Compact SUVs With the Best Mileage in India: Certified Figures by Variant (2026)

Twenty versions of four compact SUVs are ranked here by the certified figure in each maker's own brochure. The Fronx leads on CNG and petrol, the Taisor's petrol figures are slightly lower than the Fronx's despite shared engines, and the Brezza's best figure applies only to its LXi and VXi manuals. The Brezza is the only one of the four with a Bharat NCAP rating, and that rating excludes the S-CNG. Tata, Hyundai, Kia, Renault and Mahindra print no certified mileage for the Punch, Nexon, Exter, Venue, Sonet, Kiger or XUV 3XO, so those are listed separately with verified starting prices.

The Maruti Fronx has the best certified mileage of any compact SUV whose maker publishes a figure: 28.51 km/kg on CNG, 22.89 km/l with the 1.2-litre petrol and AMT, and 21.79 km/l with the manual. The Toyota Urban Cruiser Taisor ties it on CNG at 28.51 km/kg and sits a fraction behind on petrol at 22.79 and 21.71 km/l. The Maruti Brezza is third at 26.90 km/kg on CNG and 21.09 km/l on petrol, and the Nissan Magnite follows at 19.4 to 19.9 km/l.

That is a short list, and the reason is worth knowing. Tata, Hyundai, Kia, Renault and Mahindra do not print a certified fuel-efficiency figure in the brochures for the Punch, Nexon, Exter, Venue, Sonet, Kiger or XUV 3XO. Those cars are listed separately further down, with prices, because a ranking that mixes certified numbers with numbers of unknown origin is not a ranking.

Key takeaways

The Fronx and Taisor share the top CNG figure, 28.51 km/kg. The Brezza S-CNG is 1.61 km/kg behind at 26.90.
On petrol the AMT beats the manual. The Fronx goes from 21.79 km/l to 22.89 km/l with the automated gearbox, and the Taisor from 21.71 to 22.79.
The Taisor is not a copy of the Fronx on paper. Toyota's brochure prints lower figures for every petrol version, and the gap is widest on the turbo manual: 21.18 km/l against 21.5.
The Brezza's best petrol figure, 21.09 km/l, applies only to the LXi and VXi manuals. The ZXi manual is 20.81 and the automatic 20.17.
No car in the certified ranking offers a diesel engine.

Certified mileage, ranked by version

Rank	Compact SUV and version	Fuel	Certified mileage	Cheapest variant with this powertrain
1	Maruti Fronx 1.2 S-CNG, 5MT	CNG	28.51 km/kg	Sigma CNG, Rs 7,93,900
1	Toyota Taisor 1.2 CNG, 5MT	CNG	28.51 km/kg	E CNG, Rs 8,45,000
3	Maruti Brezza 1.5 S-CNG, 6MT	CNG	26.90 km/kg	LXi CNG, Rs 9,39,900
4	Maruti Fronx 1.2, 5AMT	Petrol	22.89 km/l	Delta AGS, Rs 8,24,900
5	Toyota Taisor 1.2, 5AMT	Petrol	22.79 km/l	S AMT, Rs 8,94,000
6	Maruti Fronx 1.2, 5MT	Petrol	21.79 km/l	Sigma, Rs 6,89,900
7	Toyota Taisor 1.2, 5MT	Petrol	21.71 km/l	E, Rs 7,43,000
8	Maruti Fronx 1.0 turbo, 5MT	Petrol	21.5 km/l	Delta Plus turbo, Rs 8,96,900
9	Toyota Taisor 1.0 turbo, 5MT	Petrol	21.18 km/l	G turbo, Rs 10,45,000
10	Maruti Brezza 1.5, 6MT (LXi, VXi)	Petrol	21.09 km/l	LXi, Rs 8,34,900
11	Maruti Brezza 1.5, 6MT (ZXi)	Petrol	20.81 km/l	Not checked
12	Maruti Brezza 1.0 turbo, 6MT (LXi, VXi)	Petrol	20.47 km/l	LXi Turbo, Rs 7,49,900
13	Maruti Brezza 1.5, 6AT	Petrol	20.17 km/l	VXi AT, Rs 10,60,900
14	Maruti Fronx 1.0 turbo, 6AT	Petrol	20.01 km/l	Zeta AT, Rs 11,03,900
15	Maruti Brezza 1.0 turbo, 6MT (ZXi, ZXi+)	Petrol	19.96 km/l	Not checked
16	Nissan Magnite 1.0 turbo, 5MT	Petrol	19.9 km/l	Not checked
17	Toyota Taisor 1.0 turbo, 6AT	Petrol	19.86 km/l	G turbo AT, Rs 11,86,000
18	Nissan Magnite 1.0, 5AMT	Petrol	19.7 km/l	Not checked
19	Nissan Magnite 1.0, 5MT	Petrol	19.4 km/l	Visia, Rs 5,69,400
20	Nissan Magnite 1.0 turbo, CVT	Petrol	17.9 km/l	Not checked

