Bonding with i: 9000 Km Drive Across The Country

I enlist in the Bangalore-Kochi section of Hyundai’s India drive, covering 9,000 kilometres over the length-and-breath of the country

I’ve always been very fond of the Hyundai i10, because it was launched with the sole purpose of giving companies like Maruti-Suzuki a run for their money. Customers were given an additional option, and many of them pounced on that opportunity. No wonder there are 1.2 million proud owners worldwide of this mighty little car. The Korean car company has every right to celebrate this milestone, and what better way than travelling 9,000 kilometres over a span of 25 days, through the towns and cities in India that have showered their affection on the i10 – making it a success. We joined Hyundai in their celebration as we travelled close to 700 kilometres with the new special edition iTech i10 through Bangalore, Coimbatore and Kochi over three days.

When you travel through southern India, you really understand the difference between hot and burning-hot (believe me – your sweat starts evaporating too). But, despite all the heat and torture, you just can’t shrug off a plate of rasam and rice when served – because that’s what travelling to this part of our country is all about. We started off from Bangalore to Coimbatore, and though we had an option to use the GPS system, we never really got down to doing so. Why? Because GPS is not how you discover India.

After fighting our way out of city traffic to hit the highway, my restrained foot broke through the barriers and placed itself on the accelerator in a manner I can only describe as ‘ruthless.’ In a straight line, the 68bhp 1.2-litre Kappa2 engine powers on surprisingly well as this little car confidently crosses the three-digit mark on the speedo.

The Kappa2 engine that the i10 gets is usually seen in a segment higher than this. And it’s phenomenal how much balance the i10 had as it zoomed past the truckers and even some spirited racers on the highway – who, eventually, could be spotted as a dot in my rear view mirror. But it is fairly light – literally speaking – and because of that you need to watch your speed as crosswinds on highways could just take you by surprise. The Bridgestone R13 tyres clamp onto the road, which gives you much needed grip. But on sharp turns they squeal and you realise that you could do with more rubber. Gearshifts are smooth, though there was a discreet ‘clunk’ I heard every time I shifted up from 2nd to 3rd gear. Nevertheless I soldiered on and the i10 iTech did not disappoint.

The final stretch was a breeze too, but it had its own share of concerns – narrow roads to begin with. With narrow roads came problems like bikers, cattle and buses, all of whom had trouble understanding which side of the road they belonged to. This is one reason why I loved the agility of the i10 – small inputs to the steering translate into immediate directional changes.

The i10 iTech gets some new gizmos inside like a rear-view parking camera and steering clamped (rather than mounted) Bluetooth, which is a first in class, though I must say that I faced some difficulty with the Bluetooth, as I couldn’t get it to connect. But it is interesting how Hyundai has gone about trying to add to the feature list of the i10, and though this one doesn’t come with airbags or ABS (which could have been included), it’s quite feature packed nonetheless.

I walked out of the drive looking at a car that I had connected with for the past three days and realised that I could do with some more bonding. Trust me, I’m not getting unnecessarily emotional about this, but given a chance I would have gone the whole 9,000 kilometres with it. And why not – it really is that good.