21st December 2010, 00:53
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| BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Panjim
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| Snow I-te(n) and the five 'dwarfs' : 2010 Hyundai i10 1.2 EDIT: 1.47 lakh km completed! Snow I-te(n) and the five 'dwarfs' -------------------- Kindly note... * I love driving cars but know precious little about technical aspects regarding engines/vehicles. Hence, this review is essentially a layman's ownership experience and does not feature technical details/reviews of engines, tyres, etc. * The observations below do not intend to offend anyone who owns cars of those brands rejected by us. All cars tested by us are competent with their own strengths and would, therefore, appeal to a different audience. --------------------- PART I – THE BACKGROUND We currently own an Alto LXI (2008) and we have been extremely happy with its performance so far. It has covered 40,000 kms and has taken us to two major inter-state trips (Goa-Pondicherry-Goa and Goa-Mumbai-Goa) and many minor inter-state trips (Belgaum, Bhatkal, etc) during the past two-and-half years without a single glitch or snag. Given its minimal maintenance and phenomenal FE (we have almost always got 19-21 kmpl) there was no reason to change the car. However, a compelling need in mid-November forced us to consider an additional vehicle. We now had the task of looking out for a larger vehicle (sedan or hatch) within a budget of Rs 5 lakh and that too, within the second week of December. We initially decided on buying a diesel car, given the cheaper cost of fuel and the better FE. The parameters that we considered were: * Decent mileage (about 16-17 kmpl) * Good after sales service * Good dealer/service network * Decent cabin/luggage space * Availability of a car within 2 weeks. PART II – THE CONTENDERS Given our initial preference for a diesel car, our first choice of vehicles were the Ford Figo EXI and Tata Indigo eCS. Both were priced at about 5.3 L on road, a little over our budget of Rs 5 lakh. TATA – 1 We had short listed two cars within our budget -- the Vista and the eCS. A lot has been said (positive and negative) about the Vista, but precious little about the eCS. However, something about the diesel eCS intrigued me. Here was a sedan car with decent features, but with roomy interiors and a boot that beats all hatches, yet priced around Rs 5.4 L. The touted 23-odd kmpl fuel economy was the icing on the cake. But, there is no point in falling for a car merely because of its features on paper and we had to see the car in flesh and blood. To our luck, my uncle and his son were taking their Tata Indica V2 for a service at a recently opened garage ‘JKRS workshop’, a TATA authorised service in Betim, near Panjim. Nothing like asking mechanics about the performance of the eCS, I thought. So, the three of us went to the garage and we met a mechanic, who earlier served in a Maruti service centre. Even better, I thought, since I could now seek a review of Tata engines in comparison with their Maruti counterparts. The mechanic admitted that maintenance of Maruti engines is cheaper than Tata and said that of the two Tata diesels – TDI and DICOR – the former was easier/cheaper to maintain. However, he mentioned that some major changes/improvements had been incorporated into the new CR4/DICOR eCS engine. Equipped with this information, we then decided to visit the Tata dealer and check out a test drive. I returned home and picked up my wife and 3-yr-old daughter. This was mainly for two reasons. First, I prefer test driving a car with 5 persons (3 relatives/friends, myself and a sales executive) to get a real feel of the cabin space and pulling capacity of the car with AC and 5 adults on board. Second, eight eyes are infinitely better than two, since they can make varied observations of the vehicle within a few minutes, something that two eyes can never match. We went to Vistar motors at Panjim to test drive the Indigo eCS. The only clue that this was a showroom was the presence of cars in the showroom. There was no hustle and bustle of customers, so common in Maruti/Hyundai showrooms. Moreover, the staff seemed very casual in their approach, despite being the only customers in the showroom. Typical of Tata Motors, I thought, to take it easy on customer service like they do with the quality and fit and finish on some of their cars. Anyway, that did not deter us and I promptly asked them for a test drive of the Indigo eCS. The saleswoman said a demo vehicle was available, but it had no diesel. Ooops, even more typical of a Tata, I thought. She said they would need to go to the nearest pump (which, by the way, is about 100 metres from the showroom) to get diesel. She said it would take them about 30 minutes to do so! Instead of waiting for the diesel to be filled up on the demo vehicle, we then decided to visit the Ford showroom to check out the Ford Figo EXI. FORD In comparison with Tata, the experience was truly refreshing, both with the customer satisfaction and the quality of vehicle. Within seconds, a salesman noticed our presence and came to our assistance. Since we were already familiar with the Figo (we had visited the showroom in the past to check out the interiors of the Figo), we immediately requested for a test drive. A top-end Figo titanium diesel demo car was given to us for a test drive. The Figo has great fit and finish. In our opinion, everything felt top notch, at least in comparison to Maruti cars. Besides, it is a great all round hatch, has good cabin and great boot space (except, perhaps, for the huge wheel wells that eat into the width of the boot). It also has great driver visibility and other welcome frills (warnings, safety features, etc). It is no wonder that there are numerous Figo cars on road in Panjim and in fact, 500 of them were sold in Goa within a few months. The popularity of the car is such that my 3-year-old daughter could instantly recognize the green Figo and would shout out "look papa, FIGO" whenever we passed by one. We took a test drive with driver + 4 passengers on board. The first thing we noticed was the slight inconvenience to get into the vehicle. My tall cousin and another large-sized friend had some difficulty getting into the car. This discomfort was more pronounced in the rear passenger section, especially