[fulcrum_77]

We were in the market for a new car. A car that we could use in the city as well as be comfortable on a highway at high speeds on the occaisional outing. Having just moved back from the US, where we owned a minivan (Toyota Sienna) and my favourite Infiniti G20, we were looking for a feature rich car with fuss free maintenance. Second requirement was enough space for the following combinations:
- a toddler seat, a baby car seat, 3 adults
OR
- 4 adults, toddler seat.
So it had to be spacious on the back. After my dad's Uno we had decided not to go with a diesel due to its noise/vibrations. I work from home so I don't need to drive much either, which makes a petrol car more attractive. Third requirement was easy gear shifting and drivability in city traffic. Wife has never driven a manual so this was important. I am not a fan of A/T after using it for over 10 years, plus, the high cost/less choises of A/T in India does not make it value for money. We both love a hatch due to its practicality in city so sedans were not even considered (I don't buy sedan = status. Jass/I20 will surely change that perception ). Third requirement was good fuel economy (We both believe in conservation and being Green! - another reason for not consiering A/T). Forth requirement was safety. Accidents happen rarely, but I beileve in being safe than sorry if it does happen. The roads in Pune are much wider than some years ago and speeds have gone up a lot (especially outside of peak traffic times). Hence, safety at high speeds is much more important today than it was a few years ago.

After following this forum for a few months now, doing extensive search on the internet, and after going through the emotions of waiting for release of Jazz and then Punto, we finally settled on the I20 Asta(O). I would like to thank the members of this forum for their valuable inputs and would like to contribute myself in future.

Jazz: went out of the door as soon as the price was announced.

Punto:
+ I felt in love with Punto when I saw the first pictures and features on its release.
- But soon reality set in and I wasn't very impressed with test drive reports, *** reviews/history as well as the looks from angles other than the front.
- The FE reports of Punto also pushed me away from it.
- I am not a fan of Blue & Me either as with bluetooth on, the cell phone battery discharges very fast. And my Sony walkman phone does not have sterio blue tooth, so for my songs, I would have to use the Aux anyway.
+ The 15" tires were better for Indian roads I though.
- Lack of side/curtain air bags, hence lower safety rating.
+ Powerful 90bhp engine

I20:
+ We both love the styling from outside from all angles. Very refreshing design.
+ Safety of international standards.
+ Great fuel economy
+ Silky smooth gear shifting
+ Features! more than what we were looking for. Much more than what my Infiniti G20 or Toyota Sienna offered!
+ Speacious and comfortable seating
+ Height adjustable driver seat (for wife)
+ Steering controls very useful in city driving
+ ACC
+ Sufficiently large boot space

There are no negative points I can think of right now. Some people feel the engine is underpowered, but I did not feel so in my longish test drive. It is more than sufficient for city traffic (0-80kmph) and it was obvious when I drove that touching 100+ was no problem at all. The car fealt very sturdy and hugged the road very well. I felt the suspension wasn't very smooth on small bumps, but it could be because of wrong tire inflation too in the TD car. Overall, we were very impressed with everything the car had to offer.

Booking:
Called up all dealers in Pune to see who would give the earliest delivery.
Kundan Hyundai: had a red Asta ready for me to pick up. When I said I need Asta(O), the saleswomen started questioning my choice of going for 6 airbags saying why are they needed and 2 are enough. Needless to say I was pissed The waiting time she quoted was 1.5 months as Asta(O) is made to order.
Kothari: 3 weeks waiting time. I was also pissed with the sales force their as she said "I saw a blue I20 and it looks really bad sir, please don't go for that color". I hate it when sales folks try to make a choice for the customer. Its not what they are supposed to do! Other than than Kothari sales was very nice. They came home to give a TD and all. Note however that they brought home a new white I20 that was not a TD vehicle and its speedometer was shut off. So be careful if you book through them.
Sanjay: My first TD was with them and the saleswomen there never forced any choice on me! But the main reason I went with them was she promised to get the car in 8-10 days. After booking with them, I was a bit annoyed that I had to keep finding about the car status by calling them (maybe I was more anxious!). Once I spoke to another salesperson there and he said the delivery time is 3 weeks and no way they can get it in 10 days as promised. I was pretty pissed. But my sales women again calmed me saying it will come on time. In the end, it took them 12 days to get the car here from the day of ordering - so that was neat.

