[pms]

Hi, has anyone taken a test drive or experienced the new 1.5L turbo variant of Alcazar? Am planning to shortlist it soon. I took a TD of the new Verna Turbo Petrol which shares the same engine and found it to be good as there are no turbo variants of Alacazar yet for TD. There is a small lag initially but after that its a pleasure to drive. But am not sure how the new engine would be in Alcazar considering it to be heavier. Dear forum members, pls do share your inputs.

[yadavsid21]

Originally Posted by pms

Hi, has anyone taken a test drive or experienced the new 1.5L turbo variant of Alcazar? Am planning to shortlist it soon. I took a TD of the new Verna Turbo Petrol which shares the same engine and found it to be good as there are no turbo variants of Alacazar yet for TD. There is a small lag initially but after that its a pleasure to drive. But am not sure how the new engine would be in Alcazar considering it to be heavier. Dear forum members, pls do share your inputs.

I took test drive of 1.5 turbo last Monday after waiting for 3 weeks. The engine is quite silent as compared to diesel one. Didn’t get to floor it but didn’t find it exciting at lower rpms maybe owing to the weight of Alcazar. Since my annual running is 12k+ I will be going for diesels as these turbo petrols are efficient only on highway runs.
I am leaning towards ScorpioN as an existing owner of Thar D AT CT. The BOF and mhawk has really spoiled me for good

[pms]

Originally Posted by yadavsid21

I took test drive of 1.5 turbo last Monday after waiting for 3 weeks. The engine is quite silent as compared to diesel one. Didn’t get to floor it but didn’t find it exciting at lower rpms maybe owing to the weight of Alcazar.

Is the lag that bad as I never felt it in Verna? Unfortunately am not getting an Alcazar for TD in BLR.

[yadavsid21]

Originally Posted by pms

Is the lag that bad as I never felt it in Verna? Unfortunately am not getting an Alcazar for TD in BLR.

Its not that bad but I had better expectations from it (subjectivity). The TD vehicles are being received by dealers and going through the registration process. The one I drove had only 75kms on odo.

[chillajay]

Alcazar @ 20k in < 1 Year -☆☆☆☆☆+

My experience with what many who call a beast and whom I call an elegant beauty from the inside...

A Small History of Self
Being a fan of European cars, I was known amongst friends for ridiculing the Asian cars. I ended up buying one and being very happy about it.
My pedigree of cars; Classic Ambassador - in which I learnt my driving in the very early 90's, Fiat - Premier Padmini, to a 118 NE all family owned. Finally our own Palio and Linea which served a good 17 years(6 of first and 11 the latter). Nothing beats the solidity of Fiat, but the other experiences drove me towards the likes of a Hyundai. All the cars were loved and clocked great mileages.

The Buying of the Beauty
Having decided upon buying a Creta, Alcazar was never in the list of things. During our test drives of the Creta, we chanced upon Alcazar and the first drive trickled the mind and set stream towards it immediately. For the drive pleasure, I always preferred diesel engines over the petrol, automatic over manual, top end over any other. Though just a family of 3 with a pet, the large extended family in the likes of nieces & nephews, friends & relatives it was reason enough for a 7 seater. A few more test drives and discussions sealed the buying of the Beauty - Diesel - AT - Signature. My fascination towards European cars were fulfilled by the name "Alcazar", Spanish word for fortress, and it sure feels like one.

Once bought, read a few negative reviews on the engine being underpowered, glimmer headlights and such. Hadn't felt that during the test drives.It sure created doubts in mind for the choice that was made. Was it a wrong choice ?? We had to take it as it came along.

The First long Drive
Not having completed the mileage for the 1st scheduled service meant the car was under-driven. It was time to hit the highways and get on a long drive. Got my good friends who are driving enthusiasts, two of them who owned BMW's, one a Skoda Superb to tag along on to Pondicherry,.
So, How was the drive ?? beautiful roads, great stretches, good company...
All took turns in the drive, one of them a regular on the stretch mentioning the time he took in his BMW between tolls, which sounded like a target to beat, guess what , without much of an effort this beauty managed to clock the same time.

