[Shanky_1002]

It's a tough one to chose between Altroz and Freestyle. While the Altroz looks solidly built, freshly baked styling and feature packed with safety/ space, overall it feels like a complete package. However there is apprehensiveness on niggles in a fresh Tata product, it's premium pricing for a diesel and that detuned engine is a let down.

Freestyle is fun to drive, got 6 airbags, higher ground clearance and decent dynamics, overall it has a nice hot hatch potential with the right kind of mods/accessories. Whereas it's aged interiors, older design and Ford's exit from India as an individual company makes it a skeptical choice. I'll still prefer going for the Freestyle since it provides a more enthusiast oriented drive for all the missing bells and whistles I can add a few according to my taste.

[Hemantteen]

What I have observed that in almost all internet/youtube polls, majority of people will choose Tata/Mahindra. However, ground reality is always opposite.

[DieselTurbo]

With the current new generation of turbo petrols and (relatively boring) NA petrols in the hatch space. It is only giving greater incentive for buyers in the hatch space or increase their budget by 10-20% and get a lower variant Compact SUV offering a better diesel.
With petrol prices sky rocketing it only makes sense to change to a class with more Diesel engine choices. IMO if Toyota would to come in with any of its global hatch offerings with their hybrid tech and carpet bomb the segment with variants for every type of consumer it would really grab a lot of the market share lost by Maruti after moving on from their diesels.

[antz.bin]

As a late 2019 Ford Figo TDCI owner, I have voted for the Altroz.

The reasons for the change of heart are:

1. Altroz is the safer car.
2. Figo lost quite a few features during the BS6 transition. It's no longer as feature rich as the BS4 was. Altroz is better equipped.
3. Altroz is the physically larger car in almost all dimensions. Higher price is justified, and besides, it got a price cut only yesterday, so the pricing on the 1st post is not accurate.
4. Altroz didn't exist back in October (when I got mine).
5. Despite the lower power output, as a package, Altroz is the better car here.

[akaushik.in]

In my humble opinion, there are many factors that appear to function against diesel as a fuel option, especially in the small engine space, such as:

• The lowering price differential between petrol, and diesel.

• The incremental steps put forth by the government towards cleaner fuel / restrictive NOX and PM emission.

• The consumer demand. Let me explain. I have taken the liberty, here, to assume that auto manufacturers house the technology [if not in India, someplace around the world] to produce diesel engines that may comply with the Bharat Stage VI emission norms and safety standards. However, it does not seem feasible to introduce the same in the domestic market, and achieve the desired economy of scale, given the extremely low price 'value conscious' customers are willing to pay for the advantages offered by the diesel powertrain, more so in a 'price sensitive' hatchback market.

• A privileged stratum of the society, though small, is sensitive to the environment and opts to migrate away from perceived 'dirty' diesel towards petrol, CNG, hybrid, and electric mill. Let me also acknowledge that a major chunk of the population of our country, today, where automobile penetration has a long way to go, has the industry dictate the terms and make the choices for them.

Diesel.
The diesel market, at least with the small engine, is dead.

Apart from Ford Motors, the fuel mix is highly disproportionate [>95 per cent] and favouring petrol among the hatchback options.

The premium charged for the diesel option, in the small engine space, is INR 1 lac upwards. With the price of petrol at around INR 80 per litre, the difference translates to 1,250 litres of petrol or 18,750 km of drive [assuming a mileage of 15 km per litre] or about 2 years of additional drive time [assuming an average vehicle rides about 10,000 km per annum] before break even.

To add to the fiasco, there is a high cost of maintenance associated with diesel.

CNG.

In recent times, CNG has emerged as an alternate to diesel, if not for the industry, at least for the largest automaker in India: Maruti Suzuki. I recollect the share of CNG on cars like Wagon R and Celerio as 12.5 per cent of more. The Japanese player acknowledges the strategic importance of CNG and promotes it on many a forum. Closure: The subject matter relies heavily on government infrastructural support. Let's face it, not only the number of CNG fuel pumps are far below the number of diesel outlets, the rate at which it seems to surge is far too low for it to truly serve as a diesel replacement. To add to it, the government seems to skip a couple of steps and brought electric vehicles into the limelight: a good or a bad move is up for debate.

[Sudarshan_N]

Mmmm. That was indeed a tough call between Altroz and Freestyle.

But, having experienced the petrol version of the Altroz and myself owing a Diesel Nexon, I can say that Altroz- Diesel is a very desirable product, that has perfect ride & handling, along with a competent diesel engine.

Add to this the space, modern looks, safety etc that's on offer, Altroz will turn out to be a complete package in the diesel avatar and will score above the Ford.

