Hyundai Bayon: Buy the HX6, Skip the HX5 CVT

The Hyundai Bayon starts at ₹9.99 lakh ex-showroom and tops out at ₹18 lakh for the loaded HX10 automatic. The variant to skip is the one most automatic buyers try first, the HX5 Petrol CVT: at ₹13.85 lakh ex-showroom it costs more than the HX6 manual while giving you a smaller sunroof, steel-look wheels instead of diamond-cut alloys, and no ambient lighting. Buy the HX6 Petrol MT instead.

Hyundai launched the Bayon on 26 October 2026 at that price, right where its own Venue tops out, and The Spec’d covered that launch here. This is a different question: of the 11 variants, which one is worth your money, using real on-road prices and EMIs rather than brochure figures.

The Hyundai Bayon Variant Price Ladder

All 11 versions use the same 1.5-litre, 115 PS petrol engine. What changes is equipment, and how much each step actually costs.

Look closely at the HX5 Petrol CVT row. You pay ₹1.4 lakh over the HX5 manual purely for the gearbox, and the result still costs ₹28,000 more than the HX6 manual, a car with the sunroof, alloys and ambient lighting the HX5 CVT does not have.

Why the HX5 CVT Is the One to Skip

This holds on the road too. On The Spec’d’s on-road price page for Mumbai, the HX5 CVT comes to about ₹16.16 lakh, against ₹15.84 lakh for the HX6 manual, a car with the sunroof, alloys and ambient lighting the HX5 CVT lacks. If the gearbox matters more to you than any one feature, the HX6 CVT at about ₹17.45 lakh on the road gets you both for just ₹1.29 lakh more. The HX5 CVT has no real reason to exist in this lineup.

What the Hyundai Bayon Actually Costs on the Road

These are The Spec’d’s on-road estimates, built from Hyundai’s ex-showroom price and Maharashtra’s road-tax rules, not a dealer quote. The base HX2 is cheapest in Puducherry at about ₹10.89 lakh on the road, ₹71,024 less than Mumbai, since Puducherry charges a flat 4 percent road tax against Mumbai’s 11 percent. On EMI, worked on the Mumbai on-road price at 20 percent down over 5 years at 9.5 percent interest, the HX2 comes to about ₹19,497 a month and the HX6 to about ₹26,606 a month. On-road in Mumbai, the Bayon’s ₹11.6 lakh starting price undercuts the Skoda Kushaq (₹12.44 lakh) and Volkswagen Taigun (₹12.79 lakh) but sits just above the Tata Curvv (₹11.61 lakh) and MG Astor (₹11.37 lakh).

Mileage: What Is Actually Published, and What Is Not

Hyundai has published an ARAI-claimed 18.6 kmpl, but only for the CVT versions, HX5, HX6, HX8 and HX10. No figure has been published for any manual variant, HX6 Petrol MT included. At the claimed CVT figure, running cost works out to about ₹5,380 per 1,000 km at ₹100 a litre, and the 43-litre tank is good for roughly 790 km. The Bayon only launched on 26 October, so no independent real-world mileage test exists yet. Treat 18.6 kmpl as a lab figure: ARAI tests do not carry Mumbai traffic or the air-conditioning load most owners actually drive with.

The Real Flaws

None of these are dealbreakers, but they matter when you are picking a trim:

• Rear drum brakes carry through HX2 to HX6. Only HX8 and HX10 get four disc brakes, the genuine reason to consider HX8 despite its ₹1.53 lakh jump over HX6.
• ADAS, the 12.3-inch cluster and the 360-degree camera are locked to the HX10, at ₹16.65 lakh to ₹18 lakh, well above where most Bayon buyers will shop.
• No diesel, turbo-petrol or CNG at launch. Hyundai says CNG follows only in early 2027.
• No crash-test rating has been published for this model yet.

Which Hyundai Bayon Variant Should You Buy?

For most buyers, the HX6 Petrol MT at ₹13.57 lakh ex-showroom is the one to book. It already carries the panoramic sunroof, diamond-cut alloys, leather-wrapped wheel and LED projector headlamps that make a cabin feel like it costs more than it did, without the badly-priced HX5 CVT in between. If you specifically want the extra braking margin and parking aids, step up to the HX8, the only real upgrade worth the jump beyond HX6. Reserve the HX10 for buyers who will genuinely use adaptive cruise control and blind-spot monitoring on long highway runs, since you are otherwise paying ₹1.55 lakh over the HX8 for tech most city drivers will rarely touch.

Skip the HX5 CVT. It is the only Bayon variant that costs more and gives you less than the one next to it.

The Bayon enters a crowded field; see every compact SUV on sale in India for how it stacks up beyond this lineup, and since Hyundai’s own Venue tops out close to where the Bayon begins, cross-shoppers can line the two up directly: Hyundai Bayon vs Hyundai Venue.

What is the on-road price of the Hyundai Bayon?

The base HX2 Petrol MT works out to about ₹11.6 lakh on the road in Mumbai and about ₹10.89 lakh in Puducherry, the cheapest of the 39 cities The Spec’d prices, mainly because of the lower road-tax slab. Ex-showroom prices run from ₹9.99 lakh to ₹18 lakh across all 11 variants.

Which Hyundai Bayon variant is the best value?

The HX6 Petrol MT, at ₹13.57 lakh ex-showroom. It adds the panoramic sunroof, diamond-cut alloys, leather-wrapped steering wheel and LED projector headlamps over the HX5 manual for ₹1.12 lakh, and it is better equipped than the pricier HX5 Petrol CVT.

Is the Hyundai Bayon automatic worth the extra money?

Only from the HX6 Petrol CVT up. The HX5 Petrol CVT costs more than the HX6 manual for less equipment, so an automatic buyer should skip straight to the HX6 CVT, at about ₹17.45 lakh on the road in Mumbai, rather than settle for the HX5 CVT in between.