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-   -   What beater hatchback (petrol / CNG / electric) to buy for city commutes? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-car/258562-what-beater-hatchback-petrol-cng-electric-buy-city-commutes.html)

Hello All

I wil be moving my house to a place which is about 12km from its current location. Unfortunately, my childrens' school and wife's office are very close to my current house and it is not possible to move those.

It takes about 25 min (about 24k both ways) to drive from my new home to school to drop my kids there. Pickup will be through a known auto driver, so that is taken care of.

I have a fortuner currently and I have no intention to sell it. But driving 24k daily will ensure that my finances will take a hit and cause unnecessary pollution in addition. Public transportation is a no-no since it is hit or miss.

I thought that I could instead look at a cheap (maybe beater) hatchback to drop my kids at school and use my fortuner for longer runs on highways. I am looking for an AT (so that my wife can drive) hatchback which is either electric or CNG or a petrol sipper at worst. Maintenance should be cheap. I am also ok with a second hand vehicle.

Suggestions welcome.

(PS: I dont know much about current hatchbacks since there are so many)

Your usage pattern seems to be perfect for a Tiago/Tigor EV, as you will be keeping your Fortuner around for the longer runs. Assuming that charging at home would not be an issue, you could go right ahead with it. I'd say a Nexon EV would be overkill; just my two cents.

Good luck with your decision. :)

If you want to go the EV route, You have one choice, The Tata Tiago EV, A good small car with enough space, a 4-star NCAP safety rating, and an adequate range for city commutes.

Automatic transmission CNG vehicles are not yet commonplace in India, so they are not an option.

If you are looking at petrol options, quite a few are available. The Honda Amaze, Maruti Baleno, Hyundai i20, and Honda Jazz are all great options to consider whether new or used.

As you haven't specified a budget, I have assumed a budget of around 10 lakhs as you can only consider EVs from this price range.

Brio Torque Converter, Jazz/WR-V CVT and Micra CVT are the best second hand deals if a petrol automatic is being considered. They are all reliable being Japanese, and their automatic powertrains are also competent and reliable as well. :thumbs up if you don't mind going a step lower, the A-Star or even a Ritz automatic also makes for a good deal matching the Brio Jazz and Micra in all quality and reliability areas except in terms of autobox performance and competency (reliable but not the smoothest or the best by any means).

Avoid AMTs at all costs, go for Japanese CVTs or TCs, they are the most reliable. You could get good deals on used Nissan Micra, Honda Jazz, etc. Toyota Yaris CVT, although a mid-size sedan could also be had for comparatively lower prices when bought used.

As you can see, all the above mentioned are either discontinued or on the verge of being discontinued, which makes it a double edged sword, on the one hand, these are great cars and you get these for cheaper than other options in the used car market while on the other hand, they are discontinued and further resale would hardly fetch anything. Considering you are looking at a beater, the same shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions so far

I am unable to edit my original post. So here goes

budget - as cheap as possible (but if I am pushed, let's say a max of 10L on road)
brands - I want to avoid discontinued models especially those from Honda or Hyundai since I owned cars from those brands and maintainance, if anything went wrong, was expensive.

size - as compact as possible.

I will look at the Tiago.

are there any models from Maruti that satisfy some of these criteria? (I never owned Tata or Maruti and would like to support an Indian brand).

- Keep first choice as Tiago Ev (8-12L on road with subsidies)
- Maruti Celerio is a really good petrol car (6-8L on road)
- Lower variants of Ignis
Maruti’s should give you around 15-18 kmpl average very easily rl:

If driving your fortuner 24 km extra is your main concern, and your reasoning being that finances will take a hit, then I would say that’s a bad reason to buy another car.

The depreciation, insurance and maintenance expense of the second car, will far exceed the hit from your extra 24 km/day.

Having said that, if you still have any solid reason to buy a second car, you may continue your research.

I'm surprised again at the lack of suggestion of the obvious default choice for short run city duty.

