i20 review
Mrs & I decided that we’ll move on to buying a car only after we book our flat. Finally after it was done in mid-november, I was relieved and was all excited to start the search for our first car!
When we started car hunting, we were faced with the same dilemma most Indian buyers face: A sedan or a hatchback? Diesel/Petrol? The fact that both Mrs. and me were first time owners didn’t help. True to Indian customs, advice was coming in from all directions and in all shades -
1.) Play it safe, buy a Honda City/Lancer. Good quality and will help when family grows.
2.) Be careful, you know how the morons in Bangalore drive. Opt for a small hatchback. Saves maintenance & running costs.
3.) Buy a 2nd hand Suzuki Alto. Helps in learning driving and then buy a bigger, better car.
After a month, still unable to decide, I decided to narrow down on my choices. The factors that I prioritized were:
1.) Safety. This is exact opposite of typical Indian mindset where fuel economy and maintenance costs were the top priority. I didn’t want to be penny wise and pound foolish. The car is intended for long drives as much as City driving and all those gruesome accidents that I’ve witnessed played a major decision.
2.) Ease of use. The routes by which Mrs. & I commute to office are some of the lousiest in Bangalore – Bannerghatta Rd, Double Rd, Hosur Rd, Inner Ring Rd & Madiwala mkt etc. I wanted a car that had good response in city conditions and stability during long drives.
3.) Access to dealerships/service centres. Most European car makers have lousy dealership network and there is no point in buying a car which can’t be serviced outside major cities. We intend to drive down to every dusty lane that leads to an interesting destination. 
The lowest priorities:
1.) Prestige/Boasting value: I didn’t want a car that is a white elephant. No matter how cliched it is, how well the car performs in Indian conditions does matter. Besides, if prestige was the factor, I’d rather have a Porsche or a Bentley.
2.) Fuel economy: While fuel economy was definitely a good thing to have, most Indian car makers achieve it due to a big compromise on safety. Most don’t even have a NCAP rating.
3.) Resale value: I didn’t want to buy a car with thoughts about how much it would sell for in another 4/5 yrs. I wanted a car that I’d love to drive around irrespective of whether I will be a able to sell it for a decent sum.
I was lucky that with maturing consumers, the car makers were also introducing premium hatchbacks. Indian city conditions are more similar to European rather than Australian/North American and hence developed a bias for cars that sell well in Europe. Based on my needs, the list was trimmed down to :
Hatchbacks: Hyundai i20, Fiat Grande Punto, Skoda Fabia, Honda Jazz, Suzuki Swift.
Sedans: Ford Fiesta, Ford IKON, Tata Manza, Hyundai Verna, Fiat Linea, Honda City, Suzuki SX4.
I quickly realized that Japanese car makers were perceived as “premium” brands and hence charge a lot more extra even when there is very little to differentiate. Similarly, safety was the last thing on the minds of car makers given the Indian preferences. Forget dual-stage Air Bags & EBD/ESP, even ABS was available only in the costliest-trim in most brands.
Based on my criteria, I started with the cars having the highest safety rating.
I20:
Hyundai i20 had a 5 star rating (though the European variant comes with 6 air bags by default). The mid-trim Asta comes with
- 2 Air bags, option to disable passenger air bag.
- ABS, EBD.
- seat belt warning for all passengers and a non-stop, irritating chime if the driver & co-passenger doesn’t wear seat belts – courtesy weight sensors in seat.
- Alloy wheels.
- auto door open on sensing impact.
- disc brakes on all wheels in diesel variants.
- door lock sensors including boot.
- electronically controlled ORVMs, day/night inside RVM.
- auto-climate control.
- plush interiors (can beat all cars upto 15L in the market with ease) with excellent quality fabric on very comfortable seats.
- integrated audio with 4 speakers and 2 tweeters, AUX port, USB & iPod compatibility, audio controls on steering wheel.
- Rear wipers with multi speed deployment.
- a/c cooled glove box.
- single control for locks.
- 290 L boot.
- foldable keys.
- power windows, single touch up/down for driver, controls at driver side.
- Cigar lighter.
- Leather clad gear knobs and steering wheel.
- Fantastic info panel – 2 trip meters, calendar, back lit displays for all dials placed in a very comfortable position, info display for audio system, file browser for CDs, a/c air flow information etc.
- Good leg room second only to Tata Motors built vehicles.
- Lots of side pockets on all 4 doors & 1 ash tray, 2 cup holders and 1 bottle holder all placed within reach of both front and rear passengers.
- Non-reflective dash
- Damn good looks!
- dead pedal for resting your feet during long travels on the driver side.
On the downside:
- A fairly ordinary 1.2L Kappa engine which lacks power is the only option for Petrol unless you are willing to shell out extra money for the automatic version.
- Biggest disappointment for me is too many blind spots due to low seat position and high dash & thick pillars.
- the rear seats are extremely comfortable for 2 passengers but 3 makes it too crowded for comfort.
- Can’t believe it still - no vanity mirror!
- No audio remote for rear passengers!
- Only the passenger seat back has a holding area!
- Suspension was not on par with Fiat GP/Linea.
- A/c cooling is slow due to small engine.
Now on to Punto/Linea – we were thinking of only the best trim – Emotion Pack. Most of the above mentioned features except for info panels on the dash and seat belt warnings. But has got
- better engine (1.4 SAFIRE for petrol and 1.3 MULTIJET for diesel).
