27th November 2009, 19:21
| #1 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 503
Thanked: 518 Times
| My Korean beauty, Hyundai i20 CRDi Asta with sunroof My background:- I am basically a biker, who used to hate cars as most bikers do  . My wife wanted me to buy a car ever since we got married but I kept on avoiding buying it as I did not know to drive a car and also I did not want to spend lakhs on a car. A few months back my wife was pregnant and knowing that the kid would arrive, I had to think about a car, so the hunt for a car begun. It was the trusted reviews at Team-Bhp which would help me in making my decision.Which Car? I had basically just two cars in mind. The Hyundai i20 and the Punto [only diesel’s]. I always loved the i20 for its stunning looks, then Punto came into the picture and all the talk abt the ride quality & handling of the Punto better than the i20 crept into my mind. Luckily a very close friend of mine purchased a diesel punto, which made the decision making a lot easier. Another friend of mine and I along with the punto owner went for a 200 km ride one night, I knew this was going to be the decision making ride. I have listed down a few points below of the +ve’s and –ve’s of both the Punto[top end] and i20 [top end with Sun roof]. Punto :- +ve’s:- 1. Good looks. 2. Ride and handling top notch. 3. Solid feel to the car. 4. Plenty of features. 5. Loved the steering grip and the position of the gear lever. -ve’s:- 1. boomy sound inside the cabin when going over bad roads, it was getting irritating, I am not sure if the tyres were the culprit. 2. Engine lacks punch. 3. Poor plastics. 4. Poor stereo, it sounds horrible, also finding the USB port is like going on a treasure hunt. 5. leg room. For the legroom, me and my friend both around 1.76 meters in height tried sitting one behind the other, the problem with the Punto is the driver centric console design. It is in Y shape, because of this the right leg of the front passenger has less space when compared to the left leg. This forces the front passenger to push the seat a little back, which in turn makes the passenger at the back seat uncomfortable. PS :- The above –ve’s are strictly my opinion, if it has offended anyone I am sorry. i20:- +ve’s:- 1. Stunning looks. 2. Plenty of features. 3. Discs on all four wheels. 4. Good plastics. 5. Punchy engine. 6. Airbags, plenty of them all over  .7. Sunroof, I just love it. 8. I would say descent stereo when compared to the one in Punto, good bass. The FM sounds horrible I don’t know why, but the MP3’s rock. -ve’s:- 1. Poor steering wheel leather, no grip at all. 2. Not so great ride quality when compared to punto, but it aint too bad either as it is made out to be. 3. No feed back at all from the steering. 4. Horns, damm it, it is a 8.5 lacs OTR car, Hyundai should provide better horns. 5. Seats, because of the airbags I cannot put on seat covers. 6. The headlights, got to do something about this. Will Philips extreme power help? The main decision making point for me was the nice luxury feeling you get on getting into the i20, everything feels top notch, you feel you are sitting in a premium car. Since this was my first car and basically I was buying it for my family, I felt i20 was perfect for the family with all the safety features and the nice feel the car provided, with Hyundai’s service I need not have to bother much. My elder brother insisted on getting the i20 Asta diesel with Sunroof. I decided to go for the dark metallic grey color. Dealership Experience:- Initially I visited Advaith Hyundai near Brigade road, the sales person wasn’t responsive and bluntly told me he won’t give me any freebies. Later I checked Trident Hyundai near Cauvery theatre, as I had heard good things about them and it was near my house too, the Assistant sales manager Prathap Bharadwaj was very good, even before I could ask, he told they would give mud flaps, floor mats, perfume and lord Ganesha idol. I asked him to send the demo car twice to my house and he happily sent it both the times. I am grateful to him for that. I did a 30K advance payment and booked the car and I was told to wait for 4 loooooooooong weeks. Luckily the car arrived at the end of the third week, Prathap called me and gave me the Chassis and engine number, I decided to visit the Trident stock yard near Golden Spa resort near Tumkur road. I myself figured out my car, out of the hundreds of them that were parked there, the Trident guys were courteous enough to let me check out the car, took a few snaps and returned back with a smile. Banks:- I tried for loan at Canara Bank, Hdfc and Axis bank. The canara bank manager was very arrogant; looks like he did not want to give any loan at all, the number of documents he asked put me off, finally after a lot of negotiation settled for Axis bank at 9.76%. I applied for 7 lakhs loan. EMI worked out to be 14,871. The insurance quoted by the showroom guys was too much, I settled for Reliance insurance for 16K, where as the company quoted one was 25,871. Finally the D-day arrived, I along with my elder brother took the delivery of the vehicle, the showroom people did a small pooja to the car, before handing over the keys to me. I distributed sweets and we left. The odo showed 21 kms when the keys were handed over to me. On the way back put 1000 bucks of normal diesel, the car already had descent amount of fuel in it. First 1000 kms exp:- For the first two weeks, drove it to office daily, the to & fro distance is 28 kms. I have heard a lot of people say that it does not pull well in city, true, it does not pull well but I don’t revv it unnecessarily if it does not pull, I just follow the thumb rule, if no pull then downshift. Last week took the car on its first long drive of 350 kms. As already mentioned the steering is very light, driving the car in city traffic is very easy, take it to the highways and you need to get used to the steering I am quite comfortable with it now, but still I felt the steering was a little too light, tanked up the car before going for the long drive and when we returned back the fuel indicator was still showing more than 75% fuel in it. We drove with the AC on almost 80% of the time, the engine punch is soooooooper, till 2000 revs the engine is sober does not show any eagerness to move quickly, once it crosses 2K revs whoa, the pull is intoxicating. You feel as if the car is going to take off to the sky, you feel like putting your right foot down every time, I was revving it slightly once in a while. I maintained a speed between 80 to 120 on the highway in the 5th gear. During the next tank up checked out the fuel efficiency, it had delivered around 18 plus kms with 80% of the time AC on and around 30% of city driving, which I feel is