[vroom01]

Seriously, a great review! Covered everything I wanted to know about the new American Beauty.

If the base variant (TCDi) is priced around 5.8L OTR, this is going to sell like mangoes in summer .

IMO the use of very basic interior equipment (like the push-pull door locks) is hinting towards the fact the GM is going to price this one aggressively and is going to try and compete with Figo rather than Swift. On the other hand the turbocharger added to the MJD could result in the increase in the engine cost.

To me, the interiors and the exteriors are satisfactory, the car has good space and a great engine. The pricing is going to decide the sales figures.

hail Sail u-va

[guptad42]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

The thing about the Sail U-VA is that GM has attempted to correct the deal-breaking issues that you find in cars in the competition. And in the process, they've given us a very well rounded product. It's basic, yet extremely functional.
...
In the bargain, what you get is a car that does everything well, but lacks sheer sex-appeal. That X-factor if you will! Sure, it has a USP: the fact that it's an all-rounder.
...
It's a no-nonsense, neutral car in most aspects.

If Chevy prices the top-end Sail diesel anything more than 6.5 lakhs ex-showroom, the Liva will eat it for breakfast. They'll not only need to price the Sail similarly, they'll need the top-end Beat diesel to undercut the base diesel Sail UV-A by a whisker.

But will people walk away from Maruti and Toyota showrooms to sample a competent Chevy product? - Is the golden question.
...

Excluding some excessive taxation zones like Bangalore, I think GM may be trying to stay below/at 6L on-road for the so-called top variant. That's the reason for the relatively sparse feature list on the top version. Cost benefits of the volumes from the chinese parentage of this Sail could make that possible.

Come to think of it, the perfect brand ambassador for this car may be Rahul Dravid. A no-nonsense car that delivers value in spades - when you buy it, when you run it, and even years later in maintenance and spares: that's the sort of positioning GM should be shooting for here.

If it works, GM can always do a (limited edition sports?) model just before the next festival season with all the missing top-end features thrown in, a remapped ecu and better tyres, some swift-like black interiors, and possibly a slightly stiffer suspension - all relatively low cost, and GM could still charge 75K to a lac more on that if base sail is successful.

I'll personally prefer an efficient auto-transmission for 50-75K more, if GM do hit the 6L on-road mark for the relatively bland current top-end spec. That'll make a lot of sense for this city-centric diesel engine tune and possibly take away sales from the cheapest auto sedan we have on the market (the petrol dzire).

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by vroom01

On the other hand the turbocharger added to the MJD could result in the increase in the engine cost.

Errrrr, all MJD engines sold in India have a turbocharger. Just that the physical location is different in the Sail.

[Eminenttismo]

A Crude Job,

[anu21v]

Just happened to see the first teaser TVC (IMO) of sail UVA in the Chevrolet sponsored GIMA awards telecast on star plus. Great timing of launch. just before dushahera wow

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Well, the DCi in the Micra feels good and is quite responsive. perhaps even more than the Sail's Smartech SDE. But in the Micra, it's difficult to exploit the torque and power it has to offer because it isn't as dynamically sound as the Sail U-VA. I don't think you'd notice much difference between the two in the city-driving scenario.

Well, my query was not for the city driving of-course, since you had mentioned that the MJD powered cars run out of breath post 100 kmph, just wanted to know how strongly the other ones (1.5 DCi, 1.4 TDCi) pull post 100 kmph.

[ra'ul M]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

Well, my query was not for the city driving of-course, since you had mentioned that the MJD powered cars run out of breath post 100 kmph, just wanted to know how strongly the other ones (1.5 DCi, 1.4 TDCi) pull post 100 kmph.

The MJD cars don't run out of breath above 100. If I remember correctly my 2012 Swift does 100 at an RPM of 2000 or thereabouts. There is a lot of juice left on the upside. It only runs out of breath post 140kmph which is a good enough speed for most of our highways if not all.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

Well, my query was not for the city driving of-course, since you had mentioned that the MJD powered cars run out of breath post 100 kmph, just wanted to know how strongly the other ones (1.5 DCi, 1.4 TDCi) pull post 100 kmph.

I'm not quite sure if the Micra / Pulse struggles past 140 km/h but I think it would. In fact, the 4-pot 63 horsepower (160 Nm of torque) will prove to be less than adequate on highway drives. According to the Official Review, the Micra does struggle post 120 km/h.

Unfortunately, I've never had the opportunity to stretch the Micra's legs and take it beyond regular city-speeds.

The Micra does have the edge over the Sail U-VA at crawling-speeds, where the Sail tales some time for the torque to build. The Micra on the other hand lunges forward. The engine is extremely tractable in typical city-driving conditions but on open roads, you'd want to be driving something powered by a MJD.

Ra'ul M is right. Just like the Swift, the Sail loses some steam post 130-140 km/h. Up till then, it's reasonably nippy. I think it's more than you'd ever need.

[georgesraju]

Excellent review!

But there is one point where I strongly disagree. It is not right to call this a Chinese car and evaluate it on that basis. It is more European than Chinese - the platform is (old) European, the (diesel) engine is European, the gearbox is a modern European as per ACI's report. It is just like an old European wearing some Chinese dress. Branding this car as Chinese has two negative effects. On one side, those who are not familiar with the internals will tend to look down on the car and be hesitant to accept it thinking it is Chinese. On the other side this car would be used to measure how much the Chinese car industry has progress, which again would be misleading; since this car with European underpinnings is in no way a representation of Chinese car industry. For that we will have to evaluate a car designed and engineered by BYD, Great Wall, Chery etc.

