[g_saunak]

Hello BHPians,

This is Saunak and this is my first ownership review in the forum. It gives me immense pleasure to let you all know that on 06/06/14 I have booked the Grand i10 Asta Petrol and got delivery on 28th June 2014. So far I have clocked only 700KMs within City drive and have already fallen in love with this car.

First of all thanks to each and every BHPians here, without who's help and guidance I could not have made an informed buy and known so much about the specs and pros and cons about each car that is available in the market. So A BIG THANK YOU !!!

My Needs:
I was specifically looking for a city car for commuting to office. The distance being a mere 14 KM a diesel option was out of question. So, a hunt for a value for money petrol car started.
Being a newbie driver I was pretty sure that I would not be able o figure out the enthusiast level niche points like turbo lags, flat spots etc. So, things I wanted to have were:
1. A budget of 6 lacs (OTR).
2. Mostly to be driven within city for office to home commute (14 Kms one way) and most of the time would be occupied by 1 / 2 passengers. A full house (4/5 persons) would be only occasional.
3. Good mileage (This is my first car).
4. Good after sales service.
5. Lower cost of spare parts and maintenance cost.
6. Good contemporary exterior looks.
7. The dash board must look plush and classy.
8. I sort of preferred a light steering as I would 95% of the time use it for in city driving.
9. Features such as keyless entry, bluetooth and steering mounted controls were not my first and must have things, but always fancied them.
10. All four power windows.
11. Rear defogger at least as safety option.
12. Integrated ICE. I never liked the fit of the after market units.
13. Electrically folding ORVMs.
14. Rear parking sensors.

The Options considered:
Swift:
Definitely 'THE' market leader. So I had to consider it.
On the plus side, excellent ASS, lower cost of spare parts, already tried and tested to the core mileage, drivability and handling.
On the down side, it was an old model, I did not like the looks much, the plastic quality was good but not as plush as Hyundais, Did not come with an ICE except in Zxi, even the rear defogger was available only in the highest model. With ABS and Airbag, it crossed my budget pretty well. Plus it is an outgoing model.

Honda Brio:
On the plus side, unusual and contemporary styling, certainly an eye catcher, beautiful color options, excellent engine specification and mileage, superb drivability (as suggested by many experts).
On the minus side, lack of dealership and service center in Kolkata, high cost of spare parts compared to Hyundais and Marutis, zero boot space, bare bone dash board, weird brown color combination is not to my taste, large glass back hatch (a single blow form the following car would result in huge cost to replace the hatch), no cool features to attract except steering mounted controls, crampy back seat.

Ford Figo:
On the plus side, fitted my budget pretty well, superb back seat space, stability of ride was superb, great fuel economy.
On the minus side, poor dealership and ASS, high cost of maintenance and spare parts, not even the highest model had the basic features like rear power windows, not much features to thrill, the age old AC controls looked ugly, the dash board design was not something which I liked, odd placement of in car control buttons and stacks (I am not used to European spec'ed cars), the rear windows does not roll down beyond 60%, no steering control available even in the highest model.

Grand i10:
On the plus side, excellent contemporary design, excellent petrol engine, easy and light steering, light clutch, butter smooth gear box, fantastic brakes, beautiful steering wheel, seamless dealership chain spread across city (in fact one within 2 Kms of my home), near by service station, hassle free Hyundai ownership experience as described by innumerable friends, low spare part cost, excellent mileage ratings for the petrol too, superb dash board styling fit and finish and plastic quality, nice instrument cluster and MID, height adjustable driver seats, tilt adjustable steering wheels, good suspension, good rear cabin space to fit in three moderate sized adults, segment best boot space, rear bench fold for cargo usability (no I am not a fan of 60:40 split), fancy features like smart key, key-less entry, integrated blinkers on electrically adjustable ORVMs, rear parking sensors, start stop button, bluetooth and steering mounted controls, decent ICE with 1 GB storage, rear aircon vents, alloy wheels, rear parking sensors, cooled glove box and many more. Most importantly all of these below an OTR of 6 lacs which fits my budget just right.
On the down side, safety features as trivial as rear defogger and rear wiper available only in top of the line Asta, ABS and Airbag only available in Asta that too as Optional, no rear parking camera even in Asta variant, no elctrochromic rear view mirror, even the rear parking sensor is only audible and no visual aid, lack of ACC, poor rear speakers, no under cover for the engine.

The Decision:
So, the choice was pretty obvious for me. Grand i10 was fitting my budget, needs and most importantly I was getting a overall complete package with all the necessary and fancy features all under the hood of a fresh new car on a brand new Kappa 1.2 fine tuned platform. What else any one can ask for? Though I must admit, I compromised on the ABS and Airbags due to budgetary constraints. But again, being in Kolkata and using this car only for city commute (absolutely no highway driving) ABS and Airbags did not feel an absolute necessity for me as opposed to experts suggestions. I may be wrong here. Also, I was initially inclined towards the Sports model but had to stretch my pocket a little bit to get the rear defogger and wiper at the least and go for the Asta. Hyundai has got it terribly wrong here IMHO. Also, the suspension could have been a little better. I felt a considerable body roll during a sharp turn and during a few maneuvers.

