[Aditya]

Honda Amaze

What you'll like:

• An all-rounded compact sedan with well-priced petrol variants
• Spacious & practical interiors
• Diesel + CVT combination is unbeatable! Indisputably the segment best & smoothest
• Suspension offers comfortable ride quality with neutral on-road behaviour
• Features such as cruise control, paddle shifts (petrol AT), LED projector headlamps etc.
• 3-year unlimited km warranty, extendable to 5-years / unlimited km and Honda's unique 10-year Any Time warranty

What you won't:

• Diesel + CVT combo no longer available in the mid "S" variant. Diesel CVT VX is expensive!
• Diesel's NVH is just okay, it's not high-rpm friendly & carries a 2-lakh price premium!
• Petrol CVT is fair within the city, but rather mediocre on the highway
• Look closely and you'll find a few faults in part quality, fit and finish (uncool for a Honda)
• Tall rear passengers will find headroom to be insufficient & the fixed headrests useless
• The 175 mm tyres are too thin, while the 35-liter fuel tank is too small

Review Link

Link to Report - The 2021 Facelift

Maruti Dzire

What you'll like:

• A great looking Dzire…and an all-rounder too
• Smart packaging! Spacious, stylish & practical cabin. Boot has grown to 378 litres
• Sweet petrol. AMT available for just 50k extra
• Suspension offers a compliant ride & neutral on-road behaviour
• Impressively equipped (LED headlamps + DRLs, reversing camera, Apple & Android touchscreen ICE…)
• Dual airbags, ABS & ISOFIX child seat mounts are standard across all variants
• Maruti's widespread service network, excellent after-sales support & fuss-free ownership experiences

What you won't:

• “Z” trims are pricey. The top-end & automatics cost a million bucks!
• AMT, although improved, can’t match conventional ATs on smoothness & speed. Still gets jerky
• You can buy proper ATs (e.g. torque-converter or DCT) for the same $$$ as the Dzire AMT
• 163 mm of ground clearance & small 37-liter fuel tank do raise concerns
• Some misses (auto-dimming IRVM, skinny 165 mm tyres on L & V variants, smaller spare tyre on the Z trims...)
• No diesel is a major disadvantage in a world where petrol costs over 100 bucks / litre

Review Link

Hyundai Aura

What you'll like:

• An all-rounder of a compact sedan. Very well-priced for what it offers
• Precise build & quality (including interiors) are easily the segment best
• Turbo-petrol engine is fantastic! The top choice for a Petrol MT compact sedan
• Economical & practical BS6 diesel available. With an AMT automatic too
• Balanced road manners & easy-to-drive nature
• Features such as cruise control, wireless phone charging, rear view monitor & more
• Dual airbags, ABS & ISOFIX child seat mounts are standard across all variants
• Hyundai's competent after-sales, fuss-free ownership experiences & customisable warranty

What you won't:

• Overdone styling - particularly at the rear - is polarising (it grew on us though)
• Narrow width makes it a 4-seater. Some competitors offer more spacious cabins
• 1.2L diesel has the lowest power & torque figures in the segment. Merely 74 BHP!
• Tasty 1.0L turbo-petrol doesn’t get the DCT Automatic seen in the Venue
• Low speed ride quality is firmer than what one expects in a Hyundai. Bad roads are felt
• Some misses (auto-dimming IRVM, thinner spare tyre, non-adjustable neck restraints)
• Ordinary stereo. Hyundai’s ICE hasn’t kept up with the times (sound quality = 6/10)
• 175 mm economy-oriented MRF tyres give up easily. An upgrade is mandatory

Review Link

Ford Aspire

What you'll like:

• A very well-priced car, undercuts the competition
• Peppy 95 BHP 3-cylinder petrol is much improved over the earlier lethargic 1.2L
• Powerful & efficient 1.5L diesel. Excellent driveability too
• Mature ride quality. Also, improved handling thanks to the fatter 195 mm tyres
• Airbags and ABS + EBD across the range. Titanium+ variant gets 6 airbags, while the 1.5 AT has ESP
• Features such as that awesome touchscreen HU, auto headlamps & wipers, reversing camera etc.
• 5 year / 1 lakh km warranty with transparent + reasonable service costs