I expect the pricing to be more than the Figo. The Beat D itself is not significantly cheaper than the Figo. Cannibalizing the Beat sales would the last that GMI would expect Sail to 'achieve'. This would ideally be priced around Ritz's range which should be below Swift and above Figo with a comfortable margin over Beat D.

Also, as a suggestion, I felt the entire review to be a bit shorter compared to other reviews. Being a petrolhead, I expected a bit more details on the petrol version. Does it have the same engine as Beat in a different state of tune? If so, how different does it feel. The Beat's engine is coarse above 4K RPM. Is the Sail's more refined?

[radek]

Looks like a good package. Good engine, good space and almost good equipment level. Also, over the years, GM service experience is above average. So this car has almost everything that an average person needs.

I am fine with plain looks, plain interiors, even fine with door levers. But I was disappointed by absence of Seat height adjustment and Seat belt adjustment. For car of this size, driver arm rest should be a good addition.

In many recent cars, boot is much well organised (tools and other standard things). Though it is not very clear from the photos, SAIL UVA seems to be lacking well organised boot.

[vinit.merchant]

Looks like an ideal replacement for my Palio GTX.
Not in terms of the power et all, but in all other aspects, it seems quite a match i.e. Space, High speed stability, chilling AC and most importantly, an identical suspension. So far, I had Jazz on my mind and was accumulating for it.

I would not mind the missing equipment, palio never made me used to it.
Though I wish it had the MID.

Power, I have had enough from my Palio and also I have now become a very sedate driver, thanks to a tyre burst on E-Way and the fact that my family has now grown.
I would still go for the petrol given my running. The only thing I am worried about is the resale value. I do not want another car which has absolutely no resale (Given the resale price of my Palio, I would rather keep it and scrap it once parts are unavailable, and still fetch more than the current selling price). All depends on how much numbers Sail sells. GM needs to price it right and more importantly, market it right.

Will wait for that.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by georgesraju

But there is one point where I strongly disagree. It is not right to call this a Chinese car and evaluate it on that basis.

Hi Georgesraju,

We see what you're saying here regarding the "mixed origins" - but just to be clear, regardless of where we've said it originates from, we've evaluated the car just as we would any other hatchback in the Indian market. We don't have different standards and expectations for different cars based on where they are designed or made. So you can rest assured on that.

Originally Posted by georgesraju

Also, as a suggestion, I felt the entire review to be a bit shorter compared to other reviews. Being a petrolhead, I expected a bit more details on the petrol version. Does it have the same engine as Beat in a different state of tune? If so, how different does it feel. The Beat's engine is coarse above 4K RPM. Is the Sail's more refined?

Our opening sentence for the petrol paragraph says "We had a short spin in the petrol Sail". This was due to time constraints, and us focusing more on the diesel, for obvious reasons. We wrote what we could tell, and stayed away from simply joining the dots / speculating on other things. Hopefully we'll have some ownership reports on the petrol Sail soon enough.

Originally Posted by radek

In many recent cars, boot is much well organised (tools and other standard things). Though it is not very clear from the photos, SAIL UVA seems to be lacking well organised boot.

The tool bag (shown on the right) is actually placed within the spare tyre. It was just moved aside for the photo.


cya
R

[jessie007]

Pre-launch advertising has started. You can even pre-book a test drive.

The boot space as we already know is 248 litres, but with rear seats folded the space is 1134 litres. Just for comparison, the boot space and with rear seats folded is 315/1180 litres in Fabia and 280/1030 litres in Punto.

http://www.chevrolet.co.in/vehicles/...ail-u-va2.html

[Turbokick]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

I'm not quite sure if the Micra / Pulse struggles past 140 km/h but I think it would. In fact, the 4-pot 63 horsepower (160 Nm of torque) will prove to be less than adequate on highway drives. According to the Official Review, the Micra does struggle post 120 km/h.

Unfortunately, I've never had the opportunity to stretch the Micra's legs and take it beyond regular city-speeds.

The Micra does have the edge over the Sail U-VA at crawling-speeds, where the Sail tales some time for the torque to build. The Micra on the other hand lunges forward. The engine is extremely tractable in typical city-driving conditions but on open roads, you'd want to be driving something powered by a MJD.

Ra'ul M is right. Just like the Swift, the Sail loses some steam post 130-140 km/h. Up till then, it's reasonably nippy. I think it's more than you'd ever need.

As per ACI, Sail takes 15 odd seconds to touch 100 kmph while Swift/dzire can do it in 13 odd seconds. Is it something like outright acceleration is still the best (among all MJDs including the VGTs) with the Swift going by ACI numbers ?

How does Vista Qjd compare with Sail in terms of city driveability ? Vista has better ingear numbers than Swift.


To add some more questions
- How is Sail's NVH level compared to i20 CRDi and new Swift ?
- Punto vs Sail : Straightline stability & Ride quality ?

[anu21v]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Exterior fit and finish is decent, while build quality is average. The doors lack solidity and feel tinny when you shut them, as does the boot-lid. Panel gaps are even and tight.

What exactly is lacking there in the build quality, Can you compare it with so called flimsy Liva, i20 and marutis as well as tank like build quality of Punto. Is it the thinner steel quality or is it the missing/single/double rubber lining on door and body outers or is it simply the missing european thud sound? Could you post some of those picture highlighting the same. Also how is the high speed stability of the car? have you guys driven it past 130 KMPH to get the feel? How does this compares with rest of the competition?


If I go by my current UVA i expect a pretty decent build quality with thicker steel (and which is why higher curb weight) and my expectation is clearly a build quality superior to any of the Maruti and Suzuki, which has been the case for other cars from Cheve stable so far. Also I like the high speed stability of current UVA and enjoy driving it on Noida-Greater Noida E-Way.