I am planning to buy a car with a budget of around ₹10-12lakh. My primary usage will be highway driving for personal use. I am looking for a car that is easy to drive, safe, and offers a smooth driving experience.

Autocar India

•2h

Pick the Toyota Urban Cruiser Taisor S+ Petrol MT. It sits under your Rs. 12 lakh budget, is fuel efficient, and its easy, no-fuss nature suits low usage and first-time ownership. The simple 1.2 engine is reliable, cheap to maintain and efficient in the city, and the higher seating with good ground clearance makes it family-friendly without feeling big or heavy to drive. It is also easier on the wallet and comes backed by Toyota's widespread service network.The only catch is that it is not as powerful or as solid-feeling as a Skoda Kylaq, which is the alternative you should consider. The Kylaq is more enjoyable to drive, and it comes with a 5-star crash safety rating, but it won't be as fuel efficient or as affordable to maintain as the Toyota Taisor. For your budget and light running, though, the Taisor is the smart pick.

Toyota Urban Cruiser Taisor

Skoda Kylaq

Autocar India

•2h

Pick the Hyundai Venue DCT. For mostly city use, it is simply the easiest to live with: compact dimensions for easy parking, a high seating position for better view in traffic, and enough ground clearance to glide over bad patches and tall speed breakers without worrying. Its turbo engine with the automatic feels quick enough to exploit gaps in traffic, and the steering is light, so long commutes will be less tiring. Do note, though, the Venue DCT's can feel a touch hesitant at low speeds, and the city mileage is just okay, as is the case with the others, because it's a small capacity turbo engine.The Hyundai i20 N Line DCT is more fun to drive, but its firmer suspension and lower stance make it less friendly on rough roads and speed bumps, and you're sitting lower, so you won't get as good a view out.The Skoda Kylaq AT has the smoothest gearbox for bumper-to-bumper and feels more at home on the highway, but it isn't as premium or spacious on the inside as the Venue.

Hyundai Venue

Hyundai i20

Skoda Kylaq

Autocar India

•9h

Based on your requirement, we would recommend the Honda Amaze ZX CVT over the Skoda Kylaq Signature+ AT. The reason is that your priorities are not outright performance or driving excitement. You are looking for a car that will spend 90% of its life in city traffic, will also be driven by your 69-year-old father, and is expected to stay with the family for around 10 years. In that context, Amaze's strengths line up perfectly with your requirements. The CVT is smoother than the Kylaq's torque converter automatic in stop-and-go traffic, visibility is excellent, the car is easy to place on the road, ingress and egress are straightforward, and Honda's long-term reliability record is hard to fault. Coming from an Alto K10, it will already feel like a substantial upgrade in comfort, refinement and features.The Kylaq Signature Plus AT is the more desirable car from an enthusiast's perspective. The 1.0 TSI turbo petrol has more punch, the higher seating position is nice, and the overall package feels more substantial. However, it is also a larger vehicle to manoeuvre, and while the automatic is good, it is not quite as seamless in everyday traffic as Honda's CVT.Another point in Amaze's favour is that the ZX variant gets Honda Sensing ADAS, which adds useful safety features without making the car complicated to operate. Since your father will also be driving it, that extra layer of safety is a nice bonus.

Honda Amaze

Skoda Kylaq