Showroom Experience: Hyundai i10

I drive a Proton Waja Campro 1.6E manual. I rather like it. I like how it corners, I like it’s high speed composure, I like the precise gear change, and all those other little things Lotus has tuned into its handling. That stupid Campro torque dip aside, it’s a good drive. And since the built quality of the Waja has had visible improvement over the past 8 years, it’s not too bad living with one on a day-to-day basis – until you meet a really tight corner.

The Waja’s turning circle can be described as atrocious, and couple that with poor all-round visibility, it’s a pain to drive one in tight spaces. As such, whenever I have negotiate the backalleys of KL, or brave through the jams of Jalan Pudu, my mind goes back to my previous ride, which was a Proton Iswara 1.5 automatic. I’ll be frank here, when I first started driving the car, I hated it. In fact, I felt miserable driving it.

The big problem with this car, as we all know, is its antiquated 3-speed automatic transmission. The torque converter sapped so much power out of the 1.5-litre engine, it made the car feel heavy and immovable. Every overtaking maneuver had to be performed on second gear, or I would never have stood a chance. Same story with corners, in ‘D’, you simply won’t get enough traction to power out of the apex.

I was never in any danger of getting speeding tickets with this car, because I won’t be able to get close enough to the speed limit anyway, let alone breach it. Even in the off day that I do get the speedo close enough to the magical number of 110, because there is no overdrive ratio, the engine noise would be so loud, I would be forced to ease off before long.

The Iswara followed me to Penang for a working stint of three-months. There, in the congested streets of Georgetown and Bayan Lepas, driving was a living hell. The drivers seemed to have their testosterone levels set to maximum and motorcycles were all over the place. In these adverse conditions, the Iswara shined. There was no U-turn it couldn’t handle, no gap it couldn’t squeeze through, and no spot it couldn’t park.

That it was chronically underpowered was no longer of consequence, because, one, I’ve already learnt to live with it, and secondly, what good does 200bhp do when all you see is a never-ending crawl? In situations like these, all you’ll ever need are power steering, automatic transmission and an engine that’s good enough to move you to 50kph. The Iswara had all that, and more. It had a small turning circle and all-round visibility easily superior to my Lotus-tuned Waja Campro.

The Iswara was rubbish on the highways, but in congested town drive, it was brilliant. In that short spell in Penang, I actually grew to like that car, and I felt a tinge of sadness when it was sold. In many ways, the Hyundai i10 I test drove with my mates last Friday reminded me of that car.

Really? We’ll see…

Three of us walked into HYUMAL Trading Sdn Bhd’s showroom in Glenmarie, Subang. One of them helping to make a family decision in swapping their Perodua Kenari for a new car, and the i10 is in the shortlist. The display car wore in Inokom badge, and retails for RM48k. There is also the Inspired model that bumps the pricelist above RM50k, but you won’t need to consider that, as it’s all just cosmetic enhancements.

HYUMAL Trading Sdn Bhd, Glenmarie.

The base model already comes with all the necessary equipment – twin airbags and ABS the most notable. Only a 4-speed auto version is available, though the product catalogue listed specs for a 5-speed manual variant as well. Power comes from a 4-cylinder 1.1-litre engine, whose output is too small to be of any consequence. Interior materials and built quality are not impressive, but not at levels that you would feel short changed.

 
Dash materials a little cheap, but still well put together. Twin airbags standard.

1.1-litre four-pot produces double digit torque and horsepower figures.

On the road, it was bad. I have read about cars that ‘sing’, or for the modest ones, ‘progress’ their way to the redline, this one had to be dragged kicking and screaming its way there. Wherever ‘there’ is, because there’s no tachometer to tell. I did, however, appreciate the nice weighty feel of the steering, which at least allows you to take a decent corner. At the upper reaches of our national speed limit, this car is seriously out of depth and out of breath.

No tacho

However, when driven sedately, the i10 becomes quite alright. It fulfills the brief of a city car well – good visibility, ease of driving, and ease of parking. In fact, and this is a surprise, the i10’s steering actually lightened when parking, which means that this car comes with variable rack steering – which is unbelievable for a car at this price. Like my old Iswara, this is a car that would shine in the streets of Georgetown and KL, but is probably rubbish on PLUS Highway.

(+): Twin airbags, ABS, variable rack steering, EuroNCAP 4-star rating – who else offers that at this price?
(-): Engine very unrefined, build quality barely acceptable.

Verdict: Perfect for cities like KL, JB and Penang, just don’t travel between them.