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I have owned an Alto and then a WagonR till I decided to buy this new sedan from - “Hyundai Verna”.
I have always been very apprehensive about Hyundai cars (or shud I say biased for Japanese cars). When I decided to upgrade to a sedan, I had the Aveo in my mind, for its pure majestic build and looks. Since I was upgrading too soon to sedan (third car in three years), I had to be very careful in choosing the car as I plan not to change for next 5 years.....
I test drove Indigo(Diesel), Aveo, Fiesta, City and Verna (in that order). I must say Aveo has only good looks. The interiors although good has poor quality. The chrome finish on the door handle was shaking when I sat inside a brand new car. It was the same in all other Aveos. GM's quality.....
Fiesta was good. But I felt the steering was very heavy and the back seat was too low and cramped. There are too many Fiestas on road already. Wanted something new....
The most appreciated Honda City ZX Exi was tested next. It surely has an "Upmarket style". But it is way too expensive for a mid segment. The Exi model comes with nothing. No music system, No speakers, no height adjustable seats, no tinted glasses, no keyless entry. The power on the car was not great for highway drives. I had to press the accelerator to the floor on lower gears to get past city buses with four people on board....
Now, the Verna Xi.... It was love at first sight for me, my wife and my friend. We fell in love instantly with the looks of the car. The car looks ordinary from the front. But looks great from the side (egg shell shape) and from the rear. A definite score over the Aveo and City. Fiesta looks equally good from the rear and the side. The interiors are cool and roomy. The wood finish on the Xi & XXi models are attractive. The dashboard is not very exciting, though. It looks decent. The information console is good with nice speedometer and tachometer and the digital display of Odo, door open sign, seat belt warning etc… (similar to most other cars in the segment). The rear leg room is excellent, second only to the Honda city.
Now the drive.... the diesel was mind blowing (way too expensive for me as it is not equipped well). The petrol was very refined. Very silent inside the cabin. Did reasonably well with 5 people on board and AC on in Bangalore city. Guess, would do well on highways too. The feedback from the various auto magazines has been average. I think that does not matter for common man as I feel the common man has different requirements....
The Xi and XXi comes with lot of features at the price. It has height adjustable driver seats, height adjustable seat belts, music system (XXi only), speakers, electrically adjustable RVM, Alloy wheels (XXi) and automatic climate control (XXi). It is a real steal at 7.35 lacs (Xi) and 8.01 lacs (XXi)
Practically..... I have been using Verna Xi for last 15 days. For a person who has been driving WagonR, it feels definitely very good in a bigger car like Verna. However, there are few things which I feel Hyundai should have looked into. The initial pickup is not good at all, head lights are not the brightest. The fuel efficiency is not great either. Otherwise, it is excellent. Looks great on the road, handles the rough roads smoothly, accomodates 5 people without any cramps, AC is decent, driving position is the best, road clearance is superb, ground clearance is good, seats are comfortable, easily reachable controls, excellent styling.....
Overall, with a little compromise on fuel efficiency, it is a fantastic car.
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