[AutoConsultant]

Originally Posted by TheWall

I think the 5th generation City is a perfect package. Especially the V variant is absolute value for money. Has everything except for the sunroof. Honda could have brought the CVT to diesel as well, but I feel diesel is already overpriced and adding a CVT would make the top end variant close to 19L OTR.

Originally Posted by TheVegabond

I was looking for some love for our beloved Honda City in this thread. The car has been on the road for ages literally. In the sea of Pseudo-SUVs and dying sedans the City in its 5th generation is still holding onto its own.

Only blemish - ground clearance. Our potholed roads with those speed breakers ensure that low GC of the City remains a concern.

Honda City 5th Gen - Totally agree with The wall and TheVegabond - the V and VX variants are extremely VFM if you compare them with their nearest rivals - the Korean twins. Creta SX costs 16 lacs in Delhi and offers just 2 airbags! City V offers 4 at 12.5 lacs.

Being the owner of the ZX MT Petrol version, I absolutely love the space, performance and comfort of the car. Also, I don't think low GC is a negative - that's just what you get with a sedan, you get that low seating and better handling due to that.

There are 3 points which, if rectified, can make this car perfect - Better sound insulation (Creta is superior in that aspect, wider tyres and a 2021-level infotainment system. All three are fairly achievable with little extra cost.

[bhavik.1991]

Skoda Kodiaq - Missing 190hp engine tune. Pretty capable car otherwise

[FloatingCanvas]

Originally Posted by gt3t0uring

For me it would be tata nano, perfect size, ample of space inside, only if it had a 3 cylinder engine coupled with a 5 speed manual transmission.

I love everything about the Nano except for the way it brakes. After over a decade of driving it, used to the engine note and don't find the need for the 3rd cylinder in most situations.

If only it were launched by Maruti instead of Tata, it would have been a vastly more successful product than it turned out to be.

Tata had the worst PR team ever when Nano was launched and they messed up big time. Marketing as the 1 lac car backfired. We paid 2.10 lacs on road for the top end and every single person we met for the next one year was shocked we paid a whole lac extra for the 1 lac car.

With a few stray fire incidents being just the right number of nails to seal the coffin shut. The PR team did a rather poor job addressing the issue.

While I wasn't a fan of the car when my Dad brought it home in 2009, my love for the car has been growing with every passing year since then. I prefer it over my i20 Elite for running errands in Bengaluru traffic.

[BrabarusMark]

Originally Posted by gt3t0uring

For me it would be tata nano, perfect size, ample of space inside, only if it had a 3 cylinder engine coupled with a 5 speed manual transmission.

I feel the Tata Nano is ripe for an EV comeback. Could be the people's car it was meant to be. With a range of 100-200 km would make it perfect for the city with enough charging stations throughout the city to extend the range.

[vedant.singhvi]

I think Kushaq sits pretty close to 'almost perfect'.
Good legroom and overall space, great ride and handling, good engines, great build quality and safety (excluding the lack of 6 airbags on the top model), more than enough features, looks good too

The only thing it is lacking is a slightly more competitive pricing, and MAYBE better after sales service?

[Kumaran93R]

Vento 1.6 TDi

The car has got almost everything perfect. Great engine with awesome torque. (No tte 1.5 TDi doesn't feel the same, even though it is very similar on paaper.) Great fuel economy. Great build quality for its segment. Good enough space inside. Good gearbox with almost perfect ratios.

But, it is the handling, more precisely it's steering feedback that is a big fly in the ointment. Now before everyone flames me for saying that Vento isn't a great handler, let me clarify. Comparing it to the cars sold in the last 3-4 years, Vento seems great. But everytime I want to go for a fun drive, I almost always get the keys of my 1st gen Figo. Why? Because steering feedback. I don't think any car this side of 20 lacks today handles as good as the Figo/Fiesta or the Punto/Linea. Now, if only the Figo 1.5 TDCI was more powerful. Well, that's for another post.

PS: yes the engine is noisy, but you hardly care when it pulls like a locomotive. And the sound insulation is good enough so that you can filter it out.

[TheHelix0202]

Originally Posted by Kumaran93R

But, it is the handling, more precisely it's steering feedback that is a big fly in the ointment.

+10 to that.

It’s the same story with the Rapid and Ecosport duo. I would still pick the Ford’s keys over the Skoda’s, simply because of the sheer joy that the former provides with respect to handling / steering feedback! The Ecosport’s (thanks to the Fiesta genes) EPS is perfectly weighted and I’m yet to find a scary (high speed or otherwise) scenario to drive it in.

