Hyundai Exter

Recently Hyundai has launched their sub compact SUV-Exter. It is a nice well looking car which comes with lot of features to pamper its owners. Price for the base EX variant of the Exter starts at Rs.6.0 Lakh and goes up to Rs.9.06 Lakh ex-showroom for the top end SX(O) Connect variant.

From the front it looks very different from typical Hyundai SUVs. It's a very new design from Hyundai. Here you can see square shaped projector headlamps and H shaped DRLS. Hyndai logo is provided on the bonnet and Exter badging is provided above the grille. A silver colour skid-plate like element provided on the car makes it an SUV from the front.

The Exter is a very good-looking vehicle from sides too. The car sits on a 15inch alloy wheels, design of the alloy is also very good. Thick power bulges on the doors and the black cladding which starts from the front bumper passing through the sides is giving it a muscular styling. Apart from this the car comes with roof rails too, that makes this vehicle a real SUV from sides.

It is a completely different Hyundai vehicle from rear in all sense. Hyundai logo is well placed on the middle of the carbon fiber like element on the boot lid of the Exter. Like the front DRL, H-shaped LED tail lamps and brake lights are provided. A high mounted LED stop lamp is provided under the spoiler. Shark fin antenna and rear wiper is also provided. As at the front a thick silver colored skid plate like element is provided at the rear makes it an SUV from this side.

Like any Hyundai or Kia models, Exter won't disappoint you while you are inside the car. It is a feature loaded SUV with well-furnished interior to pamper the young generation. The SUV is provided with an 8-inch touch screen infotainment system with tonnes of features is the major attraction on the dashboard. It can support Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Apart from this the body colour inserted round air vents provided on the left and right of the dashboard is increasing the elegance and beauty of this small SUV to the next level.

It has a beautiful steering wheel with cruise control, bluetooth and radio-telephony switches. Paddle-Shifters are also provided with the AMT variant of the Exter. This steering wheel is having tilt adjustment too. The 8-inch Crystal clear driver side display provides all the vehicle and drive related information to the driver, is really a nice feature.

Exter comes with very comfortable seats with body colour textures on them. Both front seats can be adjusted manually for a comfortable seating. Rear seats are also comfortable, but it is ideally good for two passengers in long journeys. Rear A/c vents with a 12V charging point is also available with the Exter, which the Hyundai claims as segment first feature.

A Voice enabled smart electric single pane sunroof provided with the Exter making it a very premium compact SUV in its segment. It is a nice feature in this car in its price point.

Another segment first and a very useful feature is its Dash Cam. In today's traffic and reckless driving, it is a must have equipment in any vehicle in India. Thankfully, Hyundai has introduced it in the Exter. Now we can expect the same in other vehicles from other manufacturers. You can record both outside and inside view of the car through this equipment and also you can access this camera through your mobile too.

Vehicle Dimensions

• Length: 3815mm
• Width: 1710mm
• Height: 1631mm
• Wheelbase: 2450mm
• Fuel Tank:37 Liter
• Fuel Tank (Bi-fuel variant): Petrol 37Liter/CNG: 60(Water equivalent) Liter

Engine and Performance

When come to the engine and performance, the Exter comes with two engine options. A 1.2-liter Kappa Petrol and a Bi-fuel Kappa Petrol with CNG with Automatic and Manual transmission options. The Bi-fuel engine is available with Manual Transmission only. Sluggish nature of the AMT is very minimal with the Exter and the paddle shifters provided on the car making it a fun to drive vehicle over other regular AMTs available in its segment. Its Manual Transmission is very smooth, and you will enjoy the drive with this transmission. But with the AMT you will get an additional comfort in the city traffic conditions so, unless you are a keen driving enthusiast it is better to go with the AMT variant.

Improtant Figures

• Engine: 1.2 Liter Kappa Petrol & Petrol+CNG (Bi-fuel)
• Power: 61kW (83PS) @6000RPM (Petrol) /50.5kW (69PS)@6000RPM (Bi fuel)
• Torque: 113.8Nm@4000RPM (Petrol)/95.2Nm@4000RPM (Bi fuel)
• No.of Cylinders: 04
• Displacement: 1197cc
• Transmission: 5 Speed Manual and AMT

Safety

As part of the safety, the car comes with some segment first active and passive safety features. The Exter comes with 6 Air bags as standard across variants is a segment first feature. 

Some of the other features are giving below, for more details you can download the brochure from the manufacturer's website.

• Six Airbags
• ABS with EBD
• Electronic Stability Control (ESC)
• Dashcam with Dual camera
• Hill Start Assist
• Vehicle Stability Management (VSM)
• Rear Parking Sensors
• Rear Parking Camera with Dynamic Guidelines
• Day & Night IRVM
• Automatic Headlamps
• Rear defogger
• Speed sensing auto door lock
• Impact sensing auto door unlock.
• Seat-belt reminder (All seats)
• 3-Point seat belts (All seats)
• ISOFIX Anchorage
• High Speed alert system
• Emergency stop signal.

