Would I buy the Hyundai Exter? Test drive & comparison with my Xcent

It is tall and spacious with a good amount of shoulder room. Maybe Hyundai learned space management from Tata cars?

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Test drove Exter yesterday. My brother is on the lookout for a city car and since he is kind of a Hyundai fanboy we thought we can TD Exter.

Below is my observation as a current Hyundai Xcent (2014) owner. I also drive an Elite i20 and Creta P very often as we have a multi-car garage. Since my Xcent and Exter use the same engine I thought I'd drive first and give him my opinion.

Variant we drove : SX(O) Connect

Negatives for me:

• Car's looks are okay-ish. Panel gaps were not consistent and I can see some misalignments in the bonnet area. Never seen such a sight in a Hyundai car. Maybe a problem with the TD vehicle?
• Quality in comparison with my Xcent feels like a downgrade. Interior quality of my Xcent in 2014 beats Exter's hands down.
• Freaking expensive for what it offers.
• Exhilarating performance that my Xcent offered in 3rd gear is gone. The power is linear throughout and unenthusiastic to drive. Better for mature and sedate drivers.
• Transmission tunnel is huge compared to Xcent and it makes the 3rd passenger in the back sit in an awkward knee position. This killed the joy of the extra shoulder room it offers.
• Base variant is too basic. It is like Hyundai has this variant only to show a low sticker price and the lower variant can be best termed as "Plain rice without any gravy or sides".

Positives:

• Engine drivability has improved by leaps and bounds. Riding in city traffic doesn't require many gear shifts. Drove at speeds of 35-30 kmph in 3rd gear without lugging. Which is not possible with my Xcent.
• Gearshifts felt a bit sticky compared to my Xcent which is butter smooth. Clutch is about the same as Xcent and is light to operate.
• Steering is super light compared to Xcent and it makes the ride even more easier.
• Tall and spacious compared to Xcent. Shoulder room has improved a lot. We were 5 in our Xcent yesterday. When we sit in the back of Xcent our shoulder rub with each other and we feel uncomfortable. But with Exter, the shoulder room is great and the same set of people who sat in Xcent said they felt good in the back of Exter. Hell, even I sat in the back for a while and it was better. Maybe they learned space management from Tata cars?
• Suspension is well sorted (in the city) compared to my Xcent or even our Elite i20 which we sold recently. No more big thuds in medium potholes. In fact, I intentionally rode over small potholes and Exter didn't give the huge iconic Hyundai thud and although it was felt, it is not as bad as it was in our cars. Only Creta surpasses Exter in this aspect.

Verdict

Well, after TD, we felt good about Exter but after the price was revealed by SA, we were put off. Decently spec-ed "S" variant costs about 8.4L OTR and for the same price, i20 Magna beats it hands down. And i20 has some good offers running. My brother decided to go ahead with i20 Magna, which apart from losing additional 4 airbags, has a lot more to offer. Also, it looks & feels premium and spacious.

Will I buy Exter?

• If it was for me, I would choose Exter once the discounts started rolling in, and only as a secondary car.
• I can't see it as a highway cruiser and for the short highway run that we did, it didn't impress me as a long-distance cruiser.
• Overtaking vehicles is much better in my Xcent compared to Exter as Xcent offered the push needed to overtake whereas Exter is taking a linear approach in that. Which made us crawl behind vehicles more than we would have.
• If Exter comes with Turbo-Petrol, well, I might even consider it but for someone who strictly needs a second car which sees most of its life in the city, Exter is one of the options.

Well, that's just my view!

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