[Aragorn]

We were in a similar hunt for a family member. We narrowed down the choice to these 2:

1) Tiago EV: Not in your list - but excellent city car with decent safety rating for ICE variant
2) Kiger CVT: Most underrated car in the list. Best seating comfort, largest boot (400+ lts) and ease of driving.

Like others have suggested, Amaze CVT is also a good choice.

[shyampsunder]

Not much has been spoken about EVs but when you start looking at the options, there are very few reliable, safe, good AT cars available in the ICE market at a modest budget.

Reason is that a good AT transmission is expensive and most manufacturers skimp out by adding an AMT. The CVT sucks the joy out of driving.

The Tiago EV shines in that respect. The smoothness of the drive cannot be matched by any ICE transmission irrespective of the price point.

If space is a concern, then the Nexon EV standard range model is great but will breach your 13L benchmark. Go for these cars if your highway rides are <10% of your mileage. While infra has rapidly improved around most of the popular highway routes in India, Tata capping the peak charging rate to sub 25 KW on the standard models is a big downer.

[07CR]

Are you open for a used route ?

If yes, do consider the top spec ecosport AT in S avatar. Satisfies all your criteria. Looks great (even to this day ), Extremely fun to drive, sturdy built with great set of active and passive safety features, loaded in features ( especially S avatar, remains well loaded even after so long), fuss free service and reliability. You can get a great 2-3 year old specimen at steal prices of around 8-9L.

Only concern is how good is the Ford dealer network in your region. I have 3 dealers in Pune and each one has been fantastic in terms of service. Attaching a pic of my diesel S version.

[saikishor]

Small update post to this thread:
We visited Tata, Hyundai and Honda, just to have a look. Didn't do any test drives, and didn't click any pictures as well.
As I mentioned above, Renault Kiger has been eliminated from my list.

Tata: The Punch is out of our list. My dad just didn't like the car. No further discussion here I guess. My dad really liked the Altroz, and we plan to visit the showroom again for the Altroz. One suggestion we received from the sales advisor @ Tata is why not go for a mid spec or base spec Nexon and customize it to our taste. He also told us he could give us a sweet deal if we booked a pre facelift Nexon. We most probably would be visiting another showroom just to see what they have to offer.

Hyundai: This was another showroom that I went to see if they had an Exter and surprisingly even this showroom didn't have a display Exter. We saw a Verna CVT in a top spec guise. My dad really liked the car, but it was out of budget. Will visit Hyundai again for the Exter, and maybe i20 N-line.

Honda: Honda impressed me really well. We really liked the Amaze and though we also saw the City, it didn't really feel worthy of spending extra over the Amaze. We also casually checked out the Elevate.
For now, Amaze seems to fit the bill perfectly, but I sense one major dealbreaker might be on our way. Honda City has a famous reputation for being bouncy, and of the Amaze has similar traits, it might just go off our list. I hope I am proven wrong. This is something only a proper test drive can answer, and we will be doing it shortly.

[Ashdel]

Originally Posted by Small Bot

I personally did not like the Venue, because it had horrible fuel efficiency in traffic, was slightly smaller inside and the crash test ratings are unknown (though its sibling Sonet had a poor showing in crash tests).

I am sure Venue scored 4 star in ANCAP - Please have a look on youtube

[Livnletcarsliv]

For any proper automatic (which is either a TC or DCT/DSG), you MUST increase your minimum budget to 15L.

Assuming that you will increase your budget to 15L, your requirements scream Brezza.
Remember last gen Brezza scored 4 stars on safety. In terms of safety, I am sure there will not be much of a difference with current Brezza as well. With most of the bells and whistles, it is definitely good car.

Alternatively you can also look at Fronx (safety untested) which also comes with TC. The only other options are Magnite/Kiger, Verna/Creta/Seltos (>17L), Kushaq/Taigun (>18L), Amaze/City/Elevate. In fact, I would suggest you should go for a Brezza/Fronx over Amaze for better service network, brand sustainability and commitment, etc.

If you are open for AMT, then its a different ball game all together - especially with Punch and Exter.

[SutilSapien]

Why are you looking at Venue and i20, with safety listed as essential?