Mileage is read from each manufacturer's current brochure: Maruti's for the Fronx and Brezza, Toyota's for the Taisor and Nissan's for the Magnite. Prices are ex-showroom, checked on 13 October 2026. Fronx prices come from the NEXA price page, Brezza prices from Maruti's Arena price page and price feed, Taisor prices from Toyota's Delhi dealer price list (effective 20 January 2026), and the Magnite price from Nissan's model page, which shows only the starting price of each grade.

What the numbers say

CNG is where the gap is

A kilogram of CNG takes the Fronx 28.51 km, and the Brezza 26.90 km. The difference comes from the engines: the Fronx and Taisor run a 1.2-litre unit that makes 77.5 PS and 98.5 Nm on gas, while the Brezza uses a 1.5-litre that makes 87.8 PS and 121.5 Nm. You pay for the Brezza's extra pull at the pump and in the showroom, since its cheapest CNG variant costs Rs 1,46,000 more than the Fronx Sigma CNG.

All three are manual only. None of these makers offers a CNG automatic in this class.

The AMT is the efficient gearbox, the torque converter is not

The single-clutch AMT on the 1.2-litre Fronx and Taisor returns about 1.1 km/l more than the manual in the certification test. The 6-speed torque converter on the turbo engines goes the other way: the Fronx turbo drops from 21.5 km/l with the manual to 20.01 km/l with the automatic, and the Taisor from 21.18 to 19.86. If you want an automatic and care about fuel, the 1.2 AMT is the one to look at, with the caveat that an AMT shifts more slowly than a torque converter.

Turbo engines cost less than you would expect

The Fronx's 100.06 PS turbo manual is rated at 21.5 km/l, only 0.29 km/l behind the 89.73 PS naturally aspirated manual. The Brezza's 110.12 PS turbo at 20.47 km/l is 0.62 km/l behind its own 1.5-litre manual. These are test-cycle results, and turbo engines are more sensitive to a heavy right foot than the test allows for, so treat the small gap with some caution.

The four cars in the ranking

1. Maruti Fronx

The Fronx leads on every fuel it offers. The 1.2-litre Dual Jet petrol makes 89.73 PS and 113 Nm, the turbo makes 100.06 PS and 147.6 Nm, and the tank holds 37 litres. It is priced from Rs 6.90 lakh to Rs 12.03 lakh.

Mileage: 28.51 km/kg (CNG), 22.89 km/l (1.2 AMT), 21.79 km/l (1.2 MT), 21.5 km/l (turbo MT), 20.01 km/l (turbo AT).

The catch: Bharat NCAP lists no result for the Fronx, so its six standard airbags come without a published Indian crash score. The boot is 308 litres, small for the class, and Maruti's brochure does not print a boot figure for the CNG car at all. The CNG kit is offered only on Sigma and Delta, the two lowest trims.

