Cars With Steering-Mounted Controls on the Base Variant (2026)

Six cars on sale in India put steering-mounted controls on their cheapest variant, checked against the base-variant column of each maker's own feature grid. The Hyundai Venue HX 2 at Rs 7,99,900 is the cheapest of them, and Hyundai marks the audio and Bluetooth switches as standard on all nine Venue variants. The Maruti Victoris LXi at Rs 10,49,900 is next, then the Maruti XL6 Zeta at Rs 11,62,300 and the Maruti Jimny Zeta PRO at Rs 12,59,000. The Honda Elevate SV and the Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder E also qualify, but neither maker publishes a variant price we can quote.

Most cars do not. The Maruti Baleno, Swift, Dzire, Fronx, Brezza, Ertiga and Grand Vitara, the Hyundai Creta, Exter and i20 and the Mahindra XUV 3XO all print a dash in the base-variant column and start the feature one trim up. The Grand Vitara is worth singling out, because its Sigma is a Rs 10,76,500 car with no buttons on the wheel at all.

The six base variants that have them

Car	Base variant	Price of that variant	How the maker words it	Cruise control on the base
Hyundai Venue	HX 2	Rs 7,99,900	Steering wheel with audio and bluetooth controls	No
Maruti Victoris	LXi MT	Rs 10,49,900	Steering Mounted Controls	No
Maruti XL6	Zeta MT	Rs 11,62,300	Steering Mounted Audio and Calling Controls	Yes
Maruti Jimny	Zeta PRO	Rs 12,59,000	Steering Mounted Controls	No
Honda Elevate	SV	Honda publishes no variant price list	Steering Mounted Audio and Hands-Free Telephone, plus a voice recognition switch	No
Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder	E, Neodrive	Toyota prices by dealer	Steering mounted commands, audio command only on the E	No

Prices are ex-showroom, single tone, read on 15 October 2026 from Hyundai's Delhi price page, Maruti's Arena price page and NEXA's price pages.

What the buttons actually do

The wording on the grid is a fair guide to how much is on the wheel, and the six above are not equivalent.

Hyundai is the most specific and the most generous. "Steering wheel with audio and bluetooth controls" means volume, track and call handling, and it is standard from the HX 2 to the HX 10, as are six airbags and electronic stability control. The HX 2 is otherwise a plain car. It is the only Venue variant without a rear camera with dynamic guidelines or a driver rear view monitor, both of which start on the HX 4, and auto up and down on the driver's window waits until the HX 5+.

Maruti's XL6 is the only car here that pairs the buttons with cruise control on its cheapest variant. The Zeta MT gets steering-mounted audio and calling controls, cruise control, six airbags and second-row captain seats, which is unusual, although the XL6 has no LXi or VXi below the Zeta so its base variant is not really a budget trim.

Toyota's Hyryder is the interesting edge case. Toyota's grid reads "Steering mounted commands (Audio, BT, Cruise control)" and then qualifies the entry Neodrive E with "(audio command only)". The E also has no cruise control at all. So the E gets buttons, and fewer of them than every other variant.

The Toyota Innova Hycross is a seventh car that half qualifies. Toyota's grid gives the entry G-SLF "Steering Wheel Switches: MID Only", meaning controls for the instrument cluster display and nothing else. Every variant from the GX up reads "Audio + Telephone + Voice + MID". We have left it out of the table because switches that only scroll a trip computer are not what people mean by this feature.

The two Marutis that qualify, and the one everybody assumes does

Maruti Victoris LXi, Rs 10,49,900

The Victoris is the clearest case of a genuinely cheap base variant keeping the feature. Maruti's grid ticks Steering Mounted Controls under LXi, VXi, ZXi and ZXi+ alike, and the LXi also gets a rotary volume knob, a 17.78 cm SmartPlay Pro touchscreen with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, the Hi Suzuki voice assistant, over-the-air updates, six airbags, electronic stability program, hill hold assist and rear parking sensors.

Maruti does not spell out on the grid which functions the switches cover, so take the wording at face value. What the LXi plainly does not have is cruise control, which starts on the VXi, along with the reverse camera, tyre-pressure monitoring and the second pair of tweeters.

Maruti Jimny Zeta PRO, Rs 12,59,000

Both Jimny variants have the switches, and both have the ALLGRIP PRO four-wheel-drive system with the low-range transfer gear, brake limited-slip differential, hill hold, hill descent control and six airbags. The Zeta PRO gives up the Alpha's 22.86 cm SmartPlay Pro+ screen for a smaller one, runs manual air conditioning instead of climate control, and has no cruise control and no fog lamps.

The Jimny is a two-variant car, so a base variant with equipment on it is less of a surprise here than on the Victoris.

Maruti Grand Vitara Sigma, Rs 10,76,500, which does not

This is the correction worth making. The Grand Vitara Sigma is widely listed as having steering-mounted audio controls. Maruti's own brochure grid disagrees: the row reads "Steering Mounted Controls (Audio, BT, Cruise Control)" and prints a dash under Sigma, with ticks under Delta, Zeta, Alpha, Delta+, Zeta+ and Alpha+. The Sigma also has no vanity mirror lamps and no premium sound system. The first Grand Vitara with buttons on the wheel is the Delta MT at Rs 12,14,700, which is Rs 1,38,200 more.

The base variants that go without

Every car below prints a dash in its base-variant column. The right-hand figure is what the cheapest variant with the feature costs.

