Yes, you are right. The Kia Sonet’s and Honda Amaze’s 1.2 litre naturally aspirated petrol engines, although fine for city use, will feel a bit down on power for highway duties. Especially compared to your Hyundai Xcent diesel, you own currently. It has a lot more torque; these cars will feel slower in comparison and won’t really feel like an upgrade.

In your Rs 10 lakh budget, you can look at either the Mahindra XUV 3XO REVX M or the Skoda Kylaq Classic Plus. Both these cars are powered by turbo petrol engines, which give them strong performance, and both are genuinely enjoyable to drive. The Mahindra scores big on cabin space, making it one of the most comfortable cars in the segment for five adults. While the Skoda Kodiaq offers a much larger boot, which adds to its practicality.

If you are looking for better efficiency and a lighter clutch for a more effortless driving experience, you could also consider the Maruti Suzuki Brezza LXi. However, in Maruti’s case, we would recommend waiting as an update is due soon.

If you are looking at a car purely from the city driving perspective, the Hyundai Venue HX5+ powered by the 1.2 litre naturally aspirated engine will do. It will also prove to be more efficient than the Mahindra 3XO’s 1.2 litre turbo petrol engine. But from the performance perspective, there is a huge gap here. The Mahindra 3XO in the AX5 variant will be much nicer to drive and will feel at home, be it in the city or on the highway. It is also wider, can seat five people in decent comfort and as compared to the HX5+ variant, it has more features too.

Considering you drive 90% of the time in the city, we would also recommend you to, go for an automatic transmission. It will be a lot easier to drive and reduce fatigue by a lot. 

Another car you can consider is the Skoda Kylaq which again is a nice car to drive and is very well priced. You can get the Signature manual transmission variant in your budget or the newly launched Classic + variant if you are looking to buy an automatic.

Looking at your requirements we would recommend the Skoda Kylaq. The automatic transmission is a torque convertor unit which is smoother than a dual clutch autobox (which is what the Tata Nexon has). You will appreciate this since you drive daily in heavy stop-go traffic. The Kylaq is also very safe with many safety features and it secured a 5-star rating in the BNCAP tests. Skoda dealers do not have a legacy of great service however Skoda has made significant improvements in service standards.      

The Skoda Kylaq meets all your requirements of fun to drive and safety. It’s fairly reliable, too, but doesn’t have the reputation for reliability like a Japanese brand. The sales and service are considerably improve and Skoda has worked to bring down spare parts and service costs as well. 

The air conditioning is an issue with Skodas, but the company has fixed it in the new Kushaq, and we expect to see these improvements in the Kylaq too. The Aircross is a lovely car to drive, but its dealer and service network needs to improve. The Mahindra XUV 3XO is a great all-rounder and the best equipped, but it's not as much fun to drive as the Kylaq.