Car & Bike Which Petrol Hatchback to buy @ 6 lacs?

manu1991

manu1991

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I am looking to replace my Chevy Beat with a bigger car, preferably a hatch since it will only be used for City commuting mainly. My budget is around 6 lacs ex showroom. My running is about 1000kms/month but with Petrol prices so low, i don't think it warrants buying a diesel car. I guess my options in this budget are the Elite i20 Sportz, Swift ZXi, Polo Comfortline and Grand i10 Asta(O). I like the looks of the Polo the most, but the petrol engine seems very unrefined. Havent driven the new i20 yet but it has the same 1.2 Kappa engine which should be decent I guess(albeit a little underpowered for its weight). Swift probably has the best petrol engine in the bunch and should hold its value the best but I have heard far too many rattle complaints on it after a year or so. The rear is also quite claustrophobic. Grand i10 seems the best VFM car in the lot, but since my sister has one as well, I am keeping it as the last option.

Any suggestions/ideas?

Thanks in advance
 
Test Drive a Ritz petrol
It's roomier, and pretty practical car.

Polo spares are costlier, 4 cylinder engines are better
 
drkrack said:
Test Drive a Ritz petrol
It's roomier, and pretty practical car.

Polo spares are costlier, 4 cylinder engines are better
Click to expand...
Roomier.....

It isn't roomier.

If going Maruti I suggest you to wait for Maruti Suzuki YRA.

You can proceed with i20 Elite for more classier look and awesome gear shift.(Out of budget.)

Toyota Etios Liva if you want moore room and best ASS.
 
manu1991 said:
I am looking to replace my Chevy Beat with a bigger car, preferably a hatch since it will only be used for City commuting mainly. My budget is around 6 lacs ex showroom. My running is about 1000kms/month but with Petrol prices so low, i don't think it warrants buying a diesel car. I guess my options in this budget are the Elite i20 Sportz, Swift ZXi, Polo Comfortline and Grand i10 Asta(O).
I like the looks of the Polo the most, but the petrol engine seems very unrefined. Havent driven the new i20 yet but it has the same 1.2 Kappa engine which should be decent I guess(albeit a little underpowered for its weight). Swift probably has the best petrol engine in the bunch and should hold its value the best but I have heard far too many rattle complaints on it after a year or so. The rear is also quite claustrophobic. Grand i10 seems the best VFM car in the lot, but since my sister has one as well, I am keeping it as the last option.

Any suggestions/ideas?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...


The polo is not a very spacious car, and if the purpose of the upgrade is an increase in space, then, well, the polo should be the very first one off your list.
The next casualty, I believe should be the Swift. Not very spacious. And the recent crash tests indicate that is has "unstable platform". So even with ABS and Airbags, how safe it would be is anyone's guess. Also the swift is more of a driver's car rather than anything else and I dont think that you should go buy it.

So my money would be on the Hyundai twins.
And dare I add another hyundai to the equation, the xcent.
So it would depend on you whether you want more features(Gi10 asta) or better looks(Elite i20) or more snob value(sedan = snob value = xcent)


PS: Incase the experience with chevy has been good, also keep the Sail UVA as an outside contender. The discounts on them are wonderful, and the owners seem happy about it.

Team-BHP moderator's ownership thread http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...olet-sail-uva-15k-service-just-rs-1500-a.html
Another ownership thread, but this time in diesel http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...52613-review-my-chevrolet-sail-u-va-tdci.html


PPS: Is the beat for sale?
 
I guess 'bigger car' was a misnomer, I don't necessarily need a lot of space. I meant bigger as in higher class. More features as well hopefully. The beat I have is the PS model which is absolutely bare-bones, doesn't even have a passenger side ORVM. The petrol engine is really lacklustre which is why I am not considering the UVA. I guess I'll test drive the Elite i20 soon to see how the engine holds up in a heavier car.
 
manu1991 said:
I guess 'bigger car' was a misnomer, I don't necessarily need a lot of space. I meant bigger as in higher class. More features as well hopefully. The beat I have is the PS model which is absolutely bare-bones, doesn't even have a passenger side ORVM. The petrol engine is really lacklustre which is why I am not considering the UVA. I guess I'll test drive the Elite i20 soon to see how the engine holds up in a heavier car.
Click to expand...

Then you've answered your own question.
Go buy any of the hyundai triplets depending on which gets you a better discount and which one you like.

PS: My question on the beat stands.
 
