Best Cars for Monsoon Driving in India: Clearance and AWD (2026)

For a flooded Indian road the two things that matter are how far the underbody sits above the water and whether the car can still find grip once the tyres lose it. Almost no car gives you both for sensible money. The Maruti Jimny is the cheapest that does, at Rs 12,59,000 for the Zeta PRO, with 210 mm of ground clearance stated in Maruti's own brochure and four-wheel drive with a low-range transfer gear on both variants. The Mahindra Thar OG publishes more monsoon-relevant detail than anything else here: 232 mm of clearance, a 650 mm water wading depth and part-time 4WD with a reduction gear, from Rs 15,59,500 for the LXT petrol 4WD.

One thing has to be said before the lists. Maruti prints a ground clearance figure for the Jimny, the Swift and the Dzire and for none of its crossovers. There is no published figure for the Fronx, Brezza, Grand Vitara, Victoris, XL6 or Ertiga, so those cars appear here on what their drivetrains do, not on a number. Widely quoted clearance figures for them come from third-party reporting, and we have left them out rather than repeat them.

What the makers actually publish

Car	Ground clearance, unladen	Water wading depth	Drive
Mahindra Thar OG	232 mm	650 mm	rear-wheel drive, or part-time 4WD with high and low reduction gear
Honda Elevate	220 mm, Honda internal data	not published	no all-wheel-drive version in the brochure
Renault Duster	212 mm	not published	no all-wheel-drive version in the brochure
Maruti Jimny	210 mm	not published	ALLGRIP PRO part-time 4WD with low-range transfer gear
Tata Safari	205 mm	not published	no all-wheel-drive version in the brochure
Mahindra XUV 3XO	201 mm	not published	no all-wheel-drive version in the brochure
Mahindra Thar ROXX	not published	650 mm	4XPLOR 4WD with an electronic locking differential, diesel only
Mahindra Scorpio N	not published	not published	4XPLOR 4WD with a brake locking differential, diesel only
Maruti Grand Vitara	not published	not published	ALLGRIP SELECT all-wheel drive, Alpha trims only
Maruti Victoris	not published	not published	ALLGRIP SELECT all-wheel drive, ZXi+ 6AT only

Figures are taken from each maker's current brochure. Where a cell says not published, the manufacturer does not print the number, and we have not substituted one.

What each system actually does, and what it costs

Four-wheel drive is almost always locked to a particular variant and often to a particular fuel, so the price of the model tells you nothing. This is the price of the cheapest variant that gives you the hardware.

Car	Cheapest variant with the traction hardware	Price	What you get
Maruti Jimny	Zeta PRO, and every other variant	Rs 12,59,000	2H, 4H and 4L with a reduction gear, brake limited-slip differential, hill descent control
Mahindra Thar OG	LXT petrol 4WD	Rs 15,59,500	manual-shift part-time 4WD with high and low reduction gear
Mahindra Scorpio N	Z4 diesel 4WD	Rs 18,02,499	4XPLOR terrain modes, brake locking differential, diesel only
Maruti Grand Vitara	Alpha ALLGRIP	Rs 18,04,700	on-demand all-wheel drive with a drive mode selector and hill descent control, no low range
Maruti Victoris	ALLGRIP ZXi+ 6AT 4WD	Rs 18,68,900	on-demand all-wheel drive, Snow, Sport, Lock and Auto terrain modes, hill descent control, no low range
Mahindra Thar ROXX	MX5 diesel MT 4WD	Rs 19,56,000	4XPLOR terrain modes, electronic locking differential, diesel only

Prices are single-tone ex-showroom and were read on 15 October 2026 from NEXA, Maruti Arena and Mahindra's own model pages.

Clearance and traction solve different problems

Ground clearance decides how deep the water can get before it reaches something that minds. It also decides whether the sump survives the open drain cover you cannot see. For the waterlogged city street that most people actually drive through, clearance is the number that matters, and a front-wheel-drive car with plenty of it will get through perfectly well.

