A good city car

Exterior THIS IS THE BEST LOOKING CAR IN THIS SEGMENT, NO DOUBT. THOUGH SUBJECTIVE, I THINK IT IS BETTER THAN CARS WITH 1000CC ENGINES TODAY. BEAUTIFUL LARGE HEADLIGHTS AND TAIL LAMPS.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Space and comfort would depend on your build and where you would be travelling. we are average in built and all of 5ft 7in . for our family of three there is more than enough space. higher seating makes the back seat more comfortable than the alto.  adjusting the front seat for my driving position i found enough leg room in the rear.  The sportz model has enough features actually a few more than what my i 10 sportz ( the kappa 1 model) had. airbags for the driver, and fog lamps for example. The music system sounds good but there are only 2 front door mounted speakers though there is space to put 2 more speakers in the rear parcel shelf.

Small features that i liked- enough space for bottles and magazines. aux and usb ports right in front of you, a large space to put your mobile during charging. remote lock and central lock in sportz.

What I did not like- the ac controls are marked by very small red lines on the knobs. you would have to get your eyes off the road to look carefully and adjust the settings which is risky in city driving. the knob movements some how feel like not built to last. Boot space is as much as i10 which i think is great. it is a larger but a bit deeper than in the alto, meaning pulling out heavy bags might be a little more difficult, At least the sportz should have had rear defoggers.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Engine performance is average but enough for city driving. slot it into the gear and release the clutch and expect a smooth take off--well this does not happen. you have to rev the engine a bit. The engine is fairly noisy if you rev hard. in the first and second gears even normal driving is a bit noisy. but saying that, raise the windows, switch on the music system and you would not be complaining about engine noise. The sound insulation is way better than alto.

The clutch is light, and the gears are easy to slot though a bit more notchy than i10 but better than alto.  the test car had done only 300 km and so was quite new, but the fact is that the ac does not make the engine feel as strained as in alto 800.

Ride Quality & Handling Good for city. I felt it bobs less than the i10 and is more comfortable than the alto. i did not do any spirited driving since i do not think this car is made for racerboys so i am not sure how it holds in corners at speed.

Final Words A very good car from hyundai. made for city driving and occasional out of town trips. it may be more expensive than the alto 800 but it costs to make curvaceous and appealing designed metal sheets and a good dash. maruti has earned back hundreds of times the money it spent on desigining and is still selling alto thanks to its wonderful k series engine and reliability and service centers. eon does offer a lot more features than alto which as a car itself should make it a better choice.

Areas of improvement Rear defoggers and 2 airbags are more important than fog lamps and remote locking as safety features and should be offered at least as a option that can be ordered. some customers would not mind paying a little more for safety.