Rs 15 lakh budget: Need a beater car to replace my Honda City

I'm looking for a smaller car for daily city use. It needs to be compact, efficient and an automatic that has low maintenance.

BHPian Shreyans_Jain recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

It is car buying season in the family again! As many of you know, my Honda City is ageing and I am looking for a replacement. The car has done 165000km and will complete 8 years in Feb 2022. NGT rules dictate it needs to be sold off in the next few months, else I will be looking at abysmal resale as the 10-year limit approaches.

Other cars currently in the garage

• Jeep Compass (2020): Diesel, manual. Done 19000km. Used almost exclusively by me. Preferred choice for long drives and night outs.
• Tata Hexa (2017): Diesel, automatic. Done 105000km. The family car, and the most comfortable car we have ever owned. My 93-year-old grandma prefers to travel in this only. Driven by everyone. Used locally as well as for family trips.
• The 2012 Honda Jazz is now almost exclusively used by my brother.

The requirements

With Hexa and Jeep taking care of the long-distance and fancy duties, I want a smaller car for daily city use. It needs to be compact, efficient, low maintenance. It has to be automatic. Petrol or EV only. Don't want to spend too much money. Looking for value instead. Strictly under 20L, ideally under 15 and wishfully under 10. Basically, I need a beater car. It has to be new, no pre-loved options this time. The car will be used by everyone in the family.

I expect usage of about 15-20k km annually. I am personally open to aftermarket CNG conversions if needed, if and when allowed for BS6 cars. Running costs are important, that is the only reason why we have persevered with the diesel City for so long.

Good resale value will be nice to have. Might sell this car off if a good EV option is available in future. Other cars I own are depreciation disasters anyway.

Family specific needs

• Has to be automatic only. Wifey does not drive manuals. Dad also wants a light and easy city drive. Taking Hexa everywhere gets cumbersome.
• Ride comfort needs to be good. Bouncy rear suspensions are simply unacceptable. This was a huge problem with City, mum and wife would get motion sickness.
• Good space for 4 adults. We are used to spacious cars with good legroom.
• Comfortable and supportive seats. Me, mum and dad have weak backs and necks, so ergonomics need to be spot on. Chair like seating position is preferred. Highly reclined rear benches are a strict no-no, as are front seats with forward sloping headrests and stupid contours. Refer to this for details.
• Good ground clearance is preferred. Roads in Faridabad are generally horrible and tend to get badly waterlogged.
• A little street cred, while not necessary, will be nice to have.
• Fancy features are not must-haves. My two-year-old just refuses to sit in her car seat now and loves to press every button on the dash. The fewer the better. Jeep is fully loaded and it gets irritating at times.
• I have a 10kw solar setup, which strengthens the case for EV.

Cars considered

Nexon EV

Spacious and smooth. Minimum running costs. Too expensive and too crude at 18.5L (no benefits in Haryana), wife found rear seat too reclined, front seat contouring made my neck ache after 20 minutes. Dropped.

MG ZS EV

Feels nice and premium. Enough range, minimum running costs. Comfortable seats. Horribly bouncy rear suspension, as bad as City. Too expensive. Dropped.

Maruti Baleno/Toyota Glanza

Proven, decent street cred, low running and maintenance costs. Decent seats. CVT. Poor safety, dinge prone body. Old model will be replaced soon. Dropped.

Tata Punch

Looks, upright seating position, good seats, spacious, comfortable, safe and well built. AMC available. Stupid, stupid AMT mated with lame NA engine. Expensive at 10.5L. Had this car come with Nexon EV's powertrain, it would have been perfect. Shortlisted.

Tata Altroz

All the attributes of Punch, better engine options but no automatic on offer. Dropped.

Renault Kiger

Decent package on paper, Good seats and space. Turbo petrol + CVT, fairly priced. Horrible dealership experience, no test drive vehicle for turbo CVT. Will decide after TD, if they can make it available.

Maruti S Cross, Toyota Urban Cruiser

Old models with ancient 4 speed TC, will be replaced soon. Dropped.