Our veteran driver who too owns a BMW and a professional rallyist in his yesteryears took over to push the car to a smooth 180 kmph, the ease to reach the speed,
comfort and the braking were all very confidently impressive. The third one decided to put the comfort of the car to a test, snuggled in the 2nd row with the provided pillows, the tray to watch a few movie clips, soft drink and headed to a snored drive to Pondicherry.
The machine can go fast with some great braking with "Sleep Like A Baby" comfort on the inside.
Result of the drive...One advising his friend who had booked a competitive car to go for the Alcazar and another deciding to pick an Alcazar as his next one. Hope that materialises and not get lost in thin air.

The South India Expedition
Social media posts were filled with people driving and posing at the highest motorable road, the Khardung La Pass. Sure did not want to go where the world was headed, started exploring down south and hit upon Dhanushkodi, Rameshwaram the last road of India. The pictures looked scenic though it was supposedly a forbidden land due to the Tsunami waves and sure was a place to visit. We also put in Kanyakumari, the southern most tip of the country to the list amongst a few other places.

Laid out a plan for the roads, a long one this time and the route plan was:
Day 1 - Bangalore - Tirupur - Coimbatore - Isha Foundation - Coimbatore
Day 2 - Coimbatore - Madurai - Kanyakumari
Day 3 - Kanyakumari - Tirunelvelli - Rameshwaram - Dhanushkodi - Rameshwaram Day 4 - Rameshwaram - Tanjavore
Day - 5 - Tanjavore - Trichy - Bangalore
All in all about 2.5k km's was the planned route. Pulled the best with his wifey and 2 couples set off.

Covering a distance of about 400 to 600 kms a day, our journey went through some beautiful highways, narrow streets of Tirupur, Madurai , Kanyakumari, very scenic views en route to Isha foundation where we witnessed a breath taking view of the clouds clasping the mountains, country roads exploring small towns, passing through a sea of windmills before hitting the southern tip of the country, highways with oceans on both sides, the iconic Pamban bridge which is a must watch though you have all the traffic halted at the bridge to take photos and selfies and finally Dhanushkodi the ever so eerie but the most elegant and beautiful last stretch of the Indian road. The drive on this strip will remain etched in our memories for our lifetime.

Tiry moments - never; fun moments - ever; this was how the journey was. The women mostly sat in the second row, cross legged / folded legs and gossiped away to glory with the panoramic sunroof open and their shades on. The boys did all of the driving without any fatigue and always up for the next drive. Google Maps, large Infotainment screen, the great music system were all just the small luxuries that made the journey a whole lot better.
Comfort of the drive, speed, space, fuel efficiency, you name anything, it all got full marks.

The most beautiful drive in the most beautiful machine is the best way to describe our expedition.

My friend indeed took a flight the very next day out on a Business trip for which he had reluctance as he would have just finished his roadtrip. It turned out that his Business trip was more tiring than the roadtrip.

Our Regular Long Drives
Mangalore being the native with all our dear ones there, is a stretch which is most done in all forms of transport modes, driving being the highest.
Shiradi and Charmadi ghats have a reputation of being a challenge for drivers due to it's layout, terrain and weather conditions though they are the most scenic and naturefilledstretchesenrouteBangaloretoMangalore.T hesestretches haveregular fog , heavy rainfall, landslides, steep uphills, downhills, very narrow sections and deep gorges. Contrary to all of these we also have the luxury of the 4 lane highway between Bangalore and Hassan.

After reading a few reviews on power issues, always had the apprehension as to how good these drives would be.
It was time to put it for test as we headed out on our first trip in this beauty to Mangalore.

The stretch between Bangalore and Hassan was covered in about 2.5 hours which one can say is a pretty good time. Then came the leg that goes downhill with the fog,drizzle,curvystretches,lotofbraking,minimalove rtakes, throughthistherewere no rolls and it was comfort to glory. We reached our destination with as much ease, comfort and luxury as you would expect from this beauty.

