Small Car Story

HYUNDAI: Hyundai is currently offering Santro Xing, Getz Prime and the new line of i10 and i20. As the first two models are outdated, let’s see only the i10 and i20.

I20: I20 have three models, Magna, Asta, and Asta (O). While the I 20 magna is offered at a price of Rs. 479,900/-, the I 20 Asta is offered at Rs. 559,900/- and the Asta (O) is even higher. (Ex-showroom, vizag). Extra features that the i20 Asta has over the i20 magna are, 1. Alloy wheels, 10 mm extra width on wheels. 2. Front seat belt pretensioner. 3. Keyless entry. 4. Front-fog lamps. 5. ABS with EBD. (ABS is on magna) 6. Air Bags for all seats. 7. Leather wrapped steering wheel. 8. Seat belt warning for all seats. 9. Height adjustable driver seat. 10.Rear wiper and washer. 11.Steering audio remote. Who wants to miss all this good stuff which is packed in 80k? I 20 magna, with its, 4.80 lacks price comes on road at around 5.42 lacks. This can be a small car! What about I 20 Asta? This comes on road at 6.32 lacks and that is a petrol car! A petrol car of this price is not at all a small car! Mileage too makes It clear to us at 12 kmpl. Another car of this type is Skoda Fabia; it is a small car and comes at around 9 lacks.

These cars have same boot space as a big car, as well their width and height! Their engines are as powerful as the higher segment cars. The fact is, they are higher segment cars! But comes with a small hatchback look! Why so? Because, small is beautiful for city driving and manure! Any model of choice, it is always better to opt for the high end variant of that model, for a lot of known reasons. As we see the above case, those 11 features, if we want to fit them on magna by buying them individually, it cost far more than 80k; as well there always will be the compatibility problems of new accessory with the used components of the car. What does this say? Magna is a petrol car, with an on road price of 5.4 lacks! If we have a look at the mileage, it is 12.5 km per liter on average. Are these really good figures? If one wants to buy an i20 Asta, at 6.3 lacks on road price, Maruti Swift Diesel is available at 6.1 lacks on road, which is offering 16 Kmpl for diesel. Both cars are same in every other respect other than the length. I20 is 20cm longer than the swift. Why buy I20? Even Maruti Ritz Diesel is also same as the Swift diesel in every respect other than looks. It will be ridiculous to opt for the i20 just for the boot space. This makes the Hyundai i20 suits for no particular type of car and hence out.

I10: I10’s high end model is named as Asta again. This is offered at an on-road price of 5.4 lacks. What’s missing in the i10’ Asta compared to the i20’s Asta? Nothing much of important other than EBD’s assistance for ABS and air bags for rear seats in terms of features. But i20’s huge body compensates the price. Engines of the both cars are of the same, they call this kappa engine. It’s 1197cc, 4 cylinder, 16 valve, DOHC engine generating a peak power of 79 hp @ 5200 rpm and a peak tower of 114 N-m @ 4000 rpm. Body dimensions are: I10/i20: Length: 3.565 m/ 3.94 m; Width: 1.595 m/ 1.71 m; Height: 1.55 m/ 1.50 m;

Wheelbase: 2.380 m/ 2.525 m. These numbers says that i20 is far stable at higher speeds than the i10, as well more boot space for i20. It will have a better road grip too! Apart from that, i10 gives 14.5 kmpl of mileage and i20 gives 12.5 kmpl on an average. These figures are not so impressive though! If we tempted by the spacious interior of the i20, and prefer low end model of i20, that is the i20 magna, we will have to sacrifice a mileage of 2 km per liter.

Again, at the same price of 5.4 lacks, Maruti has its Swift petrol and Ritz petrol. Swift petrol is not definitely a good choice for its fuel thirsty engine, but they claimed to have a 17.7 kmpl on Ritz, even if we get 16 kmpl on average, it’s going to rule the i10 Asta and i20 magna out! Who prefers the Hyundai over the Maruti for a small car? All these cars are built with the same suspension, steering and braking system, hence they were not discussed! In the end, we can say, Hyundai cannot make a petrol model which is well compatible with the market.

