The Beauty and the Beast: My Hyundai Fluidic Verna 1.6 SX VTVT


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Hello everyone.
Let me warn at the begining, this is my first time writing anything of this nature in a forum. This is going to be a lengthy and boring post to read.
[ Reader's discretion strictly advised ! ! ]

A little history :
Our first car is Maruti Swift Lxi [1.3] purchased in mid 2007.
There wasn't really any buying experience with that lovely frog car. Why? Because my father had learnt to drive just a month back in one of those driving schools and I was a minor.
So without any test drives [lol] we brought the car at that time.
I learnt to drive in this car and so did my father as he wasn't feeling very confident with the size of the car as he drove Maruti 800 in that school.
And the result was clutch plates had to be replaced within its first year.
The car is still going strong without any hassles after that and is a little over 25,000 KM right now. Except windows vibrating noise there is no problem with the car at all. Its on its original battery as well.
No wonder the car still is a hot seller.

Then came the Hyundai i 20 Magna (O) in the family.
And it has covered 15,000 KM's within its 1.5yrs due to my daily commute to college which is almost 60 KM.
No problems except the rattle from driver side dashboard. Returns around 18 KMPL on highway.

It was around March 2013 when father said he wants to upgrade to a new car as swift is more than 6yrs old [ Though with very little mileage].
So the hunt begins.
Budget was set around 8 lakh initially. There was no particular segment that we were targeting for.
Requirements were:
The car will stay with us for 5+yrs just like swift. Hence the following
Petrol engine.
Easy and fun to drive [ As most of our commute is within Pune city ].
Decent fuel economy.
Boot space.
Ground clearance.
Good after sale service.
Not heavy on pocket for servicing.

[I know Maruti is the only one who fulfill the above mentioned criteria.]

So my online research started, reading various reviews and ownership experiences was my daily chore now.
After thorough research cars that were considered and not considered were as follows.

Cars considered and not considered :

New Swift/Dezire zxi : There is nothing wrong with the car [ I am not a fan of maruti for styling and design] its just that we wanted to upgrade and Hyundai smoothness had already ruined us.

Skoda rapid : This is a beautiful car but after reading many skoda horror stories and their maintenance costs [ Part prices actually ] didn't even visit their showroom.

VW Vento/Polo : Same as above. But I am a sucker for that blue color. And TSI was a little over budget but due to their DQ 200 gearbox reliability issues worldwide, it was out.

Ford Fiesta : Their designers were on cloud 9 while drafting the design I guess and the classic was not that popular for petrol fuel economy. [ A colleague from my fathers office reported the same ].

Maruti Ertiga : What are we supposed to do with all the space when there are only 3 members at home and the car will be driven mostly by one person alone. Plus the appeal isn't to our liking and parking in city might become a headache.

Toyota Etios : I was seeing this car a lot on Pune roads don't know why.
Checked the car at showroom and there was nothing that made me feel either bad or good for the car except that center console which I coudn't digest. There was no temperature gauge either and outside styling was okayish. What I loved was the braking of the car but engine noise was really evident, felt it more than our old swift. [confused] But father was mighty impressed by the nature of the car and its easy manuvaribility plus Toyota maintenance cost is really a joke and that boot space is really something. The car had everything from our requirement but still it didn't felt right.

So the decision was made from father's side but I was like we are paying 8+ lakhs and the car will stay with us for 5+ years so it should atleast feel like that. But it was of no use.
It reminded me of a dialogue said by Vin Diesel in Fast & Furious.
“I'm one of those boys that appreciates a fine body, regardless of the make."
I was so frustrated that I said you might as well consider purchasing top end new swift or dezire or the i 20 with sunroof and stuff which will be used NEVER.
After some 3-4 days announcement of price hike was there but dealer said he will try to bill it on earlier price if we book it on that day itself. The final discount and freebies were finalized.

But god came to my rescue on the booking day and dad was convinced as booking plan was postponed.

Within a week after above incident:
The budget was now raised to around 10 lakh Rupee with the same requirements as earlier. But this time I could do a better research as my exams were over.
A couple of new cars were tested and the final decision was made.

