Hi Team, I am planning to buy a 7-seater car with all the basic required features, great mileage, and easy maintenance. I am confused between the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga Petrol Smart Hybrid Manual and the Kia Carens Premium Optional Diesel Manual. Please advise which one I should pick.

Autocar India

•5h

With your budget of Rs 15 lakh, you can move past the Kia Carens and up to the Carens Clavis, which is essentially a facelift of the Carens, with more features and an additional engine option. The trickier choice is which engine to choose, between the 1.5-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel, both of which are available with a manual.The diesel is the more obvious choice, given that your usage is 80% on the highway, where the additional torque will be beneficial, not to mention the better mileage. However, in your budget, you'll only get it in the base HTE spec. If that's fine with you, then you should go ahead with that; otherwise, note that the Carens 1.5 petrol MT is available in the higher HTE (EX) trim, with more features.You could also consider the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, which comes in petrol and CNG guises, has lower maintenance costs, and is far more affordable than the Kia.

Maruti Suzuki Ertiga

Kia Carens Clavis

Kia Carens

Autocar India

•6h

Since you have not mentioned your monthly running, the choice between petrol and diesel mainly depends on how much you drive and the kind of driving you do. As a general rule, if your running is more than about 1,300 to 1,400 km per month, then the diesel version of the Kia Seltos can make sense. You should also have regular highway drives so that the diesel engine can operate properly and avoid potential DPF related issues.If your running is lower than that or largely city-focused, the petrol Seltos will suit you very well. Since you prefer a proper manual gearbox, you should know that the turbo petrol engine is only available with the clutchless iMT. The conventional manual gearbox comes with the 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine.While it is not as punchy as the turbo petrol, it is smooth and perfectly adequate for everyday driving, especially in the city. In fact, you are already familiar with this engine because your Kia Carens uses the same powertrain and transmission combination.Regarding the Skoda Kushaq, the brand has improved a lot over the past few years, and the earlier reliability concerns are largely sorted. However, since you already own a Kia car and are satisfied with the ownership experience, sticking with the Seltos would be the safer and more comfortable choice for you.

Kia Seltos

Kia Carens

Skoda Kushaq

Autocar India

•23h

You haven't mentioned your budget, but since you're considering a brand new Toyota Innova Crysta GX Plus variant, it is safe to assume that you're comfortable spending close to Rs 25 lakhs (on-road). Since this vehicle will be used for commercial purposes, it would be better to buy a new car to start with. You will be able to claim tax refunds as well as benefit from asset depreciation in your company's books. Additionally, you get the peace of mind of a new vehicle, and the backing of a company warranty.To address the second part of your question, the Maruti Ertiga VXI MT or Toyota Rumion S MT costs half as much as an Innova Crysta GX Plus, resulting in a tremendous saving. In fact, you can even buy two cars for the price of one Innova. Both, Ertiga and Rumion are equally reliable. And even though these are petrol-powered, they're quite fuel efficient, and their maintenance costs will be lower than that of the diesel Crysta. Between the Ertiga and Rumion, even though they're the same, the Toyota is a bit more expensive, hence purely from a savings perspective, the Ertiga makes more sense.Overall, all three cars you've listed are reliable, dependable, and are backed by the widespread, strong network of Toyota and Maruti. It is up to you to decide whether you want to buy a new Crysta GX or if you're happy to buy one, or even examples of the Maruti Ertiga and Toyota Rumion.Whichever you pick, these are cars you can't go wrong with.

Toyota Innova Crysta

Maruti Suzuki Ertiga

Toyota Rumion