Taking a seat
The Maruti may have taken a beating in the previous round, but this could be a turnaround. The Ritz is the longest (3715mm), the widest (1680mm) and the tallest (1620mm) of the lot. The all-black dash has a nice feel, looks fresh and has a sporty tachometer popping from it. It is the only car to have steering mounted controls for the music system which comes really handy. The Ritz doesn’t offer a day-night driving RVM which is a big letdown as the other two cars have the feature in place. When compared against its rivals, the car also lacks cubby holes for storage especially around the driver’s seat. You can either keep the ashtray box or accommodate just one coffee mug. The co-passenger probably will not need the coffee as much as the driver. Lastly, the plastics used appear to be cheaper than the other two cars.
The Hyundai i10, on the other hand, has a very practical in-cabin layout with enough pockets for storage, a sober looking instrument console and steering. The quality of plastics used is the best among the three, with an upmarket beige dashboard and upholstery. Now here’s the spoiler, light coloured interiors are not the best choice for our country especially in the affordable, small car segment. They get easily soiled and the bright Indian sun’s reflection from the beige dash is almost blinding.
The Beat wins hands down in this segment with its appealing dashboard design and outstanding fit-finish. The dash with its twin console design and piano black trim looks fantastic. The plastic quality is not as good as the i10 but is reasonably okay. The superbike inspired instrument console looks great, however, a digital speedo and analogue tacho would have worked better than the existing analogue speedo and digital tachometer. It would have been fun to see the tacho needle swing to the limit and back while shifting gears and would have made the digital console less cluttered. The dash is fit for a higher segment car and the interiors are quite appealing. The Beat has contoured seats which offer good side support, but overall the seat is not deep enough to offer good lumbar support and the low seating position can be a problem during long drives. With so much headroom to spare, GM should have raised the seat’s height making it far more comfortable. The door shuts with an assuring thud and like the Ritz, the rear seats are split into 60:40 for convenience, a feature missing in the i10.
The Beat is the only car that does not have a remote key entry which is very disappointing. The blow that the Beat gets is the unusually small boot of just 170 litres coupled with a narrow lid. This also reduces rear visibility. Keeping in mind its top notch sedan like interiors, good plastics and very fresh styling, we have to declare Beat the winner in round two as well, closely followed by the i10 with its solid interiors. We are left desiring a lot more from the Ritz as far as the interior quality is concerned.
