[Grand Tourer]

Originally Posted by Sandy Damodaran

I knew it was a bug in the Maruti's, didnt expect MG to have the same behaviour as well.

Can any owner confirm if this is not how Verna works?

We are looking the the SX(O) version, DCT

I've had the dct since April. We have not had any issues. I sometimes keep 2 3 guitars in their cases on the back seat but it doesn't give any warnings. Guess there may be an issue with the TD vehicle

[BudgetFailure]

After covering 6000+ km over multiple highway and city drives, below is my fuel efficiency. I would say I am impressed and happy. 15 kmpL on average.



I own MT Turbo and I am not a sedate driver.

[Sandy Damodaran]

Originally Posted by Grand Tourer

I've had the dct since April. We have not had any issues. I sometimes keep 2 3 guitars in their cases on the back seat but it doesn't give any warnings. Guess there may be an issue with the TD vehicle

It (verna) did not behave that way during the td as well. Just wanted to confirm the same. MG Astor did behave that way though.

This is something that cant be lived with, as id be very wary of disconnecting stuff related to airbags too.

[Grand Tourer]

Originally Posted by Sandy Damodaran

It (verna) did not behave that way during the td as well. Just wanted to confirm the same. MG Astor did behave that way though.

This is something that cant be lived with, as id be very wary of disconnecting stuff related to airbags too.

I totally agree. I didnt realize even the Astor had this issue. Good info

Trust me, if you decide to, you can close your eyes and go for the Verna. Loved the car right from day 1. My first encounter with the Verna was the fluidic Verna in 2011. Loved and missed it when I sold it to get the first Gen Creta. Getting the 2023 Verna was a deja vu experience but with a lots of gizmos added. Also, for me the ADAS is a blessing in the city and highway (have to get used to the way it reacts so you can work along with it)

Good luck with the decision making.

[blackbandit]

Finally took delivery of the new Verna DCT SX(O) in Abyss Black colour yesterday. I was about to start the formalities of taking delivery of a white Virtus GT and changed my whole decision process in a matter of minutes. I had not considered or even looked at the Verna and had my eyes set on the Virtus since close to a year. Booked it and decided to take delivery. But then a few articles and of course Dr Naren's recent purchase prompted me to have a look at the car. The car arrived for a TD to my place just minutes after I filled up all the paperwork for the Virtus GT. And when I looked at the car it was almost an instant love for the looks. One of the reasons I dint consider the verna was I believed the car looked horrible but I had never seen it in person. Boy I was wrong. In person the car looks like it's from another planet. I believe our minds are programmed to see cars in a certain way and any change is mentally not acceptable to us. But experiencing the car first hand I had to change the whole perception. Moving forward the moment I sat inside the car the cabin felt very premium and a good long test drive was enough to put me straight into a dilemma. I put a hold to the Virtus and then decided to take some time and understand all the aspects, weigh in the pros and cons and finally took an informed decision to proceed with the verna. The whole process from booking to delivery took about 1 and half weeks. Since I moved from Virtus I will pen down the pros and cons comparing the verna with virtus and why I decided to go ahead with verna instead of virtus


Engine
The 160 odd Horsepower 1.5 Turbo from Hyundai is definitely a gem. One can definitely feel these horses working under the hood. This is the most powerful engine that this segment gets. The refinement levels of this engine is way superior compared to the 1.5 TSI of the VW. The power delivery is linear. Sports mode does make it a bit sharper. The 10 additional horses of the Verna over the VW does show its character and makes its presence felt.

Gearbox
I will have to handover the DCT performance title to the DSG of the VW but by a very very small margin. While the DCT in the Hyundai is butter smooth and quick, the downshift response times do have a slight delay. The DSG did feel more responsive to inputs. But considering the DSG reliability woes and reports along with VW service and gap in performance being quite small, something that I will not notice in 80% of my runs, the Hyundai definitely was the choice for me.

