I have had the pain of driving a Ford 1.6 ZXI for 5 years. The car is amazing in performance and the dealers are amazing too - for their dis-service, high labor costs, and general apathy to respond. I’ve never had a paid service that was less than Rs.5000. I have had to email the Ford management twice in the last 5 years before the dealer - Cauvery Ford in Bangalore - deigned to fix the issue.
Determined never to trust a Ford again, I test-drove the Verna for over 40 km. Here is my report and a brief compare with the Fiesta TDCi that I also test-drove:
Engine is not tuned for inner-city driving. Take your leg off the gas pedal and the vehicle jerks, something I did not experience on the Fiesta TDCi.
Bare-bones is really bare: not even the usual complimentaries like Teflon coating, remote locking... nothing!
Boot space is just 315 liters, but better laid out than the Fiesta.
Brakes are really good (anyway there is currently no ABS variant for the Verna CRDI)
Usual thuds when you drop into a pot-hole, suspension is just so-so.
More passenger space than the Ford Fiesta.
Very poor headlights.
Interiors of the Verna is of average quality: Fiesta ZXI had a better quality interiors.
Mileage: dealer claims upto 20 (???)
The 112 bhp power kicks in at 6000+ RPM... not too realistic for daily driving. Certainly does not throw you back into your seats.
A strange aspect was the reverse gear: you had to do a sort of lift and shove; takes some getting used to.
An explanation of the ratings I gave:
The reliability rating I gave is an indication of trusting Hyundai (as against Ford) than any experience with the Verna
The poor comfort rating given is just an indication of the drive quality at low speeds. Those of you who live on the highways - ignore it.
Regarding looks: get used to it. The 2007 Elantra that was exhibited at the New York auto show looked a lot like the Verna (front anyway). So this seems the new ’avatar’ of Hyundai, although I personally prefer the manly, no-nonsense looks of the current Elantra.
Conclusion: Needs a price correction and/or a better spec, needs the engine to be retuned for city driving. The latter is dissuading me from the Verna CRDI, and driving me back to that d Ford dealer again