I am looking to buy a comfortable 5-seater SUV for driving in Mumbai and its outskirts, and I am confused whether to go for the Honda Elevate CVT or book the Tata Sierra DCA; could you please help me decide?

Considering your long daily commuting distance, we will keep comfort and fuel economy as the highest priorities. Since you haven't specified whether you want to stay in the same performance spectrum or not, we'll give you options from both sectors. The Hero Xpulse 210 will give you great comfort and fuel economy while giving you similiar sort of performance as your TVS Apache RTR 200 and is well within your budget. If you want something a little more retro, you could take a look at the Royal Enfield Bullet / Classic 350 models, as both have a comfortable ride and will deliver decent fuel economy if ridden sensibly. In a similar vein, the Honda CB350 trio can also be considered for the same reason. Last but not least, you could also opt for the TVS Apache RTX 300, which will give you the most performance and a very spacious and comfortable riding position. Given its displacement, you should see decent fuel efficiency if ridden sensibly, although we haven't been able to test it for ourselves just yet. We recommend a thorough test ride of all the options you shortlist before you decide to put your money down.

Both cars you selected have 1.5 naturally aspirated (NA) engines, and the Honda car engine mated to a CVT is clearly the better option for several reasons. Firstly, Honda makes the best small-capacity naturally aspirated engines, and for Mumbai traffic, the CVT is a much smoother automatic than the twin-clutch DCA in the Tata. Also, the Tata engine, which develops a mere 106hp, is nowhere near as powerful as the Honda engine (121hp). Hence, Honda Elevate is better than the Tata Sierra DCA, which comes with this 1.5 NA engine.

Indeed, the Tata Nexon doesn’t have the best reputation for reliability. However, the quality and service have improved recently, especially for Nexons made at the Sanand plant, which formerly belonged to Ford. But it's not just reliability, but the fact that the Hyundai Venue DCT is a quicker shifting and smoother transmission than the Tata DCA or dual clutch automatic. Besides the Venue, which has recently been updated, feels a lot more premium and plush, and is definitely the better option.

For city use, the Toyota Fortuner is not ideal. Since you have private parking that accommodates a charger, this is a perfect time to switch to an EV. The Mahindra XEV 9E is more appealing than the Harrier EV, but the Mahindra XEV 9S is the one to focus on because it is more practical and also costs less. It offers enough range for your 100 km weekend runs, has sufficient power and torque to tackle steep inclines, and has adequate ground clearance for rough roads. The Fortuner will handle rough roads better, but given that it is much more than the 9S. It is hard to justify the extra spend for occasional rough-road use.