Handling/Suspension
I will be talking quite a lot about this since the reviews and what I have experienced so far is quite different. Now I don't know the benchmarks that all the online reviewers have for the handling department, but pushing to every possible limits that I could when I tested the Verna it excelled in the dyanamics and handling department to my satisfaction. While the Verna is definitely setup softer than the VW I could not find a difference significant enough for me to complain in the overall dynamics and stability and I am by no means a sedate driver. I personally felt the Verna had a perfect balance between comfort and sportiness. To begin with in the city the verna rides like a dream. The suspension does its job in silence and there is hardly any noise in the cabin. Coming from a lowered Figo with Eibach the difference I felt was huge. The suspension is smooth in handling bad roads but it is not too soft by any means. There is a hint of stiffness which I personally feel is the right amount to enjoy regular rides. Now coming to high speed and cornering I expected the verna to be bad considering everything I read. But boy I was wrong. The car handles very well. I did some airport runs in Bangalore and pushed the cars to pretty high triple digit speeds and the car felt rock solid throughout. Body roll is well controlled and quick lane changes on the highway is handled quite well by the car. The steering weighs up quite well and at no point was there any feeling of nervousness. And all this was at high speeds that one will probably never reach majority of the times on Indian roads. Now the question lies how does this compare to the virtus. Does the virtus ride and handle better than the verna? The answer to this question is yes. But is it so significant that it makes the verna feel bad. The answer to this is a definite no. I personally believe the margins are too small and virtus outscores the verna by just a few points rather than a mile. I feel the area where the virtus actually gets those points is in the steering feedback and feel. The virtus steering feels more connected and precise while the verna steering does feel slightly disconnected overall (Dr Naren suggests an upgrade of wheels effectively solves this). Coming to the suspension setup I personally hand it over to the Verna even though it has a slightly softer setup reason being I will get almost 95% of what the virtus has in terms of high speed stability and cornering abilities on the highway runs and I get that added comfort for majority of my regular runs. The virtus stiffness is definitely felt on regular Indian roads and the car felt only slightly better than my lowered Figo in terms of overall comfort. So the 5% added high speed stability will not make a significant difference at all for my runs and I rather enjoy the comfortable city runs.

Braking
The braking is good. 4 discs do the job well and shed speed with no drama. Never felt the need for better brakes. The Virtus does have more initial bite and that might make you believe that it is better during short TD. But the thing is the verna brakes differently with lesser initial bite. Did not feel any difference in overall performance.

Exterior
Personally I find the Verna a much cooler and better car in terms of looks. While I loved the Virtus for its classic look put the cars side by side the virtus definitely looks basic and plain for me. The black color definitely suits the car and it looks muscular. Love the fastback rear as well. Again this is a subjective department and I would say both look good its all about personal choices. If you want a head turner definitely go for the verna
Verna feels well built as well. Panel gaps are consistent and the overall car feels heavy. Does not feel any different from the virtus. While the virtus does get 5 stars and the Verna is not yet tested yet I personally do not think the difference will be significant in real world scenarios. But maybe the numbers will be out soon and we will get a clearer picture.

Interior
This is where I feel the Verna excels hands down. The cabin of the verna feels way more premium and superior than the virtus. There is soft touch material in the right places and the overall fit and finish feels really good. The virtus in comparison does not feel like a 20Lakh car. The infotainment is good and crisp in both the cars but I think the verna does a slightly better job in overall cabin feel and comfort. The customisable interior accent lights elevate the cabin at night to another level altogether. No matter how much one might claim these as unnecessary additions or gizmos, end of the day it does make a difference to the overall experience. Another highlight is definitely the large boot space coming from a hatchback it felt quite significant for me.

ADAS
The Verna gets level 2 ADAS. While I don't have a detailed overview on this I have experienced bits and pieces. I have all the ADAS settings enabled except for Lane Assist. The ADAS is not intrusive and feels like it is calibrated well for Indian conditions. Collision warnings and braking though enabled don't get triggered in regular driving conditions. I personally like the blind spot warnings indicators in the ORVM. Lane assist also does its job well but felt it was a bit intrusive at times when doing lane changes hence decided to keep it disabled.

