[manz]

Meet your I20 Ma’am:

I was planning to take the delivery of the car by end of December or first week of January as some of my saved money was tied up elsewhere and I had to apply for a loan for the remainder amount. However, my mom dropped a bomb on December 6 when she mentioned that December 17 to January 13 was an inauspicious period to take the delivery of the car and I didn't want to wait till mid-January. Frantic calls were made to the dealer and he mentioned that the car was available at the stockyard and he could arrange for it to be brought to the showroom on December 8. The first hurdle was crossed. I was aiming at a delivery date of December 15 now and still had to arrange for a loan. SBI was ruled out given the deadline and I decided to go with HDFC as I had an existing relationship with the bank and a pre-approved auto loan. I applied for the car loan on December 8, which got approved on December 9 and disbursed on December 10. Also, managed to get the tied up money back into my account by December 13. Phew!

On December 8, I paid a booking amount of Rs. 10,000 and got to see my car for the first time. The dealer, as agreed earlier, had brought the car to the showroom. I checked the VIN details with the help of Wildon and the car turned out to be a November 12 make. Armed with the PDI checklist, my BIL and two nephews accompanied me for the inspection on December 12. We managed to run through the complete list, well almost, and gave a go-ahead to the dealer. The Silky Beige (I typed it as Silly Beige in one of my previous posts ) I20 was to be mine in three days!

Success!

[manz]

What’s life without a little bit of drama?

As mentioned earlier, the balance money came back to my account only on December 13 and I didn’t want to take chances by writing a check and things getting delayed. I decided to make an online transfer so that the money would be in the dealer’s account early next day. To my horror, when I added the dealer as a beneficiary on my HDFC account on December 12 late evening, I realised that it takes 24 hrs. for the account to be activated. I almost kicked myself. Called up the sales representative again, and he mentioned that he would not be able to send the car for registration on December 14 as planned earlier but given that the money should be in his account by Wednesday morning, I could take the delivery of the car later in the day. Thankfully, the beneficiary account did get activated after 24 hrs and the transferred amount was credited to the dealer’s account on December 15 morning.

On December 15, I took the day off from work as my nephew was in town and I had decided to take him out for lunch and some shopping. And after that, the plan was to reach the showroom by 5 pm. As usual, we got delayed at shopping and started from Indiranagar at around 5.30 pm. Got stuck in a terrible traffic jam after the Silk Board junction and reached the Trident Hosur Road Showroom only by 7:00 pm. Finished all formalities quickly, gave some gifts to the sales executives, took my keys and drove off by 7:45 pm. Got the car tanked up at a nearby Shell petrol bunk and we were on our way to the temple.

But wait, the neighbourhood temple generally closes at 8:00pm. Called up mom, she called up the priest and he, thankfully, agreed to keep the temple open till 9:00pm for us. I went home, picked up mom and reached the temple by 8:30 pm but the priest had to go out for some urgent work. We waited for half hour and upon his return he did an elaborate puja for the car. By 9:30 pm, the car was blessed to be driven on the streets!

Happiness!

[manz]

Originally Posted by Antonian

Congratulations. Welcome to the i20 Silky Beige club. I20 with free insurance is a pretty good deal. Booked i20 sportz for my friend last week, without any offer. :(((

Tough luck Antonian! However, I20 is a wonderful car and I am sure your friend will not regret the decision of buying one, even without the free insurance offer.

[raghav.carfreak]

Hey many many congratulations Manz, I can completely relate to you, as I presently drive a Hyundai Getz wid 56k on d odo and it's going to stay my faithful companion for another couple of years but I already sigh when i see an i20 drive pass, And the i20 is the official replacement for the getz from Hyundai itself, why shouldn't it be the ideal replacement for me as well? specially with the rave reviews on the forum and the consistent 7k+ sales a month!
Someday!
Eagerly awaiting pics and initial driving experiences!

[manz]

The I20 and Me: Merry Miles

The car and I have managed more than 300 Kms. together. The not so good part of it is that all these have been in bumper to bumper Bangalore traffic. I am planning to take the car out of the city for a free-from-traffic drive this weekend.


The transition from Santro to I20: The good, bad and ugly!

OK, there is no ugly, thankfully!

