So finally Hyundai has unveiled the much-hyped upgraded version of i20 in the Indian market much to the delight of its enthusiasts. The new improvised version of i20 promises better features as well as performance and Hyundai has played its cards well in launching the car at the right time when the fans were in demand of an upgraded version of i20. There was a time when the first i20 was a rage in the market owing to the fluidic design of the car as well as the ergonomics. Hyundai had put everything they could in the previous version of i20 but realized that there is always scope for betterment and innovation and thus they started working on the upgraded version of i20. The car which runs on diesel is revered as one of the best hatchbacks to roll out of Hyundai showroom. But, even then we would like to know what is there in new i20 that was not in its predecessor that earmarks it as one of the best hatchbacks of Hyundai.
Design: –
The inspiration of the exterior design of new Hyundai i20 has been taken from Hyundai Eon as well as i20, both of which have a fluidic bodyline. Hyundai is nowadays designing almost every sedan and hatchback under the fluidic concept. It all started with Verna followed by i20 and Eon. Now it is time for the new i20 to take the concept ahead.
The front of the new i20 is based on the fluidic concept that makes it identical to the front of Eon, Verna and the previous i20. Even the i10 is designed on the basis of fluidic bodyline concept. The style of the bonnet matches that of the counterpart hatchbacks especially Nissan Micra and Maruti Suzuki Swift. The new i20 is being called as i-Gen i20 and all the cars that come under i-Gen concept have received a very fulfilling response from the customers all across the globe. The front bonnet of the car has been styled in the shape of clamshell which adds to the appeal of the car and makes it in par with the compatriot hatchbacks in the Indian automobile market.
The lower air dam attached to the car has been shaped in a hexagonal manner and the headlamps are quite suave. The brightness of the headlamp is appropriate and is not too bright and neither less bright. The fog lamps fitted beneath the headlights are designed in the shape of leaf. All these exterior features of the car give the new i-Gen i20 an altogether pleasing to the eye outlook.
The door handles have been made from chrome and give a luxurious appeal to the car altogether. Hyundai has used a new pattern of alloy wheels for the new i-Gen i20 which is something that had not yet been seen in any other Hyundai car. There isn’t much dissimilarity between the overall exterior design of the new i20 and its antecedent. The overall design of the new i20 bears a considerable resemblance with the previous ones but what it promises is better ergonomics as well as interiors.
There have been certain modifications in the rear end of the car as the tail lamp cluster has been changed with a better one and the new substitute are a set of reverse lamps which are arranged in a set of curved arrays thus giving a brand new outlook to the rear of the car. The turn indicators have been fitted next to the tail lamp cluster. The rear bumpers of the car has red colored reflectors and give a very fashionable and present-day look to the car altogether.
The interiors of the new i20 are also fashionable as the seats have been covered in grey beige-colored leather. The console fitted to the centre of the dashboard has somewhat been upgraded but the main up gradation has been done in the instrument cluster meant for supervision. This instrument cluster has been changed with a new and more attractive one which increases the appeal of the car to a great extent. Since Hyundai has not modified the exterior of the car, thus it is much obvious that the interiors might also be the same as they were in the last model. Thus the space of the interiors is the same as it was in the predecessor model. Thus there are no compromises in regarding the comfort level of the new i20 and the old one as it is the same in both of them. Thus, the new i20 is equally sporty as its forerunner in terms of style as well as looks.
Ergonomics: –
Since the previous Hyundai i20 was pretty much pepped up with powerful ergonomics, thus it is quite obvious that the new i20 will have either the same ergonomics or better than the antecedent. Hyundai has put a lot of power beneath the hood and thus it is imminent that the new i20 will have more advanced performance features than its predecessor.
The new i20 is powered by a 1.2 litre dual VTVT Kappa2 engine. The same engine is there in the Hyundai i10. Performance-wise, Hyundai has not left any of its stones unturned and thus the upcoming cars of Hyundai will be powered by the same type of engine. Hyundai while designing the new i20 on the basis of reference from i10 and previous i20, made sure that the car does not compromise in terms of looks as well as ergonomics. And thus speaking from the point of view of the ergonomics, Hyundai had to make sure that the car is up to date with the market and has the capability of churning out enough power to lock horns with the compatriot hatchbacks in the market. It is being said that the engine that will be installed in the new i20 will be churning 4hp more power than the predecessor. But since it is just a minor upheaval in the power delivery, thus we presume that it would not have much of an impact on the performance of the new i20 in comparison to the older one.
