Best diesel sedan for the price

Exterior Personal choice. I like the rear the most. I am not a fan of good looking cars & can fully ignore the looks if car is otherwise good. After all once inside the car you do not have to look at it rather concentrate on the road & traffic.😎 I like cleaner lines of Vento more than too futuristic looking Verna. But for most purposes, the car will not disappoint in looks deptt.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Many times we think, the features are useless till the time we actually use it. I now can not live without features like rear view camera, rear sensors, blue tooth, electrically folding side mirrors in particular. Other cool features are ACC, stereo control over steering, rear & front defogger, cool glove box etc. The driver arm rest seems to me as a useless feature as I am not able to use it on long drives. The positioning is such that my left arm never reaches there. I am a normal built person 5'9" ht, wt-75 kg. Would like to know opinin of others. Space at rear & front are ample, but at rear you tend to feel that you are sitting a liittle lower than ideal. The middle of the rear seat is buldged upward to an extent to make the middle passanger uncomfortable on long drives. It has been designed so to form a firm base for the rear hand rest, a feature very seldome used in my car. I would have liked a flat rear bench more than the present design. Comfort levels are high, except bouncy rear ride on uneven roads due to too soft suspension, my only major gripe.  

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Engine is very powerful. You never feel for more power under any circumstances, be it fully loaded, uphill drive, high speed driving, overtaking etc. all with AC on. At 100 kmph on 6th gear, the car comfortably drives at 1800 rpm ie within the turbo band. Press the accelarator, the car reaches 120 kmph in no time, 140 kmph smoothly & the easyness continues all the way to 150-155 kmph, after which the engine boil slows down & then the car takes time to garner further pace. I have done a peak speedo of 170 kmph. The turbo gently kicks in at around 1500 rpm, thus the drivability is good in side city. You do not feel the turbo lag as much. All in all if surface is smooth, one can drive all day at 140-150 kmph all day without any fuss if FE is not a concern. Gear box is super smooth & very easy to operate, slots precisely & travel is short.

Fuel economy: Very much dependant on driving style which is true for most cars. All my FE figures are with 100% AC as I never drive with windows open.

City: Goes 1-1.5 km- stop- av. speed 15 kmph- usage 7-8 km/day, thrice a week- 12.5 km/lit

Highway: @ 100-120 kmph, full load-17.5 kmph

Highway: @ 80-90 kmph, alone in the car- 22 km/lit.

Feel that longish city drive will return a FE of 14-15 km/lit.

Ride Quality & Handling Contrary to the general view, I find absolutely no problem with handling of the car even at 150 kmph on highways, on hill driving etc. Till date could not understand where is the problem.May be too good a driver😊 I am driving cars for last 14 years, driven cars like Old Zen, 800, City, Santro, Wagon-R, Figo, Scorpio, i-20, i-10, Aveo, Jazz, Micra, Fabia, Etios etc etc. Fail to understand the saying " the steering does not feel connected, no feed back" by most experts on steering of Verna. I do feel the steering is responsive, obey your order, light & easy both in city & highways.The car feels under control at 140-150 kmph.

Ride-The real problem lies here.The car feel very much bouncy on uneven roads particularly when fully loaded at speed in excess of 80 kmph or so. Culprit is the soft rear suspension. Hyundai has to bring a solution to this problem for new as well as old customers.  

Final Words I have purchsed the car for enjoying the diesel power & torque and not for any economic consideration. Before purchase of this car my annual car usage had been approx 8 k per year which does not justify purchase of a diesel car. I was also not inclined for a sedan & would have been quite happy with a spacious hatch with similar power & refinement. But no hatch was even close, therefore had to go for this car. No regrets. 

Have fixed rear speakers on rear tray- which is not of much use & would advise others not to do so. Have also installed a bass tube of cheap DAPIC make, fairly happy with it. Total cost- Bass tube-9k, rear speakers- 4k. I am now OK with the sound quality & do not feel for any further upgradation.

Areas of improvement Suspension set up, improve GC & quality of music system I have scrapped the under belly many times with load. When alone it is not a problem. But have to drive carefully keeping the lower GC in mind.

Thanks.

Power, refinement, featuresGC, ride on uneven roads