Waiting for the (new) Tata car

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: the sooner they launch it, the better. There is apparently a huge waiting list for the Maruti Swift diesel, dealers try to flog other slow-moving Maruti cars when you go to ask for a Swift diesel, and many like me need to urgently benchmark one against the other and then make a decision. So, Tata Motors, please hurry up.

Interesting ad war between the Maruti Wagon-R/LPG and Hyundai Santro/CNG, with each trying to point out the other’s shortcomings. So, assuming both the cars are almost the same barring small things here and there, what would the real score be in the LPG vs CNG stand-off?

A. CNG is certainly safer than LPG. A leak in a CNG car, it is lighter than air, and it dissipates if vented. A leak in an LPG car, and you better run fast and far, it is heavier than air and will catch fire very soon. There are different schools of thought on whether LPG fitted cars should even be allowed into basement parking lots.

B. CNG is easier to maintain. Corrosion and bad maintenance are better taken care by CNG.

C. CNG is not freely available all over the country, restricted to a few cities. LPG is spreading all over the country.

D. You tend to lose more boot space in CNG cars, the tanks end up weighing more, so that’s a big plus for LPG.

F. Cost per kilo varies locally, as well as depends on whether you are illegally using cooking gas or not.

One factor which I have started double checking on as far as possible when I travel, is to try to avoid using taxis or auto-rickshaws running on LPG, because the maintenance is doubtful. Diesel smells, no doubt, but at least it doesn’t catch fire and explode under the rear seat as easily. Sad, but true.