[Trojan]

Hello, this is one delayed review but helps as the car was put to good use in the elapsed time (over 14000 kms)



Ok, we bought this car because
- my wife really likes it!

So I would try to avoid being overly critical at times, but it would be an honest feedback all the way

Need to Buy a Car
Our old Esteem LX (’98 registered) was serving us really well. Of course this was not without constant trips to the car hospital.
- Rising Expenses on overhauling
- Reliability, time was taking its toll, and the trips to the Motor hospital became more frequent.
- New member (our first born) about to join the family

The options considered were vivid if I can say that, we were flexible with the budget.

What I wanted in the vehicle
- Good Performer
- Diesel (preferably)
- Sturdy
- Macho

What Wife Likes (v important)
- Good looks
- Cute
- Good Looks
- Cute

Result - Wife won

Some of the cars that we went to see
- Tata Xenon: Pandit auto on the old highway (Pimpri), they didn’t have the car on display, I doubt if the sales person knew what he was talking, coz he offered us a test drive on Sumo and was asking us to book one!

- Mahindra Thar: I was absolutely sold on Thar, wifey liked it as well, we kept drooling at it (no test drive given) Silver Jubilee Motors, Thermax Chowk.
The issue was getting into the vehicle; post delivery wife faced a lot of difficulty in climbing on to it, since this was to be our daily drive this had to be painfully cancelled

- Bolero: Again sold on this one, was looking for Bolero Stinger, found out that it is a customization package available for a BOMB, and anyways nobody at any Mahindra Dealership was aware about it.

Wife wanted to drive as well, she wasn’t comfortable driving a Bolero to work (this we would regret later), canned

- Maruti Ritz: Wife didn’t like the design too much, I would also blame some poor salesmanship here on the part of My Car, they were much too bothered up-selling their blue eyed boy, which we (both in unison) don’t like

- Ford Figo: Having acted as a consultant to three of my friends and suggested Figo, this was another car which quiet made it, again poor salesmanship.
We spent close to an hour ‘bargaining’ with the sales guy at Talera Ford (Nigdi) after which he called his Sales Manager - only to be told later that the car in question (White Figo Diesel ZXi) would not be available till the prices went up and they were not willing to guarantee the current price.

They offered us a red car, but we declined as by then we were already pretty upset with the sales guy for having wasted our time when we had very clearly told that we wanted delivery within a week/max two.

i10 Kappa (CNG):
- Available with all models, the CNG kit is a dealer fitment with an additional cost of around 55K, post which it is sent for registration.
- Retro fit (if done by us with another agency) would void the warranty we were told.
- Liked the sportz version as it comes with most VFM features, but CNG tank having capacity of only 10kg and losing out on complete boot space, made sure this didn’t make to the final list

i10 IRDE, Blue Drive (LPG):
- New technology from Hyundai, the LPG tank is factory fit, and is the shape of the spare tyre and takes its place in the boot, while the spare is screwed to the back of the seat – meaning some boot space is available.
- Down part, only Era and Magna variants are manufactured.
- Wife loved the i10 to bits, booked Magna!

Dealer & Booking Experience:
- Kundan motors, rep was Priya Joseph, a very helpful lady, we first walked into the showroom close to around 745pm, but she didn’t rush us at all and spent good amount of time explaining everything to wifey.
- This was not restricted to this first interaction but carried over to post purchase as well, including now, when we drop in for servicing, she is always ready to help us.
- Booked the car post paying 25000/- (this in fact was done at home, Priya came home to collect the cheque)



Negotiations and Freebies –
- Insurance (free), 25000 INR cash discount, 7.5K INR corporate discount, mats, mud flaps, Garware sun film @ 500, Car Charger (free), Music System and Speakers (12% Discount), free reverse alarm (declined)
- Apart from these, nothing else was offered, we tried the pitch the dealers against each other method – didn’t work.
- It seems Hyundai is kind of strict in such dealings and if they find out, there is a fine of 2lacs per deal.
Total On Road post discounts was around 4.86 lacs. Loan was pre-approved through HDFC, so it was a breeze. SBI was too troublesome and time was a constraint.
I had asked them to share the VIN (thanks to T-BHP) which they did, it was a March product.

