Introduction

Please join me in welcoming this cutesy ‘Fiery Red’ Hyundai grand i10 Nios turbo-petrol in our CarWale long-term fleet. As you’d have reckoned, our long-termers see a whole lot of action.

Especially if it is our photo-bugs, Kapil and Kaustubh, behind the wheel. Be it dawns or dusks, the bright days or the rainier ones, or even for that matter that they tread the unknown almost always. Only so that we can share all that there is to know. Now, before I sound like an advert for NASA’s next discoverer shuttle, let me take you through the down-to-earth basics.

Let’s face it. There’s a strong demand in our country for compact SUVs. But with the top four best-sellers being hatches (by sales volume), it’s not only clear that hatches are here to stay, they may be the preferred choice in the future due to diminishing road space. Likewise, since we all can’t get over the longstanding ‘petrol or diesel’ dilemma, thanks to the current state of affairs (read fuel price), we thought we’d have a go at the turbo-petrol this time around.

So, we’ve commenced our stint with this top-end Grand i10 Nios Sportz with a 1.0-litre Turbo GDi badge and a dual-tone (black roof); phew, that’s a long one! And, in case you were wondering, it’s got 99bhp/172Nm nestled under the hood which is sent to the front wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox. Hmm, straight off the bat, I can say that I’m missing a few cabin features- spoilt brat that I am. Nevertheless, before the silly me spills the beans, I’ll have some interesting stories to share in the three months that it’ll be parked in our highly-decorated CarWale parking spot.

Be it the niggles in its space department, the features, its power output, efficiency, ride quality or even the opposite. We’ll have the answers. To be exact, our next report towards the fag-end of April will reveal this hatch’s city driving manners, on all accounts. So stay tuned to the CarWale reviews section for the next report!

Pictures: Kaustubh Gandhi