[Iconoclast]

Originally Posted by arjan3

Hi Fellow members,

This is my first post on the forum. I am planning to replace my 2016 Honda City Petrol with a new car . I am currently in a dilemma . I have taken test drive of the City Hybrid and I very much like the smoothness of the hybrid system . Now here comes the confusion - Does it make sense to purchase the Hybrid over normal Petrol version ? Considering the price difference of almost 5 lacs over the normal version ? My current running is around 1000 kms per month . I haven’t shortlisted the VAG twins simply because of reliability reasons .

Whilst I can understand that the City Hybrid will have a smoother drive especially at lower speeds owing to the battery besides being more planted at the rear (again due the weight of the battery), looking at things purely from a commercial standpoint - it doesn't make sense. Whilst the City Petrol will give a mileage of around 15, the Hybrid may give a mileage of ~22 kmpl. If this is the case, it'd be 10+ years before you break even on 5 lakh, assuming a 7-8% increase in fuel prices annually.

I admit there's a concern with the reliability of the VAG twins. You can check out the 1.0L TSI with the TC gearbox along with the max. possible extended warranty - to give you the necessary peace of mind.

[true_sedan]

I’ve been racking my head over the past few months to select my next car. I have a Virtus GT and a 10 year i20 diesel Asta which everyone in family absolutely loves. But recently it has started to show its age and we are planning to augment our garage with a third car. We absolutely have no plans to sell the i20.

Cars considered so far:
1) Hyundai Verna 1.5 Turbo MT SX(O)
2) Honda City ZX MT
3) Open to suggestions

My requirements and usage:
1) The car will be used extensively: 15k kms per year if not more.
2) 50-50 highway and city usage.
3) Should allow for quick overtakes in the hills.
4) FE should be decent. I feel 13-14 kmpl city mileage is decent.
5) Reliability. I know reliability and performance in most cases is mutually exclusive. But I’m a sucker for performance.
6) This will be our last ICE car and want to hold on to it for as long as possible.
7) Could be either petrol or diesel. Don’t care about news of government ban.
8) Comfortably seat 5 people.
9) Only a manual transmission. No automatics were considered except City hybrid.
10) ADAS is not mandatory.

Hyundai Verna:
The showroom experience was positive and the dealer obliged to multiple TD requests. Test drove the DCT and MT variants. Absolutely loved the exhilarating performance and car just egged on to be revved hard. But a big no to DCT or any Automatics as we already have a DSG in the stable. The cabin felt ample spacious for 5 people(my biggest concern with midsize SUVs). And it’s a Hyundai, hence loaded to the gills. My biggest concerns is from my previous experience with the i20 - “Hyundai is cheap to buy but outright expensive to own, maintain and repair outside warranty.”

Positives:
+Powerful engine
+Well built
+Feature loaded

Neutral:
*Looks. Wife, mom, dad and sis loved it. I’m just ok.

Negatives:
-Long term reliability is a big ?
-City fuel efficiency. BHPians can help me here. I’m not sure if a 1.5 turbo petrol with MT will give a better mileage compared to a DSG.

Honda City:
Again very positive showroom but the test drive car was severely dinged and scratched both inside and outside. Before I begin I absolutely have no clue about owning a Honda because no one in my family or even the first circle has ever owned one. My initial experience was positive the car looked good and the seating comfort I felt was the best in segment. But the overall fit and finish, door heft felt like a tin can. It felt light weight to drive especially after back to back test drives with verna on the same day. Only my dad liked the performance of the Honda City because it felt sedate to drive at low rpm’s. Brakes felt the best between the two. Even with smaller section tyres, I felt city had more grip and a reassuring feel when braking.

Positives:
+Reliability is known
+Plush seat comfort
+Brakes
+Comparatively cheaper to maintain

Neutral:
*FE - Not sure if it will give better FE compare to Verna in city driving conditions. Again help would be appreciated here.

Negatives:
-Felt sedate throughout the power band except when nearing red line.
-ICE felt laggy and looked out of place.
-Light weight feel

Or is there any other car that BHPians recommend based on the requirements above? I’m open to any car in the 20 lakhs range.

Other cars considered yet to test drive - City hybrid V variant, upcoming Kia Seltos.

Any help would be appreciated.

[bijims]

Originally Posted by true_sedan

Or is there any other car that BHPians recommend based on the requirements above? I’m open to any car in the 20 lakhs range.

Other cars considered yet to test drive - City hybrid V variant, upcoming Kia Seltos.

Any help would be appreciated.