A new and unexpected specification of the new Hyundai i20 is the automatic transmission that it will come with. Usually the hatchbacks which run in India do not have automatic transmission control system installed in them. So, by including the automatic transmission in the new i20, Hyundai will start leading the race of hatchbacks in the present Indian automobile market said to be one of the most progressing automobile market.
Hyundai i20 2012 will be having the same 1.4 litre petrol engine which will be capable of churning out a maximum power of 98 hp. The prime difference in the transmission system of the old i20 and the new one is that the new i20 will be having a 5-speed transmission system rather than the 4-speed transmission system of the old one. Thus it is earmarked that the new i20 will be overthrowing the outgoing model out of the market owing to its 5-speed AT control system.
The new i20 will also come in the diesel variant with a 1.4 Litre CRDi engine that will pump out 88bhp of power which is a little less than that of the petrol model. ARAI certified the mileage capacity of the new i20 and found it out to be 21.9 kmpl.
Only the transmission system of the new Hyundai i20 has been altered but the rest of the specifications have been kept untouched. Thus the new Hyundai i20 will be giving out the same performance as that of the predecessor model. The previous model did not have the automatic transmission feature so it lags behind by a small fraction in terms of performance.
Prime Features & Dissimilarities:-
Now we will be highlighting the prime differences that set the two cars apart. There were many creature comforts that the old Hyundai i20 held but these features have been upgraded in the new model. The new Hyundai i20 comes with a push start button that comes with a smart key. This is a more advanced method of starting the car by the push of a button rather than the same key-twisting. This push start button was first launched in the Nissan Micra and thus concept has been taken from Micra only. It has auto-headlights which are quite intelligent as they light up as soon as they sense that the visibility ahead is low.
The new i20 comes with rain-sensing wipers that start working as soon as a rain-drop falls on the windshield. It also boasts of a rear camera that has been fitted to make sure that the distance of the car following the car is not too less so that it results in a collision course. The display of this rear-view camera is fitted on the dashboard. There is an armrest that is fitted comfortably next to the driver’s seat. The provision of folding of seats is totally electronic. The additional features are rear disc brakes and heated wing mirrors attached to the side of the car.
There are six airbags that come with the new i20 which incidentally came with the previous version as well. Both of the cars come with telescopic steering which can be tilted and along with that, both of these cars have panoramic sunroof.
Other features of the new i20 that are present in the older version as well are USB audio inputs with Aux-in feature, CD,MP3 Music System, Digital Clock, etc. Both of these cars come with 12V power outlet. The audio system is connected to 4 speakers and 2 tweeters on the front. The steering wheel has audio controls on it and the audio system installed to the car also has Bluetooth facility. Turn indicators are there on the outside mirrors of the cars, and the gear knob as well as the steering wheel has been strapped using high-quality leather. The car also has alloy wheels attached to them which give it an altogether sporty appeal. Thus we can say confidently that the new Hyundai i20 is equipped with more features than the previous Hyundai i20.
Hyundai will be launching the new i20 in two trims namely Asta and Asta (O) respectively unlike the previous i20 which used to come in four trims namely Asta, Asta (O) with sunroof, and Asta with Navigation System and Asta AT. Another version was the Asta AT with Navigation System.
The new Hyundai i20 will be having only one automatic transmission variant model by the name Sportz AT as against the previous i20 which had two trims namely Asta and Asta (O).
There are changes in the diesel variant that Hyundai will be launching. The new i20 will come in a new trim that goes by the name Magna (O). This variant was not offered in the previous Hyundai i20. The diesel model of the new Hyundai i20 has been launched only in the variant that is best of its class and goes by the name Asta whereas the predecessor version came in two trims respectively.
Difference in the Price Range:-
Since the features that the new i20 is offering are more than that of the predecessor model, thus it is pretty obvious that the price of the new i20 will be much more than what it was. There are a lot of new additions that have been made to the new model in terms of looks as well as ergonomics. Analysis was done on the price of the previous i20 and the new one. Results came out clear that the price of the petrol version of the new i20 was substantially more than that of the previous model in a range of INR 5900-22000 depending on various models of the car.
Thus the price that has been imposed on the car is reasonable enough owing to the features that the car comes with and the specifications it boasts of. Thus new Hyundai i20 is in a way identical to the previous one to a great extent.