since the roof tapers significantly lower behind. For us it was a big minus. If only the Figo had the specifications of the Fusion. The drive was indeed great. There was no body roll whatsoever no matter how much I tried to steer hard around a junction and the car was rock steady, a feature that was also attested by my bro-in-law who owns a Ritz LDI. A minor inconvenience was the signal indicator was on the other side (as opposed to the Maruti/Hyundai cars) and much to my embarrassment, I ended up the activating the wipers quite often on a bright sunny morning! The driver’s view is excellent, thanks to the low dashboard position. The AC was top notch and it cooled the cabin within minutes. The music player, too, was great, with just about the right sound for our ears. Our first concern of the Figo was the dealer/service network. We plan to take the car on inter-state drives and our common routes are the Goa-Belgaum (NH4A) and Goa-Mangalore (NH17) highway. I did a quick check on the Figo website and found out that Ford has a service centres only in Goa (1) and Mangalore (2), a gap of about 370 kms. Secondly, Ford is yet to have a dealer network in Belgaum (as of now) and they do not have any presence in and around Sawantwadi. In fact, the dealer/service presence in Karnataka, for instance, is quite limited. Ford has a strong presence only in two cities in Karnataka, Bangalore and Mangalore. Our second concern was the dealer network here in Goa. Owners of Figo (or any Ford car for that matter) are tied to only one dealer/service network. You cannot do anything if you are unhappy (for whatever reason) with the lone dealer/service centre and you have no option to move elsewhere, at least here in Goa. In this regard, Maruti, Hyundai and Tata have a better presence and offer better service options to car owners. For us, the "peace of mind" factor was a major concern. Not that we expect the car to fall apart every time we hit the inter-state road, but the thought of a service network in every major town is indeed immensely gratifying and can never be adequately expressed in words. So, although the Figo was a great car in itself -- and I would gladly recommend it to those who want to enjoy a quality drive -- the limited service network and the low ingress-egress forced us to move elsewhere. After about 40 minutes, we decided to return to the Vistar Motors to test drive the Indigo diesel eCS, hoping that the diesel would have been filled by now. TATA – 2 We returned to Vistar Motors and to much our surprise the diesel was not yet filled on the Indigo eCS. The saleswoman requested us to wait for 15 minutes for a mechanic to fill the demo car. After some wait, the demo Indigo eCS was finally available to us. We sat in the vehicle and there was no problem for the three rear passengers, both in shoulder and leg room. The car had decent pick-up but what we all realised was that the AC simply wouldn’t cool the cabin. The salesman explained that since the car was in the sun for some time, it would take about 15 minutes to cool the cabin. We thought this was a big let down, especially since much of our drives are for short distances. In such cases, the cabin would never get cooled during our drives. In comparison with the Figo, the AC on the Indigo eCS felt like a fan. I somehow did not like the high dashboard position (I much preferred the Figo’s low dashboard position) as well as the steering wheel with its huge T-shaped design. But these were minor inconveniences and I thought that I could easily live with it, were I to buy the Indigo eCS. We also noticed that the fit and finish on the Indigo eCS was quite basic, at least in comparison with the Figo. For about Rs 5.3 L, the Figo offered a premium feel and much, much better refinement than the Indigo eCS. Unlike Ford, Tata has a fairly large dealer/service network across in the country and this was a major plus for us, given our desire to do inter-state trips. The roomy cabin and the generous boot space would be ideal for such trips. However, we had some concerns about the Indigo eCS. Tata claims to have made changes in the DICOR engine of the eCS. What bothered us is this: Are these changes good enough to rectify the problems in the previous DICOR engine? What if some new problems crop up in the CR4 engine at some later point in time? We could then end up with a huge maintenance bill and more importantly, an unreliable car. Tata’s dubious trial-and-error method and more importantly, its questionable quality control, left us in serious doubts about the eCS. Since we had some time at our hands, we decided to test drive a Vista. We noticed that the boot space was quite less, but it had a roomy cabin. Somehow, I didn’t like the central instrument console and though the drive was quite nice, there was some body roll at sharp turns. The four of us then returned home with same impression – the overall quality of the Figo was far better than the Indigo eCS. Besides, the customer satisfaction of the Tata dealer was nowhere near that of the Ford dealer. But as mentioned earlier, something about the Indigo eCS still made me want to dig deeper into the vehicle. I then thought of checking out another demo Indigo eCS car, this time at Auto Industries along the highway in Verna. May be, this demo vehicle would have a better AC. I called up a sales executive at Auto Industries and confirmed the date and time of our intended test drive. A few days later, we (wife, daughter, mother-in-law and I) went to Auto industries at Verna and believe it or not, the experience of another Tata dealer was quite the same. The showroom had only two other customers and yet, it took the saleswoman ages to attend to us. She politely asked us to have a look at the Indigo eCS or wait for some time, while she attended to another customer! We mentioned that we had already checked out the Indigo eCS and that we merely wanted a test drive. The salesman whom I had earlier spoken to was in another city and hence, we requested another salesman to give us a test drive. He readily agreed and brought out a new cream-coloured Indigo eCS car. I casually asked him if this was a demo vehicle and pat came his reply: “No sir, this car has just been bought by another customer and he will take delivery later in the evening. But there is no problem and you can test drive this vehicle.” I was quite upset that