Wednesday 26 October 2011

Hyundai i10

Hyundai i10 The wait is finally over. The new facelifted Hyundai i10 is set for launch tomorrow, 24th of September. The launch of the new i10 car variant is

Hyundai i10
 Hyundai i10
Hyundai i10
Car Review India. Read Indian car reviews on new Hyundai i10 cars. Read features and specifications and other details  Hyundai i10
Hyundai i10

Hyundai i10

Hyundai i10


Hyundai i10

Hyundai i10

Hyundai i10

Hyundai i10

Hyundai i10

 
The Hyundai i10 is a 5-door hatchback subcompact produced by the Hyundai Motor Company. It was launched in October 2007, replacing the Hyundai Atos in some markets.

The i10 is produced in India at Hyundai's Chennai plant for the domestic and export markets. It is positioned at the lower end of Hyundai's hatchback subcompact range.
he i10 has a large gaping air-dam, pulled-back headlamps, chrome-lined grill, integrated clear lens fog lamps, a bonnet that has a clam shell hint and a rear window with an upswept kink.

The tailgate has a chrome-lined boot-release handle and an integrated roof spoiler on the top- end versions.

Overall length (3565 mm) and wheelbase (2380 mm) are identical to the Santro with slightly more interior space; Ergonomic design was intended to accommodate tall drivers and increasing rear knee room. The width has been increased (and front and rear track) by 70 mm (2.8 in) for more shoulder room. The height has been reduced by 40 mm (1.6 in). Boot space at 225 litres (7.9 cu ft) is significantly lower than that of Getz
Give the Hyundai i10 a few years and it’ll be the fastest car in the world. Sceptical? Check out the stats. This is the new 1.2-litre petrol version and, despite the engine being just 162cc larger than the base-spec petrol, it’s 18 per cent more powerful, 20 per cent more torquey and – despite achieving the same emissions and economy – three seconds quicker to 60mph.

OK, so we’re still talking pretty modest numbers – 77bhp, 87lb ft and 12.8 seconds respectively – but imagine if they keep up that rate of progress with subsequent generations of engines. If they keep going at this rate, by the time they’ve fitted a 1.6-litre engine, it’ll put out 160bhp and hit 60mph in 0.8 seconds. That’s pretty quick.

In the meantime, though, this i10 will do just fine. Put simply, it’s a proper little cracker. Don’t be fooled by the i10’s pensioner-spec exterior: there’s plenty of clever tech going on in the engine here – hydraulic lash adjustors, beehive valve springs and an offset crank – all of which combine to make the i10 feel quite unlike a budget city car. It’s almost silent at tickover, revs cleanly and – thanks in part to sensible gearing – is unobtrusive even at motorway speeds. There’s enough power for all the around-town stuff: it’s only when you start loading the i10 with shot-putters that it starts to strain.

And – whisper it in case it invalidates your five-year warranty – the i10’s actually a bit of a laugh to drive. OK, the skinny tyres mean grip levels are tenuous at best, but the i10 is so light that it’ll happily indulge in a bit of 205 GTi-style silliness on wet roundabouts. Compared to its three-cylinder rivals from Citroen, Peugeot and Toyota, the i10 is in a different league. The new Ka? Close one.

Before I implode in a flash of eulogy, there are a couple of quibbles. Reach-adjustable steering would be nice, and do wonders for the slightly awkward seating position. And, if we’re being honest, the i10 still looks like the sort of car you’d find parked in droves outside a south-coast retirement home.

But ignore all that. Even the top-spec 1.2 is just over eight grand – only £200 more than the vastly inferior 1.1-litre i10 – and you get alloys and electric stuff and basically everything you could ever need from a little city car. And it’ll manage 56mpg and sneak under the 120g/km CO2 tax bracket. What more could you want? Apart from that imminent hypersonic version.
Hyundai Motor India Limited launches i10 under the PA code name in November 2007. Taking advantage of the demand for more small cars in the Indian auto industry, Hyundai rolled out i10 with a powerful engine and an upscale interior. The i10 car fitted with new Kappa engine was released in July 2008. It is one of India's most popular 'A' segment small car. It is built to take on sub-compact segment cars such as the Chevrolet Spark, Maruti Suzuki Zen Estilo, Maruti Suzuki WagonR, and Tata Indica Xeta.

The well-equipped i10 is an affordable small car and a perfect combination of superior technology, roomy interiors, and the stamp of reliability. It was the most talked about car in small car segment before its launch and it is sure to gain the confidence of car enthusiasts with its aerodynamic design, array of standard convenience and comfort features, and luxurious fittings. It comes with all elements that would please a buyer looking for a small family car at an affordable price.