The good parts first:

- Having driven my Santro without a left ORVM all my driving life, the pair of ORVMs is like a boon to me. The fact that they are electronically adjusted and auto folding is the icing on the cake. (The only let down is that both the mirrors close and open together)

- Reverse parking sensors: I have been wondering why didn’t I get one installed on my old Santro

- The space in I20 is something everyone who sat in my car has raved about

- The rich interiors give it a class-above-it’s-segment feel

- Loving the steering mounted audio controls (I do face problems while honking, which I am not very generous with, but hopefully will get used to it)

- The key: I just love the foldable key that comes with the car. Ah! the little pleasures of life

- The huge glove compartment and the many storage options are appreciated

- I know people have been talking about the dead steering but in the kind of traffic that I have been driving the car, it has been invaluable. I am yet to drive on the highway and maybe I’ll miss the steering feedback there

- Loving the color. As ‘sagarpadaki’ mentioned, it hides dust extremely well

The not-so-good:

- Ingress and Egress – I sometimes knock my knee on central console while getting in and out of the car. Also, I think it will be an issue for my parents but then they don’t really ride with me too often. I am mostly the sole occupant and I think I can live with it

- The central console is pretty huge and bottoms down a long way. After all the seat adjustments, I still sometimes slightly scrape my shin while engaging the clutch. I think the long clutch travel also adds to it

- The A pillars create blind spots while turning

- I also feel that when the car is climbing on a sharp incline on the road turning (we have quite a few in our locality) the visibility is greatly compromised

- Lot of outside noise creeps inside the cabin. The other day two guys on a bike next to me were talking and I could hear them clearly with all windows rolled up and no they were not very loud

- I also think that the suspension is a little stiff and I do hear some noise in the car's rear when going over bumpers. I have the tyre pressure at 33 psi (was shocked to see that it was around 38 when I took delivery. Isn't that abnormal and something the dealership should have checked?)

[manz]

So, what next?

Keeping it simple, I am just looking at the following:

- Art leather seat covers
- Door Scuffs
- Door Anti-Scratch
- Bluetooth device (What is the possibility of getting this installed as I already have a mirror mounted reverse parking display)?

A big big thank you to team-BHP and it's members! It has been a goldmine of information, and has certainly educated me in a lost of aspects when it comes to cars. I still don't understand the technicalities but some more time lurking on the forums will take care of that too I guess

Right away some questions for all of you:

- More tyre noise compared to my Santro. What could be the reason for this? Reducing the tyre pressure from 38 psi (at the time of delivery!) to 33 psi has helped a bit. But it is still above my comfort level

- How do I block the outside noise from creeping in? I know I can turn on the audio but I really find it very irritating

- I hear a cross between a ‘whoosh’ and ‘keetch’ sound when the break is applied softly. Need help!

- The driver side door doesn’t close properly. I had pointed this to the sales guy while taking the car delivery and he said it is not something to be worried about and the next time I am the service center, they’ll fix it. Should I be overly concerned?

- The automatic gear indicator consistently indicates to upshift at 2000 rpm. Going by the indicator, my car is being driven between 1,000-2500 rpm. Is that ok?

- I noticed some black dust on wheels. As per some of the other posts, it seems to be due to the disc brakes and nothing to be worried about. Let me know if otherwise

- Sometime engaging the first gear is a problem. This was a problem in my Santro too. When downshifting from 2nd to 1st at low speeds the stick seems to resist the change. What’s the reasons for this and can it be corrected?

[manz]

Originally Posted by kalpeshc

I am really keen for your updates and pics. I am planning to get a white Asta in the near future. Do highlight on the various aspects which are criticized in the i20 e.g. dead steering, A/C, steering rattle, etc.

What accessories are on the card?

Hey kalpeshc-

It's too early to give you feedback on those particular points:

Dead Steering: Haven't managed to take the car for a good ride. For city traffic, that the car has been subjected to, the steering is pretty good

A/c: Not the best time to gauge the effectiveness of the A/c. But I have a sneaking feeling that it will not be a chiller

Steering Rattle: The car is not even a week old Just pray that I never answer in affirmative to that issue

[Reinhard]

Hey Manz, you are testing our patience to the limit mate Pictures!!!!

As for your queries-
The up shift at 2000rpm = I don't see a problem in driving 1k to 2.5k rpm. For better FE, its always good to upshift as soon as possible (without straining the engine into knock of course). I upshift around 1800rpm generally. Its better to shift by the time you reach 2000. Don't pull beyond that unnecessarily. If you feel you can shift even below 2000rpm, go for it.

As for the door = do you mean you have to attempt 1-2 times and a bit harder for it to close properly? If thats the case, you can live with it till the 1st service. Or you mean its not closing fully at all?? If thats the case and the sales guy told you to wait till 1st service, put his neck between the door and car body, and slam it.