On our way back on the steep up hills, overtakes were a breeze, the grunt in the engine giving the kick that a driver looks forward to and a drive that kept us ahead of the rest. At no point did I feel the lag in the car, tardiness or anything that would make it to the complaint box.

In and around Mangalore and the towns we visit , there are beautiful stretches of roads that are different in size, shape and dimension, it's always a pleasure to drive this beauty amongst them all.

If drag racing is the agenda, there are power issues, for all other drives and in comparison with cars in the segment, this beauty handles all of it with grace, style and required true power.
It is always a beautiful breezy drive along these stretches.

Goa For the New Years - Night Drives & Anxious Moments
It was decided to celebrate and welcome the New Years in Goa which meant another drive in the beautiful beast. 3 families, 2 cars and thanks to this beauty we had space to fit them all.

Our route onward were 2 stops, one in Chitradurga and an overnight stay in Hubli. . Our 1st leg was a smooth one without much of a noise. A long tiring visit to the beautiful fort which is a must visit finished at just about sunset.
Now we had over 200 kms to cover in the dark until Hubli and there have been many complaints about the efficiency or the throw of Headlights which has also been taken up officially with Hyundai by many. With doubts reeling in the mind, we set off on the highway and covered those 200 km's within 2 hrs or thereabouts without much of an issue. Maybe the highway drive did not seek the demand for very bright lights, but overall in all of my experience the lights have not been an issue for me, off course brighter lights would help.

A scary moment the next day on our way from Hubli to Goa was when the fuel was low and the closest petrol bunk was about 40 to 50 kms away. Anxious moments until we reached the bunk and almost a life lesson to keep the fuel tanks filled up as soon as they hit the quarter gauge on long drives.

The car rested in the parking lot and wished us loud for the New Years.
Ourdrivebackwasplannedwithoutstopovers,but wehadafriendandherdaughter who were totally under the weather. On Dr's advise and the confidence in the car we decided to drive back with all the precautions. The car ensured there was enough space and comfort for their journey back home.

My friend who was in this beauty was in between buying cars. We had lunch halfway through and my friend took over as I decided to relish the comfort of the car with a good nap. He did a good long stretch and you can say it was a Hyundai buying moment for him. He is now a proud owner of a Black Creta.
A great trip on amazing roads, great speeds and comfortably relaxed.

My Regular City Drives and other stuff
Initially for work I had to visit Dodballapur on a regular basis which meant driving through the city and a bit on the highway stretch. I started looking up to go to the work place, maybe the new car kicks and the drive pleasure, it used to be a breeze which always got a big smile on me.

Being a big car, it gives space for all my nephews and nieces to jump in, fill the car and have a ball.

A big observation and one that comes naturally is when people sit in the second row or in the co passenger seat, they tend to cross their legs and sit. A naturally comfortable seating arrangement.

The ambient lighting, leathered seats, piano black dashboard finish, electronic speedo cluster, large infotainment system, Bose speakers, rear A/C vents and all of this gives the car a very luxe touch, something most of the friends compliment when they experience it.

Guess most of the cars lately are designed with good manoeuvrability for city drives. The ground clearance and the turning radius do matter, and this beauty has a perfected fit. Having driven the manual cars for over 3 decades, automatic versions are a blessing and a big plus for the high city users. Though there are paddle shifts for manual gear change, it has not been put in use ever, the gearbox and transmission are very well tuned for smooth drives and quick overtakes be it in the city or the highways.

A popular topic seems to be the fuel efficiency while some claiming very high efficiency to a few being unhappy in comparison. Generally SUV's are supposed fuel guzzlers.Smooth driving styles can juice out good efficiency and drives maintained under 2k RPM will usually gives a great reading on the KMPL tag. I have been very happy of the FE I get and it is not something that I have bothered much on.

Though it is a diesel engine, there have been many times when I had to look up the RPM meter to see if the engine is switched on, the silence of the engine is surprisingly eerie which is also music to ears.
All in all she is a beauty whom you will fall in love for the beast in her. The Alcazar is amazing.

