[srh]

Voted for the Scorpio-N. Mahindra is keeping a segment alive by investing and launching this product. All other manufacturers have effectively abandoned the BOF space except the ones priced in the stratosphere.

The product is well engineered and a transformation compared to its earlier version. It adds a decent luxury quotient for what was earlier a semi-urban/ rural work horse. Even the pricing is very competitive for what it offers in terms of dimensions, power train, equipment and features.

Hope it continues to sell in good numbers so that other manufacturers are encouraged to look at this segment.

[SRKHYD]

Voted for Hyundai Tucson
After ~6 months of test drives of cars, ranging from Carens, Hector, Harrier to Octavia, finally replaced my ageing pre-worshipped Civic with Tucson Petrol Signature.
With priorities changing, the silent / NA petrol with comfortable ride took greater precedence over Octavia's USP - the crazy engine.
The Tucson's petrol, as suggested earlier discussions, is not a comparison to Diesel version, but has enough grunt to be evaluated standalone. Please do test drive before striking it off.
Hopefully I will be able to post the initial ownership report soon.

[DiMaGo]

I have voted for an un-popular choice, Kia Carens.
The car, at least to me, has lot of things going right, Viz. Big space which can seat 6 adults in relative comfort, Decent driveability, above par build [compared to most Marutis], above average ICE, nice suspension and highway manners. I have personally driven a diesel Carens with 7 people in it for a good 300 kms and none of them complained of fatigue after the drive completed. And a customer can choose from a host of transimission options too, on both Petrol and Diesel.
With all the above going in Carens favor, I believe it is a Perfect Family car which will carry a Typical Indian Big Family in relative safety, hence, voted for it. Am quite sure it may not win the coveted Team-BHP 'CoTY' badge, but from a sales perspective, for Kia, it will rake in the moolah and make its Indian customer/s happy.

[autohead115]

Voted for VW Virtus.

Thanks for making sedans desirable again; every time I see one on the road, I can't help but appreciate the clean design and proportions of the Virtus. Sure, I would have liked plusher interiors but can't complain much, given the competition is overpriced well. It is the only car under 40L I find desirable and has a better road presence than an Octavia.

[Deathmaster]

Voting for Kia Carens as the car of the year.

Rationale being:
1. Fills the gap nicely between the Ertiga and Innova, while coming off as a polished, well built car.
2. Multiple gearbox and engine combinations which results in a wide array to choose from.
3. Kia's fit and finish is well ahead of Maruti Suzuki and the after sales support is great as well.
4. Not particularly expensive to maintain along with availability of multiple service inclusive plans from Kia Motors.

The only qualm I have is that they should launch the Diesel+AT Combo in lower variants and give Petrol+IVT Combo as well given the DCT does not have the strongest reliability

[VinsWagen]

I think COTY polls should have first second and third options with relative weightage. 3,2,1 points for example. There can be only one COTY but for a competition covering such a wide umbrella, multiple choices are needed for a better result.

[shibujp]

I would like to suggest that the Hyryder and the GV string hybrid variants be given a separate listing, because I feel they opened up a separate power train option altogether in that segment. Perhaps even the Honda hybrid too.

Drive on,
Shibu

[Venkat_Figo]

VW Virtus is my choice. Spectacular engine & gearbox combo (though the gearbox reliability is suspect, it's super fun to drive). Great safety, fuel efficient (cylinder deactivation tech is very good), rides & handles well, while subjective looks timeless.

[Tanu3000]

I own a Taigun GT+, and obviously subjectively I would love to extol the virtues of the Virtus/Slavia twins.

But I voted for the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara.

I believe the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara and the Toyota Hyryder have opened up a new phase for the Indian passenger vehicle industry. They have obviously brought in the hybrid game to the mass market in a big way, but they have also shown that NOW there is a market for high priced Maruti cars.

There was a time when expensive Maruti Suzuki/Suzuki cars (Original Grand Vitara/Kizashi etc) just dint pull in proper numbers. But I last heard that Maruti Suzuki sold 8K+ grand vitara's in a month. Thats amazing !!

Even though Toyota and Maruti Suzuki are selling similar cars. We know that Maruti Suzuki will outsell Toyota. The Grand Vitara represents a turning point for our industry

[bajoseph04]

Originally Posted by sgmuser

XUV4OO is not even launched yet, right?

Let's reserve it for next year's ICOTY. Mahindra's ugly ducklings (No offense but I still remember the Marazzo back in 2018) have the knack of winning ICOTY most times.

[RaviCar]

Voted for Scorpio N simply because of the mass appeal and desirability of the car. It's a car everyone talks about or wants to buy. Perhaps the most SUVish SUV in a sea of Crossovers calling themselves SUV. It's now the successor of both Scorpio and Storme as now Tata doesn't have the same form factor for its Safari.

Tiago EV is a close but still a looser here in spite of what it brought to the masses.

Well Mahindra is winning Car of the year regularly now Marrazo , Thar, 700, and possibly now ScorpioN.
Well done.

I predict Innova Hycross as the car of the year for 2023 but then there's Geminy and this and that and ofcourse that... To an exciting year ahead ��

[mpthy]

My choice narrowed down to the hybrid twins: Grand Vitara and the HyRyder, closely followed by the Scorpio-N.

These cars, along with the City, have introduced hybrid technology to the mass market which might be the most relevant development in the Indian auto industry since the mass acceptance of automatic transmissions.

Between the two, I have voted for the Grand Vitara due to the sheer scale that Maruti Suzuki can provide in India, which might lead to lower costs due to economies of scale and subsidisation from the government.

[Revvman]

Voted for Scorpio N. It's a vast improvement from it's predecessor without compromising on the core attributes for which the brand has always stood for.

[SRM]

The cars that I really liked this year are:

1. Hyundai Tucson - Well loaded, good looking, good performance but..... priced high. Still a very good buy if one can get a 1-2 yr old car at 80-85% of onroad price
2. Citroen C3 - What a fun city car with good mechanics in place but..... no features and no automatic. With an automatic and some additional features this would have been the go to car for city commutes
3. Maruti Grand Vitara - Really liked the looks of car, decent interiors and features, good hybrid option but..... not much boot space in hybrid and lacklustre engine. For someone like me with a young family, boot space is a requirement
4. Mahindra Scorpio-N - Looks smashing and yet distinct from the classic Scorpio but..... the very long waiting periods. Still an overall very good package if one doesn't want the additional bells & whistles of ADAS etc.

So, finally it boiled down to Tucson vs Scorpio-N. And I voted for Tucson as found it to be an overall better package, yes a bit pricey but this is a heart over head matter

[shancz]

Voted Tiago EV.

Because it has the potential to dramatically hasten the EV adoption in cars due to its city focussed usage and under 10 lakh pricing. Sales of this should be limited only by the production capacity of Tata Motors.
The ideal counterpart to the EV scooters

A runner up would be the Toyota HYRyder because they bring the best solution for our market on the table. Going with Toyota as the strong hybrid is made possible by their tech.