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-   -   Which Indian cars have reasonably good base variants? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/224819-indian-cars-have-reasonably-good-base-variants.html)

Amit Kakkad poses this question to the community. Which base variants are actually ones you wouldn't mind bringing home? Which car's base variants have most of the essentials & don't feel too poverty-spec?

There was a time when I thought the base (or base +1) variant of the Toyota Yaris was perfect. 7 Airbags, 7 speed CVT and a bunch of all the other essential features meant that you would not have to buy the top end model to get a safe automatic car.

Didn't help that the car itself was overpriced though, and the recent changes have only made it worse.

What better than the just launched Honda City's V (base) variant at 10.9 lakhs. It is feature loaded like a mid spec variant and can also be had with a CVT automatic. Lots of safety equipment is standard across the range at the same time.

Variant wise feature list is here.

Honda City - Base variant (V) of 5th gen City is very decently equipped. 4 airbags, TPMS, Hill Start Assist, VSA, 8 inch head unit with apple car play & android auto, cruise control, alloy wheels etc. All these we get in base variant which is priced at 10.90 Lakhs.

The last time I checked the brochure of few cars, I found the following cars having decent specced base variants:

1. Creta
2. Verna
3. Ciaz
4. S-Cross
5. Seltos
6. City
7. Rapid

A lot depends on what one is looking for - safety features, utility features, looks or fancy features. With the Govt. regulations in place, the basic safety features are now taken care of.

Higher the segment, better equipped the base variant.

But one must also consider this question as subjective since, most of us here may consider driving related stuff to be essential.

However so many people out there find even top variants of mainstream cars lame since practically zero innovation happening for the back seats.

Coming to the subject, for Skoda Rapid Rider (base variant), I would have swapped the music system with a fully functional drivers information display along with projector headlamps in meter console. Where as one of my friend was ranting towards the missing alloy and another was very happy as it is with little unhappy for missing touch screen infotainment system.

One must understand the concept of base variant. It is to offer the customer a bare bone platform to build upon according to every individual liking. Stuffing it with company fitted kit takes away that freedom & pushed up the price too.

My observations on the base model.

Inside:
1. No music system/ proper HU interface.
2. Non adjustable headrests.
3. No Autos and all manuals(AC, Headlamps and Wiper).
4. No soft finishes with scratchy touch points everywhere.
5. No touch screen and parking camera.

Outside:
1. Skinny wheels(most cases).
2. Lack of DRLs and Fog lamps.
3. No projector/LED headlamps.
4. Less cladings and chrome.

Basically, a base model is to keep the prices attractive. It is the model which many don't go for. Even the sales executive will try to push us for the next model unless it's a 10+lakh rupee car.

Coming to the point, most of the cars under 15 lakhs don't have a good base model car. In the recent times, I found the Rapid rider to be good for it's price, although it's a barebone.

Also, one can look at the Altroz as Tata gives it a factory level upgrade for it's base model(not well equipped though). Nice thing about it.

So, a base model + 10% of the car's price for upgrading will be good!

Other cars with good base models from my POV will be the Yaris(safety), and Seltos.

I think base variant + the price also needs to be considered. From that perspective, the newly launched Rapid Rider seems to be a fantastic base variant to bring home. It is not a name sake variant for the sake of a low 'starting from..' price, has all essential features and comes at a fantastic price.

As a general rule of thumb, I believe for any model that comes with max 3-4 variants, the base variant would be a fairly good buy. For the ones that have 5-6 variants with additional "+" and "(O)" variants in between, it can be safely assumed that the base variants are severely compromised.

One exception to even this is the Creta. It has tons of variants, There was a thread about the base variant being one of the top sellers due to the low entry price (Thread Link). The pride factor in owning a Creta I guess overrode the lack of features.

All higher segment cars base models are generally nicely equipped. Small cars which are very price sensitive only have very few features in base model and missing on some basic essentials as well. Generally higher segment cars don't have many models & so all their models are well loaded with features. It all boils down to money, more you pay more features you get.

Nice topic. I'm a big fan of base variants. If given a choice to pick a top variant of lower segment vs base variant of a higher segment, I would go with the latter because the mechanical upgrade is too juicy to ignore. Better engine, better suspension, better handling and better build quality matters more than gizmos.

However, base variants are usually offered to avoid sticker shock and therefore are I'll equipped. But certainly there are decently equipped models in our market.

Examples
1. Brezza LXI/LDI with ABS + EBD + Dual Airbags + Audio system at 7.34 lakhs ex showroom is absolute VFM
2. Ecosport 1.5L Ambiente with ABS+EBD+Dual Airbags +Audio + 60:40 split rear seat at 8.2 lakhs exshowroom is too good to resist.

I believe currently in petrol Rapid rider and in diesel Creta E are quite good options. According to me a base variant is a good variant if it has some basic features. Like -
1. Minimum 2 airbags.
2. Abs + Ebd.
3. All 4 power windows.
4. Good AC.
5. Basic MID features.
6. Seat height adjust.
7. Tilt steering.

Other necessary stuff like Music system, fog lights etc can be fitted after market.

If we talk about base variants today fortunately almost all the cars sold in the Indian market comes with Airbag and ABS as standard and dual airbags as standard in almost all the cars costing more than 5Lac ex showroom.
Now there are two types of base variant according to me:
Variants which are made by the manufacturers to attract customers through their entry level pricing.
Some of the well specced cars in this category includes:
▪︎Rapid Rider Plus
Comes with Dual airbags, ABS,Automatic Climate Control,6.5" Touchscreen HU with Android Auto and Apple Car play.
▪︎Creta EX Petrol
Comes with all the features mentioned in Rapid Rider Plus minus the ACC but gets DRL and Projector Headlamps.
The other type of base variant are those which were actually the mid variant's of the car it replaces or on which these cars are based on:
Example:
▪︎New Honda City V(This was the mid variant of the 4th gen City)
▪︎XL6 Zeta(All features of Top Spec Ertiga is carried over in the base variant of XL6)
▪︎Glanza G(Based on the one below top variant Zeta of the Baleno).

XUV 3OO 1.2 W4 (Petrol) @ 9.86L and 1.5 W4 (Diesel) are really good base variants knowing the fact that it's one of the safest cars sold in the country (not calling the safest as it would have only 2 Airbags in the base variant). The features cover most basic requirements from an AC, PS, all four power windows and electric operated power windows.

Would be a good upgrade for a Wagon R owner me thinks.

Was high on my list, COVID ripped apart all my wishlists.

PS: Prices are on road Mumbai obtained from Carwale website.

Nissan kicks 1.5 NA petrol XV(just 50k above base) is much loaded than competition, it even gets machine cut alloys.
My other picks are: Rapid rider, new City V, seltos/creta twins.

I understand origin of this question would be "value for money", hence the choices.