Considering your requirements, the Honda City Hybrid would be the better choice among sedans owing to the fact that you do own a VW Virtus GT DSG,
The Hybrid City has good performance and mileage too, but you would be having 2 sedans in your garage.

Going for the Verna ain't the best choice for a 3-car garage either considering you already have a well-performing Virtus,

The best option would be the upcoming Kia Seltos which would complete your garage with an SUV. If you are willing to stretch your budget a bit, A Diesel XUV700 would be a good choice too.

[FAIAAA]

Finally, the right apple to apple comparison. Posted this on the Verna thread as well.

https://youtu.be/HXYZKSnszAk

[ABeeBytes]

Originally Posted by true_sedan

I’ve been racking my head over the past few months to select my next car. I have a Virtus GT and a 10 year i20 diesel Asta which everyone in family absolutely loves. But recently it has started to show its age and we are planning to augment our garage with a third car. We absolutely have no plans to sell the i20.

Other cars considered yet to test drive - City hybrid V variant, upcoming Kia Seltos.

Any help would be appreciated.

Since you already have a GOOD sedan and premium hatch in your garage, why are you not looking at the cSUVs to have a complete lineup.
Since you're in no hurry, My suggestion would be to wait for the Seltos & Creta facelift by early next year and take a call.

[mgastor2022grey]

Originally Posted by true_sedan

I’ve been racking my head over the past few months to select my next car. I have a Virtus GT and a 10 year i20 diesel Asta which everyone in family absolutely loves. But recently it has started to show its age and we are planning to augment our garage with a third car. We absolutely have no plans to sell the i20.
Any help would be appreciated.

Hi BHPian, seems the MG Astor would be perfect for you! ADAS, panoramic sunroof, premium interiors, FE of about 15-16kmpl in Manual Variant and the reliability is its ups. Being an Astor owner myself, I would definitely suggest it to you after 1.5 years and 30000 kms of happy touring.

However, seating 5 people will be quite a task, and driving feel is a little understated.

If driving feel is very necessary, go for the new Kia Seltos. It also gets a panoramic sunroof and ADAS, but just misses on the safety factor. But here also, seating 5 people will be a challenge.

If seating 5 people is a must, go for something bigger like the Harrier or the Hector. Driving feel is adequate and it can easily seat 5 people.

Hope this helps!

[aseem23]

Originally Posted by true_sedan

Cars considered so far:
1) Hyundai Verna 1.5 Turbo MT SX(O)
2) Honda City ZX MT
3) Open to suggestions

My requirements and usage:
1) The car will be used extensively: 15k kms per year if not more.
2) 50-50 highway and city usage.
3) Should allow for quick overtakes in the hills.
4) FE should be decent. I feel 13-14 kmpl city mileage is decent.
5) Reliability. I know reliability and performance in most cases is mutually exclusive. But I’m a sucker for performance.
6) This will be our last ICE car and want to hold on to it for as long as possible.
7) Could be either petrol or diesel. Don’t care about news of government ban.
8) Comfortably seat 5 people.
9) Only a manual transmission. No automatics were considered except City hybrid.
10) ADAS is not mandatory.

Hey, Only two options for you Honda City Hybrid, and New Kia Seltos. The top variants of both will cost you a bit more than 20 lakhs, but both are competent vehicles. Maybe you can consider lower variants with no ADAS to stay under 20 lakhs. Honda City Hybrid will give you safety, 20+ FE, Reliability, Comfort, etc, and Kia Seltos might not be able to match Honda City's Hybrid FE, but it will give you several segment-first features. Consider taking a test drive of both options.

[true_sedan]

Honda is offering me a City Hybrid V variant with 1 lakh rupee discount. The catch being the car is an April 2023 manufactured one. Should I be accept the offer? My biggest fear is the city hybrid has a Li-ion battery that has been sitting idle for close to 4 months without usage. Will this impact the battery life significantly?

[CarNerd]

Votes in decreasing order:

Honda City - 29.4%

Volkswagen Virtus - 27.9%

Skoda Slavia - 20.17%

Hyundai Verna - 18.88%

Maruti Suzuki Ciaz - 3.43%


June Sales in decreasing order

Hyundai Verna - 4001 (37.48%)

Volkswagen Virtus - 1812 (16.97%)

Maruti Suzuki Ciaz - 1744 (16.33%)

Skoda Slavia - 1639 (15.35%)

Honda City - 1478 (13.84%)

Clearly, the City's popularity in this forum does not show in sales numbers while the Verna which has less votes than City has 2.7X the sales of City. Volkswagen Virtus is No.2 both in votes and sales. The biggest surprise is the Ciaz which has the least votes but is 3rd in sales. I have no idea why it got a sudden spike in June. It will be interesting to find out the actual ownership of these cars on Team BHP and compare them to the votes.

