[Vid6639]

If I was looking for a car within the 6-7 lakhs bracket and not necessarily looking at a diesel i.e. low running and walked into a Hyundai showroom, I would be confused as hell.

Hyundai has 3 cars with the exact same engines. I know it's like Maruti but the Ritz, Swift and Dzire are very clear in the target customers. Incase of Hyundai all 3 products are way too similar.

Grand i10, Xcent, Elite i20 all 3 with 1.2L Kappa2 petrol motor. All 3 have excellent space, class leading features and are very similar in nature.

Grand i10 has good space at the back, nice features, premium feel. Xcent adds a boot and betters the rear space. Elite i20 is more features, good rear space and decent boot.

To top it off the price difference between the Elite i20 and Xcent is not even 5 thousand bucks!

Because all 3 use the same petrol motor, the Grand i10 actually emerges as the best VFM package since you get pretty much every feature you need and you get same engine as the Xcent and Elite i20 for one lakh lesser.

Incase of diesel, there's a clear demarcation since the Elite i20 uses the 1.4L CRDI engine vs the Grand i10/Xcent 1.1L 3 pot one.

I would sacrifice the Xcent boot any day and opt for the Elite i20 if looking at the diesel options.

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by Raviganatra1981

So now the decision is between the Swift and the i20. The Elite with it's launch has complicated things for me. Need some good thoughts here:
Requirements:
- Average cost, considering that I have already pushed my budget from 5L to 7L.
- Decision between Pertol and Diesel - Expected running is 1K per month in city and the occasional weekend highway trip.
- Would love to have ABS and Airbags without considering the top end.

1) The Swift would be marginally cheaper to maintain and will return slightly better FE figures, so average cost of ownership would be better with the Maruti.

2) If the occasional weekend trip doesn't exceed 500 kms either way, better stick to petrol. Not only will it result in cheaper maintenance and give you a relatively hassle-free ownership, but the difference between both fuels has come down drastically in recent times. To offset the price difference between both variants, you would need more than 8-9 years of running, which might not be feasible in the long run.

3) The Elite i20 Sportz/Sportz (O) and the Swift ZXI both meet your requirements here. If you love your gizmos and want a premium, rich interior, the Elite i20 is the better bet, loss of a passenger airbag notwithstanding. Else I would recommend the Swift, purely for the driving experience and the ease of maintenance.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

What I learnt is that the i20 Elite is not just a facelift, its a completely new generation model of the i20. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Yes, the Elite i20 is a completely new generation. The earlier "Fluidic" i20 was the facelift of the first-gen i20.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

I would sacrifice the Xcent boot any day and opt for the Elite i20 if looking at the diesel options.

The mass-market looks up to the XCent as a sedan option at the price of a hatchback, so they lean towards the XCent. In fact, most of the C1-segment offerings' sales are driven mostly by this factor.

Only today, one of my colleagues remarked how practical the XCent option was, and despite my arguments about the 1.1L vs 1.4L diesels, extra cabin space in the i20, a more premium experience, etc., he was pretty much convinced for the XCent.

The 1.4L Elite i20 will have an appeal for the diesel enthusiasts, IMO (even though it's no competition to the new Polo 1.5). For everyone else, the Grand/XCent combination is pure VFM. They are not too bothered about technical stuff, and this is where Hyundai is scoring.

If you ask me, in the Hyundai lineup, if one has to go for the petrol option, the Grand i10 makes the best case. For diesel, the Elite i20 is a no-brainer. BUT, the large chunk of buyers who want the best of both worlds - a decent engine + a sedan as a status symbol - are opting for the XCent.



BTW, an automatic Elite i20 is in the pipeline, as per official reports.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), which had the world premiere for its all-new premium Elite i20 hatchback today in New Delhi, has registered more petrol pre-bookings compared to diesel. Of the 4,600 pre-launch bookings received so far, 2,600 are for the petrol trim and 2,000 for the diesel edition.

Speaking to Autocar Professional, Rakesh Srivastava, senior VP (sales and marketing), HMIL, Hyundai is looking at sales of 6,000 units a month for its i20 replacement, of which petrol and diesel will contribute equally. At present, the existing i20 sells around 3,800 units every month. With a host of more premium features, the carmaker is aiming at higher sales numbers for the new model.

Srivastava said that the automatic version of the hatchback is available in the petrol Elite i20 but the company is yet to reveal its price.

SOURCE - Autocar Professional

[Pam81]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

What I learnt is that the i20 Elite is not just a facelift, its a completely new generation model of the i20. Please correct me if I am wrong.

My bad. You are absolutely correct.