The booking experience: How I almost got tricked:
I thought of sharing my experience of booking my car from Kolkata as in this forum most of the buying experiences are from different cities.

Asking for Quotes and the Responses:
As a starter I called up Spring Hyundai, Mukesh Hyundai and Bengal Hyundai in Kolkata asking for quotes of Grand. Among them I received the worst of treatment from Spring. While I was on phone and requested them to send the quotes over mail before I go to their showroom that afternoon, they hung up on my face. I called again to give my mail ID and they asked me to SMS the mail ID to them very reluctantly. And guess what, they never really got back to me. Pathetic customer treatment. Spring Hyundai was struck of from my list right away.

I also, stroke out Mohan Motor Hyundai due to their recent ordeal with Maruti. They lost the dealership for unethical business practice and was absolutely new to Hyundai world.

Mukesh Hyundai was the first to send me back the quotes without any questions asked on the same day and also gave a courtesy follow up call. I thanked them politely and said that I will get back to them within a week as I am currently taking quotes from others too. They were completely okay with that and politely said that they will call me back next week. The ball started rolling I thought to myself.

Then I received a very charming and professional call from one Mr. Saurav from Bengal Hyundai B.T. Road Showroom. He was extremely courteous and promptly offered me a test drive on the very same day. He also reasoned that he could easily send me out the quotes over mail, but what if I had questions or any confusion. So, he insisted that we meet at the earliest and try to carry on the discussion further. I had some prior engagements as it was weekend so I asked him to meet me the next week. This was a Friday. The very next day I received a follow up call from one Mr. Sharma who was Saurav's supervising manager and AGM of Bengal Hyundai, asking for feedback of my interaction with him. He also greeted me on the decision and promised me the test drive next week. +1. Brownie points earned for courtesy and professional and methodical approach towards a prospective customer.
As promised, Mr. Saurav came to my office with a silver Grand i10 Asta (O) [probably it was a fresh car with the ODO disconnected, as I did not see any demo car stickers on the side]. He explained to me in detail all the prices and different variants and the utilities of different features of the car. He knew what he was dealing with and was extremely informative. He patiently answered all my questions over a period of 45 minutes and off we went for the TD.

The Test Drive:
Being a completely newbie driver, I did not take a chance on the new car. I barely drove it for 3-4 mins. I was already impressed and biased and had made up my mind about the car. Saurav then got to the driver side himself and took me for a longer drive in the Saltlake Sector V area. He intentionally hit a few potholes, did a couple of evasive maneuvers followed by a sharp braking, overtook a speeding truck, stopped in between on my request to check the in-cabin NVH levels, played a few tracks on the music system, explained about the AC asked me to sit at the back for a while to check the comfort and rear Air Con vents. Basically he covered all the points which one should check while taking a TD. Also, being a newbie driver I would not have figured the lags, flat spots etc., or should not have hit a pothole and should not have done sudden braking and all. After spending almost 20 minutes with the car, he said thank you and left. I was quite impressed with the overall experience. +2 .More brownie points earned.

Since there was no official discount on Grand, I had almost decided on getting the car from Bengal Hyundai based on the facts that it was the closest showroom from my home, they were the only one who walked the extra mile to come to my office and give me the demo and everything. Their behavior was extremely good and Bengal Hyundai is the oldest and most reputed in Kolkata. Others only followed up on call so far.

The Confusion : Other Buyers from Kolkata, Beware:
2 days later I received a call. The voice was pretty informal and there were no “Sir” and I was greeted “Dada” while the conversation progressed. I felt a little awkward but still continued. The guy asked if I have decided anything on the car or not. I said that I am still in two minds and in discussion with other dealers. After the guy hung up I thought it is Saurav, someone who has met me once and so tried to be a little informal to somehow seal the deal at the earliest. Over the next couple of weeks I started receiving follow up calls one after another. But strangely something was not right. Slowly I figured out that there are two guys who are calling me up. One calls me courteously with a “Sir” and the other guy with a “Dada”. But I had one thing in mind that I will seal the deal with the same guy who had took the pain of coming to my office and gave me the TD. So, once the informal guy called me up I frankly asked him this question. I said him that this is extremely confusing for me as I know only one name that is Saurav. I also said to him that I want to close the deal with the same guy who came to my office with the TD car and not with someone who is just sitting in the office and trying to snatch it from them. Then came the revelations. The informal guy told me that his name is Kuntal and the guy who came to my office to show me the car was named Arnab. Arnab gave my numbner to Kuntal for following up. I asked why was two separate groups calling me up from the same showroom? Kuntal said they might have gotten the number from store database and hence following up. Arnab was also an AGM of Hyundai and have been associated for 11+ years. As per Kuntal he can offer me the best deal in all of Bengal (I assumed Bengal Hyundai at that point). I was convinced that Kuntal and Arnab was one team who came to my office and did all the hard work. While Saurav and Mr. Sharma was another group who sat in the showroom and tried to tap me in between. I was completely biased towards Kuntal and Arnab (whom I first took for Saurav) and decided to proceed with the purchase.

