[nikhil.sikka]

Hi All!

I'm confused between Sonet Diesel AT & Nexon EV prime. The HTX variant of Sonet is around 14 Lakh OTR in Haryana & XZ+ variant of Nexon EV prime is 16.8-17 Lakh OTR Delhi.

My main priority is Auto Transmission which is present in both. Daily commute is around 60-70 kms which includes heavy traffic too.

Since the OTR cost difference is around 3 lakh, the break-even cost will be around 3 year mark.

My main question is whether to go for EV now or wait for 3-4 years as there will be many new entrants in the same.

I'll be having an option to replace diesel vehicle in 3.5-4 years which will go to my dad & I can shift to EV. If I buy an EV now, It'll be with me till it's lifespan say 10-12 years.

Previously I have driven Fiat Punto MJD close to 1.25 lakh kms, Skoda Yeti close to 1.7 lakh kms & currently driving Skoda Rapid having 1.75 lakh kms on odo. Have driven 85% mileage of Punto & Yeti by myself & 40% of Rapid's.

Petrol won't be feasible IMO as I'll drive 25k in a year.

[GTO]

Your use case is perfect for an EV, as long as you have a charging spot (even 15A will do) in your home parking spot. I would suggest the Nexon EV Prime. Reasons:

- Ample range for your daily running.

- Forget anything else, for bumper-to-bumper traffic, an EV is superior. It's butter-smooth & refined. However much torque converter ATs try to evolve, they can never be as smooth as an EV (no gearbox, instant torque, zero noise).

- You are in Delhi. Do a tiny bit for the horrible AQI there & improve your karma .

- No need to sell your car for peanuts at the 9 - 10 year mark.

I love the Sonet Diesel AT too & consider it to be the best Diesel AT crossover in the market. But I think the Nexon EV Prime is a better choice for you.

Also consider the XUV400 EV, although Mahindra is way behind Tata on the EV learning curve and I'd expect more bugs & niggles from the XUV400 in the initial years.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Pls understand that in Delhi NCR, resale value of diesel cars just plummets after 5-6 years. Even if the vehicle is to go to your dad, the math will work only if your dad resides outside the NCR, that is, vehicle gets transferred into a different state. Otherwise, you’ll be in for a rude shock when you’ll try to sell the diesel Sonet off after 8-9 years of use in your family.

This is the harsh reality of buying a diesel car in Delhi NCR today. You either buy it with a clear cut plan to sell it off within 5 years. Or, you forgo the resale part and own it for the full 10 years. There is no middle ground anymore. This, along with your high running directs you towards the greener options.

I will suggest you consider the Hyryder strong hybrid. This is the perfect car for urban commutes and with none of the compromises associated with the EVs of today. 22-25kmpl efficiency, convenience of automatic, refined city drive and zero range anxiety or daily charging headache. Most importantly, it is totally future proof with no Delhi NCR limitations whatsoever. You will also retail the option to wholeheartedly hand it over to your father after 3-4 years if you want to look for an EV then.

[epiccross]

I would honestly recommend Diesel. I was agonizing over EV vs Diesel and ultimately the better "sorted" EV is out of my price range and I'm not sold on Tatas reliability. Recent incident of quick battery drain and shifting to neutral does not inspire confidence. So booked Sonet that I aim to keep at least for 5-6 years. Fingers crossed!

PS: If worried about NCR/Resale, then ev is the only option I guess. I would recommend upping the budget and going for ZS EV personally.

[OpenRoads]

Based on your scenario EV makes a lot of sense. However Sonet AT has a 6 speed TC mated with a refined diesel engine is just wonderful.

If my running was 25K/year, then I would have gone for SONET. In my opinion it would cost lower in terms of maintenance fee in the longer run (say 5-6 years) in comparison to TATA EV.

You can do an experiment. Rent the vehicle for a day and check it out. You will know.

[GoBabyGo]

Hello Nikhil.Sikka - Your usage is perfect to go for Nexon EV, but you need to be mentally prepared to own an EV. Having a sole car as EV at home that too a Tata, when you have such high daily running, require lots of mental strength to answer apprehensions of neighbour, colleagues & relatives.

