Lets look at my requirements first.
Requirement #1: I have been driving a Maruti Alto for the last 8 years. With my kid going to school and my wife also working, a need for a second car came up last year. Since then I have been seriously researching my options.
Requirement #2: I had faced lots of issues with a small car when friends and relatives come visiting and while going for long drive. So the requirement of a sedan or a SUV got added to my requirement.
Requirement #3: The element of comfort and luxury inside the cabin was very important for me. The more the features inside the car, the better for me. My heart was always for an SUV but with the budget of 10lacs I could only get the Tata Safari or the Scorpion and I will tell you later why I did not select them.
Requirement #4: Exterior looks and high-class branding was not so important for me. Having driven a Maruti for 8 years and the service you get from a well spread service network is not something I would compromise for brand-value or class. Nevertheless brand is always important, but it came at #4 for me.
Requirement #5: I drive daily around 25km and I go to long drives 3-4 times a year. I think I will clock around 9000km per year.
Now lets look at all the options that I went through one by one. As I said there are too many options in India today and I did not necessarily do a detail review of all of them. But the ones that I evaluated are:
1. Tata Safari Dicor.
2. Mahindra Scorpion.
3. Suzuki SX4.
4. Fiat Linea.
5. Honda City.
6. VW Vento.
8. Hyunda Old Verna
9. Hyundai Fluidic Verna.
Tata Safari was always something my heart wanted. I saw it first somewhere in the year 1998 and I was "fida" on it. However I was disappointed to see that they did not make significant improvements to the car for so many years. So the fear of this car getting out-dated soon was the main reason for rejection, but I must say that the looks and build are something I still admire. I did not even bother to take a test drive.
Mahindra Scorpion happens to be the next only affordable SUV in India in my budget. My close friend has it and it was me who recommended him to get this and I think he is enjoying it. My reasons for rejection are interior comfort and suspension. The large gaps between panels, poor finishing, lack of features was the problem. The new Micro-hybrid looks much better than ever before, but suspension and lack of element of luxury inside did not impress me. My wife did not like the way the car moved sideways when it found even a small pothole/hump on the road.
Suzuki SX4. I don't understand how they managed to build such a small cabin inside such a big looking car. The car really looks cramped inside. The test drive felt like I was handling a huge car. The pick up and power was good and I will bet my kidney that you will never get a better service network than Maruti in India. But it did not fit my requirements nicely.
Old Hyundai Verna. I thought the car was over-priced and the cabin look was very old fashioned -- like the cars in the 80s. It was ugly looking on the outside also, specially the front look. I never understood why it was so expensive.
Fiat Linea. I was impressed with this car and its test drive. The looks inside and outside were examples of perfect engineering. Every thing seemed to have got the very detailed attention. From seating comfort, to dash board, ease of handing, looks, bonnet and the tail, it all looked well-engineered. It had all the features I wanted--a spacious looking cabin, large boot space, Bluetooth, heated OVRMs, reverse sensor, ABS, airbags, modern looking and a service interval of 15000km which speaks of their confidence of the engine and everything inside the bonnet. So what did me out? User feedback and the fear that I wont get good after sales servicing. My neighbor gave me an example of his friend where he had electrical problems with this car and had to go to the consumer court to deal with it. Apparently he never got his money back but had to settle with a Tata Manza. I can never imagine me settling with a Tata Manza!!
VM Vento. I dont know much about this car, but the looks simply did not impress me. It has a very traditional look.I know I said that exterior looks were not my #1 or #2 requirement, but in this case, the looks were too old fashioned for me. But I kept hearing that this is a good car.
Honda City. This is the car that has the highest brand value in India. To own a Honda itself puts you in the high class society. It has got a class attached to it, which no other cars in the range of 10lacs can give you in India. For many people I know this is a very important factor when they purchase a sedan. If so, go for it you will not regret. It was a tough decision for me but the following factors in the City made it easy for me to go in favor of the new Fluidic Verna.
a. Low ground clearance. Long drives in India could be painful with the underbelly always kissing the ground or the hump.
b. No climate control. I dont want to change the A/C every now and then after paying 10lacs. This is old technology and Honda should have had it.
Hyundai Fluidic Verna. Like most of the reviews on paper and TV, it true that Hyundai got it right this time. Available in both Petrol and Diesel you wont get such a powerful sedan at this price range. The 1.6 Petrol comes with 123PS@6300rpm which is higher than almost all it counterpart. Even the Scorpion comes at 115BHP@3800rpm. The Verna is definitely powerful than all the sedans I mentioned. Verna Diesel has even higher power.
The second thing that impressed me is the fact that ABS, 2-airbags, alloy wheels, fog lamps are all standard features in the SX version(you get 6 airbags in the higher diesel version only).
