Hyundai i20 1.4L Petrol AT Initial Ownership Report

pachchu · 18th August 2009, 22:37

Motivation:

Ever since our near-miss accident on Mysore Road few months back, it’s been on the back of our mind to look for a safer car – safer not only for the passengers but also for the other people/cars on road.

AT is a must-have for my wife to drive, since it’s her Santro AT that will be traded-in for this. And hatch is a must-have for us because we have only one long parking lot to park 2 cars (Reva is the other one).

i10 AT is available in the market, but we don’t really consider Santro to i10 an upgrade even though i10 had all the safety bells and whistles that Santro doesn't. Besides, my wife didn’t like the shape of i10. It’s subjective and I’ll leave it at that.

TD and booking:

July Last week – Saw the 1.4L Petrol AT ad in newspaper and my eyes widened. Multiple TDs of 1.2 Petrol has me convinced that i20 was what we wanted. So, kept calling all three showrooms of Trident Bangalore repeatedly (somehow I never liked Advaith Hyundai, though I did visit Residency Road showroom) for TD 1.4L AT car. Only reason didn’t book the car is we hadn’t TDed the 1.4AT car.

Aug First week – Got a call back from Trident saying that ‘sir, why don’t you go ahead with the booking. Once the TD car comes you can TD and if you don’t like it and want to cancel the booking, we will give you full refund with no cancellation charges.’ We took the bait thinking – who’s gonna wait for 3 weeks to get the TD car and then 6-7 more weeks after that to get our own car. This way atleast we save 3 weeks. Besides, how bad can 1.4L AT be compared to Santro AT. So, we booked a sparkling blue Asta. I called Trident in the morning and she sent a sales person to my office in less than an hour with price list and feature specifications.

I handed him the Rs.25000 cheque. He went back and emailed me a scanned copy of the receipt by afternoon and the wait began.

Meanwhile, thanks to countless sleepless nights spent on t-bhp, we had made up our mind on the following mods:

Sunfilm (3M from Trident),

Swap tyres (comes with Apollo Accellere) to Michelin XM1+ (mostly from Tyre Professional, Jayanagar, if the price is right),

Art leather Car-seats (mostly from autoform).

The price the dealer offered for Santro AT was not great, and I noticed quite a few people interested in a used Santro AT. Besides on i20, there were no discounts, no loyalty bonuses, etc., so there was no real benefit of selling my car back to Trident. I'm holding on to my Santro for now.

Aug 2nd week - Barely 10 days from booking, I get a call from Trident – ‘sir, we have a a Silky beige automatic that we have just received. If you are interested, I can register it for you in 2 days.’ We politely declined asking for either white or blue, which they didn’t have. I did ask him if he was going to register that silky beige for TD car and the salesman wasn’t sure.

So, still no TD yet.

pachchu · 18th August 2009, 23:01

Aug 3rd week (Today) -

Got another call from Trident Hyundai - 'sir, we have your car, the sparkling blue.' And he couldn't contain his excitement on the phone. The same guy had promised 6-7 weeks and has managed to pull it off in 2 weeks flat.

I wanted to spoil his party, so I asked - 'do you have a TD car, I'm not buying without a TD?' He talked to a bunch of people in the background and his manager as well, and had a much subdued response this time, 'no sir. Since there is so much demand for i20 automatic cars, we are giving all the cars to customers. We do have the silky beige on display if you would like to see.'

My wife and I made another trip to the Sankey Road Trident and checked out the automatic. I secretly carried my chequebook in case my wife agrees to buy it without TD, I didn't want to waste time.

At the showroom, we still had no TD but we got to see the much elusive AT. I am glad we didn't accept the silky beige. But the interiors rocked. We had seen it many times, but the AT gear-shift was also very neat - a combination of chrome and black.

Wifey agreed to buy and I promptly pulled out the cheque book, to my wife's surprise. Salesman didn't allow the pre-registration PDI (as suggested by t-bhp) saying it's in the stockyard and they don't allow customers there.