2nd to 1st gear = well its not unique for you. Happens occasionally with all gearboxes. Yes I've seen it a bit more on Hyundai ones. Are you trying to go into 1st too early? If the car is in motion, don't be hasty to go into 1st. The engine has enough torque to pull away on 2nd. If you are slower than 10kmph and then 1st isnt engaging well, try the old art of truck drivers - "Double Clutching" - 1. 2nd to neutral 2. let go of the clutch 3. press the clutch again 4. and then shift into 1st. Some times the synchro-mesh isn't all that perfect in 2nd to 1st change...See if this solves your issue...

Wishing you unlimited happy, safe and Ubercool miles with your i20!

Cheers.

[sajo]

Originally Posted by manz

- More tyre noise compared to my Santro. What could be the reason for this? Reducing the tyre pressure from 38 psi (at the time of delivery!) to 33 psi has helped a bit. But it is still above my comfort level

- The automatic gear indicator consistently indicates to upshift at 2000 rpm. Going by the indicator, my car is being driven between 1,000-2500 rpm. Is that ok?

- Sometime engaging the first gear is a problem. This was a problem in my Santro too. When downshifting from 2nd to 1st at low speeds the stick seems to resist the change. What’s the reasons for this and can it be corrected?

- What tyres did your car come with ? My Swift comes with JK Vectras, and they make a huge racket on smooth roads at cruising speeds.I am no expert on this, but if your budget permits it (mine doesnt ), get them changed to something with a softer sidewall, like the Michelen Energy XM1+.

-2000 rpm is the ideal shift point, especially since you are running in your car. Infact, 2500 RPM will really be the upper limits of what I would go to, during the first 1500 kms.

- Normal and expected behaviour from all cars.

Ohh yes, and dude, please post (lots) of pictures!

[manz]

Guys-

Thanks! Good to know that I don't have too much to worry about.

@ Sajo, tyre change ruled out as I indulged myself beyond budget this weekend.


About the pictures, they are seriously testing my patience too! I washed the car myself on Friday as I was planning on a photo shoot but somehow that didn't happen.
On Saturday, the car got dirty again and took it to Car Sparkle so that I could finally go click crazy. Got delayed and daylight was lost. Put a car cover (first time ever in my driving life) on Saturday night so that the car would be snap ready on Sunday but then again got crazy busy.

I promise to upload some pics this weekend.

[Reinhard]

Ha ha! Cool. Looking forward to weekend then! This feels funny. In my own post, I did similar postpones of photo upload as well! Do keep a blower handy when you uncover her for snaps. The cover though protects the car well, doesn't prevent a fine layer of dust from settling on the car. A blower will clean it up in a jiffy.

[manz]

The first FE figure as follows:

100% city driving in near peak traffic conditions with AC on 90% of time: 10.38 km/ltr

[camchennai]

Congratulation on new buy Manz.

BTW, what is the delivery charge?? This is is something new which I am hearing, is there a breakdown for that??

Now, where are the pictures??

[Me-hul]

Hey manz congrats on the buy. Very good car I must say.

@all:
I recently got the i20 sportz. Today unfortunately I met with a small accident. A truck hit my right ERVM (damn that driver!!). Its working fine but the outer mirror cover broke into pieces (the one which is body colored). Cant see my car in this condition. Its run for about 900 kms. Was thinking of getting a new cover fitted. Please answer a few of my queries:

1. How much would this cover cost?
2. Can I give the car for its 1st service now itself (1500km is the recommended time) as I didnt want to make a trip to the service centre again for the service. Its been aound a month since I got this car.

[flyingkolors]

Originally Posted by manz

Counting the beans:

This was the final deal on the car:

Ex-Showroom price : Rs. 580,554

Road Tax : Rs. 89,407

Insurance : Rs. 0 (Free)

Delivery Charges : Rs. 5,500

OTR Price : Rs. 6, 75,461

Extended Warranty : Rs. 3,785

Total : Rs. 6, 79,246

Exchange Price for my old Santro: Rs. 1.20 lacs

Freebies: Reverse parking sensor, Garware sunfilm, car cover, mudflaps, floor mats, car perfume, mobile charger, Teflon coating (I refused)

Wow! thats cool offer on I20. I just booked my I20 Sportz a week back. (yet to take delivery) and no offer on Parking sensors and sunfilms.

Waiting for those 'uber cool' pictures.