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Old 11th January 2010, 13:24   #256
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I don't think this can beat Swift or Ritz. I saw this car and to me looks like Spark with new features, I didn't like the tail lights at all.

170ltr is really less ?

I am disappointed ? We would soon see alot of discounts on this car, since its not going to sell.
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Old 11th January 2010, 13:27   #257
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Originally Posted by Rahulkool View Post
what is ARAI certified FE for beat ?
Hi rahul, as per GM, its 18.6
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Old 11th January 2010, 18:28   #258
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I test drove the Beat LT today at the Goregaon showroom. First impressions were wow! The looks of the car just blew me away. Styling is very contemporary and suits the younger gen. Inside, the fit and finish was better than any of the hatchbacks in the price range.
The dashboard looks good but my bro who is 6ft2, had his knees being obstructed by the 'V' shape of the dash. The piano finish on the LT variant is bound to get a lot of finger prints and has to be cleaned frequently to maintain the shine.At the rear, space is adequate or 2 and it's not as claustrophobic as i thought. Although i found my Indica lots more spacious and comfortable. One will get used to the small window in time.
The boot dissapointed me. It's very small, just enough to accomodate some shopping bags or a medium size suitcase.
The engine was quite peppy although the performance of the Ritz was much more sporty. The ride quality is better than any of it's rivals except the Punto. The gear lever is also not as smooth as the Ritz. But it does work well.
The ACC worked really well and i could feel cold just within seconds as the car started. The display on the dash tells the temperature and speed of the fan.
Some features that i would have liked to be on this car are real time mileage indicator, electric ORVMs, armrests and keyless entry.
Overall i rate the Beat 8/10. At just 4.87L, on road(navi mumbai), it's better VFM than the Ritz IMO. Will soon decide whether to book it or not. Red IMO was the most attractive color. Delivery period is 15-20 days.

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Old 12th January 2010, 01:13   #259
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Test Drive report for the Chevy Beat

Every once in a while a car comes along that changes a company’s fortunes, a game changer that determines a company’s future. The Golf saved Volkswagen back in 1974 and the Grande Punto might be doing the job for Fiat. Now, GM India isn’t exactly in great financial strife, but they’ve had a pretty torrid time in India thus far. All their cars in India thus far have been very capable, but lack of exciting looks and a habit of overpricing has made sure that none of them set the charts on fire. The value of cars that appeal to the heart can no longer be ignored in the Indian market, and GM India has finally decided to take the competition head on.
They sent out a strong message with the just launched Cruze, but it is the Beat on which GM India has pinned its hopes.
Will the Beat be the game changer for GM in India?

Variants:
  • PS
  • LS
  • LT
  • LT (O) - Options Pack
Here’s what we think of it.
Let’s start with the styling. Now this is a nice place to start with because the first time you see the Beat, it will stop you in your tracks. The car is just stunning to look at, and it commendable that GM kept the car so true to the concept on which it is based.


Chevrolet Beat : Test Drive & Review-image0304.jpg


The front is very aggressive with the massive grille and prominent swept back headlamps. The Chevy bow-tie on the Beat is surprisingly better in quality than the one on the 6 times more expensive Captiva.


The rear is pretty compact with an interesting looking tail lamp cluster with liberal amounts of chrome. The thick bumpers and flared wheel arches lend it a sporty look.


The roof slopes to the rear. The car on the whole betrays an earnest effort to avoid the awkward tall boy looks.


An interesting detail is the position of the rear door handles. You’ll grope for them where you normally expect them to be, only to find that they’re not there! The door handles are placed where the rear quarter glass should be, in line with the rear window. The vertical orientation means a weird holding angle. Still. this gives the Beat a coupe like look, which is in sync with the car’s sporty styling.


The side profile harbors nice atypical curves in the body work giving it a very contemporary look.

The car uses steel wheels across the range, alloys being optional only on the top version. But these steel wheels are well designed and made to look like alloys. So you get decent looks for cheap, without going in for tacky wheel covers.


The styling though undoubtedly the car’s trump card, is not without its weaknesses. The car desperately needs bigger tires; the present 155/70 14” ones are puny and take away from the car’s otherwise imposing stance.

Chevrolet Beat : Test Drive & Review-05012010044.jpg

The Rear is contemporary but not nearly as catchy as the front end. Chevy also seems to have gone overboard with the chrome tail-light surrounds.

The paint quality is excellent, and finish good. The quality of plastics at some spots seems to be at best average, but thankfully these parts are limited to the outside. The plastics on the rear door handles and the outer rear-view mirrors are not a treat for the eyes.