Nevertheless, the salesman gave me the chassis# and engine# to reassure that the car has arrived. Also reassured that these cars are made to order, so the month of manufacture is Aug, 2009. Also reassured that the tyres are apollo accelere. The 4 things that I wanted to check (other than body scratches etc) were covered, so I didn't push for pre-reg PDI.

Freebies (even without asking):
Mud flaps, floor mats, teflon, idol, air-freshner.

Insurance:
Before going to the showroom, I had already checked the insurance quote for 97% IDV with Bajaj Allianz (thanks fulcrum) and got almost a 9k discount (15K quote from Bajaj allianz vs 24K insurance quote from Trident). I declined Trident's insurance. Salesman asked me to give his number to the Bajaj Allianz guy so that he can provide all information on whatever information is needed to complete the insurance formalities.

Looking at the service, I get a feeling, these guys know I'm from t-bhp (the pre-registration PDI request must have been the give-away) and they are working extra-hard to please me.

Sunfilm:
I had done some research (thanks various members at t-bhp) on that as well and had figured I'd go for 3M CS50 or RE50 for side and back and CR70 for front. Trident accesories salesperson convinced me to go for RE35 for side and back and CR70 for front. She showed me 2 cars - one verna and one i20 with the exact same film (with the logo) and we bought it. After some haggling we have agreed on Rs.10500 for RE35 (4 side windows and rear windscreen) and CR70 (front windscreen).

Seats:
Put on hold yet.

Tyres:
Will swap once I get the delivery of the car.

Delivery tomorrow once they realize the cheque that I gave today. I have withheld Rs.1.5L of the total amount which I will pay only on delivery after going thru the t-bhp PDI checklist.

neotraveller · 18th August 2009, 23:16

Congrats on the 1st automatic i20 on TBHP.
The automatics really free you from the stress of in-city traffic!

Just curious what type of convincing did they do to shift you from RE50 to RE35?

I was in same dilemma (RE50 was too light but RE53 means illegal) and finally went for RE35 myself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pachchu

Sunfilm:
I had done some research (thanks various members at t-bhp) on that as well and had figured I'd go for 3M CS50 or RE50 for side and back and CR70 for front. Trident accesories salesperson convinced me to go for RE35 for side and back and CR70 for front. She showed me 2 cars - one verna and one i20 with the exact same film (with the logo) and we bought it. After some haggling we have agreed on Rs.10500 for RE35 (4 side windows and rear windscreen) and CR70 (front windscreen).

pachchu · 18th August 2009, 23:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by neotraveller

Just curious what type of convincing did they do to shift you from RE50 to RE35?

I was in same dilemma (RE50 was too light but RE53 means illegal) and finally went for RE35 myself.

I too was concerned with RE35 being illegal and resisted initially. So, she showed us the manager's car which had the exact same film. Looking at that, I was convinced it's illegal. So, the salesperson asked me to go near the car. That's when I saw that it is reasonably transparent. Besides, my wife had bought into the higher heat-rejection (it's her car after all), so I conceded.

Later they showed us an i20 with the same sunfilm and I convinced myself that it's reasonably transparent and reflects completely only on certain angles.

neotraveller · 18th August 2009, 23:45

hahaa. Thats how i managed to convince myself.
Its true actually. From far it looks dark and also appears like a mirror in the sun. But when you see from 1 feet, it has decent transparency. I figured, when cops approach near the windows they will be confused as they are able to see my face and wave me off. Brilliant!

RE50 was way too light. Also my wife was complaining of people admiring my Linea as well as her also

. So privacy was important!

Quote:

Originally Posted by pachchu

I too was concerned with RE35 being illegal and resisted initially. So, she showed us the manager's car which had the exact same film. Looking at that, I was convinced it's illegal. So, the salesperson asked me to go near the car. That's when I saw that it is reasonably transparent. Besides, my wife had bought into the higher heat-rejection (it's her car after all), so I conceded.

Later they showed us an i20 with the same sunfilm and I convinced myself that it's reasonably transparent and reflects completely only on certain angles.

