My Hyundai Alcazar turbo-petrol DCT: 10,000km update

After 6 months and 10,000 kms later, I can confidently say that the decision to choose the Alcazar over the Mahindra XUV 700 and ScorpioN was perfect for my usecase and requirements

BHPian jkaushik recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

No car is perfect yet every car is, in the eyes of the owner.

This is the feeling I have for my cars. I had the same emotions for my 1st car, the EcoSport, and same for the new Alcazar Turbo Petrol DCT signature varient.
Now after 6 months and 10,000 kms later, i can confidently say that the decision to choose the Alcazar over the XUV700 and ScoripoN was perfect for my usecase and requirements. Although the road presence of the XUV and ScoripoN does make me oogle at them but I have test driven them enough to know what I was not missing out on.

Alright, now coming back to the car at hand.
My drives have been majorly on highways 70% and 30% on city. Also the highway drives have mostly been around 80kms per trip. I have already spoken about the pros, cons of this car in my earlier posts, here I will just share the new findings and observations.

DCT gearbox:
1. The gearbox is extremely smooth on the highways, overtakes are quick and fun. Only when you press the accelerator suddenly and aggressively, the gearbox takes a sec to react and downshift and then the car lunges forward and there is no stopping it, it keeps on accelerating.
2. In the city, on Normal mode, the car shift into 2nd gear almost immediately. So when I am driving in crawling traffic, to protect the clutch I drive on Sports mode. This is so that the car holds on to the 1st gear longer and there is no frequent upshift to 2nd and again downshifting to 1st in crawling stop go traffic and clutch engage/disengage reduces. Hopefully my jugaad puts less load in the clutches.

Kitna deti hai:
1. Sedate driving on highways gave me Max 20kmpl and 17-18kmpl on average easily. Aggressive driving gives around 13kmpl. So it's a good balance and sometimes I listen to my brain (save money on fuels) and some other days, heart (yolo, have fun, else whats the point of getting a turbo dct).
2. City mileage hovers around 8-9kmpl.
All figures are with auto AC always at around 24 degrees.

Seats:
1. The driver seat is good-ish with ventilation and the 8 way adjustment does allow you to find the near-perfect position but nowhere as comfortable as the ones in the XUV700 or the ScorpioN (They have way better lumber support).
2. Memory seats are a boon and I have 2 settings stored, a higher seating one for the city and a low slung one for the highways where I can rest both my elbows one on the doorpad and other on the armrest.
3. Rear seats are supremely comfortable. I have kept it reclined to the max position and along with the neck cushion, armrest and good legroom, it's the place to be actually. Friends have gone gaga about how comfortable the rear seats are.

Other observations:
1. The centre console squeaks a tiny bit when taking fast turns on hills and on braking hard. Not bothersome at all but since I came from an Ecosport which was without any squeaks even after 9yrs, these small sounds in the cabin gets registered in my head.
2. Sunglass inside the holder rattles no matter how I place it. Solution: I wrap it with the lens cleaning cloth and then place it inside.
3. The sunroof has collected water marks. I am thinking of installing a sunfilm on it.
4. Got the ECU upgraded to the lastest version to fix the "Battery discharge" issue during the 2nd servicing.
5. My nephews did travel in the 3rd row, didn't complaint as they had USB ports, AC vents n blower controls to keep them occupied. Little joys of life.
6. The interiors look extremely upmarket especially due to the colour combination and fit n finish.
7. The car doesn't have great road presence, looks like a Creta from the front.

Overall I am happy living with the Alcazar for the past 6 months. I know it's not selling a lot, I feel it's due to its resemblance to the Creta and the smaller size compared to its competitors.

My wife asked me one day, why did we buy a car which no one else buys (she was referring to the sea of Ns and XUVs), did we make a mistake?
I replied, "No car is perfect yet every car is".

Till next time.

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