[fhdowntheline]

Verna is still hot property because of the quirky styling and turbo petrol. I actually think the sedan market has potential. The CSUV market is getting saturated between the 10-20 lac price range. Once everyone has 6 airbags , ADAS, what will you really offer? Sedans have some additonal scope for style-coupe/fastback etc which the Verna already hints at in many ways. Beyond a point, all CSUVs look the same.The Elevate, Hyrder and G Vitara are indistinguishable to a casual observer.

[Iconoclast]

Originally Posted by CarNerd

Votes in decreasing order:
Clearly, the City's popularity in this forum does not show in sales numbers while the Verna which has less votes than City has 2.7X the sales of City. Volkswagen Virtus is No.2 both in votes and sales. The biggest surprise is the Ciaz which has the least votes but is 3rd in sales. I have no idea why it got a sudden spike in June. It will be interesting to find out the actual ownership of these cars on Team BHP and compare them to the votes.

A few possible factors that might have led to the disconnect between Forum popularity and sales numbers f:-

a) Time horizon:- One month is too short a timespan for it to mean anything. You should check sales for a minimum of 3 months as there are factors like production plans, plant shutdowns and inventory management that may make things appear like demand is changing massively from one month to the next. We all know that's not true. If we analyze sales numbers for 12 months from Apr '22 - Mar '23; we see that City is at no.1, Slavia at no.2, followed by Verna and Virtus, and ultimately Ciaz in last place.

b) City variant distribution:- I think Honda has messed up by deleting feel-good features (sunroof, leather-wrapped steering/gear knob, 4 speakers instead of 8, instrument cluster, etc.) from the VX variant to make the ZX look more attractive. In the process, they would have lost out on the value-for-money junta.

c) No. of dealerships: Nexa and Hyundai have a larger base of dealers and is more widespread across the country which means a greater
ability to fulfill demand from these Tier 4/5 places and working capital investment (inventory holding) which in turn leads to higher sales for Ciaz and Verna.

d) New launch: Aam junta is more likely to be enamored by a new car launch whereas BHPians are likely to be more circumspect about it and wait till they form a view on it.
.

[John316_WRC]

Easiest of choices, Voted for the Virtus 1.5.

I have highlighted the performance figures here. While 0-100 figures are great on a track, important to note are the rolling acceleration figures which will give us a clear picture of real world usage. (20-80, 40-100 kmph)

City despite having a NA+CVT is not too far behind from the Turbo pack. Solid pick for an all rounder that will outlast the competition. Redliners and stick shift lovers, that Honda MT box is "the One".

Verna na+CVT slowest of the lot. Turbo is quick but to me Safety doesn't outweigh performance or features, so pass. Also, this update has lost the charm of the old gen Verna.

I feel the Virtus looks better than the Slavia. Only a vfm Rider Edition might change that.

Virtus looks understated, elegant, timeless even. Great ground clearance is the icing on the cake. 5star safety (adults & children) is the cherry on icing. For reliability just pick the max warranty and pray, pray hard.
Still worth every penny.
Source: Autocar India

[car_guy1998]

Hello everyone,

We are planning to replace our 2014 Honda City iDTEC, which we bought preowned in 2017 when the odo was at 35k Kms and the present odo reading is a shade above 175k Kms, sometime next year since it'll be turning 10 in 2024 and we no longer require a Diesel since our usage has reduced these days after me moving out of country and also, my mom, whose age is 53, is finding difficult to drive a MT car (she never drove an AT in her life) due to back pain and other issues. Also, we have other car for highway usage.

Our primary requirements are rear seat comfort (got spoiled by our Honda City), Automatic (since this will be driven in city most of the time and occasionally on highways), and the budget we are willing to spend is ₹20L and not beyond that.

The primary contenders in sedans are:

1. Hyundai Verna DCT or IVT (getting SX DCT at less than ₹20L)
2. VW Virtus 1L TSI Topline AT
3. Skoda Slavia 1L TSI Style AT

Not considering Honda City again as I felt Honda ASC in Hyderabad is deteriorating off late and moreover, my folks aren't keen on getting another City again.

I've driven the Verna in both DCT and IVT guise and I fell in love with DCT instantly due to its performance but felt overkill for city usage though I'm getting the SX DCT without ADAS for below ₹20L, while IVT felt not bad in terms of performance and also felt adequate for our usage (drove my friend's SX IVT, which was bought in August).

