Here’s question we’re bombarded with every day: “What’s the definitive small car in the market today?” I’m tempted to say Swift Diesel but if you’re only going to be commuting in the city you don’t need a diesel now, do you? On the other hand if there’s a lot of highway commuting involved maybe the Getz diesel would be a better bet, or an Indica if you’re price sensitive and/or in the taxi trade.
Small cars though are primarily confined to the city and with congestion being what it is you need a smallish small car, with a smallish petrol engine Step forward the cheap and cheerful Alto. Or the Santo if you’re wider around the waist.
The point I’m trying to make is that a buyer in for a small car today is massively spoilt for choice. There are 13 small cars being sold today, 50 if you include variants (engines, trim & options), with the lines of demarcation getting blurrier by the day. There are smallish small cars (Alto, 800), big-ish small cars (Indica, UV-A, Getz, Swift, Palio) and cars in between them ( Santro, Wagon R, Zen Estilo, spark). And with the Hyundai i10 you have another segment straddler; a car filling a void between the Santro and the Getz that, I for one, don’t see.
Confused? How do you pick the definitive small car?
Simply put, you can’t. Which is why we’ve brought along the newest kid on the block, the i10, and her main rivals (in terms of size and price) – the Zen Estilo and Spark to battle for medium-sized small car honours. And yes, we did leave out the Santro; after all with the i10 being a bigger and better Santro there isn’t much point now, is there?
STYLE & BUILD
Styling is a hugely important criterion influencing car buying decisions today. It's the reason why the Swift has done so incredibly well and it's the reason why we've brought along the Zen Estilo instead of the Wagon R. Mechanically the two are bang identical. The last time the two encountered each other, the Zen scored better thanks to superior interiors and refinement.
To jog your memory, the Zen Estilo is the old MR Wagon of nearly a decade's vintage and it show it. Its mono-volume design with that ultra short bonnet draws styling cues from MPVs and in profile it looks akin to a shrunken Innova. The rear too is very van like and while there are some neat details like the pumped up front wheel arches, the tiny tyres fail to do it any justice. Inside things improve considerably and the dual tone beige-on-black dash with the silver finish central console lends it an upmarket air though it is boxy and a little dated in design. The beige interiors give it a sense of spaciousness though in reality this is the most cramped of the three with the least shoulder and knee room. The boot is slightly bigger than the Spark's though unlike the Wagon R the rear seats aren't split 60:40 and you can't adjust the rear seat back angle either.
While the cutesy styling of the Chevy Spark might make her look tiny in this Company (and she does ride on the shortest wheelbase of the trio), she's actually quite spacious on the inside, with more knee room and shoulder room than the Zen. And from the outside she looks fabulous with the Matiz's bug-eyed headlamps (what, you didn't know this is a face-lifted Daewoo?) now running into the bumpers, merging into amber coloured indicators. If anything the Spark looks even more lovable and huggable and the rear too, with those large round tail lamps and reverse lamps in the bumpers, is the most distinctive of the trio. Of Course the roof rails and alloys on the top end variant help visual matters considerably while still not knocking pricing out of the ball park.
The dash with its centrally positioned Speedo is funky (you don't get a tacho) and a great conversation starter though having just a dull array of warning lights in front of the driver doesn't make for a great driving environment. Though the Spark's spacious on the inside the dull grey seat fabric and trim materials make it seem a touch claustrophobic, despite valiant efforts by the silver finish central console to liven things up. The LT variant also gets a 2-DIN Kenwood CD player which goes well with the interiors though quality of materials leaves you under whelmed with the door handles feeling particularly cheap and the doors slamming shut with a tinny thunk.
The front seats are the smallest and while you can live with the limited under seat support, the top of seat back digging into the top of your back isn't recommended for long drives. Head room is tight at the rear and you're in perennial danger of smashing your head on the roof. The rear seats are also split 60:40 and not only fold but also tumble to liberate a large load bay, useful when shifting house.
Which brings us to the i10 - the only genuinely new car in this test. As you're probably aware, the no is a made-in-India product for worldwide consumption which means the car you and I get has been benchmarked against the very European mini cars in terms of style, quality and space utilisation. So while the i10 may not be as cutesy as the Spark she is eye-catching contemporary with smart detailing and excellent proportions. The large pulled-back headlamps, the gaping air dam, the fogs integrated into the bumper and the sliver of chrome on the nose give the i10 a very Euro-chic look, though in profile, despite the upswept kink in the rear door line, she looks ordinary. The rear is well resolved though personally I think the tail lamps are a touch overdone.
