Need an automatic hatchback: Tiago vs i10 vs Swift vs i20

This will be a beater car which again will be only used within city, office runs, weekend runs to malls. This will also be the drive for my wife for her errands (though she hardly drives). Also will be used to ferry family within city.

BHPian sunikkat recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello All,

Now this is going to be a strange comparison.

To give a bit of background, we currently have an Octavia TDI (2016 model) and an Alto 800. In current environment of working from home Alto is only used for daily errands like grocery shopping and few other purpose. The weekend drives, highways and other fun drives are taken care by Octavia. Both myself and my wife are working in the same organization which is just a km from our home, so which means once we start going back to office our daily car usage will still be less.

Now we are looking to replace the Alto 800 with a new hatchback. This will be a beater car which again will be only used within city, office runs, weekend runs to malls. This will also be the drive for my wife for her errands (though she hardly drives). Also will be used to ferry family within city.

Considering the limited use we had set the original budget of 7.5 Lakhs OTR Bangalore. However as we started searching the cars our budgets is increased to 10.5 L. Now considering for every 50k increase in budget you get a better car, we want to put cap on our maximum budget which is 11 L OTR Bangalore.

The requirements are:

• Automatic and Petrol only.
• Budget maximum of 11 Lakhs OTR Bangalore.
• Fun to drive, obviously with in the limited capacity.
• Reliable and fuss free ownership.
• Something that we can keep for 10 years minimum (though the KMs driven will be less).

Based on these criteria's we have shortlisted and test driven the Tata Tiago XZA+ Dual Tone AMT, Grand i10 Nios AMT Asta, Swift ZXI+ AMT Dual Tone and i20 1.0 Turbo iMT Sportz

Tata Tiago:

Version: Top end - XZA+ AMT Dual Tone (~ 8.5 L OTR)

Pros:

• 4 star safety rating.
• Solidly build.

Cons:

• AMT in Tiago was pretty bad in the test drive, lot of head knock feel.
• The engine did not feel peppy and that 3 cylinder roughness.
• Less space in the back to fit 3 adults.
• Very ordinary experience at the dealership. They made us walk with the 4 year old kid in that busy service road for almost half a km to and fro to the test drive car. Not a happy feeling.
• Long term reliability and service support from Tata is a big question.

Hyundai Grand i10 Nios:

Version: Top end AMT Asta (~ 9.8 L OTR)

Pros:

• Loaded to grills.
• Good quality interiors.
• AMT is the best of the cars I tested.

Cons:

• Kappa engine is not peppy as Suzuki K Series.
• Not very fun to drive, and doesn't handle like Swift.
• Both interior and exterior not to my taste (though interior quality is good).
• Flimsy build overall and bad crash test rating.
• The front seats were not comfortable for my build, there is hardly any side bolsters.

Suzuki Swift:

Version: Top end ZXI+ AMT (~ 10.7 L OTR)

Pros:

• The top end is fully loaded with projector LEDs, DRLs, Apple car play, hill hold assist etc. No need to spend much on aftermarket fitments.
• Though not fun as previous generation Swifts, this car is still fun to drive and the 2021 engine update has made it more fun. The engine I felt is much better than i10 Nios.
• Though the AMT is not as good as i10, I was happy with the overall response. Much better than Tiago and can easily live with it (provided its reliable too).
• The quality of interiors is lesser than i10, but I liked the layout, styling, black colour etc. This is more sporty and seats are supportive too. Flat bottom steering wheel and those aluminum touches makes it more sporty.
• Totally happy with the dealership experience, no one can beat this. Surely easy to live with, infact there is a Maruti dealership / service center next to our apartment.

Cons:

• Flimsy build and poor crash test rating.
• Is it worth considering top end 10.7 lakhs is in the range of premium hatchbacks.
• Did not consider Baleno as I found the AMT in Swift to be better than CVT. Also Baleno CVT is not updated with Dualjet engine (down by 7 bhp against Swift) and a newer version is coming.

Hyundai i20:

Version: 1 L Turbo iMT Sportz (~ 11 L OTR).

Did not do a test drive of iMT yet, but have driven my friend's 1.0 L Turbo DCT i20 extensively. Considering i20 only for turbo engine.

Pros:

• Car from a segment above - premium hatchback.
• Fun to drive turbo engine (if not compared to Polo).
• More exclusivity, as lesser new gen i20s on road than Swift.
• More premium feel than other options here.

Cons:

• Low end version - Would need to get many things from aftermarket like alloys, leather wrap steering, apple car play, LED lights etc.
• iMT is still a manual and we need to engage gears - will it be as convenient like AMT / CVT?
• Will the turbo engine be convenient like NA engine in the city traffic?
• Okay build and questionable safety rating.

Honda Jazz:

Now this is a wild card entry. Have never driven Jazz, but have extensively driven all generations of City and I am not a big fan of it. Though Jazz has more premium feel and space, worried about the future of Honda and Jazz. Are they going to continue this model with ~ 700 units per month. Is it worth considering Jazz? How good is the real world performance? The mid variant comes in my budget.

If the car was only for me I would have closed my eyes and bought a Polo TSI GT (even if slightly more expensive). But since this will be mainly used to ferry family within city I need more space. Also wifey needs more features, so Polo is out.

Nissan / Renault are not considered due to limited dealership support and I need a fuss free ownership, not confident of them yet.

Venue / Sonet are not considered as they only have iMT or DCT which is not my preference. Also wanted to restrict my budget to 11 Lakhs, otherwise we will keep increasing our budget and finally buy Kushaq 1.5 TSI . I would as well save that money and use it for upgrading my Octavia whenever I am ready for it. For this reason Nexon is out too.

With all the good work Tata has done on safety, I really wanted to buy Tiago. But the car was underwhelming and dealership experience was pretty bad. Only safety is going for Tiago. Altroz doesn't have automatic.

There are so many cars in the market, yet finding one is difficult. Now after prioritizing all our requirements and considering this car will hardly ever see highways we are planning to finalize on Swift. It is fast, fun, sporty, looks good and unbeatable Maruti experience.

So this is the dilemma I have. Appreciate any feedback and suggestions.

Here;s what BHPian saisree had to say on the matter:

Your requirements points to the Jazz. It may not be that pouncing tiger, but, for sure is a ideal family workhorse. With all that space, non claustrophobic, reliable iVTec its worth the penny put on it. And, I feel Honda is not going out.

Here's what BHPian RavSam had to say on the matter:

With your shortlisting, I would say the Swift. Safety rating being the only concern.

Maruti Suzuki AMTs are refined with every iteration. So would not worry much about that.

P.S. And since you don't want to stretch your budget, I would not recommend the Ertiga VXi AT.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.