Hi,
As i gone through your post and to summazie
> safety and driving comfort in city traffic as well as on highways
> Your expected running would be lower
> Usage would be mostly as Small Nuclear Family Car
and appreciate sharing in your experience with AMT, EV and financial aspect too.
See, Karnataka has one among highest road tax zone.
Like a car like Kushaq Automatic which what cost in 16.6 Lakh on road in delhi, goes to 17.75 Lakh on road in Karnataka
Similar for MG Astor Super CVT which what cost in 15.35 Lakh on road delhi, goes to 16.5 Lakh on road in Karnataka
First come first from financial perspective - check if you are eligible for BH Series Number plate (which is applicable for both private and government employees). Check
BH Series Eligibility
There were some issues faced by buyers in Karnataka stating that RTO only issuing for central government or psu employees earlier, which Ministry of road transport and highways was to take up with state government - you may check status of same with your dealer
If you are able to get BH Series then will help in reducing financial obligation considerably as
> Road Tax rates are much lesser at 10% as against 17% (for cars in 10 to 20 Lakh price) - so will reduce in tax liability by close to a Lakh
> Also, road tax need to be paid on pro-rata basis on 2 year basis - hence car on road price will fall considerably means your loan dependence will reduce too leading lesser outflow of interest.
So, pls check on same
See, basis all parameters and preferences as specified
It seems that you seek a car which offers
> Smooth Transmission Response
> Decent Safety Element
> Impressive Ride, Handling Experience for local city usage
Nexon AMT: Is a myth to think that there will be lag. Car has got innumberable updates in last 4 yrs and
> Performance is much linear in day to day usage
> Turbo lag is well controlled
> City mode got lot of enhancements but if you seek to get the best may experience car in sports mode (although this may come at cost of fuel efficiency but sports mode has revv range right as low as 1250 rpm onwards - you wont experience any lag and fun in overtaking)
> One among best build, handling and character of this car
and top of it comes in your specified budget
As if you go ahead then option will come in form of
> MG Astor CVT - which although is smooth but is slight slow in initial pickup . Infact so much so - if you buy a hatchback like Honda Amaze CVT which cost what 4.5 lakh lesser than Astor - atleast in local city use under speed of 60 mph, you cant find much difference in pickup performance)
> Skoda Kushaq Ambition Automatic / VW Taigun Automatic - A level up product in handling, performance and turbo lag is well masked in Automatic Transmission. But pricing - this car would just cost 3 Lakh higher over Nexon AMT. If can be flexible in budget then it certainly is a better product over Nexon -
but with a disclaimer recent owner experience is not good with Skoda, VW Cars where issues related to brakes, Aircon are circulating across. So from reliability perspective seems much need to be done in recent lot of VW and Skoda - earlier they faced EPC issues.
> XUV300 AMT - signature strength is Diesel AMT, but Petrol AMT feels jerky and there Nexon AMT shines as product over XUV300 AMT
Point is
> From Financial Perspective
> From Build, Safety Perspective
and fact that Nexon as product got so many silent updates - is a very well decent packaged product
Overtaking is something which is definite not an issue. Couple of drives and you will be happy to understand and adjust with AMT behavior. If seek best then experience in sports mode to unleash the best out of same.
Recommendation goes in favor of Nexon AMT only.
Suggest to test drive again and have slight longer one.