Tested and Ripped: Hyundai i10 Kappa

[bimi]

[quote=sonycs;914668][quote=DCEite;909943]Now the most important part. The car gives about 1-2 kmpl less than the IRDE version. This is admitted by the salesman himself. I visited two showrooms and both said the same. Probably thats why there is a IRDE Magna for just 7-8k less than the Kappa Magna, for those who care for FE more than the power.

Then why do they talk about all Alluminium light weight engine which gives more mileage and has more power.

I did go to HMP today for the test drive, but their cars had gone to the RTO for registration, which means that may be I will be able to do a Test drive soon.

I asked the sales consultant about the mileage & he told me that since their deliveries have not started in full swing they do not have reports on the actual mileage. However, he added that the kappa will be having a better FE than irde, mainly due to the al engine, by around 4~5%. This guy was quite well informed about the product and I think he wasnt lying. Theoratically, kappa should give better FE.

Cheers

[finetuning]

Here are my 2 cets for niche catagory of i10 kappa.

VFM is not Value For Money but Value For Mass.

If we look at the prospective reach of any product then understanding the rising need of Mass is to be considerd.Mass here represent a group/cluster of people which can stretch themselves to spend LITTLE HIGHER then prevailing to get something MORE.Its these LITTLE HIGHER(Money charged as Premium) and MORE (technological upgradation and so on) that drives the product.

If at anytime its proved by masses to opt for this LITTLE HIGHER(Premium) looking at sales chart then company is smart enough to create a niche area for its product.Once thats established it keeps on adding MORE (technological upgradation and so on)year by year to maintain growth and penetrate further.

i10 kappa is between spark+estilo+wagorR and getz+swift.

Now if we go by engine size its perfectly inbetween.What drives here is premium towards (spark+estilo+wagonR) and reduction in comparison to swift+getz.So company is making various permutation & combination of PREMIUM and its OFFERING.

Its now up to MASSES(Consumer) to opt for newer car paying LITTLE MORE.And looking at the rising and evolving market that may be true.

In my view i10 kappa is placed inbetween.So success of it might hurt all mentioned above category.Indeed a very smart product.

[katalysm76]

@Decite..!!! wow thats a very nice review of the i10,i have driven my friends white i10 magna a couple of times,the first time i drove it i really fell in love with it.The only issue i faced was the dashboard reflection on the windshield

cheers

AK

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Went to check out i10 kappa today. Unfortunately, the car wasn't available (i10 wasn't available at all) and had to be satisfied with the salespersons knowledge, and it was an enlightening experience!!!

The sales person started explaining all the features. As per him, parcel tray is in the door keeping parcels safe.

Mileage of kappa engine is 22 kmpl with ac, because of his 'newer engine- so better mileage' theory and ABS is 'anti- braking system' (wish the 2 smiley rule wasn't applicable)

And the only cars on display? A Santro and an Accent CRDi!

[greenhorn]

if it was popular , i guess it was because their TD vehicle ( if you can call a vehicle with its odo disconnected, supposedly because it hadnt been registered yet, as claimed by the sales guy) was at a promo booth at technopark

[rishia]

Hyundai’s new Kappa engine

A very interesting article on the new Kappa engine which has a lot of industry / segment firsts. I guess, the extra 80K is the price you pay for innovation and maybe down the line, the engine would be fitted in a Santro once Hyundai has recovered some of the cost from early adopters like me. I drove and liked the i10 and have booked an i10 Sportz Automatic. Lets see when is it delivered.

[deepakvrao]

Originally Posted by rishia

Hyundai’s new Kappa engine

A very interesting article on the new Kappa engine which has a lot of industry / segment firsts. I guess, the extra 80K is the price you pay for innovation and maybe down the line, the engine would be fitted in a Santro once Hyundai has recovered some of the cost from early adopters like me. I drove and liked the i10 and have booked an i10 Sportz Automatic. Lets see when is it delivered.

Sounds very impressive. When do you expect delivery of the car? Waiting to see a detailed report - this is just what I would love for city driving - a small hopefully zippy automatic.