[OT]
AMG said:
So if you can contradict the contentions I've raised you're most welcome, and if not, well, I've made my point.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...ylinder-petrol-engines-revotron-stop-gap.html
Click to expand...
Power is 89BHP/90PS. Conservative tuning is probably because they wanted reliability over bhp/litre or simply because they opted for a lesser turbo to meet this price point. There is a similar cheaper variant of the 1.2L TSI that puts out only 86PS. In any case, whats the point in comparing a budget engine in a budget car to cars that are 2-3x the cost? By your definition, all current turbo petrols suck when compared to an F1 turbo petrol from the 80s. Why not compare it to the entry level VW NA 3 cylinder 1.2L? Something so bleh from the German behemoth definitely counts as mediocre.

Low end torque is preferred in ALL engines. What is also preferred is the spread of torque. Having a flat torque from 1750-3500 rpm is much better than most NA petrols which only peak higher up the revs and immediately start falling off. While the peak torque may only last upto 3500 rpm, I highly doubt it falls off a cliff after 3.5k rpm like you imply. Do you even have a graph of the torque curve? You also need to realise that 99% of the population isn't going past 2k rpm ever. And finally none of this translates into how engine driveability actually is. The VW 1.5 TDI which on paper looks more impressive than Fiat's 1.3MJD is a horribly lethargic engine in comparison.

A cast iron block is not really an issue, in fact its preferred for turbo applications - why do you think turbo diesel engines are so heavy? Even the Ecoboost has a cast iron block.

The ARAI figure is 17.6kmpl according to t-bhp. Yeah could've been a bit better but not bad considering there's no direct injection or vvt or any other fancy tech.
[/OT]

In any case I'm not endorsing the Zest due to the really bad Tata A.S.S.[DOUBLEPOST=1417295449][/DOUBLEPOST]
manu1991 said:
I meant bigger as in higher class. More features as well hopefully.
Click to expand...
This is actually kinda tricky, because the Grand i10 might be more feature packed compared to the elite i20 at that same price point.
 
Last edited:
AMG said:
Then you've answered your own question.
Go buy any of the hyundai triplets depending on which gets you a better discount and which one you like.

PS: My question on the beat stands.
Click to expand...

There is no discount on any of them. Only Grand i10 Diesel has a discount. I am not a fan of the Xcent since I dont need the boot and it looks a bit disjointed to me.

Not sure about the beat, a relative might want it, will know in a couple of days.

Crazy_Eddy said:
[OT]

This is actually kinda tricky, because the Grand i10 might be more feature packed compared to the elite i20 at that same price point.
Click to expand...
The key differences seem to be 2 airbags instead of one, push button start and alloy wheels on the i10 and 6 speakers instead of 4 on the i20. I guess I can live with it.

Also, has anyone driven the Grand i10 here. The one which my sister has, has excessively grabby brakes, like really powerful. You touch the brakes and the car immediately slows down. Its a pain in the ass to drive smoothly with them. Hopefully the i20 doesnt have those.
 
Crazy_Eddy said:
[OT]

Power is 89BHP/90PS. Conservative tuning is probably because they wanted reliability over bhp/litre or simply because they opted for a lesser turbo to meet this price point. There is a similar cheaper variant of the 1.2L TSI that puts out only 86PS. In any case, whats the point in comparing a budget engine in a budget car to cars that are 2-3x the cost? By your definition, all current turbo petrols suck when compared to an F1 turbo petrol from the 80s. Why not compare it to the entry level VW NA 3 cylinder 1.2L? Something so bleh from the German behemoth definitely counts as mediocre.

Low end torque is preferred in ALL engines. What is also preferred is the spread of torque. Having a flat torque from 1750-3500 rpm is much better than most NA petrols which only peak higher up the revs and immediately start falling off. While the peak torque may only last upto 3500 rpm, I highly doubt it falls off a cliff after 3.5k rpm like you imply. Do you even have a graph of the torque curve? You also need to realise that 99% of the population isn't going past 2k rpm ever. And finally none of this translates into how engine driveability actually is. The VW 1.5 TDI which on paper looks more impressive than Fiat's 1.3MJD is a horribly lethargic engine in comparison.

A cast iron block is not really an issue, in fact its preferred for turbo applications - why do you think turbo diesel engines are so heavy? Even the Ecoboost has a cast iron block.

The ARAI figure is 17.6kmpl according to t-bhp. Yeah could've been a bit better but not bad considering there's no direct injection or vvt or any other fancy tech.
[/OT]

In any case I'm not endorsing the Zest due to the really bad Tata A.S.S.[DOUBLEPOST=1417295449][/DOUBLEPOST]
This is actually kinda tricky, because the Grand i10 might be more feature packed compared to the elite i20 at that same price point.
Click to expand...