Aid in all these factors, and then the overall service network and quality of Hyundai I felt The Verna is definitely a much superior overall package than the Virtus. The compromises in the Verna compared to the Virtus is not that significant. But the compromises in the Virtus compared to the Verna does seem significant at least to me and I have first hand reports of the people around me who experienced both to back me up as well. Hence finally decided to bring the Verna home. Had a good delivery experience as well with precise commitments and no delays from Advaith Hyundai, Bannerghatta Road. Special mention to Syed who ensured everything happened smoothly and never made me run around. I was even chauffeured by him to the stock yard outside the city for PDI before delivery in a manual verna and also got a chance to drive it on the way back home. Overall a good experience from the Hyundai dealership as well. Some photos of the car

[07CR]

Originally Posted by blackbandit

Finally took delivery of the new Verna DCT SX(O) in Abyss Black colour yesterday.

Virtus looks great. No doubt. But Verna in this SX O DCT all black avatar definitely comes a close second! Never thought 2023 Verna would look so good in the all black avatar

Congratulations on the ride. Do share updates with respect to performance and fuel efficiency!

If you don't mind, can you share a pic of interior ambience at night with all the buttons lit up? Thanks!

[subie_socal]

Originally Posted by blackbandit

Attachment 2507077

Congrats on your new acquisition! Hope your Verna serves you well for many moons to come.

If you can get rid of that obnoxiously large Hyundai logo, it would look killer. (this is just my 2 cents.)

[nova.19_exe]

Originally Posted by blackbandit

Finally took delivery of the new Verna DCT SX(O) in Abyss Black colour yesterday.

Congrats on your new ride bro! Hope it will stand with you for years to come!!

That 160HP will not disappoint in my honest opinion!!

Cheers!!

[blackbandit]

Originally Posted by 07CR

Virtus looks great. No doubt. But Verna in this SX O DCT all black avatar definitely comes a close second! Never thought 2023 Verna would look so good in the all black avatar

Congratulations on the ride. Do share updates with respect to performance and fuel efficiency!

If you don't mind, can you share a pic of interior ambience at night with all the buttons lit up? Thanks!

The interiors look and feel really good at night. All the buttons and slots are lit up and this makes the cabin feel very premium. The photos don’t do justice. But here are some grabs









Also got the car ceramic coated at esperto Bannerghatta Road. The guys at esperto also got ppf put to the mirrors and door edges as part of the overall package.

[greyhound82]

I visited the Hyundai showroom, had a look at the Verna, and loved the interiors and ergonomics. I sold off my 2020 Harrier and understood I was more of a sedan person. I loved the VW Virtus test drive, especially its handling and steering feedback, but decided to go ahead with Hyundai for peace of mind. Will be booking fiery red -black dual tone . Kindly suggest what should I opt for Sot Super or Shield of trust

[vignesh207]

Just completed a ~700km drive on the highway and hills with my Verna and also hit the 1200km mark and got the 1st service done after 3 weeks of delivery. Let me sum up my experience so far.

What I like:

• The car is very comfortable on the city runs but transforms into a beast on the highway!
• The 160HP engine has enough power for all practical scenarios. It handled long highways cruising at triple digit speeds, winding hill roads and very steep climbs like a breeze.
• When cruising at triple digit speeds, if you need to do a overtake and need some extra power, just a little bit more pressure on the accelerator, the DCT gearbox takes a fraction of the second to kick down and you get pushed back with that power!
• The NVH levels are really good and on the highway you hardly feel any bumps inside. The rear seat comfort is also really good.
• I felt the space in the rear seat is lot higher compared to the Older Verna or the VW/Skoda twins.
• The boot is massive and swallows anything you throw inside. I had couple of large trolleys, a baby car sear (as my toddler refused to sit in it) and few duffle bags and still had lot of room
• The fuel economy is good for an automatic car this size. On the highway while cruising, I consistently got 15-16kmpl and get 10kmpl in city traffic.
• Auto-Hold is a God-send feature. On city bumper-to-bumper traffic, the car moves slowly when you lift the foot off the brake pedal. When you want to engage auto-hold, you press the pedal in once the vehicle comes to a stop (kind-of like long press on smartphones) and auto-hold engages till you press the accelerator again. More on this here (Auto Hold: Most convenient yet neglected feature!)
• ADAS works great, especially on the highway. I had Lane Keep Assist (LKA) on for my entire highway run which maintains the car bang on the center of the lane and takes control of the steering wheel for all the curves on the highway. When you try to switch lanes, say for a overtake, the steering will resist first but then let you do it and engage LKA once back on the new lane. This can become a pain and the best way is to let your car (and the cars behind you) know that you are switching lanes when the indicator. If you tap the indicator stalk and then try to switch lanes, the LKA won't resist and let you make the switch. This takes some practice to get used to, but once done, it is extremely comfortable.
• I didn't get a chance to try Adaptive Cruise control as I never found anyone cruising at the same speed for long time in the TN highways I went.
• AC is really good and kept the cabin cool in the scorching TN heat. Ventilated seats are always on in my car in TN's heat.
• I'm no audiophile, but the bose speaker system is really good IMHO. The infotainment screen is very smooth and Android-Auto on the large 10.25 inch screen looks really beautiful.
• Bluelink - Its really useful to monitor the car and get some nice statistics about your drives. There are couple of times I forgot the lock the car and bluelink notified me promptly on this.

