Best 6-Seater MPVs in India: Every Six-Seat Variant by Fuel Type

Four MPVs on sale in India can be bought as true six-seaters, with two captain seats in the middle row, and the right one depends mostly on fuel. The Maruti Suzuki XL6 (Rs 11.62 lakh to Rs 14.68 lakh) is the only petrol manual and the only CNG, at 20.90 km/l and 26.23 km/kg. The Kia Carens Clavis is the turbo-petrol automatic, with six seats on a single variant. The Kia Carens Clavis EV and BYD eMAX 7 (Rs 27.90 lakh and Rs 29.30 lakh as a six-seater) are the electric choices, at up to 490 km and 530 km of claimed range.

That is the whole field. The Ertiga, Rumion and Triber seat seven, the Invicto and Innova Hycross seat seven or eight, and the Kia Carnival and Toyota Vellfire have captain seats but a three-seat third row. If the brief is six seats and nothing else, the list stops at four.

Key takeaways

• Every XL6 is a six-seater. All seven variants, including the Zeta CNG, get captain seats, so the cheapest six-seat MPV in India costs Rs 11,62,300.
• The petrol Carens Clavis has six seats only on the HTX+ with the 1.5 turbo-petrol and 7-speed DCT. Kia's brochure marks the HTX+ manual and iMT as seven-seat only.
• The Carens Clavis EV offers six seats on eight of its nine variants. Only the base HTK+ is seven-seat only.
• The BYD eMAX 7 sells both of its variants, Comfort and Superior, with six or seven seats, and the six-seater is Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 cheaper.
• No diesel six-seat MPV is listed in any of the four brochures.

The four six-seaters compared

MPV	Six-seat variants	Fuel and gearbox	Power	Claimed mileage or range	Price (ex-showroom)
Maruti Suzuki XL6	All 7	Petrol 5MT or 6AT, CNG 5MT	103.06 PS petrol, 87.8 PS in CNG mode	20.90 km/l MT, 20.27 km/l AT, 26.23 km/kg CNG	Rs 11.62 lakh to Rs 14.68 lakh
Kia Carens Clavis	HTX+ 7DCT only	1.5 turbo-petrol, 7-speed DCT	117.6 kW (160 PS)	Not printed in Kia's brochure	Range Rs 11.39 lakh to Rs 21.79 lakh; six-seat variant price not listed on Kia's site
Kia Carens Clavis EV	8 of 9 (all except HTK+)	Electric, 42 kWh or 51.4 kWh	99 kW (135 PS) or 126 kW (171 PS)	404 km or 490 km	Range starts at Rs 18.04 lakh for the seven-seat HTK+
BYD eMAX 7	Comfort, Superior	Electric, 71.8 kWh	120 kW (163 PS) or 150 kW (204 PS)	485 km (MIDC) or 530 km (NEDC)	Rs 27.90 lakh and Rs 29.30 lakh as a six-seater

Prices are ex-showroom, read from each maker's own site on 13 October 2026. Specifications come from the manufacturer brochures. Kia's site gave us a starting and top price for each model but no variant-wise list, so the Clavis cells show the range, not the six-seat variant.

Petrol and CNG: Maruti Suzuki XL6

The XL6 is the default answer for most buyers, and the reason is in the brochure's first table: seating capacity is 6 for both the petrol and the CNG, and "2nd row plush captain seats with one-touch recline and slide" is ticked for all three trim levels. You cannot buy a seven-seat XL6. That job belongs to the Ertiga, which shares the engine.

That engine is the 1,462 cc K15C Smart Hybrid, making 75.8 kW (103.06 PS) at 6,000 rpm and 139 Nm at 4,300 rpm. It comes with a 5-speed manual or a 6-speed torque converter automatic. Maruti's certified figures are 20.90 km/l for the manual and 20.27 km/l for the automatic.

The Zeta CNG is the only factory CNG six-seater in the country. In CNG mode it makes 64.6 kW (87.8 PS) and 121.5 Nm, returns 26.23 km/kg, and carries a 60-litre (water equivalent) cylinder alongside the 45-litre petrol tank. It is manual only and exists in one trim. The mild hybrid functions (idle start stop, brake energy regeneration and torque assist) are marked as not available on the CNG, and it loses the split luggage board.

