First Sight
Likes
1. Size – It’s such a compact car. Very forgiving for a novice driver. The short front overhang and engine bay, commanding seating position with excellent view upfront, narrow width makes it such a pleasure to drive in the city and narrow roads. In fact, I was apprehensive of the centrally mounted instrument cluster but I guess it helps newer/ short drivers with visibility. The tiny turning radius and high ground clearance are additional plus points.
2. The engine – The 1 litre K10 is such a joy to drive. Its so smooth and refined. At idle, its barely audible even in the absence of any engine bay damping/ cladding. It sounds really refined during the drive also.
3. Automatic – The transmission is no slouch. It does gets confused if you’re aggressive with the throttle but driven sedately, it never fails to find the right gear.
4. The smartplay studio with android auto is very user friendly and easy to use. The combination of this with hands free google assistant makes life a lot easy.
5. The car is spacious. It has better rear leg space than our toothless. The boot is also reasonably large.
Dislikes
1. The steering is super weird. It doesn't correct itself after a turn. I've easily driven 20+ makes and models of cars but have never come across anything similar.
2. I still haven’t gotten used to the location of central power window buttons. I hate the location. The lack of rear power windows in a car that cost 6 lakh on road also is not acceptable.
3. The glovebox is too small. There is very limited storage space for knick-knacks. The horn is pathetic. No body gives way no matter how long you honk behind them. I feel an upgrade is mandatory here.
4. The 165/70/R14 tyres are puny. I did consider a tyre upgrade but decided against it since the car is going to be driven around only within the city limits and an upgrade purely for cosmetic reasons felt unnecessary.
5. The spare key is a normal key without lock/unlock button. I can live with it though.
Both the cars parked next to each other.
Driving impression
The initial feel once I started to drive was the bumpy nature. Drove straight to the fuel station, filled about 15 litres, checked the air pressure and reduced it from 37 to 32 psi. The ride improved a lot once the tyre pressures were reduced.
The car starts to move without any accelerator input. The car responds promptly to any accelerator input. First gear shift happens at 16 kmph, second gear at 24 kmph and the car easily reaches 5th gear by 50 to 56 kmph. Slightly easing off the accelerator to nudge the engine to shift helps a lot. The car is perfect to drive in city in traffic.
The AMT transmission can be tricky while attempting to park. The car is eager to respond to slightest of throttle inputs. Though the crawl feature can be used, for any situation requiring slightly more throttle input requires the driver to be really careful. I miss the clutch during this aspect where the response could be modulated by feathering the clutch.
I’ve never had to attempt a sudden overtake or sudden acceleration. So difficult to comment on that aspect. But sedately driven, this car makes me choose this over my manual. I’ve tried the manual mode a couple of times. Its definitely intuitive to use and will definitely come in handy if any aggressive acceleration is required.
Too soon the comment on the fuel efficiency. The MID says 11.x kmpl, I shall revert with Fuelio log once I properly do a tankful. Most of the driving has been driving lessons for Wifey, hence involving a lot of accelerations, sudden stops, driving in 1st and 2nd gears only. I have so far driven around 150 kms, all within Bangalore city. Not too worried about the “kitna deti hai?’ yet, let’s see.
The first 100
Accessories and Upgrades planned
Nothing major planned for now but a horn upgrade is on the list for sure. I’ve ordered door edge protector, floor mats, leather key chain, blind spot mirror, bumper scratch guard, proklear raw xtreme CX, microfibre towels, USB type C cable, Jopasu duster rejuvenator and an L board for now.