I 10 Diesel: There is a Diesel variant also in the i10 model. This diesel engine has 1086cc, 4 cylinder, 12 valve and SOHC type. This is generating a peak power of 65 hp @ 5500 rpm and 101 N-m @ 2800 rpm. That appears to be a good engine, but not suitable to be fitted on the body of i10! As well, there are so many awkward things and as well as proofs for lack of dedication from the Hyundai for this model. They simply are not interested on a small car with diesel engine, because that won’t sell much! Let’s talk some facts! If the Hyundai cars are not as fuel efficient as the Maruti cars and their built and ride quality is not as standard as the Tata and Maruti, why going for Hyundai?? Especially in the small car segment! Hyundai is still living in the Indian market simply because of its good marketing skills and after sales services.

P.S: Author has no personal grudge on Hyundai, but wants to inform you that, An Acer can never compete with a Dell! Conclusions are 1. i10’s low end model is not a worthy for money. 2. I10’s high end and i20’s low end are coming at the same price but are lost to Maruti Ritz petrol. 3. I10’s Diesel car is not at all right car for personal use. What else is there with Hyundai? The old Santro launched with different names, but the same chassis! But that’s a grandmother to compete with the new market! Forget about them!

MARUTI: For the new generation, with a little hike in the prices, they have Maruti 800 Duo, Maruti Alto, Maruti A-star and Zen Estilo, and Maruti Wagon R and Swift, and new Ritz. It was always a proved thing that Maruti’s fuel efficiency, value for money, and the services are unbeatable in this segment. They have always got the upper hand in this market for years and with above reasons.

Maruti 800: Maruti 800 duo is an innovational dual fuel vehicle, with petrol and LPG. Maruti and TATA are the only companies which has license for company fitted LPG gas kits, though they are providing this option on 800, Wagon R and on Indica V2 Xeta only. Maruti 800 has an on-road price of 2.2 lacks (standard model) to 2.54 lacks (high end model). They have A/C in the high end model. Engine specs are, 796cc, 3 cylinder inline, 2 valves per cylinder, SOHC valve operation, MPFI fuel injected and controlled by a 32 –bit ECM. It generates a 35 hp @ 5000 rpm, and 56 N-m @ 2500 rpm. Transmission is 4 forward, 1 reverse and all synchromesh gearbox. Suspension system is McPherson strut and coil spring in the front and coil spring and gas filled shock absorbers at the rear, which is great on rough roads. Disc brakes in the front and Drum brakes at rear wheels, an efficient braking strategy.

Pure mechanical rack and pinion steering and no power steering is available (is it necessary?). 12 inch radial tires. What’s the matter with Nano?

Tata Nano has a 623cc engine, 2 cylinders, which generate a 33 hp of peak power. This gives a mileage of 21 km per liter. 800 is giving around the same amount of the mileage with a little big engine. 800’s build quality is too good to compare with the nano’s. In fact, Nano is nowhere to be compared with the 800. Left over welds and rivets are clearly visible inside the car, which gives us a fear of flow of rain water. Better to take a test ride in rain! Cheap bench seats are a big turn off. A ride on nano may not be better than a 3 wheeler auto. A 200cc 3 wheeler auto’s engine needs heat ventilation some times, which is also mounted in the rear. We do observe this sometimes. With its 620cc engine, and a closed cabin for the engine, how much distance do we expect the Nano could travel? Before it transfer all the heat into the passenger cabin! And if by mistake a big man throws his hand at the car, we will be left with a dent and a repair! If a child tried to play with the door of the Nano, the Nano is too generous; it will award him with that door! Let us make a realistic comparison. Piaggio ape is a 3 wheeler; auto-rickshaw in short, costs 1.3 lacks in total. Nano’s basic model also costs the same. While the Nano is giving a 21 km per liter, ape is giving 35 km. Difference is, Nano has 620cc engine and ape has 220cc engine. If Tata can, cut down one cylinder of their engine on Nano, which makes it a 310cc engine, it’s going to be a revolutionary vehicle in India. Assume that, all 3 wheelers are replaced by nanos on our city roads! How beautiful it is to see!

Three wheeler vehicles are the main cause for slowing down the traffic; as well we all are victims of its smoke exhaling habit too! Tata Nano is clean emission vehicle and very swift in city driving! If Tata Nano can cut down that one cylinder, it comes even in a lower price, cheaper than the auto, and gives mileage even more than the auto. For a little more price, we can even enjoy the ride with an A/C too, on this auto, sorry, Nano! Somebody, please convey this great idea to the TATA!

