[Mr.Perera]

Originally Posted by GTO

Honda City 1.5L Petrol
Attachment 2077192

Originally Posted by GTO

BMW 330i
Attachment 2077196

Is it just me who thought the Honda City and the BMW 3 series look like Ramesh & Suresh

[cUjO]

Any of the cars listed would look normal in front of a Vcross modified or not. It’s a one of kind vehicle with infinite mods available and much more capable than anything else in the price range.

[Flash777]

When we could even have the Hyundai Grand i10 Nios qualify as a Hot Hatch, what wrong did the Tata Nexon EV do???

Nexon EV remains one of the quickest cars in the 15 Lacs segment with dynamics sorted out. Nowadays we cannot talk about performance and leave out EVs when they are setting their own benchmarks against even sports cars.

[charanreddy]

The BMW 330i floats my boat from this list .

Class leading Power and torque rating along with RWD is a compelling aspiration.

The others , though bumped on power like the duster do not appeal to me. The only exception is the dashing and improved thar as a second car in the family .

[GTO]

Originally Posted by karanddd

Honestly it's a very sad line up. There's almost no affordable car in India that can do 0-100 in 8 seconds even, which is considered dog slow in most countries with a genuine enthusiast scene.

As I drive more & more cars, I have come to realise that it's not just the acceleration that leaves an impression on me. It's how the car makes me feel & how enjoyable it is; these two factors have nothing to do with a 0 - 100 time of <8 seconds. I've driven the cars on the opening page on the same roads that I've driven brands like AMG, ///M, Ferrari, Porsche and so on. But hey, I still had a blast!

I don't think 300 BHP is compulsory for driving pleasure. In India, you can have a lot of fun even with 100 BHP.

[vb-saan]

Cars like the 330i always remain as an enthusiast’s choice, but I feel in this year’s line-up that old little number (Polo 1.0L TSI) from VW deserves a special mention. It’s amazing how timeless that car looks, and this will be my choice if I am looking for a peppy small car in India.

Never thought I will say this about a Mahindra, but that new Thar looks like a real special one.

[TurboGuy]

Glad to see the decade old German trio in the list even in 2020. It's surprising other manufacturers can only dream of the robust build and dynamics of a Polo/Vento/Rapid. Nevertheless to say, the brilliant 1.0 TSI + MT combo is way ahead of competition when it comes to sheer joy of driving.

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by GTO

As I drive more & more cars, I have come to realise that it's not just the acceleration that leaves an impression on me. It's how the car makes me feel & how enjoyable it is...In India, you can have a lot of fun even with 100 BHP.

Sure, 100 bhp is more than enough. I can totally relate to this as I drive a 2015 Fiesta with 90 HP and it sips the mucky stuff.

But the fact of the matter is that, the chassis is nowhere near capable on our mainstream cars as it once was. In the quest for more room inside the cabin and the need for fancy kit that pop on those brochures, the basics were left behind. The steering is predictable at best and the suspension is in no man's land after trying to make it as soft and tall as possible. And the less said about build quality, the better! It is not just about the 'thud' from the doors. You can feel the build of a car when you are covering ground fast even on a straight-line. Some cars make you feel as if it was built from a single piece of stone on the road which adds to the confidence and make you push the car more - but not anymore.

Take the 3rd gen City and the current one for a drive and you'll know where I am going with this. Or even the Swift - the current one is not a patch on the first two generations. I was shocked when I took it for a spin. Yes, the engine is marginally better and due to the low weight, the car really picks up speed. But the engagement of driving is more to do with the fear of it taking off at any moment mid-corner. The older ones were not like this, with good rubber, the car just wanted you to push even more!

Yes, the crossovers and UVs drive much better than before, but that's not say much, is it?? Engines are better off in this regard as there are some incremental improvements across the board. But the rest of the car is really falling apart in the mainstream market. All the really bad ones became average or slightly above average, but we are really lacking the exceptional ones below 15 lakhs - the ones which will make you get up from that sofa and drive without any reason!

