A basic confusion while buying a car is the fuel options available in the market. Petrol, Diesel, CNG or Electric The choice of models, colors and variants to choose from may not leave you in a quandary, but the choice of fuel may boggle your mind. This decision will not only affect the retail price but also your daily operating costs in terms of refueling/refueling the vehicle. Actually, it is a complicated decision. With the prospect of electric cars, the popular rides available in the Indian market are still petrol, diesel and CNG.
Big difference in price of same variant
The prices of the same variant of the car can vary widely depending on the fuel it runs on. The petrol variant of a car is the cheapest and the diesel model costs the most The CNG variant, on the other hand, falls between petrol and diesel and is priced closer to the petrol variant than the diesel. Take, for example, the Maruti Suzuki WagonR, which is one of the best-selling hatchbacks in India. The base petrol variant WagonR LXI is priced at Rs 4.34 lakh, while the corresponding CNG variant is priced at Rs 4.99 lakh, thus a price difference of Rs 65,000.
Petrol or diesel engine?
However, when it comes to the price difference between the petrol and diesel variants, the contrast is more stark. Maruti Suzuki Swift’s petrol VXI and diesel VDI variants are priced at Rs 6.14 lakh and Rs 7.03 lakh respectively, a difference of Rs 90,000. The price disparity widens further when we consider higher-end vehicles. For example, the price difference between the petrol and diesel variants of the Toyota Innova Crysta is around Rs 1.5 lakh, which is huge.
Limited availability of CNG
Petrol cars cost the lowest and other things being constant, if you are tight on money or planning to finance the car, you should go for the petrol variant. The CNG option is not bad either and as we have seen above, the difference is not huge and will not put too much strain on your finances. However, buying a diesel will definitely put a strain on your pocket and if you are planning to take loan facility, the diesel model should be the last fuel-option on your priority list. That said, these are only based on the retail price of the vehicle, and in the next section, we explain how these dynamics can change when we introduce the concepts of daily travel distance and fuel-efficiency into the picture.
Choose the car according to your daily riding
Now try to focus on your daily riding needs. A general rule says that if you travel less than 70 km per day and monthly travel is less than 2500 km, you should go for a petrol car. However, if your daily travel requirement is more than 70 km but less than 100 km, then CNG will be the right choice for you. A person traveling more than 100 km per day and a person traveling more than 3000 km per month should consider buying a diesel car as the difference of 5 rupees/liter in the price of petrol and diesel definitely helps diesel car owners to save a lot on fuel consumption.
Short supply of CNG
The CNG variant is also a good option, however, short supply of CNG and its availability only at select fuel stations is a major concern for buyers. In metropolitan cities, availability of CNG may not be a major issue, but when it comes to demand for CNG vehicles in small towns and cities, it is definitely a bottleneck. Also, the CNG cylinder eats up most of the boot space which may deter many buyers from buying the car.
The demand for electric cars is gradually increasing.
The demand for electric cars is gradually increasing in India and many more cars will be launched here in the near future. Today, there is an affordable electric car priced up to Rs 8.69 lakh, while a luxury electric car is also available for Rs 2.5 crore. About 30 electric cars are available for sale in the country and many more such cars will be launched here by the end of 2025. While some of these will be all-new electric cars, some will be based on their ICE versions such as the Tata Nexon, Tigor and Tiago.