What I don't like:

• Brakes! Inspite of being 4 discs, the brakes are not confident inspiring. Slight press on the brake pedal does not slow down the car as you expect and if you press slightly harder, the car will slow down faster than you want. You really need to get used to the way the brakes behave to get some confidence here.
• Front headlights, it is decent on normal days, but on days with heavy rain, I just can't see a thing with these lights. Need to upgrade to better lights soon.
• Engine Auto-stop, its annoying and jerky. It stops the engine when you don't want it to, then after a minute turns the engine back on (as AC is still running). It is straight up irritating in city traffic and doesn't even retain its setting from previous run. I have to turn it off every time I take the car.
• Space for watter bottles on the front doors has 2 slots. The larger one can't fit a 1L bottle and is too big for a 500ml bottle. Looks like Hyundai should sell bottles that fit in this as official accessories!
• The Full Digital Instrument Cluster is just a gimmick. The left and right are just static Speedo/Tacho and only the middle screen displays all the information. For the information available (like ADAS, trip meters, D2E meter, TPMS, a full digital intrument Cluster (like the one in the new Kia Seltos) would have made much more sense.
• Wireless Charging without wireless Android Auto is just meaningless IMO.
• Bluelink (yes its on the What I like list also above!) is very unreliable and needs improvement. It reminded me that I didn't lock the doors (which meant the car was parked in a place where there was connectivity) but lock command keeps failing due to connectivity issues. I was walking towards the car at this point and kept trying and eventually ended up locking with the key once in the range! One more thing is the "My Trips" section with the drive statistics does not work if you trip ends in a place without signal (like my home basement car parking!!)

Some minor nit-picks:

• I have a 3 Hyundai Car Garage (2015 i20, 2019 Santro and the verna) and I expect some things to be common because they are all Hyundais, but NO!!

• The wiper stalk - Tap up on the Santro and i20 for one wipe (mist) but on the verna its a tap down!! Move down for slow, INT, fast but in Verna the stalk needs to be moved up!
• Media control on the steering - In Santro and i20, Up arrow for next track and down for previous, but on th verna down arrow for next track and up for previous!
  
• Horn sounds for door lock and unlocks is just too loud! There is a milder beeper that beeps for the Smart Trunk, why not something like that for the door lock/unlock?
• The soft touch plastics on the door insides are a big fingerprint magnet.
• The power window controls are too far ahead. From my seating position (I'm 5'11"), I end up hitting the rear window controls if I don't look at them.

Adding some pictures from my trip to end my post! The Red color is a head-turner and catches a lot of people gazing the car as I drive past or while I park at my workplace or home!

The last image is of the trip meter after my long drive. Got a FE of 13.5 kmpl including city sections, lot of highway runs and 40-50kms of hill sections. One thing to note is if you are cruising around 110kmph, the car loves it and gives you 16-18kmpl but if you go faster, the FE drops immediately!

[Grand Tourer]

Could anyone help with how to use the auto hold and start/stop system especially when waiting at a signal please? I feel I may be doing it wrong.

When waiting at a signal, when pressing and releasing the brake pedal, it engages the auto hold but when pressing and holding it, the start/stop system turns off the car. However, if I take my foot off the brake pedal, the car starts up. Autohold is still engaged though which is fine. However, That defeats the purpose of releasing the pedal
completely when waiting at a signal with both auto hold engaged and the start/stop system keeping the car off.