a customer’s car was being given to us for a test drive. I then confronted the salesman: “And what if I were to buy a vehicle from you? Would you have given my vehicle to others for a test drive as well?” He accepted my point, but admitted they did not have a demo Indigo eCS with them. We then decided that it was the end of Tata cars for us. The attitude of the sales teams of both Tata dealers here in Goa were far from pleasant. I would, however, not want to run down all Tata dealers and it is quite possible that Tata dealers elsewhere in the country may be more professional in their customer approach. This could have a strong bearing on the popularity of Tata cars elsewhere in the country. It was then that we made a radical departure from our choice of cars. All along, we were considering diesel cars which were priced at about Rs 5 Lakh, but now we decided to include petrol cars as well. Reason? With a budget of Rs 5 lakh, we could work towards a Rs 4.5 lakh car and then spruce it with a music system, under body anti-corrosive paint, seat covers and other accessories and yet have some spare money to maintain the car during the next few years. In any case, our annual drive would not exceed 13,000 kms, to necessarily warrant the need for a diesel car. On the other hand, the Figo/Indigo eCS diesel car would have cost us about Rs 5.3 lakh and we would then need Rs 20-30K extra for the added accessories. This would then be way over our Rs 5 lakh budget. Having now decided to switch towards a petrol car, the options were now wide open. Since our budget was reduced to about Rs 4.5 lakh, we initially short listed 3 hatches with a "big car" feel: Wagon R VXI, Ritz LXI and Figo Petrol EXI. The Swift was not considered as the waiting period was over 2 weeks. Neither my wife nor I liked the Beat and A-Star, hence they were out of our list as well. The Figo petrol EXI was later rejected due to many of the concerns mentioned in our Figo diesel EXI review. Moreover, the Figo Petrol has not received great reviews and hence, we felt it would be best to give it a miss. MARUTI Aaah, we are completely at ease with Maruti and its Chowgule dealer at Panjim. Besides purchasing and owning an Alto LXI (2008) from them, I have persuaded many of my relatives and friends to buy cars from the same dealer. This time though, we decided to check out the Ritz LXI and the Wagon R VXI at their Margao branch (since we were in Margao at the time). Since my brother-in-law owns the Ritz LDI, we are very familiar with its specifications, cabin space, etc. My wife, her brother, his wife, the salesman and myself first took the Wagon R VXI for a test drive. On paper, the Wagon R seemed to have all frills and fitments, right from tacho, powered windows, dual tone horn, utility basket beneath front passenger seat, rear wipers, integrated music system, etc. The list of equipped accessories never seemed to end. The 10-minute test drive, however, changed our opinion almost unanimously. To begin with, three persons felt cramped up in the rear seat and with 5 passengers on board and in conjunction with the AC, the Wagon R struggled past the gate of the showroom. The Wagon R simply did not have the power or pick up to cater to the load. We checked out the integrated music system and in our opinion, it was a disaster. Push the volume high and the music began to distort. No quality whatsoever and I could not identify the culprit, the head unit or the speakers. Point is, the VXI should never have come with such a shoddy integrated music player. Owners are forced to accept this default player if they opt for the Wagon R VXI. I feel Maruti should easily have omitted this player to bring down the cost of the car. Besides, the customer would have had the option to fit his/her own player, quite like the previous edition of the VXI. The dual-tone horn was even worse. The sound of the horn penetrating the cabin was so much that it appeared that the horn was directed towards the cabin. Turn the Wagon R on sharp curves and the body roll was quite evident. I must, however, admit that we were prepared for the body roll, given the specifications of the Wagon R. Also, I somehow did not like the position of the steering wheel. I felt it was low for me (I'm 5.11 feet tall) and it blocked my view of the instrument panel. I preferred the steering position on my Alto as it gives me unhindered view of the instrument panel. The test drive left us all disappointed with the Wagon R. It promised much but delivered very little, in our opinion. The Wagon R was ruled out quite instantly. Through inference, we also rejected the Estilo, since it would have had a similar engine, similar cabin space and similar body roll. The only saving grace is that the Estilo has a larger boot space, quite like the previous edition of the Wagon R. We then decided to test drive the Ritz LXI. A top-end ZXI demo car was available to us and we took the same route for our test drive. The Ritz drive was infinitely better than that of the Wagon R, even though both are priced at around the same range (approx. Rs 4.3 lakh). The Ritz easily accommodated the five passengers and the AC load without any problem whatsoever. The cabin and boot space was also more spacious than the Wagon R and my wife and two family members could easily sit comfortably in the rear section. The feel of driving a Ritz is one of driving a big car. The dash area is huge, sitting is high and spacious and the gears are a joy to operate. Like the Wagon R, the body roll on the Ritz was also evident around the same junction, but we were willing to accept it, given its many favourable features. However, the integrated music player was not up to the mark and thankfully, the Ritz LXI does not come with an integrated music player. The Ritz LXI came out high in our recommendations, especially since it carried with it the mighty Maruti tag and moreover, we were assured that the Ritz LXI could be available within 15 days. Towards the end, we had then short listed the Ritz LXI as our preferred car. We had almost decided on the Ritz LXI when a colleague casually suggested that I take a look at the Hyundai as well. To be honest, I did not initially include I10 in our list. The next day, the same set of relatives went to the Alcon Hyundai showroom at Fatorda-Margao to test drive the I10. HYUNDAI Hyundai cars are not unknown to us as my