Good City Car

Good City Car

I have been driving the i10 for 3 years now. It is an excellent city car, easy to drive, decent space for a small family. If your usage is daily office commute and a weekly commute to a shopping mall or a movie, then this is the car for you. This being a small car makes the ride through city traffic a breeze, the turning radius is also small making u-turns a delight, parking, reverse parking, parallel parking have all been very easy over the last 3 years (very important point if you live in urban India, may not matter abroad).   Engine, Clutch & Gears: The clutch is light which makes it easy to drive. The engine is smooth and noise has never been an issue. Some of my friends have a complaint of slow pick up when they drive my car but the below gear shift pattern has always served my purpose well - 1st gear to get moving; 2nd till 20kmph; 3rd till 40; 4th between 40 and 60 and 5th afterwards.   Boot Space: The boot isn't the largest. It can load 2 medium bags but the design is such that you will face problems putting in even 1 bag if it is a big size trolley. I do hear that they have sorted this out in the grand i10.   Fuel Efficiency: The one thing which makes i10 lose the race against the Maruti's is the efficiency, I get only around 10kmpl in city traffic but have noticed it go up till 15kmpl on highways, but as I mentioned earlier, the regular office commute use case doesn't worry much about mileage.   Features: This car like any other Hyundai is feature rich. The AC, power steering, power windows, rear defogger and plenty of storage space sometimes makes me feel I am actually driving a car from a segment above.     Seating: The seats have an excellent cushion, good under thigh support but the one thing missing is the ability to adjust height for the driver seat. I have seen people shorter than 5’6’ often struggle to get a good view of the road.     Overall, I would say if you have a 5-6 lakh budget and are looking for a car for daily commute, you are not someone looking to map the highways and 100 plus speeds and not worried about mileage, but looking for an easy to drive and maintain car, this one is for you. Your maintenance bill won’t cost you more than 1000 rupees a month. Hyundai, like Maruti, also has parts available in the open market, making the after sales and service a really convenient experience.