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The price bracket from Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh is the one where the majority of Indians come to and buy their cars. If you’re in the same bracket and want to buy a new car and you have approximately Rs. 10 lakhs to spend, give or take a few lakhs, then you might find yourself spoilt for choice. Because there’s so much to choose from. You’ve got hot hatches, compact cars, small SUVs, MUVs and even sleek sedans.
After so much of brainstorming, we have managed to put together a list of cars which we feel are the best in India below 10 lakhs out there right now. Check it out and do let us know in the comments section below what you feel about our list of best cars in India below 10 lakhs
Best Budget-oriented cars Under 5 Lakhs, Ex-showroom
Tata Tiago
Tata Tiago has been a boon to Tata motors. Tiago was launched in 2016 and saw some difficult early days. Many of you were unaware that it was named ‘Zica’ but at the end moment, Tata changed its name to ‘Tiago’. The Tiago has a very traditionally European hatchback design and front smiling grille with humanity line, sleek headlamps, decent amount of cabin space and interiors. Tiago had to impress everyone with its first encounter and it do so. The Tiago is packed with great handling chassis and well-equipped interiors.
Tata Tiago’s wheel: body ratio is a lot lesser, making the design appear more proportionate. The 14-inch alloy wheels carry a neutral design & most people will like them. The overall stance of the car is squat. At the rear, it gets an integrated spoiler which is a part of the tailgate and sporty look to it. The tailgate of it looks clutter-free as it only wears the brand name on the left and the variant name on the right. The Tiago measures 3,746 mm in length, 1,647 mm in width, 1,535 mm in height and has a 2,400 mm wheelbase.
It has the shortest wheelbase compared to the Celerio. Paint quality is decent and the car feels solidly built. In terms of safety, it gets dual front airbags and the 9th generation Bosch ABS + EBD + Cornering Stability Control.
Tata Tiago Interior.
The interiors of the car sports a a black & grey theme and the dashboard is simple yet attractive. The steering wheel, control stalks, gear lever, window switches etc. are all picked up from its siblings. Tata’s designers have tastefully used chrome and gloss black finishes in many areas in the Tiago to make the cabin a nicer place to be in. The quality of the material is good and gives an upmarket feel. You’ll really love the coating of outside color of the car on the air-con vents. The car has a host of connectivity features and that includes a juke app – which allows you to pair one main phone and multiple others through it – to stream shared music from all of them. It also has GPS. There are steering mounted controls and reverse parking sensors on the high-end variant XZ. For its price range, the Tiago is the most spacious car out there with enough space in the front and the rear to seat passengers comfortably. The Tiago also gets decent shoulder room in the rear to compliment the leg space.
The car is good in terms of driving. Under the hood, it is powered by a 1.2-litre Revotron petrol engine with bore and stroke measuring 77mm and 85.8mm respectively. Peak power is 83.8bhp (at 6,000rpm) while the max torque of 11.6kgm is produced at 3,500rpm. The clutch is light and it takes sharp turns confidently.
Tata Tiago Engine
The car also has the option of a 1.05-litre diesel engine. The engine makes 69bhp at 4,000rpm and 14.27kgm from 1,800-3,000rpm make it far more powerful than the Celerio’s two-cylinder diesel unit. To be honest, the new Revotorq diesel engine is a downsized and modernized version of the 1.4 diesel from the Indica. Tiago is offered in two modes, City and Eco. The car is set on City mode by default.
Tata has clearly put its soul into the Tiago and it is clearly visible. The Tiago looks attractive, comes with plenty of equipment, has a good and upmarket cabin. The car can handle our imperfect roads with ease and is an easy car to handle. Sadly, the dull engines are a negative part. But, customers might be willing to make a compromise on the driving experience in return for good fuel efficiency. The petrol Tiago in Eco mode gives about 23.5kpl and the diesel is even more fuel efficient. Overall Tiago is a good package and offers premium interiors, sleek headlamps, and a great design. We recommend this car and gives it a thumbs up.
