Asta Petrol - a good overall family car with trendy looks

Friends,

This is my first car and first attempt at a review and is based on the 850+km of city driving. I shall leave out all the knowns and speak only about my observations that I have not seen elsewhere and would be glad at least one CARWALE reviewer finds my review a game changer. Please don't look into the review as a negative feedback for I'm a happy owner of the Elite i20 - its just that would like to cover only the not so frequent observations. Hope you enjoy my writeup.

Exterior

Absolutely no complaints - this is one of the best looking cars in the market today IMHO.

(i) Wiping the tail lamp with a wet cloth renders the water to enter the tail lamp housing and can be drained only by opening the hatch. I wonder how Hyundai committed such a grave blunder.

(ii) The very big antenna is really pissing off when you want to move the vehicle into a space with a low roofing or even as simple as covering the vehicle with the body cover. For the premium, I wonder why at least the top end variant does not sport the shark fin antennas.

(iii) The gap between the glass and the metal at the hatch and the insides of rear doors can really get dirty and get stuffed with dirt. A neat rubber cladding would have done a great deal I suppose.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort)

(i) The very first thing I wanted to write here was, my Elite i20 Asta VTVT has only one power outlet. I noticed this only during delivery (third week of May 2015) and when enquired, after a long discussion the dealer advised me that the 2015 models are equipped only with one power outlet instead of the original two. While I got this validated the genuiness of this statement through one of my friends who used to work for HMIL, I would appreciate if fellow carwale readers can confirm on this.

(ii) Absolutely no compaints - just gives everything that I expected from spacious cabin to accommodate plus sized adults & elderly, to auto climate control, but for the following:

- Sorely misses the speed sensing door auto-lock feature (my friend says this feature can easily be enabled by simple programming at the service center. Any advise on this would be welcome).

- Distance to empty and average fuel consumption meters missing

- I initially wondered about all the fuss about the small display of the music system but after couple of days (hours to be precise) behind the car, can clearly see it becoming a nuisance - not complaining for the lack of touch screen/ GPS (though this is on its way to the Indian market starting Jul'15) but selecting a particular song from a collection of 3000+ songs on my 64GB USB is extremely cumbersome and next to impossible - turning the small knob countless times only to skip through few files. Option to review the root folder and the folder structure would have been a sane option.

- For the premium HMIL charges for this car, at least the top end should have donned the leather upholstery.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

Engine Performance: While many complain the petrol bird lacks power - I never for once felt so when the right gear ratios are maintained. The engine is soo refined that you would hardly feel the car idling even with the AC and Audio turned off

Fuel Economy: The first full tak gave me about 10km/l on city with full a/c but that was majorly due to intentionally high clutch usage. I'm now running on my second refill and could clearly see a marked improvement eyeing somewhere around 12-13km/l - fingers crossed!

Gearbox: While generally good, I frequently encoutner issues with engaging the first and reverse gears. Many a times even with the best of efforts, I find the first gear does not engage properly and eventually falls back to neutral. This happened even with my friend when he was driving my car. Engaging the 1 & 2 gears is a bit rough but hope it would settle in with more km's and post the first service - fingers crossed once again!!

Ride Quality & Handling

Ride quality is good and the steering feedback is generally good but can sense frequent uneven responses while on the run. The brakes too feel buttery at times especially while braking at more than 40-50kmph (while at higher gears) causing butterflies in the belly. I would certainly expect Hyundai to provide better braking for a premium vehicle of this class.

Final Words

A good all round car with good performance, excellent spacing, superior looks. A hatch with a premium sedan class from inside is sure to provide many happy miles.

Areas of improvement  

Hope have covered this in the individual sections.

 

Good style, feature rich car, Good value for moneyNo speed sensing auto lock & fuel efficiency meter, first & reverse gear doesnot engage smoothly