What you won't:

• 1.2L is good for a 3-cylinder engine, but the 4-cylinder 1.2s from Maruti, Hyundai & gang are superior
• Overall design (other than the handsome face) feels old & bland compared to the newer compact sedans
• Cabin width makes the Aspire suited to 4 adults, not 5
• 359-liter boot is among the smaller ones of the segment. Many others offer 400+ liter boots
• No AT in a market that clearly loves its slushboxes
• Lighter build is a departure from the usual Ford sturdiness
• Some missing essentials (dead pedal, full-size spare tyre) & some deleted (leather seats, height-adjustable seatbelts)

Review Link

Tata Tigor

What you’ll like:

• Great styling. A chic-looking compact sedan. Solid build too
• Tata has put in a lot of effort on quality and it shows
• Well-priced for what it offers; undercuts all the direct competitors
• High quality, nicely designed cabin. Lots of storage and a segment best 419-litre boot
• Good driveability, a compliant ride & neutral road manners
• Amazing 8-speaker Harman entertainment system. Sounds top class!
• Feature list with 2 driving modes, parking sensors, cooled glovebox, touchscreen ICE etc.

What you won't:

• Mediocre 3-cylinder engine. It lags behind the competition in performance & refinement
• Concerns over long-term reliability, more so of the freshly developed engines
• 6-month service interval is too frequent! A 1 year interval is the segment norm
• A rare Tata car that cannot seat 5 (best for 4 adults)
• Tata's after-sales experience remains a gamble. Service quality is far from that of Maruti & Hyundai
• No diesel is a major disadvantage in a world where petrol costs over 100 bucks / litre

Review Link

[GTO]

Whoa! Things are really confusing for the compact-sedan customer. I would buy based on engine & transmission. If I needed a:

Diesel AT, then the Amaze Diesel CVT. It is expensive, but a true all-rounder and the smoothest in the segment by a mile.

Petrol MT, the very fun-to-drive & fast Aura 1.0 turbo-petrol. It's a small rocket on the open road

Petrol AT, would pick the Aura as well

Diesel MT, the loaded Aspire 1.5L TDCi which brings smiles to the face

[AJ56]

Wouldn’t bother with any of them, any car you buy under 15-20L in today’s market is heavily compromised in or more areas (most notably power and interior quality), would get a used car or wait and save more money instead of getting an inferior product and being stuck with it for many years.

[AYP]

Manual MT-

Auro Turbo Petrol

Petrol AT-

Amaze CVT(I will avoid a faux automatic as much as I can).

Diesel MT-

Amaze

Diesel AT-

Amaze

For me, the Dzire has lost its USP, the K12 engine, since now we have Aura Turbo petrol.

The Tigor, other than the Tiago's safety rating and affordability, is unappealing to me as a package.

While the Aspire's 1.5 is punchier, it's feature set is too outdated for 2021. Even though I myself own a 2017 Figo 1.5 TDCI(remapped to Stage 1+), I'll prefer the Amaze diesel over it as it is the better package overall.

As a single car, it'd be between the Aura Turbo petrol vs the Amaze diesel manual. With chances of owning a diesel(especially the smaller ones) looking bleak in the future-

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ml#post5135641 (Is buying a Diesel Car in the next 2 years the right decision?)

I'd pick the Amaze and enjoy the combo of punchy performance and fuel efficiency.

Though after picking the Amaze, I'll definitely approach a tuner so as to enjoy those 100 horses at all speeds.

With that being said, If I was in the market with this budget, I'd pick the i20 diesel or the Polo TSI at the lower end and the Rapid Ambition or the Sonet diesel at the higher end.

Voted for the Amaze.

[gauravanekar]

I’m really not able to decide between aspire and Tiago, as the only reason why I’d sell my Figo and buy a compact sedan would be to be able to easily convert to CNG. That means it has to be petrol.
I’d also want my next car to be an AT.

Didn’t the Aspire get a slush box AT in a recent update? If yes I’d buy a Aspire or else it would be tigor as my knees go weak in front of a good music system.