Panel gaps are consistent, though large. The doors seem heavy and well built, though still not at par with the Palio.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moving inside; the dashboard immediately grabs your attention. A rather largish design, it has a very futuristic touch to it. The central console jutting out to creates Chevrolet’s signature ‘dual cockpit’ design.

Chevrolet Beat : Test Drive & Review-05012010041.jpg

The interiors are all grays and are a refreshing change from the overdose of hard-to-keep-clean beige interiors in most cars in India today. The plastics in the Beat are of a decent quality and the fit and finish satisfactory.


We loved the piano black colored plastic inserts in the dash, which lent the interiors an up-market feel. They impart a very smart look and we were left wishing for more spots and dashes of the same. The inserts however do attract fingerprints, although they are easy to remove.


A point to note here is the absence of the piano black finish on the PS and LS variants. The PS and LS variants have a rather bland feel to the interiors and did not score very high with us.


The top end version comes with an integrated stereo system which blends well with the dash and an information display for the climate control system.



The cyan colored lighting which remains consistent in the interiors plays a very important part in increasing the appeal of the interiors. We were quite simply blown away by how good the dashboard look with lights on at night.
The dashboard has many useful storage spaces, but the glove box is only enough for your papers and small items. The fit and finish of the buttons and knobs is good, but the feedback from the buttons could have been better. On the whole the plastic quality is good, with good feel and finish. The steering is small, sporty and well finished.


The steering mounted speedometer and tachometer are straight lifts from Superbikes and are a very exciting addition. Chevy has been high on innovations with the Beat.

Chevrolet Beat : Test Drive & Review-050120100431.jpg

A large cylindrical surround houses the speedometer. A cool digital display that serves the purpose of both the tachometer and a fuel gauge forms the other half of the information console. The digital display is lit in blue, finished in silver and also houses the turn indicator and headlight actuation lights. While this looks great and is different, visibility of the display is hampered by the spokes of the steering wheel while turning.




The steering wheel is height-adjustable, but this does not rectify the problem as the digital display is mounted on the steering column.
The front seats are very comfortable with good lumbar support and head rests, though thigh support is average the seats rate high on comfort. The large dash may hinder the view for shorter drivers and the lack of height adjustable seats could prove problematic.


The thick C pillar and the absence of the rear quarter glass obstruct the visibility at the rear while reversing. However, this isn’t the worst performer on that count in the segment with the A-Star taking the cake for difficulty in reversing. The driver’s seat has a very long travel which borders on being almost unnecessary.


The seat pushed back 2/3 should be enough for a 6’ driver. The gear lever is well positioned with respect to the driver. The central console is easily reachable and the large knobs on the Automatic climate control and the in-car entertainment unit rate high on ease of use. The outer rear view mirrors are not electrically controlled, instead using a short stalk that can be used to mechanically adjust them. They are difficult to reach for the driver with the passenger side one being next to impossible to reach.

The rear seats are not as comfortable as the front’s with poor thigh support being a problem. The tapering roofline reduces rear passenger headroom, and a tall person might bump his head during ingress and egress. Rear legroom is decent although things get a little cramped when the front seat is at maximum travel. Seating three adults in the rear would be an uncomfortable proposition for long journeys. The rear seats however have decent head rests that are adjustable and provide good support.



One great little bit of innovation that we really liked was the indentations in the B pillars for the rear passenger’s knees. Placing the door handles on the window although a smart move, means that the effective window area is decreased for the rear passengers. Opinions were split on whether it led to a claustrophobic touch to the interiors in the rear.
The power window switches are well placed and reachable for both the driver and passengers.
The front passengers are blessed with a number of storage spots although not all of them can useful owing to awkward placements and small sizes. There are pockets in the doors and some decent spots on the dash.


Cabin storage is an issue for rear passengers, with no storage pockets in the rear doors and just one bottle holder between the front seats. The front passengers have adequate storage space with storage pockets in the front doors which complement the storage pockets in the dash.



The boot is small and at 170 litres will not hold more than a bag and a suitcase. Obviously, this won’t make the long distance trips any easier. All the other cars in the segment fair much better on the count of storage space. The 60:40 rear splitting seats are something of a saving grace to the miniscule capacity at the rear. The loading lip of the boot is also rather high and this can be a nuisance while loading luggage.

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Chevrolet Beat : Test Drive & Review-05012010028.jpg
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Old 12th January 2010, 01:16   #260
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(Contd.)

Chevrolet has provided the Beat in India with a brand new 1.2Litre 4-cylinder engine that produces 79 bhp at 6200rpm and a peak torque of 10.91kgm at 4400rpm.
The engine is incredibly refined at idle; in fact it is hardly noticeable at all. Mistaken cranks will be abundant thanks to the idling refinement.


