[4WD]

Hi

Before I start, Just wanna let know that this is my first post on Tbhp.

I zeroed in on the i10 by elimination rather than by selection. But now am glad that I made the choice.

My requirements were simple:
• Budget ~ 5L
• City Driving: ~250 KM / Month
• Highway: rarely

The contenders included (in the order of preference):
• Maruti Wagon R – Turned down by my wife and my mom. Reason – Boxy. (I liked it though – The Blue Eyed Boy)
• Chevrolet Beat – I liked the bold design and the unconventional instrument cluster. Turned down by Dad – Too jazzy.
• Maruti Swift – The waiting period was long. Plus I had this temptation to go in for DDiS though it did not justify my requirements.
• Maruti Ritz – Ruled out due to its odd rear end design.
• Indica Vista – A diesel is out of the question keeping in mind that it’d hardly see highway. Never considered the petrol variant.
• Maruti Alto K10 –It was too cramped, though I liked the peppy engine.
• The others like VW Polo / Fiat Punto / Ford Figo / Nissan Micra were a little on the higher end.

Now since I had almost eliminated all the hatchbacks in the Indian market, I had to justify the lone contender before I write my cheque. The justifications for the New i10 went as below:
• A decent engine with good mileage
• Good service network
• Respectable build quality
• Most importantly, the ladies of the house approved of it. LOL

Now that I know that it was an i10, I faced the next dilemma. Which variant? My mom n my wife were indifferent here. It didn’t matter as long as it was an i10. Phew!

My bro-in-law had bought an i10 magna just few months back, so I was well versed with it. Now I wanted to find out how much could I actually churn out from the i10 Sportz for the additional 30 K that goes into it vis-à-vis the i10 Magna. I started from the basics – The Catalogue.
Things that made a difference were:
• OE Audio had decent sound quality and was nicely integrated onto the dash. I do miss the Bluetooth interface though (Which is available in the Sportz-Option).
• Rear defogger and washer – matters when you live in Cochin where the showers are generous during monsoon.
• Electrically adjustable ORVMs- really convenient.
Few other things that crossed my mind were:
• To maintain the car in the factory condition as far as possible. Didn’t wanna do any after-factory installation.
• I knew that I could get a decent audio system and rear wipers easily but the variants also added up to the resale value in the future.

Wow, so that was my journey through the decision making phase. Now it was time to execute.

I checked out and found that my Dad has an acquaintance with one of the sales person at ‘M/s Popular Hyundai, Cochin’. Bingo, talked to him and he agreed on the next day delivery. I was overjoyed. The fact that I used the December offer to my advantage made me much happier. As part of the deal I go the following freebies:
• Free Insurance
• Xenos ATS
• Sunfilm
• Underbody Coating
• Floor lamination
• Rubber mats
• Mud flaps
• Rain Guard
• Car Cover
• Perfume
• Portrait of a Deity for the Dash
At this, the dealer billed me at Rs 4,83,000 OTR-Cochin.

Looking that I have some extra cash, I invested them in the following:
• Alloy wheels – set of 4 (~ Rs 15,500)
• Reverse parking sensor (~ Rs 3,600)
• Fog lamps (~ Rs 4,600)

I got the above three done from the dealership for flat Rs 21,000.

That puts my final bill at Rs 5,04,000/-

The service levels at the dealership was quite satisfactory. Best of all, they managed to make the delivery on the promised day.

Now, coming on to the ride:

Driving Experience
On the very second day I took her out on a 150 KM ride. After all, the rider and the ride had to get acquainted. I was easy on her since it was her first big ride with me. She was absolutely splendid. I kept it easy between 60-80 kmph but then I did touch the 100 kmph mark and then soon retracted. That was just for the record – First person to touch 100 kmph mark on my car… LOL
The highway manners were mature for a hatchback. I sure did feel that it’s under-tyred. Again, considering the fact that it’s a tall boy city hatch, the ride was good; nothing to be compared to a sedan. The EPS was a pleasure and you did get the right feedback from time to time.

Comfort
The driver and front passenger ergonomics are good. The lumbar support for the front seats is little inadequate. The rear seats miss the lumbar support to a greater extent and the ride quality is little stiff and bumpy.