On 26th of May, I received a call from Mr. Sharma, asking me to book the car with Rs.10K and since it was month end, they can throw in some goodies. They iterated that no official discount is there so wanted to make it up with accessories and stuff from dealer margin. As I was biased towards Kuntal and Arnab. I called up Kuntal and told him about the offer. Kuntal readily burst out in some sort of rage and said me that Mr.Sharma is making a fool of me. He will pass on an old stockyard car to me. Instead, Kuntal will make sure that I get the same accessories and stuff and also get a freshly manufactured car from Chennai. He also, said that prices might go down a bit in June and Mr. Sharma want to encash on that. He will have to sell me the same car in much less if I book after 1 June. He was tricking me. I called up Mr. Sharma and Saurav to let them know that there were some problem in the family and I have postponed the plan until mid of next week. As usual they humbly thanked me and said that they will follow up after June 15th.

The Day Booking was done:
I picked 06/06 for booking the car as I had already taken a day off due to some other work and decided to hit the showroom floor in the afternoon. I never knew there were more twists to this story. So, on 06/ 06 morning I called up Kuntal and asked for Arnab's number as I wanted him to be present at the showroom when I reach there. I was expecting some hustle between the two groups and feared it might lead to a bitter experience for me. I got Arnab's number within 5 minutes. I asked one of my car-savvy relative to accompany me to the Bengal Hyundai B.T. Road showroom at around 5:00 PM expecting Arnab will be there.

Meanwhile I received a call from Arnab. This call turned out to be a shocker as I heard the other person saying “Hello Sir, this is Arnab from Mukesh Hyundai, Keshtopur”. I said what on earth ??? I was so far been talking to Bengal Hyundai only, I also made it very clear that I would take the car from the guy who came to my office with the demo car and Kuntal clearly mentioned that Arnab was that guy. He never really mentioned anything about Mukesh Hyundai when I asked him why was two separate groups calling me up?

Within a second I got the whole picture. Mukesh Hyundai never attempted to visit my office or give me a demo with the car. Instead they started following up based on my email, that too informally and this Kuntal guy lied about Arnab being there at my office with the demo car. Also, he purposefully barred me from booking the car from Bengal Hyundai on 26th Last Month by bluffing about the price cut. I was furious and clearly told them that this deal is not going to happen and hung up. Within a few minutes one Mr. Manoj from Mukesh Hyundai called me up and tried to pacify me, but I clearly mentioned that I cannot accept such big lies. Kuntal tricked me from day one, and this whole event was extremely unprofessional and unethical business practice. He said sorry and hung up.

The moment I realized what has happened I promptly called up Saurav and the first question I asked if he was the guy who came to my office. He said yes he was and also described parts of our meeting. After being 100% sure this is the guy I told him the whole story. He was professional enough to not utter a single bad word against his competitor. He politely said to me, please let it go and come to our showroom. I also had enough confusion over telephonic conversations and promptly went to their showroom. I saw Saurav and recognized him and he came straight to me with a familiar professional smile. Finally I was relieved.

The Details of The Deal:
I took my wife and my Father with me for the booking. Saurav offered a test ride for all of us in the same car which I sat in earlier. While on the move again all of the features were described to us, especially to my wife and Father. After we came back to the showroom, Saurav again greeted us and got straight down to business. He jotted down the final price and other details and offered me the final deal. Following are the details of the deal:

1. Free Mud Flaps.
2. Free Floor Mats.
3. Free Steering wheel cover.
4. Free Teflon coating (I sincerely hope it is not just a wax polish and truly Dupont product. So I requested this to be done in front of me while I take delivery of the car. Thanks to Team-BHP for their detailed threads on Teflon coating).
5. Some cash discount (Unofficial discount and as per their request not to be disclosed. But it's a good amount and made me happy enough).
6. I opted for Zero Depreciation Insurance since I am a newbie driver. It cost me around Rs.4K extra.
7. Opted for art leather seat covers from showroom itself. Cost me Rs.6350/-

Total OTR: Rs.5.91 lacs.

I also asked for the PDI of the car before it goes for registration which was promptly accepted. Also, they promised me to pass on the VIN within a couple of days. They kept their promise. The car proved out to be manufactured of March, 2014.