Color selected – White

Delivery Date – 31st March 2012 (Last Day Last Show)

KMs clocked so Far – 14600kms (2 free services done)

Daily usage – 40kms (rough estimate) Hinjewadi and Talawade routes

Engine Variant & Model
- 1.1Ltr, iRDE Engine, with LPG Kit (guess this is the non-sequential type – though I don’t know the technical difference), the model we chose was Magna, though we would have preferred the Sportz which comes with some more goodies
- What we got in the Magna was body coloured bumpers and door handles, all power windows, central locking, hmmmm… cant think of anything else

Now since we ended up buying an i10 and I didn't have any vehicle for me guess what this became my daily drive
After a lot of cringing and complaining I used to drive the car, simply put this is not my type of vehicle – maybe a state of mind but

Of course the advantages of this vehicle slowly but surely dawned upon me but more on that later

I think the official reviews have covered most of the aspects with regards to exteriors and interiors but I would just like to say this is a delicate car and needs to be handled with ease.

The lower weight shows in the build quality, I had once parked the car near a coconut tree – (no before you think further let me clarify no coconut fell on this tree and I don’t test sturdiness of vehicles by throwing coconuts either)
As I said there were no coconuts only small infant green nuts smaller or equal to the size of a ping pong ball, fell down on the wall next to my car bounced a little and landed on the roof – what did I get – a small and cute dent, this happened right in front of my eyes – I don’t park there anymore

Engine Performance & Power Delivery
- The most fabulous part about this car is its LPG power delivery; this is coming from someone who has been driving LPG cars for long.
- While I had expected new age cars to have no power loss while moving to LPG, this was a surprise as this car actually gives out more power when switched to LPG as compared to petrol.
- The power in the lower ranges is just too good and a boon during bumper to bumper traffic.

I have tested this particular nature of the car on one of my daily routes.

I have to go take a steep climb every day, where while on petrol I have to downshift to 2nd gear in order to keep the momentum whereas on LPG the car lugs on without effort on 3rd gear without any drop in power.

City Driving –
- This is a pleasure with this car, it can zip in and out of traffic with relative ease, but this ease is better experienced with LPG rather than petrol where it seems to struggle and complain if pushed.
- Parking is a no brainer and you can just about squeeze it in tight spots and walk a happy man soon enough (I know the pain of driving a 20yr old jeep in Pune city)

Highway Driving –
- Now don’t push this car too much and she will be happy to cruise, maximum I have pushed her is till 130kph and then I ran out of road (I mean traffic)
Ghat sections (Mumbai-Pune) are best done with alternating shifts between 2nd – 3rd gear with an occasional 4th and is ok, given the small engine

Actual Fuel Efficiency –
City 12-13 KMPL (LPG) & 13-14.5 KMPL (Petrol)
Highway 14-15(max) LPG & 16-18 KMPL (Petrol)

Gear Shifts – Gear shifting is butter smooth, but sometimes I feel there is some effort required only while downshifting to 1st gear in traffic

Interior Comfort –
- The front seats are good and you don’t feel tired even after continuous driving. This I can validate as we drove from Pune – Kanpur, it is quite comfortable and there is ample room for stretching your legs of course with no one behind you.
- I even managed to sleep while my bro-in-law drove and vice versa and I am 179cms tall.
- Can’t say all this about the rear seat, it is best for 2 people over long distances and that too with some amount of complain as the rear kind of is jumpy and bouncy.
- The AC is good and serves the purpose well, had a chance to test it in central India during peak summers
- Something that irritates me is part of the dashboard keeps hitting my left knee which is a sore point and there is no dead pedal which is strange as they do provide one on the Santro!
- The seats are not height adjustable

Steering
- The EPS is great and functions well, I am used to driving non-power steered vehicles so I feel like I am in heaven.
- It is a boon in tight spaces and at high speeds the steering weighs up and holds taut.
- It gives good feedback and is good to hold as well, though I didn't like the material it is kind of rough and you need to put a cover.

Music System
- We installed a 2 DIN JVC head unit along with 2 Alpine and 2 JBL speakers fit onto the doors, did this at the accessory store.
- I am not too much into amplifiers and woofers; I think this is good enough.

Suspension & Ride Quality
- This is a city vehicle and needs good roads, on bad roads the ride quality is jarring and is best driven very slow.
- The discomfort is heightened for the rear passengers who would keep oscillating on roads which are not quite leveled. Now for some time I hear some sound coming into the cabin whenever we are on a bad patch, need to visit the ASC soon.

Handling, On Road Behaviour, Grip Levels
- Driving this car on highways means you get bullied by bigger varieties left, right and centre. Smaller engine means you are quite happy to get bullied simply because you got no choice.
- Handling is good and direct, even on corners I think she does really well and you don’t get the feeling of being thrown around inside.
- I am still driving on stock tyres, she came wearing Bridgestones and those are still on. Some hard braking has happened on our super duper NH’s due to sudden appearance of speed breakers and it handled quite well.

