The two subcompact sedans come as your perfect family cars, but each offers something over the other

The Indian market has two prominent subcompact sedans in terms of sales, the Maruti Dzire and Hyundai Aura. Both offer good space for your family, features for your daily use, and tried and tested engines. But which one is actually better for you? To answer this question, we took both cars out, performed our tests, and here is what we found:

Key

With the Dzire, like most Maruti cars, you get a compact lightweight key. This small key gives you the functionality to lock and unlock the car, and there is a separate button for unlocking the boot as well. You get the same functionalities with the Aura’s key, but this one is bigger, weightier and feels more premium in your hand than the small plastic key of the Dzire.

On both cars, there are keyless entry buttons on the door handles (both front doors on Dzire and just the driver door on the Aura) so you don’t need to take the key out of your pocket to open the doors. Also, the Dzire gets auto-folding ORVMs which close when you lock the car. This functionality is not seen on the Aura.

Looks

When it comes to design, both sedans have taken different approaches. Dzire has a timeless design which has been carried for years. To add a little modern appeal, you get LED headlights and DRLs up front, and the chrome elements around the grille give it a premium feel. Its side and rear profile carry a simple overall look with 15-inch alloy wheels and a plain, sober design.

The Aura, on the other hand, has a more modern design language. Its new front profile gets L-shaped LED DRLs, a bigger grille than the Dzire and an overall polarising face. Its profile gets a slightly sloping roofline, 15-inch alloy wheels, and on the back you get a rear spoiler, which adds a sporty element to the sedan. Both sedans are appealing in their own right, but the Dzire is the one with the classier and more tasteful look.

Whose Boot Is Better?

The answer to this question is clearly the Aura. The Hyundai sedan has a longer and deeper boot, which allows it to keep even larger bags easily. Here, you can easily fit five bags. The Dzire, on the other hand, also allows you to keep five bags in the boot, but it requires a little more effort as the boot floor isn’t as long as the Aura’s.

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Also important to note is that the Dzire has a dedicated button on the boot to open it, and when you open the boot, the boot lid automatically lifts up, making it easier for you to put your luggage in. This button and the completely opening boot lid are not found on the Aura, so apart from stuffing your bags in, you also have to take the key out to open the boot and then lift it manually.

Getting Inside

Here, both sedans get something over the other. With the Dzire, you get a dual-tone black and beige cabin with some wooden inserts for a premium feel. The seat cushioning is comfortable and the seats are pretty spacious as well. An average-sized adult would have nothing to complain about in terms of space and comfort. And with its simple dashboard layout, the cabin feels larger and more airy in the Dzire.

The Aura is also similarly spacious, though the seat cushioning is a little on the stiffer side. But it takes the lead over the Dzire in terms of design and quality. It gets a more modern-looking cabin design with a dual-tone theme and chrome elements on the dashboard that might appeal to the younger buyer and the quality of the plastics used here are slightly better than those on the Dzire.

The overall fit and finish of both sedans is nothing to complain about. The Dzire offers you a simple-looking cabin and takes care of your comfort, and the Aura tries to do the same but with a much more modern cabin design.

Which Is More Practical?

Both sedans offer the same level of cabin practicality. You get 1-litre bottle holders on all four doors with space on the side to keep smaller stuff (front doors). You get a good amount of space in the glove compartment and cupholders in the centre.

But with the Aura, you get one smaller centre cup holder, compared to the Dzire which gets both regular-sized ones and the Dzire also gets a tray in front of the cupholders where you can keep your phone or wallet. In the Aura, this space is occupied by the wireless phone charger.

Moving on to the rear, both cars offer cupholders in the centre armrest and seat back pockets behind the front passenger seat. But the Dzire also offers a small compartment in front of the rear AC vents where you can keep a small bottle.

A Good Feature List

With both the Dzire and Aura, you get more or less the same features. They both offer automatic climate control with rear AC vents, electrically adjustable and foldable ORVMs, cruise control, height-adjustable driver seat, and wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

But the Aura takes it up a notch by offering a bigger 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system compared to the Dzire’s 7-inch unit, a wireless phone charger, and a cooled glovebox for added convenience. These features should have been added to the Dzire given its price and its competition.

Also Read: Maruti Baleno & Toyota Glanza Driven Back To Back: 5 Things We Learned

At the back, both sedans offer a rear seat armrest with cupholders and a 12V charging socket.

