[narayans80]

If someone asked me earlier this year about changing the car, I'd have brushed off the idea as crazy and unnecessary. After all, my S-Cross was loan-free and chugging along at a fuel cost of 4 Rs/liter. Even more so, since my commute ballooned from 22 to 75 km a day. This meant, even without doing highway trips I was clocking 8000 km a quarter.

But then life has other plans..

The first surprise was that we were expecting another child. We now had to accomodate 2+3 in the car, which in theory was fine, since we had a 5-seater right?

It was not until I purchased and installed the Chicco Nextfit did I realize the apparent lack of space. But it was not that alone. The lap belts in our 5-seaters are a joke. They simply are too small for adults to wear.

So while the intention to buy a bigger car was there, we were not willing to start another EMI. We were looking at a 2 year timeframe to decide.

Besides I was looking at buying an EV in 2025-26 that would take care of my commuting needs and S-Cross gets used as a highway runner.

Then the seminal event happened..Mr. Cyrus Mistry met his maker in a car accident by not wearing seat belts in the rear.

This was it, want became need and we starting looking for a replacement.

I have penned my requirements and initial thoughts here (Mahindra Scorpio-N vs Tata Safari vs Hyundai Alcazar vs Mahindra XUV700 vs Others).

Car Ownership History

A brief history of my cars over the years.

My first car, the one that taught me driving a car and how to own a car. I remember the delivery date 27-August-2010. This was brought at a time when I had zero awareness on car ownership, about the time I got my Team-BHP membership.

I had moved to Italy for work related commitments. The i10 was sold sometime in 2013 still on car loan.

2010 Hyundai i10 Magna 1.2

Over the car-less hiatus, I read through official reviews of Tata Hexa and S-Cross cover-to-cover I really wanted to get the S-Cross in the 1.6 avatar. Those limited units of 1.6 were still there as of Q3 of 2017.

I had a poverty spec budget where I had to buy the car cash down, with no chance of EMIs.

I was out of touch driving a manual transmission, so looked for City and Corolla in AT avatar.

Found a 2010 Corolla AT with 72000 km on the clock in September 2017. The 4-speed AT made this 4500 mm long sedan such a breeze to drive, that I've taken this fella into gully roads in the city.

The car not just had a drinking problem, but also needed super expensive part replacements. Toyota servicing was nothing to write home about. The last straw was them suggesting an engine rebuild for a 94K run petrol car, which was taken to the ASC for a FE problem.

This car taught few things:

• Never buy an used car for high mile usage
• No more petrol for my sort of usage
• Regular Toyota maintenance is cheap, part replacements are not.
• I needed better GC. I could bottom out on full load at my office backyard. And I was regularly driving into the unknown roads.

2010 Toyota Corolla VL-AT

With that seminal incident, we sold the Corolla clocking 22K in less than 14 months under conservative usage. We needed a daily driver with a new urgency.

Started at 10L as a budget looking at C1-C2 segment cars. A pre-facelift Creta SX was available at 16L. Seemed a stretch at that time. I had a soft corner for S-Cross, a car I'd been following since its launch. It was a diesel from a low risk apetite OEM. Ciaz was considered due to budget and rejected due to GC.

As King Theoden says, and so the stellar ownership began...

To summarize the S-Cross ownership:

• Frugal sub 5 Rs/km fuel cost.
• The car taught me to fall in love with manual transmission. Contrary to popular belief, the transition from AT to MT was a breeze.
• I became a long distance runner driving as many as 1400 km in 24 hours. Made Maharashtra look like a neighborhood town.
• Brought back confidence in the steed, that undertook 8000 km in 16 days just like that.
• Bad roads, no roads, knee deep water ? No problem!
• The car could've easily seen few lakh kms, cut short to 85000 km due to our additional space requirement.
• The only annoyance in the ownership was the glow plug replacements. I had to replace 8, between 28000 and 63000 km. The replacements stopped after the glow plug control module got replaced at 63000 kms.

