A Skoda Slavia owner shares his impressions of the 2023 Hyundai Verna

Paint quality is still a bit away from VAG standards, but better than the City.

BHPian ashivas89 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

First impressions from a Slavia DSG, Gen 5 City ZX and former Verna 1.6 CRDi AT owner:

I visited Lakshmi Hyundai in Whitefield, Bangalore on an impulse while driving by. They have a grey SX(O) ivt example on display.

Test drives to begin 10 days from now, according to the SA.

I could only spend 15 mins with the car. Here are a few quick observations:

Exterior and build:

• Styling is quite funky and the car looks good from some angles(more on this later).
• Detailing is interesting.
• Full cladding in the front arch + Steel front arch (city gets only a partial metal arch).
• Hood felt very heavy ( possibly due to the sheer acreage of the hood?).
• Decent paint quality.
• Decent GC of 170 mm (According to the SA. He was quite confident and did not have to think twice before his answer.)
• Car looks ugly from some angles (you only need to shift a few feet to the left or right for the car to alternate between ugly and good looking).
• Build quality is still decidedly Asian.
• Doors and trunk lid do not have the heft of European cars' (my old Verna was closer).
• Rear wheel well does not have full cladding.
• Come on Hyundai, why cant you paint the areas which people do see often? (inner surface of the tailgate gets only the base coat).
• Paint quality still a bit away from VAG standards, but better than the City.
• 4 lug nuts on wheels!!?
• Brake discs up front appeared to be small for a car this size (My prediction? this will pop up during the road test.. brakes lacking bite. Rear discs don't provide a huge advantage for bite or stopping power. The advantages are more evident during repeated braking)
• What's with the lame quarter plate sized logo up front?
• Finally, forget about body shops repairing dents, there are too many creases! Hang on to that zero dep insurance as long as you can!

Interiors:

• Quite bright and airy.
• Soft touch materials applied across the dasboard (the white strip with the stich on it).
• Decent material quality.
• Decent fit and finish (not hugely better than the Slavia, virtus or City but better nevertheless).
• Slick infotainment (I still prefer the VAG 10+ inch unit).
• Comfy seats.
• Low dash and good frontal visibility.
• Good legroom in the rear, Finally!
• Steering wheel looks terrible and the centre boss plastic quality feels low rent, buttons are okay though.
• Window switches are not not fully illuminated (as usual..).
• Light coloured soft touch material will pick up stains. The dealership got the car 2 days ago and it was already pretty soiled.
• City still feels more spacious, so does my Slavia. Especially in the rear.
• Some buttons look tacky, especially the piano black ones (personal taste..).
• The bezel around the infotainment screen looks CHEAP!

All in all, it is evident where the money has gone. The interiors + the overall "snazziness" are where it is at for this car.

Would I still have bought the Slavia now? Yes, but.. it is not as emphatic a yes as it had been until the price announcement

The Verna is is going to come across as a terrific all rounder especially due to the pricing for anyone in the market for a C2 sedan.

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