I’m looking for a car for my wife, who is turning 30. Her daily usage will be short city drives, about 8 km to and from the gym, along with grocery runs and mall visits. Our budget is ₹15 lakh, and we already own an i20 and an XUV700. Is the Thar 3-door RWD a good option for her, or would something more practical and fuel-efficient be better?

Autocar India

•22h

Among the options you mentioned, the Tata Punch EV Long Range is the most logical choice. It is compact, easy to manoeuvre and park, and its smooth electric power delivery makes city driving very simple for someone with limited driving experience. With your daily running and office charging facility, range should never be a concern. The new car is also very well-priced and a great value for money, thanks to the price cut compared to the older car.The Tata Nexon EV is a good step up if you want more space and a slightly more premium feel. It offers a bigger cabin and boot, which can be useful if you regularly travel with family.The Tata Curvv EV becomes attractive because of the ₹3.5 lakh discount, but it is a larger car and may feel slightly intimidating to drive initially.

Tata Punch EV

Tata Nexon EV

Tata Curvv EV

Autocar India

•12m

With your daily running of around 50-60 km, your monthly usage will easily cross 1,500 km, so choosing a fuel with low running costs makes sense. In this case, CNG is generally a better fit than diesel, especially since most of your driving is in the city.One of the better options to consider is the Tata Nexon CNG. Unlike most CNG cars, the Nexon uses a turbo-petrol engine, which means it still feels reasonably strong and comfortable even on the highway. The turbo engine produces good torque, which helps maintain performance despite running on CNG. This makes the Nexon CNG a good balance between low running costs for the city and decent highway performance for weekend drives.Another practical option is the Maruti Suzuki Brezza CNG, particularly the LXi or VXi variants. The Brezza uses a 1.5-litre engine with factory-fitted CNG. It is known for being smooth and reliable while still offering good mileage and reasonable performance.

Tata Nexon

Maruti Suzuki Brezza

Autocar India

•1h

We would recommend you look at the new upcoming Skoda Kushaq. It sits above the compact SUV segment but is still not too large and is among the smaller of the mid-size SUVs, thus it remains quite easy and manageable in the city. The Kushaq is well equipped with many standard safety features and has scored a 5-star crash rating in the GNCAP tests, thus it meets your priority of safety too. Since you are driving in the city and looking for fuel efficiency too, we would suggest the 1.0 litre engine, which will launch with an 8-speed torque convertor automatic transmission. Torque convertors are the smoothest type of automatic transmission around, which you will appreciate in the city stop-and-go traffic. Being an 8-speed (earlier was a 6-speed unit), mileage should also improve over the previous car. It returned a figure of 8.5kpl in the city, 12.4 kpl on the highway, in our standard test cycle. Stay tuned to our channel as we will be driving the car shortly.

Skoda Kushaq facelift