dad owned a 2003 Santro Zip and enjoyed it (for the drive, fit and finish, etc) till he sold it in 2008, a few months before his demise. With the Ritz LXI in the back of our minds, we went to check out the I10. For about Rs 4.5 L, the Magna variant came within our budget. The Sportz too would have been within our budget, but many features on the Sportz were not of interest to us and we thought it would be a better to go in for the Magna and spruce her with the desired features on the Sportz. We could then save some money in the process for other accessories. Our first unanimous impression of the I10 in the showroom was indeed positive. In comparison with the I10 Magna, the Ritz LXI did not have the same fit and finish quality. More importantly, the Ritz LXI had very little features on offer. OK, the Ritz was more spacious, had split seats, had 10-odd litres of additional boot space and had a roomier cabin. But the I10 had 4 powered windows, tachometer, D/N mirror, gear shift indicator, electrically operated side mirrors, door central locking, better fit and finish, etc. But the goodies on paper need not translate into a better car, as our experience with the Wagon R had shown us. The Ritz LXI was still a formidable force and we wanted to know if the I10 could stand up to the mighty Maruti hatch. A top-end I10 Asta demo was made available to us. The moment we sat in the car, all four of us was impressed with the ride. The integrated music player was a 100 times better than that on the Wagon R and did not distort at high volumes. The rear seating and shoulder space was not as comfortable as the Ritz, but it was much better than the Wagon R. Even the little frills, such as the gear shift indicator, were a welcome feature appreciated by family members in the rear seat. With five passengers and the AC on, the I10 did not struggle for power, as compared to the Wagon-R. The drive was very smooth and while minor body roll was evident on sharp turns, the I10 felt far steadier than the Ritz and the Wagon R. A big plus for the I10. The I10 was shorter than the Ritz and Wagon-R, but still had a tall car feel compared to our Alto. This was good thinking by Hyundai, because the unnecessary height (like on the Ritz and Wagon-R) was eliminated and yet, ingress and egress was comfortable for us all. In comparison with the Ritz, the I10 has about 10-odd litres less of boot space, but the I10 seemed to have more usable space, largely due to the odd rear end of the Ritz. Everything about the I10 seemed good and when I asked my wife, brother-in-law and his wife for their views, they immediately voted in favour of the I10. So now, after testing the Ford Figo, Tata eCS, Tata Vista, Wagon R VXI and the Ritz LXI, we had a clear winner. The I10. We felt that the I10 Magna may not have excelled in any one feature, but we still found it a superior all-round product. It may not have had the road stability of the Figo, the roomy cabin space of the Ritz LXI, the seating space of the Vista, the boot space of the Indigo eCS or the number of fitments on the Wagon R VXI, yet the I10 seemed to have a little of everything. Decent height for ingress and egress, less body roll than the Wagon R and Ritz, good quality fit and finish like the Figo, decent cabin and usable boot space, more power than the Wagon R, and a much-touted “superior” engine. Besides, Hyundai claims to have 600-odd service centres all over the country and this pan-India presence was more than adequate for the "peace of mind" factor. As an overall package, we felt the Snow I-te(n) had 'dwarfed' its five opponents. The colour? All of us preferred the white I10 or any white car for that matter. White cars tend to get (and look) dirty fast, but give them a wash and they will gleam, unlike other darker coloured cars. PART III – THE DEALER Having finalised on the I10 (this was by the end of November) we now had the option of picking up the car from two dealers in Goa, Alcon Hyundai at Porvorim and Goa Hyundai at Verna. While the former is located much closer to my residence, Goa Hyundai offered us a better deal and hence, we opted to buy the crystal white I10 Magna 1.2 VTVT from Goa Hyundai. To our luck, a crystal white I10 Magna was available in their stockyard and I made an advance booking of Rs 10,000 for the car. I then visited the stockyard at Verna and had a detailed look of the vehicle allotted to me. I checked the VIN number and used the VIN check-list from team-bhp.com to identify the month of manufacture. I found out that the my I10 Magna was manufactured in November and was a recent product. The I10 came with MRF tyres, which was OK with me since my Alto also has MRF tyres and its has performed well during the 40,000 kms it has covered so far. We made the final payment on December 9 and we decided to take possession of the vehicle on December 13. There was nothing auspicious about the date. It so happened that the RTO work had been completed on December 10 and Goa Hyundai was closed for the next two days. That left us with December 13 as the earliest day to collect the car. On December 13, a friend dropped us (wife, daughter and I) in his car from Porvorim to the Goa Hyundai showroom at Verna. While some members of the sales team was not as casual as the staff at the Tata dealers, they were certainly not as vibrant and customer friendly as compared to the Maruti/Ford dealers. Despite informing them in advance that we wanted to take possession of the car by about 11 am (since all procedures, RTO, PDI, etc. had been completed), we ended up waiting in the showroom for nearly two hours. I must admit that some of this time was due to the fact that I had asked them to put a steering cover (Rs 100) and metal scruff plates (Rs 600) on the I10. Even then, this should not have taken that long to fit on the car. Our 3-year-old daughter was getting restless and unfortunately, Goa Hyundai does not have a children’s play section (or we were not informed of one in the premises), as compared to the Maruti’s Chowgule dealer at Panjim/Margao or the Hyundai’s Alcon Hyundai dealer at Porvorim. During our stay at the Goa Hyundai showroom, no one offered us any tea/coffee even though they have a decent canteen in the premises near the showroom. This is something that Goa Hyundai staff could learn from Maruti’s Chowgule dealer at Panjim. Even those who visit the Maruti’s Chowgule