Regarding Sonet diesel AT makes lots of sense, if this is going to be your sole car. I am not sure, but most likely Sonet diesel will give you better resale after say 8 years (if diesel passenger vehicles are on sale in India) than Nexon EV.

As suggested by Shreyans Jain above, Toyota Hyryder Strong Hybrid do make a strong case, but it's base strong hybrid model is not feature loaded as compare to say Sonet diesel HTX AT even though it is expensive by 3.5 to 4 lacs.

I would personally feel Nexon EV Prime ae best option if you are mentally prepared for EV.

[autobahnjpr]

Your previous cars have been diesel cars and it made sense due to the high mileage you run. If your run includes highway drives to towns and villages and also lot of unplanned, on the spur travel, due to business need, I would recommend diesel. You would not have any dependency on the battery charging and you will not think twice before taking the car out.

If most of the travel is pre-defined, planned and calculated like home to factory/office and only occasional outings which are well planned you can think of the EV. Also remember that aggressive and heavy right foot driving drains the EV very quickly. Maybe that is why EV have a speed limiter.

[N4Nikunj]

Dear Nikhil,


As suggested by many, EV is more suitable for your requirement.

If you're replacing your existing car, Go with Sonet Diesel AT, Because only EV only garage is still difficult to manage. Especially for Highway runs.

Also as far as resale is concerned, I don't know about EVs but for Sonet as soon as you will hit the 10-year mark, The car would have crossed 2.5L km. Which is more than enough to retire a car.

For Hybrid it is good for City but for highways, It is only a gimmick as it is useless at highway speeds.

A Hybrid Car will give similar mileage as a normal petrol-powered car on highway speeds of more than 80kmph.

[07CR]

Ev market is rapidly evolving at the moment. Makes no sense to go for ev as your vehicle would be hopelessly outdated soon. Your running is also very high and an EVs range may drop as it crosses 60-70 K kms. Not to mention Tata vehicles and their innumerable niggles.

Get the sonet and use it for 10 full years.

[antz.bin]

Purely financially, and using your own math, you break even on the EV in 3 years.

If you can sell the Sonet in 4 years to buy that nice EV, you can sell the Nexon too. You will end up spending less money in keeping the Nexon for 4 years vs the Sonet. The extra year of 25k km of driving an EV will probably save you anywhere in the region of 1.5 lakhs. That should cover some of the resale value difference, if any. The EV will continue to hold better value than the diesel even till year #6 while saving you 15k/month, month after month in just fuel costs.

The only time it makes sense to buy the Sonet is if you keep it for less than 3 years.

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by nikhil.sikka

Hi All!

I'm confused between Sonet Diesel AT & Nexon EV prime. The HTX variant of Sonet is around 14 Lakh OTR in Haryana & XZ+ variant of Nexon EV prime is 16.8-17 Lakh OTR Delhi.

My main priority is Auto Transmission which is present in both. Daily commute is around 60-70 kms which includes heavy traffic too.

I think the Nexon EV fits your use case perfectly. Apart from the 10 year rule in Delhi, if you are going to drive your diesel car in heavy traffic most of the time, be prepared for DPF issues. Plus the 60-70 kms daily drive is the sweet spot for a Nexon EV and if you can charge it at home, your running cost should be less than 2 Rupees a km. The gap between diesel prices and electricity rates will only increase with time since electricity rates don't go up that often. So your actual breakeven period can be much lower than 3 years. Plus the maintenance cost of an EV is lower than that of an ICE and you anyway will have an 8 year/1.6 Lakh kms warranty which is what Tata offers on its EV, if I remember correctly.

