Buy the Tata Tigor iCNG or wait for the Altroz iCNG?

I'm planning to buy my first CNG vehicle with a budget of Rs 8 lakh-8.5 lakh (on-road), and I've shortlisted the Tata Tigor iCNG and Tata Altroz iCNG. Is there a huge deficit in performance compared to a petrol car? What is the actual running cost I can expect?

Pankaj Singh, Raigarh, Maharashtra

Autocar India says: Prices for the Altroz iCNG haven't been announced at the moment, however, the entry-level variants are likely to fall within your budget. Compared to the Tigor, the Altroz is more spacious and feels more modern and premium too. In addition, Tata has cleverly packaged the CNG tanks beneath the boot floor, so luggage space isn't compromised like in the Tigor iCNG; however, this arrangement in the Altroz iCNG comes at the cost of a spare tyre, but to compensate, Tata will provide a tyre repair kit in case of an emergency.

We haven't driven the Altroz iCNG yet, so we can't give you a definitive opinion on its performance, but going by our experience after extensively testing the Tigor iCNG, expect performance to feel nearly identical to the petrol version. Running costs are likely to be similar to the Tigor iCNG too. In our test, the CNG Tigor returned an efficiency of 16.85km/kg in the city and 25.86km/kg on the highway, which, at the rate of Rs 79/kg of CNG in Mumbai, equates to a running cost of Rs 4.7/km in the city and 3.05/km on the highway – significantly lower than the petrol's average running price of Rs 8.3/km.

Also See:

2022 Tata Tigor iCNG review, road test

2022 Tata Tigor iCNG video review

Tata Tigor CNG real world fuel economy tested, explained

Tata Altroz iCNG bookings open; variants revealed

Tata Altroz CNG to get sunroof in 3 variants