Hyundai i20 (i-Gen) Sportz Crdi Ownership Review


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About this review - First of all before you read this review, I will promise you it won’t be a fan filled write up where I would want to praise the car because I decided to put my money on it. I want my unbiased ownership review to help another person decide what he/she wants & can live with/without in a car.I have started this review after completing 3000km to explore the car thoroughly for the initial review . So on with the review now!

Needs from the car – My mother (who would also use the car a lot) had a liking for the i20,but I wanted to look around a bit before putting all my money on it,so priorities from the car being chosen were preferably Hatchback(for ease of parking),diesel ,ABS, decent boot, good highway car(which i20 necessarily isn’t) & decent/reliable dealership.

Other cars I looked at & reasons for backing off:

Vento/Rapid –Although I had preferred a hatch,I was temped towards the Rapid (Ambition) diesel as there was a Vento(had gearbox prob) which I use to drive usually had developed an interest towards the Rapid,but was stunned to see all the service centers were literally outside the city(Bangalore),it would be frustrating to keep going there over & over again if there was a problem.

SX4 Zdi – My mother was not too keen on driving this car in city traffic, especially reversing it, pricing has come down as I write this review, the “celebration edition “ special white Sx4 ads did look tempting though!

Punto 90hp –As I knew this was a good highway car it was on my list to look at,but my friends who had Punto’s were getting step mother treatment from Tata service hence were very frustrated & had sold them off(except 1),so looked like a sinking ship. Pity though!

Fabia/Polo – These are wonderful cars,loved the Polo alot ,the only fear I had was of the 3 cylinder diesel engine,which would get terribly noisy & was a bit under powered. If they had a 4-cylinder or even better the 1.6 tdi from the Rapid/Vento then this would have been the car I would have bought.

Swift/Dzire –Already owning the previous Swift Petrol, I was not too keen on lining up another Swift alongside, the new boot space was a put off,so they dint have a lot going for them in my books & since I wanted ABS, the Zdi variant pricing was not appealing to me either.

Figo/Liva/Logan/Pulse/Micra- Did not feel like going for them somehow ,although the Liva had my curiosity.

Verna 1.6 crdi- As we were hovering around the Hyundai showroom & yard thanks to the i20,my mother would contemplate changing the booking to Verna but I was adamant (its not a bad car) not to go for it as it would be difficult for my mother to drive it around thanks to lack of rear visibility & every inch of length added to the car meant goodbye to that tight parking spot which an Innova failed to get into but I could & the 3 lakhs odd difference on-road price between the two at the final moment was not helping either.


Choosing the i20 - My mother was interested in the car more after the new version came out,so we went to the showroom & took a test drive on which I had given a brief review ( http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/indian-auto-news/4155-hyundai-i20-fluidic-now-launched-rs-4-73-lakhs-10.html ),they took us to the stock yard to see the other colours available as there were no i-Gen i20s of diff colour in the showroom,since I was interested in ABS I choose the “Sportz” variant of the crdi i20,but deciding the colour was the hard part,we had a trip to the yard just to decided on the colour as my mother wanted the bronze colour where as I wanted it to be white or silver atleast,black colour is no longer available on the i20 (too bad for all the egocentric people),well putting the colour on hold,I waited for a month to see if the new i20 customers were reporting any issues with the car & with the sunfilm ban I was hoping the i20 would come with vlt 70 factory tint glass like the ones on the Cruz,so I was holding back from taking delivery of the car as the colour was not finalized, but later on went ahead with the colour white but with rumors of tax hike for diesel cars flying around & learning the car had arrived I went ahead & took delivery of the car after the usuals such as a little ceremony at the showroom with pictures etc, late evening on June 21st.[drive]

So after parting with 8,67,*** Rupees here is the“Hyundai i20 CRDI Sportz ”

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Exterior – Well I was not a big fan of the the new i20’s looks,but then it starts to grow on you.Since its in a colour I like that is white I am very happy with it,so I am going to keep this section short & let people have there opinions about the looks. Just wish they had given two reverse lamps instead of one,but that seems to be the norm these days,also the headlamps have separate light filaments for high & low beam,so when you switch to high beam both low beam & high beam are on.The indicators on the door mirrors look pretty nice.There is not vent around the Hyundai front grill except in between the Hyundai logo.Just wish they had provided effective mud flaps as the doors seems to have a lot of mud flying off the front wheels (shall post some example pics later).The mirrors can be electrically adjusted & folded(also manually if required),they are also heated to prevent fogging.The antenna located on the back of the car is not adjustable but is flexible.The reverse cam is located below the Hyundai logo & usually not noticeable to others.The integrated bumper reflectors are a nice touch.

