Petrol hatchback under 5.5L: Polo, Brio, Ritz or?

Hello experts of the teamBHP, here is a novice seeking your kind advice. I am planning to buy my first car shortly. I am looking for a hatchback, petrol car. My expected usage is as follows: Monthly usage: ~700 Kilometers Usage pattern: 80% inside Bangalore city and mostly during peak hours, 20% highways. Driven by: My wife (40%) and I (60%), both of whom are inexperienced drivers Occupancy levels: 1 person (65-70% of the time), 2 people (25-30% of the time), more than 2 (5-10% of the time) Budget: Rs. 5.5 Lakhs. I'd initially decided 5; then stretched it to 5.5 to accommodate worthy options. Cannot stretch beyond this :-( Priorities: 1. Driveability (especially in city traffic): Since the car is going to be driven by two inexperienced drivers, this is the topmost priority; the easier to drive the car, the better 2. Reliability: Do not want to be spending too much time attending to frequent fixes the car requires. This is priority#2. 3. Ride comfort: Want to have a good comfortable drive, at least for the front seat passengers. Comfort in the rear seat wouldn't hurt either :-) 4. Value for Money: If the car has features worth paying for, I am fine with it; do not want to be an idiot paying for anything that isn't worth it, though! If the above are taken care of, I am willing to live with a little lower mileage and/or a little higher maintenance cost if I have to. That said, like everybody else, I do not want to be rearing a white elephant. I have ruled out Chevrolet and Ford based on poor A.S.S. stories that I get to hear. Fabia, i20 and Punto are out of my budget. I didn't like i10, Eon and Liva much. That leaves me with the lower variants of Polo and Brio and almost all Maruti hatchbacks except Swift. Thus, I have shortlisted 4 cars and obtained preliminary quotes from dealers as given below: 1. Volkswagen Polo 1.2 Trendline: On Road Price (ORP) - INR 5.63 Lakhs, various discounts (including corporate discount of 8K) - INR 40K; Net: INR 5.23 Lakhs. I will get financing@ 0-7% depending on the amount financed. Please assume 3.5% if you want to do any quick mental math. 2. Honda Brio SMT: ORP - INR 5.3 Lakhs, no discounts, no special financing options. 3. Maruti Ritz VXi - ORP - INR 5.35 Lakhs, discounts (including corporate discount of 3K) - 28K; Net: INR 5.07 Lakhs. No special finance deals. 4. Maruti Alto K10 VXi: ORP - INR 3.97 Lakhs, Net: 3.79 Lkahs, No special finance deals. I know the Alto option might have surprised some of you and that it doesn't quite compare with other options, but I had started to look around with Alto LX (800CC) in mind. If you experts feel that for my kind of usage, this is enough, I am open to this option. However, I keep wondering if it isn't a folly not to spend another 1.5 Lkahs to get a better car. Another question will be whether Ritz VXi/Brio SMT are the right choices, and whether I should be really looking at ZXi and S(O)MT respectively, particularly from a saefty point of view. These higher variants both will have ABS and dual airbags and a bunch of other goodies too. But that will increase the ORP for Brio option by 50K and that for Ritz option by 80K. Both these will then overshoot my budget and put the price at 5.85 Lakhs or thereabout. I can consider this if the expert opinion is that it is unambiguously unwise to opt for VXi/SMT in the interest of keeping the cost down (well, why will one opt for the lower variants anyway?). So, it would be really great if you could make a comment on this too, with a consideration for the fact that I am already on a stretched budget at 5.5 Lakhs. Like you might have guessed, I am planning to avail a car loan, probably in the range of 2.5 to 3 Lakhs to finance the purchase. The ORPs listed above are all initial non-negotiated quotes from dealers. I might be able to bring those down a few thousands, I guess. Now, dear experts, what do you think of my case? Which car do you suggest? I have more or less made up my mind that I am buying one of the above 4. So, I dont want to consider Eon. Santro, i10, i20, Liva, Beat, Fabia, Figo, Punto, Jazz, Swift, A-star, Wagon-R, etc., etc. I have decided against all of those for one reason or the other. Your help in making the final choice from what is left is really appreciated.

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