Tata Altroz: the CNG costs ₹1.05 lakh and 135 litres of boot

What the twin-cylinder CNG actually buys you

Most CNG conversions put one tall 60-litre cylinder upright in the boot. You get a cave with a tank in it, and whatever you're carrying has to go around the tank.

Tata splits that into two 30-litre cylinders laid side by side under the boot floor. The floor stays flat and you can still use the space above it, which is a genuinely better answer than the usual one.

It's still not free. The petrol Altroz has a 345-litre boot. The CNG has 210. You keep a usable shape and you lose 135 litres of volume. Before you order one, put your actual luggage in the boot of a petrol car and then take a third of it out.

The CNG premium, rung by rung

Pure petrol is ₹7,15,000 and Pure CNG is ₹8,20,000. Creative is ₹8,10,000 and Creative CNG is ₹9,15,000. Both steps are ₹1,05,000, so the premium is flat through the middle of the range.

The exception sits at the bottom. Smart is ₹6,00,000 and Smart CNG is ₹7,30,000, which is ₹1,30,000. You pay ₹25,000 more for the same conversion on the cheapest car. Start at Pure if CNG is the plan.

A ₹1.05 lakh premium against gas at roughly half the per-kilometre cost of petrol comes back inside a normal ownership period for anyone with real running. Use your own city's CNG price to work out where your break-even lands, because that number varies more between cities than people expect.

CNG with an automatic, which is rare

Pure AMT CNG is ₹8,75,000 and Creative S AMT CNG is ₹10,00,000. Being able to have gas and two pedals in the same car is unusual in this class, and if you're doing stop-start city running on CNG it's the combination that makes the most sense of both.

The AMT itself is an automated manual, not a torque converter. It shifts with a pause that you either stop noticing after a fortnight or never stop noticing. Drive one before you commit rather than taking anyone's word for it, including ours.

The diesel, and who it is still for

Three diesels remain: Pure at ₹8,30,000, Creative S at ₹9,60,000 and Accomplished S at ₹10,45,000, all manual.

Against a Creative S petrol at ₹8,45,000, the Creative S diesel asks ₹1,15,000 more. With petrol and diesel pump prices much closer than they were, that is a long payback on fuel alone.

Buy the diesel if you regularly cover long highway distances and want the way a diesel pulls at low revs. Don't buy it on the assumption that diesel is still the cheap fuel.

What the S suffix is doing

Pure to Pure S is ₹30,000. Creative to Creative S is ₹35,000. Across the range the S adds a sunroof, and it is priced consistently enough that you can treat it as a single yes or no.

The DCA dual-clutch automatic is the expensive option: Creative S at ₹8,45,000 against Creative S DCA at ₹9,65,000, so ₹1,20,000. It's a proper automatic rather than an AMT, and it's the one to have if your budget reaches it and you drive in traffic.

At the top, Accomplished Plus S DCA is ₹10,75,000. At that money you're into territory where a Baleno, an i20 or a Fronx will also be quoted at you. Price one before you sign.

The variant we'd sign for

Creative S at ₹8,45,000, on petrol, with the manual. It's the rung where the Altroz stops feeling sparse, it keeps the full 345-litre boot, and it leaves the DCA and CNG premiums on the table.

If your running is high and city-bound, Pure CNG at ₹8,20,000 is the honest value pick, and the twin-cylinder layout means you'll resent the boot less than you would in a rival. Just go and look at that boot first.