Features
This is a simple hatchback. The feature list is not jaw dropping. But the things that are there do their work in a decent manner. Also the build quality and the quality of the parts are much refined.

I liked:
• Gear Shift Indicator – this was something unique in its class.
• The quality of the stock audio. Also the fact that it supports Aux & USB.
• Electrically adjustable ORVMs
• Rear defogger and wiper
• The air-con does a fine job

I disliked:
• Stiff n bumpy ride at the rear
• At 155 R13, it is under-tyred
• The missing dead pedal

Photo shoot-out:
• The i10 pics are out there in plenty. So just putting forth a few of them.













-4WD

[.anshuman]

Note from Support: Thread Moved to Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports section. Thanks for sharing the review.

[bluevolt]

Let me be the first one to wish you on your new car purchase.

Congratulations on your new Hyundai i10. A super value for money reliable car rocking Hyundai's sales chart.

Wishing you years of Happy and Safe Driving.

[Repsol]

Congrats for the new purchase and thanks for sharing the purchase experience and pics. As you said that you have already got alloys for your ride, can you please post some pics showing the alloys.

Also, I would like to know some more details about the fog lamps installed. Are they genuine hyundai i10 fogs ?? 'Coz 2 weeks back, one of my friends actually got a new i10 1.2 Magna and wanted to get the fogs, but the dealer quoted a price of Rs.6000 INR for the same which we rejected.

[Ram_NP]

Congrtas 4WD! Any plan to upgrade the tyres? Do post some interior pics.

Looking forward to further updates from you.

[Simhi]

@4WD: Congratulations on your new purchase. Welcome to the i10 family.

I also had query on the fog lamps. Are they part of Hyundai genuine accessories? Also, how do you operate them? Do we have a separate set of buttons for the same? A picture of the interior setup to operate fog lamps would be useful. Thanks.

[misquitas]

I welcome you to the I10 family and hope you have many thousands of kms of safe and an eventful drive.

Like you, I too purchased the I10 in December 2010 through a process of elimination, rather than selection. You will find my I10 (VTVT Magna) ownership thread elsewhere in this forum.

What I find intriguing is that the I10, for many prospective customers, initially does not figure top in the wish list of the customer shopping for his/her next car. However, when potential customers begin to start comparing cars (at this point in time) on the common (average Indian) parameters, the I10 not only begins to rise up the ladder, but it eventually makes the I10 the obvious choice for many Indians. At least, this happened to me in December.

And talking about 'selection' of the four-wheeled species, a quote by Clarence Darrow (which, incidentally, is wrongly attributed to Darwin) seems to encapsulate in some way the nature of the I10:

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change."

The I10 does not excel in any one major feature, but offers a little of everything to the average (read, "not enthusiast") Indian customer. In doing so, the I10 has "adapted" itself superbly to the three main requirements -- the 3 R's -- of the Indian customer: Robust, Reliability, Resale.

[mobike008]

Welcome to the i10 Club. That was a nice crisp report of your buying and ownership experience. It's a nice zippy car for city but, does not feel at home on highways for sure, especially with its stock tyres which are puny to say the least.

Another thing I note is with AC on, the power gets zapped quite a bit. If you need to be in powerband, either you stay in the right RPM range or stomp on that throttle. Otherwise, it's zippy and if driven rightly, it can give some of the other petrol cars a run for its money.

Only complaint from this car is its harsh and bumpy rear ride and one of the worst feelings is you go over a speedbreaker at a slightly high speed and driver and passengers are thrown around harshly. It's actually a very bad feeling.

Otherwise, you got youself a winner

[GTO]

Congrats on the i10! It's one of my favourite petrol hatchbacks and absolutely blows most of the competition away in quality & ease of driving within the city. When Stratos & I tested the Kappa2 Link to review), we ended up mighty impressed after 3 days of usage. In fact, except for the bumpy rear seat ride, we couldn't find a major flaw. The skinny tyres are the easiest to upgrade. Hope she keeps you happy in the longer run, and do drive safe.

@ Mobike : You surely aren't talking about the Kappa2? It has much better low end torque compared to the previous 1.2 L.

