Test Drive : Hyundai i20 CRDi.

[muneemmk]

Originally Posted by gitartha

90 BHP, where did the extra 10+ bhp of the lesser priced Getz CDRI go

It's a Different engine with 1.4L capacity and getz is a generation older and had half the equipment the i20 has.

Originally Posted by gitartha

No punch from the turbo (WGT anyone? - whats that for anyways then)

What is a WGT ?

Originally Posted by gitartha

a soft/plush suspension kills a great engine even before its started (no rocket science here)
7.3 lakh for a SLANTED H !! i am not prepared to pay that much even for a hatch with a straight [H].

One Person dosen't make such a huge difference,2000 others have prepared to pay more than that much in a months time.

Originally Posted by gitartha

A safe car needs to be a sharp & accurate handler (active safety feature), then it won't need all the passive safety features like high tensile steel body, curtain airbags,4* NACP rating,etc.(applicable only in case of a terrible accident)

It handles better than the Swift or the Punto,has the best brakes in the segment and please don't start about the NCAP ratings or the passive safety features.

Originally Posted by gitartha

Just one new model launch within 6 months (grand punto) has made the i-20 look a little older, imagine the situation after another 6 months . Comparatively even after 3 years & 3 lakhs cars, the Swift still looks contemporary and sporty.

It's got boring interiors, skinny tyres,bad plastics and rattles after just a few thousand kilometers, It looked looked good because no one had any other choice in the segment.


Take a drive of the Swift diesel and i20 diesel before making such harsh comments about a product.

[Trust_In_Thrust]

Originally Posted by muneemmk

It's a Different engine with 1.4L capacity and getz is a generation older and had half the equipment the i20 has.

It handles better than the Swift or the Punto,has the best brakes in the segment and please don't start about the NCAP ratings or the passive safety features.

It's got boring interiors, skinny tyres,bad plastics and rattles after just a few thousand kilometers, It looked looked good because no one had any other choice in the segment.


Take a drive of the Swift diesel and i20 diesel before making such harsh comments about a product.

The first instance that i have come across who says I20 rides / handles better than Punto.

[ShyamSCrdi]

Originally Posted by gitartha

woops! typo missed those nine horses

@heman, this is really a stonker of a motor (it can produce wheelspins in 2nd gear) ,and broader tyres would definately be beneficial, but their combined might wont undo the work done by the chassis.

I would really love someone to try mating this particular engine to the Fiesta"S" chassis. Would be the stuff of wet dreams.

Have you driven a getz before? The chassis is good enough (may not be the best but is good enough) In fact above the speeds of 120 it handles very very well. Also in all the meets we have had at bangalore the getzis could keep up with elantras which are supposed to be very good at handling and speeds (and by these i mean stock vehicles). In hill climbs the vehicle could take curves at above speeds of 90kmph. Please test drive the getz before saying it has a bad chassis, yes, it has soft suspension but has a decent chassis. With broader tyres the car behaves very very well.

[Gangsta]

Originally Posted by ShyamSCrdi

Have you driven a getz before? The chassis is good enough (may not be the best but is good enough) In fact above the speeds of 120 it handles very very well. Also in all the meets we have had at bangalore the getzis could keep up with elantras which are supposed to be very good at handling and speeds (and by these i mean stock vehicles). In hill climbs the vehicle could take curves at above speeds of 90kmph. Please test drive the getz before saying it has a bad chassis, yes, it has soft suspension but has a decent chassis. With broader tyres the car behaves very very well.

my friend has getz crdi. uphill driving is superb in that car. noway in this world i found the handling to be the worst as someone said getz has poor handling.

[vijaythacker]

can someone from the mods team come up with a better pictorial detailed TD report of i20crdi, many like me would love to hear more detailed information of this motor please.
thanks to the members who have posted all available details as well as their td reports, but would like to hear more then this.

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by gitartha

Sorry guys to spoil the party, but after reading the entire thread i am just NOT CONVINCED !!

The 1.2L i-20 was for people with no automotive sense,fancy power windows (auto retracting + can be operated 30 secs after cutting ignition) but pathetic engine (w.r.t bhp/ton), 'conventionally' stylish looks but no PUNCHY MOTOR !! (reminds me of the chevy SRV bigtime- some fast looking cars can be really really slow, and thirsty too) VERY DISAPPOINTING. Whenever I want to buy a car, I want to buy a CAR, not some curvy metal box with hi-tech power windows.Give me a good engine&sharp chassis and i have no issues with winding up the windows by hand.

