Introduction
Majority of the cars sold in India are under Rs 10 lakh. This emphasises how important pricing is to our market. The hatchback doesn’t appeal to the middle class buyer only because of its affordability. Hatchbacks are affordable to buy and run, can slot into tight parking spots, take less space and consume less fuel. So, what if all these virtues are combined in a modern car with the frugality of a diesel engine and the lowest sticker price in the entire market?
General Motors has an answer, the Beat diesel. But, pricing apart, does the Chevy Beat tick all the right boxes to satisfy a price conscious Indian who will use his small car for almost every purpose or will it be suitable for someone looking to buy a cheap second car?
Exterior
The Chevy Beat has been on sale since 2010 in our market, the 2014 facelift is as minimal as one would expect with an already flamboyant design. This 2014 model looks good from the front. The headlights now get black surrounds; the split front grille extends further into the front bumper, and is the most prominent feature of the front fascia. The chrome-outlined grille and the fog lamp housing add some sparkle to the already sharp looking front. The flared front fenders, the thick A-pillar, the grab rails and the centre-mounted long antenna look good. The Beat continues to impress even when looked at from the side. The rear is a little disappointing though because it doesn’t look entirely as good as the rest of the car. Nevertheless, the re-profiled tail-lamps, reworked rear spoiler and reflectors on the rear bumper do brighten your mood.
Interior
Step inside the cabin and the first thing that strikes you is the funky instrument console. The Beat’s instrument cluster gets an analogue speedometer and a digital tachometer. This is puzzling, and takes a while to get used to, because it is always the other way around. Nonetheless, the speedometer dials are simple and easy to read, the blue illumination in the night is especially good to look at. This is definitely the most modern design of all the instrument clusters in its segment. This was proved when, in traffic, other motorists ogled the speedometer console. The dashboard is attractive as well, with decent fit and finish. The large dark display on the centre console above the AC vents glows only when the fuel pump is priming itself; the rest of the time it appears like a piece of blank plastic, which isn’t a very good thing. The glovebox offers just about enough space for a pouch with vehicle documents and a few utilities. There is a small recess above the glovebox which can be used to store a pen or a similar item. The door pockets, though, are big enough to take in one litre bottles both on the driver and the passenger side. There are two cubby holes under the AC controls that can hold your mobile phone and wallet with two bottles and can holders ahead of the gearshift lever.
The audio system is a basic unit with four speakers, two of them on the dashboard and two behind. The system supports Aux in/USB/iPod and CDs. The sound quality is decent and has adequate clarity, but it isn’t the best in class. The Beat now also gets steering mounted audio controls, which is a little annoying to use when you are in the mood to listen to the radio. The mode button is the only way to browse through the saved frequencies, but one can’t go back and forth between them – you have to cycle through all the saved stations on all the bands before you can get back to the FM station you just changed from. The positioning of the controls also don’t sit right with me, because they are on the lower half of the wheel and moving my left hand to the bottom of the wheel every time I want to operate something audio-related defeats the purpose of steering-mounted controls, which is to ensure that the hands on the wheel don’t move.
The Beat gets a decent HVAC unit. While the AC is adequate for most of the times, the car refused to cool the cabin effectively in start-stop traffic. I realised later that the compressor cuts off after 25 seconds in idle with the blower speed set at two and the thermostat at max cooling. This is to save fuel, and this is a strange idea for a car that has the highest current ARAI fuel efficiency rating among the hatchbacks. What GM could have probably done is made the compressor cut-off intervals longer which could have saved some sweat for the rear passengers instead of a little fuel.
The cabin is surprisingly well insulated and it does reduce the noise levels but where it loses out is the engine noise. The engine is audible at high revolutions, otherwise the cabin feels nice. The seats are soft and the front seats are comfortable for tall people. The rear seats are best for only two passengers while the third one will literally be a squeeze. The boot space is very little at 170 litre and can only take two medium- sized bags at best. The Figo in comparison gets a 284 litre boot space and the Indica eV2 gets 220 litre of luggage area. This makes Beat, the car with the least boot space in the segment.
Engine and Performance
When GM and Fiat set out to work on a small capacity diesel engine, the resultant was the now famous four-cylinder 1,248cc MultiJet engine. This engine has often been called as our national engine for it is used by every major carmaker in India which includes the big names. The Beat gets a smaller derivative of the 1248cc MultiJet engine co-developed by GM Powertrain Torino and GM Technical Centre India. The two engines use the same technology, however, the Beat gets a smaller capacity three-cylinder unit that displaces 936cc churning out 57bhp@4000 rpm and 150Nm@1750rpm. Simple mathematics leads us to a conclusion that the cylinder capacity of both the engines are identical at 312cc, multiply the three digit number with three or four and you get the answer.