Also, as a Tata owner myself, I would not be overtly worried about reliability/service concerns or niggles. The Nexon EV has been in the market for quite some time now and in general Tata cars are extremely reliable after they have been in the market for over two years. Also, service quality, while inconsistent, is improving and it is not too difficult to find a good service centre in big cities. Many of the folks who dissuade people from buying Tata cars have never owned one themselves, or are basing their advice on their ownership of the original Indica which was the pits in terms of reliability and finesse. Tata has come a long way from those days and these days makes really good products. Pay no heed to the naysayers and get the Nexon EV.

[car-dent]

Originally Posted by antz.bin

Purely financially, and using your own math, you break even on the EV in 3 years.

The extra year of 25k km of driving an EV will probably save you anywhere in the region of 1.5 lakhs. That should cover some of the resale value difference, if any. The EV will continue to hold better value than the diesel even till year #6 while saving you 15k/month, month after month in just fuel costs.
.

How does it save 15k per month? Diesel CSUV running costs is Between 4-5Rs per km at the max. ( My 4 yr old S cross at 100000kms odo running cost is about 4.2Rs per km).

Considering you drive 2000kms per month , the monthly fuel cost for driving will be about Rs 8000-10,000.
Considering 100% charging at home, the cost of EV is about 1 Re per km.

So, the effective savings is approx 3-4 rs per km. and Approx 6000-8000 per month.

Considering a loan for 5 years, the extra EMI for the 3 lakhs will be about 6,000Rs.
So, for first 5 years, you wouldnt be saving any money. And who knows after 5 years you may want to buy a bigger car.

Add to it, the hassles of owning an EV.

[steadfast]

One point to add - With aggressive banning of diesel cars, you never know that some years down the line a diesel car gets partially banned even before 10 years.

Case in point: During recent NCRpollution measures even 2020 BS4 diesel cars were not allowed on roads for few days in winters. And Pollution is only gonna get worse in coming years..

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by car-dent

How does it save 15k per month? Diesel CSUV running costs is Between 4-5Rs per km at the max. ( My 4 yr old S cross at 100000kms odo running cost is about 4.2Rs per km).

Considering you drive 2000kms per month , the monthly fuel cost for driving will be about Rs 8000-10,000.
Considering 100% charging at home, the cost of EV is about 1 Re per km.

So, the effective savings is approx 3-4 rs per km. and Approx 6000-8000 per month.

Considering a loan for 5 years, the extra EMI for the 3 lakhs will be about 6,000Rs.
So, for first 5 years, you wouldnt be saving any money. And who knows after 5 years you may want to buy a bigger car.

Add to it, the hassles of owning an EV.

Alright my friend, I may have gotten the 15k figure wrong, but that is at *current* Diesel prices. We have seen prices increase from 70 to 94 here in Pune in the past 3 years (since I got my car). How much did electricity prices increase? Also, it seems the traffic in Pune as far worse than NCR because I tend to average awfully close to ₹6/km

Anyways, leaving all of the above aside: By the OP's own calculation, he breaks even his additional ~3 lakhs in 3 years. That is about ~₹8333/month recovered. Post that, he will be saving the *same* money at least, won't he? The only situation he comes out worse here is if he changes the car in less than 3 years. The Nexon EV comes with a 8 year battery warranty and can be had with 5 years extended warranty. I guess we should be good for 3.

As far as the loan is concerned, there is a tax deduction on EV loans under section 80EEB. That should cover some of the ₹6000 difference even during the intervening loan period but that is a calculation the OP would have done already.

[kaushikduttajsr]

Wouldn't recommend a Tata EV at any cost. Warranty and all matter if the brand decides to honor it. Knowing Tata and the multitude of complaints on t-bhp recently, I think it is wise to go with a hybrid instead of a diesel or Tata ev. If you're sold on an ev, look at the MG ZS.

All this financial math is akin to the logic of "if you invest in Starbucks shares instead of buying Starbucks coffee, you'd be richer by xx". It doesn't make sense to me. I'll go for mental peace over anything else. Buy a car to drive it, not count pennies. If you want to count pennies, a hybrid should be part of the evaluation.

If you think your luck is super good, you may proceed with Tata. Afterall, even t-bhp reviews say, Tata ass is hit or a miss, aka a coin toss.