2018 Maruti Suzuki Zeta

Budget

We started at 15L, but quickly knew, there was nothing other than XL6 that satisfied this financial requirement. So we knew we had to stretch, but 24L seemed a bit too much. Another school of thought was, this was the time in life when we'd need such a big car, so why not?

Candidates

Tata Safari - I had seen this earlier in July. I liked it, my daughter liked it. However the major gripe was that I have to stretch to 24.6L and get the XZ to have ISOFIX. Every other criteria was satisfied by XT. Why have the ISOFIX only in the top variant in a D segment car, when budget segment has it on base variant is beyond me. The waiting time was a decent 6-8 weeks.

Toyota Innova - My wife wanted to get the Innova for a long time, so did I. But the diesel being discontinued and buying the petrol Innova with a fuel cost of 10 Rs/km was yaanai katti theeni potta kadhai (buying and feeding an elephant). Was dropped even without a showroom visit.

MG Hector Plus - This came as a suggestion from AYP to my What car post. The Super variant was 22.x L on-road and Select was 24.7 L on-road. The waiting times were at 6 months for Super, 1-2 months for Select. Servicing wise, nearest service center was 30 km away at Ekkaduthangal.

Kia Carens - Visited the showroom on the 10th and took a test drive. I was impressed and so was the family. Prestige Plus was the variant of choice which retailed at 17.6L. I quite liked the drivability. This was the prime candidate. The looks were polar which I was willing to live with for the practicality it offered. There was only one problem, the waiting time was 5-6 months. Service centers were again 30 km away either at Ambattur or Perungudi. I was almost ready to book, but I wanted to see and test drive the Alcazar before taking the plunge.

Maruti XL6 - This could have been a no-brainer if it had the MJD. Or atleast a petrol with better drivability. Based on the official review and many other impressions, I was prepared. The test drive (2022 Maruti XL6 Facelift Review) impression vindicated that this isn't for me.

Hyundai Alcazar - This was the last car we saw. I was fine with the practicality. No big difference in terms of drivability compared to Carens. The entry level Prestige variant had all I wanted. The on-road I was offered was 19.15L with a promised delivery in a week.

Decision

At the time of decision, the S-Cross had crossed 85000 km. Much before we became serious in looking for a car. I was clear to either sell the S-Cross before 100,000 km or wring it for life. Given the pace I was raking miles, waiting 6 months would mean further drop in trade-in price from what I had from each of the dealers.

Plus if we were not stretching to 25L, we had to compromise with the Alcazar or Carens.

The sticker price, short waiting time proximity of servicing, sealed the deal in favour for Hyundai Alcazar.

Short summary of my likes, dislikes and neutral points

Likes

• Refined diesel powertrain that has adequate juice for urban and highway runs.
• Good service network across the country. I have as many as 6 service center choices in reasonable distance. Kia and MG lose out on this regard.
• Dark shade interiors! Am a big sucker for black interiors.
• Sufficient brakes that decelerate from 80 to 0 without any drama.
• Gets most of the basic kit right on the base Prestige variant.
• Noise insulation of the cabin is good, tire noise from those JK UX Royales are rather muted.

Dislikes

• Short gearing that makes you work through the gears during urban runs.
• Loud keyless entry beep that will wake your neighbors.
• No side-curtain airbags as standard on car that's classified under D-segment costs nearly 2 million rupees.
• Unstable wireless Carplay connectivity that makes you forget the convenience it provides.
• Ultra light Hyundai steering that needs careful handling coming from S-Cross.
• Overdone front chrome grill and rear name band is an eyesore.
• Overpriced by 1.5L compared to its sibling Carens for identical kit.
• Blatant omissions like rear washer, day-night IRVM.

Neutral

• Speed limit beep for 80 is livable. Will learn to ignore it over time.
• JK UX Royales are ok for now. They'll be replaced on next swap.
• LED headlamps are acceptable for me. Not everybody's cup of tea.
• Feels rather top heavy coming from S-Cross.
• Concerns over BS6 diesel exist. Hoping my usage pattern will take care of it.
• Boot space was a planned compromise, given the budget constraints.
• Stiff suspension is not for every use case.