dealer at Panjim for a casual query about a product are treated really well. We ended up visiting the Goa Hyundai canteen and paying for some refreshments, mainly to kill time while the vehicle was kept ready. By about 12.30 am, the car was finally available to us and it was parked near the gate of the showroom. A pleasant saleswoman explained to us the standard/basic features of the car, like operating the AC, instrument panel, etc, which were quite obvious to us by now. What I wanted to know was the procedure to replace a tyre, since the some cars have a different location to slot the jack. Luckily, a service advisor showed us this procedure. When the process of explaining to us the basics of the car was completed, the sales staff simply left us with the car and returned to the showroom. Their lack of personal touch was something that took us a bit by surprise. When we bought our Alto LXI in May 2008, the sales staff at the Chowgule dealer clicked photos of us in front of the car, wished us and waited till we drove out past the showroom gate. No such display at the Goa Hyundai. I can only hope they improve on their rapport with customers in the near future. I must, however, make mention of an excellent service advisor called Premanand (Prem). He took personal interest and went all out to assist me in modifying my Magna with some of the Sportz features. I also found out that some of the mechanics (I didn't get their names), an attendant called Minguel and a few service advisors were very co-operative with me and readily implemented the changes that I had desired on my Magna. I later found out that a senior employee, Lavina Caldeira, had taken great pains to ensure that I got the I10 as soon as possible, even though we had neither met nor even interacted with each other while we were in the process of buying and taking delivery of the car. (Incidentally, we were introduced to her at a private function the day after we took possession of the car.) Such employees are an asset to any company. While we were left alone with the new car, I clicked some snaps of our excited daughter who happily posed in front of the Magna. We then sat in the car and drove off to the nearest petrol pump, where we were given a complimentary coupon for 4 litres of petrol. After these 4 litres were put, I then topped up the tank so that I could check out the fuel economy of the I10. I realised that the I10 opening to insert the petrol pipe dispenser is quite narrow (and has a little lid to close the opening) as compared to my Alto LXI. The Alto has a wide opening that easily enables me to see the fuel topped till it reaches about 6-8 centimetres below the brim. PART IV – THE ACCESSORIES Before taking possession of our I10, I had asked the service team at Hyundai to make a few changes to my I10 Magna by incorporating some features of the I10 Sportz version. I did the following… 1. Added the wiper switch lever of the Sportz variant to my Magna. I10 owners may be aware that the Magna does not have a wiper intermittent feature (the wipers move once every few seconds). This feature is present in the Sportz and Asta variants. I found out that the easiest way to replicate this feature in the Magna is to replace the stock wiper lever with the wiper lever of the Sportz. Hyundai sells the wiper lever of the Sportz for about Rs 1100, at least here in Goa. The Hyundai mechanics attached the Sportz wiper lever to my Magna and hey presto, the wiper intermittent function is activated. The only odd thing is that you will have to make do with a 'rear wiper' switch on the wiper lever, which literally does nothing as the Magna does not have a rear wiper. 2. As opposed to the Sportz, the Magna has door close switches on only the two front doors and not on the two rear doors. This switch essentially lights up the cabin light if any of the four doors are not closed properly. In the interest of safety, I got the Hyundai mechanics to add door switches to the rear doors as well. 3. I will also install the luggage lamp feature (which is present on the Sportz) on my Magna. Hyundai has ordered for it as they do not have it in stock and it will be installed within the next 10-15 days. The other features on the Sportz variant (driver vanity mirror, defogger, rear wiper, rear spoiler, driver seat belt warning, digital clock on audio and electric heated mirrors), which are absent on the Magna, did not appeal to me. As such, I have got my Magna custom-designed with the Sportz features that I needed and have saved about Rs 22 K (the difference between the Sportz and Magna) in the process. While the difference between the two variants is about Rs 35,000, I added the newly launched JBL GT 333 head unit + 4 JBL door speakers on my Magna for about Rs 11,000 (an integrated music system is already on the Sportz). The additional wiper lever and luggage lamp panel works out to about Rs 2000. As complimentary accessories, Goa Hyundai offered me free floor/boot mats, mud flaps, idol and air freshener. The drive on the I10 back home was truly enjoyable in every aspect and a huge difference as compared to our Alto and the AC was very effective even on the position 1 of the blower. On December 14, I took the car to the Apex car accessories dealer in Porvorim to add seat covers to the I10. We chose the cheapest cloth seat covers (Rs 1400) mainly because of our daughter. She tends to get into the car by climbing up on the seat and her shoes can leave some marks over a period of time. We though it best to put the cheapest of seat covers for now, before discarding them and upgrading to better seat covers in future. The next day, I went back to the Apex dealer to install the recently launched JBL GT-333 (USB/SD Card/radio) Head Unit in my I10. Thanks to team-bhp.com, I was aware of the arrival of the JBL 333 well in advance and I kept following it up with the JBL distributor here in Goa. In fact, I kept coaxing the JBL distributor to have one installed on my I10 as soon as possible. As soon as the consignment reached him on December 15, the first carton of GT-333's were reportedly delivered to Apex and I was told that I was the first in Goa to have it installed on my I10. I paid Rs 5000 for the GT333 as there was no discount. The dealer charged me Rs 6000 (Rs 1K off the original amount) for the four JBL GT-265 speakers. The 4 wooden spacers (wooden rings around the speakers to prevent the magnet from touching the window) cost Rs 400 and the wiring harness was Rs 200. Total came to Rs 11,600. On the positive side, I really like the look of the unit. The unit does not have a CD player (but features a USB and an SD card slot as well as a radio player) and that has kept the cost to its bare minimum.  