[Arjun Reddy]

Originally Posted by bhaskaracs

That is perhaps not a fair comparison with Corolla. I would like to look at how many Corollas are sold every month under commercial plates. An Elantra, Jetta or Octavia are no liked by cab/tour operators for obvious reason. Hence the #s they clock will be lower than Corolla.

The Corolla numbers was just used to mention the segment topper. I am in no ways comparing any of these cars against each other. Just disappointed that the entire entry D segment can't garner even a 1000 cars , though they offer excellent bang for the buck. People some how prefer pseudo SUVs. I bought my Elantra 3 years ago at 18.5 lakh OTR Bangalore and have enjoyed every bit of it. Look what you get now for a similar price , a Creta with no dual aircon, no solar glass, no ventilated seats , even the rear view mirror is not an ecm. The 5th gen and the 6th gen Elantra is a way better car than the Corolla or the Creta. With Octavia now being discounted by upto 3 lakhs in some cases it just makes it that much compelling to go for a D segment saloon.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Autocar India just uploaded their video review of the Elantra few minutes ago!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4MY8soZ7LQ

[bhaskaracs]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

The Corolla numbers was just used to mention the segment topper. I am in no ways comparing any of these cars against each other. Just disappointed that the entire entry D segment can't garner even a 1000 cars

1. I am saying Corolla is a segment leader because it probably sells more # under the commercial badge. Hence not a fair comparison

2. Companies stay invested in D segment even selling 200 odd units a month. They have enough market research capabilities to estimate the # of units a badge such as Elantra might sell within a 20-25% variance. Companies are happy and they continue to bring new launches albeit a bit late to India

3. I drive an Elantra and I will not be driving one if it is selling 1000+ cars every month - there is no exclusivity (within my budget) if they sell those numbers. If it sells such #s then it will probably be priced around 75%-80% of the current price. And there will likely be a more exclusive product than Elantra/Jetta available in my budget which sells 200-300 units every month which I will drive

4. I will not worry about the segment rather stay happy that I have chosen the right segment which gives a small shot at exclusivity within my peer group within my budget. I will leave the company management to worry about it - which they dont seem right now.

[recalcitrant]

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[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by manoj_joseph78

Thanks dark.knight. Was it Petrol or Diesel?

That would be a petrol, I'm always a petrol kind of car guy.

Originally Posted by recalcitrant

thanks dark.night.
Though I feel certain features are better left out of the Indian spec car. lane keep assist and pedestrian detection for example. I guess with the absence of lane markers on our roads, the former might lead to chaos at times. Accidental braking with respect to pedestrian detection - the car would refuse to move in our cities full of jaywalkers

You're welcome, yes some features are not applicable for Indian variants but certainly as you agreed, Lane Keep Assist is.. even i20 has it for Europe. They could've easily set a standard by bringing in such premium active safety assists + premium experience aspects like high-end audio etc.. the Fiat Punto has Harman Kardon, why cant the Elantra have the Infinity 8 speaker setup I wonder. Little things matter even if they hike the price by Rs.2L. We need a truly 100% international car from the Elantra upwards (Tucson, Sonata and possibly Genesis are to follow), the "less" expensive models like Grand i10, i20, Creta, etc can be deprived of features which is already the case and worsening by the year.

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Just disappointed that the entire entry D segment can't garner even a 1000 cars , though they offer excellent bang for the buck. People some how prefer pseudo SUVs.

Look at it this way, people who buy the Elantra crave a certain exclusivity and rightly so. Our country isn't equipped to handle such big cars so the lesser they are the better for everybody. There is a theory that I came up with looking at the evolving business scenario.. I felt that those who want a 95% or even 99% perfect product will buy a "best value" product, for everything else there is that luxury product for the 100%, that jump of between 5% to 1% will probably cost much more that the proportional jump of tangible discernibility percentage-wise, but that's how it works. The solar-glass, the build, the feel, the practicality, dual-zone climatron etc make it the 100% product but costs climb due to the prestige factor as well.