The Beat can be perfectly categorized as the ideal city hatch. The 1st and 2nd gears provide decent acceleration and the 3rd serves at speeds ranging from 20kph to 60kph.


The gearbox is smooth and the gears slot in with ease. Clutch pedal has a smooth motion and would go a long way in increasing the driving comfort in the stop and go traffic.


It is not an out and out stonker, but serves well in the city. The ride quality is good and the car feels very planted at city speeds. It is able to handle potholes with reasonable comfort and it takes large potholes to jar the passengers. With the needle hovering above 100kph, the stock tires give out before the suspension does.

The steering wheel feels very well proportioned at all speeds. It does not feel light at higher speeds and keeps its poise at higher speeds.


The braking is decent to say the least and wider tires would help their cause.


The body roll around corners is manageable at city speeds. We wouldn’t recommend this car to someone who likes to take corners at high speeds.

Mileage figures have been reported to be around 14-15 in the city without AC.


The noise and vibrations inside the cabin are well regulated at lower speeds.



However, the engine drone gets very coarse at higher RPMs and high speeds couple the engine noise with tire noise and can get irritating.


All worries about the readability of the instrument console are laid to rest in some time as one gets used to it in a jiffy. The digital tachometer is a nice addition.


The air-conditioner cooled effectively (at least in the winters! ), with decent airflow for the rear passengers.

All this makes the Beat a great proposition for the city. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t do the job on the highway. After a tire upgrade the car’s planted ride and good handling being a boon on long drives, albeit you stay on the poorer side of 100.

Chevrolet Beat : Test Drive & Review-05012010040.jpg

The Beat comes with the front and rear crumple zones; the top variant comes with ABS and dual air bags. The Beat has a reinforced safety cage, 60% of which is made from high strength steel which provides superior protection in the event of a side impact. A 4-star NCAP rating proves that the Beat is a safe car to be in.



The Beat starts at Rs. 360,635(on road Delhi) for the base version and this goes all the way to Rs. 476,086 for the top of the line LT with the option pack. GM has priced the Beat very aggressively, which shows how keen they are for this car to succeed.


With only 60% localization as of now and a 90% localization aimed, we strongly suggest making the purchase as soon as possible.


The car comes in 7 colors:
· Linen Beige
· Green Cocktail
· Super Red
· Caviar Black
· Misty Lake
· Moroccan Blue
· Olympic White


The Beige, Green, Red and the Blue colors come with an additional price tag of Rs. 5,508.


The car has a fair amount of equipment for it’s price for the top variant.
But there is one big letdown, while the top end LT version is decently spec’d and well equipped; the same cannot quite be said for the lower end PS and LS versions.


The PS and LS versions lose out on the fantastic piano black plastics and a load of other features like the climate control and the factory fitted music system. The fancy dials are replaced with the antiquated sliding controls and the interiors on these variants are just too grey!


On the outside, there are no roof rails, no fog lamps, no chrome rings around the fogs, no body coloured door handles or ORVM’s. When you compared the base and top versions from the outside, the base version was kind of like a tiger missing its teeth. It just didn’t have the same road presence as the top end LT variant. In other words, the interiors and exteriors of the Beat vary quite a bit from the base to top end, with the end result being that the top model can easily take on the competition, but you might prefer the equivalent variant of the i10 for the lower end variants of the Beat, especially since the i10 retains its plush interiors with fewer changes from the top to base variant (just the music system and power windows are the changes. Beige trim is retained in all variants of the i10.)



Overall, the Beat is really a great car, a Chevrolet that appeals to the heart and to the head. The Beat could well turn out to be the game changer that GM seeks in India.


With its distinctive looks and great dynamics, coupled with good interiors, it could well breach the Maruti and Hyundai small car fortresses in the Indian market.


Our advice would be to go in for the top-end LT variant. I guess we can sum up all this in two words from Chevy: BEAT THAT!
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Old 12th January 2010, 02:25   #261
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Thanks EssYouWe for that.

I agree that the lower end variants are not quite there in terms of features, look-and-feel. Also the fact that from the rear it resembles a Gen-I Santro with a new tail-lamp cluster.

What I love is the fact that there is now bound to be great competition in that segment and once the Figo is out, the Indian customer will have a treat.
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Old 12th January 2010, 02:30   #262
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Definitely!

Chevy are trying to play a smart one. Pricing a car low and under-speccing it in ways that might make quite a few consumers turn to the top variant.

I hope people noticed the extra moolah asked for the 4 colors!

All in all, the Beat is a competent hatch. No doubts there.

I will be test driving the i10 and Beat in succession tomorrow. Will post the review!

Regards,

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Old 12th January 2010, 03:00   #263
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That'll be great, will look forward to the i10 and Beat comparo.

Although I am not a fan of the Ritz, would like to know if you have anything to say about the trio.

