[Slickshift99]

What i love about the car:
1-Compact car ,easy to drive in city(love the fact that i could even take it into narrow streets)
2-Powerful engine, never feels underpowered (wheelspins under brutal acceleration)
3-Brakes are very sure footed when compared to other non-abs maruti cars
4-Features like all 4 power windows,power steering,Tachometer.

What i dont:
1- Tyres are ridiculously skinny
2- No abs/airbags, Modern ICE, head restraints
3- Fuel economy of 13-14 at max in city

The car itself



Some Quirks

The ORVMs are different shapes, have a look:



This antenna has to be the longest in any car(sample image)

Instrument Cluster

Revs till 6500 RPM



Power window switches



The Dashboard



I somehow dont like the rear-end styling,the thick black portion on the bumper looks like a moustache plus there are way too many badges



The center console is simple layout, will get a new Head Unit that supports apple carplay soon

I haven’t done any modifications to the car except the Teambhp stickers,the car came with magnetic custom made window shades but Delhi police officials took them off at a road checkpoint. I would like to get your inputs for a nearly transparent sun protection film that shall be able to keep the interior cool. My younger brother learned to drive on this car and thus has multiple scratches/minor dents on the body. I think i’ll get all that sorted for once and for all from a good body shop.

[Slickshift99]

I received the car at 80xxx Kms on the odo and the current reading is 99044, thats calculates for a rough 19000 kms that i have driven till date and the car has served me well.
So one day i evaluated the rough estimate value of the car from a local dealer and he valued it at 1.4L in the present condition. I was thinking to pay for the car to the owner and even my dad agreed to the same. While he stays in Haryana it was not possible to meet him immediately so we pre-planned to meet on a particular day. The adults were discussing how well the car has served untill my dad asked to make a final payment and purchase the car. He agreed and called his friend to get get a rough estimate of the car, the phone was on speaker mode and thus i was able to listen to the conversation. His friend suggested 1.5L for the car, call ends
Dad- So i shall make a cheque of 1.5 in your favour
He- Godsake are you joking? how does 80,000 sound like
Me-

A cheque of 80,000 was handed over and IMO this has been the best deal i ever encountered.
Since the car is used a beater by me ,i totally enjoy the freedom of driving it gives me without worrying about small ding / scratch here n there. I have made numerous memories with the car, love how it wheelspins even in 2nd gear with only me in the car.

The santro and the i10 have been famous for the silencer leakages from near the bend pipe resulting in a bassy sports car like sound. vroom vroom The issue was fixed by my uncle without me knowing,if it were me i’d have rather left it that way.

I even took the car through the deserts of rajasthan with no roads at all and managed to stall the car once but its all fun when you got a beater.

With the Ritz



The key



Miscellaneous

[Slickshift99]

Conclusion
As you might know that cars older than 15 years (petrol) are banned in Delhi, and my car being a 2009 model is about 11 years old i might have to replace it soon but if not then i am getting a good set of alloys and a new Head Unit for sure. May the lord write me a civic in destiny, hope i own a 8th gen civic someday.

My Thoughts on the i10

Times are changing and cars are becoming more and more affordable, so much that people wish to put their money on a pre-owned car rather than on a new 2-wheeler.
This brings us to the point where young students like me would want to get a car as daily driver for the same money they would pay for a bike for those college and miscellaneous commutes. Today when i wonder how life would have been if i would have been able to get the civic, i would have big expenses to bear in respect to the service and usual breakdown/failures on the car, i would also miss out the go anywhere ability of the i10 for its compact size and thus i think a small hatchback sums up as a perfect car for students who are yet to go financially independent.As the car is pretty old now, i prefer to get it serviced from a trusted local mechanic under my observation,i am comfortably able to keep it in good shape with my pocket money.

The i10 fares good as a city car with more than enough power at your disposal, a cng kit shall also compensate on your fuel expenses. The head room and leg room is decent, rear passengers would be comfortable 2 at max, a third passenger would rob you out of space. The boot is spacious however the high loading lip would require you to put those muscles at work

HIGHWAY MANNERS

I have done done 120 max on an empty open stretch of the yamuna expressway(i do not promote high speed driving and suggest everyone to drive within prescribed speed limits).However i have experienced this car do 140 by our driver on a highway due to an emergency situation, thats heck of a scary speed for such a car. The car is planted under speeds of 80 km/h , the soft set suspension however does not inspire confidence at a 100 km/h. You would feel the need of a 6th gear past 80km/h if you drive light footed for a better fuel efficiency.I strongly recommend for a tyre upgrade on the i10 for better stability and control.

