[Abhinav V]

I live in Bangalore and we currently drive an Alto K10 AMT. Alto purchased in 2019 from Truevalue is a 2017 model year. When it was purchased, it had run nearly 10K Kms.

The purpose of buying an Alto AMT was to get two newbie drivers - my mother and my younger sibling - comfortable with driving in dense traffic. During two years of COVID, the car saw negligible usage. However, once things got normalized, the car has always been a daily driver. Weekdays, it takes me and my mother to our respective workplaces on alternate days.

Usage is not restricted to just office commutes. We occasionally go on breakfast drives, sunset drives, and during long weekends on road-trips. All things considered, our usage in the last three years, on an average, has been 18000 KMs a year. To sum it up, usage is 75% highways and 25% city drive.

Here are a few pics from many of my drives across Karnataka




Took it to Ooty once. The longest I have ever taken it out so far.







Attachment 2750394




Alto K10 was chosen because that was the smallest and cheapest car available in 2019 that had an auto box. Had Celerio in my list too but the preference was given to a low mileage car.
In these 6 years of ownership, we have driven about 65,000 kms. Alto has brought out two confident drivers.

Alto has taken us to so many new places outside of Bangalore that are lesser known to people. With a 1000 cc engine, it had enough power to cruise easily on the highway, but overtaking always had to be planned with carrying enough momentum.

AMT being notorious for its jerky start in uphill starts and crawling jam packed traffic, had become unbearable to drive. In 2023, we had got the clutch changed completely hoping that would sort the issue. The jerk had minimised to a certain extent but didn't last. Given our high usage, the jolting has resurfaced and now it has become unbearable.

We had mentally made up mind in 2023 itself to change the car, but the newbie drivers weren't confident yet. Today they are very comfortable driving in any scenario.

Given its small size, going out as a family always has been a problem. At 5'9", I am fairly tall and so is my brother. With driver's seat set to our height, there's absolutely no room for any adult to sit behind us. Even as a three seater, it has been uncomfortable, due to which we haven't gone on any 500 KM drives. The itch for an upgrade has been cropping up a lot lately. The rational side of my mind has been pushing it as much as possible. Every time I feel the jolt in traffic, that longing for a better ride only surges.

When we bought Alto we had in mind only two years of ownership, but we ended up with it for six long years. With the next car, we want to keep it for at least 8 years.

What I want from the next car:

1. Power:
Being an enthusiast, this is by default number one priority for me. Driving to me gets exciting when there is action. I really enjoy overtaking vehicles and swiftly pulling ahead of someone gives me an exhilarating feeling which I don't get even when I am doing a high speed on an empty road.

Down the line, I have plans to get the car engine remapped to extract more horses. With Alto I always had to plan my overtakes beforehand and carry momentum to make an overtake. This time, I want to just tap the throttle.

2. Handling:
Driving to me is therapy and my idea of a therapeutic drive is pushing the car around corners, hitting those apexes and following a racing line. This idea of driving to clear my mind is in complete contradiction to actual therapy

I am a slow cruiser on empty roads, I never drive at uncontrollable speeds although I hit maximum speeds occasionally.

3. Reliability:
This is a complete non negotiable. It is very rare for our car to sit at home. While we get rest days, our car never gets a rest day. Someone always needs a car in our house. More than planned road trips, we go on innumerable breakfast drives/ sunset drives that are always spontaneous.

Over the years, we have owned Innova, Ciaz and now Alto. None of the cars have broken down or left us stranded. Maintenance for us always has been fuel stop, wheel alignment and balancing and service every 10k KMS. Alto's clutch replacement was a planned repair though!

4. Toughness:
Alto has been a delicate darling. My mom has a massive collection of pots in our house that runs into several hundreds. Many a times, while reversing the car, we have banged a few pots and knocked the plants. While the plants survived, the bumpers have always taken a hit. After having seen enough damages, I got the front and rear bumpers changed and painted recently put even minor bangs is enough for the bumpers to get dislodged. The next car should have tolerance and not get distorted with minor bangs and scrapes.

5. Safety rating:
With high usage and multiple drivers and frequent highway drives, we don't want to compromise on safety. Anything can happen to anyone anytime. However to reduce the risk, we won't mind extending the budget for a 5 star rated car.

After buying an almost new Alto, the case for buying a 1-2 year old used car has only gotten stronger. With used cars, for every two lakh rupee increase, the segment has been changing and this is where I am facing dilemma zeroing in on the car.
We have never financed a car purchase so the budget is set at 15 Lakh tops.

So esteemed members,
Kindly share your suggestions to help me upgrade from my current ride.

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[deehunk]

Originally Posted by Abhinav V

I live in Bangalore and we currently drive an Alto K10 AMT.
Alto purchased in 2019 from Truevalue is a 2017 model year.

