I want to buy my first car. My preference is an SUV or compact SUV suitable for five adults including the driver, with an automatic gearbox and a 5-star safety rating. My annual driving will be 25,000 to 30,000 km, with 80 percent of the driving on highways or off-road. My budget is Rs 16.5 lakh on-road in Hyderabad. Please suggest a car.

Autocar India

•14w

The car best suited to your needs is the Mahindra Thar Roxx. It's spacious for five and has a 5-star Bharat NCAP crash test rating, and includes ADAS with Level 2 Autonomous driving, which could come in handy on your highway drives.

Most importantly, it is a tough, ladder-frame SUV with robust suspension that is very well suited to rough roads and off-road driving, even if you choose the 4x2 version.

However, an automatic version will stretch the limits of your Rs 16.5 lakh on road budget, and you might have to spend a bit more to get more features.

Additionally, if you can wait a bit, the new Renault Duster is going to be launched in India on January 26, 2026, which promises to have the same tough construction as the previous version, and is likely to have a price tag lower than the Thar Roxx. It might be worth the wait.

Explore cars mentioned

Mahindra

Thar Roxx

from ₹14.40 Lakh

Renault

Duster

from ₹12.22 Lakh

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Hi, first of all, thanks to Autocar for always replying to each query. I am looking for an automatic car. It should have a peppy engine and be fun to drive with proper safety. I will be driving my car mostly in the city and occasionally on the highway on weekends. I prefer petrol. I already own a Kia Sonet iMT. Kindly suggest any other car apart from the Kia.

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My office is located 10km from my house, with mixed city and highway driving. I am planning to buy a car which is automatic and fuel-efficient. Budget around ₹10 lakh. Could you please suggest a car that will be relevant for up to 15 years?

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We would suggest you go for the Maruti Suzuki Fronx Delta+ AMT. The Fronx has a fuel-efficient 1.2-litre engine mated to an AMT gearbox that is well-tuned and smooth enough for daily driving. It is also fairly spacious, offers a large boot and a comfortable ride, which makes it an ideal companion for everyday city commutes and occasional highway drives.If you want something smaller and easier to manoeuvre, you can consider the Maruti Suzuki Swift AMT. It is a more compact car, which makes it even easier to drive and park in the city. However, the new Swift now comes with a 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine, which feels a bit less powerful compared to the Fronx’s four-cylinder engine. Because of this, the AMT gearbox also works better with the Fronx engine than it does with the Swift.Within your budget, you can also consider the Hyundai i20 IVT/CVT in the Magna variant. The CVT gearbox is very smooth, which elevates the overall driving experience and makes the car extremely easy to drive in traffic. The interiors of the i20 also feel quite premium. The only downside is that you will have to trade a bit of fuel efficiency for that smoothness, which is something to keep in mind since efficiency is an important factor for you.

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