[Naetik30]

1 Year Update (24000 Kms):

Completed 1 year of owning my Hyundai Alcazar last week. Must say this has been a very happy purchase.

Completed 24000kms in the 1st year of ownership. Infact the odometer was at 23999kms on the 365th day.



The cabin sound insulation is something to be experienced to understand. Hyundai is just outstanding this is department. Had an interesting conversation with my 12 year old son last week -

He is an Elon Musk fanboy and was going on and on about how silent Teslas are. I told him our car was silent as well. He just made fun of me (as most kids of his age do) and was very dismissive. I just rolled down the windows and he just went quiet. That was a night and day difference. Somehow the cabin can isolate all the engine noise and street noise from outside. We can only hear the feeble horns of the vehicles outside, everything else is filtered out. I had a huge grin that day.

Try this on your Alcazars.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Naetik30

The cabin sound insulation is something to be experienced to understand.

True. My missus noticed it straight out of delivery, since our previous car was the S-Cross 1.3. The engine note is marginally louder and not as silent as day 1.

In the Prestige trim, the weakest link is the JK UX Royales. Its not as bad as the UX Royales on S-Cross. But they make their presence felt at 80+. A not so obvious benefit is, its a lot less tiring to drive those long haul runs (700+ km/day).

How is the tire noise from the Apollo Apterras?

[Haldian]

Originally Posted by Naetik30

1 Year Update (24000 Kms):

...

Had an interesting conversation with my 12 year old son last week -

He is an Elon Musk fanboy and was going on and on about how silent Teslas are. I told him our car was silent as well. He just made fun of me (as most kids of his age do) and was very dismissive. I just rolled down the windows and he just went quiet. That was a night and day difference. Somehow the cabin can isolate all the engine noise and street noise from outside. We can only hear the feeble horns of the vehicles outside, everything else is filtered out. I had a huge grin that day.

Try this on your Alcazars.

So it's not only my son.
When first travelling in Alcazar, with his recent learning licence expertise, he blurts - what a meek horn!! I just rolled down the glasses, beeped again and looked at him. His expression was priceless.

Originally Posted by narayans80

True. ...

In the Prestige trim, the weakest link is the JK UX Royales. Its not as bad as the UX Royales on S-Cross. But they make their presence felt at 80+

A not so obvious benifit is, its a lot less tiring to drive those long haul runs (700+ km/day)

How is the tire noise from the Apollo Apterras?

Frankly, I can't open glasses too much wide due to wind noise, even after installing sun visors on doors - and wind noise masks any tyre noise. However, once glassed up, it's so silent that tyre noise is a non-issue.

However, if you follow tyre upgrade thread for Alcazar, just from pure driving dynamics viewpoint, there aren't too many options for this size (18" - Platinum / Signature) and I am quite happy I stuck with Apterras. This is with 5k on the odo.

[narayans80]

However, once glassed up, it's so silent that tyre noise is a non-issue.

So NBK best summarizes JK UX Royales vs Apollo Apterras comparison:

Both are not same

The cost difference is also wide. For 215/60/R17 size:

Apollo Apterras are 9400 apiece
Apollo Alnac 4G are 7500 apiece (next cheapest after JKs)
JK UX Royales are 5300 apiece

Based on Tyremarket prices. Store prices are about the same, had to replace the spare, couple of months back.

Originally Posted by Haldian

if you follow tyre upgrade thread for Alcazar, just from pure driving dynamics viewpoint

That's largely because Signature owners outnumber Prestige trim owners. The former shopped from the XUV700 side and myself from the XL6 side of the budget spectrum

[shankar12]

Originally Posted by chillajay

Alcazar @ 20k in < 1 Year -☆☆☆☆☆+
All in all she is a beauty whom you will fall in love for the beast in her. The Alcazar is amazing.

I share the same feeling and experience. Normally I tend to skim through such long content but I read every word here because it is about Alcazar and well-written.