excellent. After another couple of days I had to go to my wife’s native (Shimogga). I recalled GTO had suggested that most dealers over inflate the tyres before delivery of the car. I just thought of checking the tyre pressure, on checking was shocked to see that the front tyres had around 50 PSI pressure, got it set to 33 PSI, on going back to the highway was surprised to see that the steering felt a lot more solid, it wasn’t as light as it was previously. I hit a top speed of 140+ and surprisingly the car feels very comfortable at those speeds, no sound or feel of speed at all. Overtaking is very easy, just press the accelerator and she flies. The brakes are excellent. As I type now the car has done 1050 kms. I feel the engine has opened up now, it pulls a lot better at lower revs now. After coming back from Shimogga, I am planning to give the car for its first service and get the engine oil changed even though it is not recommended. The gears are soooper slick, just a slight nudge and it changes. A couple of days back even with 5 people in the car and AC on the car was pulling cleanly, it just rockets after 2k revs. The car does a 100kmph at 2100 revvs, and 140 kmph at 3100 revvs off course in 5th gear. I believe this car can easily hit 170+. Irritants:- I hear some sounds at the back, I am not sure what it is, also there is a slight vibration sound coming from the front passengers dashboard side, will get it checked during the first service. Accessories:- I am planning to get the 3M sunflim on the car next month and also planning to get the speakers changed to better ones. Any suggestions from you guys is welcome, regarding the above. There are a few scratches here and there, I am not too much concerned about them, I just try to avoid them as much as possible beyond that it is not in my control. Some idiot has also peeled off the ABS sticker from the car, it hurts, any idea about the price of it. By the way my wife delivered a baby boy this Monday 23rd November, the car is actually a gift from me to my kid, as it was only because of my kid I learnt to drive and brought the car. Happy driving guys. Here are a few snaps of my car from the stock yard.            |
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27th November 2009, 19:38
| #2 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 38
Thanked: 2 Times
| Congrats on your new buy.I think many are choosing i20 as their first car(it's my personal opinion) |
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27th November 2009, 21:08
| #3 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 45
Thanked: 9 Times
| Congrats for the two beauties in your life.! I mean your new-born child and your Hyundai land rocket. Nice write-up and a great choice of color too. Quote:
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27th November 2009, 21:17
| #4 |
| Senior - BHPian  | rbp congrats on your i20 asta(O) diesel - its a rocker! As for good news' , the real good news was on the 2nd last line of your post Drive safe. Post a few recent pics of the car if possible. Are you planning on aftermarket tires/alloys/ICE?  Don't mean to be in-your-face rude, but in a couple of places in your otherwise great post, you spelled 'decent' as 'descent'. Take care. Last edited by blackasta : 27th November 2009 at 21:18. |
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27th November 2009, 21:28
| #5 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Coimbatore
Posts: 1,961
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27th November 2009, 21:50
| #6 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: chennai
Posts: 469
Thanked: 112 Times
| Congrats on becoming a father and a owner of this car. Your pictures look great  On the headlamps, you can upgrade to Philips Xtreme power. It will be just a retrofit and a safe upgrade. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/access...s-my-m800.html |
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27th November 2009, 22:54
| #7 | ||||
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 503
Thanked: 518 Times
| Quote:
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 . As for the tires and alloys I feel the Apollo acceleres do a decent job, I wouldn't mind changing the ICE if the steering mounted controls can control the head unit. I am definitely changing the speakers.Quote:
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28th November 2009, 00:37
| #8 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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28th November 2009, 00:46
| #9 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: thane
Posts: 741
Thanked: 5 Times
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28th November 2009, 03:19
| #10 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Coimbatore
Posts: 2,566
Thanked: 5,961 Times
| Wow, congrats new-born dad! And congrats for the new ride too!!! If you feel the stock tires are good enough then dont bother. Else have it exchanged for a MIchelin or Yoko as soon as possible, you will get not a good exchange for the stock tires later on. As for the ICE, try auditioning your car with speakers like Illusion Audio, JBL, etc. Just changing the speakers will make a difference. As for the headlights, get 12v relay, wiring harness and Philips Rally 100/90 - should cost you less than 900 bucks for all these. Get them installed at a trusted local mechanic- Hyundai A.S.S may not do this for you. Also make sure the mechanic does not cut any of the stock wires, and closes the headlight's cover by taking the wires in through one small hole (cut the wiring harness you bought, and tape it again), and sealing the hole. One more accessory you might have to consider soon would be baby seats Have a safe ride!! |
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28th November 2009, 08:38
| #11 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,531
Thanked: 136 Times
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28th November 2009, 10:30
| #12 |
| Newbie  Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Vadodara
Posts: 24
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28th November 2009, 12:46
| #13 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 503
Thanked: 518 Times
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28th November 2009, 14:12
| #14 |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 81
Thanked: Once
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28th November 2009, 15:07
| #15 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: MKE,USA
Posts: 116
Thanked: 26 Times
| Hearty Congratulations !  on the new arrival and being proud owner of i20.Join the club.. Dont forget to buckle up ! Drive Safe. |
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