Buying a car today is a battle. When you buy a car, you keep various things in mind. The first thing that comes to your mind is the budget, which car will fit in my budget? Then you get confused looking at the various options available in the market. Further, to get a clear picture, you walk into a showroom where a salesman is ready to sell you everything and puts you in a bigger misery. In this article, let us compare and understand the various competitors of the subcompact SUV market.

Mahindra XUV300 has now joined the most relevant and growing segment in India – The Subcompact SUV. The car is on roads from February, 2019. This segment has numerous strong products and so the new XUV has a lot to beat.

Among its competitors it first has, the highest selling and most popular car – Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. Then comes the car that has set a benchmark for us – Ford EcoSport. Last but not the least, the car with the highest security and better AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) – Tata Nexon.

All of these models have automatic variants, however the new Mahindra XUV300 has been launched in manual only.  Except Vitara Brezza all of them have a petrol variant. Each of these cars are impressive in their own way, so now, let us compare each car with the new one.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza v/s Mahindra XUV300

• In this subcompact market, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza is the market leader.
• This model of Maruti is really clean and has a well-executed design.
• Vitara Brezza looks contemporary and has numerous customisation options. On the other hand, Mahindra XUV300 has more of a gimmicky look.
• However, Maruti Vitara Brezza only comes with a diesel engine but XUV300 offers both- petrol and diesel.

Ford EcoSport v/s Mahindra XUV300

• Ford EcoSport got its facelift in at the end of 2017.
• In terms of interior, both the cars have well appointed cabins. The touchscreen along with plastic and fit on EcoSport is better. This is probably the biggest USP (Unique Selling Point) of the cabin. However, the XUV has more gadgets and features on the whole including a dual zone AC.
• On road, Ford EcoSport is nice and sporty and has a really tight steering. On the other hand, Mahindra’s XUV300 is less sporty but it handles quite well.

Tata Nexon v/s Mahindra XUV300

• Tata Nexon has both fuel types and both of them have AMT. This car has some interesting features up its sleeves by allowing you to drive in 3 different modes – Eco, City and Sport.
• It has a generous boot space and the car has a pretty impressive design. The touchscreen works quite well, however it could have been a bit bigger.
• While Tata Nexon gives more of a classy young vibrant feeling, XUV300 gives a more upmarket and sophisticated feeling.
• On the other hand, the XUV has some features which are first in this segment. Disc brakes on all wheels, seat belt reminders for all passengers, 7 airbags and front parking sensor amongst others are some of its features.

PRICES

• The Vitara Brezza starts at ₹7.67 lakhs and goes all the way to ₹10.64 lakhs.
• EcoSport is priced between ₹7.82 lakhs and ₹11.98 lakhs.
• Nexon has the most attractive prices. The base manual petrol starts at ₹6.36 lakhs while the top trim with AMT and dual tone roof is priced at ₹10.80 lakhs.
• The XUV300 starts at ₹7.90 lakhs and goes to ₹11.99 lakhs making its price higher than the rest.

SALES

• Maruti has sold 80,745 Vitara in the last 6 months (August, 2018 to January, 2019).
• Ford sold 21,690 EcoSport and Tata sold 27,116 Nexon in the same period.

COMPARISON:

TATA TIGOR ROARS ON THE MOTORING SCENE