The reason I'm considering Verna as a primary contender because I liked the rear seat, which I felt similar to our 4th gen City, rich-looking interiors and VFM (getting SX IVT at around ₹17-17.5L and this very variant gets 6 airbags, sunroof, alloys, ACC and what not though misses out on ventilated seats, ADAS, which I felt not that important) and moreover, its a Hyundai, where I can have peace of mind. Was suggested by my friend to get this one replacing the City at the time he booked the Verna but had to resist myself as we just bought ourselves a new car at that time.

Another option is Virtus Topline AT. Though I'd love to get the GT Plus DSG in this but its overpriced by at least ₹3L than Topline AT and DSG, although fun to drive, worried with the reliability issues though 1L TSI AT is no slouch in terms of performance and can later get it remapped if I want more punch. The only concern is its mileage (have a Taigun 1L TSI MT within our family and gives 8-11 Kmpl in city depending on the traffic despite doing more than 45k Kms on the odo) and A.S.S. The reason I'm considering the Virtus despite having Taigun within our family is due to looks it offers and has better rear seat space than Taigun though it isn't closer to our City in terms of rear seat space.

Same with Slavia as well but I've drooling over it since the day Skoda had launched it in Lava Blue colour though I prefer the interiors of Virtus over Slavia any day.

Also, getting better discounts if I intend to buy Virtus/Slavia in 1L TSI AT guise now but zero discounts offered on Verna.

[NK CA]

New to Team-BHP and first post on this forum.

I am a Senior CA currently employed as a CFO in a German Pharma MNC head quartered at Chennai. Exhilarated to be part of an erudite forum like Team-BHP after being an avid reader for years.

Wanted to buy a sedan to replace my Ertiga. Also have a Ciaz which is the daily runner. I am chauffeur-driven on all days except Sundays and hence rear seat comfort and space were a priority. I test drove both the City and Verna. In my opinion, while the top version City looks underwhelming for the price, the Verna on the other hand looks contemporary, stylish, drives well and is excellent value for money across all versions. I chose the IVT SX over the IVT SX(O) as I would be chauffeur driven on all days except Sundays and hence features like cooled seats etc., would not be used.

The booking experience was a charm and here a big shout to Mr Venkat (and his team member Vignesh) at Hyundai Motor Plaza Chennai. In fact, Venkat was kind enough to initiate the booking process on a holiday (October 2nd) and was extremely transparent about the features of the Verna. Was informed that the vehicle (Silver Grey Verna SX IVT) had been dispatched from the factory on October 12th, a mere ten days from booking and the vehicle would be delivered on 18th of October. Visited HMP on 12th and completed the payment formalities with minimum fuss including for the extended warranty and service package.

The delivery experience on 18th with my family was truly a customer’s delight. HMP went to the extent of organizing a Vegetarian Cake in line with our culinary preferences. PDI was smooth and took the vehicle home with the help of a driver organized by HMP. Again, a big shout out to Mr Venkat and his team who made the experience unforgettable and memorable. Have driven the car for about 600 kms including some drives to Pondicherry and the trips have been eminently enjoyable.

Completed the first service of the car and here again Mr Venkat made the process smooth by extremely effective coordination. Again, his support has been invaluable in rectifying and replacing certain parts in the car due to rat bite on account of the recent Chennai rains.

All in all, an extremely pleasant experience. For the last 30 odd years have struck to MSIL cars primarily on account of excellent service provided by ABT Chennai. To be honest looked at Verna as MSIL was not updating the Ciaz but now in hindsight buying the Verna appears an excellent decision. Here it would not be far from the truth that Mr Venkat was pivotal in convincing me to buy the Verna and would gladly recommend it to my colleagues and friends.

First post on Team-BHP and would request the administrators to redirect to appropriate forum if required. Thank you.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by John316_WRC

Easiest of choices, Voted for the Virtus 1.5.

I have highlighted the performance figures here. While 0-100 figures are great on a track, important to note are the rolling acceleration figures which will give us a clear picture of real world usage. (20-80, 40-100 kmph)

City despite having a NA+CVT is not too far behind from the Turbo pack. Solid pick for an all rounder that will outlast the competition. Redliners and stick shift lovers, that Honda MT box is "the One".

Attachment 2509504
Source: Autocar India

These rolling acceleration figures show scant difference between the Virtus and the Verna turbo, and the real difference will be due to the driving habits more than anything else. Both the Verna turbo and Virtus GT will provide superior acceleration than the CVT equipped City/Verna, so that is the real difference. And if you have to look at stick shift, then the Verna turbo will perform even faster than the others.