[guyfrmblr]

Hello Everyone. Good day.

My office is located 40 kms from my home and used to commute in bus. It used to take 2.5 hours one-way for the bus to traverse the Bengalooru traffic and reach the destination. However I found out an alternative countryside route which was less crowded and cut short the journey time by whopping 1.5 hours but there were no buses plying in that route. So planned for a bike and booked Honda Unicorn. But many raised concerns about back pain which I may get by travelling 80 kms daily on bike. So cancelled the booking and started hunting for a car.

The budget was 5-7 lakhs and was looking out for a diesel hatchback. Short-listed Indica Vista and Ritz. TD'ed both and shortlisted Ritz. But I could not digest the rear looks of the Ritz. Stretched the budget little more and planned for Swift. TD'ed and loved the performance. Consulted with family and finalised Swift VDi. The next day, my boss asked me to check the reviews of i20 as he was planning for a one. Checked the reviews, went to the showroom and had a glance at i20 from outside and took the price brochure from the sales representative. I was shocked by looking at the prices.

7-8 lakhs for a hatchback! Never in my dreams! Before I recovered from the state of shock, sales guy asked us to have a look at the interiors. Opened the door and could not beleive my eyes, The interiors were comparable to a premium sedan. Then had a test drive and instantly fell in love with the car.
Finally booked a diamond black CRDi Sportz. The waiting period was one month but got a call from the showroom in the second week and asked me to complete the PDI.

Got the delivery on 29th June i.e., exactly 3 weeks from the booking date. The overall buying experience from Advaith Hyundai, Bannerghatta Road was excellent and very memorable. The sales guy was very polite. He answered our queries and completed the formalities in a very professional manner.

Initial Observations after 4000 kms:

I have driven about 4100 kms in my black beauty and had a very nice experience with it till now. The following points were observed by me during these two months.

- The ride quality is excellent. One can easily feel the engine refinement at speeds greater than 40, its extremely smooth. Feels little bumpy on bad roads.

- The EPS is top notch and is extremely easy to maneuver in traffic. The leather on the steering is great and is a pleasure to hold. It does gives proper feedback at higher speeds.

- The car feels more expensive than it actually is. The quality of interiors is top-notch. One wont get this feeling of richness in any other hatchbacks.

- Braking is extremely good, had to perform a panic braking once when a truck cut across in front of me from nowhere. I was cruising at around 80 kmph and the car stopped as though it has hit some wall without losing any control.

- The gear shifting is as slick as a PS3 controller.

-Ground Clearance is decent. Scrapes through some of the unscientific speed breakers which is found abundantly on Bengalooru roads.

- The driver seat is little low but the front visibility is not a problem for me (5' 9"). It may be a problem for some short people. The thick A-pillar blocks the
view while taking right turns but i'm used to it now.

- The quality of stock speakers is average. The ICE does not support DVD. Has a USB port and an auxiliary port.

- The steering mounted audio controls are great which offers a convinient way to perform audio controls and also for attending and receiving calls.

- The Bluetooth is a boon for making and receiving calls while driving. It uses the sim access profile and extracts the contacts from mobile once we pair it.
We can also stream music from mobile to ICE using A2DP.

- The 295 litres boot space is huge and is really huge for a hatch. The glove-box has cooling.

- Electrically foldable ORVMs is really helpful for city driving. We can easily fold the mirrors in the signals to avoid getting smashed by a two wheeler.

Gave it for 1st service after 1500 km at Advaith Hyundai, Bannerghatta Road. The A.S.S did a decent job. They enabled 40 kmph autolock feature and the engine is more smoother after the 1st service. I needed to shift to first gear on speed breakers and slow moving traffic but after the service, I can shift to second gear for the same.

Have not faced any streeing rattling issue until now.

Fuel Efficiency :

Initially was getting mileage of around 18 kmpl. 70% of my travel are along countryside roads where traffic is less dense.

Now I'm following some fuel efficient driving techniques:
1. Shifting to higher gears as fast as possible.
2. Maximum usage of engine braking.
3. Avoiding flooring of throttle until the turbo kicks in.
4. Avoiding lugging and over revving of engine.
5. Avoiding clutch riding.
6. Predicting the behaviour of other vehicles so as to avoid constant braking.
7. Maintaining a constant speed as much as possible.
8. Driving in a smooth manner which keeps me and others on the road relaxed.

After implementing the above techniques, I'm able to get FE of around 21 kmpl.

Had been for a long drive last week and got a fuel efficiency of around 24 kmpl on highways. Was able to touch 145 kmph with two adults and some baggage and it was effortless in the 6th gear. One can easily cruise at 120 kmpl at around 2200 rpm in 6th gear which boosts the fuel efficiency.

Some issues :

I noticed a small rattling noise from the front left seat after coming back from the long drive. Took the car to A.S.S and was rectified promptly.

However I have found some issues with the compatibility of Bluetooth of ICE with some of the Samsung mobiles. The issue is that I am not able to receive calls while in motion whereas calls can be received when the car is in a stand still position. There are no issues with outgoing calls. I checked the implementation of the Bluetooth profiles of the ICE with the help of laptop and its properly implemented. I did not face this issue with other cellphone makes.

