During our Hyundai i20 CRDi Road Test earlier last year, we fell in love with the performance of the i20 Diesel and we called it the Diesel Go-Kart. Hyundai recently tweaked its CRDi engine to meet the emission norms set by the government for BS-IV compliance and has now added another gear to its i20 CRDi making it a six-speed manual transmission, a first-in class.

The i20 gets a minor facelift and the new front grille resembles the i10’s grille and centres around a family look. On the inside, the red backlight has been replaced with- a cool blue which is easy on the eyes, and the speedometer has white backlighting along with the blue. The other new feature on the i20 is the gear-shift indicator, (indicated on the instrument cluster next to the odometer), where the ECU takes various parameters such as engine speed, tyre speed and the altitude and suggests the correct gear to shift into. This feature was first seen in this segment in the VW Polo.

The i20 CRDi is still a great hatchback for city driving with its peppy engine through most of the rev range. The engine is very torquey at 220 Nm and you realize this especially when the turbocharger spools, and you almost get pushed back into your seat. The gear ratios have been revised and the lower gears are shorter to reduce the turbo lag. However, this hasn’t worked too well and there is still noticeable turbo lag which is typical of the new diesels. In our acceleration run test, the i20 raced to 100kph in 13.1 seconds and completed the quarter mile in 18.9 seconds. This time again, the i20 took more time to reach 100kph, as the older i20 diesel which we had tested did the 0-100kph close in 12.6 seconds.

The turbo kick is something you need to get used to, since the car is quite a rocket once you get the turbo spooled. You can’t lug the engine in a higher gear if you’re driving at low speeds below 1800 rpm. The sixth gear is the overdrive, meant for cruising and the fifth is now a direct drive gear. In our in-gear runs, the i20 clocked the 30-50kph run in 6.6 seconds in the third gear and it took 13.2 seconds in the fourth. In the 50-70kph run the car took 16.0 seconds in the fifth gear and these timings were better on the older five-speed transmission, as it can be seen from our older road test figures. Drive this car in the correct gear and you won’t be disappointed at all with the sixth gear helping economy. This oil burner is fuel-efficient as it returned an overall fuel economy of 18.13kpl. The worst figure that we got was 12.83kpl during performance testing which involved pedal-to-metal driving.

This Korean hatchback hasn’t undergone any changes in its suspension, and still sports McPherson struts at its front and torsion beam at its rear. The suspension has been set-up for better ride quality, which doesn’t make it too much of a handler on twisty roads. The suspension-set-up suggests that the hatchback has been built to be driven in the city, and with so much power under the bonnet, it can be taken through small gaps with great confidence (more like point and shoot). In our road test of the i20 CRDi five-speed manual transmission, we had mentioned about the brakes being inadequate for the power this oil burner can produce. But this time we were quite content with the braking on the six-speed as the car stopped in 29.1 metres before coming to a complete halt from a speed of 80kph in our braking test. Maybe our earlier press demonstrator had slightly faded brakes.

The Hyundai i20 Era six-speed CRDi (which is the basic variant) is available at Rs 6.03 lakhs (ex-showroom, Mumbai) is similarly priced as its European competitors. However, we do feel that Hyundai could price the car a little lower to grab a chunk of the market from the diesel hatches a segment below. Also, consumers today have more premium european badges to choose from which are similarly priced and specced and Hyundai could consider a more value price. The Hyundai i20 CRDi is a fun-to-drive car in the city but not so much when it comes to driving on twisty roads. The i20 is basically a car that would appeal to a younger audience who are looking for something stylish and at the same time looking for a stylish car that clubs economy, power and a hassle free ownership experience. If you commute within the city limits or out of town occassionaly and are looking for something that’s cheap to own and run, i20 CRDi is the car for you, as it is easy to drive with light pedals, a light steering wheel, and a peppy, efficient engine. The Hyundai i20 with its sharp design and styling is popular among city dwellers and now with the six-speed manual transmission on the diesel, it’s truly Six in the City!