Dippy · 18th August 2009, 23:48

Congratulations on you i20 AT. I really like the i20 and even though its a hatch its fully loaded. This is 1.4 with 100 horses which makes it powerful too. Waiting for the initial report and pictures of your car. Happy motoring

JayD · 18th August 2009, 23:51

Congrats on the i20 pachchu.The car is really a stunner in blue. pls post how much the tire upgrade costs, as i intend to do the same too. I'm sure a lot of people are waiting for your review on the AT version.

AbhiJ · 19th August 2009, 00:17

Congratulations dude..

Its a great car, and A/T will make it even better to drive!

P.s. Bangalore Hyundai dealers are great. I spoke to 3 dealers here in Kolkata before booking my i20 CRDi but none of them agreed to give me even mats/flaps for free... leave alone teflon!

CBlazer · 19th August 2009, 00:46

Congrats! I'm sure you'll enjoy the car. BTW what are Hyundai's claims on the FE? Is it the same gearbox that does duty in the i10?

Quote:

Originally Posted by pachchu

'no sir. Since there is so much demand for i20 automatic cars, we are giving all the cars to customers. We do have the silky beige on display if you would like to see.'

This is one of the most absurd explanations for not having a TD vehicle. If they are so short of cars, it would be logical to have a TD car rather than keep a car on display. I too was asked to have a look at the display car. I saw no point because only the gear shift would be different and therefore declined.

Caramelo · 19th August 2009, 00:48

damn bro you just bought a loaded gun

. not just a loaded car. and its totally worth it. it is value for money.

err this may sound cheesy... but it seems you got it all!!!

congratulations!!!!

balajird · 19th August 2009, 11:19

Congrats Pachchu, I really enjoyed reading your review on your Reva, hope you come up with such a review on this beautiful yet powerful i20 1.4 AT. Have you traded your santro with the same dealer? If you dont mind, could you disclose the exchange price and the OTR for this beauty.

Enjoy your purchase and let us know how was the delivery experience.

vasudeva · 19th August 2009, 11:32

Congrats on buying an AT from a good car manufacturer. I think your pre-sale experience has been quite good. Further, I have been enlightened to know that i20 has a 100 bhp AT (which is quite comparable to City). The price in Delhi on road for this seems to be 8 (without sunroof)-8.5 (with sunroof). Our company is however entitled to some 20K discount on all Hyundai products.

I seriously consider this a good, premium AT car with enough power and most features.

nnandi · 19th August 2009, 11:40

Congrats Pachchu! The blue looks awesome in the i20. Please post some pics and an initial report.
Incidentally I am also waiting for delivery of an i10 sportz AT from trident!
Happy driving!

FlyingSpur · 19th August 2009, 11:50

Fantastic! The elusive A/T's are finally finding their way on the forum. First, a Verna A/T and now this. Congratulations on your new acquisition. I hope it's a smooth process and that they don't give you any kind of nonsense at the time of delivery. Eagerly awaiting pics. I too was wowed when I saw the berry red A/T display car at HMP Mumbai. Wish I could convince my family to go for it !

Quote:

Originally Posted by pachchu

Salesman didn't allow the pre-registration PDI (as suggested by t-bhp) saying it's in the stockyard and they don't allow customers there.

Silly stunts they try to pull off. Get up and extend your handshake to say "Good Day" and they'll promptly request you to sit down and will offer you the chance to do your PDI

shreyasma · 19th August 2009, 11:52

Congrats friend. Have a happy and a safe drive with the i20.

Please dont forget to update your delivery experience.