PDI: Yesterday we went to PDI the car and make the payment. Thanks to the PDI thread, we were ready to take a good look at the car before its sent for registration. The car was in a storage place full of Hyundai cars. The grass was long and thick and the surface was all muddy! I wonder why they don't clean up the place before keeping the cars. Anyway, so they took the car to their service center nearby and gave all the freedom to inspect the car from all angles including the under body. The team there was extremely professional and courtious (10/10 for that!). It was good to see and feel the new car.
Note on the iPod connectivity: I had carried along a memory stick with some songs in it as well as my iPod. As soon as inserter the memory stick in the USB port, the songs showed up on the display and started playing - very neat! However, was a bit disappointed with the iPod connectivity. The iPod is detected as a memory stick with storage and not as an iPod. Which means, I can neither control the songs from the nice iPod interface nor control the iPod from the wheel mounted controls. I can only play the songs in a sequence just like from a memory stick. Also, I see some weird file name and not the song name on the display. Unless there is a way to set it up, this is really not what I was looking for. The "made for iPod" units let you control the iPod and also show you the song name. So I am better off w/ a memory stick w/ my favourite songs or iPod connected to Aux for longer drivers. Other than this small hiccup, the car looked in perfect condition and we went back to the showroom to make the payment.

Payment: We noticed something interesting here. The PDI thread on this forum said we should not pay anything more than what the receipts of RTO registration, etc are going to reflect. However, Sanjay Hyundai (and all other Hyundai dealers in Pune) charge a big lumpsum under "RTO" heading that includes registration, number plates, etc. This amount is about 5k more than the registration charges. We fought over this and told them we will not pay anything over the actuals but they stood their ground and said nothing can be done about it and its the routine practice and everyone has to pay it. Please shed some light on this! I hate to think that my money will be used to bribe some guy in RTO for registring a vehicle that I am buying legally using all legal money that I have earned. I feel the dealer also gets a cut. 5k is too large an amount for paying RTO alone. Please let me know if something can be done about it. I was thinking of reporting this to MIRROR once I get my car. Can anyone who bought a car (any brand) recently in Pune find out if they overpaid under the RTO charges? Please PM me.

Delivery: The delivery is promised on the 29th of July. Reason given was 3 days for clearing check and 1-2 days for RTO. My experience so far has been that checks clear in 1 day now. So don't understand this delay.

Freebies: Only mats and mudflaps. We fought hard but they wouldn't give away anything. We might buy teflon coating + engine protectant (forgot the name) + anti-rust for 6.6k (they have a buy 2 get 1 free scheme). Note to buyers of Asta(O): You cannot use seat covers as the side airbag is inside the seat itself. This was a foot note in the accessory booklet they gave us. The mechanic at their service center did not know about this I guess.

Insurance: I got 6k off the dealer's quote! Went to policybazaar.com and then asked the Bajaj Allianze guys to call me back and their final number was 13.6k for 100% ex-showroom IDV vs. 19.7k for 95% IDV from the dealer - go figure!!

[pachchu]

Congratulations. Nice color.

Great tip on the Insurance. Thanks.

The 5K is there in all the dealers here in Bangalore too. Looks like Hyundai standard. I am sure part of it is bribe to RTO.

Go for IND license plates.

I don't have a choice as my wife drives only automatic, so I'm waiting for the 1.4 Petrol AT. I know there's a (huge) premium on it, but I feel it's worth the peace of mind. With the kiddo in the car, fewer distractions the better.

Since I have another car (Reva) for daily commute, this will be mostly highway driving where I have seen in my Santro AT that there is no difference between the manual and AT mileage. I used to have a Santro manual before I exchanged it with Santro AT. I expect the same here.

The iPod thing was a let down. Are you using iPod Touch or iPod? I am not sure how the behavior in iPod Touch would be.