The JBL GT333 by day. Notice the missing trim plate. The unit is simple and elegant, with a minimum of buttons on the panel. Thankfully, the display also has a minimum of graphics/jazzy display like on some of the cheaper head units. It was quite easy for the technicians at Apex to install the unit and some of them were admiring the features on the 333. The GT-333 has been paired with 4 JBL 265 door speakers and the sound has been very good so far. However, they tend to vibrate a bit if the LOUD feature on the HU is activated. On the minus side, I was surprised that the trim ring plate (the plastic rectangular plate that fits around the HU) does not fit on the I10 slot. The technicians explained to me that the I10 (unlike the Maruti) leaves very little gap for the trim ring plate to fit in place. The trim ring fouls with the I10 panel and the panel does not click shut. As such, I now have to do without the trim ring plate and the JBL HU looks a little odd and crude without one. Thankfully though, it is not a major problem and I can live with it. I have since found out that the problem with the trim plate is not restricted to the JBL head unit alone. The tight fitting panel on the I10 makes it difficult for trim plates of many other head units to be fitted on the I10 as well. Hyundai should look into this aspect.  The JBL GT333 at night. Second, my Magna 1.2 car does not have a clock on board and the original Hyundai I10 clock (that is slotted over the head unit) is priced at over Rs 4000! I simply ruled out spending Rs 4000 on a clock and decided to refer to the clock on the head unit. In my previous Alto, I have a Sony head unit and it permanently displays that clock and only changes the display to show the ID3 tag of a new song for a brief while and then reverts to the clock display. This facility was perfect for me and I could easily glance at the clock (I do not wear a watch) to check the time. I thought that the JBL 333 would have a similar feature. However, it now appears that the JBL 333 permanently displays the ID3 tag. Now, if I have to check the time, I have to activate/press the DISPLAY switch for the clock to be displayed for about 5 seconds. Then it reverts to the ID3 tag. Not a major problem, but it could have been convenient if the option to permanently display the clock had been available. These two 'demerits' do not, thankfully, have any bearing on the quality of the sound, which is really nice on the I10. I love soft music and I'm not one of those who love the booming DOOM-DEESH-DEESH-DOOM sounds in the car. Hence, the JBL 333 head unit seems to be quite perfect with the 4 JBL 265 speakers. PART V – THE DRIVE So far, the drive on our Snow I-te(n) has been excellent so far. The engine is very soft and it is difficult to hear the engine sound unless off course you are sometimes in the wrong gear and that’s when the ‘gear shift indicator’ comes to the driver’s aid. This indicator has been a very useful tool so far and I tend to follow its advice whenever possible. The tall seating position is also a big plus compared to our Alto and it gives the driver and front passenger a good 180-degree view. Since both of our recent cars -- Matiz (2005-2008) and Alto (2008-till date) -- have had manual windows and a manual/individual door locking system, we are yet to get used to powered windows on the I10. The last time we used powered windows and a manual/individual door locking system was in my dad’s Tata Estate (1995-2003). The I10’s blue-white-red instrument panel really looks nice at night in comparison to our Alto’s monochrome panel. The red-lit JBL 333 head unit also looks simple yet elegant, but the display can be difficult at times to read during a bright day.  The I10 instrument panel.  The I10 cockpit at night. Our I10 has already completed 400 kms within a week. An important query on my mind has been the I10’s Fuel Economy (FE). Many have complained that the I10 promises a great FE, but ends up disappointing its owners by gulping in more fuel than expected. Some have reported dismal fuel economy figures (ranging between 11-14 kmpl) and that did bother me initially, when we were short-listing the car. I am a very extremely light-footed on the accelerator. This is because I love a sedate drive and I also take keen interest in the FE figures. Our Alto has almost always returned us 19-21 kmpl (tank-to-tank tests on numerous occasions) and these figures have been more than what we could have expected. Now, the I10 is a larger, heavier and a more powerful car and we are aware that our Snow I-te may never match the FE figures of our Alto. But our I10 has returned us surprising FE figures so far. When we took delivery of the I10, it had logged 11 kms on the odometer. At the nearest pump, we had filled 4 litres of complimentary fuel, following which I then topped the tank with a further 28.88 ltrs (Rs 1520). Our drive during this past week has been a mix of intra-city and inter-city drives here in Goa, with a minimum of AC usage. When the car clocked 363 kms, the 12-point fuel level touched a notch below the half-way mark. I then topped up the fuel and found out that our I10 had sipped in 18.82 litres to cover 352 kms (excluding the 11 initial kms), thereby returning us a rewarding 18.7 kmpl. Given that this FE has been recorded before the first service, I feel that the FE numbers could go a even higher after the first or second service. In any case, I'm quite pleased by the FE so far. We are glad to have decided on the I10, given the many competing and noteworthy cars at around the same price range. Others may have different preferences and priorities while choosing their cars and from our test drives on six vehicles, all of them were very competent in their own right. But in our case, the Snow I-te(n) had clearly 'dwarfed' at least five opponents. I'd like to end with a quote (which was framed in a hospital) that seems to describe the I10 quite aptly: "Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of higher intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution. It represents the wise choice of many alternatives." PART VI – PHOTO GALLERY Here are some snaps of our I10.          Last edited by misquitas : 21st December 2010 at 01:04. |