2. Toyota Urban Cruiser Taisor

The Taisor shares the Fronx's engines and outputs, and Toyota's brochure prints the same 28.51 km/kg for CNG. The petrol figures are slightly lower across the board. We do not know why two cars with the same hardware carry different certified numbers, and the brochures do not say.

Mileage: 28.51 km/kg (CNG), 22.79 km/l (1.2 AMT), 21.71 km/l (1.2 MT), 21.18 km/l (turbo MT), 19.86 km/l (turbo AT).

The catch: It costs more than the Fronx at every step we could compare. The E manual is Rs 7,43,000 against Rs 6,89,900 for the Fronx Sigma, and the CNG is Rs 8,45,000 against Rs 7,93,900. CNG is limited to the base E grade. Like the Fronx, it has no Bharat NCAP result.

3. Maruti Brezza

The Brezza is the larger, heavier car, and its mileage reflects that. It is also the only one of the four with a Bharat NCAP rating: 5 stars for adults (30.41 out of 32) and children (43 out of 49), assessed in June 2026. It is priced from Rs 7.50 lakh to Rs 13.71 lakh.

Mileage: 26.90 km/kg (CNG), 21.09 km/l (1.5 MT, LXi and VXi), 20.81 km/l (1.5 MT, ZXi), 20.47 km/l (turbo, LXi and VXi), 20.17 km/l (1.5 AT), 19.96 km/l (turbo, ZXi and ZXi+).

The catch: The Bharat NCAP rating applies to the petrol versions only. Its applicability table lists the 1.5 manual, the 1.5 automatic and the 1.0 turbo, and leaves out the S-CNG. So the Brezza's most efficient version is the one without the crash rating. Also note that the cheapest Brezza is now the LXi Turbo, not the 1.5, so the headline Rs 7.50 lakh price buys the 20.47 km/l car.

4. Nissan Magnite

The Magnite is the cheapest way into this ranking at Rs 5,69,400, and the least efficient. Its 1.0-litre petrol makes 72 PS and 96 Nm, and the turbo 100 PS. Nissan sells no factory CNG variant; the brochure describes a CNG kit developed and warranted by a third party, and prints no km/kg figure for it.

Mileage: 19.9 km/l (turbo MT), 19.7 km/l (AMT), 19.4 km/l (MT), 17.9 km/l (turbo CVT).

The catch: The CVT is the weakest figure in the whole table, 5 km/l behind the Fronx AMT. On the other side of the ledger, Global NCAP's 2025 test gave the six-airbag Magnite 32.31 out of 34 for adult protection and 33.64 out of 49 for child protection.

Compact SUVs that cannot be ranked

These are real rivals, and several of them offer diesel or CNG. They are not in the table because the manufacturer's brochure or price page gave us no certified mileage to put there. Starting prices were checked on each maker's own site on 13 October 2026.

Compact SUV	Starting price, ex-showroom	Fuels offered	Certified mileage
Tata Punch	Rs 5,74,990	Petrol, turbo petrol, CNG	Not published by Tata
Hyundai Exter	Rs 5,80,600	Petrol, CNG	Not published by Hyundai
Renault Kiger	Rs 5,81,000	Petrol, turbo petrol	Not published by Renault
Tata Nexon	Rs 7,39,990	Petrol, CNG, diesel	Not published by Tata
Kia Sonet	Rs 7,44,900	Petrol, turbo petrol, diesel	Not published by Kia
Skoda Kylaq	Rs 7,59,000	Turbo petrol	Not verified
Mahindra XUV 3XO	Rs 7.79 lakh	Petrol, turbo petrol, diesel	Not published by Mahindra
Hyundai Venue	Rs 7,99,900	Petrol, turbo petrol, diesel	Not published by Hyundai

The Kiger shares its engines and gearboxes with the Magnite, so its real-world consumption is unlikely to be far off, but Renault's brochure leaves the figure out and we have not borrowed Nissan's. Skoda's Kylaq page states the engine output (115 PS, 178 Nm) but no fuel figure, and its brochure sits behind a form we could not get past.

