[GTO]

It's time to look back at the year and cast your vote for The Team-BHP Car of the Year. This is where YOU - the BHPian - will choose our car of 2019. The Team-BHP COTY is by car owners & enthusiasts, not advertorial experts & paid judges. Just as well since us car owners are the ones who pay the auto industry's bills .

Listed here are the launches of 2019. Also included are some relevant high-points on each car, along with the market's response to it.

• The contenders have been sorted in a price-ascending order (cheapest first).
• It's only ALL-NEW cars that are included in our COTY award. That excludes the "refreshed" headlamp & tail-light versions, facelifts and engine variants.
• This is a public poll. Other BHPians will be able to see what car you have voted for.
• Models costing over 55 - 60 lakh rupees, and many fully-imported-cars (CBUs), have been excluded from our COTY. Reason = Low relevance & commitment to the Indian marketplace.
• The 2018 COTY.
• As has always been the case, we insist there will only be ONE Team-BHP Car of the Year. Why? Simply because we don't believe in handing out an award for the "DRL of the year" or "handbrake of the year" (as examples). Some award ceremonies have 25 awards to ensure there's one for each car manufacturer (aka advertiser) in India. We have no such inclination, and will only focus on the best, most important new car of 2019.

Looking forward to your votes, and also the reasoning behind your choice. Thanks!

P.S. Thanks to KiloAlpha for sharing the history of the Team-BHP COTY in this post.

EDIT on 28th December = It's the Seltos!

Originally Posted by GTO

Taking a whopping 55% of the votes on the Team-BHP COTY poll (link to poll), the Kia Seltos is Team-BHP's Car of 2019! The Seltos got a total of 1,499 votes from BHPians, which is a new record on Team-BHP (link to historical numbers). Also in 2019, a total of 2,751 BHPians voted on the Team-BHP poll which is the highest in history. Lest we forget, this is the first time that a manufacturer has won the Team-BHP COTY in its debut year and with its debut product.

Congratulations to Kia & to the Seltos! This award & the market success are well-deserved. Kia arrived late to the Indian party, but boy has it arrived with a bang. In a market that is going through tough times & has seen volumes shrink by up to 20%, the Seltos is consistently doing 10,000+ sales / month! Frankly, this is unprecedented.

It's an all-rounder of a product, it's superbly engineered, it's loaded to the gills with equipment and it's well-priced. Of course, the Seltos is not flawless and the chinks in its armour have been covered in detail in our Official Review, yet it's THE car to buy in the 15 - 20 lakh segment. Period. Equally important is Kia raising the bar for everyone else to follow. End of the day, such models make the arena way more competitive and thus, better for us customers. God bless competition .

Kia has demonstrated just how a new manufacturer should enter India. This is the stuff of IIM case studies. Brilliant researching, product planning, execution, roll-out, marketing & pricing . See how they aggressively ramped up production to 10,000+ units! You need guts for that. Or how quickly they responded to market feedback & introduced the fully-loaded automatic variants. I’ve spoken to people in the industry and noticed that even the competitors respect Kia. That’s saying something.

[GTO]

Maruti S-Presso : Short Take



What I liked: Funky design stands out from the crowd, fantastic engine & MT gearbox, fun & perfect for the city, well-priced for what it offers, optional AMT available (I've not driven it yet), 180 mm ground clearance & tiny 4.5m turning radius, spacious cabin with enough room for four 6-footers, boot has a practical layout + rear seat folds down, touchscreen ICE with Android Auto + Apple CarPlay + steering mounted controls, fuel-efficient, chilling air-conditioner.

What I didn’t: Controversial styling with oddball proportions – you’ll either love it or hate it, basic ride quality - has a distinctly firm edge to it + gets bumpy, terrible highway dynamics, best driven at double-digit speeds, narrow width makes it a 4-seater & not 5, weird poorly-calibrated steering, skinny 165 mm tyres or atrocious 145 mm tyres (lower variant), missing rear power windows + rear defogger + day/night IRVM, tiny 27L fuel tank (even Alto has a larger tank), NVH at speed.