How does it compete in its segment?

Main rivals to the i10 are the wagonR and the first generation swift IMO. While the wagonR is an excellent city car with better FE than the i10, it lacks the power and comfort of the i10. My mom once commented that the upright bench like seats are not that comfortable as those on the i10. Here i'd choose the i10 anyday between the two
However when it comes to the swift, its is definitely a better car than the i10 for its engine, its comfort, space and high speed stability due to the wider body and lower stance plus you get the peace of mind with maruti.

Other points to be noted:

1-Engine refinement is nowhere close to the maruti's 4-cylinder engine, the 3-pot engine on the i10 does make its presence feel. I used the "Liqui-Moly Engine Oil Treatment" and it has contained the vibrations very well outshining my expectations for an engine-oil additive.

2- The gearbox is super smooth and buttery, even the clutch and steering are very light. I tried to shift a gear and rotate the steering just with my index finger and it did

3- The built quality is excellent, i don't hear any squeaks or rattles in this 11 year old car. However The presence of hard plastics on the dashboard and door trims leaves a lot to be desired.

4-Non adjustable head rests is problematic for many.

5-zippy ride + small turning radius, you would love parking the car in congested places than the actual driving

6- Value for Money, for me it has turned out to be a great bang for buck at 80K Rupees.

7- This quote comes from "Fun and interesting trivia on The Indian Car Scene"

• The lightweight Hyundai i10 Kappa2 was actually quicker than larger engine hatchbacks, and some 10 lakh sedans too. Power to weight = 92 BHP / Ton (Maruti SX4 1.6L = 88 BHP / Ton).

This was my little sum-up for a pre-owned i10, please excuse me for the imperfections in my first write up. hope it gives a idea to college students like me what to expect from their first small car. I have included a poll , please help me make a choice for the future
Thank You.

[boniver]

Nice review! As Chiranjit has mentioned in his thread, these cheap cars are the best for us college students. They may not be very fast or fun to drive but they're reliable and when something goes wrong, it won't cost you an arm and a leg!

Originally Posted by Slickshift99

Revs till 6500 RPM

Please avoid revving an idle car to its redline.

Regards,
Sayantan.

[chiranjitp]

Originally Posted by Slickshift99

It was just after my class 12 board exams that i decided to get a car for my daily commute for coachings related to upcoming entrance exams.

But my mom proclaimed that i shall not get the civic even if it fits the budget as it’s the “badi gaadi” and not something a college fresher should have. Reminds me of Bhpian chiranjitp

Nice & crisp review of the car. Congratulations on the i10, hope she will continue to serve you faithfully for many more years. The line about your mother not allowing you to buy a Civic brought a smile to my face .

There are two 2010 i10s (both pre facelift) that I get to drive regularly. One is the 1.1 Era variant, belongs to a close friend of mine, sold last year. The other one is a 1.2 Magna variant, this one belongs to my cousin (& neighbor). This car is approaching the 80k km mark & is in very good condition. I have been driving this car since I got my DL, so first gen i10 is a car that is close to my heart.

Originally Posted by Slickshift99

The ORVMs are different shapes, have a look:

Well the ORVMs on your car is from two different models of i10. The RHS ORVM is from the pre facelift model, i.e your model. The LHS ORVM is from the face-lifted model that was launched in mid 2010.

The pre facelift ORVM:



The facelift ORVM:

Originally Posted by Slickshift99

1-Engine refinement is nowhere close to the maruti's 4-cylinder engine, the 3-pot engine on the i10 does make its presence feel. I used the "Liqui-Moly Engine Oil Treatment" and it has contained the vibrations very well outshining my expectations for an engine-oil additive.

2- The gearbox is super smooth and buttery, even the clutch and steering are very light. I tried to shift a gear and rotate the steering just with my index finger and it did

3- The built quality is excellent, i don't hear any squeaks or rattles in this 11 year old car. However The presence of hard plastics on the dashboard and door trims leaves a lot to be desired.

