The i10 has been one of Hyundai’s flagship models since its launch in 2007 and the company has sold more than 12 million i10’s globally. To celebrate this feat, Hyundai has launched the special edition ‘i-Tech’ i10 which gets a host of extra features as part of the celebration. Hyundai has also flagged off the first edition of a Cross Country Drive called the ‘i-Drive India’ which will feature the all new special edition ‘i-Tech’ i10. This drive will cover more than 9000 kms over a span of 25 days through numerous destinations along the ‘Golden Quadrilateral’ route. The drive was flagged off from Delhi on 5th March, 2013 and will not only cover key cities in India but will also let the participants experience the comfort, mileage, performance and reliability of the i10 across various terrains and driving conditions.
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The ‘i-Tech’ i10 gets pampered by extra features such as rear view parking camera with chromatic mirror and steering mounted Bluetooth controls. The interiors sport a new red and beige seat upholstery with red inserts on the dashboard and door trims. On the exterior too, there are sporty body graphics to make it look special indeed. This special edition model is only available in crystal white and garnet red colour in the 1.1-litre Era and 1.2-litres Magna variants.
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Our leg for the drive was from Mumbai to Goa. This is a common route for fellow Mumbaikars. Goa is to Mumbai what Himachal is to Delhi. There are two routes to get to Goa. The first being via NH17, which is a single lane road along winding ghats and offers a very scenic drive. We chose to go via NH4. Distance wise both routes are almost the same, but NH4 is a double lane straight road and thus traversed faster.
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We were flagged off from Hyundai Motor Plaza, Parel at 8.30 AM. Being Sunday traffic was sparse and we first stopped for fuel at Nerul and filled up our car to the brim. There was three i10’s for the journalists and an i20, which was a support car.
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The first stop was at the food court on the Mumbai – Pune expressway for breakfast. You can’t be in Maharashtra and not have a Vada Pav, a classic Maharastrian snack. After a half hour break we stepped on the gas and stopped directly at Karad for lunch. We fueled up shortly after that and again filled up to the brim to calculate the fuel efficiency. The roads are well surfaced except for a small patch which was under construction as soon as you hit Karnataka.
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Despite such roads, the i10 seemed to be at home and made its way quite easily. We took an alternate route from the one which was given on our map. Instead of heading towards Kankavli from Kohlapur, we joined Sawantwadi through Amboli. The stretch from Nipani to Sawantwadi involves a few ghats. Rest of the way is pretty clear. We reached our destination just after sunset. The entire trip involved a driving time of 8.5 hours. Breaks for breakfast, lunch and tea were an additional 2 hours.
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The Hyundai i10 proved to be a very comfortable car, even after driving for 8.5 hours, there was barely any hint of fatigue. The 1.2-litre Kappa engine produces 80 PS of power and torque of 114 NM. The engine is strong in the higher end of the rev band and despite aggressive driving, the i10 returned a mileage of 16.27 km/l (measured by the tank to tank method) which is pretty impressive. The i10 feels decently planted at highway speeds and we felt safe even when doing triple digit speeds.
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The steering is light at low speeds making city driving effortless while high speed steering feel is average, which is fair for a city car. The brakes bite well but tend to lock up on heavy braking due to lack of ABS on this model. The AC deserves a special mention, it kept us cool inspite of the outside temperature being 40 degrees. Mind you, this is without having any sun control film on the vehicle.
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The Hyundai i10 continues to impress and the Cross Country Drive is a great initiative by Hyundai to showcase the potential of its flagship model.