[evilmessiah]

I feel the car that almost got it perfect (for me) was the Punto Abarth. Everything in that car was so good that the gearbox which one was okay with the lower powered variants became the weak link in the otherwise perfect package. It had long throws and was rubbery and notchy. I am pretty sure that it is this gearbox that sapped a lot of power and made this car slower than it actually should be. I am also seeing a lot of owners of this model install Bonalume short shifters to attempt to counter this issue. Was a great car- a lot of enthusiasts would miss this.

Another one would be the Figo 1.5 diesel that I am driving right now. Nice, fast car that is also economical to own and run. I am nitpicking, but I would have appreciated a little more steering feel, a more solid build and better paint quality. And this thing can also benefit from a 6 speed gearbox. Would have munched miles like a champ.

[vsomareddy]

Ford Fiesta 1.4 Diesel, but with little bit of extra power and a slightly softer suspension set up it would have been a perfect car.
The driving dynamics, handling and steering are almost perfect in this car.

[car_guy1998]

Tata Harrier- They (Tata) should focus on improving the QC of the car and improve the infotainment system to match the levels of Koreans! Apart from that, the Harrier is a perfect car with 170HP of power mated to 6-speed AT transmission along with butch looks (especially in black) and ride quality as well as rear-seat comfort and space.

Kia Seltos- The car has everything like a sweet 1.4 TGDI petrol engine mated to 7-speed DCT, which is fun to drive, and the Diesel engine mated to 6-speed AT, which is my favorite combo along with a pack of features like 360-degree camera, HUD but lacks in safety. Otherwise, the Seltos is the perfect car. I hope Kia will work on the safety front by improving its structural integrity and make safety features like ESP, TC, VSM, HA as standard from the base model itself and they should introduce the HTX (not HTX+, which is the top-end Diesel MT) version in Diesel AT in order to fill the gap between HTK+ Diesel AT and GTX+ Diesel AT, which has the difference of 4L in terms of pricing and HTK+ Diesel AT misses on safety features like ESP, TC, VSM, HA, which the HTX has and one more thing I would like to add is the Seltos lacking a fully-loaded top-end Diesel MT with 6 airbags as standard as the present top-end Diesel MT Seltos has only 2 airbags and misses on features like 6 airbags, 360-degree camera though it has safety features like ESP, TC, VSM. Heck, even its cheaper sibling, i.e, the Sonet is getting a fully-loaded top-end Diesel MT version with 6 airbags.

Tata Safari- If Tata introduces the dark edition in Safari and improves the QC of the car, then it'll be a perfect car.

[arjab]

The Ford Ecosport and the Tata Nexon.
Both good looking compact SUV's. Robust build and spiffy handling too.
IF ONLY:
They were offered with an AWD option! (Note: the Brazilian EcoSport has an AWD variant which we don't get in Bharat

The Tata Altroz. A brilliant riding and handling hatch marred by an asthmatic gasoline engine.
IF ONLY:
Honda had lent TML their 1.5L VTEC to fit in the Altroz

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by AutoConsultant

Being the owner of the ZX MT Petrol version, I absolutely love the space, performance and comfort of the car. Also, I don't think low GC is a negative - that's just what you get with a sedan, you get that low seating and better handling due to that.

Up North, the roads are much better.
Down South, especially in Bangalore, the roads are inconsistent.

On a 8Km Test Drive of the Honda City 5th Gen, I managed to scrape the belly 3 times, and front bumper touched the tarmac twice.
This was at very slow speeds.

If the City had just about 5-10mm more clearance, it would have been absolutely perfect.

[Osteon206]

Most Hyundai cars have the rear wash wipe and bootlamp only in the top variant and in my case the Nios initially didn't have AMT in the Asta variant. For me these features are very important and so had to settle with Asta MT. This is the case with i20, Santro, venue, creta. Why hyundai, why?

[Raghu M]

Originally Posted by SShandilya

I’d say XUV300 with a TC.
Gem of an engine paired with a wrong transmission.
I heard there were rumours about it getting a TC.

Can't comment on the TC as I am a manual guy. The engine is indeed a gem. It just pulls like a locomotive. Love the highway presence.

[SShandilya]

Originally Posted by Raghu M

Can't comment on the TC as I am a manual guy. The engine is indeed a gem. It just pulls like a locomotive. Love the highway presence.

You’re a rare guy in today’s time ( I mean it as a compliment).
Today’s market lures for an auto-box atleast once you jump 10 lakh rupee mark
Give XUV300 a proper auto box along with a panoramic sunroof and you see Mahindra eating up a lot of market from the korean twins