[McLaren Rulez]

Keep the Figo, use it as a learning car. It will get plenty of parking scrapes while your wife learns. And you will not care.

Once she has mastered it, then decide on replacing it.

[autoliebe]

Suggesting based on your budget and driving preferences.

Since your wife may also drive, it's wise to get an automatic.

About automatics, I've continuously driven an AMT, CVT & now driving an AT (TC) for years. I have also driven a DCT (intermittently).

1. DCT gives the best feel but is extremely expensive to buy and maintain - hence you should keep away from it.
   
2. AMT is cheap both in cost and feel - hence don't opt for it at all.
   
3. AT is best of both worlds. Shifts are not as smooth but they are torquey, relatively easy to maintain and generally good in FE too. Kylaq AT would be a good choice with this transmission.
   
4. CVT is smooth, reliable and easy to maintain. It gives good FE too. They may not feel exciting due to inherent rubber-band effect. Amaze would be a good choice with this transmission.

Hence,
If your budget permits, go for Kylaq AT - will cost little over 12 Lacs.
PROS: good build, good ride quality, good FE.
CONS: little expensive service (4th yr/40k onwards).

If not, then Amaze CVT is a well-round package and good choice for your case.

Hope this helps you in the decision making.

Cheers,

[the.dogfather]

Seeing you are a person who keeps a car for long, I would recommend not to change your buying decision based on a temporary phase where your wife will be a learner driver.

It would not take long for her to get confident at driving and making a compromise for a smaller car may be irritating and replacing the car later would be an expensive affair. I would suggest to continue with the Figo for some more time, till your wife learns and gets confident with driving or keep the Figo along with your new car so that your wife can practice. Once she is a confident driver, you both can try out cars and find one which suits both.

If you have decided to replace the Figo before your wedding, I think the Ignis is a great choice when it comes to compact size and a good engine. I feel Maruti may update the Ignis also with 6 airbags like it is doing for most models, so if you can wait till then, it maybe a great option.

[bravo82in]

You can spend hours deep-diving into Team-BHP forums, but at the end of the day, the wisest move is to take your better half for a test drive and let her pick the car—something within budget that doesn’t scare her or her confidence behind the wheels.

The Wagon R is a no-nonsense, practical warrior. And hey, who says you can’t treat yourself to a second set of wheels four - five years down the road? One for her… and one for your inner Schumacher.

[argho]

Consider the Citrroen C3 Turbo Petrol automatic.

[arpan_spark]

Originally Posted by salluks

I know u said no TATA, but how about TATA PUNCH EV, seems perfect for you both and being an EV, service centre trips will be minimized as well.

Avoid Tata EVe, highly unreliable with dreaded HV error

[aNANOnymous]

Why not consider the Jimny AT ? This small car can be a perfect family car. It would take care of your future road trips also. As a Jimny owner I can assure you that it is a tough car. Build quality is far too good compared to other Maruti offerings.

A different car in the 'me too' car scenario in India.

[IshaanIan]

Please drop AMTs from consideration as no matter how good they seem initially, they show the most age in 3 years time compared to other automatic gearboxes. 3-5 years of regular use sees any owner getting frustrated with their AMT equipped car. Go for a Torque Converter or if it has to be anything else then only a Honda CVT.

[Phantom 510]

Check out the Amt equipped Hyundai Nios & Exter. Hyundai makes best Amt's in the country. Exter has even paddle shifters in the higher trims making shifts more engaging. They (Nios & Exter) have much better in cabin experience with higher overall refinement levels making for a very pleasant stress free driving.

[nsd9]

Originally Posted by kedar3223

And then came a curveball. I am to get married soon and my wife to be wants to learn how to drive and not always be dependent on me for her mobility. Me having to work from office and her working from home(2 days office close to my place of work), it also made sense for her to learn driving to take care of day to day chores and travel with my parents in case of an emergency.