Thanks again for the time you are taking out to not only test-drive the cars but also writing about them comprehensively.
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Old 12th January 2010, 05:14   #264
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GTO , what a great review !!!
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Old 12th January 2010, 14:38   #265
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theragingbull View Post
I test drove the Beat LT today at the Goregaon showroom.
Thanks for sharing your report! Your observations are nearly identical to mine.

Quote:
Originally Posted by EssYouWe View Post
The car desperately needs bigger tires; the present 155/70 14” ones are puny and take away from the car’s otherwise imposing stance.
Thanks for sharing your review too, EssYouWe. I hear you on the tyres! DESPERATELY needed upgrade.

Quote:
The steering wheel is height-adjustable, but this does not rectify the problem as the digital display is mounted on the steering column.
In my books, it's a good thing. Adjusting the steering tilt does not negatively affect your view of the speedometer.

Quote:
The rear seats are not as comfortable as the front’s with poor thigh support being a problem.
Truly. That combined with the scarce greenhouse at the back doesn't make for the best backseat in town.

Quote:
The engine is incredibly refined at idle; in fact it is hardly noticeable at all. Mistaken cranks will be abundant thanks to the idling refinement.
You have no idea of the number of times our test car's starter was abused

Quote:
The ride quality is good and the car feels very planted at city speeds.
The superior ride - relative to the WagonR, Ritz and i10 - is one of the Beat's biggest trump cards.

Quote:
However, the engine drone gets very coarse at higher RPMs and high speeds couple the engine noise with tire noise and can get irritating.
Can say that again. The Beat is not a match to the Ritz' silk 1.2 L engine at high rpms.
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Old 12th January 2010, 21:40   #266
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post


In my books, it's a good thing. Adjusting the steering tilt does not negatively affect your view of the speedometer.
True! A couple of the reviewers felt that a rotated steering blocks out the speedo completely.

However, I faced very little problem on account of that while driving.



Quote:
You have no idea of the number of times our test car's starter was abused
Haha! I am sure a lot of the future owners would be doing the same!


Quote:
The superior ride - relative to the WagonR, Ritz and i10 - is one of the Beat's biggest trump cards.



Can say that again. The Beat is not a match to the Ritz' silk 1.2 L engine at high rpms.
Couldn't agree more. The Beat is best driven in the city limits. Nothing beats the K12M as of now.
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Old 13th January 2010, 11:27   #267
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Saw a Green Beat at the Chevrolet showroom.
Defnitley has got head turning looks. Got a kind of shock value to it.
Will appeal more to the young crowd than someone looking to buy a car for office commuting.
We might see a significant chunk of young people buying a Beat, who were all these days going for a modified Swift.
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Old 13th January 2010, 16:57   #268
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EssYouWe View Post
A couple of the reviewers felt that a rotated steering blocks out the speedo completely.
I'm not expert when it comes to driving, but I'm wondering why people need to look at speedo while turning the car. Shouldn't they be looking out on the road?
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Old 13th January 2010, 17:21   #269
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Technically people don't. What the guys felt was that with a lot of the indicators being hidden by the steering's stalks, it might be an irritation to some.

As I said, I faced no such problems at all.

Cheers!
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Old 13th January 2010, 17:24   #270
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Just back after booking a Beat LT Super Red. Comes to Rs.4.52l on road.
I had never seen the car before.

Read review here and few other magazines, and made up my mind that I would book the car if I like the way it looks and rides.

The main reason for me to choose the car as it is a great VFM at this price. A-Star ZXI is 4.5lacs which is much smaller and quite less in the feature set. If you can digest the re-sale value (which I guess will be definitely better for this car when compared to other GM cars), then this car is an unbeatable VFM.

No discounts offered. Just floor mats and mud flaps. Car is expected to be delivered in 15 days max.

The guys in KLN said that they have received 30 bookings so far.Not bad for a car which was officially launched in Chennai only yesterday (but it had been in the showrooms for over a week)

The size of the car took me by surprise. I thought it would be the size of the spark or i10, but actually in real life , the car is as big as the Swift. The car is as spacious as the swift too.

The dasboard is classy, way better than any other small cars. But everything other than the dashboard is just like any other small car. The luxurious look and feel stops with the dash.

The top end model with climate control does not come with remote locking. Also no remote for the music system. A problem because,this car is for my wife who sometimes is chauffeured around and would definitely would require a remote to change tracks :(

The engine bay is small looks quite full with the petrol engine. I can't imagine how a diesel engine will be fit in.

The steering could be adjusted and can go quite a distance up. A boon for taller drivers. Am 6.3 and I had no problems with the roof height at the rear seat.

Just my few little observations

Cheers!
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