[GTO]

To be frank, this year was a bit difficult to vote as the choice (for me) wasn't as obvious as last year (XUV700). Even my post last year on this thread was so much shorter & the vote was a no-brainer for me. There have been a lot of good car launches this year & the market is getting very competitive. No place in India for average or mediocre cars anymore. The game has moved 2 levels higher.

To me, the standout picks are:

I love the Kia Carens for its styling (especially that funky face), brilliant space packing, comfortable suspension, engine & gearbox options and features. Have recommended a lot of Carens to people and they are all happy with the purchase.

I love the Slavia & Virtus for being so much fun-to-drive, the guts to launch great sedans in a market that is losing interest in them, the beautiful 1.5 TSI, sorted suspension and top safety (going by the 5-star GNCAP rating of their crossover siblings).

I love the Scorpio-N & thoroughly enjoyed my road-trip in it (link to my review). Brand "Scorpio" is an iconic nameplate & has a massive following, whether in urban India or rural. The product is vastly improved from the outgoing model & Mahindra has been hitting consistent Tendulkar-like "sixers" with their new SUV range (XUV700, Thar, Scorpio-N, XUV300).

I like the Grand Vitara & Hyryder solely for bringing hybrid tech to the segment. I'm a big believer of "hybrids" as they can be mass-produced today and can instantly double the FE of most cars & reduce emissions. EVs going mainstream is at least a decade away. EVs are a pipedream today for 90% of the country.

The Tucson is an all-rounder and I love it. A sorted crossover offering an eye-catching funky design, technology (including ADAS), features, Hyundai reliability, great to drive, comfortable suspension, brilliant Diesel AT and a petrol option (which is admittedly the lesser impressive motor as its a boring NA and not a turbo-petrol). It's my top pick in the segment.

The C-Class & EV6 are brilliant launches and show the ambitions of their respective parents. The EV6, specially. It's way better than the BMW EVs launched in India. Says a lot about how aggressive Kia is.

After putting a lot of thought into this poll for a full day, I am voting for the Scorpio-N. Main reasons = Its importance & relevance to the market, being a tough & brilliant SUV and having old-school body-on-frame toughness in a sea of crossovers. Driving it does make you feel special and it's a different "kick" from the car-like crossovers.

A good year for the Indian car market. Stiff competition & better cars only make things better for you & me...the actual customers in the market . Regardless of which car wins the Team-BHP COTY award, I'm very happy with the way 2022 turned out to be. Here's to a rocking 2023 as well .

[ike]

I chose the Scorpio-N, Mahindra has retained the essence of the old car while improving it vastly, like every other SUV they have launched.

[skarthiksr]

Why Honda City e:HEV doesn't feature in the list? Is it because the sales number are very poor?

[AYP]

Voted for the Hyundai Tucson. Yes, it maybe overpriced by a few lakhs but that 2.0 diesel with 184 BHP and 416 NM of torque is very difficult to ignore. In the absence of the VAG 2.0 diesels, purely from an engine perspective, this is the 'enthusiasts' choice in the segment. I do wish that they had offered black interiors in India(like the US) as the current black and beige theme doesn't gel as well with the interior theme as does the all black theme. I am grateful to Hyundai for their continued patronage to diesel engines unlike the 'experts' from Germany.

I also wish that Hyundai offers the next-gen Elantra in India as well. The Elantra with a 2.0 diesel would be 1 heck of a car though in all probability, this shall never happen.


In the absence of the Tucson, my choice would have come down to either the VAG sedan twins or the Scorpio-N. Between the twins, even though I like the looks of the Virtus more(and I also prefer the VW badge), I'd pick the Skoda Slavia as it offers the customers the 1.5 MT combination. Kudos to VAG for keeping the mass market sedan segment alive and 'kicking'. The Scorpio-N is a very good vehicle but having driven the MT version and being a sedan guy, I knew instantly that this isn't the car for me. In comparison, I really enjoyed driving the XUV 7OO and the Jeep Compass.

EVs and the hybrids do not excite me for now(have driven the Verito EV ) and the other options in the poll aren't enticing enough. Though I do appreciate Tata for launching the Tiago EV at a price affordable for a middle class person.

[bajoseph04]

Originally Posted by skarthiksr

Why Honda City e:HEV doesn't feature in the list? Is it because the sales number are very poor?

Yep. The City eHEV certainly deserve a nomination in the poll. Not sure why iit has been excluded?

[Gsynch]

Voted for Scorpio-N

Mahindra as a SUV marker has made huge strides in the last few years and the successes we all have seen coming out from their stable.

On why Scorpio-N, this not only carries the DNA of BOF rugged SUV for all purpose usage, there is also a huge improvement in the cabin ambience & interior quality and response from the market is the biggest verdict any car maker expects and accepts.

