[maddyoni10]

Hi

I spotted this Kia Picanto a few months earlier on NH4 Chennai near the Sriperumbudur toll gate. As my friend was driving, I managed to step out and take a few snaps as the car was waiting to get past the toll booth. The driver was concerned when I took the snaps. I showed him the snaps in my mobile to assure him that his face wasnt captured and he wouldnt be in any trouble.

Thanks
Madhav

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

I haven't denied that the ride is bumpy, by the usage of extremely is an exaggeration. Alto is (no doubt) a better handler than i10 or Santro because of the low height, but are you sure you get as much space as a Santro/ Wagor-R/ Spark/ i10.

I kid you not, I feel every little ripple on the road. The car does bob about as it drive over undulations. Space, again you can't expect either of them to be spacious. The Santro does have more headroom. The Picanto will have good headroom as it's a tall-boy like the i10 and Santro.

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

Suhaas, with all due respect to your cars ownership, I would suggest that you should enter the bad patch at decreasing speeds rather than at constant slow speed (based on my experience on the 1 km long very bad patch that I encounter daily... & it was more than 2 kms till few days back), & accelerate gradually once the rear has crossed that patch.

In a city like Bangalore, there is no option but to face these pot-holes. Your options are either to swerve around them or you could drive into them. What I do is make a mental-note of all the pot-holes and bad-patches on the roads and plan my approach to them well in advance. basically, I follow a particular line on the road I generally drive on. I do about 10 km a day from Indiranagar to Jayanagar. The roads are ridden with ripples, undulations, pot-holes, stones and what not.

I do approach bad-patches slowly. I don't like to feel the pain in my back and the suspension getting damaged so I try not to drive in such a manner, in my defense. I like my car and value it.

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

Regarding low mileage, please refer to Sidindica's thread, where in once of the posts, he has reported around 20 kmpl in Delhi traffic. I would say that I used to get the figures of 14+ (with AC... sans tints) in Delhi summers because I used to ride the low end torque. Another cousin of mine who owns a Santro Xing faced the same problem (graduating from rev-friendly car Zen) initially, but, his problem was solved when he was taught the correct procedure by our uncle who runs a Taxi business.

The newer breed of Hyundais definitely offer better mileage. But it's a marginal increase. I'm talking about the Santro Xing eRLX and the i10 kappa. The engines are reasonably efficient and quite refined too. But the fuel-efficiency is only marginally better. 20 km/h is unheard of even in petrol Marutis and Hondas, forget Hyundais. And that too in moderate traffic.

There is no point driving the Santro fast. There isn't much thrill in it. Sure, it's zippy but quickly loses steam so I feel no real enthusiasm driving it. Short of lugging the engine, I'm trying to do everything to ensure that the mileage is as good as it can get. And lugging the engine is bad for it. I do switch the AC off intermittently. I keep it in the torque-band but only just. Higher gears lower RPMs while making sure that I'm not lugging it.Engine-braking is a part of my driving-style so that I always feel I control and I've also come to realize that using the brakes often only wastes a lot of energy.

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

I admit, you are more experienced as compared to me in terms of cars ownership, & probably much better driver than me, but I am sure, I am not amongst those minority people who own a Hyundai, & get acceptable mileage (especially in my family & friends).

I've been driving regularly for 5 years. So I have very little experience in driving. I've done quite a few highway drives but I'm an average driver. Today, a friend had a flat on his car and I was ashamed that it took me 45 minutes to get the wheel off and replace it with a spare. It even required me to have a quick look at the manual just to be doubly sure.

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

Hyundai's service costs are a concern, but, you can be careful when the SA advises useless add-ons & reject those. Moreover, ever since warranty of my car got over, I take the car to reliable mechanic near my office, except on 20K intervals (40K & 60K). THis has helped me avoid paying more than Rs.3500 every time despite switching over to Castrol Magnatec.

The trick is to go to the service center and pick the car up yourself instead of getting it picked-up and dropped every time. I'm sure there are many who don't bother with it and this is how service-stations slip in additional costs under the pretext that it requires maintenance or replacement. it has happened to be before and that's why I decided to deliver and receive the car personally.

I remember one time I was quoted 6.2k for the service on the phone. I asked when the car would be ready and they said by 3 pm. So I decided to pay a surprise visit and pick up the car. The 6.2k figure quickly changed to 5.1k when I showed up. It was still high and I noticed that labour-charges was 2.5k!

Anyway, I digress.

Hyundai has come a long way though and I was impressed with my friend's now older i20. The quality of plastics, the feel of the cabin, the ride and everything has improved a great deal. I'm sure the Picanto would be a great little product and it would massively upset the Brio (notice the glass-house on the sides look very similar to the Honda's)

But I don't think the Picanto will come to India. They're probably testing it for other markets. Or perhaps testing it anyway because it shares its under-pinnings with the new generation i10! It's just a test-mule for now.

P.S. Notice the wheel on the left-hand-side of the car. *winks*

[Vampirevipin]

Guys,
Don't get too excited about the Picanto. it will not be launched in the near future. There are other reasons for the test happeneing.

From what i know, Kia is not coming to India. Atleast not for now.

[CARDEEP]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

I kid you not
.
.
.
Anyway, I digress.

