My experiences as owner of a Hyundai Verna SX IVT, including an accident

My experiences as owner of a Hyundai Verna SX IVT, including an accident

BHPian Verna1507 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello, BHPians. This is my first post here and before I start, I have to thank you all for all the amazing knowledge, tips and insights you share here.

So, I have a black Verna SX NA DCT Earlier this month and I just thought I should share my experiences with the car with all the great guys here.

The selection process

I always wanted to have a sedan as I thought it suited my personality and body type. With a budget of around 15 lakh, I didn’t have too many options and the three sedans I tried out were the Honda City, Volkswagen Virtus and Hyundai Verna. I also test drove the Seltos and Nexon but I was intrigued by the sedan. The Honda City is a great car but nothing about this car really excited me so my final choice fell on the Volkswagen Virtus and Hyundai Verna. Of the two, the Verna offered more features and looked more elegant while the Virtus honestly felt better to drive with its very classy looks. The choice was difficult but since the Virtus was a bit above my budget (I didn’t want a very basic variant) I finally went for the Verna as my family also liked the exterior and interior of the Verna.

Inside Verna, SX or SX(O)? Manual or automatic? Turbo or non-turbo?

Automatic was a clear choice as the car was primarily intended for city driving. Non-turbo for the same reason – not many options to rev the turbo engine in Mumbai traffic and also the turbo engine has higher maintenance requirements. Ultimately it came down to SX vs SX(O) with ADAS being the main difference. Initially I was excited about ADAS but I have read in many places that ADAS is not really useful in India and is often too intrusive. The final nail in the coffin came during the test drive. At one point during the test drive, while I was reversing, another car was parked next to me (rear left). I was aware of the distance between us and that car and still my car came to a jerky stop while reversing. For a moment I thought I had collided with the other car but then the dealer representative riding with me told me it was the ADAS. My concerns about ADAS being too intrusive were confirmed and I opted for an SX.

With BH registration, the Abyss Black Verna IVT SX NA cost ₹14.6 lakh on-road. This includes a dealer discount of ₹80,000 (though the car will be manufactured in February 2024). I brought the car home on May 4.

A tragedy

On May 15th, a zealous taxi driver rear-ended my black beauty on a busy road, blowing out the left tail light and bumper. My heart broke instantly! The car barely had 200km on the clock. I hadn’t even received the RC yet and the car even smelled new! I would have beaten up the taxi driver, but somehow I managed to restrain myself and took him to the nearest police station instead. The car was later taken to Hyundai workshop and the repair took 7 days (complete replacement of the left tail light and bumper). Everything is covered by insurance. The process was pretty hassle-free (I appreciate that I have insurance with Hyundai), but I had to go without my new machine for 7 days!

Experiences to date

I love the inside and outside of my Verna every day. The black color is hard to maintain and that’s why I never wanted one. But her wife wanted black so I had to settle for that. In fact, I’m surprised that most BHPians here seem to have the black one. No doubt it’s beautiful but I can already see swirl marks on it. Have watched many videos and tried to train the local washing machine guy but for $700 a month he hardly cares.

Those sitting in the car appreciate the generous legroom.

As for fuel consumption, I get 6-7 km/l when commuting to office during rush hour and between 9am and 11am on weekends when traffic is relatively light. So the average for city driving is 7-8 km/l. I have found that engaging cruise control increases fuel consumption tremendously and so I do that when I am on a long flyover or similar open road. I have not done any motorway driving with it yet. Ground clearance is fine. I once drove over a nasty speed bump at a good speed (didn’t notice it from a distance) and still the underbody was not hit despite my 2 year old son being thrown into the air in the back seat

All in all, I’m very happy (and obsessed) with my Verna. I want to keep learning and sharing.

For more insights and information, see BHPians’ comments.