In conclusion, the Exter is a nice and beautiful fun to drive compact SUV with lots of tech loaded features. It comes with some segment first features like Dashcam with dual camera and six airbags across the variant as standard. It also comes with a fuel-efficient AMT transmission with paddle-shifters too. Moreover, the Exter is from the house of Hyundai, which ensures a good after sales support through their service network fledged across India. Definitely you can consider the Exter if in search of an SUV in its segment.

As always, Drive safe & Happy Driving. 

Note: All images used in this blog has been taken from Manufacturer's website for presentation purpose.

TATA PUNCH

Tata Punch-a sub-4 meter SUV from the Tata Motors is one of the hot selling sub compact SUV in India. It is well known for its robust build quality and the 5-Star GNCAP safety ratings in adult occupancy. At present it is the safest compact SUV in India. It is a nice bold creature from Tata Motors. Let's look into details..

From the front it is a pure SUV.  LED DRLs and  projector headlamps are provided. Fog lamps are provided on the thick cladding. We can see tri-arrow design on the cladding and also on the grill. Big bonnet,thick bumper and air dam all are giving it an SUV style from the front view

From sides you can feel the height of the car. We can see the 16" diamond cut alloy wheels. The thick cladding is flowing from front to the rear giving it an SUV style from the sides.

Front door handles are provided in body colour where as the rear door handles are provided on the C-Pillar of the car.

The car also comes with roof-rails, which is really enhancing its SUV style from sides. Side indicators are provided on the auto-folding ORVMs. Thus it is a nice compact SUV from sides too.

At the rear you can see an integrated spoiler with stop lamp. Tata logo and Punch badging are beautifully placed.

Reverse parking camera is installed just under the Tata logo. It has a unique set of tail lamps, which is matching with the overall design of the car. Two reflectors are provided on the thick rear bumper of the car.  It looks good from rear.

When comes to boot space, this car having a decent 366 litres of boot space. It is more than sufficient to make weekend family trips.

Interior

As the Altroz, this SUV also comes with 90-Degree wide opening doors, so ingress and egress is not at all a problem. 

The only thing may get hurt is its high ground clearance, which will make elder citizens to get in and out little difficult. 

By entering into the cabin you can feel the fit and finish of the dashboard. It is having a nice eye-catching dashboard. 

Fit and finish of the A/c controls are excellent. A 7-inch touch-screen infotainment system is provided on the dashboard. It can support AppleCarplay and AndroidAuto. 

At the driver side you can find a TFT display. The visual quality of the display is very good.  You can access various vehicle related information from thi display.

To enhance its its premiumness, this car comes with leather wrapped Flat bottom steering wheel and leather wrapped gear knob.

Cruise control and volume control switches are provided on the steering wheel. The touch and feel of the steering is excellent.

When come to utility/storage space, you will get a big cool glove box. Also bottle holders are provided on all four doors.

Two cup holders and a 12V charger are provided on the front console.

The Punch is provide with Spacious cabin and well cushioned seats. Driver seat can be adjusted manually.

Two adjustable headrests are provided at the rear row seats,but it can accommodate three people. An arm rest, rear A/c vents and a 12V charging socket are also available for the rear seat passengers.

Drivability and Riding comfort

The Punch is available in Manual as well as in AMT(Automated Manual Transmission) variants. Both Manual and AMT variants are paired with 1199cc 1.2liter 3-cylinder  naturally aspirated petrol engine, which makes 84.48bhp power and 113Nm torque. You can feel the engine a bit underpowered initially, but it will come livelier once you start to cruise. Manual gear shifts are also not so smooth when you compare it with the competition. The manual variant requires 16 seconds and the AMT requires about 20 seconds to reach 0 to 100km speed. This clearly shows that this car is not made for a spirited driving experience, it is more tuned towards convenience,practicality and for a better fuel efficiency.

It has a well tuned suspension set up. It can handle all the bumps and potholes easily. The Puch having a long wheel base of 2445mm, which makes the ride even more comfortable. Also you can find good driving position easily in this SUV. As it is a tall car you will get good and commanding outside view from it, which will make it easy to park in city's congested parking areas.Moreover this car is comes with Harmann music system which produces best quality audio sound.

Safety and Other features

This car is made on the Tata's ALFA platform. This platform is known for its robust build quality and higest safety standards.

The car comes with two airbags as standard. Apart from this you will get tonnes of safety features in it.

You will get reverse parking camera with active guide-lines, rear wiper, rain sensing wiper, connected safety features from iRA connectivity, rear defogger, ABS,EBD, Hill-Hold assist(With AMT only), Traction-Pro mode(with AMT only).

Conclusion 

If you are in a search of a compact SUV, and don't want to comprise on the build quality and safety, then definitely you have to consider this vehicle.It is a nice compact SUV.