[yajaman99]

I just picked up the outgoing I20 about two months back, CRDI Asta on company lease. I still need to see the Elite version up close but one niggle is the reverse camera on the Elite. In my opinion it is sticking out as a sore thumb. I hope they change it.
The current one is so well integrated. The Elite mentions the reversing guidance is adaptive wonder if a firmware upgrade can be done to the existing I-gen to get this feature.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

1) The Swift would be marginally cheaper to maintain and will return slightly better FE figures, so average cost of ownership would be better with the Maruti.

Hyundai's are known to be expensive to service especially the labour rates. There are threads on the forum which attest to this fact.

[dark.knight]

As promised, I'm writing a mini-review of the new i20 Elite. I'm sure many have seen the photos in most angles so I shall not go in-depth on the looks. What I will do however is elaborate on the practicality and drivability of the car in detail which will be a suitable reference until of course, the official Team-BHP reviewers give us their comprehensive review and opinions.

Practicality - Storage slots, space, & features: To begin with the interior is indeed all new, the dashboard sits a little higher than the previous variant because of an inclusive-type design where the whole dashboard is more or less the same height of the instrument cluster. Even 5'10" people would have to increase the seat height to get more road visibility. The rear will accommodate 3 easily in terms of shoulder space, but the middle occupant will still have to put his feet slightly akimbo because the rear vents do have some protrusion.

Advantages:

-Wide shoulder room (+1 inch wider than prev i20)
-Great headroom
-1 litre bottle holders in all doors
-Adequate can/cup holders (2)
-Soft closing well insulated doors
-4 speakers+4 tweeters does help the quality (Asta variant, not sure of the tweeters in others)
-Adequate, flat shaped boot-space of 285 litres (10 less than prev gen).

Disadvantages:

-A.c vents do not close completely (lots of air escapes on the right side)
-No mirror on the right hand sun visor. The left side sun visor to the best of my memory doesn't have a cover.
-Automatic folding mirrors is a risk when parked in tight areas (happened in the parking lot of the showroom itself) where they may nick the adjoining car/pillar when folding out.
-Poor rear window visibility (due to the outward slope).
-Very thick C-Pillar, you need more than a few days to get used to the visibility.
- No ignition/speed sensitive central-locking (unsure if it can be enabled)
-Arm-rest though useful isn't extendable à la Verna. It can occupy an elbow and a couple of inches further down at best.
-Big lip at the boot so putting down/taking out heavy suitcases is a little inconvenienced.

The drive : On the next post

[dark.knight]

The drive of the Elite. Well what is a great driving car? Opinions will differ here because every brand makes a car with a signature driving trait. I'm going to be riding the fence on this one and leave it to personal preferences, however I will describe exactly how it drives, vis-à-vis the competition.

Apart from the humble car I own, I've test-driven a BMW 320i (E90) & 320d (F30), which are basically the benchmark of steering feedback and driving pleasure. I've also driven Punto & Polo for a small distance but enough to make out their core-traits. It made me understand that an EPS is inherently different from an HPS, even within the same car. HPS is tighter, gives more road feel and precision, whereas EPS is light and numb(er). EPS does aid in fuel economy, and its assembly is less heaver and cost-effective.



People who surely won't complain in the Elite i20 are the existing i20 owners, steering though very light it does weigh up well at speeds although if you are taking curves in varying speeds you may notice a bi-polar trait of the EPS shine through. Though numb at <10kmph, the steering provides very satisfactory feedback now, much much improved from the previous car and also it takes in potholes and rough rain-hit tarmac with ease. The previous clunk-thud suspension has made way for a sturdier mature suspension. The 195/16 profile and added width can only enhance the balance. Overall a driving improvement of atleast 50% which is great.

The torque (petrol) is improved and I could feel it, though to begin with due to the clutch's 2-prong action and low gears, upto 20kph it seems sluggish, it picks up pace very fast despite its heavy weight and 60+ will be easy to hit fast. The Grand i10 and Xcent would be much better to zip around in due to lower weight/smaller width.

Overall it has improved a lot & it's an ideal car to seat 4 adults+1 with luggage with ease. The rear seat recline is also better than the previous version. However, only the Asta variant makes most sense (rear-wiper, adjustable rear headrests are essential today) apart from passenger SRS.


It is official : No daytime-LED lamps.

Conclusion : I've driven a Polo and the Ei20 seems to have better feedback (though lighter steering). Also i20 is always certified as on par with the European competition in terms of safety and build (it has always gotten 5-stars in ENCAP). Yes the door closing seems more rubberised (soft) comparing to a metallic thump in Euro-cars, but as far as safety goes let opinions be held until the ENCAP test. The steering in a Punto is indeed superior with good feedback & resistance but that is of course natural in a HPS setup, the Punto also has the best suspension. Interior space-wise, i20 is far better than Polo/Punto/Figo. The styling looks quite neat in person (the front is much more good looking than the rear in actual). Should you buy it? I leave that one to individual preferences.