[rishia]

^ Expecting it to be delivered before 1st of Aug to beat the 2% MV tax hike since I'm in Bangy. Will post a TD / Initial ownership report after that.

[CtrlAltDel]

first thing first: Sportz is NOT the top end version of the Car. it is "Asta". "Asta" has the all the features of Sportz plus goodies like ABS, 2 air bags, keyless entry, "pre-tensed" (or something) seatbelts etc.

The only thing Asta doesnt have and the Sportz variant has is the Red or Black trim in the door handles and dashboard, that too only for the red and black colored cars.

In hyderabad, Sportz costs about 4.86 lax on road and Asta 5.48 on road (non metallic).

My wife and I had a test drive of Sportz yesterday. If we go for i10 we'll most likely go for Asta, but it was not available for TD.

I had TD'ed the i10 1.1 "Epsilon" when it was introduced and was pretty impressed but "Kappa" is much better and in my opinion, more value for money.

These are the things we loved about Kappa:

1. 80BHP DOHC engine - provides a zippy pickup. apparently till now DOHC is available only in mid and high range cars!
2. Very good gear ratios - provides great drivability in traffic. i could slow to above 10kmph and then accelerate smoothly in 2nd gear without clutch and AC running. in 3rd gear i could crawl at 20 and accelerate smoothly, again with AC and no clutch. This is what I always test in cars, rather than the speed and pickup because in real life I rarely get to burn the rubber in daily commute!
3. Smooth and responsive motorized power steering - no load on engine.
4. Aircon is not fully linked to engine (the sales guy could not explain how). The car can run AC with engine switched off and one can safely start car with AC running. i tested this myself and found it amazing! This also means that AC wont greatly affect acceleration. I was able to effortlessly move up sloping roads in 2nd and 3rd gear with AC switched on.

As per the company, 1.2 Kappa is more fuel efficient than the older 1.1 Epsilon engine. I am sure this is true because of the four points above. i have heard reports of the 1.1 returning 14-16 kmpl on road, so if Kappa returns even a little more, it'll be worth it.

other good things: smooth gear shift, effortless steering, hi-quality interiors, integrated stereo with good speakers, comfortable seats and decent (better than Swift) rear legroom.

I cant think of any other negatives apart from the smallish boot and lack of alloys in the top end Asta variant.

My wife was also deeply impressed by i10 1.2 and this is important because on weekdays, she would be driving it more than I would. i10 ASTA has become the strong contender to occupy our parking space after we sell our faithfull, hard working 5 year old Indica DLS. But the decision will have to wait until we TD the Palio MJD and Indigo CS Dicor this weekend.

I highly recommend this car as a zippy and efficient city car that can perform decently on the highway too.

I dont know about cornering, 0-100 dash etc because I dont bother to test that. I dont think they are really important or relevant for 90% of the car users.

[Elito11]

Gr8 review there CtrlAltDel! Thanks!

Did you feel any noise or vibrations in the Kappa? ALso any opinion on NVH vis a vis 1.1?

Originally Posted by CtrlAltDel

I dont know about cornering, 0-100 dash etc because I dont bother to test that. I dont think they are really important or relevant for 90% of the car users.

0-100 i agree, but cornering gives me such a higgggggggh!

Thanks again!

Elito

[CtrlAltDel]

thanks elito

Originally Posted by Elito11

Did you feel any noise or vibrations in the Kappa? ALso any opinion on NVH vis a vis 1.1?

well...the engine was largely silent but I could hear some grunt in 1st and 2nd gears. when the car was started, only a small shiver indicated the status.

about external noise, i could hear the horns and grunts of other vehicles but it was not loud enough to be intrusive.

i hope this answers your question coz I didnt really pay much attention to the NVH factor apart from trying to hear audible engine noise.

[bimi]

I went to Hyundai Motor Plaza today to test drive the 1.2 kappa. The car was jsut registered yesterday, so not many pepole seem to have driven the car. The car was a dedicated car and was branded on the exterior. The speedo was working too.

The variant was sportz & exterior colour was red. Outside appearance didnot look very different from 1.1, except the kappa badge near the side repeater & the 1.2 monogram on the rear side.