For the rest there is inflation, a fully loaded i20 back then was 8 lacs and still had people gasping for breath thinking it is overpriced, today its 10+, inflation is basically flattening the savings universally and it should be no different for cars as well. The ONLY way to offset the capital costs is to buy the car you love, run it for a decade at the least and then jump to the next but by then car prices would've shot up at least 33%, one has to make do with the tax depreciation, lowering insurance rates and weighted average of capital divided by number of years of ownership to balance it out.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by bhaskaracs

Companies stay invested in D segment even selling 200 odd units a month. Companies are happy and they continue to bring new launches albeit a bit late to India

We missed the last generation Civic. Will get the current generation only at the end of its life cycle. Skoda Octavia Diesel is only on paper. The new generation Jetta won't be sold in our market.

Not really a happy picture for the D segment. Only Hyundai and Toyota are somewhat chugging along.

[recalcitrant]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

We missed the last generation Civic. Will get the current generation only at the end of its life cycle. Skoda Octavia Diesel is only on paper. The new generation Jetta won't be sold in our market.

Not really a happy picture for the D segment. Only Hyundai and Toyota are somewhat chugging along.

I think others might pick up pace if/when the new Elantra does well. Commendable that Hyundai is seeing an opportunity here and trying to reignite the segment. I somehow feel that Toyota is mostly after fleet numbers - I might be wrong.

But disappointed that the new Jetta won't be making it to the Indian shores.

Off topic, but Civic's engine + Jetta's handling + Hyundai's features would be such a killer car.

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

We missed the last generation Civic. Will get the current generation only at the end of its life cycle. Skoda Octavia Diesel is only on paper. The new generation Jetta won't be sold in our market.



Not really a happy picture for the D segment. Only Hyundai and Toyota are somewhat chugging along.

I feel there are better times ahead for the D segment. With the general market and business scenario looking fairly stable, expect a lot of existing C segment people to upgrade. And there are still a lot of people who want to upgrade to a proper sedan rather than an SUV. If you come to think of it, all the typical SUVs are now well over 30 Lakhs ( Fortuner, Endeavour etc) so these D segment sedans which are in the range of 17-20 Lakhs offer decent value for money. I just think there are lack of options to really fire up the segment. You just have the Octavia, Elantra and the Corolla Altis. I really wish Honda would bring in the Civic and also Ford brings in the Focus. Right now it's the case of Octavia being a slightly risky buy and the other 2 being a little boring in terms of looks and engine options.

[vb-saan]

I was looking at some of the online video reviews. Shocked to see that Hyundai has provided only a lap belt for the rear middle passenger! Another segment first??

[recalcitrant]

vb-san, could you kindly share the link of the review?

Missed it during my test ride. If that is indeed the case, would be very disappointed.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by recalcitrant

vb-san, could you kindly share the link of the review?

Missed it during my test ride. If that is indeed the case, would be very disappointed.

Check the video reviews from Autocar India, or say Autoportal

Couple of screenshots below:

[himanshugoswami]

saw the new elantra on the road today. Must say it looks quite underwhelming. The previous generation had way more street presence than this one. Also it looked smaller than the previous gen elantra.

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by Voyager-1

I wonder why the RPM for 100 kph is so high for a 2L petrol engine. Even the 1.6L Diesel Verna does 100 kph at <2000 RPM in 6th gear. Is this something that is characteristic of a petrol engine?

Naturally aspirated petrol engines make less peak torque and that too at higher rpm compared to CRDI Diesel engine, so the gearing has to be taller to retain the driveability. Even in this case the 1.6 litre Diesel makes more Torque and at lower RPM compared to the 2 Litre petrol.

[lurker]

does anybody feel that the seating is quite low on this one, one almost feels like hugging the road. There is quite an advantage with the traditional SUV high seating with a good upright view of the surroundings.

[RavenAvi]

Hyundai India has received more than 500 bookings for the new-gen Elantra in the first month since the car's launch, and about 60% of the bookings are for it's petrol variants. (Source)