[AirWind]

I believe the Superb Sportline deserves a mention as it is quite similar to an Octavia RS albeit with a lower price point, lower power but not slow, better space, etc.,

[Axe77]

I drove a friends brand new polo automatic yesterday. Like literally delivered less than a week ago.

It looks positively dated, the interiors are ordinary, but man, put the foot to the pedal and the smoothness, the sophistication in the engine and its power delivery and the sheer solid feeling - all just felt amazing. My only disappointment is that if they were gunning for a performance oriented DNA, giving paddle shifters would have definitely been a nice extra touch.


Other manufacturers are making great cars and Hyundai for one definitely pushing the envelope on specs as well as engine. The new creta seems amazing as does the new i20 on paper at least. But that German feel in the VAGs still sit a clear cut above the rest.

[Mat095]

Originally Posted by GTO

As I drive more & more cars, I have come to realise that it's not just the acceleration that leaves an impression on me. It's how the car makes me feel & how enjoyable it is; these two factors have nothing to do with a 0 - 100 time of <8 seconds. I've driven the cars on the opening page on the same roads that I've driven brands like AMG, ///M, Ferrari, Porsche and so on. But hey, I still had a blast!

I don't think 300 BHP is compulsory for driving pleasure. In India, you can have a lot of fun even with 100 BHP.

Precisely! It isn't related to the speed or the amount of horsepower your car has for eg: A Polo GTI or Mini JCW would be more fun to drive on our roads than say a Ferrari or a Porsche(I'm only talking about our city roads, on a track day you should still take your Porsche)

[shikhar10882]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

......
It is not just about the 'thud' from the doors. You can feel the build of a car when you are covering ground fast even on a straight-line. Some cars make you feel as if it was built from a single piece of stone on the road which adds to the confidence and make you push the car more - but not anymore.
.....
Take the 3rd gen City and the current one for a drive and you'll know where I am going with this. Or even the Swift - the current one is not a patch on the first two generations.
.....
But the rest of the car is really falling apart in the mainstream market. All the really bad ones became average or slightly above average, but we are really lacking the exceptional ones below 15 lakhs - the ones which will make you get up from that sofa and drive without any reason!

Little off topic now... but.. Could not agree more on this one!!!
There are cars, which were pure delight, and somehow have vanished from the market and if the subsequent generations have come, they somehow lack the driver connect and engagement.
While not absolutely thrilling drives, but somehow the driver connect and engagement were amazing in the earlier generation of Premier Padmini.
The next era, in my opinion, was the golden era, when a lot of driver oriented cars were introduced, which offered the fun to drive experience, and not in any particular order, this included cars like:
- Maruti Zen
- Swift
- Cielo
- Esteem
and the enthusiasts' favorites:
- City iVtech
- Mitsubishi Lancer
- Palio 1.6 sport

After that, barring few, like:
Polo GT-TSI
T-Jet+
The driver oriented cars have, in general, moved out of the budget of the masses.

[Turbokick]

With cars like Fiesta (Classic and global), Figo 1st generation, Fiat siblings (Punto, Linea and Abarth), JTP brothers etc out of the market and products from Maruti & Hyundai (not that the products are bad in anyway) making it to the list of enthusiasts with Zero or limited steering feel and response, this could be the reaction from the enthusiastic cars from previous years :

[balajisb]

Originally Posted by RavSam

The base variant of Maruti Suzuki S-Presso can be the cheapest fun to drive car replacing the last gen Alto K10.

Just don't go corner craving with it.

S-presso should not be pressed hard...it misses on the biggest S - Safety

[manishk123]

One car that really deserves to be on this list is a pre-owned BMW 530D - M sport (G30). You can easily find one for below 50 lacs. Its fantastic to drive with a really torquey engine that belts out 650NM of torque rocketing it from 0 - 100 in 5.7 seconds! Loaded to the gills with features like Launch control, M sport suspension, electronically controlled drive modes. If you can find one, don't let it get away.