18th August 2009, 22:37	#1
pachchu BHPian Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 140 Thanked: 49 Times View My Garage	Hyundai i20 1.4L Petrol AT Initial Ownership Report Motivation: Ever since our near-miss accident on Mysore Road few months back, it’s been on the back of our mind to look for a safer car – safer not only for the passengers but also for the other people/cars on road. AT is a must-have for my wife to drive, since it’s her Santro AT that will be traded-in for this. And hatch is a must-have for us because we have only one long parking lot to park 2 cars (Reva is the other one). i10 AT is available in the market, but we don’t really consider Santro to i10 an upgrade even though i10 had all the safety bells and whistles that Santro doesn't. Besides, my wife didn’t like the shape of i10. It’s subjective and I’ll leave it at that. TD and booking: July Last week – Saw the 1.4L Petrol AT ad in newspaper and my eyes widened. Multiple TDs of 1.2 Petrol has me convinced that i20 was what we wanted. So, kept calling all three showrooms of Trident Bangalore repeatedly (somehow I never liked Advaith Hyundai, though I did visit Residency Road showroom) for TD 1.4L AT car. Only reason didn’t book the car is we hadn’t TDed the 1.4AT car. Aug First week – Got a call back from Trident saying that ‘sir, why don’t you go ahead with the booking. Once the TD car comes you can TD and if you don’t like it and want to cancel the booking, we will give you full refund with no cancellation charges.’ We took the bait thinking – who’s gonna wait for 3 weeks to get the TD car and then 6-7 more weeks after that to get our own car. This way atleast we save 3 weeks. Besides, how bad can 1.4L AT be compared to Santro AT. So, we booked a sparkling blue Asta. I called Trident in the morning and she sent a sales person to my office in less than an hour with price list and feature specifications. I handed him the Rs.25000 cheque. He went back and emailed me a scanned copy of the receipt by afternoon and the wait began. Meanwhile, thanks to countless sleepless nights spent on t-bhp, we had made up our mind on the following mods: Sunfilm (3M from Trident), Swap tyres (comes with Apollo Accellere) to Michelin XM1+ (mostly from Tyre Professional, Jayanagar, if the price is right), Art leather Car-seats (mostly from autoform). The price the dealer offered for Santro AT was not great, and I noticed quite a few people interested in a used Santro AT. Besides on i20, there were no discounts, no loyalty bonuses, etc., so there was no real benefit of selling my car back to Trident. I'm holding on to my Santro for now. Aug 2nd week - Barely 10 days from booking, I get a call from Trident – ‘sir, we have a a Silky beige automatic that we have just received. If you are interested, I can register it for you in 2 days.’ We politely declined asking for either white or blue, which they didn’t have. I did ask him if he was going to register that silky beige for TD car and the salesman wasn’t sure. So, still no TD yet.
	() Thanks

18th August 2009, 23:01	#2
pachchu BHPian Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 140 Thanked: 49 Times View My Garage	Sir, we have your car! Aug 3rd week (Today) - Got another call from Trident Hyundai - 'sir, we have your car, the sparkling blue.' And he couldn't contain his excitement on the phone. The same guy had promised 6-7 weeks and has managed to pull it off in 2 weeks flat. I wanted to spoil his party, so I asked - 'do you have a TD car, I'm not buying without a TD?' He talked to a bunch of people in the background and his manager as well, and had a much subdued response this time, 'no sir. Since there is so much demand for i20 automatic cars, we are giving all the cars to customers. We do have the silky beige on display if you would like to see.' My wife and I made another trip to the Sankey Road Trident and checked out the automatic. I secretly carried my chequebook in case my wife agrees to buy it without TD, I didn't want to waste time. At the showroom, we still had no TD but we got to see the much elusive AT. I am glad we didn't accept the silky beige. But the interiors rocked. We had seen it many times, but the AT gear-shift was also very neat - a combination of chrome and black. Wifey agreed to buy and I promptly pulled out the cheque book, to my wife's surprise. Salesman didn't allow the pre-registration PDI (as suggested by t-bhp) saying it's in the stockyard and they don't allow customers there. Nevertheless, the salesman gave me the chassis# and engine# to reassure that the car has arrived. Also reassured that these cars are made to order, so the month of manufacture is Aug, 2009. Also reassured that the tyres are apollo accelere. The 4 things that I wanted to check (other than body scratches etc) were covered, so I didn't push for pre-reg PDI. Freebies (even without asking): Mud flaps, floor mats, teflon, idol, air-freshner. Insurance: Before going to the showroom, I had already checked the insurance quote for 97% IDV with Bajaj Allianz (thanks fulcrum) and got almost a 9k discount (15K quote from Bajaj allianz vs 24K insurance quote from Trident). I declined Trident's insurance. Salesman asked me to give his number to the Bajaj Allianz guy so that he can provide all information on whatever information is needed to complete the insurance formalities. Looking at the service, I get a feeling, these guys know I'm from t-bhp (the pre-registration PDI request must have been the give-away) and they are working extra-hard to please me. Sunfilm: I had done some research (thanks various members at t-bhp) on that as well and had figured I'd go for 3M CS50 or RE50 for side and back and CR70 for front. Trident accesories salesperson convinced me to go for RE35 for side and back and CR70 for front. She showed me 2 cars - one verna and one i20 with the exact same film (with the logo) and we bought it. After some haggling we have agreed on Rs.10500 for RE35 (4 side windows and rear windscreen) and CR70 (front windscreen). Seats: Put on hold yet. Tyres: Will swap once I get the delivery of the car. Delivery tomorrow once they realize the cheque that I gave today. I have withheld Rs.1.5L of the total amount which I will pay only on delivery after going thru the t-bhp PDI checklist. Last edited by pachchu : 18th August 2009 at 23:17. Reason: Freebies
	() Thanks

