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It's the engine, and the way they've tuned it. Fiat needs to hijack a couple of Maruti engineers.

If a car doesn't have a dead pedal, it simply goes out of my shortlist.

If I change my mind on buying a hatchback, and if I start looking at buying a sedan instead.. :) - but quite unlikely.

I'm attaching an Excel sheet which lists out the features/equipment of all the cars in our test.

Hyundai i20 1.4 Diesel --------------- 35 features
Hyundai i20 1.2 Petrol --------------- 35 features
Fiat Punto 1.4 Petrol ---------------- 32 features
Fiat Punto 1.3 Diesel ---------------- 32 features
Skoda Fabia 1.4 Diesel--------------- 29 features
Skoda Fabia 1.2 Petrol --------------- 29 features
Honda Jazz 1.2 Petrol ---------------- 27 features
Fiat Punto 1.2 Petrol ----------------- 26 features
Maruti Swift 1.2 Petrol --------------- 24 features
Maruti Ritz 1.2 Petrol ----------------- 23 features
Tata Vista 1.3 Diesel ----------------- 23 features
VW Polo 1.2 Petrol ------------------- 23 features
Tata Vista 1.2 Petrol ----------------- 23 features
Chevrolet Beat 1.2 Petrol ------------- 22 features
Hyundai i10 1.2 Petrol ---------------- 21 features
Chevrolet U-VA 1.2 Petrol ------------ 20 features
Hyundai Getz 1.3 Petrol -------------- 17 features
Ford Figo `1.4 Diesel ----------------- 17 features
Ford Figo 1.2 Petrol -------------------17 features
Fiat Palio 1.6 Petrol------------------- 16 features
Maruti Estilo 1.0 Petrol ---------------- 16 features
Maruti WagonR 1.1 Petrol ------------- 16 features
Maruti A-Star 1.0 Petrol --------------- 15 features
Fiat Palio 1.3 Diesel ------------------- 15 features
Fiat Palio 1.1 Petrol ------------------- 15 features
Maruti Ritz 1.3 Diesel ------------------ 14 features
Maruti Swift 1.3 Diesel ---------------- 13 features
Hyundai Getz 1.1 Petrol ---------------- 13 features
Hyundai Santro 1.1 Petrol -------------- 12 features
Chevrolet Spark 1.0 Petrol -------------- 12 features
Tata Indica 1.2 Petrol ------------------ 12 features
Tata Indica 1.4 Diesel ----------------- 12 features
Hyundai i10 1.1 Petrol ------------------ 9 features
Tata Nano 0.6 Petrol ------------------- 8 features
Maruti Alto 0.8 Petrol ------------------- 3 features
Maruti 800 0.8 Petrol ------------------- 1 feature

Let me know if I've made a mistake in compiling the feature list in the excel sheet.


Analysis:

- Nothing much to analyze here, but pricier cars have more equipment generally.

- Swift & Ritz Petrols are well equipped - has almost everything that you really need.

- Tata Nano surprisingly well equipped - tubeless tyres, central locking, front power windows, front fog lamps, day/night mirror and even rear fog lamps!

- Ford Figo shockingly has no rear power windows while VW Polo does not have electric mirrors.

- Fiat Punto 1.4 Petrol/1.3 Diesel are the only cars to be equipped with 195/60 R15 alloys. Skoda Fabia 1.2 Petrol/1.4 diesel are the only cars to be equipped with projector headlamps.

- Hyundai i20 1.2 petrol/1.4 diesel are the only cars to be equipped with cooled glove box, rear disc brakes and auto folding mirrors.

I'm assigning 1 pt for each feature in each car.

Ranking of cars that offer the best compromise between power, driveability, running costs, on road price, safety & equipment:

