[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by damager21

Surprisingly pricing of Sportz (O) was not revealed.

Originally Posted by RSR

From the feature list, I guess it should be bang in middle of those for the Sportz and Asta.

Slightly more than in-the-middle, bordering on not-so-VFM.

Ex-showroom, Delhi:

Petrol
1.2 Kappa Era 489,900
1.2 Kappa Magna 541,900
1.2 Kappa Sportz 593,900
1.2 Kappa Sportz (O) 624,900
1.2 Kappa Asta 646,901

Diesel
1.4L U2 CRDi Era 609,900
1.4L U2 CRDi Magna 661,900
1.4L U2 CRDi Sportz 713,900
1.4L U2 CRDi Sportz (O) 744,900
1.4L U2 CRDi Asta 766,900

[extreme_torque]

Clever pricing. The Sportz variant has almost everything that masses want and need and more. It has been priced in the ballpark range of its competitors. Slightly more than the Swift which is basically bare bones in comparison and the same price as the new Punto 90 hp.

[rohansachar]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Slightly more than in-the-middle, bordering on not-so-VFM.
Ex-showroom, Delhi:
Petrol
1.2 Kappa Sportz (O) 624,900
1.2 Kappa Asta 646,901
Diesel
1.4L U2 CRDi Sportz (O) 744,900
1.4L U2 CRDi Asta 766,900

Agreed, not much of a difference for someone not to upgrade to the Asta variant. I mean 22 ~ 23 k difference is not that much considering the 22k upgrade gives you Passenger Air Bags, Automatic Headlamps, Rear Wiper & couple of other features in "Advanced Supervision Display".

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Clever pricing. The Sportz variant has almost everything that masses want and need and more. It has been priced in the ballpark range of its competitors. Slightly more than the Swift which is basically bare bones in comparison and the same price as the new Punto 90 hp.

Here is how all 3 new launches in this segment (the Hyundai Elite i20, the facelifted Volkswagen Polo, and the Fiat Punto Evo) stack up, price-wise:

[Shwetank]

Am I right in understanding that the rear disc brakes have been removed altogether from the new i20? They really put the car in the premium segment.

[The Observer]

Originally Posted by scarlet.fever

I am really confused which one to buy Polo or the i20 elite. :(
I presume Polo would be a little expensive to maintain than i20 elite but offers more safety on the other hand.
Guys any suggestions ?

I think you should go with the Polo purely for the safety it offers ( dual airbags , Side impact cross bars on doors , higher strength steel used than in i20)

Occupant safety is more important than a few bucks saved on maintenance , having said that i do not think Hyundai's are dead cheap to maintain either.

[RSR]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Here is how all 3 new launches in this segment (the Hyundai Elite i20, the facelifted Volkswagen Polo, and the Fiat Punto Evo) stack up, price-wise.

I must say the Elite i20's prices don't seem as value-for-money as they seemed at first. I thought there was only a two or three thousand rupee difference between the old generation car and the new one. Now I realised I was comparing the ex-showroom prices of Delhi with the old car's ex-showroom prices in Chennai.

The difference in ex-showroom prices varies between 10k and 14k for the lower variants and between 19k and 21k for the Asta, for both engine options. That's not a marginal increase, although useful features like a front centre armrest, rear A/C vents & follow-me home headlamps do make an appearance on the Magna, in addition to existing stuff like Bluetooth connectivity and steering-mounted controls.

The Sportz and Sportz(O) do appear to be good value-for-money variants, as these get a driver airbag and ABS (with EBD) along with parking sensors, reverse camera with electro-chromic mirror, electrically adjustable, auto-folding mirrors and fog lamps, plus larger alloys & tyres and true keyless entry with push-button start as options.

The biggest rise has been for the Asta variants, and they are also the ones where the removal of some features such as LED DRLs, rear fog lamp, rain-sensing wipers & driver vanity mirror, in addition to the excellent rear disc brakes (on the diesel only) becomes quite obvious, although the Asta variants do benefit from the inclusion of new features.

Hyundai have tried to give the i20 a more premium positioning in order to recover the costs of developing an all new generation car. The Elite i20 is still value-for-money when one considers all the features on offer, but isn't quite the no-brainer smashing premium value-for-money offering that the previous i-Gen i20 was (with discounts), when compared to its competitors.

VW have also upped their game by finally giving the Polo a good diesel engine, and equally importantly, have made dual airbags standard across the range. The Punto also gets better interiors along with its facelift, though it was denied the much-needed mechanical changes by Fiat. Maruti Suzuki are silently waiting and watching on the sidelines, and quietly preparing their Swift facelift to take on this trio by adding new features to the facelifted car.

Tata are eagerly waiting to throw in their Bolt into this warring quartet, after learning from the market response to its sedan sibling. And Honda are rationalising production capacity to join the fight the next year with their Jazz.

Such cut-throat competition is always welcome as it pushes all manufacturers to increase the vfm level of their cars, with the customer being the ultimate beneficiary.

I get the feeling that Hyundai should have gone all out to win this battle - they should have added hitherto unavailable premium features in this segment to the Elite i20 (ESC, traction control, driver knee airbag, cruise control, rear armrest etc.) Instead they have discontinued the excellent Asta(O) variant with 6 airbags & sunroof, and have also removed things like the rear disc brakes and LED DRLs, but have thrown in two or three useful features.

I'm now eagerly waiting for the Team-BHP review to learn more about how much Hyundai have managed to change the driving dynamics of the car.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Shwetank

Am I right in understanding that the rear disc brakes have been removed altogether from the new i20? They really put the car in the premium segment.

Yes appears that the rear disc brakes are gone along with the 6 airbag variant with the sunroof and the automatic gearbox.