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21st December 2010, 05:47
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| Senior - BHPian  | |
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21st December 2010, 07:31
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| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Panjim
Posts: 875
Thanked: 324 Times
| re: Snow I-te(n) and the five 'dwarfs' : 2010 Hyundai i10 1.2 EDIT: 1.47 lakh km completed! Quote:
No plans for alloys or fatter tyres at this point in time. To be honest, I have never changed the stock tyres/rims in all of the cars we have owned (Matiz, Alto) or the ones that were with the family (Padmini Premier, Tata Estate, Santro Zip and Wagon R). As mentioned earlier in my review, I'm a sedate driver and enjoy driving within the 60-75 kmph range during inter-city trips here in Goa. Under these conditions, the stock tyres/rims may perform satisfactorily. Last edited by misquitas : 21st December 2010 at 07:33. | |
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21st December 2010, 08:20
| #4 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 38
Thanked: Once
| re: Snow I-te(n) and the five 'dwarfs' : 2010 Hyundai i10 1.2 EDIT: 1.47 lakh km completed! Looks beautiful Melvyn. congratulations!!! and that pre- first service mileage is out of this world! You make me feel happy about picking the exact same car  I am planning to have a look at the car before I make the downpayment, and wanted to check out the VIN etc besides general check for scratches/dents. I remember seeing a VIN thread talking about where I could find it on the old i10. But not sure about the next gen i10. Also planning to check out the form 22 (as mentioned in the PDI thread). otherwise planning to take a more detailed look on the day of delivery. Could you comment on comfort levels for seating 5 people in the i10 (probably based on your TD experience) |
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21st December 2010, 08:38
| #5 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Panjim
Posts: 875
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| re: Snow I-te(n) and the five 'dwarfs' : 2010 Hyundai i10 1.2 EDIT: 1.47 lakh km completed! Quote:
As far as the comfort level is concerned, I find the Ritz more spread out in the rear seat space. Three of us could easily sit comfortably. On the other other hand, the Wagn R felt cramped in the rear and the same three adults immediately felt the lack of shoulder/bottom space in comparison with the Ritz. The same three adults then sat in the I10 and they felt that I10 was placed in between these two cars. Not as spacious as the Ritz, but it had easily more shoulder space than that of the Wagon R. I must, however, point out that comfort level is a subjective issue. there could be many who would still find Ritz cramped up for rear space. On the other hand, we have regularly accommodated three persons (of varying structures) in the rear seat of our Alto. Hence in comparison, the I10 feels far more spacious than the Alto. | |
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21st December 2010, 10:00
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| BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Pune
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21st December 2010, 10:32
| #7 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Hyderabad
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21st December 2010, 14:21
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21st December 2010, 15:02
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| BANNED Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Swindon, UK
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21st December 2010, 15:09
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| Distinguished - BHPian   | re: Snow I-te(n) and the five 'dwarfs' : 2010 Hyundai i10 1.2 EDIT: 1.47 lakh km completed! Quote:
 Misquitas, that is a terrific elimination process that you applied before you honed down to the second (?) largest selling car in our country. This baby is my weekend car and after driving the Cruze it's a great relief to drive this peppy city car as its really a fun car to drive except for its slightly bumpy ride ( you can feel this whenever you go over a speedbreaker wherein you practically jump in your seats irrespective of low speeds) These days White is my favorite color for most cars and in i10 it looks very beautiful and also like the new cosmetic changes of the new i10. I am sure driving on Goa roads would be a pleasure and a breeze unlike we heavily crowded city dwellers. Have fun and keep updating your ownership thread regularly. Drive Safe !!! Last edited by mobike008 : 21st December 2010 at 15:11. | |
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21st December 2010, 15:40
| #11 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Bangalore<->Chennai
Posts: 99
Thanked: 9 Times
| re: Snow I-te(n) and the five 'dwarfs' : 2010 Hyundai i10 1.2 EDIT: 1.47 lakh km completed! Congrats on the new car. The photos are really nice. Some of them are as good promo shots. The blue backlit console looks yummy and the new digital fuel gauge looks well integrated  BTW, does the new gen i10 have the same problem as the older gen i10 w.r.to reverse gear. The old gen models used to have a problem where the reverse gear would sometimes not engage properly. |
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21st December 2010, 16:51
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| Senior - BHPian  | |
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21st December 2010, 18:33
| #13 |
| Team-BHP Support   Join Date: May 2004 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 20,212
Thanked: 15,890 Times
| re: Snow I-te(n) and the five 'dwarfs' : 2010 Hyundai i10 1.2 EDIT: 1.47 lakh km completed! I strongly protest! Snowhite is my car! Just kidding. Good looking car and a detailed initial report of your experience. Do continue with the regular updates. The FE you have posted is really good, i think Hyundai has done some tweaking with the new series engines to give it good FE figures. |