Maruti Suzuki Celerio X
Maruti Suzuki Celerio X is the successor of Maruti’s first Automatic gear shift car, Celerio. The Celerio X is bigger in terms of dimensions and also slightly longer and wider than the Standard Celerio but when compared to Tiago, it just got more height. The overall length is 3,715 mm, width is 1,635 mm and has 1,565 mm of height. The wheelbase stands at 2,425 mm (25mm higher than Tiago) and the laden ground clearance is 120mm. The car has a 235-liter boot capacity and comes with a 35-litre fuel tank.
The Celerio X gets a dual-tone exterior with new front and rear bumpers matching the X-factor. The car rides on 6-spoke alloy wheels with Gloss black finish. At the front, the ‘X’ gets a black grille flanked by smoked headlights while the dual-tone front bumper houses circular fog lamps. Moving to the side, the car gets black ORVM housings and black wheel arches, door sills and body cladding. The B-pillar, door handles, and roof rails are also finished in black. At the rear, you will find a black bumper with a silver scuff plate and integrated reflectors. It comes with an integrated roof spoiler and uses the same tail lamps as the standard Celerio does.
Maruti Suzuki Celerio X Interior.
On the inside, the car comes with all black interiors with white accents and patterned seats with outer color highlights. It comes standard with a driver-side airbag and driver side seat belt reminder. Passenger side airbag and ABS are optional across all the variants and you’ll have to spend some money for that.
Maruti Suzuki Celerio X Engine.
Under the hood, the CelerioX is powered by the 998cc, 3-cylinder petrol engine. The engine produces 68 BHP @ 6,000 rpm and 90 Nm of torque @ 3,500 rpm. The CelerioX is offered with a 5-speed manual gearbox or a 5-speed AMT.
Celerio X is also a good deal but quite expensive than the Tiago. It comes with additional matte-black faux body cladding across its sides, while the front bumper gets a slightly altered design with two faux black bands that run vertically from below the headlights. Interiors are also good and the cabin is spacious but sitting three abreast at a time will be tight. The petrol engine felt peppy and ride quality was quite decent too. The cabin offers infotainment system with Bluetooth/USB/AUX functions. Overall a good package and we recommend this car too but still, Tiago is more preferred over it as it is priced aggressively and has great features.
Best Hatchbacks under Rs. 10 Lakh (Ex-showroom)
Hyundai Elite I20 (2018)
Elite i20, is the facelift of a very popular premium hatchback i20. There was a lot of anticipation from it and when the wraps came off it the first impression was- it’s not that much changed. Even afterward, when we saw photos of the old and new car side by side, it was a tricky game to ‘spot the difference’.
Also, Read – Hyundai I20 Facelift 2018 Full Review – All You Need To Know.
At first glance, it’s hard to spot a difference from the front. The facelift has somewhat similar grille like the previous car has but it’s a bit curvier now and is easy to miss. The same applies to bumper as well- it is slightly more sculpted to fit the new triangular fog lamps, and the functional air ducts beside them that are said to reduce turbulence in the wheel wells and aid aerodynamic efficiency. The headlamps now feature projector elements and LED daytime running lamps. The rear of the i20 looks much better updated and because of that, you’ll easily differentiate it with the previous car. Thanks to the new tail-lamp graphics that light up in a horizontal line. They’re neat and not bad at all. But we prefer the old style that was adorable and similar to what you get on the Verna, Elantra, and Tucson. There’s also a slightly changed tailgate and a thick blacked out section in the bumper that really adds i20 like feel. You can opt for a black colored roof, and there’s a new set of 16-inch alloy wheels, which look good.
Hyundai Elite I20 2018 Interior.