The Getz tried hard to break conventions, hatchback with 101 bhp CRDI VGT. but again guess what, NO HANDLING AT ALL !! please hyundai, understand, a punchy engine just cant be mated to a soft, confused chassis !! (kindly employ R&D from India next time) family & sport don't go together. Koreans really need time to catch up with the rest of the automotive world. AESOEP'S FABLE MORAL- try to please everyone, you end up pleasing NO-ONE.

Hope you have driven a Getz.
You have got it all wrong except the soft suspension. Getz has a good combination of ride comfort and handling.

[aseem]

Originally Posted by PatienceWins

Hope you have driven a Getz.
You have got it all wrong except the soft suspension. Getz has a good combination of ride comfort and handling.

Getz was always touted as a family salloon for Europeans in low income group and was designed to be spacious and economical going from point A to point B, it was not meant to handle. Unlike some other hatches which are aimed at younger crowd and sporty, Getz was more for family crowd and older age ppl. Try looking up the drag coefficent of Getz that will tell a story. Getz cant be thrown on corners and handling is definitely not its USP.
The i20 with german roots has much superior handling.

[gitartha]

Originally Posted by muneemmk

It's got boring interiors, skinny tyres,bad plastics and rattles after just a few thousand kilometers, It looked looked good because no one had any other choice in the segment.

Take a drive of the Swift diesel and i20 diesel before making such harsh comments about a product.

Been there, done that. @muneemmk 3 Lakh+ people dont seem to agree. Dark interiors are actually more practical than beige (which gets dirty easily,causes eye glare on sunny days), boring or not is a matter of perspective. The Swift ZXI comes with 185/70 R14 tubeless tyres on alloy wheels (skinny?).Rattles may be fixed for good by tightening a few nuts or adding a little padding but fixing an entire car (broader tyres,engine mods,new suspension,new monoque structure?) wont be such a cheap affair.The Getz was already present in the segment much before the Swift and yet very few people were laying there hands on it. As Aseem has so rightly stated, it just "GETZ" you from point A to point B (pun intended)

i-20 is the nextgen Getz worldwide and retains some of the characteristics of its predecessor. But comparatively it is a much refined package.

[kuttapan]

I had test driven the i20 CRDi last week. The engine had me grinning from ear to ear, but the dynamics of the vehicle dampened the enthusiasm. I do not think the rest of the vehicle does justice to that superb 90 bhp(PS?) engine. Be very very careful when you are doing sudden lane changes etc, particularly in the wet. Where the Swift would have done it with aplmbs, the i20 caused a heart stopping moment for me. I am not sure if Apollo accelere's helped either.

About Getz - While it is not a fun car to drive around, it is certainly capable enough and has enough grip on curves to be thrown around as well, but what spoils the fun is the body roll. My comment is based on 1.4l 3 door petrol automatic, not the one available in India, but I would expect the Indian version to be similar.

Originally Posted by muneemmk

It handles better than the Swift or the Punto,has the best brakes in the segment and please don't start about the NCAP ratings or the passive safety features.

It's got boring interiors, skinny tyres,bad plastics and rattles after just a few thousand kilometers, It looked looked good because no one had any other choice in the segment.


Take a drive of the Swift diesel and i20 diesel before making such harsh comments about a product.

I owned the Swift Diesel, Test drove Punto as well as i20 - So I believe I meet the criteria for making comments If you think i20 handles/rides better than Punto(Only handling in case of Swift D), then we are talking about different things when mentioning the word handling. Let's see what racer boys say about i20.

[smilenow]

Originally Posted by kuttapan

I had test driven the i20 CRDi last week. The engine had me grinning from ear to ear, but the dynamics of the vehicle dampened the enthusiasm.I do not think the rest of the vehicle does justice to that superb 90 bhp(PS?) engine. Be very very careful when you are doing sudden lane changes etc, particularly in the wet. Where the Swift would have done it with aplmbs, the i20 caused a heart stopping moment for me. I am not sure if Apollo accelere's helped either.

