I’m looking to buy my first car. Usage is 90% city and 10% highway. Budget under ₹5 lakh.

autocar.india

•2d

The first thing to note is that with a Rs. 12 lakh budget, the Volkswagen Virtus and Skoda Slavia may be difficult to fit in unless you're looking at entry-level variants or stretching your budget. The Tata Nexon, on the other hand, sits much more comfortably within your range.Between a sedan and an SUV, we'd lean towards a sedan for your usage pattern. With your driving split evenly between city and highway and a relatively modest monthly running of around 1,000km, a sedan generally offers better ride comfort, superior highway stability and a more engaging driving experience. Coming from a Tata Tiago, a Virtus or Slavia will feel like a substantial upgrade in terms of refinement, space and overall quality.If your budget is firm at Rs 12. lakh, we'd suggest looking at the Skoda Kylaq Automatic or Honda Amaze CVT as well. The Kylaq offers SUV practicality, strong safety credentials and a fun turbo-petrol engine, while the Amaze provides the smoothest automatic experience and excellent long-term ownership appeal.The Tata Nexon remains a good all-rounder with strong safety credentials and a practical cabin, but if your heart is set on a Virtus or Slavia and you can stretch the budget, they are the more rewarding cars to own and drive.

Volkswagen Virtus

Skoda Slavia

Tata Nexon

Tata Tiago

Skoda Kylaq

Honda Amaze

autocar.india

•1h

Buy the Camry. It delivers the calm, premium sedan feel you want, and the hybrid really does lower city fuel costs. In traffic it pulls away on battery, the engine joins smoothly, and you can see around 18-22 kpl in the city if you drive gently. The back seat is properly spacious and comfy, the ride is soft enough to take bad roads in stride, and the cabin stays quiet. On highways, it cruises easily and feels upmarket without shouting about it. The honest downside is price. You pay a fair bit more upfront than some roomy SUVs.If your running is mostly city and you like relaxed driving, go for the Camry with confidence.

Toyota Camry

autocar.india

•6h

No, we wouldn't consider the Kushaq 1.0 TSI 8AT a risky purchase from a reliability standpoint. The new gearbox isn't an all-new, unproven transmission. It replaces the earlier Aisin-sourced 6-speed torque converter (AQ250) with a newer Aisin 8-speed torque converter (AQ300). So Skoda has stuck with a proven supplier and transmission type rather than moving to something more complex.In fact, the new 8-speed brings some tangible improvements. It helps improve fuel efficiency and emissions, the low-speed creep behaviour is better controlled than before and the shifts are smoother and more seamless. It is also noticeably quicker, with our testing showing a 0-100kph time of 11.57 seconds, compared to 13.16 seconds for the old 6-speed automatic. The gearbox even feels surprisingly responsive in manual mode, with quick paddle-shift responses that give it a slightly sportier character than most torque-converter automatics.

Skoda Kushaq