crowd
• Well-priced for what it offers
• Spacious cabin with enough room for four 6-footers, and easy ingress/egress too
• Fantastic engine & MT gearbox. Fun, driveable, rev-happy, fuel-efficient
• Optional AMT automatic available at an Rs. ~43,000 premium
• 180 mm of ground clearance & a tiny 4.5m turning radius aid practicality
• Boot has a practical layout. Rear seat does fold down when required
• Nice touchscreen ICE with Android Auto + Apple CarPlay + steering mounted controls
• Maruti's fuss-free ownership experiences & widespread dealer network

Maruti S-Presso Cons:

• 0 stars in the GNCAP crash tests (full discussion)
• Controversial styling with oddball proportions – you’ll either love it or hate it
• Basic ride quality has a distinctly firm edge to it. Can get bumpy
• Terrible highway dynamics & NVH at 100 km/h. Best driven at double-digit speeds
• Weird, poorly-calibrated steering has many flaws
• AMT, although improved, can’t match conventional ATs on smoothness & speed. Still gets jerky
• Narrow width makes it a 4-seater (not 5)
• Missing rear power windows, rear defogger & day/night IRVM
• Skinny 165 mm tyres or atrocious 145 mm rubber (lower variant). Fuel tank is just 27L in size

Link to Review

Maruti WagonR

Maruti WagonR Pros:

• Unbeatable practicality, with a value-for-money price tag
• Spacious interiors. Ingress & egress are effortless too
• 340-liter boot has almost doubled in size (compared to the old WagonR)
• Awesome 4-cylinder 1.2L engine costs just Rs. 20,000 more than the 1.0L
• Suspension offers a more compliant ride than the outgoing car
• Features such as the touchscreen head-unit, under seat drawer & well-priced 2nd airbag
• Maruti's fuss-free ownership experience & excellent after-sales service

Maruti WagonR Cons:

• Interior quality is budget grade. The Santro is in another class altogether!
• Thin & tinny sheet metal. The car feels lightweight when driving as well
• Lousy NVH package. Insulation is quite poor
• AMT – although improved – cannot match the Santro AMT’s smoothness
• Road manners make it more suited to the city than the highway. Keep your speeds in check
• Some misses like no alloy wheels, missing rear speakers & useless rear headrests
• Superior Ignis isn’t priced too far away, especially after discounts

Link to Review

Tata Tiago

Launch Thread

[GTO]

Would spend a little more and go for the WagonR, with that wonderful 1.2L petrol engine. The 4-cylinder petrol gives the WagonR the best performance & refinement of any car listed above. Plus, the new WagonR doesn't look bad for a breadbox. Most practical, spacious, big boot and a comfortable ride. IMHO, it's the best out here and a perfect family beater.

[DicKy]

It is Alto K10 vs Spresso vs WagonR 1.2 for me.

It is hard to choose between the Alto K10 vs Spresso, though in AMT guise Spresso wins hands down with the hill hold and ESP.

WagonR 1.2 would have been my choice, if the present WagonR had practical interiors like the previous generations. Yes, space is there, but storage spaces and cubbyholes are in such shortage, that the dashboard looks just like a glorified plastic tablet holder! Add to that, if you buy the WagonR 1.2, you will get the far superior Ignis for the same price. (if you don't care for stuff like touchscreens)

So my choice is the Spresso.

[agambhandari]

A base model Ignis Sigma comes out to be cheaper than a Wagon R 1.0 and cheaper than Celerio VXI. And this is with the usual 20-25k discount. We bought one couple of months back and if you drive these cars back to back, its not even a contest. The K12 in the Ignis is miles ahead of the K10C and heck even the K12C in terms of power delivery yet returns very good FE. The equipment in the Sigma is also comparable to this VXi celerio and Base WagonR.

So my choice would be the Ignis.

[AYP]

Ideally speaking, from all the options available in the poll, the WagonR 1.2 would be my choice. But since having a tachometer is an absolute must for me, that leaves me with only the ZXI+ variant which costs more than 6.5L rupees. But then, at that price, I can get the Ignis Delta/Zeta and the Grand i10 Magna, both of which would make for a much better buy over the WagonR.

It is my humble belief that this poll should be restricted only to the A segment cars(I would have selected Kwid in such a poll since it offers a tacho), since currently, this poll comprises of cars ranging from 4.5L to 7L rupees in which we have cars available from 3 different segments. Alternately, we can specify the variants of the cars in the poll so as to have a parity between the different choices.

To be very honest, the Tiago XE/XM is the only real alternative to the A segment cars for me. Voted for others(Ignis).

[shancz]

Voted others and by that I mean the Ignis.
Earlier posts have aptly mentioned the pros.
If space is a concern then nothing beats the wagonR.

