Good on paper, poor on road

 

Exterior Stylish, good. One of the stylish car among the hatches. Some times I feel the headlight is not powerful enough - but that could be my own experience. I cant believe - there is no boot lid :(

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Good, acceptable for a premium hatch. Good boot space. Good leg room in front row. Rear is little cramped, but equal or better than the competitors. Enough features you could expect from a hatch. A/C, auto climate control is good. Display, dash board and centre facia are very beautiful, esp in night. Seats are good and comfortable, attractive interior colour combination.

Rear is little cramped, but that is the best you can expect with a 60:40 boot space. Stereo system could have been better, it looks like a 1000 rupees assembled set. Nowadays you get excellent systems for even Rs.5000/- . The difference between Era and magna is over Rs.40,000/- What you get are some cosmetic changes+audio system. The audio system is not worth the difference. You could rather consider upgrading an Era.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Very poor pickup. Unresponsive engine. The 2nd gear takes 5-6 secs to respond. Very disappointing when you look at the paper specs (90ps/220kg) and practically on road. Turbo lag is more. However, when the trubo kicks in (at around 2000 rpm), it is a rocket. It is performing very great on NH, but in city you will be very disappointed when you rush to the office.

Gear shift is good. Too close gear some times misguides you between gears. The reverse gear is at the far off end of 1st gear (unike the traditional one - at the rear end off the 5th gear) is not very welcoming for a 5 speed gearbox. May bbe it suits the 6 speed engine. But note, Hyundai has stopped the 6 speed machines abruptly (without even notifying the customers who had booked - shame on you Hyundai!)

Very noisy engine.

Ride Quality & Handling Handling is normal and ok. Ride quality is not that great, bumpy on the rear. EPS (power steering) is not accurate - very unreliable and wobbling when you cross 110kmph. 120-130 is a total unsteady ride. I didnt dare to go over that.

Mileage: avg 18 on NH (with AC), 10-11 in city.

Final Words I bought this car with lot of expectations, as I did quite a lot of research before buying. The paper specs of this car makes it rank 1. No hatches have 220kg Torque. Majority of them are under 1.3L. i20 ranks top with 1.4L, 90BHP & 220kg Torque. Innova with 2.5L has around 280kg. So when comparing the power to weight ratio, i20 is well off than any other hatches. All these look fantastic on "paper". However, when it comes to practice, enginewise it is no better than an ordinary car.

I have driven my new i20 Magna over 1,600 kms in one week (1100+ in NH, 500+ in Bangalore City). With this my final words are:

- If you are a white collared family man with a relaxed life - then this is the car for you. It has all the features that you could imagine.

- If you are a young car enthusiast, then this not you cup of tea. Think "thrice" before you buy. You have sevaral other options, You dont get what you pay for.

Areas of improvement Suspension, engine pickup, cost, customer service.

Styling, featuresvery poor pickup, over cost, average mileage, ride quality