[aseem]

Alright folks was lucky enough to visit the Hyundai showroom to find the i20 parked in display. Guess what, I was lucky enough to get a test drive...

Exterior:
The car was in silver color and didnt excite my brother as much from the front. I myself found it unoffensive but nothing to drool about. The side profile and the rear of the car looked quite meaty and made the car truly stand out.

Exterior Rating: *** (out of 5)

Interior:
After owning a Swift, I found this car to be quite spacious, thanks to the long wheel base. The leg room at the rear was quite impressive and the shoulder room was good as well. The side panels of the car spelt cheap plastic. No side panel lighting (something I wanted). The dashboard was big. But what the HELL were hyundai thinking while choosing the color scheme. My brother (prespective buyer) was very very dissapointed with the color scheme and so was my sis in law.

Interior Rating: ***

Gizmos and Safety:
The music system was very decent and sounded as good as Civics. Lots of crazy features, didnt get a chance to understand/test them all. Class defining safety features that can put even a Civic to shame , need I say more??? Bravo, Bravado, Bravicio, Stupendous!!!

Gizmos and Safety Rating: *****

Engine & Drive:
Now I own a thing or two about cars. After having driven from a 3 series, E-Class, Grand Prix, Oldsmobile Alero, Civic, Passat 1.8T, RS. I also happenin to own Swift P. I was not expecting miracles from this car knowing its spec. What I was expecting though was a definite improvement over Getz petrol which is a peace of junk imo (sorry to all Getz petrol owner, just my biased opinion). The throttle response of Getz P was frustating. So my only hope was this could better that. Now when it comes to car, mere specs dont mean much. Its how the car handles and the power is translated on road is what matters. So the fact that this was specced lower than Getz Petrol on paper had to be put on test. Luckily the showroom guy agreed to let us drive the car in showroom yard (couldnt go on road as the car was not registered). I was only able to drive in first two gears. The car was very silent on idel, no rattles, no humm, its accerlated pretty well in first. I went till 60 kmph in 2nd gear and the engine didnt moan as much as I expected. No twisties or turn, but overall I felt quite satisfied and thought it quite mathced by Swift P. If you have reached here, I wanted to tell you that I didnt really test drove the i20, but thought it would be a good idea to keep the forummers interest in the car alive by creating this fake thread. Overall the car was a hoot to drive in howsoever little that I drove.
Engine: ***.*/2

Overall I think Hyundai has a winner in their hands

[aaggoswami]

Nice review. Hyundai must think about better interiors. Looks like the present setup will turn off many prospective customers. I myself did not like it.
I was looking forward to a review where there was extensive discussion about engine, but here you could drive the car only in the first two gears. I think the first three gears will be short for city driving and third will be assigned the job for most of city driving. Definitely a plus point unlike the revv happy swift motor that has poor bottom end. But for highway driving, I am not sure. Fingers crossed now till someone puts up that.

This was a nice review, but can you add Euro NCAP rating if available.

[snaronikar]

Good report. Pls add the space inside the cabin and RR seat space. How many people can seat comfortably in RR seats? It has a bump on the RR seats. Hence seating 5 people will be difficult (I presume). Do also clarify whether the safety features comes in the top end or even in the basic/mid models. Lastly, whatz the price these people are quoting from basic version to top end version?

[abhinav.gupta88]

Hey thanks for the thread.
Truly i20 has a hell lot of features. Puts many cars to shame
Curtain airbags ( a first in segment - actually before the Jetta, only this car has it i presume)

Bravo Hyundai, Tata and maybe Maruti have something to worry.

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88

Bravo Hyundai, Tata and maybe Maruti have something to worry.

I'am sure tatas will accomodate these features in their next releasing models and they will price it very competitive. Yes, it may be a worry for MSIL as they do not even provide basic safety features in their hit model swift.