The Loan:
I took the loan from SBI. It was also an hassle free experience. The loan was sanctioned within 2 days and disbursed immediately. As of June 2014 the interest rate is 10.95%.

Finally The Delivery and Ownership Review:
The delivery was on time and the "Teflon coating" was done in front of me. Reading so much about the down side of Teflon coating in our climate and condition I was not too keen to get it done. But could not resist the lure. So opted to go ahead with that. The car was first cleaned with some cleaning solution. I was unable to get what it was as they came in used mineral water bottles. It was some white solution which was rubbed on the entire metallic part with a sponge. No cleaning was done before it so I assumed it was a cleaning compound of some sort. Then it was allowed to dry for a few minutes. Then on top of it some paint protector was applied. I checked the bottle this time. Then came out the buffing machine and they thoroughly buffed the entire car to make it extremely shiny. A generous amount of polish was applied to the dashboard and the black plastic parts and that's it. No "wax" / Teflon applied. I thought of asking them but then refrained. I would rather have a paint protector on top than a cracked up wax layer.

After a while there was a ceremony done. A small puja of the car and handing over the keys:
Here are some delivery pictures:


The Puja ceremony:


A Few More Pics:











So Far So Good
It has been nearly a month now. I have driven the car around 700Kms by now. I won't go into the technicalities or spec review as they have already been covered extensively in the official review. So, here are my personal pointers:

Exterior Design:
One of the main reason for choosing Grand over Swift was the exterior styling. Swift has been in the market for quite some time now. We have seen a couple of face lifts so far. But main characteristic of the car has remained the same. Due to innumerable number of Swifts on road, the look has become so familiar and kind of old. I know the same will happen for the Grand as well. However, that will take some time. Meanwhile, it is for me to relish.

So, here are my two cents on the features which I like most about this car:

The toned down fluidic design really works well for the mass market appeal. I like one steep straight line along the body. See how the door handles are aligned with the body line.


The lower fluidic line is well camouflaged with the thick black molding at the bottom. Certainly adds character to the car.


Superb integration of the front and rear sprinklers. I often tease my friends to find them out. Specially the rear sprinkler is integrated seamlessly within the high stop light.


This is the normal alloy wheel for those who want to know about the look of it other than the diamond cut ones.



The wrap around tail lamps and the nice boot hatch makes this car look like a gem from the back. The light cluster is nice. I wish they could provide LED lights instead of bulbs. The headlamp cluster is also beautifully crafted.


The fog lamps are pretty effective. However they are a tad bit low to my preference. I like them a little higher. One stray stone or a high obstacle can very well damage them if you are not careful enough. However, the lamp housing is a real pain to clean. Also, the plastic mesh wobbles a little while you press them while cleaning. See the dirt on the grills?


Strangely enough, the number plate light has gathered some moisture inside it. Not sure if that is natural or it has some leakage that should not have been there? Will ask about it while I go for first servicing.


The big bulky black front bumper does a real effective job as it bulges out to save the body. However, the back bumper is way inward. The first hit from the back might touch the hatch and the bulged out logo. My rear bumper got scratched while it was parked. The parking guys pushed one car from back to make room and baammm. The first scratch came home with me


Interior:
The moment you step inside of this car, you'll forget it is a hatch. There is so much room carved out from all design angles. You sink in and the car wraps its arms around you.

I like the dash board design the most. The plastic quality and the fit and finish is absolutely top notch.


However, the beige part is a dirt magnet. See how textured the lighter colored part is. I drive around with AC on 100% of the time. Even with all four windows closed this part needs cleaning on a regular basis.


IMO the integrated head rests look ugly in this car. Though the head support is sufficient for my height. (I am 5 feet 8 inch). The seats are very comfortable. You do not sink in, but the softer elements do give you a certain soft squishy comforty feel. At the same time it provides you ample support for your back and thigh. It might not be right to ask for lumber support on the front seat for a car of this segment, but since I have a little back problem, after an hour of driving, I start missing them. I think I need to look for some aftermarket alternatives here. Also, shown below is the seat cover by Mobis which is Hyundai's official accessory provider.


The back seat however, is not that great. It's flat and a little on the lower side. My mother had trouble coming out from that height. Also the under thigh support is only moderate. The headrests do their job pretty effectively. To counter this, doors open quite wide making ingress and egress easy. See, how wide they open in picture below. But when you are at a tight spot where you can't open the doors completely, the back seat can prove out to be the one where you do not want to get in or out from.


Leg room is ample in all respect in this car. You'll never run short of it. All our family members are moderately tall but below 6 feet. We all fit in quite comfortably even with the front seats pushed all the way back. Also, it can fairly accommodate 3 adults at back. Been there done that. Having said that I must admit that there is a bit of shoulder rubbing. But being moderately healthy the car can accommodate 3 quite easily. However, the rear air con vent eats up the leg space of the middle passenger quite a bit. Also, the floor hump may be flattened, but it is so wide that it fills the place just where the middle passenger would love to put his feet.