[junkishya]

Originally Posted by Naetik30

1 Year Update (24000 Kms)...

I've an Alcazar Petrol 2.0 AT Signature 7 Seater. While the Alcazar is brilliantly silent at speeds up to 100, tire noise starts creeping in once you cross 100kmph which I didn't like. I stay in Hyderabad and went to Twisters in Banjara Hills to get the Doors and Wheel Wells sound damped. Twisters guys have added 2.5mm sound damping to the doors (2 layers). They also removed the felt liner on the wheel wells, cleaned up the area and applied 1 layer of sound damping material. The whole thing costed around 23K but the result is just too good. The cabin is virtually silent at all speeds. You don't realize that you have crossed 120kmph until the beeper starts beeping.

This is really worth investing in the vehicle.

Alcazar's headlights are not meant for night highway driving beyond 80kmph. I've added RIGID 20" light bar in the front and now I can comfortably drive at 110-120kmph even in the night.

Next, I'm planning to change the tires to Primacy 4 or Turanza T001 which are supposed to be more quiet than the current Apollo ones.

Originally Posted by Vikashmalya

I have clocked 6.5k on my Alcazar Diesel. The feedback is pretty much in-line with what has been summarized in this thread. However, there are few additional aspects that i am facing with my car...

For 1), some people have tried carefully spraying small amount of WD40 on the joins; this seems to remove the squeaks quite a bit.

For 2) I too get irked with minute sounds from the door pockets, coins, glovebox contents etc. I did a DIY with the velour tape : https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B09...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Got this tape from Amazon, I stick 2 layers of this tape at the required places in such a way that's its not visible easily. After this all of the small objects noise has gone away !! But this is a lot of DIY work.

For the 3rd Row seats, I tried another DIY yesterday. I had got these seat jackers : https://www.amazon.com/Desert-Does-F...ef_=ast_sto_dp from US. I was hoping that they will fit the Alcazar 3rd row seats by which the seat height increased by about 1.25 inch and seating becomes a bit more comfortable. Unfortunately these didn't fit properly, a waste of $150. I've kept 2 IKEA seat cushions in the 3rd row and after that kids and short ladies have absolutely no problem sitting in the 3rd row.

Regards,
Kishor Shinde

[automowheels]

Finally drove the 1.5 Turbo Petrol today, slot it to Sports mode as soon as I got in. In brief, the engine and DCT gearbox work so well together! The shifts are lightning quick and butter smooth, and turbo lag is really well contained below 2000 rpm! I'm very pleased that Hyundai got this engine in this car; the petrol 2.0 NA engine was very underwhelming to be honest. Of course, bear in my mind that you won't get Verna-like performance, but I'm sure this will do a sub-10 second 0-100. Only downside is, in sports mode, since the engine revs high to use that wide torque band, the engine note does get a little loud. Depending on who you are, you might actually like it.

In a nutshell, this engine and gearbox combo has literally sealed the deal for me, and am looking forward to have the Alcazar Turbo in my garage in the months to come! Drive one, you will not be disappointed!

[Torqueceptor]

Desperately seeking reviews of the 1.5 Ltr Turbo petrol avatar. If anyone comes across any on YouTube of the actual drive and not just the walkaround, please be kind enough to post the links here. Thank you in advance.

[automowheels]

Originally Posted by Torqueceptor

Desperately seeking reviews of the 1.5 Ltr Turbo petrol avatar. If anyone comes across any on YouTube of the actual drive and not just the walkaround, please be kind enough to post the links here. Thank you in advance.

You could refer to this. However, it’s not pro grade and very generic.

https://youtu.be/m_CQ5PbEJ3A

[sids1811]

Alcazar done 50k in < 1 Year

And so the beast completes 50k in less than 11 months and what an enjoyable ride it has been. As fellow BHPian Chillajay rightly said it is not a beast but a beauty inside

Coming from a 1.6 Creta which had already done 265k km, Alcazar was just a natural progression as a Creta with a bigger boot and some extra gizmos thrown in, 6-seater was not a base requirement but somehow made sense as our Highway runs are too many. These would have been used multiple times now with kids and never once they have complained (this also might be because of the company of friends they were with)

The Buying & the Choice
The only thing decided at time of buying was a new Diesel powered car is needed as Creta had already done 250k km and needed someone to share duties with. Comfort, fuel efficiency, ease of driving were the factors desired and Alcazar ticked all these at the right spots. Tata Safari was the only other option considered (the Safari Name pull had me for once) but somehow was not confident on how the vehicle will behave once it ages. XUV 700 was also a contender but the crazy wait times dampened our spirits.