Renault Kiger, Nissan Magnite, Honda Amaze and Maruti Brezza are the only sub 15 lakh cars that have been tested to be safe (>=4 star NCAP rating) and have a proper automatic gearbox in a sea of clunky AMTs

Kiger/Magnite offer the best bang for the buck, segment leading boot space, way more rear seat space than Venue, Sonet and a very smooth and punchy Engine + Gearbox combo (the Turbo CVT variants). Are also kitted out features wise for this segment. 4 star NCAP rating with loaded passive safety kit. The top variants will land well below your 15 lakh budget.

Brezza is a no nonsense practical workhorse. NA engine but should serve the purpose for city runs. The imported TC unit some would say is worth the premium. Comes with Maruti's peace of mind and after sales. Also a 4 star NCAP rated car. Top end might cross 17L depending on where you stay so might have to stretch your budget.

Honda Amaze is an excellent option if you don't mind the sedan form factor/lower ground clearance. Bulletproof engine and Honda makes the best CVTs. However, it falls short in terms of features, power figures aren't great and has a reputation of being a bit of a bland/aged car if I may say so. I test drove the Amaze and it wasn't a very fun to drive car. Would get the job done but that's about it. A very good city runner which should last as long as you want it.

All in all I personally did not see the value add of paying a 4 lakh premium for the Brezza top end when Kiger/Magnite top end ticks all boxes except Maruti's badge and resale value.

[aniketi]

My suggestion would be Grand Vitara. Just try it, it can surprise you in good way. Lots of features at great price. It's very spacious and good looking car with great ASS.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by Ashdel

I am sure Venue scored 4 star in ANCAP - Please have a look on Youtube

ANCAP tested the car sold in Australia and it is well known that most companies sell different versions of the same car abroad vs in our market. Perhaps a CBU or an expensive vehicle may be the same as the one sold abroad but a locally made Hyundai Venue definitely is not the same as the one sold in Australia. To start of with, it is 100kilos lighter in terms of dry weight and secondly, we have all seen the Kia Sonet score only 3 stars in GNCAP I would think that is a more relevant rating than some Australian Venue's rating right? Considering Hyundai owns Kia and they are both practically the same car, I doubt that Hyundai is going about selling us unsafe Sonets and Seltos while selling absolutely safe Venues and Cretas.

[SutilSapien]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Considering Hyundai owns Kia and they are both practically the same car, I doubt that Hyundai is going about selling us unsafe Sonets and Seltos while selling absolutely safe Venues and Cretas.

This is true. Both Sonet and Venue sold in India are sub-standard chopped off versions of what is sold abroad (look at the dimensions of the car alone of the domestic and abroad versions and you will know)
The shocking part is that Kia and Hyundai sales reps when asked about safety by customers flaunt NCAP figures that their foreign market cars achieve without even knowing that these are not the same spec/build as the cars made for India.
When I took offence to such blatant false marketing during my TD and raised it to the showroom manager is when I realized the reps themselves have no clue, with only the manager even aware of the fact the cars they sell in India are not the same and are inferior build wise.
Makes one think how many folks who don't have access to the internet/forums like this, would have bought cars taking the sales reps' word at face value
Highly unethical and this is not the first time I have heard of such practices being used by Kia/Hyundai reps (just go to your local showroom and ask the rep about build quality and you will see their false claims - the moment you scrutinize their claims, they say sorry this is what we were told)

[saikishor]

Update: We booked a Honda Amaze VX CVT in Silver. This car is supposed to be the special edition or elite edition that Honda is offering for this month. On road price is coming to be around 11.9 lacs. We haven't test driven the car yet, as the dealer promised a home test drive tomorrow. We saw cars like the Brezza, Altroz, Punch but nothing impressed us as much as Amaze did. I will update this thread shortly.

[saikishor]

Our car is to be delivered tomorrow. I went to check it out today and I found a small scratch. Dealer told me that they would touch up and give it to us. I would appreciate suggestions on this.

[saikishor]

My(or rather my dad's) new car says hi to the forum

[nvssudheer]

Congrats! You chose perhaps the best automatic all-rounder under 15 lakhs. Happy ownership!

[PaddleShifter]

Originally Posted by saikishor

Our car is to be delivered tomorrow. I went to check it out today and I found a small scratch.

Too small, easy to fix and can be ignored (you already did).

Originally Posted by saikishor

My new car says hi to the forum

Congratulations!! Wishing you a happy ownership experience. Do keep sharing updates of your CVT.