Conclusion is that, it’s a good thing to buy a Maruti 800 with some borrowed money rather than the Nano, if you really care your safety, peace of mind and a smooth ride.

Maruti Alto: Alto is another race horse of Maruti in the 3 lacks range. It comes with a power steering in the high end model along with A/C. It has an on-road price range of 2.67 lacks to 3.26 lacks, around 60k more than the 800. What more the alto got than the 800? Engine is the same 800cc, 3 cylinder, but 4 valves per cylinder rather than 3, same MPFI, controlled by the same 32-bit ECM but generating a little more power and torque (negligible). It has the same type of suspension system but a little heavy duty one, and braking, got booster assistance! Standard model is coming with rack and pinion steering, but power assistance is available at high end.

Same gearbox! Length: 3.495 m, width: 1.475 m, height: 1.46 m. Tires are of the same 12 inch, radial types. Well, for 60k, this is a good upgrade, along with the increased interior space and a stronger body! This is definitely a good buy for 3 lacks, great value for money at this price! There are no competitors for ALTO! If your budget is around 3.5 lacks, don’t look for options, you have only one! Don’t get tempted by the 3.5 lacks Indica diesel basic model cars! They will give you a huge disappointment for sure. With huge 1400cc diesel engines, they are better to be used as tractors rather than cars!

MARUTI Zen Estilo: On road price range of this model is 3.6 lacks to 4.4 lacks. This car appears to be a little out of dimensions, let’s compare it with the down to ground alto! Length is same as the Alto, width is same as the alto and the height is 13.5 cm more than the alto, and then the wheelbase is same. Well, but Maruti is wise enough of increasing the wheel diameter by 1 inch, which means, this car, despite of its height, is as rigid on the ground as the alto is! One more fact is kerb weight of this car is 100 kgs more than the alto, another factor for stability in the corners. Even after this much of careful design, there were some complaints about the stability of this car. Engine is a 1061cc, 3 cylinders, 4 valves each, MPFI, controlled by a 32 –bit ECM. Generates a peak power of 64 hp @ 6200 rpm and 84 @ 3500 N-m peak torque. Gear box is the same type of the Alto, but the gear ratios are different, acknowledged to the raise in torque. Suspension is the same, but comes along with the anti-roll bar. Steering is the same rack and pinion and assisted with power. Same braking system as the Alto.

But Interestingly, Maruti made this car a big one with, power steering, ABS, airbags, and power windows on the high end model! At 4.4 lacks, that’s a great value for money! But for unknown reasons, this car failed to improve the sales of Maruti, perhaps the cheap look! We have a serious option for this car, Chevrolet’s Spark!! The GM’s spark has an on-road price of 4.8 lacks. Comes with ABS, Airbags, power steering and power windows. Still, as it is not in the price range of 4.4 lacks we are not comparing these two. TATA again has its models in this price range, but still, they are mostly used for cabs and taxis. A fact is that the TATA has been trying too hard to get out of the cab tag for the Indica, but they have not succeeded so far! Perhaps, the new line Indica Vista will help them, as the interior was real good and spacious. As well the outer looks are too good to be a cab. Anyways, the Vista’s are not coming in the Zen Estilo’s price range we talk about them later. Zen Estilo definitely is a good car! A small car at 4.4 lacks with ABS is a good buy, but surely one has to compromise with the quality of the interiors and other small things. A low end Zen Estilo may come at 4 lacks price range, but, without ABS, this car is not at all a good buy, acknowledged to its awkward dimensions. For an added 40k we can get the much improvised A-star or the Spark with ABS.

A-star: This is a new generation vehicle from Maruti. With its new looks and dimensions it appears as little big car! Let’s see the dimensions. Length is almost same as alto, width is 12.5 cm more than the Alto; height is 3 cm more than the alto. The increase in height is not a concern for handling, because there was an increase in width with a same wheelbase as alto. So, it is as rigid on the ground as the alto. Don’t worry about toppling! On-road prices for A-star are from 4.1 lacks to 4.85 lacks. Its engine is 998 cc, 3 cylinder, 4 valve each, MPFI controlled by a 32-bit ECM.