New cars considered :

Ford Ecosport : Ford is always known for their driver oriented cars, so went to ford to check out the car and for the first time I felt someone can compete with Hyundai on feature front.
Car didn't really felt big compared to our current i 20. So didn't really felt as an upgrade.
But it was August end if I remember correctly and the quoted waiting time was going through the roof. I mean we had swift within 45 days when waiting time was quoted as 6 months but is not the case with ford it seems.


Fiat Linea: Beautifully crafted machinery. I was in love when I first saw this car on road when it was launched. This car was the queen of the beautiful cars no doubt. But the after sales service is not that great.

Somehow I convinced my father to see below cars as he wouldn't have to be afraid of bumper scrapping and they are not really that big.

Renault Duster : This was coming in the budget and was the number 1 contender in the list.
Interior really didn't felt worth the money though and father was against big car i.e SUV's

Nissan Terrano : I loved the way the car looked in pictures and interiors were average which I could live with and GC is the plus point. But due to its unknown price,drive/ride and after sales service had to let go off the car.

Sunny : Only one thing, It really is a caaar.

Mahindra scorpio/XUV 500 : Yeah I did actually took him to the showroom to see the car but the sales guy working there really ruined it for my father as he was least interested and I had seen the new scoop pictures of facelifted scorpio as well. Interiors felt outdated just like duster and the diesel only option and that engine noise was a big no from father.
XUV on other hand was really good,it was over the budget but we were willing to stretch it or wait for W4.
Add to that I have a friend who used to work for Mahindra who strictly advised me against the purchase plus the n number of problems faced by owners. He works for Honda now so he said check out the Honda city and amaze.

Honda City : It was already pretty late but due to my friend one of the sales rep was waiting for us thanks to him.
She showed us the car and said only the EMT and SMT are available due to amaze production. I knew new city is about to be launched but didn't said anything.
I might sound crazy but I am not a fan of new city looks I liked the old version better and the ground clearance was a major factor. So with heavy heart city was out too.

Honda Amaze : Saw the car it felt small, interiors were not to our liking and it didnt appeal to neither me nor my father so it was out.

Hyundai Verna : This car was never in our cars to be considered list. So it is kind of an wild card entry.
Father came home and told me to check this car. Upon a little online research I found the car to be extremely beautiful. Read a lot about the suspension issue and was concerned about the same.
Went to showroom after 2-3 days and it was really a looker. Sat inside felt a little difference from i 20 interiors. Test drive vehicle was not available. Father had driven the car later as they provided with a car at his office. Me still without any test drive as my timings were not matching up.
Meanwhile father communicated with 2 showrooms in our area [PCMC] and the deal was made with Sanjay Hyundai but from their corporate office in wakdewadi.
I came to know about it only on 18th of October when we were speaking about the car to purchase.
My father said: I already have booked the car and it is to come on 28th at showroom I was like o_O
I immediately asked him to get VIN number which was already provided to him few days earlier, he was not aware of it. Checked it and it is coming as October 2013 manufacturing. I would appreciate if others could help if they know how to get detailed report and exact date of production.

The color was silver as always. [ Our swift is silver,i20 was supposed to be silver too but somehow I managed to make him buy twilight blue.] This car looks really great in purple,grey.


Freebies:
*Car mud flaps.
*Car mats boot included.
*Art leather Seat covers or navigation system [Took seat covers as GPS nav will be of no use in city.]
*Leather Steering cover.
*Idol
*Reverse parking music [Yeah my father is a fan of those things but the person installing it said it will sound very low outside, so opted out hehe.]

So went to their showroom on 29th as the seat covers,steering cover,idol were to be decided.
But to my surprise the car was unloaded at their PCMC showroom while I was at their pune showroom. Told my father about same, he spoke with the concerned person [No need to guess what he must have spoken] and voila the person says come with me we will go there, so I bid farewell to my friend as he needed to change his bike tire and went with that guy.
Later same friend came to that showroom as well.
So did the PDI with the friend as father was in office.
My father doesn't understand the importance of PDI's but still he said fine go ahead check it if you wish so, to my surprise he even came to showroom later to check out the car as well.

Here are the pictures from PDI.