The real gem lies hidden at the back of this car. This boot is certainly one of the best that I have seen so far. I already had one run at Howrah station to fetch one of my relative with two large suitcases and one back pack. All were gulped down by the boot easily. Definitely impressive. The boot lamp also is extremely handy and useful at those dark parking spaces.


ICE
While I was jotting down the requirement list, I always wanted a car with a nice dash board which should have a premium feel to it. Grand i10 offered me just that. The ICE is beautifully integrated and so are the large size AC controls. Coupled with excellent fit and finish and high plastic quality the Grand certainly pleases every one. But as far as the ICE is concerned, it just looks nice to be honest.


Being an audiophile I knew the stock ICE was never going to satisfy me. At the same time I did not want to go for after market 2-DIN systems as somehow they do not fit perfectly and eventually look out of place. Since I was going for Asta I had no option but to take the one that comes with the car. But this was below par even with no expectations. You have to do quite a few tweaks to churn out better sound from it. But even that is not enough. You will definitely have to tap to the SETUP button to manually adjust the Bass, Mid and Treble. Turn the File knob to go to next screen and I surprisingly found a fader and surround options which you'll usually see in bigger SUV or full size sedans. Also, it has the speed dependent volume control. Nice touch. But it all falls down like a house of cards when you move to the back seat. The rear speakers are almost non-existent. If you make use of the fader and push all the sound to the rear ones it almost becomes inaudible. Yes, they are that weak. A must to be done upgrade required here. On the plus side, those who do not like loudness while driving (like me) will enjoy it.


The front speakers are relatively better. It has a nice subtlety to it. Also, I would like to mention here that I am not a fan of loud music. So, going for an amplifier or woofer was not in my cards. I prefer clarity and punchy mids over high bass or treble. The front speaker can to some extent deliver that provided you tweak the settings properly.

This system also comes with 1GB of storage. I personally have not used this to store any songs as of yet. So, cannot comment on that. But I find this a bit gimmicky. The best usage for this memory can be to store the contacts from your phone. Again, that said, I personally have not used it in any way. I prefer to store my contacts in my phone itself.

If you have a pen drive full with songs just plug it in and it automatically starts playing the songs. From the menu you can choose shuffle and repeat options.

Someone complained that they cannot connect their iPhones to USB port and play songs from there. IMO that is because of the hardware architecture of apple products. You can never connect you iPhone to Mass Storage mode anywhere and hence the music files are never accessible by the ICE. I tried to simulate the same with my Nokia N8 and the result was weird. I connected the phone in mass storage mode to the USB port and the phone started charging immediately and one of the tracks from my phone started playing. But, while I tried to surf to a different folder I saw that it could access only a few of them. Surprisingly it could access the system folders and system sounds from there but could access only one music folder. I believe, the best way to deal with this is you have to plug in one USB drive to play music from USB port, play via blutooth for music from phone. Plugging the phone to USB port does charge it, but cannot play music from it. You have to live with that.

Bluetooth
The bluetooth is a charm to use. Turn on your phone's bluetoth and search for nearby devices. The default name of the car's bluetooth is “Grand i10” and password is “0000”. Just type in the pass code and you are done. Tap on the music player in your phone and start playing music from there. However, you would need to press the media button once to do so. Also, the sound quality over bluetooth is not as good as direct USB plug and play. That too I believe is attributed to the sound presets and volume from the phone itself. However it is definitely not as loud as USB playback even with full volume on your phone.

Call quality over bluetooth is also fantastic. The mic is located just over the driver, but, in one occasion my wife needed to talk over the same call from the passenger seat. No need to shout. Normal voice was picked up quite brilliantly by the mic. You can use the steering mounted buttons to accept and disconnect calls and the volume control increases phone volume. While on call increasing the volume from the ICE also applies to the call volume.

AC
The AC is spot on. I have had no issue so far on this front. Best rule to follow to get an effective cooling is:
a. Turn the fan dial to speed 2 and let it run for 2 mins.
b. Turn the AC on and turn the temperature knob all the way left to the coolest.
d. Lower the fan speed to 1 and let it be once your desired temeperature is reached.
The cooling is pretty effective. 38-40 degrees of heat on a humid day did not create any trouble. But the cooling is better when you keep it with in-cabin reticulation mode. The cooling falls considerably while you let the fresh air come in. I am not sure if this is a problem as I most of the time use reticulated mode since my journey is barely 40-45 mins.


The knobs are quite stiff except the fan. The temperature control and airflow control knobs need a bit of strength to be turned. May be they'll loosen up after a few years. But for now, they feel sturdy and meant to last the distance. The nice grooves of the dial grip feels really nice. It has that premium feel.