The Ignis and Tiago almost mirror the pricing and of the two the Ignis wins in a city car role (seems like the theme of the thread) but the Tiago wins when the usage involves frequent highway runs in a single car garage. Not just for the GNCAP rating but also the low seating, mature suspension and the brilliant ICE overshadow the lower refinement.

But if we take these two and the Celerio out of the mix due to the pricing and have to point out an entry level city hatchback, I would choose the S-Presso for its astounding practicality despite the looks.

[fhdowntheline]

Well, my choice is clearly made. My Tiago XZ Plus should be arriving in a few days. To me it seemed a more well rounded product over all, enough for city needs and then some ( decent performance and safety for the occasional highway runs). My observation in the past couple of months is that the Tata showrooms are always buzzing with activity, while in some of the MS Arenas they dont even care if they have a test drive car or not.

[ArTigor]

I would rather choose the Tiago of them all. It is the safest, proven and reliable, yes it will be less refined than the WagonR 1.2(4 cylinder), but then Tiago also scores 3 cylinder petrol is a maintenance free proven workhorse. Add to it the wonderful speakers, much better interiors and better driving dynamics, Tiago it is for me. If not for the Tiago then the WagonR 1.2 and Celerio are the distant contenders for me. Will never consider the Alto, or the Spresso, at 5.5-6.5 lakhs on road, those cars are not justified to me, let alone out of city drives even on the arterial freeways in the city(like the Eastern express highway in Mumbai), these cars do not inspire confidence.

[SoumenD]

TIAGO is a no-brainer IMHO. Its safest, feels and looks premium compared to the others. Solid footed on highways incase you venture out. Except for the not-so-smooth engine don’t see any other flaws. If I have to buy a 2nd car or even if its a 1 car garage with a budget of 6-8L, I would choose Tiago.

Who would have thought this 5-6 years ago? In a poll full of Marutis, a TATA becomes the first choice. Really proud of our home grown brand .

[vinbie2019]

I own a 2008 WagonR and 2017 1.2L Ignis Alpha. Both engines are gem. For city runs, will definitely replace my 2008 WagonR with brand new Ignis AMT in near future.
1. Peppy engine
2. Drive and park with ease in bumper to bumper traffic.
3. Easy to maintain, cheaper spares
4. Decent used cars (slightly over priced) in market.
5. Proven Reliability (1.1L kms and 30k kms between cars)
Voted for WagonR in 1.2 L avatar

[UD17]

Voted for WagonR for:

1. Reliability of Maruti, Niggles free ownership experience, ASS
2. Practicality of WagonR in Indian Scenario- Elder friendly egress & ingress, Space to load odd during critical situations/shopping, Can ferry more people in few occasions (marriage or such functions)
3. Lower ownership cost - Fuel efficient engine + lower spares/service cost
4. Excellent resale value
5. Decent image among hatchback world

[darkfantasy]

IMHO, if you have the money please check the top-end Ignis. Its interior is far better than S-Presso or Wagon-R and it's good enough for the occasional highway runs too.

The latest Wagon-R feels way bigger than S-presso and if the car is strictly for city usage - it's much easier to navigate the S-presso through tight spaces.

Can't see any reason to suggest the Celerio over S-presso/Ignis. It's USP was its fuel efficiency, but now the S-presso also gets the same engine. Frankly - I would go for Ignis instead if I had enough budget for the Celerio.

The price difference with S-presso makes the Alto K10 non-starter IMHO, unless you are not able to digest S-presso's looks.

The Kwid in its AMT avatar misses out on the manual mode/creep function when I checked (2020), so I wouldn't recommend it. Long-term reliability is another sore point.

The Tiago goes against the Ignis price wise and personally, I'd go with the Ignis solely on the basis of service and support.

[H0RSEPOWER]

I would have chosen Ignis for the refinement with the extra cylinder & the extra power. In fact, at present apart from much lower powered Santro, Ignis is the cheapest 4 cylinder car in Indian car market!

[Reinhard]

In my honest (and personal) opinion, anyone willing to spend upwards of INR 5L OTR for a car, should stretch the EMI definitely & buy the Tiago.

The Tiago is a far more superior product than all others in the list, in terms of absolutely all aspects without a single exception (excluding the WagonR 1.2 option, where only the engine is superior).

Its a much better built car, capabilities are quite versatile, cabin is plush (relatively), is very abuse friendly and it does not scream "cost-cutting" anywhere, like all others do. And of course - a 4 star GNCAP safety rating, comes above anything else given the dangerous place we call roads.

The only other car that I'd choose (if I voted "Others") - would be the Ignis.

[sukhbirST]

For city and home use, there is nothing like Wagon R. Agree with points given above and it is one car where one has not got bored with looks.