Step inside and the no emerges as a clear winner on the styling front. The design of the dash is excellent and with that integrated CD player wouldn't be out of place on a much bigger car. There are a lot of interesting details, like the dash mounted gear lever, the large white-faced speedo, the one-piece seat backs with the integrated head rests and the strips of wood-effect plastics on either side of the dash that feel cheap but look good. The seats are generously proportioned and offer good side and under thigh support while the driving environment is most ergonomic and comfortable of the trio.
Despite riding on the same wheelbase as the Santro interior space is improved and the overall feeling of spaciousness (helped no doubt by the use of light beige interior trim) is the best of the trio. She boasts the most generous rear knee room of the lot though the protrusion at the base of the front seats prevents passengers from sticking their feet under it consequently cramping them a bit. Shoulder room is also best in class and while three abreast is still not recommended it's the’ least torturous. The boot too is spacious though the seats aren't split 60:40 and neither do they fold down flat like the other two. The boot also gets a convenient external boot release like the Zen though unlike the latter there's no internal release.
Quality of materials is excellent; small stuff like the door handles, power window switches and even the seat recline lever feel robust and well built while the leather wrapped steering wheel and gear knob feels especially good to touch. The doors close with a thud instead of the tinny clang of the other two which further adds to the perception of robust build.
PERFORMANCE
Powering the Zen is the age old four-cylinder 1061cc engine that first made its appearance in the original (for India) Wagon R seven years ago which in itself was based on the original Maruti 800's three-cylinder unit with a cylinder added on. And in this company her age shows - both in terms of NVH suppression and performance. Unlike the old Zen's sweet revving all-aluminium unit, this one isn't happy being revved to bits and she gets extremely noisy and raucous as revs build. For sure she could do with some more sound insulation. Even the transmission she's mated to has a poor shift quality, being both notchy and imprecise at the same time something very surprising for a Maruti.
Tipping the scales at 875kg the Zen is the heaviest car in this test and with 65PS of power she gets to 100kmph comes up in 16.37sec - the slowest of the trio. Her top speed of 154.30kmph is par for the course.
In terms of refinement it is the Spark that rules the roost here. Where both the Zen and even the il0 to an extent get quite noisy at the peak of their rev range the Spark's engine note remains within acceptable limits. Despite a two-valves-per-cylinder layout (compared to the Zen's four valves/cylinder and the il0's three valves/cylinder), a displacement of only 995cc and the least power rating of 63PS the S-Tec engine gives the Spark sprightly acceleration, her 15.16sec 0-100kmph time being the quickest in this test. This is an engine that loves to be used hard and aided by that responsive chassis (which we'll come to later) makes the Spark the car for the keen driver.
The gearshift too is much improved from Chevy’s of yore and while long in throws and not particularly slick it is precise and scores far better than that of the Zen.
The i10 uses the same 1086cc engine from the Santro but with tweaks to the intakes, cooling and ECU that liberate a few more horses taking her power output up to a class topping 66.7PS. This is a very torquey engine, developing 99Nm of torque at 2800rpm (compared to the Zen's 84Nm and the Spark's 90Nm) and thus makes the i10 the most flexible of the trio with the best in-gear acceleration times. Engine responses are equally impressive, builds revs with urgency, and while her 0-100kmph time of 15.3 seconds may not make her the quickest in this test she feels eager and ready for a spot of brisk driving.
Revved hard the engine does get noisy but confined to the cut and thrust of the city the torquey and responsive engine is the one to have. As is the excellent gearshift that is slick and light to operate and being positioned up ahead in the dash makes for brilliant ergonomics.
All three cars came equipped with ABS - an indication that manufacturers are all moving in the right direction as far as safety goes. Braking distances are thus in the same ball park with the i10 taking just 49.8 metres to come to a stop from 100kmph with the Zen and Spark close behind at 52.32 and 58.1 metres.