Other specifications of this car are same as the Zen Estilo. One fact is, Chevrolet spark was launched aiming at Zen Estilo and they were successful in ruling out the Estilo! As the Zen Estilo losing the market to spark, worried Maruti launched the A-star, with everything same as the Estilo, but, with some modifications. Notable modifications are reduction in height (for better dynamics), and total facelift for the car outer look! This car is definitely a serious competitor for the Spark. Spark comes with tubeless tires and a better suspension system. Other features like power steering, ABS, power windows, air bags are same on both of these cars! Differentiation between these two occurs only at the level of servicing and maintenance. GM is offering a great servicing package for their spark that lasts for 3 years while Maruti has their own reputation for servicing. GM claims to be having a lesser maintenance charges than the A-Star. However, Spark will be the winner here, because of its richness in every aspect! One more car in this range is the new TATA Vista Safire, a petrol car with on road price of 4.4 lacks. But no ABS. hence out of competition! ABS is a real serious thing for safety; one should not compromise for the ABS after a price of 4.4 lacks! And this is the second cheapest car with ABS after the Zen Estilo.

Wagon R: Wagon R has the option of dual fuel car! They call it Wagon R Duo. On-road price of this car is 3.7 lacks to 5.14 lacks. Let us consider only the high end car! Though this car comes into the small car segment, this has been designed with a different purpose. It has a length of 3.52 m, width of 1.49 m, height of 1.69 m, and a wheel base of 2.36 m.

That means a lot more spacious than the other models of the Maruti only in the vertical direction! That makes this car to move into an unbeatable segment (spacious small car). It has the same features of Zen Estilo in every aspect. 1061cc, 4 cylinder engine, 16 valves, MPFI, controlled by a 32-bit ECM. Peak power is 64 hp @ 6200 rpm, and peak torque is 84 N-m @ 3500 rpm. Same as the Estilo’s engine. Electronic power steering, McPherson struts with anti roll bar at the front and coil spring, gas filled shock absorbers at the rear for the suspension system. ABS braking system in the high end model, Power windows in the high end model. Same gear box as the Estilo, 5 speed manual gear box, and automatic transmission in the high end! In fact to say, they have used the Wagon R bench and features for Estilo! Wagon R has come first! This was a big hit in the market, and no competition till now! If one is looking for a spacious car in the small car segment, there is no other option but Wagon R! In this price range comes, Swift, TATA Vista, i10, Ritz but none of them are real competitors for this car in space! Of course, if you are looking for looks and style also, better look for other options! In fact to say, this model is also a little bit out of dimensions just like the Zen Estilo, but never had a compliant of going out of balance. This means that, those complaints against the Zen Estilo are fake.

MARUTI SWIFT: After the Maruti Zen diesel done well in particular areas of the country, now, retracted from production, Maruti again launched into diesel segment with the Swift. Swift has the both petrol and diesel variants. Petrol: Swift petrol comes with 1298cc, 4 cylinders, and 4 valves each, MPFI controlled by ECM engine.

It generates an 87 hp @ 6000 rpm of peak power and 113 N-m @ 4500 rpm of peak torque. It has a wide chassis which makes this car very rigid at high speeds! In fact, this is a high end car of the small car market, with huge engine configuration, heavy duty steering, suspension systems, body, and chassis. It has an on road price of 4.8 lacks to 6.10 lacks. But the VXi model of this car is coming at 5.4 lacks. The Zxi is available at 6.1 lacks. What we lose on the VXi is, for 70k, tilt steering, driver seat height adjuster, integrated audio system, rear window wiper, front fog lamps, alloy wheels, dual front air bags, ABS with EBD, keyless entry. All these features are more than worthy for buying at 70k. Buying the VXi is not at all suggested for obvious reasons of lack of the above features. With this huge engine, mileage is only 10 kmpl at an average, which is very disappointing! But for those rich people who like the small cars, this is definitely a good buy! Power assisted steering, McPherson struts and coil springs; gas filled shock absorbers, 5 speed and 1 reverse manual gear box, same as the wagon R, but heavy duty. ABS with EBD is available for high end (ZXi) that too as an optional. Hence this Swift petrol is not a good buy in the same way as the Hyundai i20’s high end model. But if there comes a fight between these two, Swift petrol will be the winner.