- a GREAT SUSPENSION
- Excellent on road STABILITY
- BEST LOOKS! Vow!
- Blue & Me, integrated MSFT blue tooth gadget that can take voice commands and sync up with your phone for hands free operation.
- Service for every 15,000 KMs only!
- better cooling when compared to i20.
On the downside,
- Worst rear space
- Cheap finish
- It was a left hand drive moved to the right, typical of all FIAT cars in India. Very bad when it came to controls.
- Was a bit hard to drive in city traffic compared to i20.
- Downright pathetic cup holders. Must have designed on a day when the ENTIRE design team was suffering from constipation. Can’t even hold a chocolate.
- Worst mileage in class.
Tata Manza is based on Fiat platform and has all the features of FIAT plus
- audio remote
- nice touches for Indian conditions like 180º bending ORVMs (must for India where passersby can’t help poking them).
- very well placed interior lighting.
- Folding arm rests with cup holders
- A boot space big enough for a mountain bike. Class leading!
- Same with rear passenger space.
- Light pedals which were a pleasure to use.
On the downside,
- Ultra cheap finish.
- No NCAP rating.
- No alloy wheels!
- No automatic climate control
- downright pathetic looks. Mrs. disagrees.
- Suspension not on par with GP/Linea.
Maruthi Suzuki had a 3 month waiting period for SWIFT and it was very low on comfort, safety, finish, looks etc. Needless to say, lowest maintenance cost and highest mileage. Given the compromises on safety, that was expected.
SX4 had great looks but very little to offer in the form of accessories. Everything was add-on and had more blind spots than i20!
Honda and Skoda were trying to sell to me on a ” premium” tag which definitely put me off. Their vehicles were good – but they were only on par with FIAT or Hyundai but charged anywhere between 20-30% extra.
I decided to skip Verna once I test drove the i20 and GP. Verna’s price tag looked high when compared to i20 though that would comparing apples and oranges.
Ford had a great engine and nice hues. But the cars didn’t have decent comfort/features. The price/features ratio was downright abysmal.
Now on to the dealership experience.
I started with what all SUN guys buying a Hyundai do – rang up Advaith and went to their MG road show room on a rainy day in dec. The place was more crowded than a fish market and had to wait for a long time before being attended by a sales guy. He was more interested in making me book the car than identifying my needs. I felt that he was not much interested once I started probing a lot. I later found out that all the outlets of the dealer was like that. They took me to MG Rd to test drive!!!!! They were offering not even the most basic add-ons like dark shades for windows, reverse parking sensors etc. Their follow up calls were more like threats to buy than sincere enquiries about the decision.
Next up was Tata/Fiat. It is very conveniently located and the sales folks are very friendly, patiently answered all my queries, gave honest opinions about the cars. I could test drive all variants in all traffic conditions as I pleased. They even followed up diligently while I took my own sweet time to decide.
The guy from Skoda (TAFE Access) was a joker. He had no business selling cars.
After test driving Honda else where and calling them up, I realized that there is no point in visiting the show room.
Caught between i20 and GP, I decided to opt for another dealership in Trident Hyundai. It was the exact opposite of Advaith. The staff were very courteous, understanding, gave honest advice (skip diesel for a first buy, I20 better than Verna for city driving etc) and the usual rebates. In fact, after booking the car, I went to their dealership very often to get used to driving a vehicle that was extra-wide when compared to the rest. They gave me their vehicle to drive around every time I asked!!!
USAGE:
I have driven for >2000 KM in the 3 months and have no regrets so far. The car is a dream to drive in the chaotic and moron filled roads of bangalore. It is very wide and the blind spots are a bother but you get used to it. I absolutely love the safety features. The audio system is upto expectation. The short gear movements and the super responsive steering are great for driving along with the foot rest.
The car does have trouble when driving in hilly terrain. You are forced to 2nd/1st gear if the inclination is too much. But 3rd gear worked fine on Ooty road. It takes a while to get warmed up on long drives, but once it does, it cruises comfortably. I do not give in to mad dashes above 60 mph/100 Kmph and hence performs to expectations. The braking is sure and quick, which is great comfort to my mind while cruising on the highway and the break & stop traffic of Bangalore.
The mileage is reasonable considering the engine capacity/kerb weight. En route to office, it gives me 11-12 Km/L without A/c and falls drastically to 8 Km/L with A/c on. On the highway, it gives 14-16 Km/L with A/c and more or less same without A/c.
The build quality is solid. A moron driving a two wheeler and talking on the phone without looking at the road crashed on to the front bumper. His Activa was very badly damaged while the car had minor scratches. It was such a relief to know that the vehicle is very safe in real life situation!
It is a tad expensive to repair. It costs upwards of 3,000 even for minor stuff – I had a minor accident and the boot sensor screwed up. It cost 10,000 to repair. A couple of problems:
- Even if one door is not locked, the rest can’t be locked as well. And a sensor keeps glowing to highlight it very clearly. Very irritating. No manual over rides.
- The ORVM can’t be opened individually. Either both are out or nothing is out. While it makes sense in European conditions, it is a nuisance in India where ORVMs are prime targets of 2 &3 wheelers.
Overall a good car to buy if you know what you want. Don’t go by the sales pitch. Drive it for yourself and you will not regret it!
Based on the overall +ve experience, wouldn’t mind having Santa Fe or the Starex as my next vehicle! 