18th August 2009, 23:48	#6
Dippy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 7,755 Thanked: 4,214 Times	Congratulations on you i20 AT. I really like the i20 and even though its a hatch its fully loaded. This is 1.4 with 100 horses which makes it powerful too. Waiting for the initial report and pictures of your car. Happy motoring
	() Thanks

18th August 2009, 23:51	#7
JayD Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Cochin! At last Posts: 3,235 Thanked: 2,616 Times View My Garage	Congrats on the i20 pachchu.The car is really a stunner in blue. pls post how much the tire upgrade costs, as i intend to do the same too. I'm sure a lot of people are waiting for your review on the AT version.
	() Thanks

19th August 2009, 00:17	#8
AbhiJ Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Kolkata Posts: 1,498 Thanked: 1,257 Times	Congratulations dude.. Its a great car, and A/T will make it even better to drive! P.s. Bangalore Hyundai dealers are great. I spoke to 3 dealers here in Kolkata before booking my i20 CRDi but none of them agreed to give me even mats/flaps for free... leave alone teflon! Last edited by AbhiJ : 19th August 2009 at 00:25.
	() Thanks

19th August 2009, 00:48	#10
Caramelo BHPian Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: ahmedabad Posts: 769 Thanked: 17 Times	damn bro you just bought a loaded gun . not just a loaded car. and its totally worth it. it is value for money. err this may sound cheesy... but it seems you got it all!!! congratulations!!!!
	() Thanks

19th August 2009, 11:19	#11
balajird BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 460 Thanked: 63 Times	Congrats Pachchu, I really enjoyed reading your review on your Reva, hope you come up with such a review on this beautiful yet powerful i20 1.4 AT. Have you traded your santro with the same dealer? If you dont mind, could you disclose the exchange price and the OTR for this beauty. Enjoy your purchase and let us know how was the delivery experience.
	() Thanks

19th August 2009, 11:32	#12
vasudeva Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Delhi Posts: 2,221 Thanked: 212 Times	Congrats on buying an AT from a good car manufacturer. I think your pre-sale experience has been quite good. Further, I have been enlightened to know that i20 has a 100 bhp AT (which is quite comparable to City). The price in Delhi on road for this seems to be 8 (without sunroof)-8.5 (with sunroof). Our company is however entitled to some 20K discount on all Hyundai products. I seriously consider this a good, premium AT car with enough power and most features. Last edited by vasudeva : 19th August 2009 at 11:38.
	() Thanks

19th August 2009, 11:40	#13
nnandi BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 160 Thanked: 3 Times View My Garage	Congrats Pachchu! The blue looks awesome in the i20. Please post some pics and an initial report. Incidentally I am also waiting for delivery of an i10 sportz AT from trident! Happy driving!
	() Thanks

19th August 2009, 11:52	#15
shreyasma BHPian Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Bang! Posts: 652 Thanked: 6 Times	Congrats friend. Have a happy and a safe drive with the i20. Please dont forget to update your delivery experience.
	() Thanks