[ahmad.007]

Originally Posted by MaxTorque

Have you used these type of roof rails (of some other cars) for the usage like you have mentioned? IMO if you mount a luggage carrier on the roof rail, it will be a risky business. After a sometime, water seepage may happen.

I have not used it, but recently saw a Beat with 2 large bed mattresses on its roof, tied with the help of these roof rails, with the rope forming a criss-cross type of net to keep them in place.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by MaxTorque

Have you used these type of roof rails (of some other cars) for the usage like you have mentioned? IMO if you mount a luggage carrier on the roof rail, it will be a risky business. After a sometime, water seepage may happen.

I am assuming that these are the diffused type roof-rail like the ones on my Forester and many soft roaders). Fixing carrier or Thule box on these soft roaders is common even tough I have not used it myself. There would be a adopter kind of fixture which sits in between these diffused rail and the actual carrier/mount for the Thule box

[zenren]

Originally Posted by misquitas

Honda, for that matter, should be commended as it provides a lot of safety features on all of its variants.

We shouldn't compare apples to oranges. Since we are speaking about a 5L hatch, we should compare equivalent Honda products and not something that costs double the price.

AFAIK, even Honda provides the ABS and airbags only on the top variant (VX) of Brio.

BTW, Ertiga and Amaze are two examples where the company was forced to give ABS as default in diesel variants because ordinary brakes proved ineffective, not because they were following the safety first philosophy. If they were really concerned about safety, why are they not giving it in the respective petrol variants?

[agspins]

Checked out both the cars today and had a brief TD. Also booked a Silver Petrol Sportz for my B-I-L. On road price of Sportz in Nagpur is Rs.5.70 Lacs. delivery is expected by this month end.
1.1 CRDI unit is responsive, but noisy, while petrol is okay. Overall a VFM car, though ABS is missing on all varients except the Asta's.

[misquitas]

Originally Posted by zenren

AFAIK, even Honda provides the ABS and airbags only on the top variant (VX) of Brio.

BTW, Ertiga and Amaze are two examples where the company was forced to give ABS as default in diesel variants because ordinary brakes proved ineffective, not because they were following the safety first philosophy. If they were really concerned about safety, why are they not giving it in the respective petrol variants?

Points duly noted. Thanks for bringing them to my notice. The point that I was trying to make is that Hyundai should have introduced ABS and/or as an option in the Sportz, especially since it has filled the car with all kinds of fitments.

[MaxTorque]

Originally Posted by ahmad.007

I have not used it, but recently saw a Beat with 2 large bed mattresses on its roof.

Originally Posted by Guna

I am assuming that these are the diffused type roof-rail like the ones on my Forester and many soft roaders).

I have seen the roof rails fitment process of an SUV. There are sealing beads to take care of the roof panel joint sealing. There are two set of beading, one for each side. The beading is split into three pieces so that once it is placed on the roof ditch, it will leave space for two holes (which are already present on roof panel). The roof rails are bolted using two bolts through those holes.

If other manufactures are also adopting same method for fitting those rails, it will be strong and can take up sufficient load. If it is just cosmetic, then it's load taking capacity will also be limited.

[dark.knight]

Regarding safety in Hyundai, I'd like to give my honest opinion. Hyundai's are generally very well built, safe cars - specially the models designed in Russelsheim Germany (i10 upwards). Hence the old i10 registers 4 star safety in Euro NCAP (Grand should be better) and all models of i20 upwards are a full 5 stars. ENCAP also looks at re-enforcement steel bars on the side frame of a car which is present in i10 upwards. They also inspect the grade of tensile steel used, which is as important as the active safety assists. On that count you can be assured that any car with Euro NCAP 4 star is a safe car. Many other manufacturers who sell India specific cars don't have ENCAP safety rating or have failed it, which means its not nearly as safe. Hyundai has also fared very well in American NHTSA with 4 stars for Accent (Verna) and full 5 for Elantra, Sonata & Santa Fe.

Now the Indian buyer market, is sadly very different from the others. People hesitate to go for the top-end, even though logically they will get higher value on resale and have better peace of mind. Yes service costs can be higher in fully loaded models. Hyundai is till today, the only car manufacturer to give 6 airbags in a hatch (i20) and in an entry sedan (Verna), but the demand for the variants is low, people choose the 2nd variant or even 3rd and are happy with the vfm based on budget even if the difference is around 40/50k. Active safety tech does cost money to make. Given the dollar fluctuation, had Hyundai priced Grand i10 any higher with more specs per variant, the public would have instantly begun to reject it and heavily criticise the company for attrocious pricing and the product would fail. I recommend the Asta variant anyway as written in my last post.

