Mini John Cooper Works Vs Tata Altroz - Price, Mileage, Specs

Okay, as of June 8, 2025, Tata Motors haven’t yet confirmed that the Altroz has a 5-star rating from BNCAP or GNCAP. Moreover, the older Altroz wasn’t 5-star rated in accordance with the updated crash test scoring criteria, which mandate at least 6 airbags as a pre-condition for achieving 5-star rating. Sure, it had 6 airbags in higher variants and the Racer variants but this feature wasn’t available in most variants. And, it certainly wasn’t standard.

Now that it is, we should expect them to make this announcement any day now. And we shouldn’t expect anything less. For a brand that made a strong comeback on 3 things — sunroof, 5-star rating & design — it’s going to sound like business as usual.

If you just look a few years back, you’ll notice that Tata have had a horrible feature distribution. Their Nexon XMS had a sunroof and it sold in quite good numbers. But it didn’t have a front armrest or even a day/night inside mirror. Yet, it sold in huge numbers because their buyers were either upgrading from a much smaller car or it was going to be their first car. And they didn't know what features are important and what they won’t miss during the ownership.

But, things are changing and they are changing fast. Starting with the Punch feature revision, which came in late 2024, Tata are beginning to offer incredibly good feature distribution. The Tiago, Tiago EV and Tigor were also fantastic examples of drastic changes in the right direction. But the Altroz 2025 is just outstandingly good. It’s probably even a shade better than what we have seen in Hyundai cars.

Just like the feature distribution, the variant-to-variant incremental pricing is also amazing. Not only from the perspective of feature set and ownership experience, but also from the value-for-money angle, you can pretty much pick any of the Altroz variants (except base) and you will end up with a good balance of features as well as value (wrt price gap over the base model.) That’s something we didn't expect to say about a Tata car … ever.

Besides the value and feature set, Tata are also offering a solid diesel engine option. Their diesel Altroz is available in limited variants but all of them are pretty good. It’s great to see that Tata haven’t given up on diesel yet. Diesel engines not only offers better drivability and performance but also better longevity as it’s difficult to adulterate it without making it too obvious. Petrol now contains 20% ethanol, which affects your fuel efficiency, vehicle’s long-term reliability and doesn’t give any cost advantage either. For those interested in high usage, the diesel also doesn’t compromise on the boot space.

If you are totally against the diesel engine option or your state government has forced/manipulated you into believing so, then you also have the option of a CNG powertrain. And unlike most other CNG carmakers, the Altroz CNG is also quite practical w.r.t. boot space.

The 1.2L normal petrol engine of the Altroz has 2 automatic transmission options — a cost effective 5-speed AMT and a more refined 6-speed dual-clutch. Depending on your budget and your preference, you can pick either. The other cars in the same segment have made the choice for you. The Glanza/Baleno only have the AMT automatic while the i20 only has the smooth CVT automatic.

The diesel engine of the Altroz offers 200Nm of torque from 1250rpm, which is barely higher than idle RPM. This makes it a great choice, whether you want to drive the car in the city or cruise on the highways. Other than the 3XO, no turbo petrol car under Rs. 10.0 lakh can offer this kind of effortless performance.

But here’s the kicker – even if a turbo petrol did offer better performance, it would fail to offer better efficiency. The Altroz diesel claims to offer a fuel efficiency of 23.60kmpl. Turbo petrols’ poor efficiency figures are partly because of the nature of the fuel and partly because of the ethanol adulteration.

If you are convinced with the performance and efficiency advantages of the Altroz diesel, then this should push you over the fence. Once we factored in the performance advantages and the fuel cost difference over the course of 50,000km, the Altroz diesel manages to justify 96% of its Rs. 1.30 lakh incremental cost over the comparable petrol variant. If you expect to drive considerably more than 50,000km during the ownership, then the diesel engine is a solid option. In fact, the more you drive it, the better value it delivers.

Please note that we have considered the official mileage figures and fuel price in Delhi to calculate the fuel cost.

If you are not a fan of diesel engines or the government is making you stay away from diesel cars, then CNG is the next most viable option. While it doesn’t justify the incremental cost over petrol after factoring in the reduction in performance and boot space.

However, you can’t do much better than the Altroz. It’s one of the few CNG cars in India with a usable boot space. In the case of Altroz, it’s 211 litres. This is certainly less than the petrol or diesel Altroz, but the shape of the cargo area makes a big difference. Should you need to, you can carry a refrigerator or a washing machine in the Altroz CNG. You can’t do that in most other CNG cars with a price tag of less than Rs. 10.0 lakh (ex-sh).