Hyundai Verna - Surprise Package

[Turbo_Sid]

Hi All,

This is my first post on TAI so bear with me for any unwarranted mistakes or slip ups :)

Getting to the point. I own a Maruti Zen 2001, Ford Ikon 2007 and Honda City 2011. All petrol heads and all grts in their own fronts. Fast forward to 2012 and in the month of March 2012 I got a hefty bonus from my employer and being a Risk Manager we tend to get paid more than the others (reasons I dont know myself ). With good amount of cash in hand I set out to find a Diesel sedan for me this time with a budget of max 12 lacs. TD (test drive) many cars including Vento, Fiesta, Linea, Rapid, Optra & Sunny. Thanks to another auto blog Verna was never on my mind as I had made a notion that it swishes and sways on the road. My mistake :(.

One imp point is that am not a grt fan of TDs done with the dealers. You have to hear some stupid marketing crap while driving and TD the car and that too for just 4-5 Kms. So I set out to chk my facebook friend list to see who all can be called upon to TD respective cars. Managed to find frnds owning Vento, Fiesta, Linea & Optra. Sunny & Rapid had to test driven with the dealers.

Short synopsis for all the TDs (no hard feelings for all those who own any one of these, just penning down my personal feelings). Also these r the things I liked or disliked. There may be many more good n bad for these cars.

Vento -
TD distance - 50Km approx (New expressway - Gurgaon to Faridabad for twist and turns & NH 8 for straight line)
Likes – Robust, well built, solid, nice torque post mid range, awesome for acceleration from 20-80 Kmph dash, good ride and handling
Dislikes – Lack of equipment at its price, Ok ok power steering, design not of my choice and biggest let down the engine noise

Fiesta –
TD distance - 50Km approx (New expressway - Gurgaon to Faridabad for twist and turns & NH 8 for straight line)
Likes – Handling….handling….. handling….. handling….. handling….. handling….. handling….. handling….. power steering, cabin quietness & well built.
Dislikes – Cheap plastics, lack of power, boot design (seems to be done by fresher!!!) & space

Linea & Optra
TD distance - 50Km approx (New expressway - Gurgaon to Faridabad for twist and turns & NH 8 for straight line)
Good cars but Optra gonna be phased out now and Linea although a stunner but Fiat issues.

Sunny
TD distance – 4-5 Km approx within Gurgaon
Likes – Spaccccceeeee…its actually a Caaarrrr,
Dislikes – Interior & exterior design, lack of power

Rapid
TD distance – 4-5 Km approx within Gurgaon
Fabia with a boot just did not go down well with me in terms of designing.

Now post all the test drives was totally confused as none of the cars satisfied me. Vento coming the closest. What I wanted –
Nice throw of torque adequate for overtaking on highways n manageable in city driving
Good equipment level
Good straight line speed
Nice interiors
Ride comfort
Handling excellence

Now what to do. My brother-in-law somehow managed to convince me to TD his Verna 1.6 SX Crdi. So comes my Saale Sahab all the way from CHD to Ggn only for this test drive n yes meet his sister too .

As usual TD on New expressway - Gurgaon to Faridabad for twist and turns & NH 8 for straight line but yes distance was more than 50 Km this time.
And my my…wasn’t I surprised. Man this car is far far better than what I had imagined post reading all those reviews.
What I liked –
Design
Well-packaged with never ending list of equipments
Sufficient space
Nice peppy torquey diesel with well distributed torque
Ride & handling in the city
Straight line performance
Reverse camera
Cabin quiteness

Dislikes –
Highway high speed performance – becomes too bouncy post 130 Kmph and is not at all flat and yes at that speeds one does not feel confident
Rear seat comfort just a tab below being comfortable for tall people like me (6 ft) on long drives

Then there were many likes n dislikes which were there but not significant enough to influence my decision like the pathetic wood finish n non-illuminated power window switches.

After much deliberation had to finalize between Vento n Verna.

Ride and handling goes for a toss in Verna post 130 Kmph but who cares. How many times wud I go for such high speeds. Drove the car again on NH-8 at 120 Kmph for about 15-20 Kms to check the stability. And yes its perfect, Don’t know why people feel terrorized n write stuff to terrorize others. Took to Gurgaon Faridabad highway for the twisty road n drove at 80-90 Kmph. No issues at all. To add to that overtaking was never an issue. And yes one thing I missed…drove the car in Delhi. Took it from Gurgaon to East Delhi and back and man I was impressed. It’s a bliss in the city. Soft steering n soft suspension bowled me over for in city driving.

So finally the car which comes the closest is Verna n yes AM GOING TOMORROW TO BOOK IT.

Cheers!!!!!!!

 

[sandy_fluidic]

Hey sid welcome to TAI family. You have made a very wise decision by choosing verna. I an sure you will not regret to your decision when you read the nposts of verna users at TAI. It is indeed one of the best car one can own. Which model you are going to book

 

[ravia]

Right decision. 1.6 crdi sx sleek silver is mine. Whats your idea?

 

[aristo_perfect]

Good Write up Sid - and congratulations for choosing the Verna.