Thanks in advance.

[MyLife_MyCar]

First of all, an awesome work masking the registration no.

Originally Posted by vignesh207

I had Lane Keep Assist (LKA) ... the steering will resist first but then let you do it and engage LKA once back on the new lane. This can become a pain and the best way is to let your car (and the cars behind you) know that you are switching lanes when the indicator. If you tap the indicator stalk and then try to switch lanes, the LKA won't resist and let you make the switch.

I'd say it's a superb feature and kills 2 birds with one stone: 1) Provide a safety feature. 2) Make one habituated to flash the indicator for a lane change.

Space for watter bottles on the front doors has 2 slots. The larger one can't fit a 1L bottle and is too big for a 500ml bottle. Looks like Hyundai should sell bottles that fit in this as official accessories!

I can easily fit 1-litre bottles in the larger slots. Maybe depends on shape and size

Horn sounds for door lock and unlocks is just too loud! There is a milder beeper that beeps for the Smart Trunk, why not something like that for the door lock/unlock?

Agree, the horn is too loud, especially when you lock/unlock the car in a covered parking. Simply turn it off by pressing the lock-unlock buttons together on the remote for 4-5 seconds until the hazard lights blink.

Originally Posted by Grand Tourer

Could anyone help with how to use the auto hold and start/stop system especially when waiting at a signal please?

Even I'm struggling with it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. Yet to figure out.
Do you switch to N before release the brake pedal (after engaging auto-hold). If yes, try once with gear still in D mode. I think it worked for me twice. However, yet to establish if that's the way it works.

[vignesh207]

Originally Posted by MyLife_MyCar

First of all, an awesome work masking the registration no.

Ha ha Spent a few minutes with the age old MS Paint for this.

Originally Posted by MyLife_MyCar

Agree, the horn is too loud, especially when you lock/unlock the car in a covered parking. Simply turn it off by pressing the lock-unlock buttons together on the remote for 4-5 seconds until the hazard lights blink.

That is nice, I'll try this! Thanks!

Originally Posted by Grand Tourer

Could anyone help with how to use the auto hold and start/stop system especially when waiting at a signal please? I feel I may be doing it wrong.

This is how it works for me, all while keeping the transmission in D.

1. Make sure both auto-hold and start/stop are on. Both symbols will come up in Grey in the MID.
2. Once you come to a stop at a signal, press the brake once more and Auto Hold will turn green, you can take your foot off the brake now.
3. At the same time, the engine should also turn off and RPM goes to 0. However, for me, when AC on, the engine is off only for like a minute or so before it turns back on again. It turns off again after couple of minutes.
4. I tried with AC off, the engine remained turn off for longer time.
5. Press the accelerator very slightly, engine turns on but still Auto Hold is engaged. Press the accelerator more to get it going. I do this way when the signal timer comes around 4-5 seconds so that I can go as soon as it turns green.

[blackbandit]

Originally Posted by Grand Tourer

Could anyone help with how to use the auto hold and start/stop system especially when waiting at a signal please? I feel I may be doing it wrong.

When waiting at a signal, when pressing and releasing the brake pedal, it engages the auto hold but when pressing and holding it, the start/stop system turns off the car. However, if I take my foot off the brake pedal, the car starts up. Autohold is still engaged though which is fine. However, That defeats the purpose of releasing the pedal
completely when waiting at a signal with both auto hold engaged and the start/stop system keeping the car off.

Thanks in advance.

Have been using both these features without issues in my car. Pressing the brake pedal fully the auto hold gets engaged and if all parameters are met the ISG kicks in and stays as is even if I take my foot off the pedal. The car releases and starts only when I accelerate. Now there are scenarios where the ISG disengages and the car starts within few seconds. One of them I noticed is the AC performance. If the AC is in low the ISG will either not kick in or disengage almost immediately. Even if the cabin is not cool enough it will start the car back up immediately. It works flawlessly at nights for me and I believe that has to do with the cool Bangalore weather more than anything. My AC is usually in auto at around 20-23. Also gear position never mattered to me. Ive slotted to N and back to D while both Auto hold and ISG was engaged and it remained as is.