[Aditya]

Skoda Slavia

Link to Official Review

Honda City

Link to List of Initial Observations

Link to Launch Thread

Maruti Ciaz

What you'll like:

• Clean styling & big footprint. Among the longest & widest sedans from its class
• Value-for-money pricing that undercuts almost all rivals
• Spacious cabin with lots of practical features. Rear legroom is particularly impressive
• Petrol variant has now improved, thanks to the new 1.5L motor
• Soft, compliant ride quality. A suspension that's tuned for comfort
• Big 510 liter boot will swallow your airport & holiday luggage
• Maruti’s excellent after-sales service, wide dealer network & fuss-free ownership experience
• Equipment such as the automatic LED headlamps, DRLs, 7" touchscreen ICE, rear sunshade, cruise control, telematics system etc.

What you won't:

• New 1.5L petrol is rather mediocre. Petrol engines of rivals are much superior
• No diesel option available after the introduction of BS6 emission norms
• 4-speed Automatic gearbox feels old & outdated
• Petrol Ciaz has gotten more expensive by 34k – 65k
• Uninvolving to drive. Enthusiasts, look elsewhere
• Average under-thigh support of the low rear seat. Also, limited rear headroom for 6 footers
• Light build & ordinary interior quality. The game has moved on with newer competitors
• Maruti has missed the opportunity of a true top-end variant with 6 airbags, sunroof, auto-wipers & more

Link to Official Review

Hyundai Verna

What you'll like:

• A true all-rounder. Styling packs appeal too
• The overall package is well-priced. Offers good value for money
• Refined diesel & petrol engines mated to smooth MTs & ATs
• Precise build & quality (including interiors) are easily among the segment best
• Suspension delivers a compliant ride & neutral road manners
• Loaded with kit! Hands-free boot, cooled seats, sunroof, rear sunshade, AutoLink etc.
• Dual airbags, ABS & ISOFIX mounts are standard on all variants. SX(O) gets 6 airbags
• Hyundai's reliability, competent after-sales & 3-year unlimited km warranty

What you won't:

• Rear seat isn't as spacious as that of the City & Ciaz. SX(O)'s hard seatback makes it worse
• Missing essentials! Reach-adjustable steering, auto wipers, auto-folding ORVMs…
• On select variants, the diesel motor carries a steep premium over the petrol (SX = 1.35 lakhs)
• Petrol AT isn't as fuel efficient as a couple of its rivals
• While the driving experience has improved, some competitors are still more exciting to drive
• Loses the rear disc brakes that the last-gen Verna was launched with. Braking feel & bite leave a lot to be desired

Link to Official Review

Link to Facelift Launch Thread

Volkswagen Vento

What you'll like:

• A well-built, robust, European sedan
• Clean and contemporary styling. Boot is superbly integrated
• Stunning turbo-petrol engine.
• Mature suspension setup. Balanced ride & handling
• Segment firsts : Reach adjust steering, gear recommender, adjustable driver armrest etc.
• All-rounded nature; Jack of all trades

What you won't:

• Electric power steering. The Vento deserves a pure hydraulic unit
• No turbo-diesel option for the torque lovers
• VW's after sales has yet to prove itself
• VW's long-term reliability and ownership costs are on the higher side

Link to Official Review

Link to Report - 2015 Volkswagen Vento Facelift

Link to 2020 Facelift Launch Thread

[GTO]

Tough choice between the Honda City & Skoda Slavia. The other 3 sedans don't even come close to these two.

The 5th-gen City is quite the all-rounder, has a smooth CVT and will be the more peaceful to own over 8 - 10 years. On the other hand, the Slavia has way more power & torque (just compare the torque / weight ratio) and European-car attributes, but is more expensive and being a Skoda, won't be anywhere as hassle-free to own. Other problems aside, that DQ200 is notorious!

In the end, I'd pick the Slavia. For one, I greatly prefer turbo-petrols over naturally-aspirated ones. Second, my general automotive preferences have moved over to the European side of things rather than Japanese. I know it won't be peaceful to own over 10 years and that DQ200 will 99% fail, but as I posted in the Virtus thread, some of us have made peace with the occasional headaches of owning European / German cars, because few others can match their driving pleasure, premium quality, high speed stability, safety etc. I am personally okay with enjoying a German / European car for 361 days of the year and enduring a headache for 4 days. It's still a 99 : 1 ratio of joy : pain.

