Excellent city car, very good for highway rides too!

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

Engine has very good pulling power in 1,2,3 & 4 gear. However, in top gear its more of a gliding and less of power. Yet, its a very good car for highway drive too!. I touched upto 130 kmph, it was very smooth.

Fuel economy is good, if not impressive. highway drive gives 16.5 KMPL and city drive gives 13 KMPL with AC on all time!.  

55 litres of pertrol gave 880 kms mileage, of which 220 kms driven in city and 660 kms driven in highway. combined average is 16 KMPL. I calculated Rs 4.20 spent of fuel per KM in Grand I10. But, in swift your spent would be Rs 3.70(I gathered). which is quiet a bit for middle class car owners. Clearly, mileage is an area of improment for this car :( 

Note: if you keep your driving speed not more than 100 Kmph in highways, naturally you could improve mileage over 17 or 17.50 with AC on, your cost would be Rs 4 per KM on petrol which is better. 

Ride Quality & Handling

Steering response is very good and you would feel confident at top speed in high ways. seats, legroom and good AC are big plus in this car, My friends in the rear seat couldn't help but, sleep comfortabily be it in high way or city drive such is the quality of the ride!, But, the quality deteriorate when the roads are bumpy and noise level is a bit more, it wakes up the folks sleeping in the rear seat ;).

Actually, hyundai has done better job with suspension than earlier I10 or I20. I definitely noticed a big difference in grand I10 and it is better! But, its isnt smooth enough on bumpy roads and a bit noisy as well,  when compared with maruti swift, swift definitely gives a little better ride quality and comfort on bumpy roads. Otherwise, no difference.

Final Words

My final verdict: its definitly a classy car than swift, look and feel of both interior and exterior is excellent and loaded with features which are very useful at times. if you are not to much concerned on mileage I would highly recommend this car. Otherwise, maintainenace & service cost is of no difference from swift.

Ask yourself wheter you want to buy swift only because you save a litte in fuel and a little better comfort on bumpy roads or Grand I10 which is a lot better and futuristic in all other ways?

The grand I10 is sleek and not unncessarily bulky like swift, this helps very much in bangalore especially in small road where cars are tightly parked in either side of the roads or in city main roads on bumper to bumper traffic.

Its fantastic car for regular city drive and very good for high way drive as well. 

Note: if you are drive freak who often cross 100KMPH mark in high way I re-commend you install ABS for better safety and confidence. For others, its a fine car.

Areas of improvement  

Priority 1: Hyundai need to improve on mileage if they could add another 1.5 or 2 kms to the mileage chart and tune suspension for better ride quality on bumpy roads.  i'm sure that this would beat swift and many other hatch backs in indian market for a very long time. 

Note: both swift and grand I10 uses the same macphersion strut suspension which was invented in 1947!

Reg no KA-51MF-9550. 

 I hope my review is balanced and helps you make a fair decision! All the best, Pls comment

 

Exterior & interior styling, very responsive steering & engine, legroom both front and rear, bootCould give better mileage, No air bag or ABS even in top variants (only optional)