5th February 2010, 13:07
| #1 |
| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 56
Thanked: 24 Times
| My First Car - The Hyundai i20 First of all I would like to thank the moderators for approving my membership. I have been waiting for this for quite a long time. I have always dreamt of owning a car since my school days. Somehow cars fascinate me more than bikes. Couple of months back my dream came true and I had bought my first car. The Hyundai i20. How it all started: I had been deliberating buying a car for myself for some time now (around 1 year) and been doing a lot of research on the various cars. Team-BHP played a very big part in my search. I was not sure of my budget. Initially I thought spending more than 4 lacs on a hatchback is not worth and was looking within that range. But none of the cars impressed me (I had always wanted to buy a sedan and was not much interested in hatchbacks). Then I increased my budget a little bit and I had Hyundai i10 kappa, Suzuki Swift and Fiat Punto 1.2, Suzuki Ritz within my range. I love the Shape and sportiness of Swift. But since there are just too many swifts on road, I did not want to buy it. I always like to be different and prefer exclusivity. And I decided not even to take a test drive of the same(am sure I would have liked it and it would have made my decision even tougher). I was not interested in diesel cars cause I dont drive my car daily. My office is so close to my house that I sometimes walk to office. I planned to use it on weekends and some occasional highway trips. So I thought my average monthly mileage would not cross 1000Km and a petrol engine would suffice. Hence I shortlisted on Fiat Punto and Hyundai i10 magna for test drive. I decided to skip Ritz as well since I personally did not like the rear looks. Also, I am not in favour of tallboys. The TD experience: So, on a Sunday afternoon, along with my wife and friend, went to Trident Hyundai, Indira Nagar, Bangalore which is just right across the road from my house  . We were greeted by one of their executives and he was explaining about the various features of i10 1.2 Magna. All of us liked the interiors (fit and finish) and the very decent rear legroom. We asked for a test drive and said it will be arranged in a few minutes. All this while there was an i20 parked next to the i10 inside the showroom communicating with my subconscious mind. I have always loved the looks of i20 but I though it is too pricey. Finally, the TD vehicle had arrived and all of us took our positions inside. The TD was short and mostly through gullies. I found that the car had more than sufficient power and handled quite well. However I found the ride very bumpy. Back in the showroom after the TD, was keen on enquiring about the i20 Magna. The executive again explained to me about the standard features. He said it has the same engine as the i10 but the gear ratios are different. I asked for a TD on i20 as well and it was immediately arranged. The TD vechicle was the i20 Asta model which is fully loaded with features. The interiors were again top class. Took the TD on the same route. The car was quite peppy and was eager to move forward. Though not as peppy as i10 i thought. Nevertheless I did not find any lack of power. I found the steering absolutely light and very easy to handle the car despite its size. The ride this time was very smooth and the rear was spacious. All of us liked it instantly. I felt the ride was feel was a class or two apart from that of i10. The executive said the OTR price is 5.66 Lacs for the Magna and 6.6L for the Asta version. He said there is no other offer on the i20. i10 on the other hand had free insurance (for the first year), corporate discount, free stereo system with two speakers, mats and mudflaps and more. I told him I will need sometime to decide and left the place. The next weekend, I went to TD Punto. 1.2L was not available for TD. Only 1.4L was available. The car looked stunning from the outside and dull on the inside. The rear was cramped very cramped. It is some effort to sit three people at the back. The car handled well, though the steering was not as light as i20. The clutch was often interfering with the dead pedal which was annoying for me. May be the two are very close to each other. The ride was not very great. None of us really liked the car so much. I liked the looks but did not like the lack of rear legroom. The car is one of the biggest hatch backs (even bigger than i20) but lacks internal space. I told the executive that I will get back within a week and left the place. So after much deliberations, finally decided to pay the extra buck and go for i20 Magna. Once decided, I again went for another TD with my friends. All of them liked it instantly. They were saying it feels like sitting in a luxury sedan. So, on the 21st of Nov 2009, went to the showroom for booking. This time I asked the person for some freebies and finally he agreed to give my mud flaps, floor mats, boot mats, car cover, teflon coating for free and remote keyless entry and 3M film (SP-35) at cost price. He said he will charge Rs.3000 for the remote entry and Rs.2000 for the film. I said ok and paid the booking advance of Rs 5000. He said it will take 4-6weeks for the car to be delivered. After some discussions with my wife we half mindedly agreed on the dark grey color. (I had actually wanted the berry red or sleek silver). The executive said if we want to change the color, then we need to inform him within a weeks time. We said ok and went home. After a couple of days, after much persuasion, my wife agreed upon the sleek silver color (she is still against the berrry red color) and i immediately called up the executive and informed him. I decided to take a loan from Axis bank at 10% interest for 3 years. I told the executive that I would take the insurance myself. He was quoting Rs. 17400 for the insurance. I then got the insurance done through policybazaar.com for Rs. 10905 from Bajaj-Allianz general insurance. The day of the Delivery (11-Dec-2010) I had read in these forums, that PDI is very important and even seen the elaborate checklist for the same. However, I didnot have the time for that and I said, I will do some check at the time of delivery. Infact I had not even seen the car untill the time of delivery. I was just hoping that everything will be fine. So, went a little early on the day of the delivery to ensure there are not any visible defects. The car was fine and finished the final formalities. There were a lot of vehicles delivered on that day and understandably it was a bit chaotic. Finally, drove the vehicle out of the showroom at around 8 pm. My dream came true that moment. The day after the delivery, I found that the rear doors could not be opened from the inside. I really got worried (thoughts of skipping PDI began to haunt me) and took it to the dealer immediately. He said that the child lock will be on and he showed me how to remove the child lock on the rear door. There was a small pin that needs to be pushed to disengage the child lock. . I was relieved and at the same time feeling stupid.Initial Ownership report So far I have clocked 2500Kms in the las two months. This includes two trips to Chennai. The car is big, very big and gives you a feeling of being secure. It handles very well in the traffic due to its light steering. However, the road view is not