Current prices on the NEXA page:

XL6 variant	Price (ex-showroom)
Zeta MT	Rs 11,62,300
Alpha MT	Rs 12,58,800
Zeta CNG	Rs 12,60,800
Zeta AT	Rs 12,97,300
Alpha Plus MT (dual tone)	Rs 13,32,500
Alpha AT	Rs 13,93,800
Alpha Plus AT (dual tone)	Rs 14,67,500

Standard on every variant: six airbags, ESP with hill hold, ABS with EBD and brake assist, ISOFIX anchors on the second-row seats, reverse parking sensors, cruise control, automatic front AC, second-row vents, a third-row AC with its own stage control, and 60 W Type-C chargers for rows two and three. The Alpha adds a 360 view camera and tyre pressure monitoring. Ventilated front seats are on the Alpha Plus only.

The weaknesses are real. There is no sunroof and no ADAS on any variant, the rear brakes are drums, and 103 PS is the least power on this list by a wide margin. At 4,485 mm long on a 2,740 mm wheelbase it is also the smallest car here. Maruti's brochure prints no boot volume for it, so we are not quoting one. We covered its per-kilometre cost against rivals in the running cost comparison.

Turbo-petrol automatic: Kia Carens Clavis

The Clavis is a seven-seater that happens to offer one six-seat variant. Kia's powertrain grid lists the seating plan as 7 for ten of its eleven trims and "6/7" for the HTX+ alone. Within the HTX+, the 6-speed manual and 6-speed iMT rows are marked "7 seater only". That leaves the HTX+ with the Smartstream G1.5 T-GDi and 7-speed DCT as the six-seater.

It is a much stronger car than the XL6. The turbo-petrol makes 117.6 kW (160 PS) at 5,500 rpm and 253 Nm from 1,500 to 3,500 rpm. The captain seats slide, recline and tumble, and the second row has a one-touch electric tumble to open the way to the third. By the HTX+ the feature list has piled up: twin 12.25-inch displays, a 360 degree camera with a blind view monitor in the cluster, a dual pane panoramic sunroof, an 8-speaker Bose system, ventilated front seats, a 4-way power driver seat and, on the DCT, Level 2 ADAS with 20 functions. Disc brakes on all four wheels and six airbags are standard across the range.

Two things we could not verify from Kia. Its brochure prints no certified fuel efficiency for any Clavis engine, so we are not repeating the figures that circulate elsewhere. And Kia's site states only that the range starts at Rs 11,38,900 and that the top GTX+ is Rs 21,78,900. The HTX+ sits one step below the GTX+, so expect the six-seater near the top of that band and get the exact number from a dealer.

The diesel is no help here. The brochure offers the 1.5 CRDi on the HTE (O), HTE (EX), HTK+, HTK+ (O) and HTX only, all seven-seaters. The CNG is limited to the HTE and HTE (O), also with seven seats.

Electric: Kia Carens Clavis EV

The EV reverses the petrol car's logic. Six seats are available on every variant except the base HTK+: the HTX E and HTX on the 42 kWh battery, and the HTX E ER, HTX ER, GTX ER, HTX+ ER, GTX+ ER and X-Line ER on the 51.4 kWh pack.

	42 kWh	51.4 kWh (ER)
Motor output	99 kW (135 PS), 255 Nm	126 kW (171 PS), 255 Nm
Claimed range (MIDC part 1 and 2)	404 km	490 km
11 kW AC, 10 to 100%	4 hours	4 hours 45 minutes
100 kW DC, 10 to 80%	39 minutes	39 minutes

The six-seat layout arrives at the HTX E together with the panoramic sunroof, leatherette seats and 64-colour ambient lighting. Level 2 ADAS and the 360 degree camera start one step up, at the HTX. Ventilated front seats, the Bose system and vehicle-to-load are on the HTX+ ER and above.

Kia's site says the Clavis EV starts at Rs 18,03,900. That is the HTK+, which is the one variant you cannot have with six seats. We could not read variant-wise prices for the others, so treat any figure for the six-seat EV as a dealer quote. The live under Rs 25 lakh captain seat comparison looks at how far that budget stretches.

