I am planning to buy my first car with a budget of around Rs. 15 lakh. Please suggest a car that is enjoyable to drive, comes with a smooth automatic transmission, and offers sufficient legroom and headroom, as I am 6'1" tall.

Autocar India

•1h

Go for the Maruti Suzuki Victoris hybrid automatic for city use and the lowest fuel bills. In stop-go traffic, it runs on electric power a lot of the time, so you will see around 20-plus kpl in town, far better than regular petrol automatics. It feels calm and smooth at low speeds, and the steering is light and easy enough to twirl in traffic and also reassuring at higher speeds. Resale should be strong too as with most Maruti Suzuki models, plus with hybrids increasing in demand, your resale should be healthy.

Maruti Suzuki Victoris

Autocar India

•3h

Pick the Tata Nexon EV Empowered 45kWh version. For a family of 5 on a Rs. 17 lakh budget, it gives the most spacious cabin and easy step-in height for parents and kids, it rides well on bad roads, and its real-world range is enough so you'll have to charge it once or twice a week. You also get proper fast charging and Tata’s wider EV support, which matters when you are out with family.Do note that three big adults in the back will be shoulder-to-shoulder on long trips, but it is fine for two adults and a child. If your use is mostly city and you want to save money, the Tata Punch EV LR does the job, but space is tighter for five.

Tata Nexon EV

Autocar India

•4h

Get the Tata Punch EV Adventure 40 - it fits your Rs 12 lakh budget and will comfortably do a 50km daily city run. Its range is enough to top up just twice a week, maybe even once. The small size makes traffic and parking easy, and Tata’s EV network is the strongest at this price.You will give up some space and highway pace versus bigger EVs, and DC fast charging isn’t the quickest, so long trips need planning. For city duty though, it’s smooth, quiet and cheap to run. Make sure you can have a charger installed at your home, though, as that is essential to EV ownership. If you want a fully loaded model, at the cost of range, check out the newly launched Tata Tiago EV Creative Plus 24. It's a bit more compact, but if that's not an issue, it's a great vehicle. However, the real-world range will be considerably lower than the Punch EV, and you'll have to charge more often.

Tata Punch EV

Tata Tiago EV