My budget is Rs. 8.5 lakh for my first car with a down payment of Rs. 4 lakh available. I want the EMI to stay below Rs. 10,000. The car will mostly be used for city office commutes and my monthly running will be around 1,000 km.

Autocar India

•2d

With 100-125 km a day and Rs. 15 lakh budget, the Tata Nexon EV Creative 45kWh fits your brief best. It will cut your running cost sharply, stays in budget, and the single-gear drive feels far smoother than your Swift’s automatic in stop-go traffic. For your mix of city and 80-90 kph state roads, it moves easily at low speeds and stays steady at cruise. The higher seat and comfortable ride also help on broken patches and speed breakers.Do check two things: you should be able to park at home and plug in overnight, and at 80-90kph with AC the range will drop a bit, so keep some spare range in hand. In our real world tests, we managed 355km on a single charge so you will need to charge it once every two days. If you must go CNG, consider the Tata Altroz iCNG automatic. It lowers fuel spend and keeps the easy drive, but it feels slower on CNG, the boot is smaller, and CNG pump queues can eat time. For your daily run and savings goal, go with a Nexon EV.

Tata Altroz

Tata Nexon EV

Maruti Suzuki Swift

Autocar India

•4h

With a budget under Rs. 10 lakh and an even split between city, village roads, and highways, the Tata Punch CNG in a mid-variant is the stronger fit. It rides over rough village patches without scraping, feels steady at highway speeds for a small car, and the twin-cylinder CNG layout still leaves useful boot space for bags on longer trips.This suits your use because village roads need good ground clearance and a tough suspension, highway use needs a car that feels stable and confident, and CNG saves running costs while keeping day-to-day drivability easy in traffic.The trade-offs: it is not very quick in CNG, so fast overtakes need a bit of planning, and higher trims may stretch your budget in some cities, so stick to the lower-mid variant and add only the features you truly need.The Hyundai Exter CNG is an alternative, and it also gets a dual tank setup, but it won’t handle broken village roads as confidently as the Punch.Overall, for your mix of roads, the Punch CNG lines up best.

Tata Punch

Hyundai Exter

Autocar India

•8h

Instead of your take-home salary, it would be better to help us with the budget you are comfortable allocating for your new car purchase, because several factors affect your capacity to spend like age, responsibilities, existing liabilities, etc.Assuming you plan to sell your outgoing Alto 800 and use the sales proceeds as a down payment, with an EMI of around Rs 15,000, you could look at cars with an on-road price of Rs 8.50-9 lakh. For the money, you could consider a Maruti Baleno or Toyota Glanza, both of which will feel like a proper upgrade compared to your outgoing car. SUV alternatives are the Tata Punch and Hyundai Exter, and if you prefer a sedan, the Maruti Dzire is also a good buy.

Maruti Suzuki Baleno

Tata Punch

Hyundai Exter

Toyota Glanza