LOW BLOWS

SUVs are now available on a very strict budget. Here’s two of the best budget ones, going head-to-head

- Rivan RS

The ‘big car feel for little money’ game is still ongoing. The advent of the compact-SUV segment saw more and more carmakers throw their respective hats in this particular ring. In fact, no other segment has as many cars contending in one space — there are almost 10 models to choose from and at nearly every price range from ₹ 5.5 lakh to well above ₹ 12 lakh. Tata Motors has brought the Punch to contend in the lower reaches of the compact-SUV segment, where Nissan’s got its own budget-end contender, the Magnite with the naturally aspirated 1.0-litre petrol engine. Having raved about the Tata Punch in isolation, I wanted to see where it stands against an established rival like the Nissan Magnite.

It isn’t just a question of which of the two offers more value for money, or even which is more successful on the sales charts. It’s clear that, on paper, the Magnite — with its ₹ 7.84 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi price tag — is the value pick thanks to the number of features available on this top-spec XV Premium DT version. Meanwhile, it is the Punch that outsells the Magnite by a decent margin. Nissan announced the sale of its 30,000th Magnite at the end of November 2021, which means it took 11 months to achieve this milestone. The Punch arrived on October 18, 2021, and is said to have already gone to nearly 15,000 homes by the end of November, in less than a month and a half. What we’re trying to ascertain here is which one can offer a better SUV experience, since that is what both manufacturers claim these models are.