I made the booking on 17-September and took delivery on the 26-September. It could have been the 24th, if the RTO formalities were done on the 23rd.

Review Index

Exterior
Interiors
Driving Impressions
In car Entertainment
Other significant observations and quirks

[narayans80]

Exteriors

I'll admit, I don't like the exteriors that much.

That front grill is in your face and overdone.

The weird looking headlight cluster is another eyesore.

I lived 4 years with that ugly facelifted S-Cross grill, am going to live this baby as well. Neither were born to win beauty contests.

A close look at the ugly front grill

The side profile is neutral, no funny elements or cladding added to spoil the look.

Driver side profile

The rear is again overdone. Too loud for my taste. Hyundai's tried to make the rear look like a Fortuner.

Overdone rear

No way to unlock the car from the passenger side. S-Cross had it. It was very convenient to unlock when you had to park the driver side close to the wall.

No request sensor on the front passenger door

Child lock uses a key. Not the button mechanism I've seen on my previous cars.

Child lock on the rear door

[narayans80]

Interiors

I am a sucker for black interiors. The cognac brown-black scheme looks good.

A view of the front seats

The base variant is thankfully equipped with the mechanical parking brake. The electronic parking brake was a concern after Mudhalaipatti's scary EPB incident (Scare of a lifetime | Engaged parking brake (but not properly) | XUV700 rolls back on incline) with the 700.

It can also be seen how far back the front armrest is. When driving in city it is partly useless, you can't rest your hand on the armrest and up/downshift to the odd numbered gears. For the even-numbered gears you can. The armrest is useful only on highway trips where there is less need to shift.

It must be noted that I am 5'10" and have a longer arm. Short drivers might find more challenging to use the armrest in city.

Seats are on the firmer side and offer good support. Firmer than the S-Cross seat. Am yet to test on my super-long drives yet.

Although the bed mode picture from the Crysta thread is very tempting to go for the captain seat variant (No, you cannot do bed mode in Alcazar). The bench middle row (i.e 7-seat variant) is more practical to keep stuff than the fixed armrest in the captain seat variant.

For the most part we would use it to seat 5 and use the 3rd row 60-40 split for boot space.

The ISOFIX mounts on the second row put to use:

The Chicco Nextfit installed behind the driver seat

Missus who is 5'1" and the primary second row occupant, has not complained on the city or 300 km highway drive yet. She finds fore-aft and recline adjustment of the second row very useful.

The popup table behind the front seat has not been used so far.

My 13 and 8 year olds have taken over the third row. They can be together, fight together without daddy bothering them. The shorter height of missus in second row frees up space for my 13 year old who sits right behind her. The 8-year old on booster is not tall enough either.

The 5'10" me isn't going to see the second or third row ever.

The head rests are down during my daily commute, used only when occupied. They are annoying for visibility from IRVM

A view of the 3rd row with the booster in place

The boot space seems to be a compromise on every candidate barring the Innova, which has 300L on offer. This was a conscious decision we took, given stretching to 25L was a big ask and had to spend big on petrol.

The boot space on offer with all rows up


How it looks loaded during an urban run


The likely configuration we'd use for those week long runs

The panoramic sunroof adds to the entertainment factor to the morning and rainy drives. Have to consciously remember to close the roof liner before exiting the vehicle.

Airconditioner

I set the S-Cross to 24 or 24.5, it chills to the bones. The Alcazar just gets the job done with the same temperature setting. This is in September when the ambient temperature is in low 30s, remains to be seen how it performs in summer.

The kids in the 3rd row all seem to be happy with 24C. They infact feel its cold after a while I don't know how.

[narayans80]

Driving Impressions

At the time of writing this review, the car has done 1800 km on the odo including 2 weeks of commute and 600+300 km round trip on the highway.

I've lived with the S-Cross for 4 years. So there are going to be comparisons through this review.