[Tapish]

I would vote for the Verna, since I was in the same market a few months ago and went ahead with the Verna IVT over the Rapid 1.0 AT and City CVT.

My reasoning for the decision as I mentioned in my buying post (Scoop! Hyundai Verna facelift to be priced from Rs. 9.31 lakh)

Reliable – Of utmost importance. I intend to do a lot of road trips on this car and I can’t drive a car where I have a constant nagging feeling that things may go wrong.
Automatic – was looking at only TCs & CVTs. AMT’s seemed too jerky and DCT’s did not score well on the reliability front
Premium(ness) – Now this could either be in terms of how plush the cabin is and/or the features on offer, but the car had to be a step up from the i20 which is a tall ask when you see cars costing 15L on road with the flip type rear view mirrors.
Budget was largely around 10-15 L on road.
Sedans – Even though we had a few CSUVs in consideration, they were mostly to check off any tickboxes. Heart to heart, I always knew I have been a sedan person.
Space was not a constraint since the rear seats will almost never be used.
Safety – The car did not necessarily have to check all 5 stars on the NCAP. There are cars with 4*/5* rating that I will still not trust. This was more of an overarching criteria.

I love how the Slavia looks (and the Rapid), but I prefer reliability over everything else. I travel a lot on highways and would hate to be stranded anywhere. Also, since the Verna is the only car I have at the moment, I don't have the luxury of using another if the main car is in the workshop for a long period of time.

Also, on the day of the delivery, I told my wife that I have just bought a car that no one really recommends to anyone on the forum and it better be good. My car has completed more than 7000 km in the past six odd months, and I haven't regretted my purchase at all.

The negatives mentioned for Verna include low FE, but as I documented in my 6000km report (Scoop! Hyundai Verna facelift to be priced from Rs. 9.31 lakh)

Overall, the car has returned a healthy 14.9 kmpl mileage. This is from the MID and I haven't verified it. On early morning highway runs, I have been able to extract 19-20 kmpl as well.

Here goes the sole Verna vote.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Tough choice between the City and Slavia.

My pick will be….. surprise…. Honda City!!

The Skoda-VW MQB-IN platform has been extensively cost cut for India. In essence, this car at this time is at the same place that the Gen4 City was when it was launched. These companies are smart - cost cutting is mostly in places you can’t immediately see. It rears its ugly head after a couple of years. With so many reports of all kinds of issues, big and small, and with my own experience of getting burnt with the undercooked Gen4 City, I cannot in good faith recommend any new India specific VAG product for at least another 2-3 years. No amount of TSi goodness can change that.

Kushaq is no longer on my short list of cars to replace my City.

Honda on the other hand have fixed a lot of the blunders they had made 8 years back. Overall build, part quality and fit and finish are no longer a disaster. They are more as per expectations now. The iVTEC and the CVT combo is the most efficient, reliable and bullet proof one there is. Despite the sub par high speed dynamics, the Gen 5 City is my top sedan pick today. The pricing is also competent, especially the well equipped base model.

[Sangwan]

While I don't have the privilege of participating in thread right now, I would like to give my Vote to Honda City. Slavia looks smashing but so does the City. I read GTO's comment and I understand his reasons but Honda City is also fun, I remember the official review thread how good it felt while taking the engine to red line. On top of that you get Honda's fuss free ownership although it is not the same standard as of yesteryears but still as a current Honda City owner with more than 1.20 Lakh Kms on the odo there hasn't been even a single breakdown and it is just the regular service to this date and although the City can't match the European "fun" standards but it is not all that bad, you get the fuss free ownership, and also it is a beautiful looking car and makes your head turn all the time.

[Turbohead]

Too early to poll.

Virtus is coming up and I wouldn't seriously consider the VAG twins until we see 6 months of reports just to make sure the Kushaq fiasco isn't repeated.

[shancz]

Voted for the City.
And I am the one harping about the telepathic DSG and 3 lakh DSG fund

But at this point in time if I have to buy a sedan it will be a manual and if its manual I will take the brilliant 1.5 iVTEC hands down.
Also because the 7000rpm symphony might be lost in the near future but the TSI-DSG will stay on for a longer time.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Sangwan

I read GTO's comment and I understand his reasons but Honda City is also fun, I remember the official review thread how good it felt while taking the engine to red line.