Nevertheless, GM requires special applause for getting it just perfect with this engine. GM’s two technical centres have worked hard to negate the typical vibrations akin to a three-pot motor. The bore and stroke (69.7X82mm) is also different from the MultiJet engine (74.2X75.6mm). The firing order of a three-cylinder engine is different which demands a new crankshaft and a different set of bearings. All in all this is not just a smaller derivative of the MultiJet, but a new motor re-developed by General Motors.
The gearbox is a five-speed unit, with shorter ratios for the first three gears, which makes it easy to drive in the city. The fourth and fifth gear ratios are relatively taller in order to get good fuel-efficiency figures. The gearbox has a light throw but lacks the positive and slick feel. The gears slot well, but it doesn’t leave a smile on your face every time you go up and down the gears.
Most who have driven the 800 will also remember the performance penalty a small capacity three-pot motor brings. Worry not! These reservations are cleared once you slot first gear and release the clutch in the Beat diesel. The specifications aren’t mouth-watering for someone expecting to burn some rubber, but what it gets is 150Nm of torque that kicks in from 1700rpm. This combined with the relatively shorter gearing in the first three speeds makes it easy to drive in the city, the engine feels fairly responsive once past 1600rpm and has enough poke to overtake the slow moving cab ahead. But, once the revs drop below 1500rpm, it does feel gutless and the turbo lag can be felt.
Highway performance on the other hands leaves a lot to be desired. The car quickly runs out of breath, with the engine revving high even at normal highway speeds of 80kmph, at which point the engine is well above 2400 rpm. Up the ante not much, say about 100kmph and the revs have already risen to about 2900rpm, from here on the diesel engine drone enters the cabin. At higher speeds of about 120kmph plus wind noise and tyre noise act as combined forces and play symphony to the engine note which will annoy even a poker- faced sniper.
The ARAI claimed fuel efficiency figure of the Beat diesel is a rated 25.44kmpl. In real world conditions though one can expect the car to return at least 20kmpl on the highway and 14-15 kmpl in the city.
Ride and handling
The Beat gets MacPherson struts up front and twist beam at the rear. It absorbs most bumps with a muted thud at city speeds with not much transferred to the cabin. However, the Beat has a relatively short wheelbase which makes it uncomfortable on the highway. If you hit a bump at high speed it won’t veer off line, but it does feel like the car is ready to lift off, which isn’t a very nice feeling.
The Beat has predictable handling characteristics despite the uncomfortable highway ride, but it isn’t a car that you will enjoy blasting down your favourite mountain road. That is not to say that it isn’t a good handler; hit a bump mid-corner and it lets go of the front progressively, and you can even provoke the rear to step out of line if you’re so inclined. In comparison the Figo has a very stiff suspension setup and feels a little too firm in the city, but it rides better as the speeds increase. The Figo is a far better handling car, thanks in no small part to the hydraulically assisted steering system – the Beat has an electrically assisted unit which is direct and progressive, but cannot match up to the Figo’s feel.
The Beat has good brakes that bite well and are progressive. They perform well even at highway speeds, but fade appears a little quickly when the car is loaded up and driven consistently hard.
Verdict
This brings us to the important question, would you buy a Beat diesel? Well, the answer isn’t a simple affirmative or negative. If you are looking for a stylish hatchback that is easy to drive with a small boot that will mostly be driven in the city with two passengers at best, the Beat makes sense. But, if you are looking for a diesel hatchback that is equally good on the highway, then the Beat diesel is not what we recommend. The Beat is a good city car, even the diesel engine is tuned to run well in the city. But, the price difference between petrol LT and the diesel LT (the model we tested) is close to about a lakh rupee. The petrol engine has a good bottom end and feels good to drive in comparison to the diesel. So, if your driving is confined to city limits and less than 50 km a day then the Beat petrol makes lot of sense. If you are looking for a diesel hatchback that sums up as a weekday warrior and the weekend mate on the highways, then look elsewhere. The only real alternatives to the Beat diesel is the ageing Ford Figo, which still holds its own in the city and the highway.
![Chevrolet Beat [2014-2016] Image](https://imgd.aeplcdn.com/272x153/cw/cars/chevrolet/beat.jpg?q=80 "Chevrolet Beat [2014-2016] Image")
