[yaleen]

Looking at the options, some are cars I would buy or that I like. But for me COTY should be from objective perspective, something which is a great car in its own right and brings something extraordinary to the table. Some of the cars like Tucson and Scorpio N are great cars, but looks to be an incremental upgrade and nothing special about them.

Few of my options were:

1. Tiago EV: Gamechanger in the EV market and if Tata can bring in economies of scale to bring price down by further 2-3L, would be the exact mass market car required for generating spurt in EV vehicles in India.

2. Virtus/Slavia twins: Gamechanger in the Sedan market, with the higher GC and safety. This was a spark in the dwindling sedan market, dominated by the Honda City, which addressed 1 key reason for rise in crossovers/SUVs; which is higher GC required for the bad roads in India.

3. Grand Vitara/Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder: Gamechanger in the Hybrid market, bringing this to Indian market in a complete package. Size of the cars, features, safety (assuming), mileage are all what is asked by people who are looking to buy cars. This may not be mass market due to pricing, but something which can lead to drop in Diesel car sales, bring in hybrid awareness and success of which can cause other manufacturers to start bringing their variants.

So my choice for this years COTY is Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder (Strong Hybrid). Choosing Hyryder over Grand Vitara since Toyota manufactures the cars and engines. This is something which can shock market by bringing in Hybrid to replace Diesels by offering similar mileage with better comfort, lower noise, vibrations. There have been other Hybrids such as Camry and Honda City, but have not generated too much buzz yet. These cars may be the catalyst for bringing in Hybrid revolution in India.

[pms]

Voted for Hyundai Tucson

A very balanced car with a powerful torquey diesel engine that ticks right most of the boxes plus ADAS, which is more than a gimmick. If you are still wary of German luxe badges this is the one to go.

[arunedwin]

Urban Cruiser Hyryder wins my heart.
Even though i’m not going to buy for its lack of rear head room(being a 6 footer).In the present time of ever increasing petrol prices and dismal FE of turbo petrols,Hyryder is a bold move by Toyota to bring in the likes of a SUV with reasonable street presence,hybrid engines and good FE.It’s also a welcome move by toyota into the more affordable price bracket.Hope the vehicle maintains the famed characteristics of toyota’s build and reliability.
Guess the turbo petrols are still winning the hearts of enthusiasts before we finally get evolved into EVs.

[naadopaasaka]

Voted for the Tiago EV.

The Scorpio-N and the Hyryder are other favourites. So far as the Hyryder is concerned, I don’t like the shared DNA with the Grand Vitara. Joint projects like this seem to result in compromise products.

Odd as it may sound, I think the Scorpio-N ought to have been expected. It is a fabulous package, no doubt. But, after the XUV700, I would have trusted Mahindra to bring out a competitive and really impressive body-on-frame car like the Scorpio-N. So as wonderful as that vehicle (promises to be) is, I still pick the Tiago EV simply because it made EVs affordable for the first time.

I picked the Tiago EV for what it did to the market rather than what it is as a vehicle per se.

[DRPSREDDY]

For the first time in a long time there is no new vehicle from TATA Motors.

No new vehicle launch is due or expected from TML till the next year or longer I presume. Only refreshes of existing models.

[dust-n-bones]

Great cars this year - all of them on the polling list.

My vote goes to Tata Tiago EV. 2022 is the watershed year in which Tata has proved that a plugin electric is no more a gimmick, no more an import thrown-in to test waters, but a serious contender in the 'What Car' threads.

In a very price sensitive country, with barely any EV infrastructure, Nexon and Tiago still blaze ahead and leaves a trail for (hopefully) many others to follow in 2023 and beyond.

Standout product for me.

[ajayc123]

Voted for Tiago EV, as it has set the tone for expanding the EV options in a lower price range.

I was looking forward to the strong hybrids, but somehow, I was not impressed by the overall package (the dealbreaker being the 3 cyl powertrain).

Scorpio-N was a big one, but that powertrain is old school for me.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Will Mahindra score the first hatrick in the history of Team-BHP awards? Very likely!

