Petrol, diesel, hybrid or electric: Which car would you buy next

Surely there will be a lot more options to choose from versus now. So, what would be your powertrain preference for your next vehicle?

BHPian ajayc123 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Many of you would have seen the news about Maruti Suzuki's commitment to focus on environment-friendly technologies. As per Mr C V Raman, CTO, "there will be no pure petrol powertrain across the range". We can expect other manufacturers to follow suit.

Exciting times ahead. As automobile enthusiasts, BHPians, have you started thinking about the powertrain for your next vehicle? Sooner than later you are going to be in the market for a new vehicle. Surely you will have a lot more options to choose from, versus now.

So I thought, let's conduct a poll to understand what BHPians are thinking.

It's a simple poll: What would be your powertrain preference for your next vehicle?

Very briefly listing down the options, please feel free to research more:

• Internal Combustion Engine ( Diesel / Petrol only) - Traditional.
• Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicle (SHEV) - Atkinson cycle-based petrol engine with electric generator motors accompanied by a small battery pack, that can give a pure electric range of upto 1 km, but offers upto 40-50% higher fuel efficiency (Examples Toyota HyRyder - some variants, Honda City Hybrid eHEV, Camry Hybrid etc).
• Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) - Similar to a strong hybrid but with a larger battery pack giving upto 50 km or more pure electric range. Can be charged at home or at a commercial charging point (Examples - not aware of anything yet in India, but hopeful).
• Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) - runs entirely on battery and requires to be charged at home or a commercial electric charging point (like Tata Nexon EV, MG EV etc).
• Other - CNG, Hydrogen cell, Natural Fuels.

Here's what GTO had to say about the matter:

I am very keen on adding a really fast turbo-petrol as the next car to my garage, so voted for that, although the odds are very good for an EV as well. Currently, the odds are 60:40 petrol vs electric for me.

Here's what BHPian diwakarmuthu had to say about the matter:

I have voted for Diesel. However, I may tilt over for a good EV. I know the charging infrastructure and other related aspects haven't matured yet. But, if we get a good range (say 400km) with competent charging infrastructure, I may just switch over to EV.

One catch though, I have not seen a good 7-seater EV (not counting the BYD 6) yet for the Indian market and I believe it would take some time as well. Maybe the OEMs are still maturing their 5 seater options!

Here's what BHPian Rahul Rao had to say about the matter:

I'm sure that ICEs will be out of the mainstream before I stop driving, I will turn 48 next month and expect to drive for at least another 30 or so years.

My dad still drives regularly at 78, and we had to force my late grandfather to stop driving when he was in his early 90s.

Over the years I have driven a number of vehicles, and I prefer the front engine, and rear-wheel drive longitudinal layouts to the transverse ones we have to make do with due to a lack of enough choice in my budget. We usually need 3 cars at home, and buy a new car every 4-5 years and keep them for full 15 years, often 3+ lakh on the ODO though we currently have only two.

Before pure ICE cars go out of the mainstream, I want to buy a longitudinally-mounted inline 6. Does not matter if it is a pre-worshipped one. This will mostly be used for my business trips from Pune to Mumbai / Kolhapur / Aurangabad / Belgaum / Nashik, etc. These trips average about 50 every year.

Second will be a pure electric which I will use for my visits to industries around Pune and cities within 100 km of Pune. This daily runabout car (currently my Terrano) does just about 1000 km a week or a little under 50,000 km in a year.

I will retain my Ecosport which has already given 8 years of totally troublefree service.

I am not totally averse to Hybrids, but unless a plug-in Hybrid with a longitudinal layout is launched by someone, I will not consider it.

Here's what BHPian SoumenD had to say about the matter:

Strong Hybrid for me. Staying in an apartment it's tough to have a dedicated charging setup, plus range anxiety wouldn't let me drive an EV on highways. Since mine's a one-car garage I need good mileage in the city with minimal gas station visits and no range anxiety on highways. Strong hybrid fits the bill nicely.

Yes currently we have very few options but since Maruti is getting into it am sure all others will get in soon and with scale, upfront costs will get reasonable by the time I am ready to change my current car (at least 3-4 years).

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.