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22nd December 2010, 02:45
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| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Panjim
Posts: 875
Thanked: 324 Times
| re: Snow I-te(n) and the five 'dwarfs' : 2010 Hyundai i10 1.2 EDIT: 1.47 lakh km completed! Quote:
Thanks for your comments, Ace. When I went to click the snaps of the I10 by the riverfront opposite Panjim, my wife thought I had gone nuts. "Do you guys on the forum do such weird things? Why would you want to click snaps of a car that is so common all over the country," she asked me. I had to explain to her that these things are expected on the forum and that there was nothing weird about it. Will send you more details about the JBL 333 once I fiddle with the features a little more. There's a JBL 333 thread on this forum and I will be posting my views there as well. Yep, there is no temperature gauge on the new I10, though I would have preferred the gauge, at least to gauge when it is a good time to switch on the AC after starting the car when the engine is cold. Upgrading the Magna with some of the features on the Sportz was not an expensive or time consuming affair. The only Sportz feature that really took some time was the installation of the luggage lamp. Now, the Hyundai mechanics informed me that the Sportz has a switch on the tail gate lock that activates and deactivates the luggage lamp. The Magna does not have a switch on the tail gate lock and fitting the Sportz tail gate lock on my Magna would have been expensive. The mechanics were not sure how to connect and activate the luggage lamp (as this had never been done before at the Goa Hyundai workshop). Devoid of alternative plans, they suggested that they could link the lamp to the reverse light, so that I could activate the luggage lamp by using the reverse gear, something similar to the concept of a reverse horn. Somehow, I did not like the concept of activating the reverse gear to switch on the luggage lamp. Then I hit upon two options which was acceptable to them. 1. Put a fog lamp switch on the Magna (the slot is kept blank on the Magna). Switching on/off the fog lamp switch would activate/deactivate the luggage lamp. However, this posed other problems. (a) The fog lamp switch was also expensive and (b) what if I wanted to install the fog lamps at some late point in time? I would then be forced to remove the wiring of the luggage lamp to fit the fog lamps and I would have to start all over again. 2. I then suggested a simple yet practical solution. I asked them to link the luggage lamp to the cabin lamp. When any of the four doors open, the luggage lamp would also activate and when the 4 doors are closed, the luggage lamp is deactivated. Likewise, one could also use the on-off switch on the cabin light to activate-deactivate the luggage lamp. Using this strategy, I avoided the need to fit in an extra switch for the luggage lamp. The mechanics were happy to implement plan 2. They then connected a wire to the cabin light and pulled it all the way to the luggage lamp in the boot. The luggage lamp itself is priced at about Rs 300. They tested the experiment and it worked perfectly. Now, all that mattered was to fit the luggage lamp to the left rear end panel. While the Magna has a slot for the luggage lamp, the slot is closed and there is no ready-made hole, unlike the Sportz. One has to cut open a hole (in the portion earmarked for the luggage lamp) and push click the luggage lamp. It was at this point that one mechanic made a small blunder. While cutting, he made a larger hole (while I was not around at the time) and later they realized that the lamp now could not be push clicked into the slot. The mechanics were upset that they had goofed up on the project. But noticing their sincerity and eagerness to execute this first-time job, I suggested that I would buy the Sportz left side rear trim panel (about Rs 800) which already has the slot open for the luggage lamp. This panel is not in stock and so, they have ordered for one. As soon as it arrives in the spare parts section at Goa Hyundai, I will take my Magna and will get the luggage lamp fitted. For now, they have put a double sided tape to temporarily affix the luggage lamp to the large hole and it has been effective so far. Glad to note that you were in Panjim. Do you still visit Panjim now and then? Quote:
Yes, the car does look elegant in white, but the task now at hand is to keep it clean on a regular basis. Regarding the fog lamps, I will consider this sometime in the future. Quote:
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I will request the sales team at Goa Hyundai to improve on their customer service skills. Let's hope it works out. I was not aware that the older Magna had a luggage lamp, but I have noticed that the old Magna had a rear wiper. The sales team informed me that the Magna and Sportz are extremely popular variants, while there are a few takers for the Era variant and almost no one opts for the D-Lite variant, at least here in Goa. Quote:
My job (I'm a journalist with a newspaper based in Panjim) is such I work in the evenings. Hence, I always travel against the peak traffic and much of my driving in the morning is also after peak hours. Hence, I am in a better position to extract better mileage on my I10 here on the Goan roads. Yes, I hope to update this thread as much as I can. Thanks for all your advice on the I10. Quote:
Yes, I really like the blue backlit console (which gives it a premium feel) especially in comparison to my orange monochrome backlit console. Somehow, I also preferred the blue-white backlit console to the Figo's reddish backlit console. I have had no problems slotting the gear into reverse so far and all gears have been quite smooth till now. I must, however, admit that the Rtiz gears are a tad superior, especially with the audible 'click' sound when slotting into different gears. Quote:
Yes, "the intermittent feature can be added so easily". The mechanics simply removed a panel near the steering, pulled out the wiper lever, and replaced it with the Sportz wiper lever. I takes only a few minutes to do so. Quote:
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22nd December 2010, 03:33
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| Senior - BHPian  | |
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