Swift Diesel: Here is the giant. 1248cc, 4 cylinder, 16 valve each, common rail diesel injected (CRDi), turbocharged with intercooler engine on a small car! That’s really huge! Can the body of swift can take this monster engine under its hood? Yes, happily, with a very little noise and vibrations problems! That the built of this car’s body, chassis and dynamics! Its kerb weight is 1075 kgs! This car is definitely a car enthusiast’s piece.

The engine generates 75 hp @ 4000 rpm of peak power and a peak torque of 190 Nm @ 2000 rpm. Just look at the torque figure! Its more than many large petrol cars and even some SUV’s at 2000 rpm! If added an intercooler and a turbocharger to this engine with a CRDi, churns out a flat torque curve, and that’s a heaven for driving! It’s on road price is 5.5 lacks to 6.1 lacks. Mileage of this car is unbelievable 17 kmpl on an average! What else one has to look for? If you have an idea of buying a car with a budget of 5 lacks, borrow 1 more lack and buy this car! It’s really worthy of it! The mileage of this car will compensate the initial investment in the first one year itself! The engine of this car is internationally acclaimed fiat’s Quadrajet engine. Suzuki bought the engines from fiat for this vehicle, and later changed its name to DDiS. Interesting thing is Maruti launched another vehicle called Maruti Ritz on 15 th may, with the same DDiS engine. TATA has bought the same engine from fiat and using it under the same name! Quadrajet! It’s fitted in TATA Vista’s diesel variant. Fiat itself launched the Palio MultiJet diesel car with the same QuadraJet engine. Vista QuadraJet and Fiat Stilo MultiJet are available at around 5.4 lacks, but no sign of ABS! These two guys have to think about it seriously. But if they add ABS, their prices also touch the Swift or the Ritz prices. It seems like we are not available with a good diesel car in the price range of 5 to 5.4 lacks. Either Swift or else go for a good mileage petrol car! That’s the small car market as of now! We, here are talking about personal/family usage of the cars, and not about the cabs and public transport. In the later case, Tata has a whole lot of cars, for which, we may not even be able to remember the names!

That’s the story of Maruti. If we see the line-up of Maruti vehicles in the small car segment, it shows a continuity, and dedication! Though it has seriously lost some market to its competitors, it’s working hard enough for not losing any more! Some tricks like launching the A-star and Ritz comes under this kind of circumstances only.

Chevrolet: Chevrolet has two cars in the small car segment. Spark and Aveo U-VA.

Spark: Though it was a re-launch of Matiz, GM had done some major modifications on this car. It has a 1000cc engine, instead of the 800cc engine of Matiz. It comes with a simple configuration, of 4 cylinder, 2 valve each, SOHC engine with Electronic Fuel Injection. Peak power is 63 hp @ 5400 rpm and peak torque is 90 @ 4200 rpm. Suspension is strut and spring in the front, spring and gas shock absorbers at the rear. A/C, Power steering, power windows, ABS with EBD is available on the high end model. On-road price of this car is 4.8 lacks, high end model. It has a mileage of 16 kmpl of average. Spark has the tubeless tires! First in this segment. Alloy wheels too! This is perfect competitor for A-star and i10! As we have seen earlier, i10 is nowhere to stand with these two cars! Hence the competition runs between A-star and Spark, though the clear winner is the Spark, closely followed by the A-star.

Aveo U-VA is the other model of Chevrolet. It is a bit costly car for its range. Who wants to spend 5.7 lacks for a petrol car which is yielding 12 kmpl of mileage? It is not even a beautiful car, in terms of looks! That’s the story of Spark.