Wading depth is the more precise number and almost nobody publishes it. Mahindra does, and 650 mm on both Thars is a manufacturer statement about how deep the car is engineered to go at a crawl. Treat anything without a published figure as unrated, including every Maruti here.

All-wheel drive earns its money when the surface has stopped offering grip, which is a different situation: a muddy shoulder, a flooded slip road on a gradient, a wet unmade track. A low-range transfer gear goes further again, because it multiplies torque and drops road speed so you can move at walking pace without slipping the clutch or riding the brakes.

None of it is a licence to drive into water you cannot see the bottom of. Wading depth figures assume a steady crawl with no bow wave and no stationary engine sitting in water. A stalled engine in a flooded underpass is an insurance claim in every car on this page.

The cars in detail

Maruti Jimny, from Rs 12,59,000

The only car under Rs 15 lakh in India with a low-range transfer case, and the cheapest here by a wide margin. Maruti publishes 210 mm of clearance along with a 36-degree approach angle, a 46-degree departure angle and a 24-degree ramp breakover angle, which is a more complete picture than most makers give.

The ALLGRIP PRO system has 2H, 4H and 4L, and both the Zeta PRO and the Alpha PRO get it, along with the brake limited-slip differential, hill hold and hill descent control. The 1.5 petrol makes 104.8 PS and 134.2 Nm, and claimed economy is 16.94 km/l manual and 16.39 km/l automatic, which is the worst in this article.

The Jimny is also a four-seater with a 219-litre boot, and the Zeta PRO has no cruise control. It is a specialist, not a family car with a monsoon option.

Mahindra Thar OG, 4WD from Rs 15,59,500

The best-documented car here. Mahindra publishes 232 mm of ground clearance, a 40-degree approach angle, a 36-degree departure angle, a 26.4-degree rampover angle and a 650 mm water wading depth, all in the September 2026 brochure.

Four-wheel drive is not standard. The range opens at Rs 10,32,000 with the rear-drive AXT diesel, and the cheapest 4WD is the LXT petrol at Rs 15,59,500. Both the 2.2 diesel and the turbo petrol are offered in 4WD, and the system is a manual-shift part-time setup with a proper reduction gear.

Mahindra Thar ROXX, 4WD from Rs 19,56,000

The five-door Thar carries the same 650 mm wading depth and the 4XPLOR terrain modes with an electronic locking differential, but Mahindra does not print a ground clearance figure for it anywhere in the brochure. If clearance is the number you are buying on, that absence matters.

Four-wheel drive is diesel only here, and the cheapest 4x4 is the MX5 diesel manual at Rs 19,56,000. The petrol Roxx is two-wheel drive at every price.

Mahindra Scorpio N, 4WD from Rs 18,02,499

The cheapest seven-seat four-wheel drive in this article. The 4XPLOR system with its brake locking differential is on the diesel only, which rules out the petrol range entirely, and the Z4 diesel 4WD at Rs 18,02,499 is the entry point. Mahindra publishes no ground clearance or wading figure for the Scorpio N, which is odd for a car sold partly on capability.

Maruti Grand Vitara, ALLGRIP from Rs 18,04,700

ALLGRIP SELECT is an on-demand all-wheel-drive system with a drive mode selector, and the Grand Vitara brochure marks both that selector and hill descent control as ALLGRIP only. There is no low range, so this is a traction aid for slippery surfaces rather than off-road hardware.

It is restricted twice over. ALLGRIP comes only on the Alpha and Alpha (O), and only with the 1.5 petrol automatic, so it is not available with the strong hybrid or the CNG. Claimed economy drops from 20.58 km/l for the two-wheel-drive automatic to 19.20 km/l for the ALLGRIP AT.

Maruti Victoris, ALLGRIP from Rs 18,68,900

The same ALLGRIP SELECT hardware in a newer car, with Snow, Sport, Lock and Auto terrain modes and hill descent control, again listed as ALLGRIP only. It is on the ZXi+ 6AT and the ZXi+ (O) 6AT, which at Rs 18,68,900 and Rs 19,26,900 are the two most expensive non-hybrid Victoris variants.