Slight correction here, the kappa 1.2 is a 4 cylinder engine, even the older 1.1 irde is a 4 cylinder engine. The i10 never got any 3 cylinder petrol engine. Refinement is actually one of the strong points of this engine, it feels like a modern engine (which it is since even today Hyundai uses the same 1.2 Kappa engine in modified form). The G13B engine on my Swift in comparison feels very unrefined & from one generation behind. I think there is something wrong with your engine, maybe you ought to get it checked by an expert mechanic. The engine mounts might be weak, the ignition coils might be bad etc.

Completely agree with you on the gear shift quality, it's really very smooth. The dashboard mounted gear knob is a joy to use. I personally found the gear shift quality of the old i10 even better than Grand i10's gear shift quality (which is smooth as well).

The built quality is surprisingly good, despite the low kerb weight. Even my cousin's i10 doesn't rattle much, even the interior plastics are in good shape.

Odometer reading of my cousin's i10 (photo is from 2019):

[Slickshift99]

Thank you for your response Boniver

Please avoid revving an idle car to its redline.

That was for a sec just to get the pic.

the kappa 1.2 is a 4 cylinder engine, even the older 1.1 irde is a 4 cylinder engine. The i10 never got any 3 cylinder petrol engine. Refinement is actually one of the strong points of this engine, it feels like a modern engine (which it is since even today Hyundai uses the same 1.2 Kappa engine in modified form). The G13B engine on my Swift in comparison feels very unrefined & from one generation behind. I think there is something wrong with your engine, maybe you ought to get it checked by an expert mechanic. The engine mounts might be weak, the ignition coils might be bad etc.

Hey chiranjitp thanks for the information, i used to think its a 3-cylinder engine due to that engine cover, my bad
I saw your engine idling video in the post and the i10s is refined that that one, i was referring to the k-series engine somehow forgot to mention that, eeco and swift dzire cabs i have traveled in have such silent engine that one might just mistake them for being off.

[boniver]

Originally Posted by Slickshift99

What i dont:
3- Fuel economy of 13-14 at max in city

I forgot to highlight this in my previous post. 13-14kmpl in city for an 11 year old Hyundai petrol is extremely good mileage. My petrol Santro delivers anything between 9kmpl in summer and 12.5kmpl in winter (all figures with 100% AC) depending on how I drive. It is a known fact that Hyundai petrols aren't as fuel efficient as their Maruti counterparts.
I had mentioned the same in my ownership report:

Originally Posted by boniver

• Less fuel efficient than it's Maruti counterparts. I usually get around 9kmpl with 100% AC in 100% city conditions.

Needless to say, I'd be super happy if I get 14kmpl in city from my car

[petrolHead_1609]

Originally Posted by Slickshift99

Dad- So i shall make a cheque of 1.5 in your favour
He- Godsake are you joking? how does 80,000 sound like
Me-

A cheque of 80,000 was handed over and IMO this has been the best deal i ever encountered.

This is the best deal on i10. I don't think there would be any 2010 i10 out there which is sold below 1.5L
Congratulations on your acquisition

I was just curious and when the last time (January 2020) I visited my mechanic, I said I'm looking to sell my car (I'm not), which happens to be 2012 i10 Magna 1.2 with 54xxx on odo, he said he can move it within a week for a cost anywhere between 2.75-2.9L.

As far as I remember 80k is the sum for which BHPian Chiranjitp got the zen 03 with 90k on odo.

[Slickshift99]

Hi there, I am planning to upgrade my i10 to 14/15 inch alloys (15s because the export varient i10 came with stock 15 inchers from factory) with 185 section tyres. please suggest on the same , also i wish to remap/tune the car for the maximum output that the 1.2L kappa can handle, FE is not going to be my priority. How and where can i get all this done, what are the best possible options?

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by Slickshift99

Hi there, I am planning to upgrade my i10 to 14/15 inch alloys (15s because the export varient i10 came with stock 15 inchers from factory) with 185 section tyres. please suggest on the same , also i wish to remap/tune the car for the maximum output that the 1.2L kappa can handle, FE is not going to be my priority. How and where can i get all this done, what are the best possible options?

As an ex owner of i10 who drove it for 9 years, I suggest you do not upsize beyond 14 inchers. I had 185/60R14 on my car for all of it's lifetime (upsized right out of the showroom) without any issues.