[misquitas]

I'm eagerly awaiting the full road test of the G-i10. By the way, has any one on this forum got delivery of a G-i10?

I'm also pleased to note that the larger i10 has a larger fuel tank (43 litres) as opposed to its smaller sibling (35 litres). This makes a big difference here in Goa, where petrol prices are lowest in the country. Filling a tankful of petrol in my i10 is not sufficient for me to reach from Goa to Mumbai, but a 43 litre fuel tank would easily see me through the 600-km distance.

A large fuel tank also means less frequent stops to the petrol pump.

I also noticed that there is more space around the spare tyre of the G-i10, than in my i10. I have barely managed to squeeze in a thick nylon rope in the space around the spare tyre, in case of an emergency. The nylon rope would easily fit around the spare tyre of the G-i10.

[petroguzzler]

Can anyone confirm whether the top end asta (O) variants have fixed front headrests or the adjustable types???

[Equus]

I am not so sure if the variants planning was good.. There is no petrol model with ABS alone? Hmmm.. Infact, even Asta doesnt have ABS (& Airbags) as its optional.

The i20 sports has ABS and 1 driver airbag, and its about 7.3L OTR in Bangalore and it has good discounts going.. Lets assume its about 7L OTR.

The Grand i10 Asta with Airbags/ABS is 6.76L OTR here in Bangalore and obviously there are no discounts.

Hmmm Which one would you buy?

[misquitas]

Originally Posted by Equus

The i20 sports has ABS and 1 driver airbag, and its about 7.3L OTR in Bangalore and it has good discounts going.. Lets assume its about 7L OTR.

The Grand i10 Asta with Airbags/ABS is 6.76L OTR here in Bangalore and obviously there are no discounts.

Hmmm Which one would you buy?

Interesting comparison, there. Given the present comparison, I think that I would be more inclined towards the i20, as it is only Rs 25k away from the G-i10. Besides, the i20 is a larger car and is a tried and tested product, which has been well accepted by Indian customers.

Having said that, I would rather wait for the G-i10 (or any other car for that matter) to complete a few months (6-8), before considering buying it. The first few months would enable the company to rectify any teething problems, if any. Besides, there is always a chance to avail of discounts and offers after some time, making the car a more attractive buy.

[Equus]

Originally Posted by misquitas

Interesting comparison, there. Given the present comparison, I think that I would be more inclined towards the i20, as it is only Rs 25k away from the G-i10. Besides, the i20 is a larger car and is a tried and tested product, which has been well accepted by Indian customers.

Having said that, I would rather wait for the G-i10 (or any other car for that matter) to complete a few months (6-8), before considering buying it. The first few months would enable the company to rectify any teething problems, if any. Besides, there is always a chance to avail of discounts and offers after some time, making the car a more attractive buy.

Thanks for your input - seems like Grand-i10 is out for me unless I buy a non-ABS version (in which case, the Magna/Sportz makes more sense).

As regards to waiting for 6-8 months, given this model is sold elsewhere (notably in EU as well), I am not too worried about it.
Though I would love to wait for the freebies

[misquitas]

Originally Posted by Equus

Thanks for your input - seems like Grand-i10 is out for me unless I buy a non-ABS version (in which case, the Magna/Sportz makes more sense).

As regards to waiting for 6-8 months, given this model is sold elsewhere (notably in EU as well), I am not too worried about it.
Though I would love to wait for the freebies

I am inclined to believe that most cars have a honeymoon period shortly after their launch, where sales figures are really high. During this time, freebies and offers are next to zero. As the months pass by and as newer competitors enter the arena, the demand tends to drop and freebies are then offered to entice the customer. I recall the Ford Figo had excellent sales shortly after its launch, but this very competent car has seen its sales decline over the recent months. I think the only car that almost never saw its sales decline was the Swift.

I think the Grand i10 is also likely to have big sales figures initially, until it settles down to some respectable figures. I also think that though the Grand i10 is aiming to pull some customers from Maruti Swift, it could also end up extracting some sales from within its fold (i10 and i20). If I were a customer and had the budget for an i10, I would want to consider stretching my budget a little more to pick up a larger, newer and fresher Grand i10 instead. In fact, when I took my friend (who has been seriously considering the i10 for quite some time) to a Hyundai showroom, he first saw an i10 (as a reference point) in the showroom and then went on to see the Grand i10 to compare the difference. The difference in space, quality and features between the two i10 siblings was so obvious to my friend, that he felt there was no need to consider the i10 ever again, now that the Grand i10 has arrived.

[ramzsys]

Is there any official word about the Ground Clearance? I couldn't get any info from the Hyundai site.

[fz_rider]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

Is there any official word about the Ground Clearance? I couldn't get any info from the Hyundai site.

165 mm, as mentioned in quotation.