[Bala_R]

Congratulations on your i20. I was surprised to note that you cannot use seat covers since the airbag is built in the seat itself.

Ipod connectivity is just as you described. I tried the lattest shuffle as well as nano, both are detected as USB & it shows wierd file names.

[fulcrum_77]

Originally Posted by pachchu

Congratulations. Nice color.

Great tip on the Insurance. Thanks.

The 5K is there in all the dealers here in Bangalore too. Looks like Hyundai standard. I am sure part of it is bribe to RTO.

Go for IND license plates.

I don't have a choice as my wife drives only automatic, so I'm waiting for the 1.4 Petrol AT. I know there's a (huge) premium on it, but I feel it's worth the peace of mind. With the kiddo in the car, fewer distractions the better.

Since I have another car (Reva) for daily commute, this will be mostly highway driving where I have seen in my Santro AT that there is no difference between the manual and AT mileage. I used to have a Santro manual before I exchanged it with Santro AT. I expect the same here.

The iPod thing was a let down. Are you using iPod Touch or iPod? I am not sure how the behavior in iPod Touch would be.

Thanks. My wife would also like the A/T, although she wants to learn to drive M/T so that she can drive any car and not just the auto. But the premium is a bit too much. 40-50k more for auto is understandable. In this case they have changed the engine too and hence the cost went up.

I wish there was a way to open up this Hyundai cheating customers. I have also noticed that the price shown on the website for Pune is 7k less than the price quoted by all dealers in Pune. Why is there a difference?

Regarding iPod: it won't matter which iPod you are using. My wife has a nano and I use my sony walkman phone.

[king_julian]

Fulcrum,

Congrats on the purchase - hope to see some pics soon

About the iPod connectivity, on another thread someone had mentioned that one could try turning OFF "Enable Disk Use" in iTunes, so that the head unit would recognize it as an iPod rather than a hard disk. May or may not work - worth a shot, I guess.

I see a Protege in your list of previously owned cars. I had also owned a Protege in the US from '99 to '03. I didn't know much about cars when I bought it, but ended up liking it a lot. I guess among the current crop Fiesta would probably give the closest experience to a Protege?

Enjoy your new car

Thanks,
Amit.

[gadiyar]

Congratulations! This would be the first Asta (O) in Team-BHP I guess.

Do you know if they have included a map-light, vanity mirror or sun-roof or any other features (other than the extra airbags) that they do not offer in the Asta?

[Caramelo]

first of all congratulations. berry red is an awesome color. i just saw it yesterday. the car was driving in front. so i only got the back side view but its wider and lower. color is just great. i see this car in only silver or white. looks good but i am starting to get bored! so a very nice choice.

i am very pleased that you went in for the asta(o). with side and curtain airbags. this car has 5 star euroNcap ratings. it makes it very safe.

i mean imagine you are driving at 100 kph,something comes in front of you.you lose control and go off the road tipping over , if your call rolled over then it will deploy both curtain airbags to prevent glass broken from the windows to come inside cabin. also if you get hit by a speed in car in a sideways crash these airbags are a boon!! they can literally save your life. a very good decision i must say regardless of what people think!

few questions : will your car get the sunroof? and rear disc brakes? or its just for the 1.4 ltr gama A/T version.

[fulcrum_77]

About the iPod connectivity, on another thread someone had mentioned that one could try turning OFF "Enable Disk Use" in iTunes, so that the head unit would recognize it as an iPod rather than a hard disk. May or may not work - worth a shot, I guess.

Will try that once I get the car.

I see a Protege in your list of previously owned cars. I had also owned a Protege in the US from '99 to '03. I didn't know much about cars when I bought it, but ended up liking it a lot. I guess among the current crop Fiesta would probably give the closest experience to a Protege?

What a coincidence. I had the car from '99 to '02. Its a great car. I heard then that the chasis and engine were same as Ford Escort. When I sold it, it had 120k miles on it and still going strong.

[vijaythacker]

fulcrum, congratulations on your i20, nice choice of colour.Regarding RTO registeration its actuall 1000 to 1200Rs as to 5k what dealers charge, if you can manage to register urself then surely would save those extra K's.insurance too as you said is eyeopner and if done outside directly with other bankers does gives you much cheaper quote then dealers cause these are the main areas where they keep their margins.Keep updating.