Some Likes
- Headlight leveler
- Gear shift indicator (boon for newbies)
- One touch down power window for the driver
- Superb gear shift
- Power delivery for LPG
- Blue Drive Logo – too good
- Fire extinguisher provided in the car
- Vanity mirror for passenger

Some dislikes and ‘wish it had this’
- No Intermittent switch for wipers
- No rear vipers provided, no defogger (doesn’t come with model) and they don’t retrofit as well
- No fog lamps (can be fit)
- No Tachometer
- No one touch up system for Driver Power window (though one touch down is there)
- No FE indicator

Ingress / Egress –
- The rear doors don’t open 90 degrees, the taller would need to slide in and while getting out requires some juggling of legs as it foils against the door frame.

Cubby Holes – There is plenty of space to keep small stuff around.
- Below the audio unit
- 2 cup holders in front of the hand brake
- Under the hand brake
- Cup holder and space for mobile phones behind the hand brake
- The glove box is also quite large

Overall practicality is great for a city vehicle and is fun to drive as well.

Niggles and Issues –

Hmm to think about it, apart from the suspension issue which has come up, there is only one other thing

The driver side power window makes a shrill whining noise sometimes while operated. Had mentioned it during both the servicing, it goes for some time and then resurfaces. Other than this there are no issues at all.

Oh yes, just remembered, both petrol and LPG prices went up – Serious Issue

So in the last 10 months of ownership it has turned out,wifey hardly drove the car (maybe only 2-3 times).

I am living it every day, taken it for a really long drive (3600kms) and it has grown over me

I still don’t like the looks though, not that there is anything wrong in it, but just that I love boxed out vehicles but as a car in terms of what I expect and what I get – I think this is a really practical and smart hatch.

[Rehaan]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Reinhard]

Hey, congratulations on the new i10. Wonderful review. A bit shocked to read about the roof-dent by a baby-coconut, but its okay. Thin sheet-metal is a de-facto standard now a days.

Also surprised to read about better performance on LPG. Thats great. I used to have a notable reduction in power (and increase in noise) in my ex Omni LPG (factory fit LPG as well).
Sad that Hyundai doesn't give ORVM mounted turn indicators on Magna IRDE2. Why play such tricks that make it seem like you don't really want to sell the car? Anyway.

Which steep incline do you travel on every day by the way? Chandani chowk? Or Wipro phase 2? I've experienced reciprocal results to your's for petrol and LPG in my gasoline engine days on these 2 spots.

Wishing you & your family unlimited safe & happy miles with the i10!

[deehunk]

Ideally LPG burns more efficiently as a fuel than petrol, this is where you feel LPG cars has better driveability in lower gears, the installation of kit is very critical for the difference to be felt. Becoz the i10 1.1L petrol engine is a reworked Santro engine the response at lower gears is obviously good. Many retro-fitted cars are victim of fake LPG/CNG kits and poor workmanship. My experience with LPG cars has always been good compared to petrol courtesy proper fitment and genuine kits. The LPG kit used in i10 is a non-sequential type but based on your feedback the tuning looks to be perfect, but Hyundai charges a premium for this kit whereas they can offer a sequential kit for the same price. Wish you happy ride and thanks for sharing your feedback about i10 LPG.

[Trojan]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

1.Hey, congratulations on the new i10. Wonderful review. A bit shocked to read about the roof-dent by a baby-coconut, but its okay. Thin sheet-metal is a de-facto standard now a days.

2.Sad that Hyundai doesn't give ORVM mounted turn indicators on Magna IRDE2.

3.Which steep incline do you travel on every day by the way? Chandani chowk? Or Wipro phase 2? I've experienced reciprocal results to your's for petrol and LPG in my gasoline engine days on these 2 spots.

Thanks Mate,
1. Totally agree, and its
2. And its the top end model for LPG, not even option available for people willing to go for the higher model.
3. Not Chandani Chowk, but in Nigdi (this is very steep) and Wipro Phase 2 is a cake walk

Originally Posted by deehunk

1. Ideally LPG burns more efficiently as a fuel than petrol, this is where you feel LPG cars has better driveability in lower gears,

2. Becoz the i10 1.1L petrol engine is a reworked Santro engine the response at lower gears is obviously good.

3. The LPG kit used in i10 is a non-sequential type but based on your feedback the tuning looks to be perfect,

4. but Hyundai charges a premium for this kit whereas they can offer a sequential kit for the same price.

Hi Deehunk,

Thanks!

1&2. Efficient consumption coupled with a good fit results in the good driveability I believe. Though I would say that Santro in Petrol is a MUCH better performer. The i10 Petrol, has very poor low end power. I am not sure what RPMs it performs best as it doesn't have a Tachometer

3. Yes

4. Agree, wanted to go for the sequential kit, but losing out on warranty for that didn't make sense so went for the company fit albeit a bit pricey.

Cheers!