Build Quality - Nothing much to say,there is no cheap feeling anywhere as far as I see,but I feel the shell of the car is not strong enough to take hammering for years,but that’s pretty much the same with other cars nowdays (except Punto) around this price point,so nothing looks or feels cheap to put me off atleast.

Interior - Build quality is pretty decent & I have no complaints other than the impossible to clean beige door panels. The seats are not the most comfy as they feel a bit hard,the head rest feels odd at first as its positioned to be a head restrain in case of a rear impact, I have noticed this in the Jetta also,but you get use to this pretty soon.The central info display shows how many hours you have been on the road(or the engine has been running) along with kms,time,two tripmeters ,exterior temp & audio/call info.The cooled glovebox is deep & spacious along with a rack to keep car manual/documents without hampering space.Steering is adjustable but horn is hard to use in some cases.
Something I am really happy about is the electro Chromic mirror which detects the headlights coming from the rear windscreen & dim down,if there are no cars behind you the mirror is clear regardless of it being night,it also has an integrated screen to display feed from reverse cam which works along with the sensors which I find a very helpful feature.The instrument cluster is diff from the “Asta” variant but it does tell you when to shift up/down.You wont leave your parking lights or headlights on & leave the car & come back to find the battery dead because the primary power is cut off the moment the key comes out.


Audio/features - The audio has pretty decent acoustics for the front seats as it has dedicated tweeter mounts in the front door panels, but not great for the rear members. The audio has a slot for usb & aux which can be found next to the 12v changing socket facing the gearbox.The steering has integrated controls for changing the track, volume & changing the source between CD,Usb & Radio.Once you have paired the phone with the car Bluetooth its pretty easy to use,all you need to do is switch on the “Bluetooth” on your phone & it will connect,you can answer the calls pressing the buttons on the steering,the call can be heard through the speakers & the microphone is located above the drivers head.But it can get cut if you switch off the car & also restart it.If a song is being played it is paused & the phone ring tone will be heard just like your Bluetooth headset.


Ac/Climate control/Related features - The climate control is pretty decent,there is an auto button which I don’t use as the vents go to neutral setting & air is taken from the exterior in auto mode,so I set the temp,vent region & blower speed & activate the ac by turning the knob instead(Many new Hyundai owners don’t know this instead activate ac pressing auto mode). There is a little vent below the front seats for rear passengers.But an annoying thing is when the car is started the exterior vents are opened so you got to press the interior mode button if your not using the ac to prevent air coming through it along with exterior dust,but I am guessing the exterior vents are opened automatically when you stop the car to stop someone from being suffocated (or increase survival chances)in a parked car such as leaving your child or pet without ventilation.My ac has something called clean air cluster ionizer,which is suppose to be a little uv lamp(or something like that [:)]) not sure if its helping but no complaints so far.But am still getting burnt thanks to no sunfilms, tempted to add some transparent vlt 70 sunfilms which I really feel are necessary.
If you press the front defogger button the blower shoots up to full speed along with it turning to exterior(fresh air) mode to defog the front glass.If the rear defogger button is pressed the heating filaments on the rear windscreen do there duty but this also switches on the heater located on both the side mirrors which I think is pretty cool. The glovebox has a slide switch which allows the ac to cool the glovebox.

Boot -The luggage space is pretty adequate to swallow most bags,atleast way better than in the Suzuki Swift,there is a little lamp which lights up when the boot is open(like your fridge) which is pretty helpful. In case there is more luggage & there is no 4th or 5th passenger you can make use of the 60:40 split seating.The boot door can be unlocked by remote & can be opened by pressing a hidden button under the boot handle. The boot can be opened if the doors are unlocked but had an issue where the boot did not open for mall security even when the doors were unlocked so ending up using the remote.While closing the boot the interior handles are oddly located tending to make them useless.
 
