HomeCar ReviewsNew Hyundai Verna Review: Petrol and Diesel variants

New Hyundai Verna Review: Petrol and Diesel variants

Priced from Rs 7.74 lakhs for the petrol variant and Rs 8.94 lakhs for the diesel variant, new Hyundai Verna is more expensive than rivals, Honda City and Maruti Ciaz. We test drive the new C-segment sedan in Udaipur, and find out whether it is worth your money or not. Here is our 2015 Hyundai Verna Review.

Introduction: Hyundai Verna was the best selling sedan in the segment for a very long time. 2014 saw the launch of two new cars in the segment, Honda City and Maruti Ciaz. Within no time, Hyundai Verna became the 3rd best selling car in the segment with average monthly sales of 2,000 units, while rivals City and Ciaz registered 7,000 and 5,000 units on average. With the launch of new Verna facelift, Hyundai aims at getting back lost glory.

 New Hyundai Verna is being marketed as The World Sedan. You would have noticed the same in their TV and online ads by now. Called as 4S Fluidic Verna or Verna 4S Fluidic, Hyundai claims that this is the same car is on sale in 66 countries around the globe. 4S stands for – Style, Safety, Speed and Sophistication.

Exteriors: Hyundai Verna facelift features a completely redesigned front. The front grille is looks to be inspired from Hyundai Genesis logo and does remind of Toyota Corolla. Instead of the single chrome slat, the grille now features two chrome slats. Fog lamp casing too is revised, and so are the fog lights. Hyundai calls it as boomerang shaped fog lights. The lower bumper too is completely new, and so is the headlight structure with projector headlamps. Surprisingly, Hyundai Verna 4S does not feature LED DRLs. The bonnet too features new body lines which gives the car a sporty appeal.

There are next to none changes applied on the side profile. Moving on to the rear, there are some subtle changes, like the revised tail-light encasing, new reflectors and the exhaust which is now hidden behind the lower bumper. This has been done to give the car a clean look.

New diamond cut 16 inch alloys look impressive, and give the new Verna a sporty look.

Overall, the new Verna 4S does look more sleeker and sharper as compared to the outgoing variant, but somehow it fails to give an equally lasting impression as the old Fluidic Verna, when it was launched back in 2011.

Interiors and Comfort: The cabin of new Verna has always been a good place to be in. New Verna 4S continues with the same layout. The dual tone finish black and beige finish, along with impressive fit and finish, gives the cabin a premium touch. The touch and feel of steering wheel, buttons on the centre dash, etc is also very premium.

Instrument cluster with blue illumination looks sporty.

The centre console is the same as before, but the display now does not feature blue light as seen in old Verna. Top end variants get engine start/stop button.

Space is not a problem. New Verna offers ample legroom for front and rear passengers. Head room too is good, but rear passengers might brush their head with the sloping roofline if they are taller than 6 feet. If you are not planning to sit three in the rear seats, then you can use the centre arm rest. There are no rear ac vents.

Ergo lever on the front passenger seat allows the rear passengers to move the seat as per comfort. Driver gets arm rest, which also offers a decent storage space.

Storage places inside the cabin.

Boot space is at 465 litres, enough to fit two large suitcases and some other small bags as well. Under the boot floor, there is spare wheel and tool box.

The inside rearview mirror also acts as the display screen for rear parking camera. The smart key facilitates keyless entry and ignition, also remote opening of doors and boot.

Safety and Features: New Hyundai Verna comes with front airbags as standard, across all variants. Top end variant gets 6 airbags, which is a first in the segment. Other safety features includes front disc brakes (rear disc brakes are no longer on offer), impact sensing door unlock, walk me home lamps, anti pinch power windows for driver side door and rear park assist.

Features on board the new Verna include, two DIN audio with 1 GB memory (also seen on Grand i10, and Elite i20) and six speakers, new instrument cluster with blue illumination, auto air conditioner with cluster ionizer (claims to clean cabin air quality), electro-chomic inside rear view mirror for display of rear parking camera, rain sensing wipers, automatic headlamps, AUX and USB ports, tilt and telescopic adjustable steering wheel, tilt adjustable driver seat, and ergo leaver on front passenger seat for the comfort of rear passenger (could also start a fight if you have children on-board!)

