Hyundai Grand i10 Review

Hyundai Grand i10 that is priced at Rs 4.19-Rs5.26 lakhs that is well rounded city hatchback that account for 50% of the company sales excelling in interior quality and engine characteristics. Hyundai has done a better job with the i10’s facelift than for the Verna.

Exterior Styling:

The new facelift i10 looks larger when compared to that of its predecessor. The facelift brought with the sweet wraparound tailamps, family grille, new bumpers and sharper rear lamps among other oddities find to have a good fit and finish. Appaling to the car is its fluidic styling and hyundai-family face with a chrome strip. When compared to that of the old i10,the headlamps are somewhat larger in size. A small mud-flap has been invoked ahead of the front tyre inorder to handle the air-flow. Chrome-ringed fog lamps gives a flashy effect. With the feature of keyless entry and go, you can get in to the car without any need to press the button or to possess the key. To prevent unnecessary scratching and dents, the car gets the massive black molding at the bottom.Without drilling any holes, installing a roof carrier/box on to a roof rails thus serves it serves both as purpose and as a styling aspect.4-rear parking sensors and large bumper reflectors ensures safety.

Interior Design:

Hyundai has provided comfortness to a greater extent. The buttons for volume control are made larger and positioned within one's reach. Instead of climatic control, manual air-con is being provided. Further, the HVAC controls are large and within easy reach, they are quite stiff and clunky to operate.The hatchback gets a mature look with the neat and clean two-tone dashboard. Faux metallic highlights are judiciously fixed at a right place to shower a good effect. Quality of plastic is good at the interior portion. It is now finished in dual-tone colors, with a darker brown dash-board and beige door panels. With 16 different positions in the driver seat height adjustment, tall as well short drivers are easily accommodated. Hyundai equips the fully loaded i10 with dual airbags, ABS, gear-shift suggesting tool, keyless entry + foldable key,height adjustable driver's seat, 4 power windows, reverse parking sensors, steering mounted audio + phone controls, CD / MP3 System with 4 speakers & AUX / USB / Bluetooth compatibility, rear spoiler, rear wash & wipe and heated ORVMs. Conspicuous by their absence are split-folding rear seats, climate control, alloy wheels, dead pedal and adjustable front neck restraints There is no outside temperature information, nor any data on instant / average fuel economy. Display visibility is not so good. Cabin space is marginally better than the Santro (both have an identical wheelbase of 2,380 mm) and rear legroom can be best termed as "sufficient" for passengers of medium height.

Engine&Efficiency:

The Hyundai’s 2-nd generation 1,120 cc 3-cylinder 12 valve diesel engine will power up the grand i10 at 70 BHP (@ 4,000 rpm) and 160 Nm of torque (@ 1,500 - 2,750 rpm),such that the power delivery is straight and linear. The refinement at idle and amount of vibration while moving are at acceptable levels. The engine and the turbocharger has been tuned up for city drivability and it is realized on reality through the combination of lag- nature of the diesel with the light controls. You can feel this while executing a U turn, without downshifting to the 1st gear. The gearbox is smooth to use and has well-defined gates. 100 kph is seen at 2,400 rpm in 5th gear while 120 kph has the needle hovering at ~2,900 rpm. Considering the 1.2L petrol variant , it follows a conventional layout. Unlike diesel variant, petrol seems and will remain to be the best in terms of torque delivery, refinement levels and there is no starting trouble. With this petrol variant, you will experience the fun ride over the highways. Similar to the diesel engine, petrol engine also gets mated to a light clutch and smooth gearbox. Further there is no noise or vibration at idle.

Riding & Handling:

The i10's suspension hardware consists of an independent MacPherson strut layout at the front, and a torsion beam axle at the rear. All 4 dampers (shock absorbers) are gas charged. The focus of Hyundai's engineers was on ride comfort. The handling can best be termed as safe & predictable that is pronounced mainly due to the an upgrade to 175 / 185 mm tyres is strongly recommended for safety & the enhanced grip levels. In terms of pedal feel and capability,the braking work holds good, thus positioned superior to that of LXi / LDi & VXi / VDi variants of the Swift. Also, the NVH insulation is found to be the best in this model. The grand i10 found to retain the same ground clearance measuring up to 165mm from its sibling.

Verdict:

The driving pleasure and sharp dynamics which are felt in case of Swift, is found to be lack in the Grand i10,yet as a package with good styling, lots of features, enough cabin space, competitive pricing and a frugal diesel engine, it makes for a good all-round package.