The other issues I have is with the stock headlights and horns.
The low beam lights are extremely weak and I am finding it extremely difficult to drive during nights. The stock horns are so weak that even a kitten in front of the car does not budge even after continual honking. I'm afraid to replace these since it may void the electrical warranty.

To sum it up, I'd say that i20 is worth every single penny I've spent on it.

Some pics:

[Frontosa]

Congrats buddy. Nice report and nice pics. Safe drive! Sensible decision going for diesel , keep updating the thread

[charthom]

Hi guyfrmblr,

Congrats on your purchase and welcome to T-BHP.Very useful thread.
Very masculine and elegant car.Nice snaps too.

Please keep updating your thread regularly.

Enjoy your ride and drive safe!!

[parsh]

hey guyfrmblr,

Welcome to TBHP and congrats on the black beauty. You seem to have matched the SunFilms to make it a complete black beauty. Looks awesome. Never thought black looked so swell on i20, not spotted many though. A very informative nice 1st post. Carry on. Wish you happy and safe mile crunching.

[bluevolt]

Congratulations on your Hyundai i20.

The car really looks a true black beauty.

Do keep the thread updated regularly.

Wishing you happy and safe driving.

[mayankjha1806]

Congratulations, wish you many trouble free miles with i20. i20 has one of the most pleasing seating and wonderfully laid out dashboard. What i find a miss in the thread is good pictures of the Dashboard. It would be injustice to this beauty of such a pleasing place isn't photographed.

Please do put some pictures of the interiors which i among the best in this segment.

Do you travel from Banerghatta Road to Whitefield via Varthur every day? I feel i have seen this car on that route.

[ownerofazkaban]

Wow! where is this Malgudi place in the background ?

Congratulations on the acquisition, enjoy the car.

[guyfrmblr]

Thanks everyone. I'll update the post regularly with more ownership experience.

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Please do put some pictures of the interiors which i among the best in this segment.

Do you travel from Banerghatta Road to Whitefield via Varthur every day? I feel i have seen this car on that route.

I'll definitely post the pics of interiors as soon as possible.
Yes, I travel via varthur everyday. You can easily spot me from next Monday as I have pasted "I Drive Safe" Team-BHP sticker on my car today.

[arvi86]

Hearty congrats guyfrmblr. What a way to begin in Team BHP? Its your first post and you have it in your ownership thread - quite brilliant.

By the way, congrats again on your i20. As you said, the interiors are by far the best in its segment and it does really give a premium feel. Good to hear that you have not got that dreaded steering ratlle noise. Wishing you miles and miles of happy driving in your i20.

I just have one suggestion - How about installing the OE Fog Lamps in the front bumpers? It would just complete the looks of the car and make it perfect.

[Habanero City]

Congratulations on your new i20.
Nowadays it makes sense to buy Diesel cars even though they are more expensive initially.
What was the OTR cost and any freebies?
Any accessories planned?
Please post more pictures of the interiors.

HC

[guyfrmblr]

Originally Posted by ownerofazkaban

Wow! where is this Malgudi place in the background ?

Its near a place called Sullia which is in between Madikeri and Mangalore.

Originally Posted by arvi86

I just have one suggestion - How about installing the OE Fog Lamps in the front bumpers? It would just complete the looks of the car and make it perfect.

I enquired for fog lamps in Advaith and got a reply from the sales guy that the entire bumper needs to be replaced with that of Asta's. So backed out from the plan.

[quote=Habanero City;2484271]Congratulations on your new i20.
What was the OTR cost and any freebies?
Any accessories planned?
/QUOTE]
Did not receive any freebies. Planned for a spoiler. Got a quote of around 8-9K from the showroom. Dropped the plan. Planning to upgrade headlights and horn but I'm not sure whether it voids the electrical warranty. Installed Dolphin art leather seat covers which costed around 6K and I'm pretty happy with them. Will post the pics of seat covers soon.

[Utopian]

Congrats for the i20. We rarely see 'em in Black. Good to see that you were able to get hold of the 6-speed one.
Nice snaps & awesome FE figures.

[raichoudhury]

Great write up and pics. The white i 20 is more popular while I hope these pics make prospective buyers go for black.

Continuing with the topic of black do have have problems driving at night with the sun films? And by the way have you got a few scratches on the rear end?

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

Yes, I travel via varthur everyday. You can easily spot me from next Monday as I have pasted "I Drive Safe" Team-BHP sticker on my car today.

This route is now becoming clogged every day (especially close to Carmelaram railway station crossing and once you near Varthur village) apart from becoming accident prone. Just a few days back my friend saw a bad accident on this road and looks like the 2 wheeler driver was dead on the spot.

You did absolutely the right thing by buying a car, Bangalore is slowly and surely becoming unsafe for two wheeler's, its a sorry state of affairs but that's the reality.

I see many Team-BHP members on this route. You could spot us on a White Safari (It does not have a Team-BHP sticker).

[Dry Ice]

Congrats guyfrmblr on your i20. Looks great in black!

I remember reading on the forum(not able to locate the thread now) that Hyundai has shifted back to 5-speed transmission from the 6-speed one on all latest i20s. I guess, you bought it at just the right time!

Enjoy the beauty and keep us updated. And oh yes, do post the interior pics ASAP.

This could interest you - hyundai-i20-tips-tricks