[shineshine]

I had a test drive of EON and I am extremely disappointed in the driveability. With 3 persons onboard and with AC, it struggled to pull over an incline which cars like Alto and 800 pull with ease. I had to put 1st gear all through the incline in EON

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by bimi

Care to elaborate more with details? Is ARAI the culprit or Hyundai? Or the driver's driving style or habits?

Simple - just check with team bhp posts itself and know what the new generation hyundai cars like i10, i10 auto, i20 arai figures and actual figures. I don't say all other manufacturers give what they offer, but the difference is much less compared to the cars mentioned above. I don't know who is the culprit, but drivers have to struggle a lot to get (and may not get) those figures compared to other cars, imo.

[sidindica]

A little known but interesting fact is that the old Hyundai ATOZ (korean version of 1998 santro) was sold in Korea with an 800 cc engine only.

[devansn]

Nice review, thanks GTO!

Absolutely great interiors for an entry level hatch! And the boot is quite large for a car of this size. But thats about it. Nothing else really looks exciting.

In my opinion, Spark is still the best option in the segment as an ONLY car if the lower variants are compared (Considering that one gets the usually announced 2.75 lakh deal - I think since it was first launched, Chevy has announced more or less the same deal at least a dozen times... I bought a PS version - lower + power steering + A/C for 3.15 on road last year) :
1. You get a proper 4 cylinder engine
2. Excellent ride - among the best, if not THE best in the segment
3. Matured handling with the hydraulic steering unit - among the best, if not THE best in the segment
4. Decent power - Not the best though
5. 3 Year Free service - remember, you spend ONLY for fuel for damn three years!
6. Excellent low-end torque - almost Diesel-like

My two cents...

[Reinhard]

The interiors are definitely a big Plus that the EON has on offer compared with the competition. Decades ahead of the others. The little bits like the knuckle holder for parking seat belt are really commendable. Its really a practical car for a small family that wants to have a car, for those once in a while rides to relatives and usual in city drives.

It would be wise if Hyundai pulls the plug on the Santro GL Plus (is it available in other trims also still?) and put the iRDE2 into the EON some day - at least the Magna / Sportz with a slightly hiked price. On the same day, they'll have to also pull the plug on the iRDE2 i10 Era though. Otherwise it will be hit bad.

Overall ergonomics and fit & finish is really pleasing - at least to the eyes. As for the current engine's outright power, well Alto didn't have much of it and it sold hot. Indica XETA has quite a lot of it (along with extra weight) and it never tilted the scales upto its potential.
So, even today, the masses don't want the Ferrari Dino s, or the VW TDi s under their car's hoods. They want a car, that will take them to places with sufficient pampering, and a car, which will make their neighbours say "hey, nice car, BADHIYA HAI!" while still drilling a small, manageable hole in the pocket. I see the EON fitting that bill. Its a car for the masses after all, and nothing wrong in it.

Is the Alto really bad to fall prey to the EON? Definitely NOT. Its a car that can live for eternity. The markets are cruel. People start hating things just because they are old. Why else would the Mitsubishi Lancer get replaced by the Cedia? Anyway, our current Alto is already replaced by the newer generation in other markets, which is sold (is it taken though?) as A-Star in India. The catch is, now Maruti has a competitor to the Alto, which is ultra modern in looks. Now it has to start thinking of a proper next generation Alto, that will fit the Indian needs, and not something like the A-Star. A-Star isn't bad either, but it isnt what the masses want. Its for those select few, who would "Stop at Nothing!"

GTO - hats off to you for that review. Well, I've lost track of how many hats I've taken off to you! Many Thanks for that ultra detailed, neutral as ever collection of facts.

[needforspeed88]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

So, even today, the masses don't want the Ferrari Dino s, or the VW TDi s under their car's hoods. They want a car, that will take them to places with sufficient pampering, and a car, which will make their neighbours say "hey, nice car, BADHIYA HAI!" while still drilling a small, manageable hole in the pocket. I see the EON fitting that bill. Its a car for the masses after all, and nothing wrong in it.

Common people might not want Ferrari Dino's under the hood but they definitely want a car with good low end torque , good city driveability with good fuel efficiency . Why are you comparing it only to the Alto . The way it is priced it competes with Spark , Santro , Alto K10 as well as Beat and Figo .Now when u compare it to those cars especially the Beat and Spark which come with powerful four cylinder engines , arguably better sheet metal quality ,much better NVH, refinement, much better ride and handling and definitely much better image especially in case of Beat . All the points you have mentioned come cropper when u compare it to the cars it is competing against price-wise .It will do well but i am certain it will struggle to sell even half as much as an Alto does . Alto sells close to thirty thousand units , let us see how much Eon sells after its initial hype dies down.

[mathranik]

Contrary to what many believe on this forum, the Eon has hardly moved from the shelf, let alone fly! The bookings have been hard to come by, and as the initial hype faded off in the first 15 days, it is back to square one for Hyundai - they have to slug it off with Alto and even Beat. All this is actually coming from the disappointing sales figures reported by the dealers!

I was at a Hyundai dealership yesterday to book the Verna for my uncle and there was SOME crowd there! Just trying to guage their responses after EON test drives, I could easily see them disappointed with the overall product. At the end of the day, some of them had already upgraded themselves to Santro (citing it to be a tried-and-tested brand), other simply shifted to a Maruti product. There was some cross-buying between top-end Eon and base i10 too!

Hyundai would need to push the repositioning switch by the end of this year, once they are done basking in the initial 2-month sales figures. Great product, just a tad too expensive to fit in any particular segment!