Market Response: Only just launched, so can't pass a verdict. However, in both months of full production, the S-Presso moved over 10,000 copies, so we can safely presume it's a strong performer.

[GTO]

Maruti WagonR : Official Review



What you'll like:

• 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, underseat drawer & well-priced 2nd airbag
• Maruti's fuss-free ownership experience & excellent after-sales service

What you won't:

• Interior quality is budget grade. The Santro is in another class altogether!
• Thin & tinny sheet metal. 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 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

Market Response: Mr. Practicality is a success! Averaged ~13,000 / month over the last 6 months.

[GTO]

Renault Triber : Launch Thread



Market Response: Recently launched. Product has some USPs & customers appear to have accepted it very well. While Sept & Oct dispatches were ~5,000 / month, it rose to 6,000 in November!

[GTO]

Hyundai Grand i10 Nios : Launch thread



Market Response: We have just 4 months of production data (August launch), but things are looking great for the Grand i10 Nios. Clocking 9,000 units a month consistently, with November dispatches going over 10,000.

[GTO]

Hyundai Venue : Official Review



What you'll like:

• A mini-Creta in almost every way! Same formula, in a smaller package
• Precise build & quality (including interiors) are easily among the segment best
• Competent engines mated to slick gearboxes
• Fast shifting dual-clutch Automatic gearbox available
• Balanced road manners. Very easy to drive too
• Loaded to the gills with equipment (sunroof, Blue Link telematics, cabin air purifier etc.)
• Top safety equipment includes 6 airbags, ESP, HSA and more
• Hyundai's competent after-sales & fuss-free ownership experiences

What you won't:

• Diminutive street presence. Looks more hatchback than SUV from some angles, especially the rear
• Strictly a 4-seater. All-black interior makes it cosy. Some competitors offer more spacious cabins
• Missing kit (auto wipers, auto-dimming IRVM, steering reach adjustment...)
• DCT doesn't have a sport mode or paddle shifters. Fingers crossed on its long-term reliability
• Weirdly, the highest SX(O) trim doesn't get the DCT or dual-tone colour options
• Some variant mishaps = e.g. crucial rear wash + wipe just on the topmost trim!
• AT only on the petrol, not the diesel. Vitara Brezza, XUV300 & Nexon have Diesel ATs

Market Response: Hyundai's first compact SUV has been a hit since day 1, consistently selling ~9,000 cars each month.

[GTO]

Mahindra XUV300 : Official Review



What you'll like:

• A truly premium crossover. Nice build, quality & refinement levels
• Great looking! Smart design has none of the usual Mahindra quirkiness
• Cabin has enough space for 5. Quality-wise, the interior is more like a Hyundai
• Fantastic engines. The petrol & diesel, both, offer fast performance & good driveability
• A compliant ride with neutral road manners
• Top safety kit. 7 airbags, ESP, ABS, all-wheel disc brakes, TPMS, seatbelt reminders for all & more
• Loaded to the gills with equipment (front parking sensors, sunroof, cruise control, auto headlamps & wipers etc)

What you won't:

• The most expensive Compact SUV in India! Not overpriced, but definitely higher than expected
• 257-liter boot is the smallest in the segment. There are cheaper hatchbacks which have a larger boot
• Concerns over niggles in a freshly baked Mahindra. Our test car itself had issues
• Lack of a proper middle variant. W6 trim is simply too bare-bones, while W8 is expensive!
• No petrol automatic option in a market that is moving toward ATs
• Mahindra's after-sales service quality is a hit or miss. Remains a gamble
• Some important features missing (dead pedal, parcel tray, rear air-con, steering reach adjustment etc)

Market Response: Had a strong start with ~4,500 pieces / month, but things have slowed down in the last 4 months (~2,500 cars monthly). I feel that the XUV300 needs a price correction, stronger marketing push & proper automatic gearboxes desperately (only Diesel AMT right now)!

[GTO]

Nissan Kicks : Launch Thread



Market Response: Flop. In this age of SUVs & crossovers, the Kicks is an outlier selling merely ~200 cars / month. This was supposed to be Nissan India's comeback car, yet it fell flat on its face - related thread (Nissan India Deathwatch - Will Nissan exit India?). It was such an embarrassment that Nissan India's boss (Thomas Kuehl) who launched the Kicks eventually quit (or was pressured to resign?).