TATA: Tata is a mystery! They have currently Indica and Indigo in the below 5 lacks market. In Indica, currently they are producing, Tata Indica V2, Tata Indica V2 Xeta, Tata Indica Vista. Again, 5 models with different names in Indica V2, another 5 models in V2 Xeta, another 8 models in Indica Vista. In total, 18 models are available to chose from! Its not over, there is indigo also! Indigo, Indigo CS, Indigo Marina, Indigo XL. 5 models in Indigo, 8 models in Indigo CS, 5 models in Indigo Marina, 4 models in Indigo XL( more than 6 lacks). In total, 17 models in Indigo. As a whole, Tata is offering 35 models from 3 lacks to 6.2 lacks of on-road price. Even if we take the high end car of the sub-divisions, we will get 12 cars! Indica is a car mostly used for cabs and public transport rather than as a family car. Reasons being, the cabs move a long distance, hence, diesel is the cheaper option for them. A diesel engine on a small car is like dream coming true for them. No cab driver seeks a smooth ride or noise free cabin; hence the Indica has become dear for them. The earlier models of the Tata are definitely for this purpose only; no family would have liked it as their family car! But the VISTA line-up has come up with all new looks and spacious interior as well with good body. This may change the image of Tata as a cab car as they hoped! Rich upholstery was used for these variants, and these cars seem to fit a good family or personal car. How many models they may have, they have some standard engines to offer.

TATA Vista comes with 3 types of engines. 1170cc petrol engine, 1250cc Quadrajet engine, and 1400cc diesel engine. Let us forget about the 1400cc diesel engine, we are not looking for trucks. Other than that, what stands worthy of buying are, those vehicles coming with Quadrajet engines and those with 1170 cc petrol engines.

TATA VISTA Safire: This is the petrol car. Its engine comes with 1172cc petrol engine, 4 cylinder, 4 valves each and MPFI controlled by ECM. Peak power output is 64 hp @ 5500 rpm, and peak torque output is 96 N-m @ 3000 rpm. That comes with 13 inch, tubeless tires.

Power assisted rack and pinion steering, 5 speed and 1 reverse manual gear box. Independent front suspension, with strut and coil spring, and coil spring with gas shock absorber in the rear. Disc brakes in the front and drum brakes in the rear. Tilt adjustable steering wheel and height adjustable driver seat are added attraction. No power steering, but hydraulic power steering! No ABS! This car has an on-road price of 4.4 lacks for high end model. Hence, this is definitely a good competitor for the Zen Estilo. But the Zen Estilo wins over with its ABS. In the place of ABS, Safire has the rich upholstery and good interiors; however, one must give the priority to safety over the looks. But a low end Safire at 4 lacks is a good buy. Unfortunately Spark’s low end model has taken over on this price! Where to go for TATA?

VISTA Quadrajet: This has the same 1250cc engine, CRDI, but no turbocharger! So, this is the same configuration as the Fiat Stilo MultiJet car. Every other thing, such as steering, suspension and transmission is same as the Safire.

While the petrol variant is coming with an on road price of 4.4 lacks the Quadrajet is coming around 5.3 lacks again no ABS! 5.3 lacks and no ABS? forget about this car!

Fiat: Palio stile: This is coming up with petrol and diesel variants. Let’s see the petrol variant! Again in Stile, they have 1100cc engine as well 1600cc engines, named as Stile and Stile Sport. Stile’s engine 1100cc, 4 cylinder, 8 valve, SOHC engine, MPFI, ECM controlled and generates a peak power of 56 hp @ 5250 rpm, and peak torque of 92 N-m @ 2750 rpm. Stile sport’s engine 1600cc, 4 cylinder, 16 valves, DOHC engine, MPFI, ECM controlled and generates a peak power of 99 hp @ 5500 rpm and a peak torque of 137 Nm @ 4250 rpm. Both models have the same body and chassis. Brakes are ventilated discs at front and drums in the rear. 13 inch tires on stile and 14 inch tires, alloy wheels on stile sport, tubeless! Manual 5 forward gears and one reverse gear in the gearbox. Independent front suspension with shock absorbers, and rear, torsion bar, stabilizer bar and coil springs. Power steering and power windows are available for both models. (On high end model of the stile). The missing thing is only the ABS! automatic transmission is anyway not a desirable feature. Stile’s coming with on-road price of 4.2 lacks and stile sport is coming at 5 lacks. At 4.2 lacks Stile is a good option for Spark’s low end.

Stile MultiJet: This is the diesel variant of Stile.

As we have see earlier, Tata and Maruti have bought the Quadrajet engine from Fiat and installed them in Swift, Ritz and Vista, Fiat itself has also equipped their Stile MultiJet with the same engine. Now, we have 4 cars with the same engine! Needless to write about the engine, as it has been written for the Swift. One exception is that, we don’t have turbocharger on palio. On road price of the high end model of this car is 5.2 lacks. We need not have to worry about the fiat’s spare parts and services, as it was undertaken by the TATA.