[misquitas]

Originally Posted by GTO

Congrats on the i10! It's one of my favourite petrol hatchbacks and absolutely blows most of the competition away in quality & ease of driving within the city. When Stratos & I tested the Kappa2 Link to review), we ended up mighty impressed after 3 days of usage. In fact, except for the bumpy rear seat ride, we couldn't find a major flaw.

Hi GTO, my post is not directly relevant to this thread, but since you have spoken highly of the I10, how would you compare the I10 VTVT vs the Ritz petrol? Most have compared the pre-facelift I10 with the Ritz and felt that the Ritz was a better car. But post fact-lift of the I10, do you think the VTVT I10 knocks off the Ritz on most parameters or does the Ritz still hold on to its edge?

And when you say the I10 absolutely blows "most" of the competition away, which cars, in your opinion, overtake the I10 as an all round vehicle? Would be interested to know your views in this matter, especially because you guys conduct extensive tests on all cars, while we mortals only undertake limited "test drive" checks before buying vehicles.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by misquitas

Hi GTO, my post is not directly relevant to this thread, but since you have spoken highly of the I10, how would you compare the I10 VTVT vs the Ritz petrol? Most have compared the pre-facelift I10 with the Ritz and felt that the Ritz was a better car. But post fact-lift of the I10, do you think the VTVT I10 knocks off the Ritz on most parameters or does the Ritz still hold on to its edge?

If you look up my older posts on the forum, you'll lose count of the number of times I've recommended the i10....much more than the Ritz! The only reason I'd buy a Ritz over the i10 VTVT is if I'd want diesel. The i10's interiors are too good for the segment, but one important area where the Ritz scores better is the ride quality.

And when you say the I10 absolutely blows "most" of the competition away,

The i10 is a much superior package to the petrol Figo, Beat, Micra and Punto. It's amongst the best city cars on sale in India today.

[himanshugoswami]

i agree with GTO. Just yesterday I was discussing with a lady colleague of mine on a replacement she needed for her 5 year old NHC and top priority was an auto tranny.

there is a hyundai showroom close to the office and we went and checked out the i 10 and i20 auto. So impressed were we both with the i10 Auto, that she paid the booking amount on the spot for the top end Asta (after some serious bargaining by your truly )- the sales exec commented that this is the fastest sale he had ever closed.

I was pretty impressed with the quality of the interiors, the grunt of the Kappa 2 engine and the features list-oh and did I mention- the car will be electric red!! ladies !!!!

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by GTO

@ Mobike : You surely aren't talking about the Kappa2? It has much better low end torque compared to the previous 1.2 L.

Nope. I was referring to the previous 1.2 L Kappa which I own.

I have not driven the second gen kappa so wouldnt know how much low end torque has been improved.

Kappa1 is ok on low end torque but, nothing great shakes.

Originally Posted by GTO

If you look up my older posts on the forum, you'll lose count of the number of times I've recommended the i10....much more than the Ritz! The only reason I'd buy a Ritz over the i10 VTVT is if I'd want diesel. The i10's interiors are too good for the segment, but one important area where the Ritz scores better is the ride quality.

Bang on! Anyone buying a petrol neednt even take Ritz into consideration as Kappa2 would be an automatic winner. But, if diesel comes into picture then Ritz may win the duel just because of availability of an engine and also a better ride quality. In terms of looks, Kappa is way better looking than Ritz for sure.

If Hyundai had somehow made the ride quality (especially for back benchers) better. It would be an unbeatable package.

[ankan_g]

Congratulations on your buy !!

I have the original kappa model. It is an excellent car for the money, when compared to the competition. The next gen kappa2 is even better with the refreshed front look & the interiors.

Just love the dashboard's color combination with brushed finish to the interior console.
Would request you to put up some images for the interiors too.

Wish you many happy journey's ahead.

[bigautobuff]

Originally Posted by 4WD

Hi

Before I start, Just wanna let know that this is my first post on Tbhp.

I zeroed in on the i10 by elimination ...854

-4WD

hi 4WD, i think you should consider indica vista..i have been using it for 6 months and it has proved to be a complete package for me. it has got huge space and the fuel efficiency is simply superb. Also the ABS proves to be a great bonus.