So, our Elite i20 was finally sold today.
At the time of ownership transfer, the odometer was at 41,340 kms. We had the car for 2 years and 6 months. Not too much running when you consider it was in fact a diesel. Still, we toured quite a lot with the car. Ooty, Kodaikanal, Munnar, Coorg, Bandipur, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Thrissur, Trivandrum, pretty much anywhere we could go we did go by car. I'll sum up my ownership experience below.
PROS:
1. NVH. For a diesel, the engine was unbelievably smooth and refined even when cruising at unmentionable speeds with the rev counter above 3K rpm.
2. Fuel Efficiency. Excellent fuel efficiency when running inside the city, a tank full of diesel(45L) will easily give around 800-850 kms of range, even when driving fast on highways doing pretty manic speeds, before the fuel indicator dips to 1 bar and the low fuel light comes on.
3. Mature ride and handling. Make no mistake, this is not a corner carving tool. But, it isn't a boat either. Suspension is fairly tight, and high speed ride is good. Car feels a bit skittish and bumpy over terrible roads, thanks to the ludicrous 195/55 R16 tires, but it won't break your back either. Most bumps are easily dispatched as long as you're in second gear.
4. Engine. What a lovely engine. Oodles of torque low down, and enough grunt till 3K rpm. Can rev easily to 4K without complaining, though not much life after that tbh.
5. Interiors. No it isn't a VW, but its light years ahead of anything Maruti had come up with. Controls are all well laid out, AC is a chiller, even at 41K! White backlit dials are fabulous to look at, and the blue lighting for the dashboard makes for a brilliant combination. Oh, and it still rocks an old fashioned temperature gauge
![Big Grin](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.png)
. Has most of the features one would want in a car such as climate control, backup camera with dynamic guidelines, 4 parking sensors at the rear, bluetooth hands free, keyless go etc. Our car didn't have the large touch screen display so we didn't get sat nav as standard, but we never missed it considering we always used Google Maps from our phone for nav. If you're looking for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, I guess the new variants these days do come with that. Seats are fabric, thankfully, and are very comfy! Oh, and rear AC vents! in-laws loved that!
CONS:
1. Steering. Really numb and lacks any sort of feedback whatsoever. Into a corner, you've no idea what the front wheels are doing and how much lock you're supposed to dial into. It's easy at low speeds, and does weigh up a bit at speeds, but still i'd have liked some more feedback.
2. Missing features. Like real time fuel efficiency indicator, or a distance-to-empty, or even auto locking doors! Seriously Hyundai, what were you smoking when you decided to omit auto locking speed-sensitive doors!
3. Engine takes 5.4 litres of engine oil! Been using semi synthetic from Shell since 10K kms, so thankfully I didn't have to break the bank on engine oil costs. But I wonder what others do when they decide to get proper synthetic oil into the engine. Must cost a bomb!
All in all, we loved every bit of the car and every minute we spent with it. It never let us down, has always worked exceedingly well, and has delivered more than we ever hoped! We did quite a few long distance journeys with the i20, and every single time our estimated time of arrival was beat by an hour at least! We drove it through non existent roads when Google decided to take us on to paths less traveled
![Uncontrollable Laughter](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/uncontrollable laughter.png)
and it came through to the other side without a scratch! We've driven it through paddy fields, swamps, rivers, floods, good roads, excellent roads, bad roads, and the suspension never bottomed out. The undercarriage was hit once or twice, because I was a bit too fast over a mountain posing as a speed hump. I'm missing the car already. It was a part of our lives that we could count on, no matter what. When Chennai flooded, it took us through whatever flooding the roads could throw at us. None of that hydro static locking and what not. When it was a blistering 42 degrees outside and the world burnt, we sat inside with ACC at 23 degrees, with the blower at the first speed, in bumper to bumper traffic! Servicing costs were really less because nothing ever went wrong! And no matter what car we sat in, or saw on the road, we loved our i20 more.
So long, i20. You will be missed. I hope your new owners take care of you the way we did, and you'll in turn take care of them like you did for us.