Conclusions:

Comparison of cars depends upon many factors. Here, in this discussion, we are talking about small cars. Small cars in the sense, small in size! Almost all cars of this category costs 6 lacks and below. They are better described as 5 door hatchbacks. Preferring the car depends on attitude also! At the same price we will get the low end model of a high segment car and high end models of a low segment car. Here it depends on one’s attitude. It’s like your boss buy a high end swift diesel at 6.1 lacks and you can buy the swift petrol, without ABS, power steering, automatic transmission at 4.7 lacks, but both of you can become friends! But one thumb rule is that, one must always prefer the high end car of any model, because it adds a lot of value for money. For example, if a car is available with power steering at 5 lacks, if you buy it without power steering at 4.7 lacks, which saves you 30k. But at a later point of time, if you want to fit a power steering that costs 50k, which means 20k extra. So, be sure of what you need and don’t get attracted to silly add-on features! Space is yet another trouble. For 5 lacks we may get a wagon R, but at the same price Tata is offering their Indigo which is a sedan, with comes with an extra box!

Here, if there is more material on your vehicle means, more cost to company, how they manage the difference, reduces the quality of the interiors! There is no free lunch! Well let us start our comparisons. What’s the major difference between petrol and diesel vehicles? If we compare, petrol and diesel cars of the same variant, we will find diesel is more costly. This is because of the engine equipment and we cannot change it! But, only the initial investment is high in the diesel cars! Every time you go to the filling station these cars makes you a bit comfortable. Hence, If you are a long distance rider, Diesel car is perfect for your need, and it compensates the high initial investment in no time. Petrol cars are for those, who bring the car out rarely or those who travel very fewer distances every day! Well, in the small car segment diesel cars not much preferred. Who said vibration of the diesel engines are less? They are high compared to petrol cars! But, with a strong body and high quality engine mountings they will make these things suppressed! A strong body in a small car? With so small dimensions? Not very possible! But there are some good diesel cars who have achieved this object! Take the case of Maruti Zen Diesel which is a smash hit! It has a very down to ground and very wide and strong body, hence it never made its owners never regret for owning it, with few exceptions! Same category follows to Maruti Swift and TATA Vista Quadrajet. But if we see, these cars are offered in the above 5 lacks range. That makes our conclusion. Don’t try to reduce our fuel costs through buying a diesel car offered below 5 lacks, if we do, we will definitely regret our decision. More than 5 lacks, only cars coming at 6.1 lacks are the Swift and Ritz with ABS. if we still prefer diesel car and can spend only 5.3 lacks, we have the Vista and Stilo without ABS. One hot engine in the current small car market is the FIAT’s QuadraJet engine. 1250cc diesel engine, with a 190 N-m torque at as low as 2000 rpm, yet yielding a 17 kmpl of mileage! 190 N-m of torque at 2000 rpm is still a dream for some of the high segment petrol cars, as well that mileage figure also. Fiat has already equipped their Stilo MultiJet model with this engine.

Maruti has bought this engine and used it in Swift and recently in Ritz. Tata with their recent friendship with the Fiat started using the same engine for Vista Quadrajet. So, there are 4 cars in total. Well, swift has been the race horse for Maruti since a long time, hence for a refreshed look, they launched the Ritz. Everything in Ritz is same as the Swift, including the price. Only difference is its revised looks! Swift itself is a futuristic model, they made Ritz even more futuristic! (Is it like Japanese looks or futuristic looks?) So, swift is out of competition! And Ritz is in! Tata VISTA and FIAT Stilo MultiJet are not offering ABS and airbags on these cars! That perhaps, is a cost cutting measure! These two cars are around 90k lesser than the Swift and Ritz. Well, spending around 5.2 lacks for a powerful engine and No ABS and airbags?? Something not to compromise! Hence, Maruti leaps ahead with one more feature; they offer these engines with an intercooled turbocharger, which is not available in the other two! So, all these big features at 90k? Definitely a great buy! The conclusion is, Maruti Swift or Ritz wins in the high end small car hatchback market at 6 lacks of initial investment. What about the i20? A 6.3 lacks petrol car, which is a little bigger in size, and a 5 door hatchback, with as much less as 11-12 kmpl of mileage? It’s seriously not a fit in this domain! If one is thinking about an entry level large car like ford fiesta, then, a high end i20 will be the competitor! If we go down a little bit in the market, we will have to exclude all the diesel cars! Because of known facts! In fact, there are not many! The Zen Diesel is out of production now. Hyundai i10 diesel is not even worth of talking, and the all those Tata cars are better be cabs rather than personal and family cars! So, our discussion now is narrowed down to petrol cars only. Let us hook around the 5 lacks point. Let’s make a list of what is deserved for an expenditure of 5 lacks. 1. At least a 1000cc engine.