Again, on the inside, the changes are not easily visible. The fabric on the seats now has a new pattern called the hounds-tooth pattern, which is cool and adds retro touch to the car. Some of the switches and controls on the steering wheel and dashboard are new too, the Air-con vents have been redesigned and the touchscreen has a matte finish so it’s easier to see in it in sunlight. In equipments, it’s still the same high standard as before, except one of the 12v charging port, which has been replaced with a USB charging outlet. The touchscreen is one of the best from Hyundai with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and has a simple, clean and easy-to-use interface. At the rear of the hatchback, you now get ISOFIX mounting points, and a fold-down armrest- a segment first.
Hyundai Elite I20 2018 Engine.
There has been a bit of re-tuning to both the engine and the chassis. According to Hyundai it has achieved a nine percent increase in fuel economy due to a slightly tuning of the motor and those aero ducts in the front bumper.
The bottom end of the car feels a bit stronger but the punch at the top end is missing. The change is not too rigorous, and if you drive mainly in the city like i do, you’ll appreciate the improved low-end responses. What remains unchanged on the motor is its smooth nature and the light and easy gearshift action.
To make this hatch more driver friendly, Hyundai has also try to mend a bit the suspension and the steering. Hyundai stiffened the rear suspension a little bit. You can feel that too when the car crosses a large speed-breaker. The car isn’t that bouncy now. They’ve also tuned the steering and reduced the slack at the centre position to make it feel a bit more engaging than before. Frankly, this is still no driver’s car, but it’s good to see Hyundai is trying to improve things on the current-gen car.
Maruti Suzuki Swift (2018)
Maruti Suzuki is a well-known car brand in the Indian automobile market. If someone wants to know how to be in the competition and how to manage the sales of its existing vehicles then they should learn it from Maruti Suzuki.
Maruti’s most demanding vehicle in the Indian market i.e., SWIFT, hit the Indian market again with its 3rd generation update. Maruti showcased the Swift at the Auto-Expo 2018 amd it is completely different from the outgoing car. It has a big grille and sleek headlights with DRLs and projector lamps. The new Swift also contain almost same bumper from present Swift Dzire and looks really well with black cladding on the lower part. The new Swift also has little sunken fog lamps.
Talking about the side profile and you’ve got some usual Swift styles, like its roof which slightly tapers towards the rear. And for the first time, Maruti offers the back door handle in the C-pillar like we’ve seen in Chevrolet Beat, which looks cool and gives the new Swift a sporty look. The C-pillar consist of a black bit which separates the roof from the pillar. The Swift has following dimensions 3840mm*1735mm*1495mm (i.e., length, width and height). It has a longer wheelbase of 2450mm which was earlier of 2430mm.
The back view of new Swift is quite attractive, with an integrated spoiler on the top. Its tail lights are little bit squarish like we’ve seen in Ignis and give the new Swift a muscular and sporty look. The back side of the new Swift looks squarer in comparison to the curvy back of 2nd generation Swift.
Maruti Suzuki Swift 2018 Interior.
The Swift inherits its interior design from the Ignis. There’s a stylish and somewhat funky rotary area in the center for climate control. There’s also a stylish tablet (with both android auto and apple car play) which forms the infotainment system. It has round AC vents and flat-bottomed steering wheel with the Suzuki logo in the middle.
The instrument cluster is very clear and comes with TFT display like we seen in Baleno and Ignis and gives you all the required information. The dashboard is simple, hard and shiny. The visibility of the new Swift is very good even for short height drivers. The Cabin is spacious and has large door pockets with cubbyhole. Space is good and the seats are better than that with a bit of more bolstering all around and offer a lot of under-thigh support. The back seat opens up a surprising amount of space. There’s a lot of legroom with a lot of headroom as well. Although the width has been increased by approx. 40mm but sitting three adults at a time will be a bit tight.
The big surprise is the boot, it is almost 25% bigger than the previous one, which is a plus point for the new Swift.
Maruti Suzuki Swift 2018 Engine.