Oh, the Honda City MT is as much fun as any competing German car <120 kmph. That beautiful 1.5L Vtec (best NA engine in the country IMHO) with its revv-happy nature, slick MT, excellent aural pleasure at 6000+ rpm, nice steering and chuckable nature (you can really throw it around) deliver a lot of driving pleasure. On the other hand, above 120 kmph, the rear isn't planted (gets bouncy & affects driver confidence), while the mid-range of an NA petrol simply cannot match the mid-range punch of a turbo-petrol.

But then, we do spend 99% of our driving time under 120 kmph and thus, you can have almost as much fun in the City as any other car.

[@og_adi]

Voted for others.
After the XUV700, if there's any vehicle that has kept me waiting for its launch, it's the Virtus. Ever since the initial photos and videos of this car came out, I've only been waiting for it to hit our roads. It looks elegant and if priced similar to the Slavia, looks per se it's the Virtus that wins my heart. I agree with BHPian turbohead here on this poll being conducted too early. If this thread had started after the launch of the Virtus, it might have given a holistic impression to the reader.

[Latheesh]

Slavia looks good choice if you have a budget of ~ 20L, but looking at the Kushaq launch and quality issues it is not an easy choice.

If you have a budget of ~ 15L City is a good all rounder car. Entry-mid variants of Slavia is not vfm comparing to City. It has few shortcomings (stupid rear camera, dated infotainment, light build, noisy engine note etc.) but still a better choice than Slavia. Base variant of City has pretty much everything including 4 airbags, hill hold, ACC, cruise control, alloy wheels, push button start, DRL, fog light, front and rear ar arm rests, electric folding mirrors to name few. It has features equivalant to Slavia mid variant and is considerably cheaper.

I have City V and I paid under 13L OTR. I am not a big fan of it but I could not find anything which is close to it. Very practical car!

[sunikkat]

No doubt Slavia for me. I had driven my cousins new gen City couple of times in the highway and even with fatter tyres it did not give confidence in high speeds. Car was bouncy and felt very light. I normally drive at some good speeds on highways and hence that’s the most important parameter, which City fails. While I haven’t driven Slavia, from my experience Kushaq was impressive on highways and Slavia will surely be better. This in comparison with 1.5 vtec vs 1 TSI.

My pick would be undoubtedly 1.5 TSI and nothing comes close to that in the segment.

And as mentioned by few already once you are used to European cars it’s difficult to move out of it

[padmrajravi]

Voted for the Verna. I have not yet warmed up to the Skoda 2.0 and will keep advising people not to go for a Skoda based on my previous experiences with them. My choices were only Verna and City and I consider Hyundai to be more reliable than Honda these days. The diesel AT or petrol IVT will be my pick. Hyundai service centers are everywhere and in the case of a problem with a specific dealership, there is always the possibility of going to a different one in the same city. Honda is not yet in that league yet.

[SoumenD]

Voted for Others. Simple reason: Safety

This segment would touch ~20L & unless it’s 5* GNCAP, it has no business (IMHO) being in that segment. Was disappointed with City’s GNCAP rating (unstable bodyshell). If Slavia/Virtus can better City’s rating, I would give them a serious consideration. I have no hopes from Maruti & Hyundai so ciaz/verna are out. Till these(Virtus/Slavia) are tested, I would pay the extra premium for XUV7OO

[bravo82in]

Voted for city because we keep cars for 10-12 years. Long term reliability matters. Thankfully Honda offers 10 years of warranty. I am a sedate driver so Slavia is not my cup of tea.
However for an enthusiastic driver who is willing to part away with this Gem from Škoda at 5 years Slavia is a better choice. Nothing beats the driving dynamics of a European car
Mind : City
Heart : Slavia

[The Rationalist]

I just test drove the 5th generation Honda City CVT yesterday. I liked the way it handles, the steering feedback is nice and the handling was good, albeit not upto the level of the Ford’s we own. My Ford takes the corners better and has a better acceleration. Build quality is not that great, but not too bad either (just like my Aspire). The doors aren’t that confidence inspiring, although GNCAP 4* rating for previous City is assuring. With a kerb weight of 1124 for City and 1258 for Slavia, the latter would feel more well built I feel. Haven’t driven Slavia/Virtus, but the City will be a tough competition to the 1.0 litre versions for sure. I don’t think City can hold against the 1.5 L versions.