[aseem]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

I'am sure tatas will accomodate these features in their next releasing models and they will price it very competitive. Yes, it may be a worry for MSIL as they do not even provide basic safety features in their hit model swift.

Couldnt help but noticing you cheering for tata vista in most i20 threads and bringing down MUL. As much as you are entitled to your views, I want to point you to the fact that Maruti was the first manfacturer to sport airbags and abs in Swift Zxi at 5 lakhs when no other car under 10 lakh had these features. Maruti than bought class leading SX4 Zxi that redefined the mid segment features/safety norms. So much so that now even Honda was forced to offer airbags and abs as standard in the new City. Going by the same trend even A Star has these features. Of course ppl have a choice, just like in i20 ppl have a choice whether to go with the safety features model or not based on their budget.

But to say MSIL have to be worried as they dont provide safety features.... well I am not sure where you get that from

[Technocrat]

If you have reached here, I wanted to tell you that I didnt really test drove the i20, but thought it would be a good idea to keep the forummers interest in the car alive by creating this fake thread.

Care to explain the above statement?

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by aseem

Couldnt help but noticing you cheering for tata vista in most i20 threads and bringing down MUL. As much as you are entitled to your views, I want to point you to the fact that Maruti was the first manfacturer to sport airbags and abs in Swift Zxi at 5 lakhs when no other car under 10 lakh had these features. Maruti than bought class leading SX4 Zxi that redefined the mid segment features/safety norms. So much so that now even Honda was forced to offer airbags and abs as standard in the new City. Going by the same trend even A Star has these features. Of course ppl have a choice, just like in i20 ppl have a choice whether to go with the safety features model or not based on their budget.

But to say MSIL have to be worried as they dont provide safety features.... well I am not sure where you get that from

Let me just clarify...i'am not supporting any manufacturers nor cheering for them. Yes, I do feel proud as an Indian of tatas because of their achievements in short span of time compared to other auto makers around the world and nobody can deny these facts.

As far as MSIL is considered, you need to take the example of the swift ddis hatch models...what is your take for these cars? I do not understand why you have put in the smiley as "uncontrollable laughter"...what is so funny in this?

As you have already seen the car and driven, whatz is your take on the interior space and whether the safety features is applicable accross all the models (basic/mid/top end)?

[Avin]

Originally Posted by aseem

If you have reached here, I wanted to tell you that I didnt really test drove the i20, but thought it would be a good idea to keep the forummers interest in the car alive by creating this fake thread. Overall the car was a hoot to drive in howsoever little that I drove.

aseem, please explain what you mean by this .

Avi

[CtrlAltDel]

yeah..."fake" thread? where did that come from?

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by aseem

I wanted to tell you that I didnt really test drove the i20, but thought it would be a good idea to keep the forummers interest in the car alive by creating this fake thread.

Thanks for wasting our time.
Mods please close this thread.

[Vid6639]

Guys what he means is that he drove the car in the showroom compound and not on the road hence it was not actually a test drive. So he didn't actually do a proper drive. It was just not worded correctly leading to confusion I guess.

[aseem]

Originally Posted by vid6639

Guys what he means is that he drove the car in the showroom compound and not on the road hence it was not actually a test drive. So he didn't actually do a proper drive. It was just not worded correctly leading to confusion I guess.

Spot on... I can be linguistically challenged at times

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by aseem

If you have reached here, I wanted to tell you that I didnt really test drove the i20, but thought it would be a good idea to keep the forummers interest in the car alive by creating this fake thread. Overall the car was a hoot to drive in howsoever little that I drove.

The above statement made me believe that the thread starter really test drove the car but not on the real roads, but rather inside the showroom/stockyard confines.
I seriously hope that this is not a joke is not made up here. Even I was surprised at the good engine rating from the thread starter.
But thought that he really had a test drive.

@mods : Please take appripriate action on this thread.

[Samurai]

The mods have already taken action and obtained clarification, nothing more to do. - Admin Team