Driving position

Was easy-peasy to get to a comfortable position. This variant comes with manual controls, which to me is preferred over electric controls.

The light, turn indicator and wiper stalks all fell into place. There is zero learning curve on this from the S-Cross.

Only the cruise control buttons are a little different. It took me some time to figure the RES button. Once you set the speed, it does show the set speed on the MID.

Cruise control cheat sheet

The flat bottom steering is nice to hold, no complaints there. Since the weather is slightly cooler, have not had a measure of how the steering is to hold in hot weather.

Although I've driven tallboys all my life. Am not yet used to this stance yet coming from the S-Cross. Feels tad top-heavy to drive on the initial days. It does give a feeling that one has a lot more GC available. How much real GC is available, remains to be seen.

ORVMs are generously sized. Gets the sides covered for the car this size.

The drive

The first thing I noticed coming from the S-Cross is how silent the diesel was. I've read about the refinement over the years, the Carens test drive was the first taste of the Hyundai diesel refinement. Family members were so impressed with the Carens refinement that they wanted to get it without looking at anything else. Only I wanted to test the Alcazar before taking a plunge.

This being my first 6-speed manual. It was quite a bit of learning curve to get used to this gearing coming from the 5-speed S-Cross. I feel it is way too short for the city. You'll end frequently up-down shifting . It really feels weird to shift to 5th at 50 kph. It took me about 10 days to get used to this gearing. One thing I feel coming from the S-Cross is, there is lot less engine braking available. I could drive the S-Cross with a lot less brake usage compared to the Alcazar. It is very easy to slot into 6th when downshifting from 5th instead of 4th. Have to adjust the way I shift to avoid this. Good thing is it doesn't get into stall mode.

I have to keep reminding myself that the reverse gear is on the top left reversing out of my home. I shift into 6th and wonder why the reverse camera is not activating for a second

The brakes are definitely sharper, decelerates the 80 to 0 without any drama. I am taking a more sedate approach towards acceleration and braking for a smoother experience.

It is very easy to get to speeds. I managed to zoom past 100, even though I am consciously keeping on the 80-90 sweet spot for now.

The clutch is super-light, but has a longer travel and a tad more unforgiving than S-Cross clutch. I've managed to stall the Alcazar more in a week, than I stalled the S-Cross the entire 4 year ownership. This is despite the fact that S-Cross was my first MT after 6 year hiatus and direct successor of Corolla AT.

Another significant learning curve with the Alcazar is the (infamous) super light Hyundai steering. It is another reason to taking the drives slower. Even at 90 kph, steering does not significantly weigh up. It is good for my 1000 km runs, but not very confidence inspiring coming from a better handler.

Ride is a tad stiff (stiffer than the S-Cross). Although the speed breakers I used to deal on a daily basis are being handled better. I've taken some on 2nd gear as the only passenger, which I earlier used to take in 1st. I now take the entire multi-level parking at work in 2nd, on the S-Cross the first climb had to be taken in 1st.

The noise insulation is impressive. The only noise heard during the highway drive were from the JK UX Royales.

[narayans80]

In Car Entertainment

The ICE gets its own section for the trauma/learning curve it caused.

Effectively the real used features are Apple Carplay and Bluetooth. These were the only features used in 4 years of S-Cross and will continue into the Alcazar ownership.

The Prestige variant is kitted with wireless Android Auto and Apple Carplay (yes, you read it right). This got a passing mention in the Alcazar official thread (Hyundai Alcazar Review). There is no mention of it in the brochure. It was on the drive after delivery from showroom did I confirm this feature was indeed there.

The initial days with wireless Carplay were quite painful with frequent disconnections.

The annoying CarPlay disconnection screen

After a few days of usage, I figure, the usage of Wireless Carplay with the phone on the Wireless charger tray doesn't seem work well. By work well, you have to read it as one disconnection per drive instead of all the time.

For a 300 km drive with Google Maps and Apple Music/Spotify streaming, the battery level drops from 100 to 60%.

