Oct 28, 2009 12:38 PM
12770 Views
(Updated Jul 30, 2010 12:58 PM)
Having written about the process that I went through in deciding about the purchase of a hatchback already, and having told you about my perception of the good and bad points of almost all small cars available in the market today, including the santro, wagon r, zen estilo, ritz, swift, i10, i20 and spark, I now would like to tell you more in detail about the car that I did finally purchase; the i10 with automatic transmission, sportz model.
Overall:
Hyundai launched this model as an upgrade from their very popular small car Santro and was initially available with the 1100 cc engine which was a little better tuned to give somewhat more efficiency than the Santro. It was also a little shorter in height but about 40 mm wider for better stability. Later they also came out with a new 1200 cc all aluminum lightweight and efficient engines that they called “kappa”. With this engine the car became an instant hit and was awarded the best car of the year in 2008.
The Exteriors:
The car sure has a beautiful shape. I have to admit that I never appreciated it much when it was launched and continued to like the shape of the santro, but of late I truly fell in love with this little beauty. Weather it’s the shape of the headlights or the curves of the windows they are all very aesthetically done. The external rear view mirrors are large and provide a very good view of the scene behind. The white color and the black side moldings make it look rather “executive”, so to speak. The body color door handles are also sure a plus, which I did not even have in the fully loaded Ikon 1.6 Zxi. Only the radio antenna appears too long is a rather outdated design now. A much smaller and thicker one like in the bigger cars could have completed the package. Overall extremely beautiful exteriors
*The Interiors:
The interiors of this car are surely a couple of notches above what at least I am used to seeing in the small cars of Maruti. Dual tone beige interiors do lend a classy affect to the inside. The dials of the speedometer and other gauges are in a nice green and red contrast so it’s rather easy to read from them. Ample small storage slots are provided for holding glasses, sunglasses, mobiles etc. There are also slots on the door sides in addition to the ones on the dash and between the two front seats. The AC ducts especially on the sides are of a rather nice design. They are circular in shape and can be turned around in any direction or completely closed as the need may be. Though the ones on the inside seem to have rather limited sweep angle.
The music system includes a CD player and a tuner. The same can only be termed as satisfactory as the power sometimes does seem a little inadequate. And especially if you are used to the Ford original music system this one will seem like a whimper. But still it’s better to have an original factory fitted one than go for installing one yourself, is what I have always believed in and so went with it.
The seating as I told before is simply excellent. It gives you a very good view of the road and getting in and out of the same does not involve any effort at all. The back seats also have ample space or to put it another way, surely more than the santro. Also since the shock absorbers are not the same anymore there are almost negligible bumps to be felt either in the front or the back seats.
The headrests for the front seats are integrated with the main seat itself, though I could not understand the logic or the advantages of the same, at the same time I could also not see any distinct disadvantage. The rear headrests though are the usual adjustable height ones.
The parcel tray was part of the standard equipment for the sports model. This model also came with a rear defogger and windshield wiper for the rear window.
Though the power steering appeared to be a tad stiff initially, it soon settled down very well in a couple of days.
The tilt steering is again a feature that one could only expect in a much larger and expensive car. It helps avoid a lot of driving strain on the shoulder and neck muscles that results from keeping a hand on the steering which may be at an awkward height.
Overall I would say the interiors are excellent and up market.
The Drive:
There is no clutch in this model and the gears change on their own. It has 4 forward and one reverse gear. If you put the car in the D mode it will automatically engage one out of these four gears depending upon the speed and the acceleration. Under all normal driving conditions you would only need to keep the car in the D mode. If you need any extra power, like when overtaking a vehicle on the highway, then you could press a button which is located on the gear stick itself, called the overdrive button, and the dashboard would show a sign of “overdrive off”. Under this condition the car does not go into the 4th(overdrive) gear and will stay in the 3rd as the top gear, giving you extra power.
Further for certain extraordinary driving conditions like driving uphill or driving in slushy conditions, two manual gear options are also available. The same are “2”, equivalent of 2nd gear and L for driving up very steep slopes or slushy conditions. One can think this to be the equivalent of the first gear. For reversing the car there is an “R” gear, and one for neutral “N” and another one called “P”. When one parks the car one can put it in the P gear wherein apart from putting it in the neutral gear a parking brake is also engaged.
The brake is power assisted to aid stopping the car with such an automatic transmission. And in place of the clutch there is a dummy pedal that one can rest the left foot on.
I feel extremely happy about having decided upon an automatic transmission car. Driving it is such a hassle free experience. Surely worth every penny spent on it. Surely also worth the lower average that one would get. It’s definitely a high that one can pay for!
I am not going to comment on the mileage just yet but will surely update you all near about the first service either by an sms review or a dairy post, just so you don’t miss it.
The Delivery and Finance Experience:
My experience with the nationalized bank for getting the loan was also rather smooth. In fact much smoother than what I would have bargained for. There was one paper pending from my side on the day that I had to take the delivery of the vehicle, but in spite of the same the bank gave me the letter of approval and said that the actual draft would be made after I submit the same. And would you believe it, the dealership also gave me the actual delivery of the vehicle on the strength of that letter!
Though after having given around Rs 27, 000 in discounts the only free accessories that they gave me were the mats and mud flaps. A pack of sweets and framed instant photo of the actual key handing over(that they made into quite a ceremony) were a pleasant surprise indeed.
Kudos to Hyundai for having totally shaken up the market leader with so much better value for money products!
Milage: On the first tank refill I got a milage of 12.12 with AC on all the time. My drive is about 20KM to and fro office everyday but there is not too much traffic enroute. 2nd tank fill, with AC mostly off this time, it returned an average of 14.75 km/ltr.
