Seven Hatchback wonders

The hatchback market in Indian Automobile sector has an irreplaceable place. No matter what mid-range Sedans like Honda City, Toyota Corolla, etc. offer against Luxurious giants like BMW, Audi, Merc; the hatchbacks have their prominent share of the market. India's always been a country that has preferred hatchbacks to sedans and Maruti is the one linked with this segment since its birth here. With a host of different offerings through the years, to keep their sales charts soaring, Maruti has been undeniably the buyers first choice. Some of the cars like Alto, Zen and Swift have legendary sales figures hitherto. The Ritz is the latest big hit from them and apart from the car's debatable appearance, it had almost every other front sealed - whether it was value for money, space, performance or even reliability. Not only it boasts an odd European hatch but it also houses a distinctive dashboard with split-speedometer. While many will think the car is attractive due to its quirkiness, many others might find exactly that a bit irritating. The Ritz' assault has been attempted to be dented by quite a few other contenders - most prominently the Hyundai i20, Fiat Punto and Honda Jazz. At Rs 4.9 lakh for the top of the line ZXi variant(Petrol), the Ritz instantly sounds like a good deal. But if you want to own a ZDi variant(diesel), you need to shell out Rs. 70,000 more.

The Honda promised a lot when they first unveiled the Jazz in India and quite frankly, they have delivered too like always. The Jazz which is equipped with cavernous interiors, the fabulous instrumentation, music system and air-con control layout does come at an exorbitant price but if you want a sensible, practical car then this Honda emerges right on top. It also offers a huge boot that in some cases out-does most sedans and provides enough space to pack all your luggage in and head out for a long weekend trip. It has the most powerful machine of the lot with 90 PS of power. Even though its inflated price tag of Rs 7.6 lakh takes it close to sedan, it pretty much does offer the sedan-like features and that's what the many buyers of the car have realized.

Fiat, one of the oldest contenders, has renewed re-entry into the Indian market with its stylish Grande Punto - gorgeously beautiful, spacious and with a very refined 1.2L engine under the sensuous hood. The car offers huge space on the inside and is fitted with a good amount of gadgets as well. It provides some of the unmatchable features like climate controlled AC, which is not a part of the package in all the other hatch-backs. Great ergonomics, steering mounted controls and awesome ride quality further add to the Punto's capabilities on Indian roads giving it an edge over the rest. The Punto is available in the range of Rs 4.2 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh ex-showroom making it a great deal.

The Uber cool Hyundai i20 and Skoda Fabia comes with more or less same price but both are equipped with distinct gadgets and awesome cabin space - all the while offering a more upmarket feel as well. The i20 is more curvy as compared to Fabia which has a tad boring shape but carries the reliability of pristine German engineering. The Skoda Fabia may not be the best performing car on the list but it definitely deserves mention for its outstanding handling capabilities. There aren't many cars out there which match up to Fabia’s level of perfect weight distribution and a taut suspension setup made for sharp turnings and incomparable stability in its class. Hyundai's i20 has a very refined engine, but being heavier than the Ritz takes away from its power-to-weight ratio and drops it down the list in the performance category. The i20s dilemma is also the Fiat Punto's dilemma – low power output inspite of having 1.2 litre engine. The top end version of the i20 is the Asta which is housed with innumerable gadgets and the sunroof, and is tagged at just over Rs 6 lakh while Skoda demands Rs.7 lakh for Fabia’s top end model making it too grave on our pockets.

It all seems very well set up that way - each buyer has a car that will cater to their needs. But there's a problem brewing for each car mentioned here and it's called the Chevrolet Beat and Blue Eyed Tall Boy – the Wagon R. These mean looking compact motors are out to grab a huge chunk of that massive small car market and they’ve got all the right weapons too. The Beat was first made popular to the world in the sequel to the Transformers movie and even though back then it was just a concept, it has remained true to its original form. The Chevrolet Beat comes very close to piping the Ritz of the performance crown. It may be a bit low on power as compared to the Ritz but it is also a whole lot lighter too - embodying it with a power-to-weight ratio that makes this funky hatch quite zippy as well. That also gives it quite an advantage on the fuel efficiency front which should make the Beat quite a hit among its young buyers. Adequately spacious, youthful in every sense of the word - like the bike-like speedometer console, door trims and innovative rear door handles makes the Chevy Beat extremely appealing, not to mention the enticing schemes on service and maintenance offered by General Motors. GM has kept the fully loaded Beat LT at a killer pricing of around Rs 4.5 lakh ex-showroom which is still around Rs 30,000 cheaper than a comparable variant of any of its other competitors in terms of gadgets and gizmos in this discharge.

In a segment bristling with new equipment every next month, Maruti Suzuki punches through with the all-new avatar of its best-selling WagonR. Powered with 998 cc K-series engine, apart from conforming to BS-IV legislation, it offers a fine blend of torquey performance and prudent motoring. The engine is meshed with a new 5-speed manual transmission featuring a cable-actuated shift mechanism, making for great feel and, of course, positive shifts. The interiors have been upgraded radically as compared to the older version. Starting with an introductory price of Rs 3.28 lakh to Rs 3.81 lakh ex-showroom the new WagonR is right in the middle of the likes of the Chevrolet Beat, Hyundai i10 and Fiat Punto. There is no doubt that in today’s small car scenario, especially in the dog-eat-dog A2 segment, the new models from the two Yankee car makers — GM and Hyundai — have truly set the mark. The experts were skeptical if Maruti could actually venture into the same price band, but it has. Looks like India’s biggest carmaker is quite bullish about its tall-boy cube of a car!

There's not going to be only one car that will rule the roads but each will try to outwit every other contender in this hatchback melee. This is going to be one interesting battle.