Sportz AT - 1500 KM Review

Hi All, 

I have been using i10 -1.2 Sportz AT for the last  One Month. Could not resist posting my experience for the benefit of others 

1 Comfort – Moderate. The front seats are very comfortable however; the rear seat is a little erect which means that on the long journeys, it may be a slight issue.  

2 Ride Quality – Very compliant. The car does not jump around pot holes. The Shock absorbers and the tubeless tyres work. However, the rear do gets a little bouncy in rough terrain.    

3 NVH –  Spring the engine to life and you will hear music to ears – The sound of the engine . However, the Insulation is very good. The road noise, the engine noise etc are extremely low.   

4. Mileage – For Automatics., this is the GOLDEN Question. I have measured auto cut off to auto cut off twice. My car is delivering 11.5 to 12KMPL. I am sure a lot of people are going to question this as in most of the reviews, people have claimed from 6 to 13 KMPL. Let me tell you that there is an art in driving this car. You need to do a few things which will ensure you get good mileage. 1) – Shift to Neutral when you stop at the traffic signals. Do not keep it in the Drive Mode. 2) – with the Techo in place, learn the art of being light footed so that the gear changes every 2000 RPM i.e. do not be heavy footed. 3) – Keep your over drive in the “ON” mode. The car will shift to the over drive mode at 55+KMPH.  The over drive gear is very assuring. I can amble at 60 KMPH at about 1700 RPM. This gives me the confidence that I can do highway riving quite easily. Possible 100 KMPH at about 2500 RPM which is good.   

Warning – Please do not use the “KICK DOWN” very often. This increases the fuel consumption exponentially. Kick down is when the driver suddenly presses the accelerator and the car sensing your urgency downshifts automatically to race ahead.   

5. Gearing - silky smooth auto shifts. One will have to get used to of realizing when the gear shifted. This is the department one can’t complain about.    

6. Features – Music System – Acceptable. Good sound and it is IPOD compatible.

Tilt Steering - Good to have not must to have. The MDPS is extremely light and precise thereby making the car even more easy to drive as softness of the steering is inversely proportional to the speed – i.e. – At high speeds it gives adequate feedback. 

7. AC – Good and effective. However, I think the blower grill needs to be designed better. It is tough to get the air to your face.. at least I faced so. But the cabin cools pretty quickly. One not so good thing about the ac vent is that the vents can not be closed and the direction can be set in a pretty limited way.   

8. Dashboard - wide and clutter free. The not so good news here is that the beige dash has a high reflection on the main glass of the car. The good news is that you get used to.  

Review – Post 7500 KMs – (March 16^th, 2010)-Highway Experience – I Just completed a 750 KM, highway trip to the hills. I thought it will be worthwhile to share this experience too. The car behaved very well on the highway. The road grip was fantastic. With torque available through the rev band, the car did not lose much speed even while negotiating the climbing of the hills. One can easily do consistent speed of 90 to 100 KMPH. The only flip side is that you need to better manage the overtaking as there is no manual gear to downshift for that extreme surge of power. Mileage – 17 KMPL on highwaywith 100% AC on even while climbing the hills.  

Ease, Confort, VFM, Gear ShiftInterior Space, Beige Dash