Its back to back COTY for Mahindra!

[PreludeSH]

To me its the year that has jump started the Hybrid cars. Starting from Honda City, then the Hyryder twins and ending with the HyCross. I think these have started the trend to move away from dirty diesels and offer higher refinement. They enable the majority driving in cities to have good mileage and lower emissions which are very important for the planet.

So I voted for the HyRyder.

[Asish_VK]

Although I liked Carens for its practicality + features , Grand Vitara/ Urban Cruiser for the hybrid tech, I have voted for Tata Tiago EV for bringing a proper EV closer to the reach of public at an affordable price, without much compromise on practicality.

[DCEite]

I would pick Skoda Slavia, but in its 1.0 TSi AT avatar. An all rounder with equally good city and highway driving dynamics and looks to die for.

I would have loved to vote for the 1.5 DSG, but the gearbox is a let down in terms of reliability.

Tiago EV comes next as a super affordable EV with good range.

Would never pick Citroen C3 for the shocking lack of equipment (not even a Tachometer, hello ? ) and sparse after sales network.

[ashis89]

It was difficult to choose among ScorpioN, GV, Carens for the effort gone in bringing in cars with USPs. I chose the Tiago EV for being the cheapest and yet well-engineered EV for the masses.

[PrasannaDhana]

I am pretty sure the TeamBHP - COTY is going to be Scorpio N, but my vote goes to Volkswagen Virtus

Reasons :

* Elegant design (except for that unnecessary ground clearance). It is as substantial as the Jetta of the past.

* Great space management in the inside as well as boot.

* Very comfortable ride quality. Tuned for comfort over handling

* 5* Latin NCAP rating (for Indian manufactured Virtus)

* Delightful turbo petrol engines (both 1.0 as well as 1.5 TSI)

* Segment best GC - though high robs the aesthetics, ground clearance helps with tackling all kind of Indian roads without stress


I would have voted for Slavia (only because it comes with that lovely 1.5 TSI and MT gearbox), but virtus wins solely because it looks better.

[bajoseph04]

I might have considered voting for the City eHEV. But since it's not there in the list, I will choose Citreon C3 despite it's shortcomings. The C3 turbo seems to be a perfect drivers car on a budget. If I was in the market for a hatchback, the C3 would have been my first choice. It's unique looks, high ground clearance, punchy drive and the suspension all makes it a worthy contender for the car of the year 2022!

[Eddy]

The car has it's flaws, but it is the technology that will drive the future in India.

My vote goes to Toyota HyRyder. Very practical, no absolute deal breaker and decently priced too.

[ArTigor]

Voted for Tiago EV, there are absolutely no two thots on this. The VFM attribute of the Tiago EV is just hard to ignore. It basically democratizes the EV revolution in India, conversely many global players are still targeting the niche buyers, and here we have the Tiago EV which is a perfect city car from, fuel, size, ride quality, economy and ecology perspective.
Well if I even discount the fact that the excellently priced Tiago EV has made Electric Vehicles more accessible to the buyers, the overall product in itself is a great package, due to the following reasons:

• Proven robust build quality.
• Proven compliant suspension and steering setup.
• Proven Motor and Battery.
• All this from a home grown manufacturer.
• Despite being based on ICE models, wonderfully integrated.

[Dr.AD]

At the first thought, even without reading the list of options, I wanted to vote for the Toyota Innova Hycross as the COTY 2022. From the review (released just yesterday) it looks like a totally different car than the current Innova Crysta, and has enough new technology (with all the goodness of Toyota and Innova brands) to truly make it a COTY. For some reason it is not included here. Maybe because it will be actually out in 2023? Nor sure.

Anyways, but the main theme that stands out for me this year is the hybrid cars. As others pointed out in earlier posts, this year is the year when hybrids are truly arriving in India, and becoming available in mass market cars. That is the clear highlight of the year for me.

With that trend, and a trend that will only increase hereon, the two cars that truly bring this hybrid technology to mass market cars are Maruti Grand Vitara and Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder. I would pick either of these two as the COTY 2022.

Out of these two, since I have to vote for only one, I voted for Maruti Grand Vitara. This car will truly make the hybrid cars a widespread thing in India, even among mass market cars, and will only accelerate the trend of hybrid cars and will encourage other OEMs to bring in even better and more exciting hybrids to India.

I am personally not excited at all by the mediocre performance of the Grand Vitara (in fact I am disappointed with its performance). But keeping aside my personal preference, in every other sense, I believe this is a true COTY 2022.

P.S. BTW, I think this "duality" of Grand Vitara/Hyryder being counted as two separate options here (when they are essentially the same car) will artificially divide the votes here and that might paint a wrong picture. It might be better to interpret the results of this poll by combining the votes for mechanically identical cars. Just a thought.