It is having tall stance,190mm ground clearance to tackle any bad road condition,robust build quality and excellent ride comfort. You can get the mileage between 16-20km in real driving conditions too. 

The price of the car starts at Rs. 5.93 Lakh and goes up to Rs.9.49 Lakh ex-showroom.

Also you can check  the rivals of Punch here itself- Hyundai Venue, Renault Kiger, Citroen C3 and Nissan Magnite .

" Obey Traffic rule".

Note:All images used in this blog has been taken from Manufacturer's website for presentation purpose.

MARUTI S-PRESSO AUTOMATIC VXI+(O)

The Maruti Suzuki has recently updated it's Micro SUV S-Presso.

The S-Presso

 The company has sold 2,02,250 models since its inception. Eventhough it don't have any 'wow' factor, it is a hot-selling vehicle because of its unique look, the SUV stance and the high sitting position. Afterall, it is a compact vehicle and can fit into the budget of many first time car buyers. The price of the car starts at Rs.4.25 lakh and goes up to Rs.5.99 lakh ex.showroom for range toping VXI Automatic variant.

EXTERIOR

Front View: From the front, the flat bonnet, large headlamps, the grille and the large bumper are giving it an SUV look.

Front view

Side View: From sides, we can find two small indicators on the front fender. Side view mirrors and door handles are now available in body colour.

Side View

The ORVMs are electrically foldable. 14inch wheels are provided on the top variant but the lower variants are available in 13 inch wheels. These are steel wheels not alloys. The 180mm ground clearance and the body height of the S-Presso giving it an SUV look from sides.

Rear View: Nothing to highlight anything special from the back side of S-Presso.

Rear View

It is a very plain design. You can find Suzuki logo and S-Presso badging. The car having V-shaped tail lamps.Apart from this you will get a high mounted stop lamp and an integrated spoiler with S-Presso. A large bumper is  provided at the rear too.

INTERIOR

Maruti has done it's  bes to give a spacious cabin in this compact vehicle, and is really a spacious cabin.

Interior

It is a taller car and the doors open wide, so getting in and out is not going to be an issue with S-Preeso. Moreover you will get excellent outside visibility because of its high sitting position. Seats are very comfortable and feels comfy. But these seats don't thave adjustable headrests.

Dashboard

By entering into the cabin the dash board,the circular element in the centre and the centrally mounted digital speedo meter all grab your attention instantly.

Speedometer and centre console

The 7 inch touch screen infotainment system provided with the S-Presso is very nice and it can support wired Android Auto and ApplecarPlay. Power window switches are provided at the centre console. 

S-Presso comes with powerful A/c with manual controls. A 12V socket, a USB charger with aux.Port are provided at front. The steering of the S-Presso is a 3-spoke steering wheel in which voice control and wire less telephony switches are provided. 

Rear storage space

Storage space: You will get sufficient storage space at front. There are one litre bottle holders on front doors A small glove box and a small shelf above it is useful to place the wallet and mobile phones. The floor console gets a couple of cup-holders and a small cubby. But at the rear you won't get any storage space other than a small rectangular cubby. No door pockets, no bottle holders and no seat pockets even available at the back.

Boot Space: S-Presso having a boot space of 270 litres. 

Boot space

It is a very practical boot and the 270 litres, is a very good figure when we consider the car of this small size.

DRIVABILITY

High sitting position gives excellent outside visibility which is very helpful to drive in city traffic.The 3-cylinder 1-litre K10C engine produces the power of 65.71bhp@5500rpm and  torque of 89Nm@3500rpm. The engine comes with an idle start/stop technology which enhances the fuel economy.

It is a very refined and a revv happy engine. It is mated with a 5 speed manual and a 5 speed AGS (Automated Gear Shift) gear boxes. The manual gear box is a very smooth gear box. As per the ARAI test figures this engine and gear box combination will provide the mileage of 24.7 km/l, which is a very good figure.

When come to Automatic,  Maruti has refined this gear box to provide a good driving experience. It is an effortless unit and you can shift it in manual mode whenever you want. 

Hill hold assist

Moreover now the S-Presso comes with Hill-Hold assist feature. Which is a very helpful feature when you are taking the car from an incline. As per ARAI, this engine and gear box combination will provide even better mileage of 25.3km/litre. This is an ideal variant for your daily city drives.

SAFETY

 The car comes with two airbags at front.However base variants comes with only driver side airbag. Other than that it has ABS,EBD,Hill hold assist and Rear Parkin seonsors. 

CONCLUSION.

It is a nice and peppy car to drive in city traffic. The AMT transmission is now much more refined than in the previous version. Moreover it has a spacious cabin and a decent boot space too. S-Presso is a perfect car for small middle class families. 

If you are looking more on mileage, then you have an another option from Maruti, check the all new Celerio & Maruti K10.

As always- Happy driving.

"Drive with steering, not with horn"

Note: All images taken in this blog post are from the manufacturer's website for presentation purpose only.