[anjan_c2007]

Hyundaiis a brand which is very sly and uncouth too with the base variants, depriving these of many common features. I had rarely heard about base variants with a single piece horns. But Hyundai did it with their i 10. And fog lights- they were a dream even for the second from top variant ! They had already saved costs by integrating the headrest with the front seat - another first perhaps that would even fox the person who invented headrests !

[jasjotbains]

My i10 is into its 8th year now, and has had its share of good and bad times in the ~50000 kms it has traveled this country. Lately, over the past few months, I am having some weird issues in operating my remote central locking.

I will give some brief background. Almost everything in my car is there since its delivery, including the remote central locking from Autocop(??). Ever since I got alloys installed, my front bumper used to foul during any sudden bump over deep potholes, to the extent that it has broken the plastic part where the bolt for screwing the bumper to the fender used to go inside. This has also led to the plastic wheel cladding getting broken leading to a broken fog lamp socket, one of my 2 horns not working (installed 5 years ago) and the remote locking ONLY operating on the driver side door.

Earlier I used to think it might be due to a drained battery, since the remote locking used to intermittently work on all 4 doors (including today). However, it will usually only work on 1 door, leaving other 3 doors to be operated through the central locking using the key in driver side door.

I am aware that my car is at the age where I can expect some money to be spent on repairs (my broken bumper and welded exhaust pipe told me so), but I am just curious why this remote locking will work only some of the times. My battery is 2+ years old (previous one lasted 5.5 years).

Anyone who might have faced this issue in the past, please shed some light. Once I shift back to Chandigarh from Hosur, I plan to give my car a midlife facelift (none of the cars at present tick all my boxes so I intend to keep this one around unless Tata comes out with a 350+ km range Altroz EV).

[Raghu M]

I had the exact same issues on my Zen Estilo. The central locking was working perfectly fine until I gave it for a service. After the service it started behaving strangely. I even got a blown fog lamp twice. I took it to my regular mechanic and he said the entire remote locking system may have to be replaced which would cost around 5K. My car had done its prime by then and I was not interested to go for a replacement. However, I thought I will get a second opinion from a car decors guy. I went to the center, he opened the bonnet and just took 20 seconds and lo, everything was fine right away. He said, the servicing might have blocked or chocked the electronics and hence the locking was not working. It used to work while I lock it but wouldn't open which caused a huge problem. It was resolved pretty easily. My car had done 9 years by then. Please get it checked properly with a guy who does electronics mainly.

[philipmathen]

Hi, my uncle is facing an overheating issue with his i10 Kappa 2010. On a recent long drive, the engine overheated and the coolant lid was blown off. The AC cut-off as well. He got it towed to the nearest dealer(trivandrum), but they are unable to find the exact issue. He had earlier suspected over heating as he felt the AC was suddenly down on performance and he heard sounds of something boiling. He had got the radiator fan replaced prior to this incident and was told the issue is fixed. Anyone face similar issues or any guesses as to what could the culprit. He still intends to use the car as a city run-about, so any suggestions would be extremely helpful.

On a lighter note, Hyundai has contributed one unit to the Harrier's sales numbers-he promptly went and bought a harrier since he has frequent long commutes. (he had earlier evaluated and dropped the harrier and was planning to use the i10 for a few more years)

[jasjotbains]

Originally Posted by philipmathen

Hi, my uncle is facing an overheating issue with his i10 Kappa 2010. On a recent long drive, the engine overheated and the coolant lid was blown off. The AC cut-off as well. He got it towed to the nearest dealer(trivandrum), but they are unable to find the exact issue. He had earlier suspected over heating as he felt the AC was suddenly down on performance and he heard sounds of something boiling. He had got the radiator fan replaced prior to this incident and was told the issue is fixed. Anyone face similar issues or any guesses as to what could the culprit. He still intends to use the car as a city run-about, so any suggestions would be extremely helpful.

It seems like a case of radiator choke or incase there is a pump for circulation of coolant, that might be on its deathbed. Would also recommend getting the evaporator serviced (it's under the dashboard) since dust accumulated over the years coupled to moisture tends to stick to the evaporators fins, effectively choking it and preventing heat exchange (hence the dip in performance)