 

[TSIVipul]

Welcome to TAI Sid,have a nice stay here.
Although I don't own a Verna(Because I drive myself) but still this is what I found in Fluidic:-
1):Front and side profile-Smashing.
2):Rear end-Disappointing for me.
3):Cabin:Fantastic,plastic quality if great,fit and finish is good too,cabin feels airy too(only on front seats) and a lot of gadgets etc to keep you happy and what is great si that electronics quality is good,the car I drove(Meerut-Jaipur-Jodhpur-Meerut)had no issue with electronics.
4):FE:Mind blowing,in 6th gear this car does 120 at about 2000 rpm itself.Hence FE is great although I got just 16.1 kpl overall because I was busy enjoying the acceleration of the car.
5):Comfort:Front seats are good with good cushioning,though nowhere as good as Honda City(I drive it daily and love it) but rears eats have some problem.If you are below 5'5 then okay else you will find nearly no thigh support on rears eats if the front seats are not adjusted at the front-most position.Since you own a City too hence you will find it even more annoying because City has got the best rear sat too.
6):Ride and handling:-

• I have already mentioned zillions of times,there is no issue at all upto 100-110 kph,after that the game changes.
• I drove Verna upto 185 kph near shahpura and my observation was:-
• Ride and handling is good until the road is straight with slight curves and no undulations.
• As soon as the curves become slightly tight then even at 120 kph the Verna seems to roll and get disturbed on undulations.
• Brakes are never ever as good as of City and hence you are never as confident as in City(I did 180-190 in City many times and was quite confident too).

7):Engine and gearbox:Engine and gearbox,both are simply best in class.No doubt Hyundai 1.6 CRDi is the most refined engine and performs very well too.
Gearbox is also great(Don't compare with petrol cars)only the one of Fiesta feels slightly better else this one is perfectly mated to the engine.

This was may review of the car..and I can say ..CONGRATS FOR CHOOSING THIS GEM OF A CAR..and for city drive,the light steering is just a boon.

 

[Turbo_Sid]

Hi....

Gone are the days when I used to drive above 140 Kmph....Became a daddy yesterday n with the increase in the responsibility there is a direct decrease in my driving speed...lolzzzz

Am going for Carbon Grey 1.6 Crdi...

 

[shubham]

Hi....

Gone are the days when I used to drive above 140 Kmph....Became a daddy yesterday n with the increase in the responsibility there is a direct decrease in my driving speed...lolzzzz

Am going for Carbon Grey 1.6 Crdi...

hey congrats on becoming a father , 140 k mph on Indian road is unsafe !

 

[naveenkumarverma]

Hi....

Gone are the days when I used to drive above 140 Kmph....Became a daddy yesterday n with the increase in the responsibility there is a direct decrease in my driving speed...lolzzzz

Am going for Carbon Grey 1.6 Crdi...

Double congrats...

 

[TSIVipul]

Hi....

Gone are the days when I used to drive above 140 Kmph....Became a daddy yesterday n with the increase in the responsibility there is a direct decrease in my driving speed...lolzzzz

Am going for Carbon Grey 1.6 Crdi...

Congrats buddy.in fact congrats many times..
Now you people are three.

About speed thing,no issue because once the kid will cross 7-8 years age he/she will start saying "Papa wo gaadi aage nikal gayi,aap bhi bhagao"..

Now its the time to get one child seat too with the car and yes,take a free advise..."DON'T GET THE LEATHER SEAT COVERS FOR THE CAR FOR AT LEAST 3 YEARS".
BTW,which model you are considering?

 

[T0RQUE]

Congrats bro no matter what others say, Verna is the BEST all around package, best suited for daily city driving.

take a free advise..."DON'T GET THE LEATHER SEAT COVERS FOR THE CAR FOR AT LEAST 3 YEARS".
BTW,which model you are considering?

Why so Vipul ?

 

[allhyundaicars]

Congratz sid

 

[TSIVipul]

Why so Vipul ?

This has a very drama type reason,applicable to nearly all the newly became parents.
The rear set of my TSI has some spots on the leather seat cover.How it happened is as follows:-
A relative who became new parents accompanied me from Delhi to Malerkotla(Punjab).They fed their baby and since there was some huggies stuff so no issue but infants have one more problem very much prominent with them,the problem is:-
First they will have the milk and after they will surprisingly vomit it.Same happened in my car too and since child vomitted many times,just once it fell on the seat cover and since no one paid attention to it,I got them spotted.

Isn't this weirdest of all the logics?But for me its a logic and I advise it to every new parents.

See how just some milk and slight carelessness can send you back by Rs.20-25k.

 

[Turbo_Sid]

I agree with u Vipul...but when its ur own baby, anything for her

 

[gears1313]

Hey Congrats Sid for becoming a Daddy and secondly congrats for your choice made. And last bit not the least; Welcome to TAI.

BTW which variant are you considering. Sx or 1.6 base.

Also I have taken the delivery of my Fluidic 1.6 SX CRDi White few days back.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/ownership-reviews/6717-got-wet-rain-fluidics.html

 

[singh890]

Congratulations Sid for for the new car as well as on becoming a father. And that's a nice color choice as well .