The rear aircon vents are effective somewhat. It is not an independent system but just a channel of airflow hurled towards the back seat. They let out the cooled air and I feel the cabin cools off a little faster than others. The 12V socket below the AC vents are extremely handy. On the down side, the vents eat up middle passenger's leg space and most of the air is blocked by your knees. You need to adjust the vents properly.

Continued to next post...

[g_saunak]

Key-less Entry, Start-stop button
I always fancied a true key-less entry-“walah” car. But always feared what happens if I stand close enough to the car and someone sneaks pass to open the door and snatch away something? But with this car there is no chance.

The proximity range of the key fob is around1.5 feet. So, first you have to be no more that 1.5 feet away from the car to open any door. The small black request sensor button will do the locking / unlocking for you. No need to take the key out from your pocket. The passenger side has one request button too. But only that door will work to which you are standing next with the key in your pocket. What that means? Let me explain with scenarios.

Scenario One: Suppose you have it in your pocket and standing within 1.5 feet of the driver side door. If your friend /foe wants to open the door from the passenger side, he won't be able to do that. It is that sensitive.


Scenario two: The whole car is centrally locked. You walk out from the store with your hands full. You want to load up the boot. Just walk to the back of the car and press the request button tucked and hidden under the logo. Only the hatch opens. The rest of the doors remain locked. Once done, shut it down. The car locks centrally automatically until the next time you press the request button. Also press and hold the boot open button to open the boot from the key fob.


Scenario 3: You get out of the car leaving the key fob within. Press the request button on the door handle to lock the car. It won't let you. It'll also blink the key inside light in the instrument cluster. BUT. If you forget to close any of the windows and lock the car from outside, it will let you do that.

Scenario 4: You forget to lock your car while leaving. You walk away with the key. Nothing happens. It stays open. It would have been really nice to see the car getting locked as soon as the key is away from the car. But that unfortunately does not happen. Am I expecting too much? May be. But if Hyundai could implement that, would have been a very nice aid to the unmindful ones like me.

If your Key fob runs out of juice, press the small button at the corner to pull out the skeleton key. This will help in opening the car manually. To start the car, just tap the key against the Start-Stop button.
BTW, did I mention that the spare key also an identical key fob like the one below? Double thumbs up Hyundai for this. You know how to make us buyers feel special ( apparently )


Once you are inside the car with the key fob, tap once on the Start-Stop button turns on the ICE. Second tap, the accessory mode is turned on. Press the clutch and tap three, the engine fires up. The moment you unlock the car, the button text glows with a blue illumination. In accessory mode, the small light above glows orange. Turn the engine on and it turns blue.


ORVMs
I do need to write a separate section about the ORVMs. It is a huge hit at the same time a few misses too.

The moment you unlock the car, either from the key fob or from the request sensor button they spread their arms and blink twice to give you a Grand welcome. This has proved out to be the most popular trick to impress any friend so far for me. The opposite happens when you lock the car. It blinks twice and closes by itself. The ORVMs are pretty wide and offer a good field of view.


The day-night rear view mirror also serves the purpose quite magnificently. It covers the entire back and has absolutely beautiful field of view. The day night function can be engaged with the slight pull of the small lever down below. The night mode is also spot on and works extremely well. The large mirror really keeps you updated about those activities at your back. There are barely any blind spots when you take into account all the 3 rear view mirrors. The C pillar being a little thicker coupled with the headrests sometimes do create a few problems, but they are typically a non-issue for me. It is there for all other cars and can't really complain about it.


Within one month already the ORVMs have been nicked twice on each side by other vehicles, but they have proved out to be pretty sturdy. Not even a scratch has been put there thankfully. There is one dedicated button for folding the mirrors inside and one jog dial to adjust the mirror adjustment. The tiny L R button in the middle is to select which mirror you want to adjust. Press the folding button a little harder and they lock in both the mirrors. When it is pressed the mirrors won't open once the car is unlocked, but will only blink. It comes handy when you are parked at a tight spot and while the car is unlocked you don't want the mirrors to open and brush other cars.


However, they fold in with a weird angle. Looks out of place a bit. See how the lower part bulges out when the mirrors are closed. How I wish they could fold all the way to the other side (Sigh !!!!!)


Now coming back to the ORVM, though I absolutely love it not only for its superb utility, but also for the style factor, it misses out a few check boxes which I would have loved to see in it.
1. You have the flexibility of folding the mirrors without any hiccups when you see a dangerous biker skirting your car alarmingly. But, they don't fold the other way completely like many others. It has a very small travel both ways, but neither can they closed entirely, nor they can fold the other way. So, unfortunately if you are hit hard enough, that small cushion of comfort is not there.
2. There is no way you can keep only one ORVM open. Either you close both of them, or keep them open. If the L R button was clubbed with the folding function also, would have been really nice. I hope I am not missing anything here.
3. Puddle lamps are sorely missed on a otherwise such a stylish ORVM.

