India, March 16 -- City traffic can quickly drain the joy out of driving. Endless crawling, sudden braking and constant gear shifts can make even short drives exhausting. That is exactly why an automatic hatchback makes so much sense for everyday commuting. They are relatively compact, easy to manoeuvre, and far less tiring when traffic turns into a slow crawl.

If I had to pick five automatic hatchbacks that would genuinely make daily urban drives easier while still being interesting to own, these would be my picks.

If money were no object, the Volkswagen Golf GTI would easily be the ultimate hatchback commuter. Under the hood sits a 2.0 litre TSI engine producing around 265 PS and 370 Nm, paired with a 7 speed DSG automatic. That means...