While I paired the OnePlus 7 wirelessly, am yet to run wireless Android Auto on the run.

When Carplay disconnects, it automatically falls back to Bluetooth.

When Carplay reconnects, music resumes without any problem. Google Maps navigation wakes up like Drew Barrymore in 50 First Dates.

The audio quality with wireless Carplay and bluetooth is decent. Will satisfy any casual listener.

If you use Siri, you'll hear it talk only from the driver side speaker in a lower volume. Not on all speakers. So far I've not had to repeat myself for the voice assistant.

One significant thing I notice, the music streaming does not automatically resume in the Alcazar. It used to resume in the S-Cross.

[narayans80]

Other significant observations and Quirks

Illumination

The white light is adequate in dry weather, the dismal in rain.

Manual

You don't get the full manual book here. Only the service booklet and a small headunit troubleshooter. Weirdly you get the table of contents and QR code for the manual on the service booklet.

The manual is a total snooze fest with so many if equipped sections, including some options that are not sold in India at all (like the section on iMT transmission).

BS6 fears

I must admit this was there back of my mind reading through stories over the last 2 years. I probably wouldn't have gone for a BS6 diesel if I was living inside the city. For a largely suburban and highway usage, Prasanna's Altroz thread has been confidence inspiring for this decision.

Given I already spend considerable amount of time planning for COCO fuel stops, fingers and toes crossed I don't see it through this ownership

Airconditioner quirk

Found this quirky AC behaviour while me and my kids

[center]Attachment 2365569
Car in accessory mode, Auto Climate off, AC off. Rear vent on.
Blower runs in the 3rd row

Fuel Efficiency

The MID showed 21.4 kpl on first refill. However auto cutoff to auto cutoff filling resulted with a practical FE of 18.25 kpl. That means a MID error of 3.1 kpl.

Currently with a 600 km highway run, MID ranged from 24.7 to 25.2. Going by the MID error seen earlier, the real FE should 21.5 thereabouts.

With a 50 liter tank (possibly 42 liters to reserve), gets a decent 800 km range for fuel stop planning.

Quirk: FE gets reset on partial refill

Multi Information Display

Being the entry level Prestige variant, the temperature, fuel and RPM gauge are analog and the speedo gets a digital gauge in one style (Signature gets 2).

Notification on CarPlay track changes shows below the speedometer


Notification as you scroll through headlight setting, similar display exists for wiper setting

For some strange reason, drive info does not seem to calculate on every restart. I stopped twice on the highway drive, for 10-15 minutes each. Yet the drive info was calculated for the full 300 km journey. This doesn't happen when I commute from home to work and work to home, which are a good 5 to 6 hours apart.

Tires

The Prestige trim gets 215/60/R17. JK UX Royale is a poor brand choice. Have endured them for 58000 km on the facelifted S-Cross, they are very noisy. The noise insulation mutes them a bit, the presence of tire noise is still felt.

JK UX Royale 215/60/R17

Rains and rear hatch door

Its been raining on and off in the city. One thing I observe is, the rear hatch door and number gets dirty very easily.

Thin layer of dirt after driving through a rainy day

As dirty as it gets
A Telangana based Signature I encountered during my drive

Reverse camera is a tad bit exposed


Reverse cam after a rainy night drive

Sales Experience

This is the first time am buying a car from a non-metro showroom. The first time I walked in to Chengalpattu Jain Hyundai, seeing a showroom without any display cars was a weird experience. I also visited the Guduvancherry FPL. Eventually I got a better followup, pricing and earlier delivery from Jain Hyundai than from FPL.

Among the other candidates, Perungudi Capital Kia and Nandanam Nexa followup was stellar. The Perungudi MG and FPL Tata in Guduvancherry have not even bothered to followup.

Service Experience

First service was completed at Jain Hyundai on Chengalpattu bypass. Its a small workshop, so its easy to watch the work done on the car. So far the experience has been satisfactory. Will evaluate more as the ownership progresses.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Reviews section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage tomorrow . Wishing you a minimum of 150,000 happy km & several road-trips with your Alcazar, Narayan.