Engine, Transmission and Mileage: New 4S Fluidic Verna continues with the same set of engine and transmission options. These are in the form of

1.4 MPi petrol 4 cyl engine generates 107 PS power at 6300 rpm and 135 Nm torque at 5000 rpm, mileage – 17.43 kmpl with 5 speed manual transmission

1.6 MPi petrol 4 cyl engine generates 123 PS power at 6300 rpm and 155 Nm torque at 4200 rpm, mileage 17.01 kmpl with 6 speed manual transmission and 15.74 kmpl with 4 speed automatic transmission

1.4 CRDi diesel 4 cyl engine generates 90 PS power at 4000 rpm and 220 Nm torque at 1750 – 2750 rpm, mileage 24.8 kmpl with 6 speed manual transmission

1.6 CRDi diesel 4 cyl engine generates 128 PS power at 4000 rpm and 260 Nm torque at 1900 – 2750 rpm, mileage 23.9 kmpl with six speed manual transmission and 19.08 kmpl with 4 speed automatic transmission.

 This is the only car in the segment which offers 4 engine options, two of them delivering best in class performance figures.

The above mileage figures are claimed. During our test drive in Udaipur, only the 1.6l variants were on offer. For the 1.6l diesel manual we registered mileage of 15 kmpl, for 1.6l diesel auto it was 10 kmpl; 1.6l petrol manual delivered 10 kmpl, and the 1.6l petrol auto delivered 7-8 kmpl.

Though there is no change in engine output, the claimed fuel efficiency has been been increased for diesel engines. Hyundai says this is because they have managed to reduce by a nano diamond coating of the pistons.

How is it do Drive: With so much power on offer, Verna could have been THE driver’s car, but due to reasons like unstable at high speed, soft suspensions, body roll, and low grip, the Verna was never known as a driver’s car. With new 4S Verna, Hyundai India hopes to change that.

The new Verna comes with tuned suspensions, in order to give better comfort and driving dynamics. There is a noticeable change in how the Verna 4S handles potholes and bumps. High speed stability is also improved. Overall, the car is much better to handle, but it is not as good as top two rivals in the segment. Though the car does not bottom out as before, it still has enough suspension travel which does make it feel unstable when taking corners at high speed, or braking while manoeuvring. ABS also kicks in early, which too does not help. Of the two, the petrol is more unstable than the diesel, probably its because of the heavier weight of diesel variant.

 Steering feedback has improved and weighs with increase in speed, but it is not consistent. Also, without any apparent reason, the steering gets unusually heavy to the extent that it might get painful on long drives.

But once you get inside the city, all these problems are as good as not there. Inside the city, new Verna 4S drives like a charm. The steering remained light, making the car easy to manoeuvre and handle. Bridgestone 195/55 tyres wrapped around 16 inch alloys easily gobbled all the potholes and bumps. Acceleration is impressive, probably best in segment. Braking too has a decent bite.

Verdict: Keeping all positives and reducing the short comings of Verna Fluidic, the 4S Verna is an improved package. Though not as improved as we would expect, but good enough to continue as a contender in a segment which they ruled once.

Price of Hyundai Verna 4S

Petrol

Hyundai Verna Petrol 1.4 – Rs 7.74 lakhs
Hyundai Verna Petrol 1.6 S – Rs 8.85 lakhs
Hyundai Verna Petrol 1.6 S(O) – Rs 9.38 lakhs
Hyundai Verna Petrol 1.6 S(O) AT – Rs 10.11 lakhs
Hyundai Verna Petrol 1.6 SX – Rs 10.15 lakhs

Diesel

Hyundai Verna Diesel 1.4 – Rs 8.94 lakhs
Hyundai Verna Diesel 1.6 S – Rs 10 lakhs
Hyundai Verna Diesel 1.6 S(O) – Rs 10.59 lakhs
Hyundai Verna Diesel 1.6 SX – Rs 11.46 lakhs
Hyundai Verna Diesel 1.6 SX AT – Rs 12.19 lakhs

Why would you buy Verna

Design
Interiors
Power
Safety
Quality
NVH

Why would you not buy Verna

Price
No Navigation, touchscreen
Unstable at high speeds

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