Diesel is the obvious gap. The Sonet, Nexon, Venue and XUV 3XO are the diesel options in this class, and figures of around 21 to 24 km/l circulate for them. We have not been able to trace those to a manufacturer document, which is why our running-cost comparison of compact SUVs marks them as unverified.

One step up in length, the Citroen Basalt (4,352 mm, so not a sub-4-metre car) does publish numbers: 19.5 km/l for the turbo manual, 18.7 for the turbo automatic and 18.0 for the 82 PS petrol.

How this list was built

Every mileage figure was read from the fuel-efficiency row of the manufacturer's own current brochure. Maruti and Toyota footnote theirs as certified by a test agency under Rule 115 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules; Nissan prints its figures in the Magnite's technical specification table. Nothing was taken from an aggregator or a review.

"Compact SUV" here means a sub-4-metre SUV or crossover. If you are open to larger or hybrid models, our list of the most fuel-efficient SUVs in India covers strong hybrids rated at up to 28.65 km/l.

What was not verified: variant prices for the Magnite AMT, turbo and CVT, and for the Brezza ZXi trims, which is why those rows say "not checked". Toyota does not publish a national price list, so Taisor prices are one Delhi dealer's, as served by Toyota's own price tool. Real-world mileage was not tested by us for any car here.

Frequently asked questions

Which compact SUV has the best mileage in India?

Among cars with a manufacturer-published certified figure, the Maruti Fronx. It returns 28.51 km/kg on CNG, 22.89 km/l with the 1.2 petrol AMT and 21.79 km/l with the manual. The Toyota Taisor matches it on CNG and trails by about 0.1 km/l on petrol.

Is the Toyota Taisor's mileage the same as the Fronx's?

Only on CNG, where both are rated at 28.51 km/kg. On petrol the Taisor's brochure prints 21.71 km/l (manual), 22.79 km/l (AMT), 21.18 km/l (turbo manual) and 19.86 km/l (turbo automatic), each a little below the Fronx's 21.79, 22.89, 21.5 and 20.01.

What is the mileage of the Maruti Brezza?

The 1.5-litre manual is rated at 21.09 km/l in LXi and VXi trim and 20.81 km/l in ZXi. The automatic is 20.17 km/l, the 1.0 turbo is 20.47 km/l (LXi, VXi) or 19.96 km/l (ZXi, ZXi+), and the S-CNG is 26.90 km/kg.

Why are the Tata Punch, Nexon and Hyundai Exter missing from the ranking?

Because Tata and Hyundai do not print certified mileage in the brochures for those cars, and their specification pages do not state it either. They may well be efficient; we simply have no manufacturer figure to rank.

Which compact SUV is best for CNG?

On efficiency, the Fronx and Taisor at 28.51 km/kg, with the Fronx Sigma CNG the cheaper of the two at Rs 7,93,900. Neither has a Bharat NCAP result. The Tata Punch is the CNG compact SUV whose Bharat NCAP rating (30.58 out of 32 for adults) explicitly covers its CNG variants, but Tata publishes no km/kg figure for it.

Will I get the certified mileage on the road?

Usually not. The figures come from a laboratory cycle run under standard conditions, and Toyota's brochure says in as many words that actual mileage on the road may vary. Traffic, air conditioning, load and driving style all pull the number down, and turbo engines tend to drop further than naturally aspirated ones when driven hard.

Mileage and specifications were taken from the Maruti Suzuki, Toyota, Nissan, Tata, Hyundai, Renault, Kia, Mahindra and Citroen brochures, prices from each manufacturer's own price page or price tool, and crash scores from Bharat NCAP and Global NCAP, all checked on 13 October 2026. Prices are ex-showroom and vary by city, variant and date. Confirm the price and the equipment of the exact variant with your dealer before buying.