The first Sight:
watermarked-1.jpg

Out of congested space
Left profile:

watermarked-4.jpg

With open eyes:
watermarked-6.jpg

ODO Reading:
watermarked-2.jpg

The Beauty:
watermarked-11.jpg

And the Beast::lol!:
watermarked-5.jpg

The cockpit:
watermarked-7.jpg

Rear Left:
watermarked-8.jpg

Look at that :
watermarked-9.jpg

Rear right:
watermarked-10.jpg

Those lines and alloys look killer on this color:
watermarked-12.jpg

The D Day car finally came home with father:
watermarked-13.jpg

Shell Food for her for first time [Did not full tank intentionally.]:
watermarked-29.jpg

The back with swift in its parking in left in evening:
watermarked-14.jpg

Those alloys really are something at night:
watermarked-15.jpg

The beauty in her new home while i 20 waits out:
watermarked-16.jpg

Average speed till now:
watermarked-18.jpg

KM's Done :
watermarked-19.jpg

DTE:
watermarked-20.jpg

Average fuel efficiency: [ Good to see something like this on dash I know its not reliable. ]
watermarked-21.jpg

Random cockpit picture:
watermarked-22.jpg

Drivers side vanity mirror:
watermarked-24.jpg

Cost cutting in passenger side vanity mirror ehh:
watermarked-23.jpg

The Controls:
watermarked-25.jpg

Art leather seat cover: [And beige again even the swift is wearing beige now almost black/brown seat covers]

watermarked-26.jpg

Tools of trade: [ From left to right - Old to new]
watermarked-20131118_172029.jpg

Rust inside disk ? !!:
watermarked-3.jpg


Regards
Midknight.
 
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Thread Starter #2
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Pune.
Re: Beauty and The Beast - My Hyundai Fluidic Verna

First impressions:

Style and comfort :
It is a beautiful car with great comfort, it surely turns the heads of other fellows. I never sit at back so have no idea about backseat comfort. Front is real good.
SA had said that Hyundai has worked on suspension,after driving it for more than 200KM's I really think they have done something. No bumper scrapping happened yet. But heard the thud sound from front right shock absorbers once, tried again on the same spot and no sound this time.
Steering gets heavy as speed increases but I have not crossed 90 on speedo yet, will do so gradually.

Space:
There is good amount of space in front as well as rear. My friend who is 5'11 almost touches the roof at back so that might be a problem on bumpy roads for taller people.
Boot space is great. Anyone with old swift would be on cloud 9 with this much boot space.

ACC:
It is really chiller over here in Pune so haven't really tested the A/C for a longer period. But it seems good enough.

NVH:
I think there is no need to speak a word about NVH level of this car.
The only thing that makes noise in this car is tires. Our car came with Bridgestone and they really are noisy on concrete roads.

Interior quality and features:
The cockpit is beautifully crafted with great quality. Ours is SX but features are more than enough.

Audio system:
It is a little less than average. At back it feels like there are no speakers. Front is all good with 3 level of bass and few extra adjustable stuff.

Breaking and gearbox :
Breaking is good as it is all round disk brakes but still I loved the braking of etios more than this one :P maybe because etios was run over 7k KM's.
Gearbox is smooth but not bitter smooth as our i20 but I think it will be after some running. One thing I noticed is the little vibrations in gear lever. Actually the lock I feel, not sure.
I dont understand why did Hyundai put the reverse in front when petrol engine gets only 5 speed gearbox ? ?

Performance:
Could not test it beyond 90 but everything is great till that.

Fuel efficiency:
Car has done a total of 210+KM.
179 KM's on trip meter A with DTE of another 50 KM's with 18.43 litres of Shell petrol,so the average for this 1.6 mill seems good.
One question what is the reserve tank capacity of this car? The reminder came somewhere around 76 or 68 KM on DTE which I dont remember.


Likes:
*Styling.
*Front armrest. [It is really placed at a convenient place I do not have to lift my arm.]
*Smooth engine.
*Features and interiors.
*ECM. [Really useful for night drives.]
*Reverse camera [Really very useful]

Dislikes:
*Tire noise.
*Fake wood finish.
*Design on beige door pads.
*Power window controls. [Our i20 has better one I feel.]
*No Lane changer,auto headlights/wiper. [Why? Even i20 has these with sunroof,atleast put them in top end model]
*5th steel wheel [Why why why?]

