Hyundai India have launched the all-new Grand i10, in petrol and diesel guises, in the compact high segment to fill a gaping hole in their portfolio.
The new car joins the Eon, i10 and i20 which currently comprise the company’s small car range.
The Grand i10 brings in a sharper design and bolder styling cues while being a larger car than the new i10 in Europe. The rear window and panels are completely redesigned to afford better rear passenger comfort while taking care of the claustrophobic feeling felt by many.
The inside brings loads of space. Passenger room up front and the rear are among the best in the segment, as is the interior, which boasts exceptional quality and commendable levels of fit-and-finish. The ergonomics are also spot-on, with the seats offering excellent support and the controls falling easily into place. The automatic climate control with the segment-first rear AC vents cools the whole cabin effectively. The door pockets offer useful storage space and also hold one-litre bottles while boot space is a more than decent 256 litres.
We drove the Grand i10 in its top-end diesel guise on the roads within Jaipur leading up to the highway and it surpassed all expectations. For a small car, the suspension is very well sorted and even at high speeds, it performs exceptionally well. The steering offers good feedback the car, on the whole, feels even more dynamic than its bigger siblings.
The car we drove was equipped with the 1.1-litre, three-cylinder CRDi diesel engine with 71 PS and 160 Nm. The five-speed gearbox lets you exploit all of the torque from across the rev range, giving you a wide power band. The car pulls cleanly in all gears and requires fewer gear changes while delivering better efficiency. Hyundai state an ARAI-certified figure of 24 km/l on the highway. There’s also a 1.2-litre VTVT four-cylinder petrol with 84 PS and 114 Nm.
The Grand i10 is available from Rs 4.29 lakh for the petrol and Rs 5.24 lakh for the diesel, both ex-showroom Delhi. You can read the full first drive review as well as our first travelogue with the Grand i10 in the upcoming October issue of Car India.