[Aakash118]

Aspire will be my pick anyday. That 1.5 tdci is a real jewel of an engine. I like it’s looks too. Interiors are the only true negative point. But I’m ready to live with that. Amaze is also a good package in diesel but price is just unacceptable. Dzire and Aura are good for their impressive petrol motors, but both look hideous. Yes, I dislike Dzire’s look as much as Aura’s after it’s recent facelift. That new grill is just pathetic. Tigor is a good car but I will consider it only if I my budget is 6-7 lacs.

[Axe77]

Although I have limited visibility in this segment, my recommendation from this list would be as follows:

Manual:
Petrol: Aura
Diesel: Aspire

Automatic:
Petrol: Amaze
Diesel: Amaze

I am simply not a fan of AMTs, however accomplished they may claim to be, which is why I picked the Amaze for petrol as well.

An outside choice: ELECTRIC

Not specific to this specific comparo as listed, but if I was dabbling in this segment for any reason, I would seriously consider punting on an EV from this or a segment in the strike range (say the Tigor EV for instance). I would pick as long range as I can get in the segment purely to reduce the frequency of charging interval (longer range is always better) and even though it would be an exclusive city runabout, for the option value if it ever needs to go longer in an emergency.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Not going to touch any of them. All these pseudo sedans are highly compromised cars with way too much cost cutting. Under 10L ex showroom, my money will go to the Nexon or Kiger CVT. In case it absolutely has to be diesel, it will be the Altroz.

[KPR]

My close friend who doesn't know about car bought his first one (a sub 4m sedan) 6 months back. I was only accompanying him for the TD. We did TD of Dzire, Honda Amaze, Aura, Tigor and then Aspire. I asked him to read official teambhp reviews of all cars in contention.

In his case the clear winner was a copper brown colour Aura 1.2P SX model which was liked by the couple and their kids. Aura looks and feels like a premium offering for that 8.5L odd money. There is a bit of exclusivity with Aura on road. We in fact liked the rear design a lot. Bonus was the dealership and purchase experience with Hyundai which was truly awesome as compared to any other in our town.

[sam264_2000]

My choices would be:

1. Diesel AT - Honda Amaze CVT
2. Petrol AT - Honda Amaze CVT
3. Diesel MT - Ford Aspire or Honda Amaze
4. Petrol MT - Honda Amaze or Hyundai Aura

Overall winner - Honda Amaze and that's what I voted for.

[CafeRacer16]

Originally Posted by AJ56

Wouldn’t bother with any of them, any car you buy under 15-20L in today’s market is heavily compromised in or more areas (most notably power and interior quality), would get a used car or wait and save more money instead of getting an inferior product and being stuck with it for many years.

I don't think its a correct assumption since Tiago, Nexon, XUV300, Ecosport etc. aren't compromised products.

I do concur with your view of getting a used car but its something that is not feasible for everyone for a variety of reasons:
- High cost of maintenance of most of the vehicles that you can afford with a 10-15 lakh budget in the used market
- Nothing beats the peace of mind that comes with a fresh set of wheels

[sramanat]

Honda Amaze seems to be the clear winner at the time of my voting. While this should be heartening for Honda, I hope they take the learning from this to the rest of the line-up.
The reason people voted for Amaze seems to be that Honda still has a good edge in convenient/fuss-free ATs and utilization of space. The negative is clearly in "fit and finish" which is somewhat dampened in this segment with low expectations. If they can
1. bring ATs to WRV
2. launch a 4m+ SUV with prices starting at City's mid level
3. bring back Mobilio/BRV with AT to take on XL6/Ertiga on one end and Innova at the other end
their fortunes will surely turn around...

[quantobigboot]

No offence to any owners, but I would not look at any options in this segment and rather move up to the the Sub - 4m SUV segment or the proper 4m sedans.
Among these options only though, I would choose the Tigor. It is the best looking and safest of the lot, has all the features one needs. It's only weakness is the engine. It also has an EV option now!

[Sivacar]

Voted for Aspire, sole reason being for the recent introduction of torque converter AT

[Aravind_M92]

I do have noted that the Diesel CVT has a derated engine output as compared to the manual counterpart. Is this because the CVT belt is not suited for higher torque and is it the same box from City CVT?