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Upgraded from an S-Cross to an Alcazar diesel MT: Initial impressions

The first thing I noticed coming from the S-Cross is how silent the diesel was. I've read about the refinement over the years, the Carens test drive was the first taste of the Hyundai diesel refinement.

BHPian narayans80 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

If someone asked me earlier this year about changing the car, I'd have brushed off the idea as crazy and unnecessary. After all, my S-Cross was loan-free and chugging along at a fuel cost of 4 Rs/liter. Even more so, since my commute ballooned from 22 to 75 km a day. This meant, even without doing highway trips I was clocking 8000 km a quarter.

But then life has other plans..

The first surprise was that we were expecting another child. We now had to accomodate 2+3 in the car, which in theory was fine, since we had a 5-seater right?

It was not until I purchased and installed the Chicco Nextfit did I realize the apparent lack of space. But it was not that alone. The lap belts in our 5-seaters are a joke. They simply are too small for adults to wear.

So while the intention to buy a bigger car was there, we were not willing to start another EMI. We were looking at a 2 year timeframe to decide.

Besides I was looking at buying an EV in 2025-26 that would take care of my commuting needs and S-Cross gets used as a highway runner.

Then the seminal event happened..Mr. Cyrus Mistry met his maker in a car accident by not wearing seat belts in the rear.

This was it, want became need and we starting looking for a replacement.

I have penned my requirements and initial thoughts here.

Car ownership history:

A brief history of my cars over the years.

My first car, the one that taught me driving a car and how to own a car. I remember the delivery date 27-August-2010. This was brought at a time when I had zero awareness on car ownership, about the time I got my Team-BHP membership.

I had moved to Italy for work related commitments. The i10 was sold sometime in 2013 still on car loan.

2010 Hyundai i10 Magna 1.2.

Over the car-less hiatus, I read through official reviews of Tata Hexa and S-Cross cover-to-cover I really wanted to get the S-Cross in the 1.6 avatar. Those limited units of 1.6 were still there as of Q3 of 2017.

I had a poverty spec budget where I had to buy the car cash down, with no chance of EMIs.

I was out of touch driving a manual transmission, so looked for City and Corolla in AT avatar.

Found a 2010 Corolla AT with 72000 km on the clock in September 2017. The 4-speed AT made this 4500 mm long sedan such a breeze to drive, that I've taken this fella into gully roads in the city.

The car not just had a drinking problem, but also needed super expensive part replacements. Toyota servicing was nothing to write home about. The last straw was them suggesting an engine rebuild for a 94K run petrol car, which was taken to the ASC for a FE problem.

This car taught few things:

  • Never buy an used car for high mile usage.
  • No more petrol for my sort of usage.
  • Regular Toyota maintenance is cheap, part replacements are not.
  • I needed better GC. I could bottom out on full load at my office backyard. And I was regularly driving into the unknown roads.

2010 Toyota Corolla VL-AT.

With that seminal incident, we sold the Corolla clocking 22K in less than 14 months under conservative usage. We needed a daily driver with a new urgency.

Started at 10L as a budget looking at C1-C2 segment cars. A pre-facelift Creta SX was available at 16L. Seemed a stretch at that time. I had a soft corner for S-Cross, a car I'd been following since its launch. It was a diesel from a low risk apetite OEM. Ciaz was considered due to budget and rejected due to GC.

As King Theoden says, and so the stellar ownership began...

To summarize the S-Cross ownership:

  • Frugal sub 5 Rs/km fuel cost.
  • The car taught me to fall in love with manual transmission. Contrary to popular belief, the transition from AT to MT was a breeze.
  • I became a long distance runner driving as many as 1400 km in 24 hours. Made Maharashtra look like a neighborhood town.
  • Brought back confidence in the steed, that undertook 8000 km in 16 days just like that.
  • Bad roads, no roads, knee deep water ? No problem!
  • The car could've easily seen few lakh kms, cut short to 85000 km due to our additional space requirement.
  • The only annoyance in the ownership was the glow plug replacements. I had to replace 8, between 28000 and 63000 km. The replacements stopped after the glow plug control module got replaced at 63000 kms.

Budget:

We started at 15L, but quickly knew, there was nothing other than XL6 that satisfied this financial requirement. So we knew we had to stretch, but 24L seemed a bit too much. Another school of thought was, this was the time in life when we'd need such a big car, so why not?

Candidates:

Tata Safari - I had seen this earlier in July. I liked it, my daughter liked it. However the major gripe was that I have to stretch to 24.6L and get the XZ to have ISOFIX. Every other criteria was satisfied by XT. Why have the ISOFIX only in the top variant in a D segment car, when budget segment has it on base variant is beyond me. The waiting time was a decent 6-8 weeks.

