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Finding a good small automatic car in India under tight budget doesn’t sound that difficult at first, but when you try to inquire about availability of automatic versions in most of the cars in the 4-6 lakhs segment, you’ll soon begin to get frustrated. (big time!)

Chevy Spark was our first car, and my wife loved it so much that she wants to buy it once again, even after having a Mitsubishi Cedia in our garage! And, guess what, I’m planning to buy an automatic car for her so that she may commute to office – but the only problem is I’m unable to find a good option!

With the steep rise in petrol rates, I thought a diesel model would make a better bet, but then I just figured out that a diesel car with automatic transmission in tight budget (around 5 lakhs) was almost like an impossible match!

I’d have gladly bought a Chevy Spark, or Hyundai Eon for her, only if there was an automatic version in the market. There’s barely a Maruti A-star (which me & my wife hate to the core, in terms of appearance), then a Hyundai i10, and Hyundai i20 (which is again way too @ Rs 817,614 in Bangalore), so when I realized that I might have to stretch my budget a little, I started analyzing other options outside the segment.

And, that’s when two possibilities hit my mind –

a. buying a used car
b. buying an SUV

Well now most of you who had read my Cedia review and comparison with other sedans, know for the fact that I love the old Honda Accord (2007) to the core, and I’d do anything to get one even today; so a used 2007 Accord AT 3.6 flashed to be a dream option, but then I soon realized there’s no diesel variant, and my wife would drive around 60-65 kms on an average every single day. And, a used Accord would never give > 8kmpl, which would potentially mean petrol bills of about 8 x Rs74 = Rs600 approx, which translated to about Rs15k/month including weekend drives.

I thought an SUV like Mahindra Scoprio or Tata Safari Dicor would make a much better bet for two reasons –

i. We don’t have an SUV
ii. A diesel SUV would bring down fuel costs, and we won’t have to buy a used car either…

I’m also considering a Mahindra Xuv 500, but unfortunately the waiting period is quite high, and I’m not sure if I’d like to wait for several months.

So, as of now it looks like I’d be ordering either a Tata Safari Dicor or a Scorpio diesel automatic variant; any recommendations folks?