Kia Sonet turbo DCT

Feels good inside out, decent seats, well kitted HTX model for 12.25L. Cramped for space, no test drive vehicle available (diesel only), too many buttons and electronics for my liking, long waiting period. Shortlisted. Pending TD.

Mahindra Thar

Sings to the heart like nothing else. Dad and wifey loved the drive. Top-notch street cred and robust enough for all kinds of abuse. Cramped rear with zero boot. High running costs. Not practical for my need. Super long waiting periods and price hikes. Don't really need one, fear might be left with a white elephant once my initial euphoria dies. Dropped, but the heart refuses to let the dream die.

Skoda Kushaq 1.0 AT

Feels good inside out. Superb engine and gearbox. Good seats. Spacious. Excellent suspension and steering. Decently priced and well equipped mid model. Long term reliability and cost-cutting concerns. May not age well (burnt my fingers with City). Perhaps too fancy for a beater car. Intrudes into Jeep's usage case. Had I not had Compass, this would have been a top contender. Poor resale expected. Potential future CNG conversion will be very tricky. Shortlisted.

Maruti Celerio AMT - wild card entry

Looks and feels surprisingly decent. Heartech platform brings it mechanically at par with Baleno. Low running and ownership costs, good resale assured. Front seat comfort second only to Punch. Genuinely spacious rear bench, but with stupid fixed headrests - wife and mum found it comfortable enough and I can also make it work over short distances. Significantly cheaper to buy and will serve the purpose. Newly launched model. Promise of much improved AMT. Typical Maruti cons of poor safety, lousy steering and zero street cred. Test drive not available as yet. Shortlisted, pending TD.

Cars not considered

AMT equipped Hyundais - 1.0 and 1.2. They are just like basic Marutis in better clothes with much higher running costs.

Hyundai Venue: Sonet looks and feels better.

Hyundai i20: Hate the looks, feels too fancy and fragile. Similarly priced Sonet is more suited.

Nissan Magnite: Prefer the Kiger's looks over it.

Tata Tiago: Too basic.

Hyundai Creta/Kia Seltos: Already shortlisted Sonet, no particular need for these cars.

Honda City CVT: Experience with my current car was nothing great. New City is more of the same.

MG Astor: Too new and unproven. Too many fancy electronics. Concerns over long term running and maintenance costs.

Mahindra XUV300: AMT. If I absolutely have to go down this road, I'd rather take the cheaper and brand new Punch.

Inputs and suggestions for this conundrum are welcome from the community. I am in no particular hurry to buy the car today but want to be done with it in the next 6 to 8 months.

Here's what BHPian comfortablynumb had to say about the matter:

Check out the Maruti Suzuki XL6, you might be pleasantly surprised. Alpha AT will comfortably fit under 15L.

Here's what BHPian sam264_2000 had to say about the matter:

Since you have shortlisted Maruti Celerio AMT, may I suggest Ignis AMT? We overlooked this one when we got the Celerio ZXI (O) AMT in 2017 and I rue this sometimes. My wife loves her Celerio since it's her first car and I like it too but the 4 pot 1.1 K-series on Ignis is much better than the 3 pot 999cc Celerio. Also, it's compact, efficient and easy on maintenance. With the EV ecosystem building up in the coming years, I won't suggest spending 15L now given you already have many capable cars in your garage. Ignis AMT should definitely cost you less than 10L and the money you save from your budget can take care of fuel expenses for the next 5-7 years.

Here's what BHPian Dwaipayan26 had to say about the matter:

Why not look at a Polo GT TSI? It is small. Will be easy for everyone in the city. Comes with a torque converter, which replaces the infamous DQ200 DSG. So should be reliable. Has a simple and clean dashboard. Your 2-year-old would miss the buttons but you can enjoy your drive.

Rear is not very spacious, but how about a look and a TD? Also, with VW planning to pull the plug on the Polo, you could get one at a pretty decent discount.

In the end, you have a compact automatic fun city car with a timeless exterior and interior design and is quite some fun for whoever is behind the wheel.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.