हुंडई वरना ! A कार to buy ?

Hyundai verna ! A car to buy ?

Last gen to current gen, the Verna has grown 65mm in length and also sits on a 30mm longer wheelbase. Interestingly, the new Verna is identical in length and wheelbase to the Honda City. And note that the similarities to the Elantra are not just skin deep. The Elantra's sophisticated K2 platform also forms the basis for the new Verna. Structural rigidity is significantly up on the old Verna, with 50 percent (up from 13 percent) of the body shell made from light and stiff advanced high-strength steels. The cross members have also been strengthened to increase energy absorption in the event of a side impact. Hyundai has also worked to keep outside noise where it belongs and the engine mounts have been optimized to this end there's an insulator in the transmission tunnel and more noise absorbing materials have been employed in the region of the doors. And while the new Verna continues with an electric power steering and the familiar independent MacPherson struts up front and a non-independent, torsion beam rear suspension layout, Hyundai has revamped the entire setup for better comfort and driving dynamics. That the new Verna is stiffer and better built than its predecessor becomes obvious the moment you shut the doors. The old Verna's hollow sound on door shut has made way for a reassuring, and even, European car-like thunk. Those behind the wheel will also find the cabin a neat and user-friendly place to be in. The dash's low sill allows a good view out, the center console is usefully angled, if ever-so-slightly, towards the driver, the infotainment system is placed high up and within easy reach and all buttons and controls are logically positioned too. The whole look and feel of the dual-tone cabin are properly Hyundai. It's just that, while the dash is smart and quality is consistently good, at some level it all feels a bit too familiar and not new enough so to speak. Perhaps the use of soft-touch plastics on the dash would have helped elevate the Verna?s cabin to the next level. You sit reasonably low in the Verna but, thankfully, the driver?s seat-height adjust moves the entire seat rather than merely change the angle of the seat base as in the last Verna. The front seats are shapely and well-finished but aren't the largest around, and some may also find cushioning a bit soft in the lower back region. The rear seat is an improvement over the old Verna?s, with extra cushioning and more support, but the low seating position is far from ideal and also makes ingress-egress that little bit harder. Rear legroom is better, again when compared to the old Verna, but isn't particularly generous by modern-day class standards. This is not the widest of cabins either, so fitting in three passengers will be a squeeze and anyone taller than average will also find headroom at the back limited. Frankly speaking, there are compact sedans that offer a comfier back-seat experience, let alone the far roomier City and Ciaz. Irrespective of where you may be seated, the Verna offers plenty of space for smaller items. Each door gets a 1-liter bottle holder, the center armrest flips open to reveal a storage bay, there are cupholders near the gear lever and on the fold-down center rear armrest, and the cooled glovebox is also usefully large. Oddly though, the recess at the base of the center console ? in the vicinity of the 12V charging socket, USB charging port, and the USB and aux-in inputs isn't large enough for smartphones over 5.5 inches. What is nice, though, is that rear-seat occupants get a dedicated USB charging port. On-airport runs, you'll find the Verna?s well-finished 480-liter boot accommodating but the loading lip is a touch too high. Verna carries forward the four-cylinder 1.6-liter petrol and diesel engines from the old model, though, they have been suitably tweaked for use here and also see revisions in their power and torque outputs. The dual variable valve timing-equipped petrol engine, for one, makes the same 123hp of max power as before but now does so at 6,400rpm rather than the earlier Verna?s 6,300rpm. And where the engine developed its 155Nm of max torque at 4,200rpm in the old Verna, it makes a marginally lesser 151Nm at a later 4,850rpm in the new car. Hyundai has also enhanced the engine?s low-end pulling power to ease drivability. At 1,500rpm, the engine makes 130Nm as opposed to 121Nm in the older car. The revamped power delivery characteristics, as well as the adoption of a six-speed manual gearbox in place of the old five-speeder, have had a measurable effect on performance. The new Verna petrol manual is not only quicker than the old car in flat-out acceleration and through the gears, but is actually the quickest of its peers in gears four and five, and all but matches the surprisingly brisk Maruti Ciaz in the third gear slog too. There's new-found flexibility to the engine, which is a boon in town and allows you to get by driving in a higher gear without much protest from the car. And it's not that the pleasant gearbox or the light (if slightly springy) clutch is bothersome to use either, refinement levels are also excellent at low revs so you?d just find yourself upshifting early by default. At times when you do hold on to the gear, the engine will rev cleanly to 5,000rpm, after which it takes its time to get to the 6,500rpm limiter. That Honda City VTEC-like manic top-end rush is, unfortunately, missing. Compared to the manual, the petrol automatic is quite different in character. It's nice and well-mannered when you are ambling around town, but so much as hint at the need for more performance and, with a dab on the throttle, the six-speed torque converter automatic will respond readily, if a bit over enthusiastically, with a downshift and sometimes even two. Unlike typical new-age autos that are tuned to keep revs low for best efficiency, Verna's unit keeps revs around the 2,000rpm mark. While that gets you instantaneous responses from the engine, you also hear more of the otherwise quiet engine and get the feeling that the gearbox is perpetually in a sort of Sports mode setting. You can take manual control via the gear lever to get the gearbox to behave as per your liking and its nice how responsive the system is. If you happen to be a high-mileage user, it?s the diesel Verna's that will be of greater interest to you. The 1.6-liter variable geometry turbo-diesel continues to top the segment for power (128hp) and torque (260Nm) but the crucial difference is that max torque is now available at a more accessible 1,500-3,000rpm, as opposed to the narrower 1,900-2,750rpm band in the last Verna. Also interesting is the fact that the six-speed manual gearbox runs shorter third and fourth gears here. We expected the new Verna diesel to be quicker than the old one and it is. The new Verna's 0-100kph time of 9.32sec betters the old car?s class-best figure by 0.4sec, but what?s more telling is the improvement in in-gear acceleration. The new Verna is not mere milliseconds but full seconds quicker than the old car in benchmark roll-on times! 20-80kph in third gear takes 9.87sec to the old car?s time of 12.17sec, while 40-100kph in fourth gear takes 11.88sec to the old car?s 15.25sec time. Shorter gear ratios aside, the difference in performance is also down to how the updated engine produces its power. Where the old version of the engine bunched up its power for release after 1,800rpm or so, you get to the best of what the new version has to offer far earlier on. A Skoda Rapid or Volkswagen Vento diesel is quicker still in the gears, but where power from the VW TDI engine comes in a rush, the build of power is smooth and linear in the Verna. The Hyundai unit is responsive and likable, and what makes it more likable still is the high level of refinement. Sure, there is an audible clatter at middle revs but the sound seems relatively distant and is nowhere near as gruff or as loud as that emitted by other diesel in this segment. Noise levels do increase significantly as you extend the engine, but given the ready power to offer you'll seldom feel the need to explore the top-end of the rev range. Once again, gearshifts on the six-speed manual gearbox are nice and the clutch, though springy, has a progressive action.