The price of fuel is at an all-time high and it has been on an upswing since a while now with no respite for motorists. At a time like this the forever prevalent question, ‘Kitna deti hai?’ becomes the primary ingredient during a car purchase for the common man. Hatchbacks without doubt are the most popular cars in India, so we decided to round up the top 5 most fuel efficient hatchbacks based on ARAI figures.
1. Tata Nano – 25.4 kmpl
The Tata Nano might be far from being a volume champion, but there is no doubting the fact that it has all the right ingredients to be the ideal fuel efficient city commuter. Powered by a 624cc, 2-cylinder petrol engine and a 5-speed manual gearbox (AMT option available as well), the Nano returns a very impressive 25.4 kmpl. So if fuel efficiency is on the foremost of your buying list, the Tata Nano is still the one to beat.
2. Renault Kwid 800 – 25.2 kmpl
While most would be expecting to see the ubiquitous Alto here, it’s the Renault Kwid that manages to pip it. Powered by a 3-cylinder, 799cc engine (also available in a 1.0 litre AMT), the little Renault manages 25.2 kmpl which is pretty close to the Nano. In its 1-litre manual engine guise, the Kwid manages 23 kmpl. With its SUV-ish looks, decent equipment and excellent mileage, the Kwid makes for an excellent choice as a compact hatchback.
3. Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 & K10 – 24.7 & 24.1 kmpl
The Alto isn’t India’s best-selling car for years without a reason. Along with low maintenance costs the Alto 800 is also pretty fuel efficient at 24.7 kmpl. The K10 variant which gets a 998cc engine not only offers better performance but at 24.1 kmpl is almost as efficient at the Alto 800. The competition however has caught up and relegated the Alto twins to third place.
4. Tata Tiago – 23.8 kmpl
The second Tata in this list and quite a surprising one. The Tiago is by far the hottest selling Tata product for a lot of reasons. But it is present in this list because its 3-cylinder, 1.2 litre Revotron engine manages to dish out an impressive 23.8 kmpl. It’s an even more impressive feat because not only does it get a bigger displacement engine as compared to the others but also has significantly more power.
5. Datsun Redigo 800 & 1-Litre – 22.7 & 22.5 kmpl
Rounding up the list are the Datsun twins. Now the Redigo gets the same 0.8L and 1L engine from the Kwid but slight changes in the state of tune, kerb weight and aerodynamics meant the Kwid fared slightly better. The Redigo 800 still manages 22.7 kmpl while the larger 1-litre engine returns a very similar 22.5 kmpl. In fact the Redigo just managed to edge out the new Maruti Swift which returns a claimed 22 kmpl.
So there you have it, these are top 5 hatchbacks to consider if fuel efficiency is your priority. Coming up next, watch out for the most efficient automatic petrol hatchbacks.
