Hyundai South Africa has booted up its range offerings with the introduction of two sedan variants in the revised Grand i10 ensemble that now consists of five options (excluding the Cargo).
The two sedans, in manual or automatic configuration, are powered by the same 1,2-litre petrol engine fitted to the hatch variants and come exclusively in Fluid specification with Stanley Anderson, Sales and Operations Director, saying although sedans take up only 4,8% of the small car segment at the moment, there is potential for growth.
The Hyundai Grand i10 sedan will compete against rivals including the Suzuki Dzire, Volkswagen Polo and Kia Pegas but Anderson says: “We believe we offer far better value-for-money and even where opposition models may be cheaper if you add in the specification that comes with Grand i10 as standard, we will beat most – and we have a better warranty package.”
For model year 2023, the Grand i10 gets a completely revised front end with the honeycomb grille styling prevalent in all other Hyundai models and, besides modernising the look it does give it a far great presence on the road, supported by new-look daytime running lights.
The hatch lineup offers two specification levels with the 1,0-litre Motion and 1,2-litre Fluid versions where a new addition is an automatic option in the Motion kit, this latter specification has the 14-inch steel wheels with wheels cover while the Fluid models get 15-inch alloy wheels.
On the interior, the Fluid models feature black cloth and vinyl seating with red stitching and both have an 8-inch touchscreen, while Motion options have a conventional 2.8-inch driver display. Fluid models also gain driver seat height adjustment and cruise control among other nice-to-have features.
Both have a long list of standard options as well as an extensive safety equipment list concentrating on the ‘must have’ rather than extravagant luxuries or over-the-top tech.
This applies across the board to both sedan and hatch. The hatch has a boot capacity of 360 litres while the sedan offers 402 litres of space, this is quite impressive for a vehicle under four metres in length and without infringing on the interior space, especially in the rear seats.
A fairly short launch drive in the 1,2-litre Fluid versions re-affirmed a statement made by its predecessor that as an all-round vehicle it is immensely capable, especially as an inner city runaround – perhaps in an upcoming version there may be a vase for a six-speed gearbox in the manual version versus the five-speed currently fitted.
Although it offers slightly less power (61 kW) and torque (114 Nm) than some of its immediate playpen fellows, this is barely noticeable within the city and rural environs where the i10 will spend most of its time.
Certainly, on the test drive, we had no problem zipping past slower moving traffic and rarely had to gear down in the manual to zip up to overtaking speed.
Grand i10 Sedan Pricing
• Grand i10 Sedan 1.2 Fluid MT R279 900
• Grand i10 Sedan 1.2 Fluid AT R309 900
Grand i10 Hatch Pricing
• Grand i10 1.0 Motion M/T R229 900
• Grand i10 1.2 Motion A/T R269 900
• Grand i10 1.0 Fluid M/T R264 900
• Grand i10 1.2 Fluid M/T R279 900
• Grand i10 1.2 Fluid A/T R309 900
Colin Windell – proudly CHANGECARS
