Team-BHP - Chevrolet Beat : Test Drive & Review

Dear GTO,
Your write ups have always been amazing and the detailing of the test reports is unmatchable by any standards and has always been fair in pointing out the highs and lows. I have almost quit reading auto mags thanks to this forum. For a change i have a tiny advise that could improve the reports. When taking close up photos of the car/parts please keep the camera a little further away and try to zoom in. some of the pictures are quite distorted due to the proximity of the camera lens.
Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid6639 (Post 1630596)

Yeah I just read it again. It says driver front airbag - single stage and Front passenger frontal airbag single stage.

In side airbags it is blank. If the car had six airbags it would have 2 front + 4 side airbags. Where does it say the car had 6 airbags?

Infact if you read it carefully even the front seatbelt pretensioners and load limiters are blank which means that the test car did not have them.

I'm sorry but can you point out where it says they are present?

Let me try to explain it better.

The pre-2009 rating would list the possible type of airbags available on automobiles and a green checkmark to show if the particular test car had it or not. In the following example, the auto industry has the capability to install head and knee airbags so they are listed as possibilities. But since the Splash test car does not have them, there is no checkmark for confirmation:

Euro NCAP - For safer cars | Suzuki Splash

But the post-2009 rating does not show airbag possiblities and does not have the green checkmark confirmation system. If the car tested does not have a curtain or knee airbag, it will not be listed. If it has it, it will be listed. The following example shows the Alto test car either was not equipped or not available with curtain and knee airbags, therefore no mention is made of them on the list, yet we know they exist on other brands/models of cars:

Euro NCAP - For safer cars | Suzuki Alto

Since the Beat has been tested using the post-2009 system, if it has some device, it will be listed. The left side of the list is whether the device is present or not. The right side of the list is for device details like single or dual stage, etc. :

Euro NCAP - For safer cars | Chevrolet Spark

Hope it is clear.

Wow GTO, thats a wonderful & very well covered review, once again. clap:

Oh man oh, I am really considering this car, oerv my plans of getting a Ritz, in the coming months. Some of the important factors which pull me towards it, when compared to Ritz are:
- Build quality, both interior & exterior, unlike the typical Maruti style.
- Funky styling (for ex, the rear door handle)
- Considering the pricing estimated by GTO, in the range of i10 (lesser cost than Ritz), I get airbags, ABS, climate control, etc, which I only get in fully loaded Ritz (no climate control), which is 5.6 lacs on road in B'lore.
- The manly front look.
- The regular blue shade available in Beat, rather than a weird blue shade available in Ritz. And thats the color I want on my car.

One of the biggest minuses for Beat when compared to Ritz is the stellar Maruti after sales service.

I will wait to see the market response, and sales figures for couple of months, and some user reviews, to decide if I will buy it or not.
I think GM has another hit to its credit, with Beat (in addition to Spark). :thumbs up

Quote:

Originally Posted by Off Roadie (Post 1631415)

Dear GTO,
Your write ups have always been amazing and the detailing of the test reports is unmatchable by any standards and has always been fair in pointing out the highs and lows.

Thanks Off roadie!

Quote:

When taking close up photos of the car/parts please keep the camera a little further away and try to zoom in. some of the pictures are quite distorted due to the proximity of the camera lens.
Thanks.

Suggestion noted.

Amazing review GTO ! I'm almost convinced of buying the Cruze any day now, the grille just seems to grow on me every time, this car also shares the same :)

The rear is probably the least favored area amongst all, but then I guess Chevy designed it to be a two door sporty car (for the US market) (like the one featured in the Transformers 2 movie). I'd say if you really want rear seat comfort, buy a bigger car, forget stuffin 5 people comfortably in a small car - period. Remember that with the 800's, it was difficult to even fit in the front if you were slightly large framed :D

Quote:

Mumbai: General Motors India will launch its new compact small car, Chevrolet Beat, at the forthcoming Auto Expo in New Delhi in January. Currently, it has Spark and Aveo U-VA in the small car segment. The company has no plans to stop the sale of any existing models, but will repackage U-VA in the coming days and launch a low-end version of Captiva next year.
Powered by a 1.2-litre petrol engine, the Beat is expected to be priced in the Rs 4-5 lakh bracket. The company also plans to launch a diesel variant of the car next year. Beat is sold in other markets as the new Spark. To make the car suitable for Indian conditions, the suspensions and powertrain of the Korean model have been changed. The car is pitted against the Maruti Swift, Ritz and Hyundai i10 in the market.
“We made a mistake with the pricing of Spark in the market. But Beat will be priced competitively and the price will speak for the product,” said Karl Slym, president, General Motors India. He added that GM’s Talegaon plant in Maharashtra will primarily cater to the production of Beat, while the currently produced Spark from the plant will be shifted to the company’s plant at Halol, Gujarat.
Further, Slym expects the company to touch the two-lakh unit mark by 2012 from 70,000 units this year. The company sees growth coming from its new launches, including the soon-to-be-launched Beat and the light commercial vehicles and passenger cars it plans to get from its Chinese JV, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC).
“GM has of late gone overboard with offers on its products. The company should now re-think its pricing strategy and let the buyer bargain for a good deal,” said an auto expert based in Chennai.
On the possibility of getting other GM brands to India, Slym said, “We plan to focus on the Chevrolet brand in the market. We have no time to think about other brands. However, the Cadillac brand has recognition in the Indian market.”
In November, the company sold 7,118 units against 4,307 units in the same period last year. The November 2009 sales comprise 4,202 units of Chevrolet Spark, 1,264 units of Chevrolet Tavera, 524 units of Aveo U-Va, 412 units of Aveo, 518 units of Chevrolet Cruze, 114 units of Chevrolet Optra and 84 units of Chevrolet Captiva.

source financialexpress via www.autoten.com

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil.Bhujbal (Post 1640798)

The pic's are just awesome,you have actually covered every part of the car.

Thanks

Quote:

I loved the car except the skinny wheels.

Skinny wheels are the easiest to upgrade!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramesh (Post 1642783)

Absence of the regular USB - Does it really comply with the legal regulations for dash-board mount components?.

I highly doubt the choice of a smaller USB has anything to do with regulations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sudan_NFS (Post 1642873)

I think you can rate them with final score for 10

I'm not keen on / 5 star ratings because of their highly subjective nature. I'll tell you everything you need to know about the car. Then, you can rate my thread :D

Quote:

The Beat seems to loose to its opponents only in Engine High revs and Boot and the rest seems to be done as per Hatchback standard.

Well said.

Good review and nice pictures. I really love the looks of the "Beat". Quite fresh looks and radical design, I specially like the front profile which gives a mean look!

But then, it's a different thing about loving a car's looks versus buying the car! I would probably still stick to the i10/i20/ritz/swift genre as I know that they are proven cars (in terms of engine) and would yield me good resale after I am satisfied with ownership of these cars in some years!

And till the beat/polo/figo/mircas prove themselves in 2010 and beyond, I doubt that these new cars would make an immediate dent on the sales of Swifts/ritzs/i10s! Nothing to beat the A*S*S and resale of these Maruti and Hyundai hatches!

but nice to see that the consumer is getting more options at values <5lakhs!