Hyundai Elite i20: An all-round package

Hyundai Elite i20: An all-round package

It has been almost 1.5 years and 22K kms on my Elite i20 Asta vtvt and so for this car has never disappointed me in any aspect. Be it space, practicality, comfort or the tons of features. The care is surely a head-turner and grabs passerby's attention quickly. It looks just stunning from outside and the cabin feels a class above. The rear combination tail lamps seem to be inspired from Alfa Romeo and look stunning. Coming to Space and comfort, The cabin is very quiet and well insulated. You barely hear the engine or outside noise in the cabin. Rear-passenger legroom is ample owing to the increased wheelbase. The seats are conformable too. The front seats being bucket-seats holds you comfortably in-place. and the seats are well-cushioned too. Under-tight support is also great. The rear seat is wide and sculpted, but can still hold three adults in ease. And the rear AC vents just makes it more comfortable. The floor is also almost flat so that again adds to the comfort. The boot space is quite good too. It can easily take a good amount of luggage. And with the option of split-folding the rear seat, it provides a lot of flexibility for carrying around even odd shape luggage(I once took a 50" LED TV in my car using that slit seat configuration). The Fully automatic Climate control cools the large cabin effortlessly and chills your soul within no time. The music system with 4 speakers and 4 tweeters is worth a mention here as it does a great job here and the sound quality is just amazing. The 2016 models are also coming with Touch-screen with Navigation. so that another thumbs up for the Elite. Coming to the driving department. It drives very smoothly and effortlessly. The gearbox, Clutch, steering are all very light making the car easy to drive especially in city traffic and compared to the earlier i20, the steering does weigh up a bit with higher speeds, but it still takes a while to get used to the light steering. Given the wider and low profile tires (Bridgestone - 195/55/R16) in Asta, the car handles exceptionally well at highway speeds and does inspire a good amount of confidence as there is a significant increase in the handling department due to this. The engine is pretty refined and smooth too. Being a petrol motor, the NVH levels are almost non-existent and you barely hear the engine. It is a rev-happy motor, eager to be pushed harder. I have put up some pretty good 3 digit speeds on the speedometer and the car is always happy to carry those speeds with ease. The engine doesn't feel stressed even in triple-digit speeds and the car is just happy to pull out an over-take maneuver. On the safety front too, the car comes fairly equipped with Dual SRS airbags, Seat Belt Pre-tensioners, ABS, reverse parking camera with dynamic guide lines and reverse parking sensors with audio warning. coming to the mileage, driven with a light foot, the car does surprise you with the figures it can return. I have covered various road and traffic conditions with my car over the past 1.5 years and always had a smile driving through almost through everything. And worth a mention no faults observed through these 22K kms.