Speaks volumes about how the company has been getting it's product positioning spot-on! The waiting lists on these new age Mahindra products (Thar - winner of 2020, XUV 7OO - winner of 2021) are also proof that products can appeal to both the enthusiasts and the mass market as well.

I would have gladly bought one if it squeezed into my parking lot (where the Compass is the absolute maximum size that could be parked). For that desirability factor- my vote goes to the ScorpioN. Why not the Vitara Brezza or Hyryder, despite being two of the most revolutionary products in the list? Simply because they don't make me excited to try them out or own one.

[Jas21]

Would have voted for the Honda City e:HEV, since it is not in the list, I voted for Scorpio-N.

I love Hybrids and the best Hybrid in the country right now is Honda City e:HEV (Non-Luxury, south of 40 Lakh mark). Even the Toyota HyRyder and Maruti Grand Vitara reviews say that City's Hybrid is more sophisticated and seamless.

Now coming to Scorpio-N, Scorpio-N is a much improved Scorpio, and addresses the ride quality to a great extent. I am hopeful on the Crash test report, as well, just like all Mahindra launches in recent times. Some much welcomed Tech and creature comfort additions complete the package. Its like Ruggedness meets Sophistication (well, relatively speaking!)

Side note: I understand that Honda City e:HEV is not an all new car by Team-BHP definition. However, we do have Tiago-EV in the list. Is it an all new car? Because, if its there because of the new power-train then same holds true for Honda City e:HEV. I might be ill informed, hence asking. TIA!

[haribalram]

I voted for Scorpio-N. The car, the hype and the brand made it easier for me.

My next best choices:

1) Tiago EV - This could be a real game changer in the Indian market for a nominal costing EV.
2) HyRyder & Grand Vitara twins - Through their strong hybrids, they are providing a compelling transitional path.

[chaotic]

Voted for Toyota Hyryder!
It was a tough choice this year, really like the Virtus and Slavia, and also ScorpioN, however, they didn’t really do anything new for me. On the other hand, Hyryder and Grand Vitara have probably managed to kick start a hybrid revolution in India.
Time will tell if this becomes a turning point in Indian automotive history, much like the introduction of Nexon EV, but far broader in reach.

[yashg]

I voted for Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder. Out of all these, if I had put my money and buy one, that's the one I'd get. Just the right balance of features and performance. Would have loved better build quality and boot space but you can't get everything in life. Till we get proper EV infra, hybrids are a way to go. Hyryder gets my vote over Grand Vitara simply because the hybrid power train is from Toyota and I liked the styling better than Suzuki.

Special mentions -

Citroen C3 - Nice little compact car. Good looking and good packaging overall.

Hyundai Tucson - Great upgrade, but priced too high. If it had been priced sensibly, it would have been my pick.

Kia EV6 - Amazing world class EV, but priced way too high.

[narayans80]

Toyota Hyryder - Toyota owns the hybrid technology, so no credit for Grand Vitara. The first proper hybrid that the mass market is genuinely interested in plonking their money on. Basically taught Honda what they should have done with the City eHEV.

The Hyryder launch was important, as it established to the mass market that hybrid are the way forward for the non-BEV use cases. It has partly addressed apprehensions leading to the Hycross launch.

[cka]

Voted for Slavia as I really enjoyed driving it. As rightly said, it takes guts to launch a sedan in SUV crazy market.
I wanted to vote for Scorpio N and even had booked one, but cancelled as I hated the ride quality. However looks like this will be 2nd consecutive win of COTY for Mahindra.

[GRAND23]

My Vote goes to Toyota Hyryder.
Infact, my vote is for all hybrid cars including Suzuki hybrid and Honda eHEV hybrid. I have chosen Toyota car specifically for its looks and pricing.

Although we got pretty good new car releases this year, I personally believe hybrid cars are the most relevant cars as on today and for few more years. The upcoming norms of diesel engines will only make things worse. The days are not far where people will trade off their diesel cars to hybrid cars. It's coming fast.

If I am buying new car in coming days, then it will be hybrid for sure. I am big fan of diesel engines. Unfortunately, I have to ditch them.