It is available in 4 variants: D-lite, Era, Magna, and Magna O. All these variants come with a 1.1-liter engine and are available in a wide range of colours. Magna O is a top-end variant. It comes with safety features like an anti-lock braking system (ABS) and airbags. It also comes with an optional sunroof with slide and tilt feature. The 1.2L 16V DOHC Kappa engine is available in three trims - Magna, Asta, Sportz. The top end Sports will feature a sunroof, red pack interiors and a body kit. The Kappa will accelerate from 0-100 in 12.8 seconds and can reach a top speed of 165 kmph. The Kappa engine is Euro V ready and has the lowest emission levels in its class.
Some people just must have a new car – even if that means making themselves look ridiculous. After all, who could honestly have preferred a brand-new Daewoo Nexia to a two-year-old Volkswagen Golf when that brand broke cover in the UK? The mindset was beautifully encapsulated in a Which? magazine survey on cars' good and bad points. Among the points singled out for praise by Daewoo owners was "starting". Expectations clearly weren't high.

If you buy a new car for the price of a better used one, the new model won't be much good – right? Nowadays, not necessarily. After all, Ford, a proper car maker, has been selling its about-to-be-replaced Ka for less than £6,000 in some deals.

Three respectably badged small cars (the Citroƫ*C1, Peugeot 107, Toyota Aygo) are also ultra-cheap; meanwhile the former embarrassment brands have been reinventing themselves as proper players.

This paper tested the recently refreshed Kia Picanto last November and found the little Korean car to be smart-looking, properly made, decent to drive and good value at under £6,000 for the cheapest one. Nothing second-rate here. With the Picanto, though, came the intriguing prospect of future internecine warfare between Kia and Hyundai, the brand of the corporation that owns it.

Hyundai is reckoned to be slightly upmarket from Kia, with smoother driving, sophisticated instrument graphics and grown-up styling. The i30 hatchback illustrates the point – slightly more expensive than the Kia C'eed and, overall, a nicer car. And now there's a little i10, sharing some undeniable underskin features with the Picanto.

The warfare part goes like this. The i10 is priced barely higher than the Picanto, yet it's roomier, more upmarket inside and has more equipment, including air-conditioning. It's also a new model, so already it's looking the more attractive purchase.

The i10 starts at £6,495. Given its goodies, how can it be so cheap? Because it is made in India. At first, when I saw a pre-production i10 on its debut at the Bologna Motor Show, it seemed the cheap production costs might be matched by cheap production values – the abundance of hard plastics in the cabin made more obvious by a nastily shiny finish. But now I have driven proper, UK-market production cars, and the unnatural shine has gone.

This is a proper supermini, not the near-family-size cars that many so-called superminis have become. It has a 1.1-litre engine – a suitable size for a small car – and its 66bhp should be enough for most people's needs, if not wants. It's also a car that gently chides people for their vanity.

The top, £7,595 Style model has 15in aluminium alloy wheels with 175/50-section tyres and is rated at 124g/km for CO2 output. The middle Comfort and entry-level Classic i10s have 14in wheels (made from alloy and steel respectively) wearing 165/60 tyres, and produce 119g/km. So with smaller wheels, which have a lower rolling resistance and present less of an obstacle to airflow, your i10 emits sufficiently less CO2 to sting you for £35 road tax a year instead of £115.

Why would you want the Style anyway? Apart from the flashier wheels, you get an electric sunroof, heated front seats, a rear roof spoiler and a few bits of metal-look interior trim. Sounds like the Style is a bit of a pointless purchase, for who really wants a sunroof nowadays?

Besides, the Classic already has front electric windows, bumpers painted to match the rest of the body, tinted windows and various other goodies, including the same stereo and CD player with iPod connection found in the posher versions. All of use that it lacks is remote operation of its central locking, found along with a few more enhancements including height adjustment for the driver's seat in the £7,095 Comfort model. Trouble is, the Comfort also has one of those intensely annoying seatbelt reminders.

The Classic it is, then, and actually I like its starker, crisper-looking seat trim. And those smaller wheels let the i10 ride more smoothly over bumps than the Style's vanity fitments. The engine is no powerhouse and it gets vocal if worked very hard, but much of the time it simply propels the i10 with enough interest not make you crave more urge. Meanwhile, the gear change is smooth and easy and the same applies to the electric power steering.

It's interesting to compare this diminutive Hyundai with its Kia Picanto second cousin, because the two are more different than you might expect. The i10 is roomier; it insulates its occupants better from noise generated by the engine and by the road surface, and it feels crisper and keener to drive. It's a more highly developed car all round.

Nowhere is this more apparent than with the stereo system. The Kia's has a simplistic orange display and sounds as if all its loudspeakers have torn their cones. The Hyundai's system has grown-up graphics and sounds amazingly rich and detailed. These things matter.

The Hyundai i10 is a car you can't help feeling warm about – even the basic version has all you could reasonably want in a properly small car. It's also the best-value true supermini you can buy today.

Hyundai i10

2 comments: