While we also considered the Toyota Hyryder and Maruti Jimny, we eliminated the Kia Sonet, Hyundai Creta, Verna and i20 N Line as well as the Kia Seltos.
BHPian ajmat recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
My wife’s Polo 1.6 was 11 years old so it was time for a change.
What we wanted
- Petrol
- Auto – not an AMT
- Reasonable build quality
- Reasonably spacious
- Maneuverability in town
We eliminated the following
- Kia Sonet/Hyundai Venue – Nice on paper and in the showroom but found them bland
- Hyundai Creta – Poor safety record and the deconstructed looks
- Kia Seltos – Decent but a little bigger than required. Price and safety rating took it off the list.
- Hyundai Verna – strong contender but the design put me off
- Hyundai i20 N Line – Was concerned with its braking
We considered the following
- The Kushaq/ Taigun twins. They would have been ideal but the interior finish, rattles, weak air conditioning (very important for my wife) were the deal breakers. With a demanding job, the niggles were things I did not want to deal with. They also were expensive comparatively
- The Toyota Hyryder was nixed as it was not fun to drive and interior plastics were scrappy.
- The Jimny – Cute but the turning circle is not that great for town and my wife did not really like it.
Along came the Elevate. I liked the styling or rather the absence of a chrome fest. Took a couple of test drives which reinforced that this was the one! Acceleration in town is brisk up to 60km/h. Responsive steering and the decent interiors sold it for me. What sealed the deal was the left side lane change camera.
The City BHeV was under consideration but the price and dated interior put me off.
I ordered the car in October from Dakshin Honda and gave the details to my company’s leasing agent who went and sourced the car from Whitefield Honda. (that’s another story). The process was seamless and straightforward. It was much smoother than Hyundai (I was buying an Exter at the same time, they harassed you with phone calls for every small thing)
I tried to get the car before Xmas but an RTO snafu meant the car came on 26th Dec. The car is used by my wife. It was pressed into duty for the city use and the odd airport drop. My wife was a little scared of the size. Now she loves it.
What she likes
- Space
- Colour
- Visibility
- Smooth
- Easy to place with the cameras
What she does not like
- The size
- The ADAS system is a bit sudden
I tend to use Elevate in town as it is parked at home. The Audi is parked 15 min away at my mother’s house.
What I like
- Brisk acceleration at city speeds
- Accurate steering
- Chuckable
- Ergonomics
What I don’t like
- CVT moos like a cow- under hard acceleration or press on driving
- Bump absorption is poor due to short travel suspension
- Seats are a bit flat
- ADAS is aggressive as well as the radar cruise control. It is a 0 -1 game – full on or full off whether brakes or acceleration.
The Bangalore mods and I took it for a running-in party to a nice curvy road. It kept up on the heels of a BMW 328i which I thought was doing tail-out slides. However, using the paddle shifts for the correct torque band did not cut the mustard.
So I have become boring with 2 SUVs – the Honda and the Audi
The Audi is turning 10
- It has a better build quality
- You feel really safe and secure
- High-speed dynamics and grip
- Mid-range acceleration
- Comfortable seats and driving position
- Bump absorption
- Better music system
The Honda is much easier to drive in town and has more modern features like Apple Car Play but I am not exactly dying for this. The Audi’s usage has come down since I prefer to use diesel for longer runs where the engine properly warms up. It is the pick for long trips and airport runs. Unless something interesting comes along, it stays. My office is moving to Whitefield so might use it for commuting if I cannot get time for a 30 min walk to the Metro station.
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