While the Zen might not be the quickest, she makes amends for it on the fuel efficiency front, returning the best highway fuel efficiency of 22.48kmpl. In the city this figure drops down to 12.79kmpl resulting in an overall efficiency of 15.21kmpl. This figure is bested by the i10 that returns an overall efficiency of 16.29kmpl, helped by her excellent city mileage of 15.43kmpl. The Spark almost matches the i10's highway fuel efficiency figure of 18.86kmpl but returns 12.03kmpl in the city run for an overall figure of 13.73kmpl.
RIDE & HANDLING
Small cars are designed to be agile and nimble to handle the cut and thrust of heavy city traffic while also being confidence inspiring on that occasional weekend jaunt.
Priority though is rarely given to the latter and that's especially evident in the Zen that gets nervous and unpredictable at speed. On the expressway the Zen is particularly susceptible to crosswinds, switching lanes when buffeted by a strong crosswind while straight line stability is poor.
Round the twisty bits her dynamic short- comings are further highlighted as she rolls and under steers with resolute determination while the steering is devoid of any feel. The soft suspension does give it a decent low speed ride around town though on the recommended tyre pressure settings she does get skittish and bouncy on poor roads. She also has the lowest profile tyres (65 profile) which compromises ride quality.
In contrast the Spark has a well resolved ride and handling package and is less susceptible to crosswinds. Even better, show her a set of twisties and she devours it with relish. There is body roll (which in the absence of any seat side support has you hanging off the seat belts) and the inside rear wheel does lift off tarmac but the grip levels are excellent. This is a car you can seriously attack corners with and allied to the powerful engine makes it a car for the enthusiastic driver.
The downside to this is a stiff ride, the Spark crashing into potholes and hopping over undulations at crawling speeds. Build up speed and things improve considerably though her ride can't match up to that of the no - the new class benchmark.
City cars have to ride well and Hyundai has devoted its energies to setting up the no's suspension to deal with the rough and tumble of the daily city commute. The i10 rides on high profile (80-profile) rubber and the benefits are immediately apparent; there's better absorption of road imperfections and the bounciness that the Santro exhibited at the rear has been eliminated. The suspension is also very refined and there are no annoying thuds and thunks when you throw her into nasty potholes.
What makes the i10 such a joy to drive in the city is the delightfully light and direct steering that's almost go-kartish in its responses. And while you'd expect her handling to be compromised thanks to the soft suspension and skinny tyres, the grip levels are high and you can push round corners with enthusiasm. Push her hard, as hard as you would a Spark, and you'll be greeted with lots of body roll and big understeer but under most conditions the i10 is a surprisingly enjoyable car to drive.
SUMMING IT UP
The small car segment is all about pricing and on the face of it Hyundai is in trouble with the Magna option pack which we have on test here costing Rs 4.83 lakh ex-showroom Pune. That variant however is loaded to the gills and you get, among others, twin airbags, ABS, stereo and everything else save for alloy wheels. Knock off the airbags, ABS and stereo and you're staring at Rs 4.06 lakh for the Magna variant and that compares favourably with the similarly equipped Zen Estlio that costs Rs 3.8lakh. An additional 30 grand gets you ABS and a driver's side airbag (the passenger doesn't get an airbag), which is the sensible way of urging buyers to opt for safety features rather than the 80 grand premium Hyundai is asking for all the safety hells and whistles.
However when you compare the i10 Magna to the VXi, for that extra 20 grand, in the i10 you get a bang up-to-date car that is considerably more stylish, spacious, refined and dynamically sorted which comfortably seals the debate.
If pricing is your over-riding priority the Spark makes excellent sense, costing Rs 3.94 lakh for the LT option pack that also includes alloys and ABS. Knock off the alloys and ABS (there is no airbag option) and you're looking at Rs 3.69lakh which is a considerable saving over the i10. I'd be tempted to recommend the Spark but after spending time in the spacious and superb looking cabin of the i10, the dark gloomy interiors of the Spark have little attraction. And when you compare quality levels the il10 moves a further league ahead.
The Spark might be an involving drive but for 99 per cent of the small car buying public it is ride quality that matters and that's where the i10 scores. Then there's the delightful steering and gearshift that actually make driving the i10 a joy, whether in the city or on the highway.
There's no question about it; just like it did with the Santro all those years back, Hyundai has once again raised the small car benchmark and it's now up to the rest to play catch up.