She is a complete newbie. She is also 4'9". Given these requirments, I have decided to buy a car thats more geared towards her requirement.
[*]Should i splurge a bit more and get i20 sportz cvt, amaze v/vx cvt or stretch to kylaq signature AT? Did i miss any other sub 12-13L auto that is worth considering?
[/list]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! Wishing you a lifetime of love, joy, and happiness together.

Transmission:
Since your fiancée is a new learner and your family usage seems to be mostly city commute, I would suggest you to pick any car with automatic transmission. Manual gives you control and kick but Automatic gives you peace of mind. I still remember when I was a newbie driver, when the car gets stopped in traffic or at inclines while shifting between first and second gears, it used to make me stressful. Now I’m very much comfortable with Manual but still chose Automatic for city traffic and in case my spouse wants to learn and drive car.

From your options I would choose:
1) Swift AMT for its
- compact dimensions
- Maruti’s reliability and maintenance costs
- Fuel efficiency

I have driven my friend’s Swift AMT. It is more than good for both city and highway drives. If CNG is in your options, look at this real world FE figures of Swift CNG.

The only con I could think of is safety ratings.

2) Skoda Kylaq
- 1.0 TSI engine would satisfy the enthu driver in you.
- 5-star safety rating
- SUV stance for better visibility
- Skoda is increasing its service network in India.

Fuel efficiency for turbo engines in City traffic is something to bother. My friend owns a Sonet 1.0 turbo and gets FE of 8-9kmpl in city. Same with my Slavia 1.5 TSI.

Get test drives and it will make your car selection easy. Happy motoring!!

[nsd9]

Originally Posted by argho

Consider the Citrroen C3 Turbo Petrol automatic.

Citroen C3 Turbo is definitely a good car but the Kylaq 1.0 could be a better choice.

Why?
1) I believe car’s maintenance/spare parts costs are always dependant on number of cars sold. That is the reason why Marutis have lower maintenance costs due to their high number of sales. Sales figures of Citroen C3 are pretty much low for a car of its price point.



2) VW Skoda is betting big on 1.0 TSI engines. Currently there are 5 cars for sale in India with this 1.0 TSI engine (may be 6 including VW Tera, Kylaq’s sibling). The older Vento, Polo, Rapid also run on 1.0 TSI engines. So expecting maintenance costs to be lower in the coming years.

3) Service network of Citroen is very much new and less in India. Though we visit the Service centres once a year, it is something to consider in case of emergencies or breakdowns during trips.

[kedar3223]

After much deliberation, we have narrowed it down to 3 cars. Just need to make a final decision on our approach:

1. Ignis zeta amt- Practically speaking, the ignis in its zeta amt trim is all the car that we need. It's the most cost effective to purchase, cheap and easy to maintain and has all the useful features(music system, nice ac, height adjustable seat, peppy and efficient engine, rear wiper washer, good space for 4) that we need. Compact footprint with next to no overhangs. Pretty good visibility. Would wait for the 6 airbag update though.
2. Swift zxi amt- somehow I really really liked the way it drove. More so than the equivalent baleno, fronx, hyundais and tatas(all amts. The dualjet k12 didn't feel as peppy for the kind of low speed that i usually get to drive at. The Tatas were sluggish though the suspension was great. But the swift to me closely matches this with a better engine. The hyundais just felt souless, though practically speaking, the i10 nios sportz amt makes sense). Not entirely convinced of the value proposition with the 1.5L premium over the ignis though.

The above 2 are the sub 10 lakh picks. I was also fairly surprised by how good the amts have become. Decisive shifts, and honestly with shift action comparable to my manual shifting skills on low to part throttle inputs. They all come with hill hold.

Above 10 lakhs, the choice was obvious given the need to stick as close to 11-12 lakhs as possible. It's the Kylaq signature AT. The other cars like the i20 and amaze CVT just feel lacking once you get a taste of the Kylaq. Plus the taller seating is a plus for the significant other as well as my parents. I know the amaze and i20 CVT will be an excellent long term cars, but the Kylaq just overshadows them on these small test drives. I hope there's won't be any major regrets if going for one over the other in the long run.

As per the SO, the size of kylaq, i20 and amaze feels intimidating at this point in time.