2. Power steering and power windows (at least, in the front). 3. Needless to say, an A/C. 4. Heavy duty suspension system. 5. ABS for safety, (with EBD, if possible!). 6. Tubeless tires. 7. Height adjustable driver seat and tiltable steering column. In the price range of 4.8 lacks to 5.3 lacks, cars which pass through this test are, Maruti Wagon R, A-star, Chevy’s Spark, Hyundai i10 and Ritz petrol! Lack of ABS puts the TATA Vista and Fiat’s palio not in the competition. How sad! Out of other four, Wagon R is a different kind of vehicle! It has its own league called spacious small car! Hence it is a winner in its own domain! Who cares for an Acer computer when you get a Dell at the same price! Hence the clear winner at 4.8 lacks is the SPARK, closely followed by the A-star! And at 5.4 lacks it’s the Ritz. Spark has the A/C. tubeless tires, power steering, ABS with EBD, power windows and great GM’s design quality! What else we need? Tubeless tires are not available in A-star, spark’s suspension system is far better than the A-star! Even the cost of spare parts and service warranties, Chevy takes the lead. It’s after sales service is the best in its category! Please notice that, TATA do have some diesel cars in this price range, in the V2 era, they were not considered. A 1400cc diesel engine on a small car is not a smooth business. It’s definitely for cabs and public transportation only. So where are we? All models of Hyundai are defeated and it is out of the field now! Spark has won the race, and U-VA was defeated, that finishes the Chevy! TATA below 4.5 lacks is good only for the public transport market hence out! Only one standing is Maruti, and it should be! Cars in the 2.5 lacks to 4.5 lacks range are, Maruti 800, Alto, and Zen Estilo.

At 2.5 lacks 800 is the best option and at 3.3 lacks alto is the best option, in fact we have no other option. But the market between, 3.3 to 4.4 lacks needs a serious revision by Maruti. The problem here is, A/C, power steering, power windows are available at 3.3 lacks on Alto. Next thing to look for are better suspension systems, ABS, air bags! With these three features, the cost again goes to 4.4 lacks. Hence, with a budget of 4 lacks, one could only get a low or medium end model of A-star or the Spark. Or if one has no feeling for using the TATA Indica for personal use, TATA is offering some petrol Indica’s ( Vista Safire) in this price range. Best choice here will be, Spark minus its ABS and air bags! Its suspension system anyway is a rich one than the alto.—end. One more car no one wants to discuss about is, the Ambassador. Price range of this vintage is 4.2 lacks to 6 lacks. As we all know, there will be a lot to write about this car, but no one wants to write because no one will read it! Hence leave it here! Author has nor forgets about the Indigo’s but, not included them in this discussion, because of their unworthiness. If any Tata car has won this comparisons, it would be fine to buy its extended version, I mean, the Indigo. As well there are Ford IKON 1.3 Flair petrol model available at 5.3 lacks on road price, and Ford IKON 1.4 TDCi diesel model available at 6 lacks on road price, but are not considered, for the lack of ABS and airbags. same goes with the Renault Logan also.

Winners are, 1. MARUTI 800 2. MARUTI ALTO 3. GM SPARK 1.0 LS

2.5 lacks on road. 3.3 lacks on road. 4.0 lacks on road.

4. MARUTI ZEN ESTILO

4.4 lacks on road. …..ABS available from here.

5. GM SPARK 1.0 LT

4.8 lacks on road.

6. MARUTI WAGON R 5.3 lacks on road…..only for the people who seeks space for their heads.

7. MARUTI RITZ petrol

5.4 lacks on road.

8. MARUTI SWIFT diesel

6.1 lacks on road.

The End.