Drivability and Ride Comfort

1. This is a easy as hell to drive car. The clutch and accelerator are super smooth. So, is the gear box. The gear lever promptly falls in your hand whenever you reach out for it. The in dash design works out well. The gear has a nice travel and you know which gear you have engaged (from a newbie's point of view )

2. The brake is super active. It took me a good amount of time to adjust to it. No need to "push" it. Just a slight controlled tap and that's it.

3. The steering is super light and absolutely delightful to hold. I heard that it weighs up more during highway runs, but since I haven't been running on highways can't comment on that. I wish a little more weight was there some time. But again it needs a little bit getting used to it. Since this is the first car I am driving extensively (after the "khatara" training car ) does not make any difference to me. I have started enjoying the easy handling during parking and carving tight corners.


4. I did not feel any loss of power in low gears. Some people has mentioned that they need to downshift to 1st in order to get over bumps. Not the case for me. I can get past them easily in 2nd.

5. Lot of people are crying about the meek horn. IMO it is indeed very weak for the highway runs. But within city it does the job well. No need for an absolutely mandatory upgrade. Actually I like it a little meek midst the incredibly loud and ear deafening horns. I has that subtle modesty in it. Can you spot the horn hidden behind the front logo? Is that a design change? I heard the horn is fitted somewhere back at the engine bay. It does not seem to be true. See for yourself.


6. Engine NVH level within the cabin is flawless. But the poor tire hole cladding does create a lot of noise specially at the back. After a while you get accustomed but the first few minutes are not soothing for ears.

7. I wish Hyundai gave the speed sensing auto lock and FE indicator. Those two are one of the most useful features on Indian roads. If you forget to lock the car from inside, the boot remains open too. However, the central locking is engaged to the passenger side manual lock button too. If some one from passenger seat locks the door manually, all 5 doors close at the same time. Neat feature. But does not help much when you are driving alone, which is my case most of the time.

8. Suspensions are definitely better than i10, Swift even to some extent from Polo. The car absorbs small potholes quite happily. But there is some amount of body roll during hard cornering. I personally have not been at the back seat much, but those who have ridden the car said the same to me. However, they all were happy the way the car behaved over undulated roads and potholes.

9. The control stalks feel absolutely premium and extremely sturdy. They are truly meant to last the distance



Instrument cluster, MID and its usefulness
This MID is, simply put, disappointing. It had so much potential, but we are deprived of it. It gives you the following:
1. Two trip meters.
2. Odometer (Of course !!!)
3. A gear change indicator (Useful for the newbies)
4. A average engine running time. (God knows what to calculate from this)
5. Average speed. (Another worthless thing to have)

And misses out the vitals like:
1. Average FE indicator.
2. Distance to empty meter.
3. Outside temperature.

Do I like it? No absolutely not. Because the international version has all of the above. and guess what? The MID unit which is used in the Indian version is the same as the international one with the last 3 features turned off. When in complete dark, you will be able to see the "km/l" there. Guaranteed to frustrate you every time.

The instrument cluster is however very easy to read. The nice and large blue dials and the large taco is soothing to eyes even in complete dark. I like this very much.

The big question: Mileage
Currently with city runs only and AC running 100% of the time, it is giving a FE of 10.1 km/l approximately. Absence of FE indicator is a big miss and I had to wait till I refilled my tank again and calculate this from the ODO. Though I have clocked only 700Kms so far with absolutely sedated style driving, I believe a more experienced driver can easily churn out a FE of 11-12 kmpl easily. After 1000+ Kms, it can very well shoot up to 13-14 within city.

Service Intervals
The service intervals mentioned in the booklet is as below:
The first service is due in 2 months / 1200-1500KM.
Second one is 12 months / 10,000 KM.
Third one is 24 months / 20,000 KM.

I will keep this post updated after the first service.

So far I am extremely happy with my buy and enjoying it to the core. Couldn't have bought a better first car. But at places I do feel that Hyundai could have done a little better here and there. But that's the way life goes. Once you get used to live without them, you will thoroughly enjoy this car for what you have in hand.

I hope this helps...

[arnabchak]

Straight out of a movie with too many plots and sub plots that sort of confuses who's who!!

Anyways, all's well that ends well.
Enjoy your new ride and wish you many happy miles ahead!!

[Arch-Angel]

Wow, so many twists in this particular tale! Glad it all ended well for you. Happy driving and hope you get a million niggle-free miles.

[saket77]

Good on you to reward the guy who took the pains. Good decision making, should go a long way in making good business relationships. Congrats on your new car, the i10 Grand is a very good car.

Regards.

[fine69]

Congratulations on your new acquisition, its a great car! By the way this unofficial discount, I mean was this because they knew you or something else?

