I am looking to buy an automatic car within a budget of around ₹18 lakh. I am currently considering the Tata Curvv and the Kia Seltos, but I am open to other options as well. My main priorities are safety, good looks, ease of driving (especially for a female driver), and low maintenance. The car will be used primarily in the city. Could you please suggest which would be the best choice for my requirements?

Autocar India

•13h

Quite frankly, between the Kia Seltos and the Tata Curvv, the only reasons to buy the Curvv are if you like its coupe styling and the price, which is cheaper than the Seltos when you factor in available discounts. Go for the Kia Seltos HTX+ IVT (petrol automatic).For your 6,000 km a year with 90% city use, it’s the smoother, more reliable pick with good features and equipment. Your driving is mostly urban (about 5,400 km in the city and 600 km on the highway yearly), so the IVT suits stop‑and-go traffic with seamless creep and low heat buildup, unlike many dual‑clutch units. The HTX+ trim brings an 8‑speaker Bose setup for the “good sound system” you want, and safety is covered with 6 airbags, ESC, and TPMS, which matter more than raw power at city speeds. Road presence is solid too; the Seltos’ stance and LED lighting help it look a size up.The one thing you give up is outright punch: the IVT is calmer than the turbo‑DCT Seltos for sudden highway bursts, so quick overtakes need a firmer right foot.

Kia Seltos

Tata Curvv

Autocar India

•2d

Considering your usage of 60% highway and 40% city, you can go for the Kia Seltos 1.5 turbo petrol DCT. The turbo petrol engine offers much stronger performance, especially for highway driving. Overtakes feel more effortless compared to the naturally aspirated petrol.The concern about DCT overheating is valid, but in real-world usage, it typically happens only in very heavy, prolonged bumper-to-bumper traffic. Since a large part of your driving will be on highways, this should not be a major issue. Over the years, the Hyundai-Kia DCT gearbox has also improved and is now quite mature.That said, in slow-moving city traffic, the IVT (CVT) will feel smoother and more relaxed, especially at very low speeds. The DCT can feel slightly hesitant in such conditions.

Kia New Seltos

Autocar India

•1d

We can totally understand why your heart is saying, Tata Sierra. It looks fantastic, has loads of road presence and, as you’ve rightly picked up, the rear seat is one of its biggest strengths with great space and comfort for the family. For your mostly highway usage with under 10,000km a year, that relaxed, big‑car feel and rear seat comfort are genuine positives.However, it’s also true that the Sierra 1.5 NA is objectively a very slow car, and that’s not social media gossip but borne out in our tests. The 1.5 NA petrol‑manual takes about 17.34sec for 0-100kph, and an even more telling 18.38sec for 20-80kph in third gear, which is where you really feel it for overtakes. The automatic is slower still to 100kph. By contrast, a Seltos 1.5 NA does 0-100kph in roughly the 12-13sec band, depending on gearbox, which is a full class quicker and feels it on the road. So yes, the Sierra NA is genuinely underpowered for the segment; it is one of the slowest midsize SUVs on sale.​That said, “underpowered” doesn’t mean undriveable, especially at the kind of steady‑state highway cruising you’re talking about. The Sierra NA’s torque comes in reasonably low, so it will sit at 90-100kph in a relaxed way and feel perfectly fine as a family cruiser. Where you will pay the price is every time you need a quick overtake or have to accelerate decisively uphill or with a full load. You will need more planning, more downshifts and a lot more patience than in the Kia Seltos. It’s not dangerous if you drive to its limits, but it is hard work, and you will always be aware that the engine is the weak link.In short, don’t let the Sierra’s 1.5 NA engine be a deal breaker, but instead learn to live with its lack of power, especially if your heart says Sierra.

Tata Sierra

Kia Seltos