Hyundai i20 1.4 Diesel ---------------- 161 pts
Skoda Fabia 1.4 Diesel --------------- 139 pts
Tata Vista 1.3 Diesel ----------------- 138 pts
Fiat Punto 1.3 Diesel ---------------- 136 pts
Honda Jazz 1.2 Petrol --------------- 134 pts
Maruti A-Star 1.0 Petrol ------------- 134 pts
Maruti Swift 1.3 Diesel --------------- 133 pts
Maruti Swift 1.2 Petrol --------------- 132 pts
Ford Figo `1.4 Diesel ---------------- 132 pts
Maruti Ritz 1.3 Diesel ---------------- 131 pts
Maruti Ritz 1.2 Petrol ---------------- 129 pts
Hyundai i20 1.2 Petrol --------------- 123 pts
Maruti Estilo 1.0 Petrol --------------- 122 pts
Hyundai Santro 1.1 Petrol ------------ 117 pts
Chevrolet Beat 1.2 Petrol------------- 116 pts
Hyundai i10 1.2 Petrol --------------- 115 pts
Fiat Palio 1.3 Diesel ----------------- 115 pts
Chevrolet Spark 1.0 Petrol ----------- 110 pts
Fiat Punto 1.4 Petrol ---------------- 110 pts
Fiat Palio 1.6 Petrol ----------------- 108 pts
Skoda Fabia 1.2 Petrol -------------- 104 pts
Hyundai i10 1.1 Petrol ---------------- 99 pts
Ford Figo 1.2 Petrol ------------------ 96 pts
Tata Vista 1.2 Petrol ----------------- 92 pts
Maruti WagonR 1.1 Petrol ------------- 91 pts
Hyundai Getz 1.3 Petrol -------------- 90 pts
VW Polo 1.2 Petrol ------------------- 88 pts
Chevrolet U-VA 1.2 Petrol ------------ 86 pts
Fiat Punto 1.2 Petrol ----------------- 79 pts
Maruti Alto 0.8 Petrol ----------------- 79 pts
Tata Indica 1.4 Diesel ---------------- 79 pts
Tata Indica 1.2 Petrol ---------------- 75 pts
Tata Nano 0.6 Petrol ----------------- 73 pts
Maruti 800 0.8 Petrol ----------------- 72 pts
Hyundai Getz 1.1 Petrol -------------- 59 pts
Fiat Palio 1.1 Petrol ------------------ 57 pts

Analysis:

- Punto, Vista & Fabia goes up the rankings among diesels, after one considers the equipment levels in each car.

- Well equipped Swift & Ritz Petrol go up the rankings while diesels suffer because of Maruti's step-motherly treatment.

- Maruti is shifting around 4,000 A-star's a month - had it got more practicality, I'm sure the sales would have been more. A-star surprisingly well equipped when compared to other Maruti ultra-small cars.

- At the bottom, Tata Nano has started to make sense. When the production goes full stream, expect a few Maruti Alto prospects to take a close look at the Nano.

Smartcat, somehow the features and safety parameters have taken I20 and all the expensive cars way ahead, so you do as promissed need to give more weightage to pricing.

Also if would be great if there could be subgroups based on pricing.

Great Work, truly impressive.

Sorry, I missed this post. Anyway, most brochures and models don't mention this as a "safety feature" :)

Yes, grouping of cars and comparing them makes more sense. Example -

Premium Diesels - i20, Punto & Fabia - all of them are close to 4 metres in length and loaded to the gills.

Commuter Diesels - Vista, Swift, Figo & Ritz - Most of them are around 3.7 metres in length and priced around Rs. 6 Lacs. Equipment levels vary.

Premium Petrols - i20, Jazz & Polo (Same length, similar pricing)

Commuter Petrols: Ritz, i10, Beat, Figo etc - this segment brings in the volumes for the car manufacturers.

Old Gen Small cars: Santro, Spark, Estilo, Indica etc

Entry Level Small Cars: Alto, Nano, M800


A bit offtopic, but when I was looking at i20's website, it mentions that i20 uses "Motor Driven Power Steering". Is this the same as EPS? How is the steering feel of i20? I had taken a small test drive of i20 sometime back, but I had not noted the steering feel of the car. Is it light or heavy?

Another bit I forgot to mention about i20 - the brochure mentions that it is equipped with rear A/C vents. Does the Indian version really have rear A/C vents? I don't see it in the "Interior" pictures on Hyundai website..

i20 steering is very very light. One of the gripes of the i20 is that the steering lacks feel above 80 kmph

The i20 has an EPS which they call "MDPS". I have not driven an i20 yet, but from the mass opinion, it's light and does not weigh up with speed.

AFAIK, the rear AC vents on the i20 are under the front seats, which are not readily visible.