great, the seats are lower and the suspension is very soft. One has to be extra careful while driving on humps. It is very easy to drive inside the city and has adequate power. One thing that I observed is that, the doors dont get locked automatically. It gets locked for the first time, and suppose any door is opened with ignition still on, then it doesnt get locked automatically. Is it common with i20 or some defect with my car? The air conditioner is not an absolute chiller and it takes a while to cool the cabin. I am not sure how long it is going to take for cooling in the summer. The NVH is extremely good, and no road noise enters the cabin. Only the horns of other vechicles are audible inside. There is no engine noise. However at high speeds, the tire noise creeps in. Hyundai could have provided better stock tyres. The car has sufficient torque and can easily ride in 4th gear at speeds of even 25 kmph. The only time when you feel the lack of power is when sudden acceleration is required. The car takes a long time to accelerate in the 2nd gear. On the highways, it is a car that can cruise effortlessly. The body is well planted and the lower height gives you the extra confidence to take sharp turns. But one has to be a little careful about the steering. It is quite sensitive even at speeds over 80kmph. The car is very stable at speeds of 120kmph. I have gone upto a maximum of 140kmph. I wanted to go higher, but the road conditions did not permit me to do so. I think it will probably be able to touch 150kmph but i guess it will take a long time before it reaches that point. I got a very decent mileage of 17kmpl on highways, measured full tank - full tank. Inside city, the mileage drops considerable. I guess i get around 12-13kmpl, not measured very accurately though. Overall I am pretty happy with the performance with the car. To summarise, the pros and cons according to me are Pros: a). Stunning looks from the front and side - really like the lines on the side b). Good quality of plastics in the interiors and the upmarket finish inside. c). Cooling glove box, serves you well on long drives d). Nice feeling once you are inside as though you are sitting in a big car e). Spacious, good legroom and shoulder room at the back f). decent mileage I have got 17kmpl on the highways and 12-13kmpl in the city driving conditions with 80% AC on g). very light steering, a boon in city driving h). comes loaded with features, so not much after market accessories are needed Cons: a). Gear box, the first gear and the reverse gear do not engage properly some times. b). The ground clearance is pretty low for indian conditions, need to be a little careful on humps, even while climbing up or down some steep ramps. The front part (good that they have provided some rubber there) just scrapes the ground. c). I dont find the rear vents of any use. In order to enable the rear vents, the AC position has to be set to the legs which i personally dont like. d). Better tires could have been provided e). The steering is quite sensitive even at high speeds. So need to be extra careful while negotiating sharp curves at high speeds f). On highways, good for cruising not that great for sudden overtakes g). The doors do not lock automatically at higher speeds. PS: I havent taken any pics of my car yet. Strange. I will try to take some pics soon and upload. |
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5th February 2010, 14:21
| #2 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 641
Thanked: 26 Times
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5th February 2010, 14:41
| #3 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: bangalore
Posts: 36
Thanked: Once
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5th February 2010, 14:51
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| Senior - BHPian  | |
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5th February 2010, 15:58
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| Senior - BHPian  | |
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5th February 2010, 16:36
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| Senior - BHPian | Congrats on your new purchase!!! good that you got some freebies- probably because you bought towards the year end as nothing on offer with i-20.. btw i had read that most people found the 1.2 engine slightly inadequate on the highway...for the city its optimal. All hyundai cars are light steering- at least the ones i have driven so far.. Did you get a decent treatment at trident? I had gone there- found them a little wanting on customer service- the indiranagar one... BTW read the thread on car care- aesthetics, some great tips on car maintenance  . PM if you need some "expert advice" !!! BTW- NO pics...no thread!!!Pics awaited.. |
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5th February 2010, 16:37
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5th February 2010, 19:36
| #8 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 44
Thanked: 9 Times
| Congrats for your new ride.! Quote:
Feels like i'm 20 now - Hyundai i20 Asta 1.2 It's a Holy Bible of sorts for i20 owners.  Methinks it's an small ECU setting that needs to be altered to enable the feature. The mileage you are getting is very good for i20.Mine gives me ~10 kmpl...but to be fair, it's almost always driven in heavy B2B traffic and hardly ever on highways. | |
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5th February 2010, 23:38
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| BANNED | Neatly written, Congrats on your first buy. Quote:
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while coming out from a dip to a hump sort of situation , yes the rubber scraps Quote:
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Last edited by wildon : 5th February 2010 at 23:40. | |||||||
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6th February 2010, 03:51
| #10 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bengaluru
Posts: 71
Thanked: 0 Times
| Congrats Gene!! Happy motoring with Uber cool. I totally agree with you on the pros/cons of i20 but just can't ignore the looks and design of this beautiful hatch. Good to know that you have got a lot of freebies. Did you upgrade the OEM tyres or alloys? Awaiting pics Regards, Vish |
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6th February 2010, 04:43
| #11 |
| Newbie  Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: London and Gurgaon
Posts: 10
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6th February 2010, 10:15
| #12 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: AU
Posts: 2,409
Thanked: 8,554 Times
| Congratulations Gene. Very well written. Hyundai has hit the jackpot with the i20. A fully loaded hatch makes more sense than a stripped down sedan for more people now |
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7th February 2010, 13:23
| #13 |
| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 56
Thanked: 24 Times
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7th February 2010, 13:30
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| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 56
Thanked: 24 Times
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7th February 2010, 13:33
| #15 |
| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 56
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