Hyundai EON - Initial Ownership review

Hyundai EON is my first car and hence this is my initial ownership review. Please ignore the date on the photographs, my camera had reset the date and i did not realise it. I booked my EON on the 23rd of October 2011 and wanted the delivery on the 4th of November – my daughters first birthday. So indeed Modi Hyundai, Link Road Mumbai pleased me with the delivery time line. Mushroom colored Magna(O) is what I bought. I will be giving it for the first service in the coming week, the car has run only for about 500Kms so far, that’s less, mainly because I am a learner as yet and a majority of the driving in the 500Km has been done by one of my best friend. This review is based on the combined opinion between me and my friend. The car although launched in comparison and competition to Alto is quite different. It’s quite spacious inside. Yes, the rear leg room is a bit cramped when the front seat is pulled back beyond half way but then it depends on how tall the person in the rear seat is. For my family it is a perfect car. Also I need to mention that if the front seats are pulled back more than half way then ingress and egress to the rear seat takes a little effort and you do end up brushing with the B pillar. However the cars tall frame is advantageous as you don’t have to bend down to get in or force yourself stand up while getting out of the car. The rear seat accommodates 3 mid-sized frames. The comfort factor again depends on every individual. For my family of 4 people the car is luxurious in terms of seating comfort. The interiors are very good, particularly the dash board. I was bowled over the same when I first saw the car. The graphic indicators for temperature and fuel are really appealing. The provision for the storage space on the dashboard in front of the co-passenger is very useful. It indeed snug fits a 1 Ltr. Bottle and still has space to keep miscellaneous items. The front doors to accommodate 1 Ltr bottles, the angled space for the same are quite handy to use. The glove box is quite spacious, not cooled one but good enough to store things. The factory fitted music system looks funky and has got very good quality buttons fitted on it. I got JBL 5 1/4”speakers fitted on the rear side and with that the music system sounds very good and complete. The green backlit buttons along with the green console looks cool. The small micro antenna on the roof suits the frame of the car and serves its purpose very well. The boot space is a lot more practical. I could fit a 24” suitcase horizontally and then if the parcel tray is removed can stack 2 of 21” bags above it. That still leaves space for a 21” bag vertically alongside. I have tried this arrangement and was really happy to fit in so much into a “small car”. Talking about handling, the EPS is very responsive the top speed driven so far is 80KMPH on western express highway and at that speed the car felt strongly attached to the ground. The steering is light even at that speed. Hence I think that one has to be conscious of the control as speed increases. Coming to the engine noise, well if the windows are rolled up then there is a constant sweet hum of the engine that can be heard at startup, the same decreases as the engine is pulled up with correct gears. If, I compare it with Zen Estillo as I frequently travel in it with my office friend, the cabin is quieter in EON as compared to Estillo for sure. The car demands additional power while getting up the flyovers and a down gear shift is felt necessary. I think that’s because of the 800cc engine. No issues at all even with 5 passengers seated. The Air conditioning of the car is very good. At the first setting itself the car cools down in about 5 minutes. This was even before I got the sun-films done. While driving on the highway at mid noon the setting was changed to second position but I have never gone above that. The AC is very quite at the first position setting and gets noisier as you go above. However, I repeat that the first position itself is very adequate and hence the noise is most often not felt. The position of the air ducts in the center takes care of the cooling behind. I like the fact that the rear exhaust is hidden under the bumper, apt for a small car. It gives a good continuous finish to the bumper. This is something well thought of by the Hyundai designers. The only negative of the car is the shaking gear lever. As I have put it in another post of mine, the shaking reduces as you traverse through to the higher gears. Again if one is used to keeping the left hand on the gear lever (as my friend does) then it is annoying. In my case (since I am a learner) this does not really bother me so far and I believe it’s a matter of getting used to it. At INR 4.09L on road in Mumbai I think this car is really very good. I had almost made up my mind on the new Tata Vista GVX before EON got launched. But then considering that I have a small family and that there will be a substantial difference (I believe, too early to comment) between the mileage offered by Tata Vista and EON my decision went in favor of EON. I saved more than a Lakh that’s different J I had mileage consideration because I intend driving the car (once I am really confident) for about 40Kms daily in the Mumbai city traffic. So in the long run, EON should definitely be a lot more economical. I did not consider buying an Alto because I find the design too old, outdated and very common. Since I had a budget of about 5L, EON being talked about being 40 to 50 K more expensive than Alto, was not a deterrent to me. I believe the quality that I have got in EON is much better than Alto and hence deserves the additional price. All said and done I am really very satisfied with the car and am one happy owner of the same. It sure turned me “ON” Attached Thumbnails

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