Last but not the least, engines are also good and are carried over from present Swift. New Swift comes with a 1.2-litre petrol engine and 1.3-litre diesel engine. New Swift is available in 5-speed manual transmission as well as 5 speed AMT transmission. The engines deliver more efficiency with better mileage. Swift with its new design is much lighter as compared to previous versions, this helps the vehicle to attain stability and generate more power. The new sleek body provides superb handling and proficient suspension.
In our experience, we’ve found the Hyundai’s engine as the more refined powerful than the Suzuki’s. Both the cars here are pretty much evenly matched when it comes to features. The top-trims of both the cars come with projector headlamps, touchscreen infotainment system and a lot more. However, in terms of interiors, Hyundai’s interiors are far better than the Swift’s, they give you upmarket feel.
Best SUVs under 10 Lakh (Ex-showroom)
Tata Nexon
Tata Nexon is Tata’s most popular SUV and comes with a stupendous design. The Nexon isn’t based on a new platform like the Tiago and Tigor, but uses the same old X1 platform that underpins the Zest & Bolt. The Tata Nexon has been designed to look like a crossover from the starting, with a raised stance and the usual ‘urban SUV’ elements, such as roof rails and black cladding along the sides and wheel arches. The car gets muscular bumpers with hexagon designs, beefy wheel arches and large wheels with wide tyres.
The Indian Carmaker has tried to differentiate the Nexon from the crowd of compact SUVs with a funky design and it does so nicely. The Nexon is unique, rather than going for the conventional boxy squared SUV design, Tata has mixed various elements like a sloping coupe-like roofline, heavily raked front windshield, angled rear, short front bonnet and a thick white ceramic line.
It measures 3,994 mm in length, has a width of 1,811 mm and is 1,607mm tall. With 3,994mm length Nexon surpasses Brezza it’s 1,607mm height puts it behind the Vitara Brezza. However, with a width of 1,811 mm, it is wider than the Maruti. It has a class-leading ground clearance of 209mm. When it comes to weight, the Nexon is fat just like all Tata cars. With a curb weight of 1,305 kg for the diesel, it is the heaviest car in the segment. The Nexon too sports Tata’s ‘Impact Design language’. The front end of the car is similar to its siblings with a sloping hood, sweptback headlamps, a wide glossy black honeycomb mesh grille. A chrome strip runs under the front grille and the headlamps. The circular fog lamps have black housings with thick white borders running along their sides and lower edges. The sides of it are just WOW! Which we like and probably you do is thick beltline finished in ceramic white and the sloping roof that ends in a thick C-pillar with a floating design. At the rear Nexon continues the same ceramic white finished plastic wraps itself around the tail-lamps and runs across the width of the rear to form an “X” design. The windshield of the car gets a roof-mounted spoiler and below this, the white border is a thick, glossy black insert on the tailgate.
When comes to safety, the Nexon gets two airbags, ABS and ISOFIX child seat anchors as standard across all variants.
Tata Nexon Interior.
The Nexon gets black and beige interiors with silver, black and chrome inserts at various places on the dashboard, center console and door pads. The pillars and roof liner are whitish grey, and the big sloping windscreen lets a good amount of light enter the cabin. The cabin’s width ensures that front seat occupants don’t feel too close to each other.
At the rear seats, there’s a generous amount of space, which means three adults can sit quite comfortably, but the seat base is shorter in the middle. The left and right side passengers get 3-point seatbelts and adjustable headrests with two levels of adjustment. There’s ample amount of legroom and headroom at the rear.
It gets a 350-litre boot and is large enough to accommodate luggage for those weekend family trips. Entertainment options include Harman-developed ConnectNext infotainment system with a 6.5″ touchscreen that sticks out of the top of the dashboard. It features voice recognition, the usual music inputs – USB, AUX, Bluetooth, on-screen SMS display & readout, reversing camera display and image & video playback.
Tata Nexon Engine.
