Hyundai New Verna Diesel: The Rising Star
15 Jun 2011 12:17 PM by
Adhish Alawani
in
Single review,
Hyundai,
The first Verna came to India five years ago in 2006. Since then , there has been only One upgrade in the car in the form of the recent Transform. The original Verna that came back then was good. But what the Korean manufacturer did with the Transform was weird , not to say visually disastrous. Nevertheless , Hyundai did an amazing design job with the i20 and even with the new face-lift version of the i10. These two cars made me believe that the Koreans had finally started following some European design philosophies. And to confirm my belief , they rolled out the all-new Verna.
The new Verna is possibly the best-looking Hyundai in the country today. It’s sharp , aggressive , focused and absolutely stunning. The headlamps are reminiscent of the ones seen on the new i10. So is the hexagonal front-end comprising the sleek grill on the top and the wider one on the lower side. The sharp headlamps pull back beyond half the length of the bonnet. From a side profile , the roof line takes a coupe-like shape and dips gracefully back towards the boot to add a hint of sportiness to the car. L-shaped fog lamps sitting low on the front bumper are glamorous for a car of this segment. Overall , apart from the ‘Hyundai’ badging , this car is nothing like the old one. Get inside the car and a cabin that is spacious , classy and stylish welcomes you. The three-spoke steering wheel resembles the ones found on the current line-up of Honda cars like Jazz , City and Civic. The white and blue back lit console looks brilliant and offers a bright and amazing readout of speed , rpm et al. Two-tone interiors 
with a little wood trim here and there makes the interiors look way upmarket. The fit and finish and quality of the interiors are on the higher side for an Asian manufacturer.
The new Verna is being offered in as many as six different versions. A 1.4-litre (manual) , a 1.6-litre (manual) and a 1.6-litre (automatic) in both petrol and diesel versions complete the line-up of Vernas for India. The car in question for my first drive was the 1.6-litre diesel that is powered by a 1582cc , in-line four-cylinder engine mated with a six-speed manual transmission. Pumping out a maximum of 128PS power and a whopping 260Nm of peak torque , the Verna , on paper , is a class leader by a considerable margin. And it feels the same on the road too. The engine pulls linearly and strongly from the bottom. Once past 2 , 000 rpm , the engine feels even stronger and manages to put a wide grin on your face. The refined engine is complemented well by the butter-smooth gearshifts. The strong low-end and mid-range , smooth transmission , soft pedals and a soft suspension combined together lend a very comfortable and easy drive on the Verna in city traffic. Offering a six-speed box was a smart move by Hyundai and helped a lot on the efficiency front for highway drives where the car manages to cruise at 110kmph in the top gear at as low as 2 , 000rpm. However , the car suffers a bit on the handling front at high speeds. The reason being , a heavy diesel engine that makes the front heavier and thus pitches it , upsetting the 
handling of the car. A considerable amount of body roll is also evident in fast corners.
That apart , there is nothing else to complain about in this Verna. The styling is fantastic and so is the engine and transmission. Look at the features on offer and they come as an icing on the cake. With six airbags , ABS with EBD and rear parking camera , the basic safety is taken care of. Other features include steering mounted controls , Bluetooth connectivity for phone , instrumentation console giving information on fuel consumption (instantaneous and overall) , gearshift indicator , smart key with push start button , cooled glove box -- the list seems to go on endlessly. With all this on offer , the Verna makes for an amazing package. The price of the car has still not been announced (should be around Rs 9 lakh for the top-end version) and it would be crucial for the Korean manufacturer to price this car perfect. But even with a slightly expensive tag , this car is going to make an impression in the market with the kind of styling , performance and features that it has on offer. Wait till next month , as we should be able to bring you a complete road test along with a definitive comparison with the competition!
Read more "EXPERT REVIEWS"
Content courtesy: 
on 10 May 12 at 7:21 PM
seems to be value for money
The new Verna is possibly the best-looking Hyundai in the country today. It’s sharp , aggressive , focused and absolutely stunning. The headlamps are reminiscent of the ones seen on the new i10. So is the hexagonal front-end comprising the sleek grill on the top and the wider one on the lower side. The sharp headlamps pull back beyond half the length of the bonnet. From a side profile , the roof line takes a coupe-like shape and dips gracefully back towards the boot to add a hint of sportiness to the car. L-shaped fog lamps sitting low on the front bumper are glamorous for a car of this segment. Overall , apart from the ‘Hyundai’ badging , this car is nothing like the old one. Get inside the car and a cabin that is spacious , classy and stylish welcomes you. The three-spoke steering wheel resembles the ones found on the current line-up of Honda cars like Jazz , City and Civic. The white and blue back lit console looks brilliant and offers a bright and amazing readout of speed , rpm et al. Two-tone interiors
with a little wood trim here and there makes the interiors look way upmarket. The fit and finish and quality of the interiors are on the higher side for an Asian manufacturer.
The new Verna is being offered in as many as six different versions. A 1.4-litre (manual) , a 1.6-litre (manual) and a 1.6-litre (automatic) in both petrol and diesel versions complete the line-up of Vernas for India. The car in question for my first drive was the 1.6-litre diesel that is powered by a 1582cc , in-line four-cylinder engine mated with a six-speed manual transmission. Pumping out a maximum of 128PS power and a whopping 260Nm of peak torque , the Verna , on paper , is a class leader by a considerable margin. And it feels the same on the road too. The engine pulls linearly and strongly from the bottom. Once past 2 , 000 rpm , the engine feels even stronger and manages to put a wide grin on your face. The refined engine is complemented well by the butter-smooth gearshifts. The strong low-end and mid-range , smooth transmission , soft pedals and a soft suspension combined together lend a very comfortable and easy drive on the Verna in city traffic. Offering a six-speed box was a smart move by Hyundai and helped a lot on the efficiency front for highway drives where the car manages to cruise at 110kmph in the top gear at as low as 2 , 000rpm. However , the car suffers a bit on the handling front at high speeds. The reason being , a heavy diesel engine that makes the front heavier and thus pitches it , upsetting the
handling of the car. A considerable amount of body roll is also evident in fast corners.
That apart , there is nothing else to complain about in this Verna. The styling is fantastic and so is the engine and transmission. Look at the features on offer and they come as an icing on the cake. With six airbags , ABS with EBD and rear parking camera , the basic safety is taken care of. Other features include steering mounted controls , Bluetooth connectivity for phone , instrumentation console giving information on fuel consumption (instantaneous and overall) , gearshift indicator , smart key with push start button , cooled glove box -- the list seems to go on endlessly. With all this on offer , the Verna makes for an amazing package. The price of the car has still not been announced (should be around Rs 9 lakh for the top-end version) and it would be crucial for the Korean manufacturer to price this car perfect. But even with a slightly expensive tag , this car is going to make an impression in the market with the kind of styling , performance and features that it has on offer. Wait till next month , as we should be able to bring you a complete road test along with a definitive comparison with the competition!
Read more "EXPERT REVIEWS"
Content courtesy:
seems to be value for money