Rear Seat Experience

The rear seat space and comfort of both these sedans is almost the same as the front seats. The seat cushioning is on the softer side for the Dzire and on the stiffer side for the Aura. For space, both offer a good amount of legroom and knee room, and the underthigh support is adequate for both.

But due to the sloping roof design of the Aura, the headroom is slightly reduced, and the shoulder room is also better in the Dzire. For three passengers, both sedans can accommodate average-sized adults with ease, but the Dzire will feel a tad more spacious.

The Big Question: Safety

Now, a big question for a buyer nowadays is how safe the car is. In terms of features, both come with ABS and EBD, electronic stability control (ESC), rear parking sensors, rearview camera, hill hold assist, and a rear defogger.

But here as well, the Aura keeps itself ahead of the Dzire by giving some more features. Firstly, it gets a total of six airbags with four as standard, compared to the Dzire which only gets two, even in the top-spec variants. Also, the Aura gets a tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS), three-point seatbelts for all passengers and seat belt reminders for all passengers, features which are nowhere to be seen on the Dzire.

Also Read: 5 Premium Sedans You Can Buy For Under Rs 20 Lakh

But having safety features is not all, the crash test ratings also play a big role. As of now, neither of these sedans has been crash tested, but the Maruti Swift and Hyundai Grand i10 Nios have been, and these two sedans are based on the two hatchbacks. The Maruti hatchback scored one star in the Global NCAP crash tests and the Grand i10 Nios, tested in its previous iteration, scored two stars. The same scores can be considered for the two sedans till the time they have their own crash test scores.

However, the real safety of these cars can only be found out when both of them are crash tested.

Performance

When it comes to performance, there is a clear difference. While both sedans get a 1.2-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine and the option of a CNG powertrain, the better-performing car can easily be found when you take them both out for a drive, and here, it is the Dzire.

Both have equally refined engines, but the one in the Maruti sedan is better and more responsive to your inputs. When driving in the city, overtakes take no effort and the same is on the highways. While the Aura performs the same in the city, it does take its sweet time to take overtakes on the highways.

When driving the Aura, you’ll feel that its driving experience is better in the city and is overall neutral. But the Dzire has a very fun-to-drive experience that can be felt in both the city and the highway making it a better all-rounder.

Ride Quality & Handling

Judging the better ride quality between the two can be difficult. Let’s start with the Aura. It gets a soft set of suspension, so it tends to keep you comfortable over speed bumps and potholes and gives you a better ride quality and a smooth driving experience when driving inside the city.

The Dzire, on the other hand, has a balanced suspension setup, which also absorbs those potholes and bumps in the city nicely, but when compared both back to back, the Aura gives a better city driving experience.

However, this is not the case on highways. On high speeds, the balanced suspensions of the Dzire keep it more stable than the Aura at high speeds. When driving the Aura, you do feel some movement inside the cabin, which the Dzire can easily handle. So, to sum up, in the city, the Aura is the better choice, but the Dzire is the overall better performer.

Warranty & Servicing Details

Now, after knowing all the details of these two cars, if you are planning to buy one of them, you should know about their warranty and servicing details.

Warranty: The Maruti Dzire comes with a standard warranty of two years/40,000km (whichever comes first) but you can extend it up to five years/1 lakh km (whichever comes first). The Hyundai Aura gets a standard warranty of three years/1 lakh km (whichever comes first), but it can be extended up to seven years/1 lakh km (whichever comes first) or five years/1.4 lakh km (whichever comes first).

Free Service: The first free service for the Maruti Dzire has to be done at 1,000km/one month and the next two services will be at an interval of 5,000 km/six months. For the Aura, meanwhile, the first service is at 1,500km/two months, and the next two at intervals of 10,000km/one year.

Verdict

Choosing one of these sedans can be very difficult. Both offer premium looks, enough space for your family, a good set of features, and a comfortable driving experience. So choosing one of these will be based on your preferences.

If you want a fun-to-drive car with a spacious cabin and a better rear seat experience, you should consider the Maruti Dzire. However, you will have to compromise on safety and some other features. But if your preferences are aligned more towards a modern cabin feel, better features, better quality materials and better comfort, then the Hyundai Aura can definitely be your next family sedan.

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