Upgrades planned:
Silver door handle cover.
Chrome gear knob.
Projectors ! [Not sure about this lets see after official launch]

Guys what is your take on 3M coating?
Planning to take paint protection from them to preserve the original shine. Requesting your suggestions on same.

This is it for now.
Any advice,requests are welcomed.

Regards
Midknight
 
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350Z

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Re: Beauty and The Beast - My Hyundai Fluidic Verna

Note: Thread Now Live From T.I.P Zone. Thanks!

Drive Safe,
350Z
 
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Beautiful car and awesome post! Congrats Midnight.

Could you please also mention for how much money you got your car. You can break the details like Ex showroom, RTO, Insurance, Cash discounts etc. This will be helpful to all TAI members planning to buy a Verna in Pune.

Did you get any cash discount?
 
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O man, that’s my car. Good post and details. SX is nice but now a days I’m feeling it would be better if I took SX(O), reasons:

# However I installed expensive leather seat cover and its definitely good quality but still its not 100% accurate fitting like the stock, and no separate installation is same as the stock one.

# Same goes for the Steering cover.

# The thing I noticed regarding the safety is not the extra airbags, yea it would be better having 6 airbags but I missed the Speed sensing door lock, when I drive I always do central locking, but when my driver drives he always forgets.

# Rest advantages all we knows.

Any way just check your car headlight is building fog inside or not, mostly during rain and under high humidity.
 
Thread Starter #6
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Thank you.
Well I dont have the invoice with me currently but the total on road cost was a little over 10 lakhs.
Total discount of some Rs 30,000 including corporate discount and exchange bonus of Rs 15,000 was offered on top of the mentioned freebies. Swift's fate will be decided soon.

Yeah even I would have loved to get SX(o) but the difference of on road was going well over 1 lakh.
One really need to find a highly professional person for that factory like fit and finish which is very very hard. As for the steering cover you can get a real good one for around 4-5k from Stanley.
No rains around my place so can not check about the fogging. Will report back if anything is found.


Regards
Midnkight
 
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Thank you.
Well I dont have the invoice with me currently but the total on road cost was a little over 10 lakhs.
Yeah even I would have loved to get SX(o) but the difference of on road was going well over 1 lakh.
One really need to find a highly professional person for that factory like fit and finish which is very very hard. As for the steering cover you can get a real good one for around 4-5k from Stanley.

Regards
Midnkight
Yea I also thinking now about SX(o). However in mine case it was around 75k-80k extra than SX. Even if highly professional and Expensive quality still you wont get exactly like the factory fitted, same for seat cover and steering wheel cover. I didn’t see anything like that so far.
 
Thread Starter #9
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Thank you Mr.Vaibhav
Yea I also thinking now about SX(o). However in mine case it was around 75k-80k extra than SX. Even if highly professional and Expensive quality still you wont get exactly like the factory fitted, same for seat cover and steering wheel cover. I didn’t see anything like that so far.
Ahh in that case you really should have taken SX(o)

Update:
I had faced the problem of gear shifting in 3rd instead of 1st twice till now. [Maybe I was at fault ehh] But it shifts effortlessly and correctly now.
Done 300+KM's ,F.E seems to be doing good. I now feel Brakes have improved than earlier.
Tire noise still irritating. Saw two small black spots on front bumper and on closer look it seems some pebble/rock has done its job. [I guess we can not protect it every time as our great country digs up complete roads within a few hours ] Paint quality really seems pathetic,I mean our swift is still doing great after 6.5yrs and never faced such a problem of paint gone due to above reason.

Pictures of the First Scratch [on the panel above right side rear wheel] : Don't know exactly how it happened but it must be when the car was parked on a narrow street road. [frustration]
Photo-0077.jpg


Regards
Midknight
 
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Thank you Mr.Vaibhav


Ahh in that case you really should have taken SX(o)

Update:
I had faced the problem of gear shifting in 3rd instead of 1st twice till now. [Maybe I was at fault ehh] But it shifts effortlessly and correctly now.
Done 300+KM's ,F.E seems to be doing good. I now feel Brakes have improved than earlier.
Tire noise still irritating. Saw two small black spots on front bumper and on closer look it seems some pebble/rock has done its job. [I guess we can not protect it every time as our great country digs up complete roads within a few hours ] Paint quality really seems pathetic,I mean our swift is still doing great after 6.5yrs and never faced such a problem of paint gone due to above reason.

