India's 5 Most Fuel Efficient Petrol Mid-Size SUVs: Maruti Victoris to Renault Duster
Fuel efficiency is one of the major concerns for many car buyers in India. Indian customers usually look for cars that are efficient, strong, and value for money. With stricter emission norms, diesel options in the market have slowly started vanishing, and with rising petrol prices, people have started demanding efficient petrol engines regardless of the segment. Here is a list of five fuel-efficient SUVs that you can consider in the mid-size SUV segment.
The first SUV on this list is from India’s largest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki. It is available with both strong hybrid and mild hybrid engines. It uses a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated engine that comes with a manual and a 6-speed automatic transmission in the mild hybrid version, and an e-CVT gearbox in the strong hybrid variants.
The ARAI-certified fuel efficiency for the Grand Vitara and Victoris is 27.97 kmpl and 28.65 kmpl respectively for the strong hybrid variants. The mild hybrid versions offer 21.11 kmpl and 21.18 kmpl respectively.
As we already know, the Maruti Grand Vitara and Toyota Hyryder are based on the same platform and share the same engine and transmission options. The mild hybrid version of the Hyryder uses a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine that generates 101 bhp and 136 Nm of torque. This engine offers 21.11 kmpl with the manual transmission and 20.58 kmpl with the automatic.
The strong hybrid version of the Hyryder offers a claimed fuel efficiency of 27.97 kmpl.
The Skoda Kushaq recently received an update, and the facelift was officially launched last week. It is available with two turbo petrol engine options: a 1.0-litre TSI and a 1.5-litre TSI. Here, we are focusing on the 1.0 TSI engine, which generates 115 PS and 178 Nm of torque.
The 6-speed manual version of the Kushaq offers a claimed fuel efficiency of 19.76 kmpl.
Just like Maruti and Toyota, Volkswagen and Skoda also offer mechanically similar cars in their lineup. The Volkswagen Taigun is one such model and shares its engine and gearbox options with the Kushaq.
The 1.0-litre TSI engine in the Taigun offers a claimed fuel efficiency of 19.89 kmpl with the manual transmission.
The latest entrant in this segment, the Renault Duster, was recently launched in the market. It is available with a 1.0-litre, 3-cylinder turbo petrol engine and a 1.3-litre turbo petrol engine. While the smaller engine offers around 20 kmpl in the Kiger, we are not sure how much it would deliver in the Duster.
However, Renault has released the official efficiency figures for the 1.3-litre turbo engine, and they look promising.
The 1.3-litre, 4-cylinder turbo petrol engine in the Duster generates 163 PS and 280 Nm of peak torque. This is currently the most powerful engine in this segment and is offered with both manual and 6-speed DCT gearbox options. The DCT variant offers a claimed fuel efficiency of 18.45 kmpl, while the 6-speed manual offers 17.75 kmpl.