Electric with more range: BYD eMAX 7

BYD's India site currently lists two variants, each with six or seven seats:

eMAX 7 variant	Seats	Price (ex-showroom)
Comfort	6	Rs 27,90,000
Comfort	7	Rs 28,30,000
Superior	6	Rs 29,30,000
Superior	7	Rs 29,90,000

Both use a 71.8 kWh Blade battery. The Comfort's motor makes 120 kW (163 PS) and BYD quotes 485 km on the MIDC cycle. The Superior makes 150 kW (204 PS), reaches 100 km/h in 8.6 seconds and is quoted at 530 km, but on the NEDC cycle. The two range figures are measured differently, so the gap between them is not a like-for-like 45 km. Torque is 310 Nm for both, and DC charging is rated at 115 kW.

The six-seater has what BYD calls middle row independent seats in a 2+2+2 layout. Six airbags, ESC, tyre pressure monitoring and a 360 degree view monitor are on both variants. Adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, blind spot detection and the lane assists are Superior only, as are wireless charging and the powered tailgate.

An earlier, smaller-battery Premium variant appears in older price lists and in the draft we started from. It is not on BYD's site today, so we have left it out.

What about six-seat SUVs and the bigger MPVs?

Search results for "6-seater MPV" tend to fill up with cars that are neither. A few clarifications:

• The MG Hector Plus and Hyundai Alcazar do offer six seats with captain chairs, according to their brochures. Both are sold as SUVs, so we have not ranked them here.
• The Maruti Suzuki Invicto (Rs 25.02 lakh to Rs 28.80 lakh) and Toyota Innova Hycross have captain seats on their seven-seat versions. Seating capacity in both brochures is 7 or 8.
• The Kia Carnival is a 7-seater in a 2+2+3 layout, and the Toyota Vellfire is also listed as a seven-seater.
• Mahindra's website no longer lists the Marazzo, and its old product page returns an error.

If captain seats matter more to you than the head count, the chauffeur-driven MPV guide covers those larger cars.

Which one to buy

For petrol or CNG, the XL6 is the only choice and a sensible one. The Zeta at Rs 11.62 lakh already has the captain seats and all six airbags, and the Alpha at Rs 12.59 lakh adds the 360 view camera. Buy it knowing it is the slowest and least equipped car here.

If you want an automatic with real overtaking power, the Clavis HTX+ DCT is the pick, at a price much closer to Rs 21 lakh than Rs 15 lakh.

Among the EVs, the Clavis EV gives the most ways into a six-seat cabin and the eMAX 7 gives the bigger battery and more power. We would not choose between them on claimed range alone, because Kia quotes MIDC and BYD's headline 530 km is an NEDC number.

How this list was built

We started from the brochures: the XL6 from NEXA, the Clavis, Clavis EV and Carnival from Kia, the Hycross, Rumion and Vellfire from Toyota, the Hector from MG and the Alcazar from Hyundai. BYD's eMAX 7 brochure has no variant table, so its variant data comes from the specification grid on BYD's India site. A car counted only if the maker itself lists a seating capacity of six.

Maruti and BYD prices are the variant prices shown on their sites on 13 October 2026. Kia prices are the starting and top figures in its own site's FAQ. Not verified: any Kia fuel efficiency figure, the price of the six-seat Clavis and Clavis EV variants, and boot volumes for the XL6. None of the cars was driven for this piece.

Frequently asked questions

Which is the cheapest 6-seater MPV in India?

The Maruti Suzuki XL6 Zeta manual at Rs 11,62,300 ex-showroom. Every XL6 variant is a six-seater with captain seats.

Is there a 6-seater MPV with CNG?

One: the XL6 Zeta CNG at Rs 12,60,800, with a certified 26.23 km/kg. The Kia Carens Clavis CNG and the Ertiga and Rumion CNG are seven-seaters.

Is the Kia Carens Clavis a 6-seater?

Only as the HTX+ with the turbo-petrol engine and 7-speed DCT. Kia's brochure lists every other trim, and the HTX+ manual and iMT, as seven-seaters.

Which electric MPVs have six seats?

The Kia Carens Clavis EV, on all variants except the HTK+, and the BYD eMAX 7 on both Comfort and Superior.

Is there a diesel 6-seater MPV?

Not in the current brochures. The Clavis diesel trims are all seven-seaters, and the XL6 has no diesel.

Does the XL6 have a sunroof or ADAS?

No to both, on every variant. The Clavis HTX+ DCT, the Clavis EV from the HTX and the eMAX 7 Superior have Level 2 driver assistance.