The most impressive part was the dash, It is superb. There are red inserts just above the glove box and a symmetrical piece near the steering too. Overall its Love at First sight. The red colour on the dash is matched with the same coloured dual tone seats (i.e the centre part is red & the remaining part is beige) This was the first time I have seen an interior in India. This pack is called the Sportz red pack- this combination will be there only if you chose a black or red colour car. For the other cars its the same beige-chocolate combination. The door trims also get the red colour. Overall impression: The best - See it to believe it.

I found one another feature which I have not find in any other car- There is a small pocket on the rear seat back rest where you can tuck in the middle seat belts. I had seen the photo on team bhp for the provision for the side belts, but this is a very good touch.

The drive: Well I went to drive the i10 kappa today, not to rip it (apologies for that), because I dont drive that way 365 days. However, to make me convinced about the power, I tried to accelerate from the nearby signal to the next signal. Wow, the power was good and the best part was it was not harsh. I felt a big difference not only in power, but the sound levels also were better in the kappa than most of the cars in the segment. After the 1st signal, I took the newly built fly over which leads to the Chennai Airport, which gave me a good opportunity to see the cruising & comfort. While returning back, we had a small patch of rough road underneath the Kathipara flyover and I feel the i10 was very comfortable even there. The gear changes were very comfortable and slick, typical of Hyundai cars. The steering also was giving adequate feedback.

The Ac was good, but today wasnt the most hottest typical Chennai day to try out its real efficiency.

I saw their auto transmission i10 kappa also parked there, but as I was not keen on an AT plus I was really short of time, i didnt take it for a spin.

I feel that this car is a very good car ,complemented by the best after sales service of Hyundai.

Actually I have been contemplating between Swift & Getz. Now after the i10 launch & a recent corporate visit to Hyundai Factory. I have made up my mind. No prizes for your guesses...

One more thing which i wanted to add is that I have been seeing a lot of Swifts with damage on their fenders & bumpers. I had written about this in my earlier posts too. I think the swift is "over sized" for our roads and is prone to frequent damages. You buy the swift thinking that you have the most beautiful car on earth & a few months later, you will be driving a bruised car.... well I dont want that. Maruti might be giving me a cheaper option than the i10, but I dont want to make frequent vists to their body shop & ending up spending all the money I saved.

I saw an i10 fully customised with accessories from Hyundai. There is one accessory which i liked - an eye lid for the head lamp. the other accessories were not of my taste.

Now that the decision is made, only thing pending is the VitaminM. I am off to arrange it. I understand interest rates are going to go up again by 100 basis points (around 2500 per lac loan). So I better hurry!

Till then.... I'll be dreaming of catching the i...

[Ajay_J]

Originally Posted by bimi

IOne more thing which i wanted to add is that I have been seeing a lot of Swifts with damage on their fenders & bumpers. I had written about this in my earlier posts too. I think the swift is "over sized" for our roads and is prone to frequent damages. You buy the swift thinking that you have the most beautiful car on earth & a few months later, you will be driving a bruised car.... well I dont want that. Maruti might be giving me a cheaper option than the i10, but I dont want to make frequent vists to their body shop & ending up spending all the money I saved.

By that logic people should not buy bigger cars at all . Its more to do with your driving knowledge than the size of car. Swift/getz are surely not bigger than SUVs available in market.

[Technocrat]

Aircon is not fully linked to engine (the sales guy could not explain how). The car can run AC with engine switched off and one can safely start car with AC running. i tested this myself and found it amazing! This also means that AC wont greatly affect acceleration.

I seriously doubt this besides every car can be safely started with ac running.
See the blower keeps blowing cold year for some time when the compressor is switched off & thats probably what you experienced

[bimi]

Originally Posted by Ajay_J

By that logic people should not buy bigger cars at all . Its more to do with your driving knowledge than the size of car. Swift/getz are surely not bigger than SUVs available in market.

No Ajay, I dont want to hurt any Swift lovers here. Please treat it as my personal view & based on what I have noticed.
9/10 Swifts have body damages. Just watch, count & come back! You mean to say 9/10 drivers in India are bad drivers?
I neither want to prove you wrong nor I want to prove myself wrong.
Truce