Hyundai i10 for Dummies

Had the privilege of test driving a Hyundai i10 Sportz on last Friday. I might not have a 5000 hours of driving experience under my kitty, but I could drive around at 5th gear on ITPL road to test all the bumps and thuds this road is famous for. First of all, I would like to comment about the Hyundai customer care. These guys are as prompt as an Englishman :-). The moment I called up their customer care and fixed an appointment for a test drive the next day, I got 3 calls from them (one from Gurgaon office and 2 from the Advaith Hyundai showroom) to confirm the appointment. Kudos to them. I hope the after sales service too is as prompt (which I heard from a friend of mine, it is). I think Tata and Maruthi need to take a note of this. I have booked 3 calls with Maruthi for the Ritz Test drive, but somehow, I assume, they think I am too unimportant for them. Know what guys...I don't care. I don't need a 1.1 Ritz when I can think Kappa Buhhaaahahaha.

Then the D-Day. The sales person drove down to my office at exactly the scheduled time and we started off. 4 grown up men (3 oversized bloats :)), and me behind the wheel. Now for the real meat.

The interior has a cosy look and feel with the beige coloring frame and the beige seating. The seat is bucket styled, and good enough for a 5'5" (I am 5' 8" though and found it easy to drive).
Both the front and the rear provide a wide viewing experience (thanks to the A and C pillars being of lesser width as compared to Swift). The side view mirrors are really wide and with very less blind spot.

The gear shift, mounted on a console, was as smooth as butter (I am used to doing a hard 1st shift...thanks to my Alto gear box..). I noticed a Wagon R coming up behind me and I wanted to avoid this guy overtaking me since the road ahead was empty and if I followed this guy, I might not be able to test the i10 to it's fullest. But I was a bit apprehensive, since, with the A/C running and in 2nd gear, I was of the opinion, no small hatchback would be able to get the needed thrust. But this baby was awesome. There was absolutely no difference from driving with the A/C turned off. And I whizzed ahead of the Wagon R in less than 4 seconds :) (I should have checked the look on the Wagon R driver's face .

The gear shifts were smooth and I reached 5th gear in no time (at 90 KMPH now), then I noticed the bump. I am used to scraping my Alto's bottom on this one monster a couple of times and I always make it a point to make sure I am absolutely slow while driving over it. But I wanted to test i10's ground clearance (and what the hell, it isn't my car anyway), so I thought of taking on 3rd gear over it at 30 KMPH. And lo behold, did just that like a breeze. Very impressive. The steering column is both collapsable (for safety) and tiltable (convenience) and extremely sensitive handling. I was able to negotiate a sharp turn with just one hand on the wheel (I have this bad habit of driving with just one hand and the other on the gear). Made it through a couple of pot holes too with very less thuds.

The turning radius is similar to Santro (and a bit more than Alto) at 5 mtrs. so it is better to take that slight left and then turn to the right, if you are not used to it, lest you end up doing a double turn on a busy road. The brakes are very responsive (stopped the devil in its tracks at the next bump while doing an 80.

The boot space is decent and good enough for holding luggage of a family of four. Rear seats are 60-40 folding so you get that extra space in the rear (if you want to leave you mother in law with the luggages in the rear, this is the best option hehehehee). Sportz comes with a fully integrated music system, so the rear speakers are mounted on the door. So you get that folding panel in the rear for some soft toys (unlike Alto where I have the speaker mounted on the panel and have to be careful about the stuffs I keep there).

Headlamps are nice, elongated and wide. No complaints about their performance.

Some cons though:
Sportz is a bit pricy (around 30 K more than Magna), but comes with HMSL, Rear spoiler, rear defogger and a jazzy upholstry (for Red and black variants) with an integrated music system. But I think it is worth the experience you get out of it.

I am not too much into the NM and Torque and all that shit, but I can say this, on an incline with 4 decently built people, this car might just be able to make that hairpin bend which you would have scared to do in any other small car.

All in all: I would recommend this car (or magna or asta if you have some extra cash) to people who are considering their first car or are tired of their existing hatchback.
Driving, braking, pickup: 4.5/5
FE: 13 KMPL (city), 19 (highways, as told)
A.C.: Decent
Pricing: Affordable
On road (BLR): 467700 (Maybe you could bargain on the 1st year insurance waiver and Rs. 4K discount, the On road comes down to 4.49 L.) Came to know from a friend today, that they are giving some more accessories if you know how to bargain (which you would know if you are a true South Indian ;))

So long folks.

Be Safe...Play safe...always use the seat belt.

(TD'ing Vista tomorrow, shall post more on it)