Car	Base variant and price	Controls start on	Step up
Maruti Swift	LXi MT, Rs 5,83,900	VXi MT, Rs 6,67,900	Rs 84,000
Maruti Baleno	Sigma MT, Rs 5,99,000	Delta	not published per variant
Maruti Dzire	LXi MT, Rs 6,30,600	VXi MT, Rs 7,27,100	Rs 96,500
Maruti Fronx	Sigma MT, Rs 6,89,900	Delta MT, Rs 7,74,900	Rs 85,000
Maruti Brezza	LXi MT, Rs 7,49,900	VXi	not published per variant
Mahindra XUV 3XO	MX1 petrol, Rs 7,79,000	MX2, cheapest listed with it is the REVX M petrol at Rs 8,59,400	about Rs 80,400
Maruti Ertiga	LXi MT, Rs 8,90,000	VXi MT, Rs 9,95,300	Rs 1,05,300
Maruti Grand Vitara	Sigma MT, Rs 10,76,500	Delta MT, Rs 12,14,700	Rs 1,38,200
Hyundai Creta	E, Rs 10,90,700	EX, Rs 12,06,700	Rs 1,16,000

The Maruti Celerio, Toyota Taisor and Hyundai Exter and i20 all behave the same way. The Celerio grid marks the LXi MT, VXi MT, VXi CNG and VXi AGS as going without and starts the audio controls on the ZXi. Toyota's Taisor grid prints a dash under the E and ticks every variant above it. Hyundai's Exter and i20 grids each start "Steering wheel with audio & bluetooth controls" on the second variant.

Maruti's own pattern is consistent enough to summarise. Where a Maruti model has an LXi or a Sigma, that variant does not get the switches. Where the range starts at Zeta, as on the XL6 and the Jimny, it does. The Victoris is the exception that breaks the rule, and it is the only Maruti here with an LXi that has them.

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

For every car we opened the manufacturer's variant-wise feature grid, found the steering-controls row and read the first column. A car is in the top table only if that column is marked as fitted. Product pages and configurator summaries were not used, because they describe a mid or top trim.

Three things we could not settle.

Honda publishes no variant-wise price list for the Elevate and quotes by city through an enquiry form, so the SV has no price here. Toyota's price list requires a dealer to be chosen before any figure appears, which rules out the Hyryder E and the Hycross G-SLF the same way. The feature claims for all three come from the makers' own grids and are not in doubt.

The draft this article started from listed the Skoda Kushaq Active, Volkswagen Taigun Comfortline and Volkswagen Virtus Comfortline, on the strength of dealer walkarounds and third-party variant breakdowns. We could not obtain a Skoda or Volkswagen variant grid on 15 October 2026, and a walkaround is not a specification sheet, so none of the three is in the table. They may well qualify. We just cannot show it.

The same draft put the Maruti Grand Vitara Sigma in its list of qualifying base variants and described the XL6 Zeta as having audio controls only. Maruti's grid contradicts both: the Sigma has none, and the XL6 row reads audio and calling.

Does it matter enough to change your shortlist?

Not by itself. On a car you will keep for years, the difference between reaching for a volume knob and pressing a thumb switch is small, and every car in the second table gives you the feature for between Rs 80,000 and Rs 1.4 lakh.

It is a useful proxy, though. A base variant with buttons on the wheel has usually not been stripped elsewhere either. The Venue HX 2 and the Victoris LXi both carry six airbags and stability control as standard, and the Victoris LXi has the same wireless phone mirroring as the trims above it. The counter-example is the Grand Vitara Sigma, which at Rs 10,76,500 is the most expensive base variant here without them.

If cruise control is the function you actually want, only the XL6 Zeta supplies it on a base variant, and our list of cars with cruise control under Rs 20 lakh covers where it starts on everything else.

Frequently asked questions

Which is the cheapest car in India with steering-mounted controls on its base variant?

The Hyundai Venue HX 2 at Rs 7,99,900 ex-showroom. Hyundai's grid marks "Steering wheel with audio and bluetooth controls" as standard on all nine Venue variants.

Does the Maruti Victoris LXi have steering-mounted controls?

Yes. Maruti's brochure grid ticks Steering Mounted Controls under the LXi, which at Rs 10,49,900 is the cheapest Victoris. It does not have cruise control, which starts on the VXi.

Does the Maruti Grand Vitara Sigma have steering-mounted controls?

No. The brochure row reads "Steering Mounted Controls (Audio, BT, Cruise Control)" and shows a dash under Sigma. The cheapest Grand Vitara with them is the Delta MT at Rs 12,14,700.

Which base variant gives you steering controls and cruise control together?

The Maruti XL6 Zeta MT at Rs 11,62,300, which has both as standard along with six airbags and second-row captain seats. The Toyota Hyryder E has the buttons but no cruise control.

Do any Maruti LXi variants have steering-mounted controls?

One. The Victoris LXi. The Swift LXi, Dzire LXi, Brezza LXi and Ertiga LXi all go without, and so do the Baleno Sigma, Fronx Sigma and Grand Vitara Sigma.

What does the Toyota Innova Hycross G-SLF get?

Steering wheel switches for the instrument cluster display only. Toyota's grid reads "MID Only" for the G-SLF and "Audio + Telephone + Voice + MID" from the GX upward.

Can steering-mounted controls be retrofitted?

Sometimes, but it means removing the wheel and the driver airbag and often coding the car's electronics afterwards. On a car still under warranty it is simpler to buy the variant that has them.