Team-BHP - My view on Verna CRDi+ABS coming soon. EDIT : Advait Hyundai backs out of commitment

Hi All,

Well, Its been a long, long due to provide my report, I' ve been on most of the threads on the verna but not providing my views on the same. So, here goes my small review on the Verna CRDi+ABS version :)

It all started on 12th Feb 2008, when i sold my Santro to my best friend [car pic posted in my garage gallery] and all of a sudden, my garage looked totally empty with just a bike and dio....something was missing.

Then the big debate started, now what!!!!, Which car do we go for and most important what's our budget and can we be able to afford its maintenance and insurance. first, checked the budget...most important factor, could strecth upto 9 lakhs and not beyond that and since we had hatchbacks, it was time to look at the sedan segment and everyone at home was inclined towards a sedan, First car was a M800 then Santro so, mood was upbeat for a sedan.

So, narrowed down a list of cars under 9 lakhs...there was the Hyundai Verna, Ford Feista and Logan, Optra 1.6 (Dezire was yet to be launched). Oooopppsss!!1 forgot to mention, fuel option was diesle and not petrol as usage per month is close to 1200KMS.

Called up all dealers in Bangalore in order to book a test drive. Ford came with a very dusty and old Fiesta, handling and condition of the car was very bad. took it for a spin and I felt like the car would disintegrate very soon, went over a small hump and front hit the bump so hard, the entrie chasis shook, salseman said, i needed to go very slow. i checked the speedo and i was crawling and the gear was in netural. how much slow i was suppose to go still???? Anyway's came back and engaged the salesman into a conservation on pretex of buying the feista, and was not convienced for the fact that in order to have ABS, i needed to shell out 10 lakhs and odd on-road price bangalore. So, told him that i would get in touch with him soon.

Next to arrive was Hyundai with a Verna, all the way from Mysore as there was no test drive car available for some strange reason in bangalore. This was maroon Verna CRDi with ABS and good knows which customer's car as it was very well maintained and clean. I took it for a spin and did not floor it as it belonged to someone and hence did not feel like ripping it, Was totally gental with the car and after 5 mins of test drive fell in love with the car.

Please note it had been over a week since i called up the dealers and showed interest in purchasing the car, and only Ford and Hyundai had responded. GM and Mahindra....still sleeping, no response yet.

Back to the review, After the Verna test drive, sat down with the salesguy who had come down with the verna from Advaith Hyundai and i kept talking about the Verna Crdi+abs and for some strange reason, he was explaning the features of the SX model. I stopped him and said, that I was looking at the base model with ABS and not the SX, CRDi+ABS on-road is 8,99,00.00 and SX costs 9,37,345.00 on road bangalore. Then I asked him, how come there was not an option or standard feature of Airbags and his reply shocked me totally. He said, actually for indian roads ABS and Airbags are not requried and hence only ABS is provided as few customers are demanding for it and not many opt for the Airbags .

Next, I went into the features and noticed that the model that i was looking at had no adjustable rear head rest's and the SX model had. When I asked him how come for the price of 9 lakhs on-road, I dont get adjustable rear head rest's?? he had no answer and then asked me to go for the SX which had. So, bottom line, if you need adjustable rear head rest's in verna, go for the SX model and shell out extra 37,000 for that. For me, this is a total rip off by Hyundai and wanted me to shell out an extra 37k for adjustable rear head rest's. Day-Light robbery indeed.

Then I asked him about the Verna's famous Verna's handling effect and its beatiful skinny tries for which he again gave me a shocker, told me that till date all Verna customer's are happy and content with the car and no one has compalined on the same. It was then, I introduced him to Team-BHP.com and showed him the ownership and test drive review's, again gave me a bouncer by saying this could be a one off issue . I was like how can you say its an one off issue when so many of them agree on the same thing

I asked if he could provide me adjustable rear head rest's on the one that i would be booking and he said its not possible and even if he could, it would take exactly 6 months to get it done , yup. you heard it right 6 months to get the adjustable rear head rest's into the CRDi+ABS verion. Moved on to the tries, he said that he would be able to get me an upsize to 195/60 R14 in trade for the stock 175 and this after exchange would cost me 16,0000 in total for a set of 5. Only the tries and not with alloys. after sometime, I told him that i would keep in touch again.

For a month's time did not call him as we were advised not to invest money into anything as it was not the good time. so, on April 8th gave him a call and went down to the Showroom, Advaith Hyundai and meet him, had to see what he had to offer as a final price and what discounts.

I 'am booking the car in my dad's name and since he a doctor, he was entitled for a income tax benift as he woulfd be applying for a loan.

Since my Dad is a Doctor and has his IMA certificate, 10,000.00 discount[Hyundai has a tie up with IMA].
We had a santro eariler and if we give the copy of RC book, 10,0000 Loyalty Bonus.
Dealer discount 2,000.00
Free mats, perfume and idol
total Discount: 22,000.00

WE applied for a loan with AXIS bank for 5 lakhs for 3 years. EMI per month 16,301[10.75%] as my dad is a prority customer with AXIS Bank and making a down-payment of 4 lakhs. Just before I could close the deal, my dad got the April edition of What Car magazine, the same day i went to the super team-bhp meet and on page 25, it says upto 55,000 cash discount on the hyundai verna hot deal for this month. Showed this to the salesguy who gave me yet another bouncer by saying, he had no idea about this as Advaith Hyundai had not received any information from head office on the same and I had to clarify this with the car magazine on this information.

Later on i received a call from mr.Goutham from Hyundai and wanted to know more on Team-Bhp and my views on the verna, i guess the salesman would have updated him on team-bhp
so told him about the brilliant handling and super tries that hyundai provides and so called excellent features that the base model had and he wanted to know more and said will read about the ownership and test drive reviews posted on Team-BHP on verna.

I hope atleast now, hyundai will get things right. fingers crossed

The Color that i selected is the Real Earth.

I'am Planing to get the ICE Setup done by Satya[BlueRaven].

I need help on the tyre upsize as where do I go for the upsize, get it down with the dealer itself or head out and get it done. Please help me out and let me know if this is a good deal overall, waiting for you views on the same.

I did not want to start of talking about the car and its engine as lots has been said. Will post pics once i get my car.

It's been 2month's overall and i still did not receive any call from GM and Mahindra yet.

Thanks for showing patience towards my long review. clap:

Regards,
Sajan

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