Hyundai i10 - Apple of the 'i'

Looks

As is the quotidian practice of mine, I walked around this sexy little number and observed the lines and curves that form her silhouette. As far as my perspicacity goes, I found the front to have an absolute in-yer-face element to it without looking too odd. The clear-lens headlamps extend to the rear of the front end – some call it the peeled-back look. The engine bay as such is quite tight, and with the large headlamps dominating the face, frontally the i10 looks quite intimidating. The chrome-lined tiny grille section adds a veneer of cuteness and, when observed minutely, looks like a thin mustache with its ends pointing upwards! I know that you will now gaze at the pics again and again to realize that it actually does look like a mustache. And that huge (for a small-car it is huge) air-dam is absolutely contrary to the ‘cute’ facet.

This car does have a sense of humour in the way it looks, I believe, and to support this statement, may I just ask you to move your legs and walk round the back-side of this car. Stand and observe. I did. And what I saw had me go into a complete meltdown. The rear, in plain and simple words, is dreary. The pretty front just fails to get complemented by the malapropos behind. The tail-gate has absolutely nothing to brag about on the looks front and even with the large tail-lamps trying hard to add liveliness, the rear is plain boring. The tiny tyres fail to occupy the wheel arches well which gives the i10 an undertyred look. The conventionally placed boot-release lever looks chic though. Also, generous use of black plastic moulding upfront, on the sides and at the back makes for a pleasing sight for the eyes. The behind of this car is incongruous when you think of its frontal appeal. But overall, the Hyundai i10 is a car that pours forth with fullness and shouts about being extravagant about the way she looks.

Say you have bought a small-car. You blind-fold a friend of yours who does not know about your purchase and make him/her sit inside and then take the screen off the eyes of your companion only to hear “Wow, what a smart place to be in!” What this will do is fill your heart with warmth and make your face go pink! So, if you are planning to buy the Hyundai i10, better get used to that 'blushed-look' of yours and sycophancy that would be showered upon, since the interior of i10 is damn side good-looking compared to any other small-car doing the rounds. The two-tone colour scheme lends an air of richness associated with cars higher in the ladder of automotive segments and the plastics and knobs have a nice feel to them as well. One thing that stands out as a unique aspect is the placement of the gear-shift lever which is housed on the centre console. This liberates a good amount of space on the floor which has been utilized smartly by endowing it with useful storage spaces and cup holders. There are enough spaces to carry things ranging from your wallet or cell phone to bottles of a litre capacity. The luggage space too is decent but the deep loading-lip can be a cause of concern while loading/unloading baggage.

The disappointment comes in shape of the door pockets which are narrow on the front doors and.. er.. missing at the rear! The interior otherwise is a congenial place to be in. On the comfort aspect too, the i10 is bang upto the mark. Well, almost. The front seats are shaped in a way to offer you the best support in all the right places. The head-restraints are not a different unit as seen in other cars and are an extension of the chairs. This lends a very ‘Sparco’ feel to them! Yeah, racy they look. The ideal driving position can be arrived at with ease and the view of the outside is pretty good. I missed a dead-pedal at the side of the clutch though. The rear bench is adequately firm and pampers you with good comfort levels. Just wish the legroom was a wee bit more. Good lumber support both at the front and rear makes it a good car to cover miles in, without practicing Yoga after getting out of it! One moaner I have is that the protrusions at the bottom of the rear seats do not allow the occupants to stretch legs.

The instrument panel too is pretty comprehensive and is dominated by a large, white-faced speedo that occupies the place of conceit while a tacho, fuel and temperature gauge compliment it on either side. The usual array of warning lights for seatbelt, oil levels, battery, power steering etc are all there just to warn you when something starts to go wrong. But this being a Hyundai, we expect nothing to really come alight to bother your peace of mind. The fully-integrated audio unit that comes in the higher versions of i10 sounds rather good for a factory-fitted unit while the Webasto sunroof that we had on our media-drive red coloured i10 worked well. My extremely accurate navigator for the drive, Aditya of Mid Day, started to behave like a ten-year old and wanted to stick his head out to have some air-in-the-hair experience! The only word I have for the air con is – Super. Even in the month of December, Mumbai is annoyingly hot. Ask a man like me who has been in love with the chills of the northern part of our nation and the frown on the forehead will answer how much he hates the so-called winter of Mumbai. But I did not break even into a drop of sweat, and I am thinking of putting a ‘thank you’ note next to the air con for keeping me cool down to the spine. All it required was to turn the air con knob at the slowest throw speed to feel comfy. Super. Simply super.