Every once in a while a car comes along that changes a company’s fortunes, a game changer that determines a company’s future. The Golf saved Volkswagen back in 1974 and the Grande Punto might be doing the job for Fiat. Now, GM India isn’t exactly in great financial strife, but they’ve had a pretty torrid time in India thus far. All their cars in India thus far have been very capable, but lack of exciting looks and a habit of overpricing has made sure that none of them set the charts on fire. The value of cars that appeal to the heart can no longer be ignored in the Indian market, and GM India has finally decided to take the competition head on.
They sent out a strong message with the just launched Cruze, but it is the Beat on which GM India has pinned its hopes.
Will the Beat be the game changer for GM in India?
Variants:- PS
- LS
- LT
- LT (O) - Options Pack
Here’s what we think of it.
Let’s start with the styling. Now this is a nice place to start with because the first time you see the Beat, it will stop you in your tracks. The car is just stunning to look at, and it commendable that GM kept the car so true to the concept on which it is based.
The front is very aggressive with the massive grille and prominent swept back headlamps. The Chevy bow-tie on the Beat is surprisingly better in quality than the one on the 6 times more expensive Captiva.
The rear is pretty compact with an interesting looking tail lamp cluster with liberal amounts of chrome. The thick bumpers and flared wheel arches lend it a sporty look.
The roof slopes to the rear. The car on the whole betrays an earnest effort to avoid the awkward tall boy looks.
An interesting detail is the position of the rear door handles. You’ll grope for them where you normally expect them to be, only to find that they’re not there! The door handles are placed where the rear quarter glass should be, in line with the rear window. The vertical orientation means a weird holding angle. Still. this gives the Beat a coupe like look, which is in sync with the car’s sporty styling.
The side profile harbors nice atypical curves in the body work giving it a very contemporary look.
The car uses steel wheels across the range, alloys being optional only on the top version. But these steel wheels are well designed and made to look like alloys. So you get decent looks for cheap, without going in for tacky wheel covers.
The styling though undoubtedly the car’s trump card, is not without its weaknesses. The car desperately needs bigger tires; the present 155/70 14” ones are puny and take away from the car’s otherwise imposing stance.
The Rear is contemporary but not nearly as catchy as the front end. Chevy also seems to have gone overboard with the chrome tail-light surrounds.
The paint quality is excellent, and finish good. The quality of plastics at some spots seems to be at best average, but thankfully these parts are limited to the outside. The plastics on the rear door handles and the outer rear-view mirrors are not a treat for the eyes.
Panel gaps are consistent, though large. The doors seem heavy and well built, though still not at par with the Palio.
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Moving inside; the dashboard immediately grabs your attention. A rather largish design, it has a very futuristic touch to it. The central console jutting out to creates Chevrolet’s signature ‘dual cockpit’ design.
The interiors are all grays and are a refreshing change from the overdose of hard-to-keep-clean beige interiors in most cars in India today. The plastics in the Beat are of a decent quality and the fit and finish satisfactory.
We loved the piano black colored plastic inserts in the dash, which lent the interiors an up-market feel. They impart a very smart look and we were left wishing for more spots and dashes of the same. The inserts however do attract fingerprints, although they are easy to remove.
A point to note here is the absence of the piano black finish on the PS and LS variants. The PS and LS variants have a rather bland feel to the interiors and did not score very high with us.
The top end version comes with an integrated stereo system which blends well with the dash and an information display for the climate control system.
The cyan colored lighting which remains consistent in the interiors plays a very important part in increasing the appeal of the interiors. We were quite simply blown away by how good the dashboard look with lights on at night.
The dashboard has many useful storage spaces, but the glove box is only enough for your papers and small items. The fit and finish of the buttons and knobs is good, but the feedback from the buttons could have been better. On the whole the plastic quality is good, with good feel and finish. The steering is small, sporty and well finished.
The steering mounted speedometer and tachometer are straight lifts from Superbikes and are a very exciting addition. Chevy has been high on innovations with the Beat.
A large cylindrical surround houses the speedometer. A cool digital display that serves the purpose of both the tachometer and a fuel gauge forms the other half of the information console. The digital display is lit in blue, finished in silver and also houses the turn indicator and headlight actuation lights. While this looks great and is different, visibility of the display is hampered by the spokes of the steering wheel while turning.
The steering wheel is height-adjustable, but this does not rectify the problem as the digital display is mounted on the steering column.
The front seats are very comfortable with good lumbar support and head rests, though thigh support is average the seats rate high on comfort. The large dash may hinder the view for shorter drivers and the lack of height adjustable seats could prove problematic.
The thick C pillar and the absence of the rear quarter glass obstruct the visibility at the rear while reversing. However, this isn’t the worst performer on that count in the segment with the A-Star taking the cake for difficulty in reversing. The driver’s seat has a very long travel which borders on being almost unnecessary.
The seat pushed back 2/3 should be enough for a 6’ driver. The gear lever is well positioned with respect to the driver. The central console is easily reachable and the large knobs on the Automatic climate control and the in-car entertainment unit rate high on ease of use. The outer rear view mirrors are not electrically controlled, instead using a short stalk that can be used to mechanically adjust them. They are difficult to reach for the driver with the passenger side one being next to impossible to reach.
The rear seats are not as comfortable as the front’s with poor thigh support being a problem. The tapering roofline reduces rear passenger headroom, and a tall person might bump his head during ingress and egress. Rear legroom is decent although things get a little cramped when the front seat is at maximum travel. Seating three adults in the rear would be an uncomfortable proposition for long journeys. The rear seats however have decent head rests that are adjustable and provide good support.
One great little bit of innovation that we really liked was the indentations in the B pillars for the rear passenger’s knees. Placing the door handles on the window although a smart move, means that the effective window area is decreased for the rear passengers. Opinions were split on whether it led to a claustrophobic touch to the interiors in the rear.
The power window switches are well placed and reachable for both the driver and passengers.
The front passengers are blessed with a number of storage spots although not all of them can useful owing to awkward placements and small sizes. There are pockets in the doors and some decent spots on the dash.
Cabin storage is an issue for rear passengers, with no storage pockets in the rear doors and just one bottle holder between the front seats. The front passengers have adequate storage space with storage pockets in the front doors which complement the storage pockets in the dash.
The boot is small and at 170 litres will not hold more than a bag and a suitcase. Obviously, this won’t make the long distance trips any easier. All the other cars in the segment fair much better on the count of storage space. The 60:40 rear splitting seats are something of a saving grace to the miniscule capacity at the rear. The loading lip of the boot is also rather high and this can be a nuisance while loading luggage.
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