We have never financed a car purchase so the budget is set at 15 Lakh tops.

So esteemed members,
Kindly share your suggestions to help me upgrade from my current ride.

It should not be difficult to find a used Brezza or S-Cross at True Value for your budget.

[thanixravindran]

If you are looking for new car, check out the new Skoda Kylaq top end or Mid range 1.0 manual of Kushaq. It has the required power, handling and will be a good upgrade and you would love the long drives. Long term Reliability is yet to proven as the India 2.0 cars are in the market just for 4 years.

If you want to move from Maruti and find Skoda too risky, please check the Hyundai - Kia combination of models of Venue or Sonet. I myself has owned Hyundai i10 for 15 years without any breakdown or downtime.

[heydj]

Reliability is your top criteria hence VAG cars are out of question.

Need well built and 5 star rating so Maruti cars are ruled out.

Need fun to drive car with above two criteria and budget of 15L then would suggest XUV 300 or even base model of 700. Good ratings and reliable as far as tbhp reviews go and fun to drive for most part.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by Abhinav V

Kindly share your suggestions to help me upgrade from my current ride.

You have a healthy budget, buy brand new to avail of 5-6 years or more with extended warranty and the peace of mind that comes with a new car.

Hyundai Venue or Kia Seltos depending upon which brand or look you prefer. Both should be around your budget.

Cheers

[self_driven]

Honda Elevate and City are two cars that immediately come to mind looking at your requirements. Coming from AMT, you'll instantly fall in love with the CVT's smoothness in city traffic. But keep in mind that CVTs don't respond well to a heavy right foot, and the pronounced rubber band effect can play spoilsport on spirited drives. I've heard some issues with the Elevate's ergonomics as well, so do check on that if it bothers you. Other than that, these are really good vehicles to keep for long term.

I think the entry-level CVT variants of both will be over the 15 lakh mark, but it makes sense to go slightly over budget for something that you'll cherish for years to come. If you're not comfortable spending over 15 lakh, then Amaze, Dzire and Brezza are also good options to consider.

[sharmanova]

New car: Pick the XUV 3XO eyes closed.
It is powerful, a good handler, fairly reliable and a 5-star rated car too!

The AX5 AT variant costs ~16L on-road in Bengaluru.

Used car: Taigun AT
Only one advice - please stay away from the early 2021-2022 batches!

Happy shopping .

[PetrolHead2272]

What about a used Innova Crysta. It's more fun to drive then you could possibly believe and all your requirements check out with this one.

You could bag one for around 15 lakhs easily and even if you pick one with 1L+ kms, you'd feel as if its just done a couple thousands of kms. The GD engine is an absolute engineering masterclass.

Cheers

[RunSam]

We have a K10 alto at home that my mum learnt how to drive in at the age of 55. I agree with all the points you mentioned about the Alto. Ours has never been out of town though. Listing out some used 1-2 year old cars that IMO will be a good mix of reliable & Fun
Honda Elevate, The Grand Vitara/Hyryder twins, Hyundai Creta. Options with slightly lesser practicality but more fun: Honda City (Would be my top pick), Verna 1.5 turbo & i20 N-Line (Something that's been growing on me lately), Jimny - could be fun in a different sort of way!

Cheers!

[07CR]

Originally Posted by Abhinav V

All things considered, our usage in the last three years, on an average, has been 18000 KMs a year.
To sum it up, usage is 75% highways and 25% city drive.

When we bought Alto we had in mind only two years of ownership, but we ended up with it for six long years.
With the next car, we want to keep it for at least 8 years.

After buying an almost new Alto, the case for buying a 1-2 year old used car has only gotten stronger. With used cars, for every two lakh rupee increase, the segment has been changing and this is where I am facing dilemma zeroing in on the car.
We have never financed a car purchase so the budget is set at 15 Lakh tops.

Good decision to stick to used cars. I was recently on the lookout for a used fun to drive car under rs.7 Lakh. You can read more about it here (Which used car to buy for 7 lakhs?).

My criteria was somewhat similar to yours, but my monthly running is even lower than yours, at about 400 Kms/month. I needed this car to run reliably atleast for next 3 years.

I got a less used first owner pre owned Ecosport S Ecoboost variant under significantly lower budget than mine. Now that I am completely happy with it, I would keep it till it falls apart. here you go (Reunited with Ford, Ecosport S Ecoboost comes home!)

I have also owned a pre owned Ecosport S TDCI in the past for 3.5 years and it was also an awesome experience. You can read more about it here (My Pre-Owned Black Ford EcoSport S)

I feel the Ecosport facelift should satisfy all your criteria.