Toyota Innova - My wife wanted to get the Innova for a long time, so did I. But the diesel being discontinued and buying the petrol Innova with a fuel cost of 10 Rs/km was yaanai katti theeni potta kadhai (buying and feeding an elephant). Was dropped even without a showroom visit.

MG Hector Plus - This came as a suggestion from AYP to my What car post. The Super variant was 22.x L on-road and Select was 24.7 L on-road. The waiting times were at 6 months for Super, 1-2 months for Select. Servicing wise, nearest service center was 30 km away at Ekkaduthangal.

Kia Carens - Visited the showroom on the 10th and took a test drive. I was impressed and so was the family. Prestige Plus was the variant of choice which retailed at 17.6L. I quite liked the drivability. This was the prime candidate. The looks were polar which I was willing to live with for the practicality it offered. There was only one problem, the waiting time was 5-6 months. Service centers were again 30 km away either at Ambattur or Perungudi. I was almost ready to book, but I wanted to see and test drive the Alcazar before taking the plunge.

Maruti XL6 - This could have been a no-brainer if it had the MJD. Or atleast a petrol with better drivability. Based on the official review and many other impressions, I was prepared. The test drive (2022 Maruti XL6 Facelift Review) impression vindicated that this isn't for me.

Hyundai Alcazar - This was the last car we saw. I was fine with the practicality. No big difference in terms of drivability compared to Carens. The entry level Prestige variant had all I wanted. The on-road I was offered was 19.15L with a promised delivery in a week.

Decision:

At the time of decision making, the S-Cross had crossed 85000 km. Much before we became serious in looking for a car. I was clear to either sell the S-Cross before 100,000 km or wring it for life. Given the pace I was raking miles, waiting 6 months would mean further drop in trade-in price from what I had from each of the dealers.

Plus if we were not stretching to 25L, we had to compromise with the Alcazar or Carens.

The sticker price, short waiting time proximity of servicing, sealed the deal in favour for Hyundai Alcazar.

Short summary of my likes, dislikes and neutral points:

Likes:

  • Refined diesel powertrain that has adequate juice for urban and highway runs.
  • Good service network across the country. I have as many as 6 service center choices in reasonable distance. Kia and MG lose out on this regard.
  • Dark shade interiors! Am a big sucker for black interiors.
  • Sufficient brakes that decelerate from 80 to 0 without any drama.
  • Gets most of the basic kit right on the base Prestige variant.
  • Noise insulation of the cabin is good, tire noise from those JK UX Royales are rather muted.

Dislikes:

  • Short gearing that makes you work through the gears during urban runs.
  • Loud keyless entry beep that will wake your neighbors.
  • No side-curtain airbags as standard on car that's classified under D-segment costs nearly 2 million rupees.
  • Unstable wireless Carplay connectivity that makes you forget the convenience it provides.
  • Ultra light Hyundai steering that needs careful handling coming from S-Cross.
  • Overdone front chrome grill and rear name band is an eyesore.
  • Overpriced by 1.5L compared to its sibling Carens for identical kit.
  • Blatant omissions like rear washer, day-night IRVM.

Neutral:

  • Speed limit beep for 80 is livable. Will learn to ignore it over time.
  • JK UX Royales are ok for now. They'll be replaced on next swap.
  • LED headlamps are acceptable for me. Not everybody's cup of tea.
  • Feels rather top heavy coming from S-Cross.
  • Concerns over BS6 diesel exist. Hoping my usage pattern will take care of it.
  • Boot space was a planned compromise, given the budget constraints.
  • Stiff suspension is not for every use case.
  • I made the booking on 17-September and took delivery on the 26-September. It could have been the 24th, if the RTO formalities were done on the 23rd.

Review Index:

Exterior

Interior

Driving Impressions

In car Entertainment

Other significant observations and quirks

Exteriors:

I'll admit, I don't like the exteriors that much. That front grill is in your face and overdone. The weird looking headlight cluster is another eyesore. I lived 4 years with that ugly facelifted S-Cross grille, am going to live this baby as well. Neither were born to win beauty contests.

A close look at the ugly front grill.

The side profile is neutral, no funny elements or cladding added to spoil the look.

Driver side profile.

The rear is again overdone. Too loud for my taste. Hyundai's tried to make the rear look like a Fortuner.

Overdone rear.

No way to unlock the car from the passenger side. S-Cross had it. It was very convenient to unlock when you had to park the driver side close to the wall.

No request sensor on the front passenger door.

Child lock uses a key. Not the button mechanism I've seen on my previous cars.

Child lock on the rear door.

Continue reading BHPian narayan80's review of his Hyundai Alcazar diesel MT for BHPian comments, insights and more information.

 
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