The Nexon petrol gets a new 1,198cc, 3-cylinder turbocharged engine from the Revotron family. A 1.2L turbo-petrol might sound familiar but is not similar to the one seen on the Zest. The Nexon gets a heavily reworked motor based on the Tigor’s unit, with the internals beefed up to handle the turbo. Mated to a new 6-speed TA6300 manual gearbox, this motor produces 108 BHP at 5,000 rpm and 170 Nm of torque between 1,750 – 4,000 rpm. Like other modern Tata cars, it features Multi-drive modes. Buyers can choose between City (default), Eco and Sport.
Also, Read – 2018 Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500X first ride review.
The driving of this car is fun but throttle response is not as crisp as one would like in a petrol-powered car. However, power delivery is linear and it moves off from a standstill easily. In city, the Nexon can move at 40 km/h in 3rd gear with the engine ticking over at 1,750 rpm without any dragging. At this rpm level & even higher, things are good, but if the revs fall substantially below, the engine just feels dead. The car has a compact size, light controls, good frontal visibility and decent ergonomics, the low-speed behaviour makes driving it in the city a little tricky. You can adjust the car into Sport mode in the city for superior driveability. Nexon is fun when you take it out on the open road.
Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza
The Vitara Brezza has been a remarkable sales success since its launch last year and we found it to be a complete package than the Ford EcoSport, and that’s why it is in our best car list. Brezza is styled good too bit when compared to the Nexon the Brezza looks decidedly middle-aged. Breeza is styled simply and comes with Maruti’s ‘i-create’. Built on Maruti Suzuki’s global C platform, the Vitara Brezza measures just under 4m in length. The short overhangs, square wheel arches, and mildly tail do give the Brezza a good overall look but it’s as aggressive as of Nexon’s. Styling isn’t vivid, but the lines are clean. The front is high and has chrome-rich grille flanked by headlights (top-end versions get projector units). The Vitara Brezza’s LED lights are styled to resemble a bull’s horns and they do so too. From the rear, the Vitara Brezza does bear resemblance to the S-Cross and continues to resemble bull’s horns with its tail lamps. It has a 328-litre boot, which is small when compared to the Nexon.
Brezza is not so much tall like the Nexon, but at the same time the cabin is set at a comfortable height so getting in and out is easy. The cushioning is too soft on the car and can create a problem over long distances. The dashboard is nicely framed with a piano black plastic surround at the centre. The silver highlights and glossy black plastics on the dash do add some richness, and the instrument cluster also gets selectable colors for the backlighting. The dashboard is practical on the Brezza and comes with twin glove boxes (the upper one being cooled).
Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza Interior.
The overall quality on the inside is good, but not great. Some of the plastics are nicely textured, but in some areas Mauti cuts cost that can be seen on the lower areas of the car.
Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza Engine.
The Brezza’s 1.3-litre produces 90hp at 4,000rpm and 200Nm at 1,750rpm. The Nexon also uses a six-speed gearbox, while the Brezza makes do with a five. In comparison to the Nexon’s mill that gives its best in the bottom end, the Brezza’s motor feels most alive in the latter half of its rev range. There’s a very distinct step up in power at 2,000rpm, after which the Brezza’s diesel pulls with power to 5,000rpm and beyond. In fact, in its powerband, the Suzuki can become fairly exciting to drive. What marks the Brezza’s engine down is its performance in city. Under 2,000rpm, it feels dull and you’ll have to work a lot with the gearbox to get the revs back up.
Under Rs.10 Lakh both Nexon and Brezza are good SUVs. But if we want to pick one, then Nexon will be our priority. It’s Sexy, and has got a better design than Brezza. Though it lacks a bit in finesse and does trail the Brezza in some areas, but with its nicer engine, better ride and aggressive pricing, it backs up its unquestionable desirability with some solid virtues.
So here are the best cars available under Rs. 10 lakhs according to us. Do let us know in the comments section below what you feel are the best and if we find your comment reasonable we’ll definitely add them to our list.
Special Thanks to- Avnish Bhutani, Ginish Kumar and Sebin Sibi