[carwatcher]

I read somewhere on T-Bhp that "Hyundai i20 is well designed good looking car with excellent interiors, that's all." Same goes for EON. Infact all Hyundai cars (incl Verna) lack power and driving pleasure. It seems the target customers for Hyundai are:-
1. Ladies (Ohhhh so beautiful car! I can show this off to my neighbor and friends, what is meant by driving pleasure I don't care)
2. Middle Level Executives (show off to their colleagues)
3. People who don't prefer driving pleasure over looks (In reality, in city traffic conditions you don't get much of driving pleasure you are looking for, so atleast why not spend time in luxurious interiors)
That is why we saw ads like Santro waale and Ubercool, urban landscapes, etc.
EON - Yet another "Great" car by Hyundai catering to their target customers.

[needforspeed88]

Originally Posted by mathranik

I was at a Hyundai dealership yesterday to book the Verna for my uncle and there was SOME crowd there! Just trying to guage their responses after EON test drives, I could easily see them disappointed with the overall product. At the end of the day, some of them had already upgraded themselves to Santro (citing it to be a tried-and-tested brand), other simply shifted to a Maruti product. There was some cross-buying between top-end Eon and base i10 too!

Hyundai would need to push the repositioning switch by the end of this year, once they are done basking in the initial 2-month sales figures. Great product, just a tad too expensive to fit in any particular segment!

You know Hyundai has tried to be a little too cute with Eon .As GTO has himself stated in his review , plonking a 3pot motor in to the Eon had more to do with milking some more life out of Santro , than it is to do with cost . They got a little too greedy in that they wanted the Eon to coexist with Santro and wanted a reasonable differentiation factor between the two.Now they were playing a dicey game where they thought

1] People who would want a fresh product with good looking exterior and interiors would go for the Eon .

2] People wanting a proven ,tried and tested product with a four pot motor will go for the Santro .

3] People willing to spend that little extra with a premium product with a four pot motor would go for the Base i-10 .

In a bid to prolong the life of old horse Santro they have compromised a very good product like EON with a three pot motor resulting in poor low end torque , poor driveablity and poor NVH .

Now they have created a situation where they find the EON land bang in the middle a host of products like Beat ,Figo ,Estilo . Alto ,Alto K10, and Spark .Hyundai has made life difficult for EON by asking to fight the above cars with one hand tied back [three pot motor with poor NVH].

Only if Hyundai had launched Eon with four pot with the same price tag it would have been unstoppable to say the least . As somebody said they are banking on the fact that people would buy the car for good looks and bragging rights alone . Lets see ,how far they will be proven right .

[DWind]

Going by the past trends, Hyundai has always held back a few tricks when releasing something new in the market. An example being the i10. It was initially released with the same epsilon engine of Santro, then kappa was added and then came the Kappa2. Until now it has done everything to save the Santro. If Eon sales are not as expected I am sure they will pull the plug on Santro and reposition Eon with the Santro motor (with the missing features like ABS) and rejig the 800 cc version by starting a bit lower albeit after removing a few features.

[needforspeed88]

Originally Posted by DWind

Going by the past trends, Hyundai has always held back a few tricks when releasing something new in the market. An example being the i10. It was initially released with the same epsilon engine of Santro, then kappa was added and then came the Kappa2. Until now it has done everything to save the Santro. If Eon sales are not as expected I am sure they will pull the plug on Santro and reposition Eon with the Santro motor (with the missing features like ABS) and rejig the 800 cc version by starting a bit lower albeit after removing a few features.

You know Eon is such a fresh , good looking product that it can continueto look fresh and modern for a long time to come . It is where the future lies. Hyundai would do best to make sure Eon gets a head start than holding it back only to milk some more life out of Santro.

[auto-one]

Thanks GTO, for your excellent ( as usual ) review.
Kudos to Hyundai for offering a modern exterior design along with some segment first features and high quality interiors on a budget hatch. However, I fail to understand why the EON is not equipped with rear defogger and wiper. IMO these are absolutely necessary features. Also, I agree with GTO, the car should have been offered with ABS instead of driver's side Airbag.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by auto-one

Thanks GTO, for your excellent ( as usual ) review.
Kudos to Hyundai for offering a modern exterior design along with some segment first features and high quality interiors on a budget hatch. However, I fail to understand why the EON is not equipped with rear defogger and wiper. IMO these are absolutely necessary features. Also, I agree with GTO, the car should have been offered with ABS instead of driver's side Airbag.

Indeed. With ABS, the probability of airbags deploying already decreases a lot . Looks like Hyundai gets the Airbag units a lot cheaper than the ABS assemblies... :P

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by DWind

Going by the past trends, Hyundai has always held back a few tricks when releasing something new in the market. An example being the i10. It was initially released with the same epsilon engine of Santro, then kappa was added and then came the Kappa2.

When i10 was launched 'Kappa' was still in testing/development. Hence i10 was launched with the 1.1 epsilon engine.
It's not the case with EON launch. The epsilon 1.1 engine is already in production.

[Urban_Nomad]

Off topic:

Any idea when the New Maruti 800 will be launched? The spy pics (Autocar - July 2011) look promising. The wagon R - ish body should liberate space an it will definitely be priced below the Alto.

Unless it suffers from the same weak air conditioner of the previous gen (current?) 800, it will obliterate everything in the entry level car segment.

Ironic no? The death blow to the Alto might come from the Maruti stable itself.

And when that happens, Eon, I do not think will figure anywhere on the sales charts.

Edit - hope it comes with the power steering as an option.