Pictures of the First Scratch [on the panel above right side rear wheel] : Don't know exactly how it happened but it must be when the car was parked on a narrow street road. [frustration]


Regards
Midknight
Yes I thought so, but when I booked it was festival season coming and the SX(O) wasn’t ready at the dealer, I had to wait more 15 days for that, also thought the other things wont that much require so took SX. And now I cant put the (O) after SX :biggrin:.

Yes shifting in 3rd instead of 1st same happened with me 1st but after some drives its fine now, it will be fine. The gears are butter smooth and just two finger is fine for shifting.

Bumper paint is very poor and thin, I got a small scratch and then saw. But body paint is good as per me. Has some minor scratch and it took me 1 week to polish and remove those scratched completely. So the paint is hard. But the body is poor.

Sorry about the scratch, when mine got I was about to get an heart attack. By any polishing you can remove this scratch. Just keep applying in circular motion until it gone.
 
Thread Starter #12
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Thank you Iron Rock.

Hmm well actually you might have been pulling your hairs for purchasing SX(o) :stupid: if you had done that as the new model is coming with DRL and hologen projector headlamps. [Only in SX(o)]
I am uploading e-brochure check it out for details.
I have a bottle of F1 scratch out will give it a try this weekend as car is dirty due to little rain pouring here in Pune.
Update:
While taking the car out from a narrow road [Reverse-first gear for a couple of time] whenever I turn the steering completely and slowly to left/right I hear weird noises as if something is rusted or without lube. Anyone else faced this?


Regards
Midknight
 

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Thank you Iron Rock.

Hmm well actually you might have been pulling your hairs for purchasing SX(o) :stupid: if you had done that as the new model is coming with DRL and hologen projector headlamps. [Only in SX(o)]
I am uploading e-brochure check it out for details.
I have a bottle of F1 scratch out will give it a try this weekend as car is dirty due to little rain pouring here in Pune.
Update:
While taking the car out from a narrow road [Reverse-first gear for a couple of time] whenever I turn the steering completely and slowly to left/right I hear weird noises as if something is rusted or without lube. Anyone else faced this?


Regards
Midknight
No Basically I never pulled my hair for not going for SX(O) , I thought these extra features are not that require and also it will increase the price, as I tried to make maximum down payment and loan as less as possible, so that will increase the down payment too.

Man alive! Its true then, new Verna owners should be proud by that. And of course this will increase the price.

I see the projector setup verna picture before taking the car as it was released in US and many other country in the beginning of 2013, sometime before we got the new alloy in India.

And the good thing is I didn’t like the setup. As per me the DRL looks cheap or odd, its nowhere near like Audi, and the projector may provide good light through but the whole setup damaged the eagle eye looks. Practically I don’t like this. Projector in XUV looks way too good.
 
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Update:
While taking the car out from a narrow road [Reverse-first gear for a couple of time] whenever I turn the steering completely and slowly to left/right I hear weird noises as if something is rusted or without lube. Anyone else faced this?


Regards
Midknight
Hi Midknight, I thought to reply on this earlier but forgot somehow. Yes I found this same in my car and probably its on the left wheel in my car.

But this don’t happened always, on the road or flat surface I didn’t noticed this ever but my garage is in a blank land and it filled with sandy soil and outside the garage the whole land surface is like soft compound, when I turn the steering full right or left, the sound appeared sometime, its like dhik dhik dhik, but very low sound though. I said about the soil is because rather than flat/hard surface turning the wheel takes much more power in a softer surface, that could be the reason.

Try that again on a soil or soft surface.
 
Thread Starter #15
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Well yes your point on SX(o) is correct.
That headlamp setup is not to my liking either. Yes the L.E.D stripe looks really bad,though I haven't seen the car in person.
We can get better than these at much lower or almost same costs.
Regarding the noise.
Yes even I can hear it from left side only. As for the surface no it was not plane,smooth,clean.
Will try on different tarmac and report back again.
Thanks for the replies.


Regards
Midknight
 

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