I have had a similar experience but not with a car dealership. This was with packers & movers when the fake 'Agarwal Packers & Movers' had packed half of our household stuff and only after the real 'Agarwal Packers & Movers' came in we realized that those guys tried to trick us. One needs to be really careful these days.

[g_saunak]

Originally Posted by fine69

By the way this unofficial discount, I mean was this because they knew you or something else?

I believe this was just to make me feel special. No they did not know me earlier. This is probably just a dealer discount for a car which is there in the stock. Because they said that the car is ready in stock with the color I wanted, Silky Beige. Since that is a rare choice of color for Grand (Haven't spotted any in Kolkata so far) I may have got the deal.

That is the reason I asked for the VIN to check if the car is not more than 3 months old.

[ad3952n]

Originally Posted by g_saunak

Hello BHPians,

It also gives me immense pleasure to let you all know that on 06/06/14 I have booked the Grand i10 Asta Petrol.

I also asked for the PDI of the car before it goes for registration which was promptly accepted. Also, they have promised me to pass on the VIN within a couple of days to me.

Saunak, It's great to know that you will be having a new vehicle soon. To help you out from any further surprises from the dealer's end I am giving you the following links which will help you in the purchase. Please find the links below:

1) Team Bhp PDI Checklist: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...heck-list.html

2) Vin Decoding to avoid getting an older model: http://www.team-bhp.com/advice/find-...anufacture-vin

It's just an incident of yesterday when I went to Renault's showroom for booking and test drive of Petrol RxL Duster, Both in Noida and South Delhi outlets neither the staff nor the management were eager to listen. To top it all they did not even have a test drive vehicle and tried convincing me for diesel even after knowing that I had specifically mentioned the Petrol version. Finally, due to all this and many other reasons regarding the car I changed my decision and booked an Ertiga Zxi.

Thanks.

[AMP]

Congratulations for the booking of Grand i10! It is certainly a good car.

I can understand your situation very well as I have also gone through something similar while purchasing grand i10 for my brother in Pune.

Anyways all’s well that ends well. Enjoy your new possession and drive safe!

[g_saunak]

Originally Posted by AMP

Congratulations for the booking of Grand i10! It is certainly a good car.

I can understand your situation very well as I have also gone through something similar while purchasing grand i10 for my brother in Pune.

Anyways all’s well that ends well. Enjoy your new possession and drive safe!

Thanks a bunch AMP. Looking forward to it.

Originally Posted by ad3952n

Saunak, It's great to know that you will be having a new vehicle soon. To help you out from any further surprises from the dealer's end I am giving you the following links which will help you in the purchase. Please find the links below:

1) Team Bhp PDI Checklist: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...heck-list.html

2) Vin Decoding to avoid getting an older model: http://www.team-bhp.com/advice/find-...anufacture-vin

I changed my decision and booked an Ertiga Zxi.

Thanks ad3952n. Team-BHP has so many helpful articles. Thanks for sharing them again. I have already got the PDI checklist printed out. Have I not read the article about VIN I would not have cared to even ask for it

Congratulations on your new buy too. I hope you have a great time with the Ertiga too.

[Mad Max]

Grand ki Sawaari - a sequel to Ferrari ki Sawaari featuring upcoming star Saunak!

They really did a switch-and-bait on you, didn't they? Anyways, glad you could figure the mess out and got some goodies in the end. Happy motoring, newbie driver. Stay safe!

[VSRK]

Congrats Saunak for your first car! Wishing you happy and safe ride. Grand i10 is a good car and good selection. Gone through your full episode and thanks to your patience for drafting in very detailed manner. It has enough contents for mega serial . Do post your initial ownership review.

[Burn_out]

Congratulations on the silky Grande, Saunak! Definitely a great choice for a city commuter.

I have had poor experience with Spring Hyundai as well, but Mukesh Hyundai just takes the cake. I knew a few sales reps at Mukesh Hyundai and this comes as a shock on how they trick a customer to a sale.

Good amount goodies offered by Bengal Hyundai. Hope you enjoy your ride better than your dealership experience. Waiting for some pictures.

[swiftnfurious]

Happy that things worked out well for you, finally! After reading this, I kind of feel seeing an "Abbas-Mustan" movie. The only thing I can remember now, is that you finally signed up with the guy who came to your office. I am completely lost with the other characters & dealerships involved.

Now I have these questions;

1. Didn't you get the number from the guy who came to your office for TD?
2. Why didn't you bother to check whose calling up you initially itself? I read that you asked these details after you started getting the too many calls.
3. You could have easily got rid of this issue by visiting the dealership and insisting to meet up with the guy (in case you didn't have the number).

Note:: Please mention the dealer who was involved in the fraud and this thread can be filed under the dealerships section with the name of the dealer highlighted. The title can be modifed to "How I was almost tricked by dealership-name".

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!