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Engine & gearbox - The engine is 1396 cc ,produces 90ps @ 4000 rpm(you wont cross 3000 rpm usually)
Producing 22.4 kgm of torque between 1500 to 2750 rpm.
When the engine was in its run-in the car would have very bad low end torque even in first gear,but that has improved now as it is 3000 km done at time of writing this.The engine is very rev happy & with bottom end torque being lower compared to other diesels. I am under the impression they used a lighter head than other diesels.If you try moving the car in 2nd gear you do feel there is a lot of turbolag.but looking at the rpm you realize its at 800 rpm during that point,the engine idles at 900 rpm so slipping the clutch would be recommended. The engine oil light has started to stay on for a few sec after start up which I hear is common for diesels, the service center said there is nothing wrong with the car when I took it to them. Diesel car owners please let me know about the oil light staying on for a few sec as I am a bit worried of it right now.

The gearbox is a 6 speed & is pretty slick so far but I am a person who does a full blow start after slowing down for humps on the highway & the gearing is too short for my liking,its like they decided the person who buys this car will reach 120 km/hr fast(if you don’t mind changing gears) but would not want to go past it.But the car does well in 6th gear,effortlessly cruising above 100/120 from where I have taken it to 140 odd but not above that,it must be noted I did not rev past 2800 rpm or cross 120 until I completed the first inspection service at around 1350 kms(instead of 1500km),gave the car a bit early for service as it would be coming back 600 kms later if I hadn’t ,neither did I shift early & get the engine below 1000 rpm,so did decent warm up & cool down idles,so I feel the engine has had a decent run in.
The clutch is super light compared to other diesels(keeping in mind it’s a new car) and has a long travel than most petrol cars as it is pretty common for the diesels I assume.

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Ride Quality & Handling – Well the i20 is a good city car,the soft suspension does well over pot holes,but the shocks do make a big thump noise when passing over odd potholes,I hear this is common for i20 but can worry people who do not know & also make your passengers think your careless.In the beginning when I use to drive the car over bad roads & make tight “SLOW” turns it would give me a sensation that the rear drifted out but I guess it was me not geing used to a soft sprung car like this,but come on a bit stiff next time please! Well you wont like the handling of this car until you really get used to the awkward sensations it sends to you & in case you heavy brake & swerve at the last sec to avoid a pot hole your passengers would think the car is sliding in weird directions, that would be the opinion of a new driver too.But overall not a drivers car for sure but if you’re a docile driver who just wants a car to be comfy in & wont be crossing 100 often then it’s the way to go,but I did explore the cars driving dynamics a bit & have to say feed back is not good if you’re the racer type.
As for braking/grip the car comes with alloys & 185/65/14inch tires provide decent grip. There are disc brakes for all 4 wheels which provide good stopping power on the road with out doubt but the brake pedal travel feels long(giving a feel of lack of bite) when your braking hard on the highways. But a word of caution if your on a rural road & you happen to meet alot of huge pot holes braking can be a tad bad thanks to the abs detecting slippage as your wheels fly over them momentarily, but it was worrying when I had to go partly off the road on a muddy road to give way to an on coming vehicle & brakes just went soft thanks to the abs being fooled(that is why some suvs have an option of switching the abs off) or I am guessing it’s the EBD trying to balance the car under braking since once half was on the mud & the other was on wet tarmac,but I am yet to experiment with a hard stop on a muddy road,so will let you know when I do.

The car has no problem taking corners only it does not corner flat but leans over & feels bouncy if recovering out of a hard corner with heavy steering, also I noticed this annoyingly bouncy ride when driving up hill on less than perfect roads or maybe I should have slowed down.
The seat belt warning beep goes on for a good one min if you do not buckle up & I always been doing so since school,but it can get annoying when you would have gotten out to show the mall security how to open the boot & your driving around at 20 or less looking for a parking space & it wont stop.But if your in first gear & driving around 10 km/hr it wont beep [:)].