[GTO]

Kia Seltos : Launch Thread



Market Response: A smash hit! With just this single car, Kia has become the 4th largest manufacturer in India. Almost 13,000 sales in October & 14,000 in November. Team-BHP's Official Review will be up later in December.

[GTO]

MG Hector : Official Review



What you'll like:

• Big size & lots of bling for the money! We find the Hector to be well-priced
• A spacious cabin that can easily seat 5 adults. Massive 587 litre boot too
• Fiat-sourced 2.0L diesel is simply fantastic
• Compliant ride quality. Suspension is tuned for comfort
• Lots of kit (panoramic sunroof, 360-degree camera, electric seats & tailgate etc.)
• ‘Connected’ Tablet ICE with an embedded SIM & lovely sound quality
• 5-year / unlimited km warranty with roadside assistance
• Top safety equipment includes 6 airbags, ESP, HSA, all-wheel disc brakes, TPMS & more

What you won't:

• Awkward styling on the side & rear profiles. Looks weird from some angles
• Sloppy high-speed handling, noticeable body roll & easy understeer
• The petrol engine is “adequate” at best. Its guzzling Automatic variant is unimpressive
• No Diesel AT (Creta, Seltos, XUV500, Hexa offer this combination, which we love)
• Some annoyances like the ~6 meter turning radius, no auto-dimming IRVM, strange rpm meter…
• Small after-sales network. Service quality & long-term reliability are big unknowns
• Waiting period runs into a couple of months
• Don’t get blinded by the British branding. This is a Chinese car

Market Response: A good start with over 3,000 dispatches each month & a long customer que. MG Motors is currently selling all the Hectors it can build, with an order book that's full till March! Interesting entry by a Chinese carmaker with the right product (SUV) and effective British branding.

[GTO]

Tata Harrier : Official Review



What you'll like:

• Stunning looks & strong road presence. Solid build too
• Well-priced for the package on offer
• Classy, spacious cabin with comfortable seats & a chilling air-con
• Fantastic 9-speaker audio system. Sound quality & bass are enjoyable
• 2.0L diesel offers good driveability and a punchy mid-range
• 205 mm of ground clearance + terrain response system. Latter will make monsoon driving safer
• Topnotch safety kit includes 6 airbags, ESP, break reminder, hill hold, brake disc wiping & more
• Features such as Eco & Sport modes, xenon projectors, auto headlamps & wipers, cruise control…

What you won't:

• Feels like a work-in-process beta version. Several rough areas are yet to be sorted out
• Concerns over niggles & long-term reliability. Our test cars had many problems
• Nervous steering at 100+ km/h…too light, too sensitive. Needs tuning
• Service visit every 6 months / 7500 km (12-months is the norm today)
• No automatic option in a market that loves ATs. No all-wheel drive for enthusiasts either
• Annoyances such as the massive ORVM blind spot, loud diesel >3000 rpm & some ergonomic flaws
• Tata's after-sales service quality is a hit or miss. Remains a gamble
• Missing kit (auto-dimming IRVM, sunroof, usable center armrest & dead pedal, TPMS)

Market Response: Poor. Tata's execution skills suck! The Harrier had the potential to be truly "great", but Tata's demo & media cars were full of problems! There is no automatic or a petrol engine, two things customers are attracted to today. Competition from the Seltos & Hector is fierce, while the next-gen Creta is arriving soon. The Harrier's average sales for the last 6 months are merely 925 / month. It is dangerously close to being branded a flop. Tata hurried with the launch (to beat Kia & MG) and royally botched it up.

