Hyundai Grand i10 Nios

Hyundai Grand i10 Nios

The Hyundai Grand i10 Nios has been a successful follow-up to Hyundai’s popular i10 hatchback. It offers a decent package in terms of its styling, features, and overall sportiness.

How is the Design?

The Hyundai Grand i10 Nios manifests the Sensuous Sportiness design template to perfection, offering a more dynamic and enticing front fascia, along with subtle body creases, design lines, and stylish lighting components as well. The car looks neat with its cascading grille and swept-back projector headlights along with the boomerang-shaped daytime running lights. There are inserts for the projector fog lamps as well, although automatic headlights are missing. The honeycomb design pattern for the rear and front lights and also the C-pillar element look sharp. The LED rear elements may be subjectively viewed since the design could be polarizing for some. The floating roof look is excellent although the glass area feels unnecessarily big at times. The Nios is longer and wider than its predecessor. It also has dual-tone and single-tone color options. There is no denying that Hyundai has delivered a truly attractive car in the category.

How does it perform?

The Hyundai Grand i10 Nios delivers a sorted and refined four cylinder 1.2 litre Kappa petrol engine that churns out handsome power and torque figures. Hyundai also claims to offer best-in-class ARAI fuel economy of 20.7 kmpl with this engine. Hyundai has brought back the engine with better drivability and smoother and linear power delivery. The car can drive around neatly in city traffic even in second or third gears. This engine is not a rev-happy one, although it can neatly stretch itself for each gear as well. The highway drive is good enough since the engine does not grunt or groan. The engine noise only crops up once you build up your revs at higher speeds. Otherwise, it is negligible. The gearbox has a light and progressive clutch although it feels vague to use at times, along with having longer throws than necessary. The AMT units are smoother and easy to use as well. Overtaking on the highway is also seamless since they can shed till two gears at heavier inputs on the throttle as well.

How’s the mileage?

The Hyundai Grand i10 offers 20.7 kmpl in terms of fuel economy.

How’s the driving experience?

The Hyundai Grand i10 Nios offers great driving manners both in the city and on the highways. It offers good drivability with a firm and neat steering wheel although there are some vibrations that enter the cabin while driving. There is good feedback for drivers especially with a progressive building up of speed while there is more confidence while cornering or changing highway lanes as well. The Grand i10 Nios has controlled overall body roll and the car feels stable and planted most of the time. It is not as agile or swift in terms of switching directions although the ride is more assured this time around. The ride quality is also much-improved while the suspension system can take bad roads and potholes with ease. There are lower NVH levels alongside. The brakes also inspire confidence and so do the pedals.

What’s the interior like?

The Hyundai Grand i10 Nios comes with a neatly finished interior with improved plastic quality and overall fit and finish. The door pads, dashboard and satin-finished inserts are top-notch although there are some hard and low-quality plastics still used. The honeycomb components also contribute towards a more invigorating cabin. The floating 8-inch infotainment setup is the key element and there is also the 5.3 inch semi-digital display system. The AC vents have a premium touch with adjustments and this feeling also stays with the climate control knobs and infotainment buttons. The infotainment system skips BlueLink connected car features. There are rear and front power outlets with three front USB ports and wireless charging for higher trims. Driver visibility could have been improved even though the steering and driver’s seat are both adjustable. The glass area offers good back and side views though. The footwell is a little cramped while the pedal placement may bother a few drivers. The seats have good cushioning and support in the front. The rear offers good space for two people and the rear AC vents are a good touch as well. Legroom is decent along with overall support.

Tech and infotainment

The 8-inch floating infotainment unit is the standout although it does not get connected car features under BlueLink. There is also a 5.3 inch semi-digital display unit with a rear-view monitor, app-based controls for audio, power outlets, USB ports, and wireless charging in the top-end variants.

Safety equipment

The Hyundai Grand i10 Nios comes with dual airbags, seatbelt reminders, ABS with EBD, speed alert systems, and ISOFIX seats, along with curtain and side airbags, and more.

Which variant to buy?

There are the petrol and diesel AMT combos which are only available for the Magna and Sportz and Sportz trims respectively. The Era variant is only in the petrol-manual guise with basic safety features and limited interior features. The Magna variant gets costlier as you move up although it adds things like keyless entry, central locking, follow-me-home headlamps, DRLs, the 2-DIN audio unit, rear AC vents, Bluetooth, USB, AM/FM, steering mounted controls, and more. This is a value pick to start with.

The Sportz variant steps up the game with more engine and transmission options. You can pay slightly more for the dual tone color theme. It also has more safety features, the big touch screen, more connectivity features, the Arkamys sound system, cooled glove box and automatic climate control. Some variants get wireless charging and projector headlamps alike. This could be a better option for those not willing to pay the full price for the top-end Asta variant which only has diesel-manual and petrol-manual versions. This has additions like a luggage lamp, rear headrests which are adjustable, push button start/stop, and a rear wiper. The Sportz trim offers the most value, especially in the petrol-AMT guise.

Which cars compete in the segment?

The Hyundai Grand i10 Nios takes on the Maruti Suzuki Swift, Maruti Suzuki Ignis, Ford Figo, and other hatchbacks in the category. The Figo has a bigger wheelbase and is also longer. The Ignis is the tallest of the lot, while the Swift is the widest in this category. The Grand i10 Nios is at par with the Ignis and Swift in terms of its engine output although the Ford Figo is more powerful. The car does not have a diesel option anymore. The price point makes the Grand i10 Nios a worthy rival to the Maruti Swift which still dominates the segment.

Verdict (Value for Money)

The Hyundai Grand i10 makes for a good option for city commute and occasional long drives alike. There are a few features and safety tweaks that are recommended although the overall package is compelling enough, with a stylish design and a sporty engine.