Top 5 most affordable cars in India with ADAS

I recently did a solo non-stop drive, save for a couple of McDonald’s drive-thru and bio breaks, from Vadodara to Pune in our long-term Hyundai Tucson, and what helped me immensely to complete this 9 hour drive were its ADAS functions. On the highway, all I had to do was set the cruise control and switch on the lane keep assist function and the car maintained my desired speed and kept me in my desired lane throughout the journey. And this made my journey far less exhausting and allowed me to drive for more hours.

ADAS is like a helping hand, Short for Advanced Driver Assistance System, it’s a bunch of features which, in simple words — drive the car for you! Depending on the Level of the ADAS system which your car deploys, it can feature adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, lane change assist, a blind spot monitoring system and even automatic stop and go functions. A feature reserved for luxury cars only up until a few years ago, it’s refreshing to see more affordable cars deploying ADAS now. Here’s a list of the most affordable cars in India with ADAS functions.

1.) Hyundai Venue [only SX(O)]: Rs 12.44 to 13.48 lakh

The Hyundai Venue facelift has been updated recently with Level 1 ADAS tech. You can have this feature, which Hyundai calls ‘SmartSense’, either with the Venue’s 1-litre turbo-petrol or the 1.5-litre diesel engine only on the top-end SX(O) trim. The 1.2-litre nat-asp petrol mill doesn’t get ADAS. The ADAS suite includes forward collision warning, forward collision avoidance assist, lane keeping assist, lane departure warning, driver attention warning, lane following assist, high beam assist and leading vehicle departure alert.

2.) Honda City (only V, VX and ZX): Rs 12.50 lakh to 16.10 lakh

The Honda City was the first car in its segment to feature ADAS and in its recent update, which we drove a few months ago, Honda has given even the lower variants of the City ADAS functionality. Apart from the entry-level variant SV, the other four trims —V,, V Elegant, VX and ZX — all are equipped with the ADAS suite. The City gets Level 2 ADAS with adaptive cruise control (with stop and go), forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, lane centre assist, blind spot monitoring, blind spot collision avoidance assist and auto high beam assist.

3.) Honda Elevate (only ZX): Rs 14.85 to 21.24 lakh

The country’s newest mid-size SUV — the Honda Elevate — also gets ADAS like its sedan sibling. Dubbed the ‘Honda Sensing’, only the ZX variant of the Elevate comes equipped with this feature. This variant can be had in both manual and automatic (CVT) guise. Just like the city, the Elevate features Level 2 ADAS tech with: adaptive cruise control (with stop and go), forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, lane centre assist, blind spot monitoring, blind spot collision avoidance assist and auto high beam assist.

4.) Hyundai Verna [only SX(O)]: Rs 16.19 lakh to 17.38 lakh

Like the Venue, the Verna’s top-end trim [SX(O)] comes equipped with the ADAS suite, on both of its engine options. But on the 1.5-litre nat-asp unit, you only get ADAS if you opt for the automatic gearbox. On the turbo-petrol variant though, this feature is available on both the manual or the automatic gearbox. Unlike the Venue, which gets Level 1 ADAS, the Verna gets a more advanced Level 2 ADAS tech, including adaptive cruise control (with stop and go), forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, lane centre assist, blind spot monitoring, blind spot collision avoidance assist, auto high beam assist, rear collision warning, rear cross traffic alert, driver attention warning and safe exit warning.

5.) MG Astor (only Sharp and Savvy): Rs 16.24 lakh to 18.69 lakh

The MG Astor can be credited to have democratised ADAS functions in India. At its launch a couple of years ago, it was the most affordable car in India to boast this feature. The Astor deploys Level 2 ADAS, with features including: adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, front collision warning, blind spot monitoring, auto high beam assist and rear cross traffic alert systems. This SUV offers ADAS on two of its variants — the Sharp and Savvy, but only with the automatic gearbox. Both the Sharp and Savvy variants get the option of either a 1.5-litre nat-asp or a 1.3-litre turbo-petrol engine.

*ADAS should be used wisely and must always be looked upon as a safety system. You should never be fully dependent on it and should always focus on driving when it’s in use*