@suhaas, , but lets not carry on the arguments as your arguments are as valid & true as mine, & I bet your driving experience is definitely better than detailed than mine (~70K kms on the Satro, which is more because I have driven the 150/350cc bikes for a long time). I agree that Santro/ i10 are not complete product, but so are others in the market, & this is why many people buy these cars, which meet their expectations.

Cheers

[thoma]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

But I don't think the Picanto will come to India. They're probably testing it for other markets. Or perhaps testing it anyway because it shares its under-pinnings with the new generation i10! It's just a test-mule for now.

Some quick thoughts.

True that why anyone should test a left hand drive vehicle here, but it beats me why they went for a camouflage. And why do they want to test for other markets in India? Shouldn't they be testing in that market?

Are they testing only the engine or some technology? But still, why the camouflage?

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

CARDEEPIt's a 2003 Santro Xing 1.1 that has done 47k on the odo. It's terrible in terms of ride. You feel anything and everything on the road. And it doesn't soak up any of the bad patches. I feel it's the worst ride for a car in India. The i10 was no less. I've spent a considerable amount of time with one and it feels like a plusher Santro. And maybe the ride quality was better but only slightly.

Regarding mileage and service costs, I get 10 to the liter with the AC on 70% of the time and only in city-traffic. Also, I spend 10k-12k in a year on service. That is more than my two Hondas (Civic and Jazz) put together in a year. Believe it!

Agree completely with you on the ride and handling and cost of service things of these Hyundais! Nowadays people tend to buy Hyundais for their looks rather than anything else, IMO.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by thoma

Some quick thoughts.

True that why anyone should test a left hand drive vehicle here, but it beats me why they went for a camouflage. And why do they want to test for other markets in India? Shouldn't they be testing in that market?

Are they testing only the engine or some technology? But still, why the camouflage?

- Not sure of why the car wears camouflage. If you ask me it makes it look rather conspicuous and the average Joe will certainly spot it. But without camouflage, you could pass it off as a regular car and it wouldn't attract attention.

- India is the ideal place to test cars IMO. You've got cold, warm and humid, hot and dry, rainy and and wet weather conditions. Add bad roads and rough conditions to the mix and you've got the perfect place to test cars.

- they could be testing some new sort of tech. For all we know, they might even have plans on making this car on the same line along with the i10 and have this solely for the export-market. We know that the i20 was predominantly meant for export. Localization might help them to bring the costs down even further still.

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

Agree completely with you on the ride and handling and cost of service things of these Hyundais! Nowadays people tend to buy Hyundais for their looks rather than anything else, IMO.

Hyundais do make good cars. Like I'd said before, they've come a long way. The i20 is a brilliant product. Only if they get its dynamics sorted. As a package, it's hard to fault. It is pricey but heck, look at the way the Swift sells for just a little less. People will buy it.

The ride is very choppy in the Santro. But I think it's marginally better in the i10 and it's much better in the i20. I do not understand the exorbitant service-costs though. It just goes completely beyond me.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

But without camouflage, you could pass it off as a regular car and it wouldn't attract attention.

Exactly, but why should they be attracting attention if they are not eyeing the market? May be we don't know!

[mpz]

Hi ,
Spotted this car being tested on Chennai Bangalore highway on Tuesday nearing Sriperumbudur, left hand drive version.

[sachinayak]

Please refer the second last image on post #29 and compare it with the observation in post #18. The crease in #18 (2013 Hyundai i10) was closer to the window. However the crease in #29 is closer to the wheel well and now is in sync with the Kia Picanto pic in #18.

[AbdulRahmanM]

today i saw a non camouflaged Kia, looking similar to a vw polo inside mahindra World city, i was driving and had no company to click pictures, sorry, but it did not look similar to the pictures above in this post.

[anachronix]

Inside Mahindra City!? It could be a Renault or Nissan, very chance for a Hyundai to get inside Mahindra City

Originally Posted by AbdulRahmanM

today i saw a non camouflaged Kia, looking similar to a vw polo inside mahindra World city, i was driving and had no company to click pictures, sorry, but it did not look similar to the pictures above in this post.

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by AbdulRahmanM

today i saw a non camouflaged Kia, looking similar to a vw polo inside mahindra World city, i was driving and had no company to click pictures, sorry, but it did not look similar to the pictures above in this post.

Even I saw the Kia Picanto testing inside Mahindra City a few months back, but it was camouflaged at that time.

Originally Posted by anachronix

Inside Mahindra City!? It could be a Renault or Nissan, very chance for a Hyundai to get inside Mahindra City

I am not sure about it being a Kia this time, but I have seen the Picanto inside Mahindra City. It's like getting into rival's heartland, isn't it?

Renault and Nissan could lay a trap and hijack the Picanto if needed.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by AbdulRahmanM

today i saw a non camouflaged Kia

Me too saw one dark grey kia picanto inside mahindra city yesterday. Was wondering what they were doing inside mcity. May be renault nissan team using one for benchmarking?

[Technocrat]

Not sure if anyone observed this but the Right hand side Outside Rear view mirror on the Picanto is from a Santro/i10, wonder if it's a direct fit.

The Left hand side looks original.