[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by satishv1987

Top Review. The price difference(ex-showroom) between the Era variants of the Grand i10 & the i20 is a INR 40000. The two do not stand very far apart when it comes to the in-car features they have to offer.Yes, the latter is a much more premium product.For someone who will have primarily be commuting within the city, it will not make sense to go for a more powerful car(read the i20). A prospective i20 buyer might consider picking the Grand instead. Why did Hyundai place the Grand in a manner that it might end up cannibalizing the sales of its more premium sibling? Are the margins in the premium segment less compared to what they get with the entry level hatchbacks?

Hyundai had a big gap in the product/pricing between the i10 and i20 models which was tapped by competition (read swift/figo/etios/vista etc) - they dont mind i10/i20 sales numbers drop as long as the numbers move to grand i10.
This is one of the biggest success strategies by maruti where there are a mind-boggling number of cars/models between the low end 800 and the top end swift.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Were there any Era, Magna variants for the test drive?

Sorry. Only top variants on the media drive (as is usually the case).

Originally Posted by sriramr9

could you please confirm us if the diesel drive train is the version derived from that of i20 CRDi unit

Yep, I believe this is the little brother of the i20's 4-cylinder mill.

Originally Posted by satishv1987

The price difference(ex-showroom) between the Era variants of the Grand i10 & the i20 is a INR 40000. The two do not stand very far apart when it comes to the in-car features they have to offer.Yes, the latter is a much more premium product.

My pick would be the i20 diesel. However, I can understand why someone would still buy the i10. It's smaller (thus, easier within the city) and has lesser turbo-lag (again, helps in the city).

Why did Hyundai place the Grand in a manner that it might end up cannibalizing the sales of its more premium sibling? Are the margins in the premium segment less compared to what they get with the entry level hatchbacks?

As mentioned in my review, Maruti & Hyundai don't worry about cannibalization as long as the customer stays in their showroom.

Steve Jobs once said, if you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will

[100kmph]

One more thing GTO sir, how is the driveability and low end torque of the U2 diesel in comparision to the mainstream 3 pot petrol mills including the K10B used on A-Star, Wagon-R, Alto K10? And please do compare the NVH levels.

[thoma]

Have these hit the roads already? I saw one today at Trivandrum (being driven by an owner I guess, listening to earphones though!) in orange and looked good, especially from the front.

[misquitas]

Originally Posted by GTO

DIESEL
Reverse is located up, to the extreme left:



PETROL:
Petrol's transmission follows a conventional layout:

I am not familiar with diesel gear boxes and I would request someone to please throw more light on my following queries:

1. Do gear boxes in other diesel engines follow a similar placement/activation for the 'reverse' gear, as is present in the Grand i10?

2. If so, why is the placement/activation of the 'reverse' gear designed that way and what purpose does it serve?

3. If not, why could the Grand i10 have adopted this design for the gear box?

4. Is the traditional placement of the 'reverse' gear in a petrol Grand i10 not more convenient and easier to use, especially for new drivers?

Some info on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[shivasuma]

Originally Posted by misquitas

I am not familiar with diesel gear boxes and I would request someone to please throw more light on my following queries:

1. Do gear boxes in other diesel engines follow a similar placement/activation for the 'reverse' gear, as is present in the Grand i10?

Thanks.

I do not know about the pros and cons about this placement. But yes, the i20 diesel has it the same way. You need to lift up a switch kind of thing on the gear lever and engage reverse. I believe it's the same in the Verna too. It's the same placement also in Jetta and Rapid. But there you need to push down the lever and engage reverse.

[itwasntme]

Saw a white demo car on the road here in BLR. Looked very nice and had that elusive 'world car' look to it. Glad to see that Hyundai has toned down the 'fluidic' look.

Compared to the Grand i10, the Eon is like a radar-evading F117A fighter given the insane number of creases and kinks. I bet if they test with one of our Raytheon radars, they won't pick it up :-)

[vivriti]

Checked out the i10 Grand in flesh.

