i20 ripped

Alright folks was lucky enough to visit the Hyundai showroom to find the i20 parked in display. Guess what, I was lucky enough to get a test drive...

Exterior:
The car was in silver color and didnt excite my brother as much from the front. I myself found it unoffensive but nothing to drool about. The side profile and the rear of the car looked quite meaty and made the car truly stand out.

Exterior Rating: *** (out of 5)

Interior:
After owning a Swift, I found this car to be quite spacious, thanks to the long wheel base. The leg room at the rear was quite impressive and the shoulder room was good as well. The side panels of the car spelt cheap plastic. No side panel lighting (something I wanted). The dashboard was big. But what the HELL were hyundai thinking while choosing the color scheme. My brother (prespective buyer) was very very dissapointed with the color scheme and so was my sis in law.

Interior Rating: ***

Gizmos and Safety:
The music system was very decent and sounded as good as Civics. Lots of crazy features, didnt get a chance to understand/test them all. Class defining safety features that can put even a Civic to shame , need I say more??? Bravo, Bravado, Bravicio, Stupendous!!!

Gizmos and Safety Rating: *****

Engine & Drive:
Now I own a thing or two about cars. After having driven from a 3 series, E-Class, Grand Prix, Oldsmobile Alero, Civic, Passat 1.8T, RS. I also happenin to own Swift P. I was not expecting miracles from this car knowing its spec. What I was expecting though was a definite improvement over Getz petrol which is a peace of junk imo (sorry to all Getz petrol owner, just my biased opinion). The throttle response of Getz P was frustating. So my only hope was this could better that. Now when it comes to car, mere specs dont mean much. Its how the car handles and the power is translated on road is what matters. So the fact that this was specced lower than Getz Petrol on paper had to be put on test. Luckily the showroom guy agreed to let us drive the car in showroom yard (couldnt go on road as the car was not registered). I was only able to drive in first two gears. The car was very silent on idel, no rattles, no humm, its accerlated pretty well in first. I went till 60 kmph in 2nd gear and the engine didnt moan as much as I expected. No twisties or turn, but overall I felt quite satisfied and thought it quite mathced by Swift P. If you have reached here, I wanted to tell you that I didnt really test drove the i20, but thought it would be a good idea to keep the forummers interest in the car alive by creating this fake thread. Overall the car was a hoot to drive in howsoever little that I drove.
Engine: ***.*/2

Overall I think Hyundai has a winner in their hands taken from team-bhp

tested new accord

I just got back from Pearl Honda in Gurgaon after a solid 20 minute test drive of the new Honda Accord. I drove the Elegance AT which is the ‘base model’ (If you can call it that). There is a higher model available in the Inspire trim but essentially it is the Elegance plus a body kit comprising of Front Skirts / Rear Skirts / Side Skirts / Boot Lid Spoiler and a different grill. I do not see much value in this package over the Elegance (60K for a bodykit!) so I decided to check out the Elegance. 

The car arrived in the dealership an hour prior to my arrival and had only 99kms on the odometer. The first thing that hits you is the size and presence! It is massive and I was afraid that it might be a handful to drive in crazy Gurgaon traffic but as I sat in the car – that all changed. 

The driver’s seat is supremely comfortable and is electrically adjustable. Lumbar support is available as well. This is a very nice place to be. The next thing that surprises you is the phenomenal visibility. I can see the length of the hood and the visibility has an eerie resemblance to the OHC, one of the best driver’s cars available during its day. Even though the new Accord is a cab forward design, peripheral vision is not affected. No major blind spots and you also get a good view out the back despite the raised trunk. 

I put the car in drive and take off. Compared to the old Accord it seems a lot livelier. There’s traffic but I have already hit 60 and hardly feel the perception of speed. Other than an occasional jaunt in a 5 series or Prado, this is the first time I am driving a relatively big car in India and I must say, I am instantly comfortable with this car. There are tractors and cows and rickshaws crossing hither and thither but I feel totally in control. The steering provides very good feedback. The suspension isolates most bumps and pot holes, and it is indeed a very comfortable ride. 

There is a new mini-expressway that links Golf Course Road in Gurgaon to MG Road at the Sikanderpur Border – I am eager to try out the paddle shifter and make my way on to this relatively open and empty 8 lane highway – An added bonus of driving a car on this road is the potential to exploit curves and undulations. I put the car into sport mode and start flapping away! Boy, can she pull – In 3rd, hitting about 110 and she is hovering around the 3500rpm mark. There is very little lag when using the paddles as well. Even at this speed and taking the curves and humps, the new Accord is extremely composed. No Drama, No nothing – You know you can push her and she will eagerly respond but you don’t feel a need – very manageable power bands. 

I drive back into the heart of MG road, and pull the car over. I ask the sales executive to drive as I check out the back seat. This is where the accord scores – Tons of leg room and a great feeling of space. The audio remote in the back is a nice touch but a little illogical if 3 people are sitting in the back (It’s built into the center arm rest). AC vents in the back are nice and really help with cooling. Its very quiet here too - Good job with NVH, Honda! The motor is a little intrusive but for folks like us, can this be a negative?

