Best of 2016: Top compact SUVs launched in India

It is the time of year end, so as the time to get best-of list. For Indian motor enthusiasts, 2016 has been a year of fun and exciting with new launches and the arrival of the updated version of the existing models.

The years 2016 has seen the arrival of the compact SUVs like the KUV100 and NuvoSport from Mahindra and the Vitara Brezza from Maruti Suzuki in India. Here we list the best compact SUVs of 2016 in India by different makers.

Mahindra KUV100

The first compact SUV in the year 2016 to make its entry into the burgeoning Indian market was the popular UV-maker Mahindra and Mahindra's KUV100. The KUV100 began its journey in the Indian market on January 15. Priced at Rs 4.58 lakh (ex showroom Pune), KUV100, a sub-compact SUV, targeted the unchartered territory between hatchback and SUV.

Built on a monocoque chassis, the powerplant of KUV100 is Mahindra's newly developed mFalcon engines and is offered in both petrol and diesel engine options. While the petrol 1.2-litre mFalcon G80 engine is tuned to churn out 82bhp and 114Nm, and the 1.2-litre mFalcon D75 diesel engine can develop 77bhp and a peak torque of 190Nm. Its transmission is shouldered by a five-speed manual gearbox in both the diesel and petrol versions. Built on a monocoque chassis, the diesel models of Mahindra KUV100 claim to offer a mileage of 25.32 kmpl and the petrol promises to deliver 18.15 kmpl.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza

The second was the much-talked about compact SUV from Maruti Suzuki-the Vitara Bezza. Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest carmaker launched one of the most awaited vehicles of the year, the Vitara Brezza compact SUV on March 8 for a starting price of Rs 7.19 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi.

The compact SUV, which is currently available only with a diesel engine comes powered by a 200 DDis 1248cc engine that is tuned to churn out 88.5bhp at 4,000rpm and 200Nm of torque at 1,750rpm, mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. The Vitara Brezza also boasts of fuel efficiency of 24.3 kmpl, which is the highest in the SUV segment.

The Vitara Brezza measures 3,995mm in length, 1,790mm in width, 1,640mm in height, and has a wheelbase of 2,500mm. It comes with 198mm ground clearance and 328-litres of boot capacity. Available in LDi, LDi (O), VDi, VDi (O), ZDi, ZDi+ and ZDi+ dual tone trims with six colour combinations, the Vitara Brezza has had successful journey in the country so far and currently said to have over 50,000 orders to be served.

Mahindra NuvoSport

Mahindra launched its second compact SUV of 2016— the NuvoSport — in India on April 4. The new NuvoSport, a copiously tweaked version of the Quanto is also the second compact SUV offering of Mahindra to come equipped with automated manual transmission (AMT) after the TUV 300.

The NuvoSport, based on an all-new platform of the company showed the doors to the the Quanto, the first compact SUV offering of Mahindra. Offered in three main variants and three sub-variants — N4, N6 and N8 and N4+, N6 AMT, N8 AMT — the NuvoSport comes with a 1.5-litre, three-cylinder diesel mHawk100 engine, which is tuned to belt out 100bhp of power and 240Nm of peak torque. The transmission is taken care of by a five-speed manual gearbox and the mid and top variants offered with AMT. The engine gets two drive modes — Power and Economy — and claims to offer a mileage of 17.45 kmpl. The NuvoSport has been priced starting at Rs.7.49 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Mahindra Bolero Power+

The year 2016 also saw the arrival of a third compact SUV from the home-grown UV maker Mahindra. Dubbed as Bolero Power+, a sub-four metre version of the Bolero SUV was launched at Rs 6.86 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi. The new version of the Bolero is available in three variants — SLE, SLX (Rs 7.51 lakh) and ZLX (Rs 7.85 lakh).

The Bolero Power+ measures 3,995mm in length, 1,745mm in width and 1,880mm in height. While the new version is shorter by 112mm than the regular Bolero, the width and the height remained the same. The wheelbase of the Bolero also remained the same in the Power+ version. The Bolero power+ is still a seven-seater with jump seats at the third row and is cheaper than the regular Bolero by Rs. 1 lakh.

It is powered by an all-new 1,493cc, 1.5-litre engine christened as mHawkD70. The three-cylinder unit delivers 70bhp at 3,600rpm and 195Nm of torque at 1,400-2,200rpm mated to a five-speed manual. The regular Bolero is powered by a 2.5-litre engine that delivers 62bhp and 195Nm of torque.