Our thoughts

• Much more classy than the i10.
• Better space.
• Quality seems better.
• Ride seems better (We had a short drive only)
• Now the higher versions of i10 dont seem worthwhile since the Grand is a bit more and feels fresher and better.
• Safety features should have been made available atleast optionally on Sportz and lower versions.
• Price closer to i20 and the Grand makes sense for those looking for something fresher or more fuel efficient.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by thoma

Have these hit the roads already? I saw one today at Trivandrum (being driven by an owner I guess, listening to earphones though!) in orange and looked good, especially from the front.

I believe yes, I saw one Demo Car today, despite Hyundai yet to open a sales outlet at my place.

It is opening by this year's end

[superbhikari]

Guys, any insider news when will they launch Grand i10 AT? Waiting to buy an AT for too long and this seems to be a perfect ride with AT for my use. Dealer at my place have no idea if & when it will be launched?

[acroback]

Saw a Grand i10 yesterday while commuting to office.
Looked very nice and stylish. Thanks god, those ugly Rakhi Sawant'esque over the top Verna creases are gone.

I just hope it is a nice car for prospective buyer like me, who may replace current Santro with another Hyundai if suspension and handling are fixed.

[Simple_car]

Originally Posted by misquitas

I am not familiar with diesel gear boxes and I would request someone to please throw more light on my following queries:

1.

2.

3.

4.

1. No. Depends on manufacturer to manufacturer. E.g.:
- The x-trail's has 6 forward gears and 1 reverse gear. To engage reverse you have to pull the lever below the gear, and then pull right and down (like a conventional layout). A new driver will definitely put the car into 6th gear if he does not pull the lever.
- The VAG group gearboxes are such that to engage reverse, you have to push down the gearlever and then pull to left and up. Like the grand i10, just that instead of pulling up a lever, you just push the gear lever down.
- The erstwhile corsa which was sold in India also had the gear layout exactly like the diesel grand i10 in the picture. It was a petrol model.

2. The purpose of providing a lever is so that somebody does not accidentally put the car into 1st or 6th gear (wrt above examples). Whether it is nice or not is upto an individual. Personally, it is only a matter of getting used to a particular car. However, you will see that each manufacturer has a kind of tradition with layout of gearboxes. VAG has it's unique one, Opel also has a unique layout, Hyundai also has a unique universal layout for all it's gearboxes. For a crude analogy, you may compare it to the indicator stalk layout of different manufacturers. Japs and Koreans have the indicator stalk on the right only everywhere in the world. Euro and americans have a indicator stalk on the left everywhere in the world.

3. No idea.

4. For majority of Indian drivers.. yes. I personally have a car with traditional layout you are used to and a car with a layout like diesel grand i10. I don't personally find any issues. As I said, just a matter of getting used to.

[autohead]

Just back from a 600 km round trip with 12 hours spent in the Grand i10 here are my observations:

Initial impression still holds good, its a neutral car, Doesn't excite, doesn't bite ! - Handling is safe and predictable, so is braking. Does its job with utmost efficiency in every aspect without demanding too much from the driver except for serious Lag in 1st gear in stop and go conditions especially with inclines & need to shift every time from 4th to 5th for crucial overtaking maneuvers on highway, which itself is quite effortless due to smooth shift action & light clutch. One feature i noticed late was the gear shift indicator which i wouldn't anyway bother using.

Headlamps are good with nice spread & intensity of the beam, didn't give me a reason to upgrade bulbs for better lighting.

Driving the car on smooth 4 lane road maintaining 90-100 kph, between 2000-2500 rpm was quite a revelation, The grip from even the OE tyres in straight line and in wet was good, since i was running it in, i didn't push it to test the grip level at the limit.

Return journey was on up-sized 185/60 R14 tyres. Initially planned to go for Yokohama c drives, put all three makes including Michelin XM2 side by side and settled for Bridgestone My-02:

Yokohama - Rejected due to extremely soft side wall & date of manufacturing being May-2012
Michelin - Rejected outright as found it to be the heaviest with extremely hard sidewall, had a feeling that heavier un-sprung weight would spoil the character of well balanced ride & handling of the i10
Bridgestone - Was the lightest of the three with sidewall which was neither too soft not too hard.