[GTO]

Honda Civic : Official Review



What you'll like:

• Funky & futuristic styling
• Top-notch build and quality of construction
• Smooth, rev-happy petrol or a practical diesel – take your pick
• Fun handling…with a very sporty driving position to match
• Cabin has a nice design, good space & spot-on ergonomics
• 5-star safety rating & kit (6 airbags, ESP, HSA etc.)
• Well-equipped. Lane watch camera, remote engine start, dual-zone air-con & more

What you won't:

• Weirdly, no Petrol MT or Diesel AT offered
• Neither engine is fast & performance levels are ordinary. Enthusiasts, look elsewhere
• Many will find the seating to be way too low. Ingress & egress aren’t convenient either
• Useable boot, but it’s the smallest in the segment (even City has a bigger boot)
• Blackwasp & I experienced lower back pain after a long drive in the MT. Lumbar support missing
• Hard to justify the ~50% price premium over the City. It’s also more expensive than the Elantra & Corolla

Market Response: With the newest product & crazy discounts (example post), the Civic is currently moving 300 - 400 copies each month! It is currently the D1-sedan segment leader, outselling the Octavia, Corolla & Elantra. Quite impressive.

[GTO]

Hyundai Kona : Official Review



What you'll like:

• India’s first world-class EV with no major compromises!
• Green image & zero tailpipe emissions appeal to the environmentally conscious
• Instant torque makes it a snappy car to drive in the city (0-100 km/h @ 9.7 sec)
• Selectable levels of regenerative braking; adds range, aids braking performance and is fun
• Real-world range of 260-300 km means no range anxiety for urban commuting
• Incredibly low running costs & cheaper long-term maintenance (as is the case with all EVs)
• Features such as cooled front seats, LED headlamps, sunroof, cruise control & more
• Top safety kit includes 6 airbags, ESP, HSA, TPMS etc.
• Peace of mind with Hyundai’s after-sales service & 8-year battery warranty

What you won't:

• Expensive! Even after subsidies, EVs still carry a huge price premium over ICE cars
• Lack of charging infrastructure & ~300 km range limits long-distance / highway usability
• Uncomfortable ride quality on less than perfect roads. Firm & uncompromising
• Cabin space is comparable to the i20. Also, high floorpan affects the rear seating position
• Some misses such as no auto-wipers, rear air-con, touchscreen ICE smaller than expected...
• Size & presence are comparable to 12-lakh rupee cars like the S-Cross
• Boot size is just 332 liters
• Brake pedal lacks feel & linearity, takes some getting used to. Especially wooden in Sports mode
• Limited availability in India (only a handful of states). Further, the 2019 batch is sold out

Market Response: Irrelevant talking about this as the Kona is the only "proper" EV in the country, and all electric cars are currently too expensive. What we can tell you is that the 2019 lot has been sold out. Hyundai was targeting 500 units a year and is currently doing ~50 / month.

[GTO]

Toyota Camry : Official Review



What you'll like:

• An extremely well-rounded luxury sedan. Lots of road presence due to its sheer size too
• Spacious, comfortable & well-equipped cabin. Ideal for self-driven or chauffeured owners alike
• High-tech and environment-friendly hybrid powertrain mated to a butter-smooth CVT automatic
• Terrific fuel efficiency! 15 km/l or more in the city
• Compliant ride quality with sorted road manners
• Loaded with kit (amazing sound system, ventilated front seats, reclinable rear seats, head-up display)
• Top-notch safety ratings. Equipment includes 9 airbags, ESP & more
• Toyota’s bullet-proof reliability and superb after-sales service. Camrys age very well

What you won't:

• Weird front styling isn't to everyone's taste. You'll either love it or hate it
• Expensive! The Skoda Superb is priced noticeably lower
• Not as much fun to drive as its German competitors (although it's no longer boring either)
• A couple of missing essentials (rpm counter, Android Auto / Apple CarPlay, folding rear seat...)
• Back seat is better suited to 2 adults, rather than 3
• Just a single trim. No choice of variants at all
• Long waiting period

Market Response: Well, the D2-sedan segment is overall dead. It's a 2-horse race between the Camry & Superb, as the Accord & Sonata have vanished, while the Passat hasn't been available for months. Demand for the Camry is low & the Skoda Superb outsells it by quite a margin. Still, the Camry has its small group of loyal followers who keep the assembly line running @ 60 units / month (6-month average). With a 44-lakh OTR price, it's also a car with fat profit margins for Toyota.

[GTO]

BMW 3-Series : Launch Thread



Audi A6 : Launch Thread