[aaggoswami]

Had a look at Elite i20 ( referred to as new i20 henceforth ).

The relatively boxy front end looks odd. Flat front bumper+grille, a relatively flat hood, looks odd. Hood is not exactly low.

The rear seat does not feel significantly better than Grand i10. Front seats are comfy, but very firm. I felt Grand i10 front seats to be more accommodating than new i20. New i20 front seat felt a bit narrow as compared to Grand i10.

Boot space is large for a hatch.

The plastic cladding on C-pillar looks odd IMO. I did not like it. Also,felt like a small hit will take it out. Rather, black paint would have looked less cheap than a plastic add on.

Sitting in new i20 felt a bit claustrophobic. Not so in my Grand i10. Hyundai, for the sake of aesthetics, has kept the sill level really high for a low slung car. Interiors did not feel airy. My grand i10 felt much more airy and also got a sense of relief when I was back to driving grand i10 after sitting in new i20.

Interior quality is very nice. But the interior A-pillar finish is similar to grand i10. Overall, not a very significant step ahead of earlier car or grand i10.

New i20 Spare is a steel rim, not alloy on asta.

Visibility. Not as good as grand i10. A big negative here as compared to earlier version. I felt the old i20 had lower dashboard and better front visibility. Grand i10 also fares better than new i20.

The sound insulation from outside noise felt awesome. Around 5-7% better than my grand i10.

No way this car can be a proper 5 seater.

My verdict :
If somebody wants a petrol powered primarily city car : out of Grand i10 and new i20, select Grand i10.
Buy i20 only for diesel.
Grand i10 does around 90% of what new i20 could achieve in petrol format.
Overall felt that grand i10 is overall more value than new i20.
And if you need better boot space with petrol motor in that price range, go for xcent.
The overlap by Hyundai is very serious.

[TB16]

Saw the elite i20 today. Didn't like it much. Maybe it is a design which will grows on you. Guess only time will tell!

[Durango Dude]

Looks great but would have expected an upgrade in the power trains, atleast, the petrol one.

[arunu]

Something interesting read on

www.drivespark.com(tamil version),


"Petrol vs. Diesel -- Is the trend changing?

New Hyundai Elite i20 Petrol model gets more bookings than Diesel.

The new Elite i20 has received 4,600 pre-launch bookings in the country out of which 2600 are petrol and 2000 are diesel bookings"

The price difference between Petrol and Diesel has considerably reduced in the recent past and hence people are now more inclined towards petrol cars.

Good news for petrol heads since i always believed that petrol cars are more fun to drive than diesels... and also have the option of converting to cng/lpg once the honeymoon period is over

[trek]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Had a look at Elite i20 ( referred to as new i20 henceforth ).


The rear seat does not feel significantly better than Grand i10. Front seats are comfy, but very firm. I felt Grand i10 front seats to be more accommodating than new i20. New i20 front seat felt a bit narrow as compared to Grand i10.

How did you find the recline angle of the backseat? The older version had a very upright angle and was not particularly comfortable. It was a major deal breaker for us when we checked it out last year.

[vinjosep]

Originally Posted by trek

How did you find the recline angle of the backseat? The older version had a very upright angle and was not particularly comfortable. It was a major deal breaker for us when we checked it out last year.

We found the back seat to be better than the outgoing version as well as grand i10, in terms of the recline angle and thigh support. The fifth passenger however would not be so comfy in this car (will fit for sure). Best suited for a kid.

Drove the diesel for ~17kms in Bangalore and the petrol for a few kms. My main grouse is the colour palette. Except the "passion red" there is nothing new to differentiate this car from say grand i10. The pics of the "midas gold" is not so encouraging as well. No black nor some darker shade like choco brown.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by trek

How did you find the recline angle of the backseat? The older version had a very upright angle and was not particularly comfortable. It was a major deal breaker for us when we checked it out last year.

Seat recline is better than old i20, but the seat itself is very firm. The shoulder padding near doors also felt a bit too much as compared to rest of the seat.
Rather than recline, new i20 seat firmness is excessive. Due to this, seats dont seem accommodative enough. New i20 also cannot be a five seat.

[tsk13]

In Delhi, the waiting period for Sportz (O) & Asta Trims in Diesel Option is 4 weeks and in Petrol 6 weeks. Highest bookings for Sportz (O) in both Fuel Variants.

I saw a Silver i20 as TD Vehicle although the Front blends well on the Red shade than Silver. I would appreciate if somebody can post the Midas Gold i20.

Attaching Price List of Samara Hyundai, Lajpat Nagar, Delhi.