Filled 34 psi initially and ride had become very hard though not unbearable compared to the OE tyres, so immediately after driving for 10 km dropped the pressure to 32 psi ( both the times i doubted the calibration of the Air filling pumps, will need to check the accuracy of air filled again ), ride immediately became better but steering was slightly heavier. Overall upsizing resulted in slightly heavier steering, better grip & less sideways movement. But the downsides are sightly stiffer ride & higher rolling resistance, because of which accelerator input had gone up a bit & had a feeling it consumed more fuel on the return journey. Can't say for sure as i checked the mileage for the whole trip which was 50% on OE and 50% on upsized tyres. Road noise on smooth roads was comparable to OE tyres but on certain surfaces where smooth layer of asphalt had worn off or on concrete there was a droning kind of sound from the tyres which was abset in OE tyres.

Tyres jut out a little bit & due to width of the OE alloy rims, tyres also bulge on the sides due to higher profile.

Overall mileage was 20 kmpl for 600 km journey, out of which 560 km was 4 lane highway at steady 90-100 kph, between 2000-2500 rpm and 40 km was heavy stop go traffic with idling. One notable thing is when we compared the speedometer reading with GPS on two mobile phones the speedometer showing an over optimistic reading by 9-10 kmph. I don't know how reliable that method was but even looking at the speedometer the vehicle actually didn't feel that it was doing such speeds which prompted me to cross check with 'GPS Test' app on two android phones.

I am 6 ft tall & found that the seats though not luxurious provide reasonable (not ample) thigh support but really good shoulder support which is also important for non-stop long journey's. The front sun-visor folds to a complete horizontal position, which helps in cutting the sunlight coming from top during afternoons.

Now for some extreme nitpicking.

Personally i don't rate the interiors fit & finish too high, i found lot of imperfections in the black/grey plastics, i would rate Swift & even the Eon higher when it comes to feel & finish of the plastics which are also less scratch prone. Even the AC temperature knob was not very smooth in operation. The reverse & first gears difficult to engage many times in spite of fully pressing the clutch. OE sound system is in between mediocre & good. You can use the rear windscreen wash function only after the rear wiper comes on first, If there is a lot of accumulated debris which had dried off on the glass there is a danger of glass getting scratched & wiper blade also getting damaged due to abrasion in the absence of water. One cannot open the glove box completely if there is a one liter water bottle resting in normal position in the bottle holder.

Horn is woefully inadequate in our traffic conditions and has no affect on the way ward two wheeler's & auto rickshaw's. It was the only stressful aspect in the whole driving experience as every time i was trying to overtake i had to be extra cautious.

Till now i could't find any other issues in an otherwise brilliant, little package.

[prateekswarup]

Excellent review as usual! Rated thread 5 star

After a long time, a petrol hatch, which is relatively easy on the pocket and has clean lines that accentuate its looks.

That, and backed by Hyundai's after sales, this should create a flurry in the market.

Lack of dead pedal sorely missed, but the Grand makes up for it on other factors like steering mounted controls and amply interior storage space.

The orange test drive vehicle brings out the spunk factor in the Grand. Waiting to see if other colours make it equally attractive!

[charade]

Originally Posted by misquitas

I am not familiar with diesel gear boxes and I would request someone to please throw more light on my following queries:

1. Do gear boxes in other diesel engines follow a similar placement/activation for the 'reverse' gear, as is present in the Grand i10?

2. If so, why is the placement/activation of the 'reverse' gear designed that way and what purpose does it serve?

3. If not, why could the Grand i10 have adopted this design for the gear box?

4. Is the traditional placement of the 'reverse' gear in a petrol Grand i10 not more convenient and easier to use, especially for new drivers?

Some info on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

This is just a guess so I may be way off target. Many European cars have the reverse gear with a lever. Possibly Hyundai plans to export the India manufactured Grand i10 to Europe (where I believe diesel compact cars sell more) and hence have kept reverse gear with a lever.

Also, I have driven cars with a levered reverse gear and it's really no big deal. Doesn't take much getting used to.