[UD17]

Let me congratulate you for your new companion. Wish you many happy miles with your Alcazar.

I used to ask myself, why anyone should buy an overpriced Alcazar? Your review had given me lot of perspective in regards to my question. Thanks a lot for the efforts in penning down your experience.

I will keep an eye on this thread for an observation, that is ground clearance scenario with fully loaded car on not so good roads.

[callmeneo]

Congrats on the Alcazar. I got mine a couple of days back. Mine is a Signature(O) AT. The first tankful gave me a range of 740km with 75-25 highway and city split. Hope it improves over time. Its an excellent investment for people who can see the value in it. That's my personal opinion.

[Hickstead]

Wonderful review and Congratulations on the new acquisition.
I am also planning to go with Alcazar D AT. I have a booking for Creta and thinking about upgrading to Alcazar as it met our requirement better, compared to Creta. Top end Signature (O) AT is costing 25L OTR approximately here in Hyderabad. Even it is expensive compared to others in the segment ( XUV & Safari ), Alcazar is easy to manoeuvre in city and fuel efficient too. Just in a dilemma whether to go with the top end or settle for a lower variants as pricing is too much for the signature. Front parking sensors and ventilated seats are good to have features and we are not able to ignore those features.

[saketsomani]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Dislikes
...Loud keyless entry beep that will wake your neighbors.

Congratulations @narayans80 on your purchase! I had the same issue with my Tucson, you can disable the entry beep by holding down the lock and unlock button on your key for 5 seconds. The lights will flash and the beep is disabled.

Happy driving!

[callmeneo]

Originally Posted by Hickstead

Wonderful review and Congratulations on the new acquisition.
I am also planning to go with Alcazar D AT. I have a booking for Creta and thinking about upgrading to Alcazar as it met our requirement better, compared to Creta. Top end Signature (O) AT is costing 25L OTR approximately here in Hyderabad. Even it is expensive compared to others in the segment ( XUV & Safari ), Alcazar is easy to maneuver in city and fuel efficient too. Just in a dilemma whether to go with the top end or settle for a lower variants as pricing is too much for the signature. Front parking sensors and ventilated seats are good to have features and we are not able to ignore those features.

I have the top end version and i love using all the features. Also i do like the big digital cluster which is similar to Tucson which puts out all the info in a uncluttered way. You can go for one below top end which misses out the seat ventilation and front sensors. The front sensors can be added later though. The seat ventilation is very light which you can actually let go.

Also do wring some discounts .You can get at least close to 60-80k off on the final on road price.

[locusjag]

I've followed your road trips over the past years and you clock a lot of fun miles that I can only dream of. This car, with its diesel engine and 6 gears, will do very well for you.

The BS6 diesel part though - mind sharing a summary of your thought process in making your peace with the DPF and fuel quality risks? I am on that same boat - wondering if diesel is no good for urban folks anymore.

[Knightrider]

Many congratulations on your new car!

Originally Posted by narayans80

Dislikes
Loud keyless entry beep that will wake your neighbors.

Carens has an option to disable using the key the loud sound on lock/unlock. I believe Alcazar too must be having that option.

[Chimera]

Originally Posted by narayans80

If someone

Found a 2010 Corolla AT with 72000 km on the clock in September 2017. The 4-speed AT made this 4500 mm long sedan such a breeze to drive, that I've taken this fella into gully roads in the city.

The car not just had a drinking problem, but also needed super expensive part replacements. Toyota servicing was nothing to write home about. The last straw was them suggesting an engine rebuild for a 94K run petrol car, which was taken to the ASC for a FE problem.

Review Index

Exterior
Interiors
Driving Impressions
In car Entertainment
Other significant observations and quirks

Didn't the Corolla automatic come with a 7 step CVT?
Also could you please elaborate on the expensive parts as few of my friends are looking to get a pre owned Toyota.