That's a bit sad, because I had lots of expectations after reading this Autocar UK article (I like to read reviews of foreign journalists on cars sold in India) -

On the road, the i20 is surprisingly composed and dynamically accomplished, especially when compared with the Getz. There’s much less body roll and it steers with neat, accurate precision. In fact, if you’ll excuse the stereotyping, it drives like a German car – not surprising since much of the high-speed and handling testing has been done in Deutschland.

+1 point to i20 if it is really there - because that is a big car feature. But under the front seats? The rear seat passengers will have a "cold feet" and a hot head!

Fantastic data points, smartcat. Eagerly awaiting your final verdict.
This will be of valuable help for the car buyers.Thanks for your effort.

Impressive stats there Smartcat.

One small request I am still not able to figure out the point system, I would recommend using percentiles for the points systems as being used in CAT, that is a more reliable and give the figures in absolute terms (with 100 being the highest).
What say?

Thanks Selva. But no proper "verdict" as such - just a guide. Because parameters like looks, interior quality, ride & handling, after sales service etc are things that need to be considered by the buyer before he signs the cheque book.

CAT system eh? Easy. Will do at the end. But explaining the points system again -

- All small cars are checked on 7 different parameters like acceleration, driveability, price, running costs, safety, features & practicality.

- There are 36 small cars in our test.

- The car that tops the list in each segment (parameter) gets 36 points while the car that is in the bottom gets 1 point. The rest of the cars get 35, 34, 33 etc points based on their ranking.

- However, in some segments like safety & features, some cars get zero points for not providing any equipment. Maybe I should have given points for seatbelts as a safety measure - but all cars are required to have seatbelts by law.

- For arriving at the final ranking, I'm adding the points each car earns in each of the 7 segments.

Basically, this is a 100% quantitative ranking system, with no subjective components.

Fantastic Smartcat. The amount of information you have put is mind boggling. You are also right in not coming out with a final verdict as that will not be a fair one, since each parameter's weightage for a consumer is not factored. So I guess this can be used a base for consumers to shortlist cars and then TD and assign their individual weightages and arrive at the verdict

And it will also help in keeping this thread relatively non-controversial. ;)


Coming back to PRACTICALITY, we now rank all the small cars based on the average rear legroom. Assuming that the front seat of each car is set half-way through, the legroom at the rear for each car would be something like this.

REAR LEGROOM:

Tata Vista 1.2 Petrol --------- 82 cm
Tata Vista 1.3 Diesel --------- 82 cm
Honda Jazz 1.2 Petrol---------- 79 cm
VW Polo 1.2 Petrol ------------ 79 cm
Hyundai Getz 1.1 Petrol ------- 77 cm
Hyundai Getz 1.3 Petrol-------- 77 cm
Chevrolet U-VA 1.2 Petrol------ 76 cm
Hyundai i10 1.1 Petrol -------- 76 cm
Hyundai i10 1.2 Petrol -------- 76 cm
Ford Figo 1.2 Petrol----------- 74 cm
Ford Figo `1.4 Diesel---------- 74 cm
Maruti Swift 1.2 Petrol-------- 74 cm
Maruti Swift 1.3 Diesel ------- 74 cm
Fiat Palio 1.1 Petrol --------- 73 cm
Fiat Palio 1.6 Petrol---------- 73 cm
Fiat Palio 1.3 Diesel---------- 73 cm
Maruti WagonR 1.1 Petrol------- 73 cm
Chevrolet Spark 1.0 Petrol----- 72 cm
Fiat Punto 1.2 Petrol---------- 72 cm
Fiat Punto 1.4 Petrol---------- 72 cm
Fiat Punto 1.3 Diesel---------- 72 cm
Hyundai Santro 1.1 Petrol------ 72 cm
Maruti Ritz 1.2 Petrol--------- 72 cm
Maruti Ritz 1.3 Diesel--------- 72 cm
Skoda Fabia 1.4 Diesel--------- 72 cm
Skoda Fabia 1.2 Petrol--------- 72 cm
Chevrolet Beat 1.2 Petrol------ 71 cm
Tata Nano 0.6 Petrol----------- 71 cm
Maruti 800 0.8 Petrol---------- 69 cm
Maruti A-Star 1.0 Petrol------- 69 cm
Tata Indica 1.2 Petrol -------- 69 cm
Tata Indica 1.4 Diesel -------- 69 cm
Maruti Estilo 1.0 Petrol------- 68 cm
Hyundai i20 1.2 Petrol--------- 67 cm
Hyundai i20 1.4 Diesel--------- 67 cm
Maruti Alto 0.8 Petrol -------- 67 cm

Note: A big flaw in measuring legroom like this is - it doesn't consider the seat height. For eg: i20 and Indica might have low average legroom, but their seat height is pretty good - so the rear seat passengers will have a good legroom. But the above data won't be able to capture that. However, we'll still consider these data points because when the seat height is good, the headroom goes down - and that is captured in the point system too.