Reviews had termed Alcazar as under powered which when compared to our Creta it was but somehow over the entire year we have not felt the same on road. Perhaps the fact that it has managed to return 20 kmpl consistently was a fact that made us ignore it but when you have this heavy running to do, mileage matter.s

The other issue was related to headlights which I also feel are a bit dim was night time rural driving. The first anniversary might see an addition of a Hella bar or similar to counter this.

Apart from this, Alcazar is indeed a good choice for betting your odd 20 big ones


The City Drives
Alcazar though big on inside does not feel so overwhelming to drive in the city and is quite nimble to handle. Tight spots are a breeze thanks to the excellent 360 cam system and the width is just perfect for some of the narrow streets of our city. One amazing thing i noticed is that you cannot close ORVM above speeds of 15 or so when driving. Earlier i thought it was an error and the button had stopped functioning but later i realized you are only allowed to close the ears when at slow speeds.

Can't comment on city mileage as somehow our vehicle manages a highway run between every tankful one way or another but still my rough calculation would peg city mileage at 14-15 kmpl.

The Highways
Alcazar manages to put a smile on your face when you know you are doing 90 - 110 speeds on consistent basis and getting good mileage at the same time. At these speeds, there is enough grunt still left for overtakes and maneuvers you might require while keeping things under control. Cruise control is easy to use and all the other controls also fall on the hand without needing to take your eyes off the road.

Contrary to what others say the continued beep over 120 is a boon, it helps you keep a check on yourself as the car is able to disguise speeds on expressway and within no time you are exceeding these speeds. Thought the expressways are great to drive in UP and other parts also in general now, you never know when a moron want to try his luck with you any day by coming wrong side or what not.

One thing that I feel has seen serious improvement is the steering feels and handling, With Creta First gen there was a slight play in steering in handling and somehow the connect was a bit lagging say as compared to our Polo but in Alcazar, Hyundai has managed to better the feel and connect. You can be confident that the vehicle is going to go the way you direct it to immediately.

Efficiency wise, I have seen this give a max of 26 kmpl in December on Yamuma Expressway with climate control off and relaxed driving at 100, otherwise also it has never dropped below 20 till date.

NigglesThe battery died on us one fine morning which was surprising to us for a new car less than 10 months and 45k km. Road side assistance came to rescue and told a replacement is needed which will be chargeable as warranty is for 40k km only of new cars for battery. Couple of calls to our wonderful Hyundai dealer in City and the same was done FOC as a goodwill gesture.


Rats were able to get better of us and damaged the headlight and parking brake wires. As these were not insured, had to get them replaced and get a rodent treatment done which they say has a life of 6 months. If any fellow member has a solution to it, please PM, its much needed as this will need some permanent solution.


The car came fitted with Apollo Apterra, 1 of the tires was damaged due to my drivers fault so had to replace 2 of these with Bridgestone and the car has been running with s staggered set up since. My experience with Apollo had not been good in our earlier cars OEM tires but somehow the remaining 2 have managed to cross 50 k with good rubber still left on them, Still 18 inchers are a bad choice as the options are limited, the low aspect ratio makes for some stiffness and somehow the big thuds do travel to you.


Summary
Alcazar manages to bring a smile after a long day and it is that all matters, the sound insulation is brilliant, forget the engine noise, you don't even realize how high your own horn is at outside when sitting inside the vehicles.
The car is full of party tricks such as ORVM display on the speedo, the digital speedo, ambient lights and brilliant system. I somehow found my Creta music system to have better sound quality but the family thinks otherwise so issue settled on that one.

So, is Alcazar the perfect 6-seater, well it is far from it but is Alcazar a perfect big Creta, you can bet on it for sure