Steering feedback & confidence is pretty depressing on this car but should keep you very happy in traffic & parking as it goes very free when your parking that I often steer with one finger,but when your above 80 the steering tents to harden up & its pretty alright then,but its between the 40 to 80 km that the steering mite tend to change stiffness.When the car was new my first run at 120 was very bad ,I totally hated the steering,but later realized that cars are kept with high tire pressures in the stock yard & found mine to be at 42 to 41 psi instead of 33,so a tip for all you to be new car owners check your car tire pressure after delivery.


Fuel efficiency/Mileage – Pretty much everyones fav question,but when the car had completed 300 odd km I went for a night drive on the highway,where I was able to keep the car in 5th & sometimes 6th with ac running,astonishingly I calculated 21km odd to the litre when the low fuel warning lamp came on.But as I realized later the tire pressure was at 41psi instead of 33 psi could understand the high figure ,would not mind drop in mileage as high speed handling & feel from the steering was terrible.So in the city(90% with ac) 14 to 15 kmpl & on the highway(always with ac & with 2 people+ luggage) I have got 17 kmpl, I am not rash but I did maintain good speeds & did throttle hard.


Well this is my 100% honest review so far, will keep you all informed on anything further to come such as accessories or anything notable.
 
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Congrat's on your new car buddy, very well written and honest ownership thread[clap] please do post some interior pic's, any mod's planned?
 
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Many congratulations for your i-gen i20. Somehow i like the new i20, except for that sleek front grill. Do post some pics of the interiors. Wish you lacs of happy miles.
 

allhyundaicars

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congrats on the car prads [;)] i read the full review , line to line just because i myself was going for i20 but chose the verna instead.

it will be shocking but my verna petrol middle model cost the same as your's sports. actually i got mine for 8,62,000 [lol] but yeah 6 months back.

Exterior : it's my personal opinion : i think the new one looks better than the previous one.

and the mud flaps , even the verna has useless mud flaps. and they also provided heated mirrors [surprise] kudos to that.

build quality : since they have provided so many features they must have done horrible cost cutting on some parts. sorry for mentioning and comparing with verna but even verna have some serious cost cutting like bad quality bumpers and more abnormal gaps everywhere.
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...dai-verna-fluidic-1-6-vtvt-10.html#post159763

please do check for this on your car as well.

audio feature : the rear speakers are less powerful than the front. cost cutting or is this normal for all the cars ?

AC : i couldn't understand this

"so I set the temp,vent region & blower speed & activate the ac by turning the knob instead(Many new Hyundai owners don’t know this instead activate ac pressing auto mode)"
anyways congrats once again and i too will opt for i20( just for diesel ) over any other car.
 
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@Pads

Congrats on your new I20[:)] nice informative review

Can you please tell us about steering feel, is most of the people who own the old model reported a rattling. Can you through some light and it how is this in the new model
 
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Congrats Prads.
Sometimes I think how cool it is to have features like auto headlights, rain sensing wipers, heated mirrors. Wow! Its like a royal treatment and excessive pampering man.
Stay uber cool and enjoy your ride. Congrats again.
 
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Congrat's on your new car buddy, very well written and honest ownership thread[clap] please do post some interior pic's, any mod's planned?
Thanks Visran,ya I have planned some small accessories for the car & have already made some changes such as the horn,will be listing them & the to be done mods with details.

I did try to keep this review down to earth,its not a driving enthusiasts car but a well balanced car scoring an average atleast in every department.

Many congratulations for your i-gen i20. Somehow i like the new i20, except for that sleek front grill. Do post some pics of the interiors. Wish you lacs of happy miles.
Thanks Akash , all the new Hyundai's seem to look pretty similar from the front like Bmw suv's[:)] , sure will take some pics or look through my comp & post the interior pics soon.
Congrats on your new I20[:)] nice informative review

Can you please tell us about steering feel, is most of the people who own the old model reported a rattling. Can you through some light and it how is this in the new model
As for the rattling the car is at 3200 km at the moment,I think its too soon to comment about it,but when i was driving at 60 odd on bad rural roads the steering was transmitting alot of vibration,I guess this is due to the adjustable steering ,as for steering feel it hardens up as you speed up,but gives you an inaccurate feel sometimes(Imagining it) cos of varying hardness as you speed up.
Congrats Prads.
Sometimes I think how cool it is to have features like auto headlights, rain sensing wipers, heated mirrors. Wow! Its like a royal treatment and excessive pampering man.
Stay uber cool and enjoy your ride. Congrats again.
Thanks "Rightnow" ,ya I think its pretty cool for a hatch, I returned from the airport early morning & my passengers were amazed with the features cos in Indian mentality a hatchback is not luxurious,my variant does not have autolamps though,I have added a pic of the variant spec list which you mite have to save & zoom in to read.