What the Victoris adds over the Grand Vitara is that the same variant carries Maruti's Level 2 assistance suite, so the four-wheel-drive car is also the one with adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist and autonomous emergency braking. Claimed economy is 19.07 km/l for the ALLGRIP AT against 21.06 km/l for the two-wheel-drive automatic.

The high-clearance two-wheel drives

The Honda Elevate quotes 220 mm, marked in its brochure as Honda internal data, and its variant grid has no all-wheel-drive row. The Renault Duster publishes 212 mm, the Tata Safari 205 mm and the Mahindra XUV 3XO 201 mm, and none of the three brochures lists a four-wheel-drive version. For city flooding, any of them clears more water than a Swift or a Dzire, both of which Maruti rates at 163 mm.

How this list was built, and what we could not check

Every ground clearance, wading depth, power, torque and economy figure here comes from the manufacturer's current brochure. Where a maker does not print a figure, the table says so. We did not fill gaps from aggregator sites, and that is why four Maruti crossovers appear with no clearance number.

One note on the Maruti prices. NEXA's price cards lead with the dual-tone colour on Zeta and Alpha trims, which is Rs 15,400 above the single-tone car, so the Grand Vitara Alpha ALLGRIP figure here is Rs 15,400 below what the page shows.

The draft this article started from carried third-party clearance figures for the Fronx, Brezza, Grand Vitara and Victoris. Those have been removed. It also put the Toyota Fortuner at 225 mm with a full-time 4x4 system. Toyota publishes neither a readable brochure specification nor a dealer-independent price for the Fortuner, so it is not in this article.

Two more gaps. Mahindra publishes no ground clearance for the Thar ROXX or the Scorpio N despite publishing a wading depth for the Roxx. And no manufacturer here publishes a wading depth for a monocoque crossover, which is worth remembering before taking a Grand Vitara or a Victoris into standing water on the strength of its AllGrip badge.

If you want the clearance figures ranked on their own, including the ones no maker publishes, we keep a separate list of SUVs with the highest ground clearance. For the low-range question specifically, see true 4WD SUVs with low range under Rs 15 lakh.

Frequently asked questions

Which is the cheapest car in India with four-wheel drive and a low-range gear?

The Maruti Jimny Zeta PRO at Rs 12,59,000. ALLGRIP PRO with 2H, 4H and 4L is standard on both Jimny variants, and Maruti publishes 210 mm of ground clearance for the car.

Is Maruti's AllGrip the same as a 4x4 with low range?

No. ALLGRIP SELECT on the Grand Vitara and the Victoris is an on-demand all-wheel-drive system with terrain modes and hill descent control and no reduction gear. ALLGRIP PRO on the Jimny is a part-time 4WD system with a low-range transfer gear. They share a name and not much else.

What is the Maruti Victoris ground clearance?

Maruti does not publish one. The Victoris brochure prints kerb weight, gross vehicle weight and every dimension except ground clearance, and we have not substituted a third-party figure.

Which car here has a published water wading depth?

Both Mahindra Thars, at 650 mm. No other manufacturer in this article prints the number, including Maruti for the Jimny.

Can I get four-wheel drive on a Grand Vitara hybrid?

No. ALLGRIP is offered only with the 1.5 petrol automatic on the Alpha and Alpha (O), so the strong hybrid and the CNG are two-wheel drive at every price.

Does more ground clearance alone make a car safer in the monsoon?

For city flooding, mostly yes, because it keeps water away from the intake and the underbody away from submerged potholes. It does nothing for grip. All-wheel drive is the part that helps when the surface itself has gone, such as mud or a flooded gradient.

Is the Mahindra Thar ROXX taller than the three-door Thar?

Mahindra does not say. The Thar OG brochure prints 232 mm and the Thar ROXX brochure prints no ground clearance figure at all, so the two cannot be compared on published numbers.