[balajird]

Congrats on your new car fulcrum, someone has mentioned that they had registered the car for just around 400 Rs and saved some money instead of going through the dealer. Probably, you can check with the dealer on that.

[manish7]

Yes, almost all dealers (Hyundai or not) chanrge around 4k to 5k here in Pune for "registration service charge", a part of it must be going to RTO officials, a part to agents who regularly do it for the dealers and rest is kept by the dealers. These are some unethical practices by the dealer and we *must* protest. The only problme going on your own is time it takes and more importantly delaer gives bad service when they lose their money in insurance & RTO registration.

[neotraveller]

You can always go to RTO and register yourself. No big deal.
People are so afraid of RTO that they fail to realize that things have really changed now (gone are those old days where RTO used to be an agent mafia hub).

I did it myself, costed me 400rs! (dealer was charging 2000 for this)

[fulcrum_77]

Originally Posted by gadiyar

Congratulations! This would be the first Asta (O) in Team-BHP I guess.

Do you know if they have included a map-light, vanity mirror or sun-roof or any other features (other than the extra airbags) that they do not offer in the Asta?

The only difference are the 4 extra airbags. Since the launch of Diesel and 1.4 a/t, their website shows Asta(O) having sunroof and map lamps. So I asked the dealer if they are going to change the specification of Asta(O), but the answer was no. Even if the do, the price would go up by 15k or so. I think thats worth it for the sunroof, but I didn't have that option. Since the Asta(O) is made by order, my guess is that the 1.2 will remain w/o sunroof otherwise they could have offerred me that. But looking at the website, its possible that the introduce a higher priced Asta(O) for 1.2 too.

[fulcrum_77]

Originally Posted by vijaythacker

fulcrum, congratulations on your i20, nice choice of colour.Regarding RTO registeration its actuall 1000 to 1200Rs as to 5k what dealers charge, if you can manage to register urself then surely would save those extra K's.insurance too as you said is eyeopner and if done outside directly with other bankers does gives you much cheaper quote then dealers cause these are the main areas where they keep their margins.Keep updating.

Originally Posted by balajird

Congrats on your new car fulcrum, someone has mentioned that they had registered the car for just around 400 Rs and saved some money instead of going through the dealer. Probably, you can check with the dealer on that.

Sanjay Hyundai stamped on the doc that car cannot be released without registration and made me sign it! Its a monopoly out there.

To anyone buying Hyundai in Pune: I would highly recommend playing the multi-dealer game. That is, call one dealer and tell them that you are booking from another and ask if they can reduce the RTO charges. I know Hyundai does not let them reduce the ex-showroom price, but RTO charges could be reduced.

[fulcrum_77]

Originally Posted by Caramelo

first of all congratulations. berry red is an awesome color. i just saw it yesterday. the car was driving in front. so i only got the back side view but its wider and lower. color is just great. i see this car in only silver or white. looks good but i am starting to get bored! so a very nice choice.

Thanks. I think the red looks more Royal and will still look good few years down the line. I love the blue and the minimal gray too, but I thought I might get bored of that color. White and silver are all too common and pretty plain.

i mean imagine you are driving at 100 kph,something comes in front of you.you lose control and go off the road tipping over , if your call rolled over then it will deploy both curtain airbags to prevent glass broken from the windows to come inside cabin. also if you get hit by a speed in car in a sideways crash these airbags are a boon!! they can literally save your life. a very good decision i must say regardless of what people think!

I do not want to imagine that , but thats what I though when paying the extra 24k for the airbags. The crashes in India pics thread on this forum also made my decision easier. You see so many side impacts there. And a lot of times, its not your mistake. So driving safely alone does not provide you safety.

few questions : will your car get the sunroof? and rear disc brakes? or its just for the 1.4 ltr gama A/T version.

No sunroof option yet for 1.2. I have also noticed that Asta(O)'s rear doesn't say its Asta(O).. only that its Asta.