WagonR

-Cheap to buy ( cheaper if you get a good used car)
-Cheap to service
-Cheap to repair at any mechanic
- Good Resale
-Frugal k10 engine
-Maximum Boot space in the segment with practical utility.350l
- Maximum headroom. 4 six footers can zip around the city in comfort
-Easy to park
- The Activa of passenger cars.The default choice.

The new wagon r is pretty bulky. It felt larger than my indica when driving, and the k10 feels underpowered in this body.

The espresso is more the spiritual successor of the first wagon r

After reading your post regarding concerns about driving 24 kms daily on the Fortuner to drop your children, I feel you can surely afford to microscopically dent your budget, keeping the fact on your mind that safety of the little ones is the prime concern for their parents. When you have spent Rs 40-50 L for buying a Fortuner, the budget etc should not bother you.

12+12 kms in any city or around any town will be treacherous as you will encounter morons and also road zombies of many hues on their two, three, four and six or six plus wheelers. A SUV is the best bet on such treacherous roads to keep us cocooned from these road zombies and morons.

As a second vehicle for your Mrs for her driving, nothing beats a Maruti 800 or next a Tata Nano, but unfortunately these have gone or are soon going into the RIP category.

Any good and best selling hatch from Maruti or Hyundai (they have models that have failed to sell that should be avoided) should be a preferable buy in your case.

Sorry but I am unable to understand why the finances would take a hit by driving 24kms a day. You own a Fortuner. Thats an expensive vehicle. And its a diesel so definitely not quite as hurtful as petrol. But it is still a premium vehicle and as the owner of such a vehicle 24kms a day, ideally ought not to be difficult to do. And Madras has far bigger wider roads and much faster moving traffic than Bangalore does, for example so driving a Fortuner there cant be as had as driving one here.

Coming to the car suggestions you have asked for.
When you say your finances will get strained by driving 24kms extra a day in the Fortuner, then what about the acquisition costs, daily running and maintenance and insurance costs of the second car? Wont they pinch?

Anyway all that aside, if youre looking for a nice little city car, inexpensive to run and maintain and very functional and quick and easy to drive in traffic and park in tight places, consider a second hand Ignis AMT or a Swift or a WagonR. All solid, proven vehicles and backed by immense peace of mind because they are from Maruti.

Get a second car only if you have a full time use case for it. Otherwise getting a second car just for this school drop use case does not make sense financially. Your Fortuner will probably clock 8 or 9 Rs/km fuel cost, any petrol will clock 7 Rs/km. Then there is purchase cost, maintenance, insurance, depreciation. This is discounting the all important factor of parking space.

Besides the Fortuner will prove its worth if you are doing this exercise for the next 5-6 weeks (assuming collectors don't react in time).

12 km in 25 min is a pretty good commute. Generally school drops are a breeze if you drop early (used to do it daily earlier this year).

If you find it a chore, then look at round trip van options from your new residence for school drop and pickup. You might discover this only after moving. The Fortuner would work as a stop-gap measure for this exercise.

24kms in 25mins is a pretty decent commute.

Assuming that the Fortuner would give 10-12kms in the commute, anything you buy should give atleast 18-20km/l+ to justify the purchase and maintenance. Like others have said cheap Marutis rule the roost.

My choice would be the Ignis AMT or the Tiago EV if you are okay with a BEV.

True. The Spresso is the true spiritual successor of the F10D WagonR. The current WagonR is bloated. Good for those loyal WagonR owners who now have a more substantial feeling car and way more space than one can utilise (the headroom is insane), but for people looking at a small runabout, the present WagonR is a touch big.

24Km in 25 mins in Chennai is an exceptional time where you can literally save the world in the saved time. lol:

I think either the information/details that you have shared don't paint a clear picture of what you are trying to mean (or) there is something seriously wrong with your logic/reasoning to buy another car.
You own a Fortuner (even if it is petrol), you don't want to sell it and you think about pollution? You want to buy another car and ready spend 10Lakhs on it (even if it is used), but worry about your financial situation just by driving an additional 24kms a day in your Fortuner (which is less than 5000kms a year)?