I live in Bandra and, as any Bandra-wala will know, parking space in this Mumbai suburb is always at a premium. Luckily, my landlady allows me to park in the tiny space between her front door and the gate but this makes for one small problem – my allotted space will not take a big car. I’ve found that a small car – and anything up to a Yeti too – will fit easily if I manoeuvre carefully.

So, when the Eon turned up at the office parking lot the other day, it seemed to make perfect sense. It’s small, it’s stylish and it’s rather fuel efficient too — perfect for someone like me who needs something to battle his way out through Bandra’s horrible traffic on a daily basis. 

The Eon’s size also helps on my commute to work. You see, I have a problem waking up early and I always make it to Mahim (the worst bit of the commute) bang in the middle of rush hour. Heavy, slow-moving traffic, bikers, pedestrians — you name it, it’s all here. And this is where the Eon’s small dimensions really please me. However, I did wish on more than one occasion that the Eon had a bit more grunt. The 800cc motor doesn’t feel enthusiastic and tends to hesitate when I put my foot down at low speeds. This, as you can imagine, leaves me struggling to battle the cut and thrust of traffic. I have now worked my way around this though – I keep the engine on the boil whenever possible. The motor sounds coarse when it’s revving, but
I drown it out with music. The factory-fitted audio system has decent sound quality and there’s USB and Aux connectivity too, so I never run out of music even on days when I have to spend hours in the car just getting to work.

Which brings me to how impressed I am with the interiors. I still think the best bit about the Eon is its interiors — this is a Rs 4.62 lakh car! It’s one area where they’ve clearly stepped ahead of the competition. It’s a comfy interior too — the well bolstered front seats are very comfortable. The rear seats are decent too, though the high window line will make you feel a little claustrophobic and the fixed headrests won’t help matters either.

The only thing I’m not too keen on is taking the Eon for my weekend trips to Nashik, my hometown — I don’t think it’ll be an effortless highway car. One of these days though, I’m going to work up the will to take it. I’ll let you know how that goes.

RAHUL KAKKAR

Odometer: 2600km

Price:  Rs 4.62 lakh

Test Economy : 15.4kpl

Maintenenace costs: None

Faults: None