For measuring practicality, I'm assigning equal weightage to boot space, legroom & (headroom + seat width). A car can earn a maximum of 36 points - if it tops all the four sub-parameters

PRACTICALITY RANKINGS:

Honda Jazz 1.2 Petrol -------------- 31 pts
VW Polo 1.2 Petrol ----------------- 30 pts
Hyundai Getz 1.3 Petrol ------------ 30 pts
Hyundai Getz 1.1 Petrol ------------ 30 pts
Skoda Fabia 1.4 Diesel ------------- 27 pts
Skoda Fabia 1.2 Petrol ------------- 27 pts
Tata Vista 1.3 Diesel --------------- 27 pts
Tata Vista 1.2 Petrol --------------- 27 pts
Ford Figo `1.4 Diesel --------------- 24 pts
Ford Figo 1.2 Petrol ---------------- 24 pts
Hyundai i20 1.4 Diesel -------------- 23 pts
Hyundai i20 1.2 Petrol -------------- 23 pts
Maruti Swift 1.2 Petrol -------------- 21 pts
Maruti Ritz 1.2 Petrol --------------- 21 pts
Maruti Swift 1.3 Diesel -------------- 21 pts
Maruti Ritz 1.3 Diesel --------------- 21 pts
Fiat Palio 1.3 Diesel ----------------- 21 pts
Fiat Palio 1.6 Petrol ----------------- 21 pts
Fiat Palio 1.1 Petrol ----------------- 21 pts
Hyundai i10 1.1 Petrol --------------- 21 pts
Hyundai i10 1.2 Petrol --------------- 21 pts
Fiat Punto 1.4 Petrol ---------------- 21 pts
Fiat Punto 1.3 Diesel ---------------- 21 pts
Fiat Punto 1.2 Petrol ---------------- 21 pts
Chevrolet U-VA 1.2 Petrol ----------- 20 pts
Maruti WagonR 1.1 Petrol ------------ 19 pts
Tata Indica 1.2 Petrol --------------- 15 pts
Tata Indica 1.4 Diesel --------------- 15 pts
Hyundai Santro 1.1 Petrol ------------ 11 pts
Chevrolet Spark 1.0 Petrol ----------- 11 pts
Tata Nano 0.6 Petrol ---------------- 10 pts
Chevrolet Beat 1.2 Petrol ------------ 9 pts
Maruti Estilo 1.0 Petrol --------------- 8 pts
Maruti Alto 0.8 Petrol ---------------- 6 pts
Maruti A-Star 1.0 Petrol -------------- 5 pts
Maruti 800 0.8 Petrol ---------------- 5 pts



Comments:

- Honda Jazz with its magic seats & hocus pocus tops the list, but loses out a bit because of its poor rear seat width.

- A surprise result. Hyundai Getz is one of the most practical small cars around - but this is something all Getz owners already knew.

- Although Tata cars have good rear passenger space, they have average practicality because of ordinary boot space & relatively lower heardroom.

- Maruti A-Star is hopelessly impractical for a Rs. 4 Lac plus car. The Tata Nano fares much better.

- Although Punto is close to 4 metres in length, most of that metal has been used to make the car more beautiful rather than more practical.

Practicality also should consider turning radius (to get out of those tight spots!) and a good amount of trunk space for the running about you need to do in them.

Excellent work smartcat,I just rated this thread as 5 star, just one small point though.

It is about the braking distance, where we saw that the Vista takes too long(in distance) to stop. One flaw with ACI data is that once they make a full road test of a car, in this case in 2008 without ABS, they simply reuse the data in subsequent tests and it is not updated. I cannot imagine that the ABS equipped Vista will take that long to stop. But I do not have any fact from my side as well, so I guess we need to go with what we have.

Cheers.