Power- TDCI/Ecoboost/Dragon engine- 100 PS/125 PS/123 PS, with very healthy torque rating. Infact the ecoboost can put many modern turbo petrols to shame except the 1.5 turbo petrols. Check

Handling- Check, it's a Ecosport and FORD at the end of the day. Enough said!

Reliability- While the Ecoboost is a question mark, and I have owned the car for hardly a month, the S TDCI had proven its reliability. So is the case with Ecosport Dragon petrol engine, which has solid fundamentals- (NA Engine and Torque converter AT). In my case, I got to know the first owner of car through facebook, and he had sold the ecosport to a dealer. I reached out to the first owner and he gave a flying recommendation about the car, and post also taking a detail check up at Ford, I bought it. If you get such deal, do consider the Ecoboost variant too.

Toughness and Safety rating- I can confidently say that any car that can overshadow the even the VW's and Tata/Mahindra's in terms of solid build quality, only the Ecosport/Endeavour come to mind. While it was never crash tested, I feel it could have definitely scored a handsome rating. The ESP/VSM/TC/Hill hold assist/6 airbags/TPMS are some other safety features it came with. Check

Other cars that you can consider include the Freestyle/Aspire/Figo in their 1.5 TDCI guises, which should help you in most of your criteria (barring the crash test rating where Figo/Aspire scored 3 star). My Ford bias is pretty evident, but you can't deny that these cars satisfy all your requirement and also help you save quite a bit of moolah!

[CloserToTheEdge]

I would suggest you get a new car.

My preference would be:
1) XUV 3XO - AX5 AT
2) Breeza ZXi AT

others within budget:
3) Fronx 1.0 Turbo
4) Ertiga ZXi AT / Toyota Rumion S AT (if extra space is required)
5) Kylaq Signature Plus AT

Slightly over budget:
6) Honda Elevate CVT (base model)

[Mukunthan91]

Please check out SKODA Kylaq AT. The car is fun to drive and also beginner friendly. The gearbox on Kylaq is torque convertor and hence coming from AMT you will be pleasantly surprised on how smooth the gearbox unit is.

[supertinu]

Hey Abhinav, your search is not very different from mine in terms of budget and requirements. I had started the below thread on the same.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/suvs-...rol-vs-ev.html (Sub 4M SUV for city, Petrol vs. EV?)

Removing EV from the equation the only 2 cars that meet your criteria are either Kylaq or 3X0. Maybe Nexon but its not fun to drive as such. Test drive them and see which one attracts you more.

[It's Magic]

I will suggest something from each manufacturer that will fit within your budget -

• Mahindra 3XO AX5 AT
• Maruti Fronx 1.0 Turbo
• Skoda Kodiaq Signature AT
• Honda Elevate CVT
• Hyundai Venue
• Tata Nexon

[OpenRoads]

After reading your post I am left with more questions than answers. Let me deal with one point at a time.

Safety is non negotiable and yet you have driven a Alto happily for 6 good years. My point is safety to a large extent depends on how well you drive and is beyond the promised 5 stars. There are few brands basking in the glow of 5 star safety ratings but have poor quality control and worse after sales. So, maybe you can look for things like number of airbags, ABS, ESC, hill start assist, and maybe hull integrity for tested cars. All those stars are accumulation of points based on a checklist of important items. But in reality how many families have you seen using ISOFIX seats for their toddlers in India?
Honda, TATA, VW, M&M are pretty much in the top. But then as I said having all stars doesn't mean everything else is going good.

Reliability: Honda, Toyota are said to be most reliable. Quality control is not bad either with Hyundai. You can say bye bye to TAMO and M&M here.

Power: With great power comes great expenses. While you will be transitioning out of Alto's bliss please remember most of the cars discussed would give you 10~12KMpL mileage. Especially with with city traffic it might be lesser. In general I have seen Maruti Suzuki usually holds the top position here. No other cars comes close except the strong hybrid ones.

Toughness: If you are banging pots with Alto then a sedan might not be a good idea. Look for something compact maybe a hatchback. Rest all are pretty same.

Handling: All modern cars are pretty sorted. Some doing better than others. Citroen C3 or Basalt maybe provide a tad better feel than its peers.

Narrowing preferences:

1. Transmission - Go for a TC (at least 6 speed). DSG/DCT might go over budget. CVT is pretty good too but once you drive a DCT you will not enjoy CVT. Avoid AMT for better experience.

2. Body Style - Hatchback. Sedan might not be friendly to pots.

3. Engine - Any peppy engine with a good transmission would do. Start with 1L to 1.2L. 1.5L might go beyond budget.

Options:
1. Skoda Kylaq 1L TSI 6 speed AT

2. Kia Syros 1L Turbo 7DCT

3. Citroen C3 1.2L 6 speed AT