Okay. Even if I concede to your arguement that it has been delibrately been left so so as to achieve more FE or more reliabiliity.
Still it doesnt eexplain why it is not an all new engine but a just a decade and a half indica xeta engine with a turbo plonked on top.

Also why should i compare a VW N/A block to a turbo block. Why shouldnt I compare it to the ecoboost/1.2 tsi with turbo.

You add a turbo to your car and say it is better than non-turbo cars. No shit. It will be better. And it should have blown away the competitors.

a) the petrol cars dont have that high a torque curve
b) the fact is that petrol cars are somewhat quicker revving and the revs climb much more quickly, so putting torque close to where the diesels put it 1700 rpm would mean that the power is delivered very near the idle. Not very preferable IMO. I personally prefer the torque around 2200-3500 rpm,

Also the 99% population not going over 2k RPM. Thats not a believable number.

And i still hold firmly to my belief that tata hasnt been able to do what it has the pottential to with a turbo petrol.
Its neither super powerful neither is it super economic.
 
manu1991 said:
There is no discount on any of them. Only Grand i10 Diesel has a discount. I am not a fan of the Xcent since I dont need the boot and it looks a bit disjointed to me.

Not sure about the beat, a relative might want it, will know in a couple of days.


The key differences seem to be 2 airbags instead of one, push button start and alloy wheels on the i10 and 6 speakers instead of 4 on the i20. I guess I can live with it.

Also, has anyone driven the Grand i10 here. The one which my sister has, has excessively grabby brakes, like really powerful. You touch the brakes and the car immediately slows down. Its a pain in the ass to drive smoothly with them. Hopefully the i20 doesnt have those.
Click to expand...
I have driven a Grand i10 almost 10k on the odo.
Yes, I found the breaks bit abrupt but nothing that you can't adjust to. It improves over time I think. Other than that it is way better than old i10.

Some how I found lot of people selling recently purchased Grand i10 s on local Hyderabad forums, especially on quickr and olx. It was bit too high numbers for a new car. Any case waiting for 1yr after the release is always a best bet.

I won't suggest a Tata car as they need to improve a lot.
Buy a 4 cylinder engines not 3 cylinder ones.
 
I have driven most cars you have mentioned here (except the zest) and own 3 of them in our family,and here are my humble opinions :
I will compare the 1.2 litre petrols here...

Hyundai i20

The kappa petrol which feels sprightly in i10/Grand i10 does feel a bit labored in i20. also the 1st two ratios in elite i20 are shorter to allow peppier getaways I think. Dont go by the ARAI numbers . We have a petrol i20 (nex-gen, the one with DRL) and it struggles to give mileage above 10.
Hyundai do have the most refined 1.2 petrol here imho, though not the most powerful. Esp in the i20 , you step on the accelerator and the response is muted. But enough for the city chores. Did I say it is ultra refined. Oh and it is most spacious of the three hatchbacks we have (Vista is even roomier)

Polo
Although the polo is as wide as an i20, the rear legroom is very very poor.
The 1.2 litre engine is noisy and gives a crude sound when pushed. However two areas where the polo does score over the i20 petrol is driveability (feels peppier) and fuel economy( maybe because of the 3 cylinder engine?)
And please dont say the VAG group cars dont rattle beacuse of the superior build quality. Our 4 month old polo rattles from atleast 4 places. There are similar threads about the same in team bhp regarding the new polo/rapid/vento models.
I bought the polo because I just liked how she looked and I was afraid VW will change the look in 2015/2016. And I always had the ritz to drive when I wanted a change

Maruti
They have the best 1.2 petrol engine in the market. The new swift/ritz come with slightly detuned engines but it is still a holy smoker . We were lucky to purchase our ritz in 2010 and it came with then newly introduced KB series engine. The car has done 30k kms, and driving it (esp after driving the polo/i20) is like having a nitrous strapped to your back. It is not as fuel efficient as the polo petrol, and the handling,braking is subpar., but still if you are an engine man, look no further then the swift/ritz petrol.

of the three cars we have, the polo returns 14, ritz 12 and i20 9-11, All with Ac, All in a tier 2 city but no B2B traffic. The Ritz can deliver more, but I think the engine makes you go heavy footed.

I would suggest you a grand i10 Asta(o) petrol or a swift/Ritz Zxi .
Have you considered a Figo titanium diesel?

I personally dont like how sub 4 meter sedans look. I think they look like ladies who are crossing the road with their skirts raised to avoid getting wet. ;) , no offence to any owners.
 
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