A man after my own heart.
The engine is fan-tas-tic,read it again,fantastic,the 1.4 crdi in the i20.

Now here comes the dampener,i have done this both with the verna[unintentional] and the i20[intentional].
A sudden lane change[hurrah for cross-cutting bikers] at speeds of about 70,the verna's rear end just went right to left and back for over 7 seconds. It wasn't heart stopping for me,but the people sitting in the back seat went in coma with that experience. The 110 bhp engine is marvelous,but where is the chassis support?[subjective opinion]

Same with the i20 crdi,this time the sudden change was intentional,and vola,the car was unable to keep up.
Now don't take it as if i am bashing i20 or hyundai,its a fantastic car and the manufacturer is also pretty decent,but handling wise,right about now no car in this segment matches the punto.

If you think i20 handles/rides better than Punto(Only handling in case of Swift D), then we are talking about different things when mentioning the word handling. Let's see what racer boys say about i20.

This man speaks the truth.
And the i20 is a good city car,just don't go trailblazing with it,with all that power,take it from an amateur rally car driver,you'll be engaging the airbags quicker than you can say "oh @#@#$".

Personal verdict- buy the i20 crdi,if you have the money,the punto maybe all that and more,but give credit where its due,handling is on a different plane of existence altogether in the punto.

[pachchu]

Here's a youtube review which shows what people are talking about i20 on this thread and I don't see that handling problem here.

YouTube - 5thGear Hyundai I20

The assumption here is, the car sold in UK is same as the car being sold here.

[aZa]

Verna and i20 not being able to handle lane changing at 70kmph ? This is a very generalised statement!! i have test driven the i20 crdi twice, ripping it all over the place it was keeping up very well with everything. The engine is great, brakes are good too.

[AbhiJ]

Originally Posted by smilenow

And the i20 is a good city car,just don't go trailblazing with it,with all that power,take it from an amateur rally car driver,you'll be engaging the airbags quicker than you can say "oh @#@#$".

I ll butt in ....

I think this is a standard problem with all over assisted steerings which are basically made for city driving.

Easy to park = More Assist = Less Feedback.

And unless the steering tells you what the tyres are doing, there is always a good risk of miscalculation the amount of traction you have left.

I ll give you a great example. The Daewoo Cielo. It had a over assisted power steering like no other. Absolutely no feel in the steering. However, after driving it for a while and getting used to its levels of grip, I could throw it into some pretty fast corners and get out without any unwanted drama.

As with regards to lane changing and stability, thats simpler. The softer the suspension, the more unstable the vehicles become while lane changing. The harder the suspension, the more stable/predictable the lane change.

That said, Fiat's suspension is a class act. There is NO doubt about it.

p.s. I am booking a i20 tomorrow.

[dang.mickey]

Shifting from handling to performance,
How would one compare the performance of the i20 crdi and competitors
Although it has 88 bhp and 220nm of torque, but car magazines say it is not as fun to drive as the swift D. Anyone who has test driven both??????????

[rippergeo]

@dangmickey-
Drove the i20CRDi yesterday. The pull is quite strong through the rev range, even in a car that has not been run in fully. loads and loads of torque all the way to 4krpm, ran out of road after that. but going by hyundai's CRDi record in the past, expect power till the redline. The swift wheezes past 4k rpm.

Quite free revving for a car that has run less than 1000kms.
Braking is excellent. 4 wheel discs are really magic. even without the ABS kicking in, the brakes are strong enough to get the rear of the car remodelled by unwary cars following you.

Steering feel needs some getting used to, I suppose. I prefer the swift here.

Handling-is subjective, its not bad, is my initial impression. lane changes and slaloms were quite confident. Nothing a tyre upsize cant fix.

definitely value for money at 6.7 onroad(magna with ABS) compared to the 5.8 for the swift VDi(ABS extra 20 to 30k)

Negatives- left leg hits the edge of the dash board when using the clutch, but that is because i like sitting really really close to the steering. if the seat is positiond normally, there is no issue.

The gear shift feel leaves a lot to be desired.It is reasonably short through, and the slots, once found are easy to guide the gears into, but its the finding that flummoxed me.

When I manage to scrounge up the money- this is my next car.