Looking to buy my first car on a 13L budget: Which compact SUV to buy?

Features like wireless charging, sunroof, ventilated seats, cruise control are nice to have but not mandatory.

BHPian vigneshMC recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I need your help in deciding my first car. Although my parents have a car (2017 Baleno) in another city, technically this is going to be my first car.

About me, Although I love to drive , I prefer to go with mind over heart. We are family of 2. Rear seats will be occasionally used.

Requirements

• Budget around 13.5L - cannot extend much.
• Petrol and Manual.
• ASS should be good (Yeah Maruti spoiled me).
• Good reliability as I am planning to keep car for long time.
• Features like wireless charging , sunroof , ventilated seats , cruise control are nice to have but not mandate.
• Good Infotainment with support for AA and reverse camera with sensors.
• CSUV/SUV is preferred but open to other choices.

Below are the cars I have shortlisted and concerns I have on them

• Creta E - Only base variant on my budget - Doesn't have infotainment or reverse camera , I have seen lot of conversions from base to mid variants, may have to settle for that.
• Seltos HTE E- Same points as Creta.
• XUV 300 W6/W8 - I have seen lot of people preferring Diesel for XUV300 , want to know how good is XUV 300 petrol variant and engine reliability as Mahindra are experts in Diesel engine.
• Brezza ZXI - Has good features but not sure how well it will age.
• City SV - Base variant, will miss out lot of features.
• Honda Elevate - Have to wait for pricing and variants.

I am not considering below cars

• Nexon - Not good ASS and QC issues.
• Kushaq and Taigun - Expensive for its size.
• Venue and Sonet - For some reason , I don't like them . I prefer to have hatchbacks instead of them.
• Fronx - Since its based on Baleno , we already have one.

I plan to book and buy around September . I am also open to wait for any new launches .

Here's what BHPian SNA411 had to say on the matter:

You haven't mentioned how old you are, and whether you have a family or not, but assuming that you're young-ish, and rear space is not a constraint, how about something a little more sporty-ish? Like the i20 N Line?

One life, live it. You have the whole life ahead to drive boring cars.

Out of this shortlist, the xuv300 or the city.

Although the former's facelift is around the corner

Here's what BHPian bala02 had to say on the matter:

Out of all the cars you have mentioned XUV 300 has the best rating in terms of safety. Though Brezza is a very nice vehicle with a 4 star rating, its not great for highway spirited driving. The only downside of XUV 300 is it's limited boot space. I seriously considered buying XUV 300, but bought a Nexon because of its boot space.

Here's what BHPian bijims had to say on the matter:

If you are looking for the aforementioned features within your budget, then you have to settle with sub 4 metre compact SUVs lke the Nexon, Brezza etc, otherwise if you are willing to sacrifice features for a larger SUV, then the Creta and Seltos are your best options, the Seltos is due a facelift soon, and many dealerships have started accepting unofficial bookings for the same too, so the current generation is therefore heavily discounted, you could get a good deal.

The XUV300 is a good choice as far as safety is concerned but has a paltry boot.

Do test drive each one of them, so that you get the feel of the car. Now coming to my recommendations, if you are going for a sub 4 metre SUV, the Brezza would be a good choice, else the Creta in larger SUVs, if you are going for a sedan, then Verna and City are good options.

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