Your I20 looks grand in White. Congrats for it.

Happy motoring.
Thanks Appu, I liking buying my cars in white,as long as they are available in that colour & look good,the new i20 white is diff compared to the previous.


@ allhyundaicars
Good you to know read everyline of it as it did take me some time to put all of that together.And your link was helpful but luckily i dont have awkward panel gaps & headlights are snug fit,i double checked right now the only gap is on the rear right brake light but that is on the bottom area & you need to get really close,but these panel gaps are common if you remove your bumpers or fiddle around.
As for the rear speakers they are not powerful & they are door mounted which is not as good as having them on the parcel tray,obviously these stock systems are not special.

Sorry for the confusion on the ac bit what i meant is if you have set the ac(climate control) for example to blow to your face & feet & set it to recirculatory mode & switch it off later & then you press the auto button to switch the ac on again all these setting are gone,
instead of pressing the auto button,just turning the temp knob will make sure the ac is on with the previous settings,
my cousin who has a Verna(in pic with my dirty i20) did not know this even after 6 months ,he would press the auto button then press the recirculate button.Am sure you know this but i assume some car owners dont.

As for the amount paid yes the tax & reg rates are highest in our state,actually the top end Asta costs 50 to 60g more than my variant.For the amount I paid for my car you can get Asta variant in other states.
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allhyundaicars

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good to know they have maintained the quality in i20. [:)]

and i don't use auto mode , it just regulates the blower speed and nothing else. and yeah now i understood what you meant.
 
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Prads iam rating you'r thread 5* .
Superbly written review , and absouletly true to your intention of writing the review " unbaised "
Please updates us with your regular updates and most imp the service experience and costs.
Congrats and happy driving .[:)]
 
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@ Raja

Thank you for the rating , Many guest visitors google reviews to know about the car before hand,so i felt a honest straight to the point review would be a good thing,as you may notice I had kept dealership buying experience & delivery out of the review as its not a major factor.First service was free as mentioned,will be adding some pics along with accessory pics soon.
 
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Hyundai i20 (i-Gen) Sportz Crdi Random pics

Adding some random pics with details -

intrough.jpg sterngRgh.jpg
Rough pics of the interior as I am not finding other detailed pics at the moment.

igenHeadlight.jpg
As you may notice the separate high beam bulb which i feel is not that bright & accurate.

centercup.jpg
Center cup holder along with a can of "Areon Gel" "Desire" car perfume(200 rupees)

i20Horn.jpg
Installed Bosch symphony horn for 550 rupees,no extra relay was added so wont void warranty.Horns shown on top of the box are the stock ones.They had to remove one headlight & loosen the bumper to change the horns located below both headlights.They are very concealed I feel.

tireSpray.jpg
As you may notice from this pic the tires & tiny mud flap were not a good combo,it would get frustrating when tiny water filled potholes would dirty the car on a dry day,which leads to the next pic & accessory!

flapStchOutline.jpg sparcoi20.jpg
Added Sparco replica rally mudflaps as the stock ones are bad! Paid 350 for a pair.They are added only to the front wheels & barely noticeable.I have left the stock mudguard stain just to give you an idea of the difference between the two !
 
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Just a thought why don't you paint the mudflaps in white ? I mean I know they will get dirty fast but will enhance the look of the car too .
 
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Just a thought why don't you paint the mudflaps in white ? I mean I know they will get dirty fast but will enhance the look of the car too .
I guess i could get the stock mudflaps painted,saw it done on an sx4 recently,but if the mudflap flexes guess a vinyl would be a best bet.



Anyways am pleased to announce to everyone that 3m 70vlt sunfilm was applied all around the car so many would like to know about the appearance thanks to the tint ban.
Will be posting pics with details soon!
 

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