With its cascading chrome grille, laser-cut alloy wheels and a full
suite of LEDs and projector bulbs, it’s a good looking thing. The Verna,
in fact, makes me want to dig deep into my wardrobe and neaten up
before taking the wheel. All in all, it’s a nicely balanced design with
the right amount of glitzy details, particularly in our silver colour
car’s range-topping SX (O) trim which adds projector lights, LED
taillights, chrome door handles and a shark fin antenna.
The
Verna shares garage space with Vikrant’s newly acquired Honda City and
in the last couple of weeks since it’s joined our fleet, it has
spent all its time over Bombay roads. So far, it’s been smooth sailing
in the city’s rush hour traffic despite being a manual. I love the
6-speed gearbox for its direct and clean shift action although it could
use a less springy clutch pedal. The steering, too, is light and well
weighted to negotiate through the endless diversions that are involved
within my commute.
Inside, Hyundai has been generous with quality plastics and that tactile
feel across the dashboard and the doors is remarkable for this segment.
So what’s the catch? Well so far, there’s nothing really to fault or
pin point except for the fact that Hyundai isn’t offering essential
features like automatic wipers and auto folding wing mirrors at this
price.
As for the fuel economy, the Verna has been consistently returning
around 13kmpl under varied driving conditions which isn’t bad at all.
Better still, it’s done only 5,500km since new and the efficiency is
expected to improve over the next five months once the engine is fully
freed up. Let’s see if I can get any closer to the official figure of
17.70kmpl.
Vehicle Log -
Odo - 5575km
Km this month - 753km
Fuel – 59.20litres
Fuel Efficiency - 12.6kmpl