The cabin is spacious and the features are rich and its something that I always wanted.
The auto-climate control is definitely useful because you dont have to worry about turning the knob when it gets too cold or too warm. Just set the temperate and have the car do the rest.
The next is the Bluetooth phone connectivity. They have conveniently placed a mic right above the driver's head, but as per my testing everyone in the car can talk. Setting up the Bluetooth was a bit challenging as I had to do a Blue-tooth pairing every time I entered the car, even though the manual said it was a 1-time setup. I discovered that my Blackberry had encryption enabled by default and once I turned encryption off, I never required to re-pair again. The moment I get into the car, my phone would get paired. The call buttons are on the steering wheel and so are the volume controls.
iPod connectivity is cool with the 2-din audio display as you can browse through your playlists comfortably. I have a 1-Din iPod-ready music system on my Alto, but it requires extreme commando training to browse through your playlists through your music system. In Verna, its a breeze. It took me some time to connect the iPod to the system as you need to use a Hyundai specific cable and you need to connect the iPod to both the AUX and USB input on your car. If you dont connect both it does not work. The cable comes with the car (you dont have to buy separately).
The rear-view mirror is a charm. First of all it reduces the glare from head-lamps at night. I have seen the lights going dull-green sometimes when somebody is driving at high beam and it continuously adjusts thereby preventing glare. The other good thing is that the rear-view camera displays right on your back view mirror while you reverse. And with the proximity warning signals rear parking is such a breeze at office even when I am late ;-)
The side mirrors are not only electronically adjustable, but they fold at the touch of a button, which means that in the traffic jam you can fold them to allow two wheelers to pas through without hitting you.
I am also impressed that after the 1st service which if after 2 months, the subsequent servicing interval is 1 year or 10,000 kms. This speaks of the confidence they have on the car. Most cars in India have a service interval of 6 months or 5000kms.
Few other fancy features are
1. Air-cooled glove box for chocolates,
2. Driver side height adjustable seat-belts. It useful if you are not a tall person.
3. Tilt steering.
4. Sun glass holder.
5. Luggage net.
6. Driver information display is rich and worth mentioning are the following:
a. Distance to empty.
b. Average mileage, which gets reset when you refill your talk with 6+ liters.
c. Separate front and rear defogger buttons. Rear defogger with timer.
c. Door ajar indicator and low fuel indicator.
d. Instantaneous fuel mileage indicator.
e. Average speed.
f. Inside and outside temperature.
g. Audio remote control
h. Steering mounted audio control with phone buttons also.
i. Tilt adjustable driver seat (not electronic).
Size: Since Honda City is the most popular car in this segment, let me tell you the size of this car relative to the City.
-- Its -5 cm shorter than the City in length.
-- Its +0.5 cm wider than the City.
-- Its -0.5 cm shorter than the City in height. Despite this the head room of Verna for back passengers is more because its seat is low. On the city, I had my head almost touching the ceiling. (I am 6 ft tall person)
The music system is good enough that you don't need to add anything extra. It has very few audio tuning controls compared to my old Pioneer system which has so many tuning parameters. The sound is very nice inside the cabin.
And did I forget to mention that the side and the back looks are to die for. It has a bold yet sleeky sporty look. Hyundai has done a great job with their Fluidic sculpture design. No doubt.
Driving experience:
The driving experience has been good so far. I hit a few speed breakers under the bump for the 1st few days -- meaning that the ground clearance is not so big, but much better than the Honda City. I have seen the City struggling in my rear-view mirror. The power at 2nd and 3rd gear is something I love, specially while overtaking. Even at 5th gear, the over-taking capability in highways gives you a sense of confidence. I have read about wobbling at high speeds, but I am yet to figure it out. I have driven at 130 km/hr at Nice Road, Blore and I haven't felt as bad as the reviews said. I have a few longs drives coming up and will know soon. But so far so good.
Verna is known for its Diesel variant. I did my own calculation and found that I may not be able to break even the cost of a diesel car quickly with my daily usage, but I still wanted to buy a diesel because the cost of petrol was very hurting. But the Verna diesel had a 8 month waiting period which forced me to go for the petrol.
Regrets:
1. I dont like the fact that the door does neither lock automatically when you start the engine nor when you reach a speed. On the automatic version, the door locks automatically only when it reaches 15km/h.
2. The central locking system does not make a sound which means its difficult to find your car in a large parking space.
3. The remote does not open the trunk. You have to key in or pull the lid from inside the car.
Cost:
The Verna 1.6 SX VTVT costed me Rs. 10.5 lacs on road(no extra accessories), which is slightly higher than most of the other cars I compared above, but I think its worth the money.
PS:
Advaith Hyundai took a picture of me during delivery and posted to Facebook.
Happy Driving.//
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