They have rationalized the models. Looks like the 6 airbags, sun roof and rear disc brakes was not popular and people were ok without this in older i20.

Based on that they have added more gimmicky gadgets and removed the 3 USP features the i20 had.

[MHG]

Wait a second... So they actually went and REDUCED the number of airbags available ? The previous i20 could come with 6 airbags. It was the most affordable car in which one could hope to survive a sideways impact in.

[aseem]

Originally Posted by The Observer

I think you should go with the Polo purely for the safety it offers ( dual airbags , Side impact cross bars on doors , higher strength steel used than in i20)

Occupant safety is more important than a few bucks saved on maintenance , having said that i do not think Hyundai's are dead cheap to maintain either.

I don't know about which Polo you are talking about, but from what I heard Indian Polo did quite poorly in crash test. Only the model with airbags (now mandatory) did slightly better.

I am also not sure where you are getting information about higher strength steel used in Polo vis a vis i20, do manufacturers publish this data. Or you just feel (perceive) it has a better build quality as doors close with a thud?

Lastly i20 is a more all-round product then Polo apart from engine/gearbox combo if going for 1.2 TSI DSG. I am yet to drive the new diesel, but lets assume Polo Diesel 1.5 ltd is better then i20 as well.

But in all other parameters, which includes interiors, features, space, resale, after sales, looks, DRL's etc i20 is miles ahead of the Polo with its meagre facelift. Don't get me wrong, I own a Polo 1.2 Tdi comfort line in my house, however I just fail to see anyone going for Polo unless its 1.2 TSI DSG as that is a very good automatic from a driving pleasure perspective.

As far as safety is concerned, I feel both cars come with maximum of 2 airbags, ABS etc. You can check the Euro NCAP and make a judge. Needless to say both these cars are not safety benchmarks but I can't phantom anyone knowing for sure which car is safer as then that would mean doing crash tests on Indian spec versions of the car which I am not sure are happening?

So my suggestion would be don't get stuck on a pole and aim for the eye!

P.S. In respect to hue and cry about 6 airbags been gone, the Polo doesn't come with 6 airbags, heck even the Corolla, City, Octavia Ambition all come with 2 airbags only and are in some cases more then triple the price. The only car with 6 airbags then is Ford Ecosport on this kind of budget.

[Hrishi_111]

Hyundai i20 was a premium hatchback and Elite i20 retains that position very well in a crowded hatchback market like India.

However the pricing of Elite i20 has gone beyond the reach of an average hatchback buyer.

Considering the fascination of 'badi gaadi (sub 4m sedans)' of common man, I believe Hyundai sales reps will have to work hard to sale this alongside of 'Xcent' from their own stable. Leave the Polo and Punto aside.

[i10]

Hyundai seems to have gone into an overdrive in promoting this car. Ads are all over. They interestingly highlight that it has the LOWEST maintenance in its segment (3.8 - 4 m, 1.1 - 1.5 P, 1.25 - 1.5 D) - quite a big claim in a segment which has Maruti and Honda. They really want this car to succeed - and rightly so given they are fighting consumer mindset rather than competition.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by aseem

I don't know about which Polo you are talking about, but from what I heard Indian Polo did quite poorly in crash test. Only the model with airbags (now mandatory) did slightly better.

The one without airbags got zero star rating which is obvious for any car since. But from all the cars tested without airbags, the Polo scored the highest with minimal injuries and structurally it was the safest from the Figo, Swift, i10 and Alto.

With the 2 airbags, the Indian Polo did 4 stars vs the European 5 star. The 1 star lesser is because of only 2 airbags and no ESP.

But VW have done what Hyundai did not. Vw have made dual airbags standard across the range. So even if you were to buy the base trendline @ 4.99 lakhs, you would get 2 airbags. That means 10K more than the Elite i20 Era gets you 2 airbags.

Incase of hyundai, airbag is available only in Sportz and Sportz (O) that too a single airbag. If you need 2 airbags you have to go for the top end Asta.

Asta i20 gets you 2 airbags but is 30K more than the Polo Highline. Ofcourse the i20 is better equipped.

So while it makes sense to go for the i20 in Asta trim, the lower ones lack of safety features really give the Polo, the upper hand when it comes to safety.

Originally Posted by MHG

Wait a second... So they actually went and REDUCED the number of airbags available ? The previous i20 could come with 6 airbags. It was the most affordable car in which one could hope to survive a sideways impact in.

Yes they have but actually it's not really that big a deal. When Hyundai launched the i20 in 2008, they advertised the 6 airbags a lot. Unfortunately even with all the marketing that variant did not sell well.

In 2012, when Hyundai launched the facelifted i20, they quietly removed the 6 airbags option from the diesel. Since 2012, the 6 airbags and sunroof was only offered on the 1.2L Petrol Asta (O). That too, 20K more than the top spec 1.4 CRDi Asta. You can imagine how many it sold since then.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by aseem

I don't know about which Polo you are talking about, but from what I heard Indian Polo did quite poorly in crash test. Only the model with airbags (now mandatory) did slightly better.

The Indian Polo comes with airbags as standard across all variants .

Coinciding with the Global NCAP tests, Volkswagen has decided to withdraw the non-airbag version of the Polo from sale in India. Because of this, Global NCAP agreed to a request from VW to assess a version of the Polo that has two airbags fitted as standard as from now. Other manufacturers had the same opportunity. The protection proved much better and this airbag-equipped model received a four-star rating for adult occupant protection

http://www.globalncap.org/crash-test...rs-are-unsafe/

[Nilesh5417]

This is going to be something Honda is going to watch keenly. Knowing how they priced Jazz in its earlier avatar, they are getting 6months or so to watch how the new I20 fares with the revised pricing & feature list.