We get to the showroom and I want to play around with the central control unit in the dash - Here is the dissapointing part - there are no toys to appease the inner geek in all of us! All you can control is audio and climate control. There is nothing eciting here - no trip meter, no visual parking meter - very blah is all I have to say. I study the plastics and they are above average but not in Camry / Passat league. The main 2 tier dash with the soft plastics is nice and are of Civic quality but door locks / window switches are very mediocre ala SX4 almost. The wood / aluminum brushings and leather are of good quality - Can't complain here. 

Overall, this is a brillaintly engineered car - Honda Global R&D has created a winner for sure. What is a let down is the little things that would make the ownership experience from great to outstanding!

Also you can see where certain components were retrofitted for the Indian market and were not thought through to the end. 

Let me share 3 examples:
1) The steering has been designed to accomodate audio and cruise controls. You take this out and it sure looks like something is missing - I mean 9 and 3 look so bare. 
2) The back audio remote - Nice Idea - Bad implementation - what happens when you have 3 people in the car! 
3) The big color display avaialble in international markets have been swapped out for a thinner 1985 Casio Calculator LCD screen. To cover up the thinner dispaly, it looks like a plastic casing has been retrofitted and this looks shoddy.

Positives:
1) Comfortable Interiors - Very roomy and really cradles you.
2) Great Motor and Gear box - This is a honda afterall.
3) Astoundingly nice driving position and visibility for a car of this size
4) Some neat touches like USB input for Aux (I hope this is ipod compatible - Forgot to ask the sales guy). 
5) Very nice steering feed back
6) Very Comfortable Ride - both front and back
7) Good Ingress / Egress - this will be appreciated by the demographic this car caters too. Not as low as OHC and Not as high as the SX4.
8) Smart Access to boot from rear seat - useful during long road trips when you want to get that back of Bingo! chips you threw in there. 
9) Great Pricing! Very good value indeed, espescially compared to the competition.

Negatives:
1) No Projectos HLs - It looks like the headlamp cluster was created for xenons but we are back to regular bulbs here. 
2) No Trip Computer - Are you serious Honda? We're touching almost 20L here and you leave these out!
3) No Steering wheel audio controls - Like I said before - It looks like something is missing 
4) Screen with better UI - The two tone one looks really crappy - almost a similar effect to what the Captiva offers.
5) Better Alloys - The current ones are hideous 
6) The rear bumper has been designed to house dual exhausts but the car has only one exhaust outlet so it looks funny
7) Colors! Black / White / Silver / Beige and thats it! Where is your imagination, Honda! Lets have a nice navy and some brighter colors as well.
8) Plastics are so-so for a car in this segment

Dealership:
I really liked Pearl Honda - Nice Showroom, well mannerd sales and support staff - Very attentive. The sales executive that accompanied me on the test drive was never intrusive - I think he figured out that I pretty much knew what I was doing and did not try and hard sell. I really appreciated that. Never pulled in any competitors and we generally stuck to small talk. 

On Road Prices in Gurgaon:
Elegance MT: 17.38L
Inspire MT: 17.69L

Elegance AT: 18.32L
Inspire AT: 19.10L

Hope you guys liked the review. I am in think mode on whether to pull the trigger on this one or not. 

NEW HONDA CITY ON ITS WAY

SCOOP MAN WHILE MY FRDZZ DRIVE .. HE SAW A NEW HONDA COTY IF U DONT BELIVE ME CHECK IT OUT

THE SWIFT DZIRE

The IBM office in Gurgaon does not have enough parking. Thank God !!Scenario: Because of the situation above, IBMers generally park their cars at a place called Leisure Valley (behind Bikanerwala) and take an office shuttle to and fro to the IBM building. Today, when I returned to the parking lot, I sat in my car and was about to move when I saw it. A red colored Swift Dzire ZXI.It was there for a shoot for TopSpeed (Sunday evening on STAR). The star news gentleman (forgot to ask the name) was kind enough to let me inside the car and check it out. I asked him about the diesel version and he pointed me towards a black colored one. That was the ZDI. He was also kind enough to let me take a short TD. Here are the initial impressions.Looks: It looks good in flesh. Its not a beauty like the civic but its much better than its competitors - Logan and Indigo. I found it to be much better looking than the Accent and at par with the Ikon. I know that this is a a sensitive topic but I think that looks wise the rear part of the car is good. Surprisingly, what I found a little funny was the front. I think the front looks very good on the Swift hatch but a sedan, IMO, should be sleek. This may look like an obese sedan to people who are very particular. If Civic is 10/10, then this is 6.5/10.Interiors: Beige + Black instead of the dark gray and black in the 2007 Swifts. I think this may be the same as the new swifts. The wheelbase has not changed but the inclination of the rear seat has changed from the hatch version. Definitely more legspace at the back. So that is a definite thumbs up. The rear seat has a centre arm rest like the SX4. The seat covers are beige. Climate control and steering mounted ICE controls as expected.Footwear: Crappy JK 185s/Performance: I drove the ZDI and manged to cut a few corners and curves. Performed as good as the hatch version meaning that the boot has been integrated well. I think that the only issue might be that it might suffer when the boot is loaded since its a huge 470 lit. The turbo kick and the engine refinement remain its high points ala the hatchback.Will add more to it later if I remember something that I have missed out.