Maruti Ertiga: the CNG pays for itself in about 58,000 km

A price list you can actually read

Lxi at ₹8,90,000. VXi at ₹9,95,000. Zxi at ₹11,02,000. ZXi Plus at ₹11,69,000. Then the automatics: VXi AT at ₹11,30,000, ZXi AT at ₹12,37,000, ZXi Plus AT at ₹13,14,000. And two CNG cars: VXi CNG at ₹10,94,000 and ZXi CNG at ₹12,00,000.

Nine variants. One 1.5 petrol making 103 PS and 139 Nm in every one of them. No turbo, no hybrid, no diesel, no decision tree.

After working through ranges with twenty-seven variants and two overlapping naming schemes, the clarity here is worth something on its own. You can hold this entire lineup in your head.

The CNG arithmetic, worked out

VXi is ₹9,95,000 and VXi CNG is ₹10,94,000, so ₹99,000. Zxi is ₹11,02,000 and ZXi CNG is ₹12,00,000, so ₹98,000. Flat premium, which makes the sum easy.

Maruti claims 20.51 km/l on petrol and 26.11 km/kg on CNG. Take ₹95 a litre and ₹76 a kilogram and you're running at ₹4.63 a kilometre against ₹2.91. You save ₹1.72 for every kilometre.

₹99,000 divided by ₹1.72 is roughly 58,000 kilometres. An Ertiga doing school runs and a monthly trip to the in-laws covers that in three or four years. One carrying people for a living covers it in one.

Check both fuel prices in your own city before you trust the number. The petrol-to-CNG gap is the whole calculation, and it is not the same in Delhi as it is in Bhopal.

Where the CNG is not offered

There's no ZXi Plus CNG and no CNG automatic. If you want the top trim or you want two pedals, the gas option disappears.

That matters more than it sounds, because an MPV spends its life in traffic with a full load, which is exactly where an automatic earns its keep. Maruti has made you choose between the cheap fuel and the easy gearbox, and there's no version where you get both.

If the car will be driven mostly by one person doing distance, take the CNG. If it will be driven by several people in city traffic, the automatic is worth more than the fuel saving.

The boot, which is the honest limitation

With all three rows up, the Ertiga has 209 litres. That is a couple of soft bags, not a week's luggage for seven.

Every three-row car at this size has the same problem, and the Ertiga is not worse than its rivals. But a showroom will demonstrate the boot with the third row folded, which is a five-seater with a large boot, and that is not the car you're buying it to be.

Put the third row up and look at what's left before you sign. If the answer doesn't work, you need a bigger vehicle, not a different trim of this one.

Which rung is the right one

Lxi at ₹8,90,000 is a fleet car. It exists so the advertised price starts with an eight.

VXi at ₹9,95,000 is where the Ertiga becomes a car you'd choose rather than accept, and it's the cheapest trim CNG is offered on. The ₹1,07,000 step from VXi to Zxi buys convenience rather than anything fundamental.

ZXi Plus at ₹11,69,000 mainly adds cosmetics and a few comfort items over Zxi for ₹67,000. It's the step we'd skip.

What we'd tell you across the desk

VXi CNG at ₹10,94,000. It's the sweet spot: enough equipment, the fuel that makes this car make sense, and a premium that comes back inside 58,000 km.

If the car needs to be an automatic, ZXi AT at ₹12,37,000 and run it on petrol. Don't buy the ZXi Plus AT at ₹13,14,000 expecting it to feel like a different vehicle. It's the same seven seats and the same 103 PS, ₹77,000 further on.