Hence, there goes my heart and vote, to the Altroz

[aaggoswami]

Voted for Freestyle. It has an air of tough build as compared to Nios, would give Altroz an year or so to mature. Freestyle also has a nice rear bumper which actually is not flush fitting with the hatch. Nios simply has poor seats as compared to other two rivals here. Having test driven Freestyle, Ford's training became a shining star (could be dealer specific) as the sales person took us to a broken track and asked us to drive faster than normal. Usually we dont see such rougher than normal driving to be encouraged by salespersons. Reminded me an incident back in 2005 when we bought Baleno. Ikon was one of the products test driven by dad, the salesperson there asked dad to drive over bumps at regular speeds and take a note of Ford's superior suspension vis-a-vis rivals. The added ground clearance of Freestyle earns some brownie points as I have observed that road quality has deteriorated atleast on the roads I have to frequent. I also believe that Fords' engine tune is more towards driveability which is very practical. Altroz looks smashing and is outstanding from safety rating point of view. But here Freestyle takes the crown for me.

Hardly half a decade back, Liva vs Swift vs Grand i10 was a question for me. Now diesels are disappearing, but heart in heart, I appreciate diesels for that torque helping in effortless overtaking as compared to Naturally Aspirated petrol engines. Times changed quickly, quicker than expected actually thanks to BS6 and fuel prices.

[surjaonwheelz]

There's a 4th entrant, i20 Diesel.

The i20 will get a 1.5L turbocharged diesel engine (we love this one too). The 99 BHP, 1.5L diesel engine is offered only with a 6-speed manual transmission.

[amol4184]

Might sound ignorant, but are small diesel engines really that much more expensive to maintain? Sister has Renault Pulse diesel for past few years and it has needed absolutely no maintenance and still returns phenomenal mileage. It is currently clocking 1.10l kms and only major maintenance has been the tire changes.

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Might sound ignorant, but are small diesel engines really that much more expensive to maintain? Sister has Renault Pulse diesel for past few years and it has needed absolutely no maintenance and still returns phenomenal mileage. It is currently clocking 1.10l kms and only major maintenance has been the tire changes.

With modern BS4 engines, they really didn't. Especially the Renault 1.5 DCi. But with BS6 into the mix, there have been added complexities of exhaust after treatment which has led to this situation.

I feel that the situation is temporary and the rest of the group should be back soon enough. Hyundai has already brought back their Diesel engine to the Sub-4 meter segments.

What this does save us from is mediocre 1.0-1.2 l diesel engines for cars too small to warrant one (eg. i10, Tiago, KUV etc.). What remains is engines at par with Global counterparts.

If the domestic industry is well equipped in Globally accepted engines, that bears well for our
local industries. More power to indigenous manufacturers!

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by antz.bin

I feel that the situation is temporary and the rest of the group should be back soon enough. Hyundai has already brought back their Diesel engine to the Sub-4 meter segments.

So glad Hyundai brought back diesel for small cars. I have a feeling it wouldn't be too far MSIL before bring diesel back after all that anti-diesel shenanigans!

[Turbojc]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

Believe it or not, post the implementation of BS6 emission rules, there are only three diesel hatchbacks on sale in India!! These are the Tata Altroz, Hyundai Grand i10 Nios and the Ford Figo / Freestyle twins.

It's been a year now, and the situation has barely changed. A friend had just asked my suggestions for a small diesel car. I was shocked to learn only three exist today:

- Tata Altroz

- Hyundai Grand i10 Nios

- Hyundai i20

Not too long ago, consumers in this segment were spoilt for choice. BS6, MS and VW divorcing diesels, GM, Fiat, and Ford divorcing the Indian market, and our insatiable appetite for C-SUVs have collectively sounded the death knell for the diesel hatchback.

I ought to enjoy my Ritz VDi while it lasts .

[anjan_c2007]

Maruti exited this segment just after the launch of its BSVI range, saying BS VI upgraded diesels will be too pinching for the pockets in budget small car buyers. Gone are the times when buyers would buy the best selling Swift with the Fiat 1.3 MJD and boast that they are getting 22 plus kmpl during long drives.

Maruti later regretted such a decision to quit, but this exit by MSIL is still in vogue. And despite this exit MSIL still rules at #1 without hatch diesels and has about 55% share of the car market, going by numbers.

It hence shows that diesels are becoming irrelevant for the budget-hatch segment. Hyundai has two cars and Tata one here in this segment, now. The Figo is gone with Ford.

[SulemanP]

End of BS IV was one of the reasons i took a oil burner and with safety back in my mind i opted for Tiago Diesel. It does its duty as desired, post BS VI i would have opted for Altroz again because of safety aspects and not just looks & features.

@vigsom rightly said the market of petrol cars is improving cause people can easily convert them to CNG cars