I am planning to buy a new AMT car with a total budget of ₹10 lakh, including insurance and road tax. My driving will be a mix of city and highway use, and I need good mileage. I travel up to 1,200 km per month. Please suggest a suitable option.

Autocar India

•13h

Mostly city use with the odd highway run and Rs 10-12 lakh to spend points me to the Hyundai Exter HX10 AMT. The AMT here makes your daily drive easy, and in this top trim, you get one of the strongest safety feature sets in this price range.It fits your brief because its small size and high driving position make tight city roads and parking simple for you and your wife. It also rides over speed breakers and bad patches without scraping, which helps on daily commutes. For your safety focus, the Exter gets important items like electronic stability control and six airbags, so even though the official crash test score is not out yet, you still have strong protection features on board.Two trade-offs to know: like most AMTs, there can be a slight jerk when moving slowly or during gear changes in traffic. And on highways, overtaking will need some planning. If you would rather have more rear seat space and a calmer highway feel, the Maruti Baleno Alpha AMT is the other good pick in your list.If a 5-star rating is a priority, though, the facelifted Tata Punch is your best bet. Otherwise, for your usage and budget, the Exter AMT lines up best.

Hyundai Exter

Maruti Suzuki Baleno

Tata Punch

Autocar India

•9h

Yes, priced at Rs 39.99 lakh, ex-showroom India, the Skoda Kodiaq Lounge represents great value for money. It's a full Rs 4 lakh cheaper than the Kodiaq Sportline and Rs 6.5 lakh cheaper than the L&K variant, and you don't miss out on that much. The main difference, of course, is the lack of a third row, though these seats were quite small to begin with. It misses some features too, but none of them is essential. For instance, the boot is still powered but loses its hands-free-opening function, the touchscreen is slightly smaller, the front passenger seat is not powered, there's just a rear-view camera instead of a 360deg camera, and the 13-speaker Canton audio system is replaced by a simpler one with 9 speakers. What remains unchanged is the powertrain - a 204hp, 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine with AWD and a 7-speed DSG gearbox. Also unchanged is the well-sorted chassis, high interior quality and solid build, which is really what you're getting a Kodiaq for in the first place.

Skoda Kodiaq

Autocar India

•11h

You're on the right track with the Toyota Innova Hycross. The good thing about it is that it offers not just space, but also flexibility. If you choose the bench-seat second row - the 8-seater in Toyota parlance - you get more seats overall, but at a small penalty to ease of access. With the captain seats in the middle row, you can fix a child seat on each and still have a clear walkway to the third row, so the staff can get in and out without disturbing the kids. It rides comfortably over bad roads, feels very smooth and quiet in city traffic, and the hybrid makes stop-and-go driving easy. It’s also easy to live with over the years, which matters when the car will be full most days. On the facelift, there is no firm date or detail in the market right now, but a future update is likely to bring small styling and feature tweaks, not a big change to space or the way it drives, and prices usually go up. Another alternative, if you don't mind an EV, is the BYD eMax 7. Its on-road price could actually work out cheaper than the Innova Hycross with subsidies. It's not quite as spacious, but it comes close; it's well equipped, and it also offers 6- and 7-seat options. It is also even lower on running costs, but then you'll have to tailor your usage to suit an EV. Overall, however, the Innova Hycross appears to be the best bet for you.

Toyota Innova HyCross

BYD eMax 7