Our first impressions of Chevrolet's all-new mid-size saloon.
Like the hatchback version, the Sail is available with a 1.2-litre petrol or a 1.3-litre diesel engine. We drove the 85bhp, 1.2 Smartech-equipped Sail first and liked the engine for its top-range pep. It’s a motor that’s quite comfortable at part throttle, but is unquestionably at its best in the 4000-6000rpm band. However, the engine is quite noisy and the sound gets quite intrusive above 3000rpm. What also takes away from the experience is the snappy, long-travel clutch. The five-speed gearbox on the petrol is also not that precise and is rubbery to use.
The Sail diesel proved to be more impressive. The engine is the same 1.3 Multijet used on a wide array of cars in India, and in the Sail comes with a fixed-geometry turbo to produce 77bhp. Chevrolet’s engineers have done a great job to smoothen this engine’s power delivery. There’s decent power off boost, and even when the turbo comes in at around 2000rpm, the power doesn’t come in sharply like in a Dzire. The build of power is gradual and helps make the Sail easy to drive in city conditions. The smooth-shifting gearbox and fairly well-weighted clutch only help matters. Mid-range performance is good too, though the Sail doesn’t seem to have quite as much top-end grunt as the Dzire.
We liked the Sail’s steering for the minimal effort it required at parking speeds, but were quite disappointed by how disconnected it felt when we ventured onto the highway. Surprisingly, straight-line stability is also not all that good, and calls for a firm hand on the wheel at all times. The petrol car’s steering does offer a little more by way of feedback, but even then it’s not really entertaining to drive. There’s plenty of roll around corners too. But if not for handling, you’ll definitely like the Sail for its ride quality. The suspension easily absorbs the worst of our potholes, while the 175/70 R14 tyres do a nice job of smoothening out smaller imperfections. It really is one of the best riding saloons around.
On the whole, the Sail come across as a pretty interesting product. It looks smart, has a spacious cabin and a useable boot, and really impressive ride quality. In diesel avatar, the Sail seems well suited to city use and promises to deliver on the fuel economy front too, with an ARAI-test figure of 22.1kpl. The petrol Sail is not bad on this front either, with a claimed fuel economy of 18.2kpl. Were the petrol motor more refined and the cabin better finished, the Sail would have been an excellent all rounder. The problem is the Sail is up against some very stiff competition from the Maruti Swift Dzire, Mahindra Verito, Toyota Etios and Tata Manza. However, Chevrolet has taken a bold step with the pricing and the Sail's base petrol variant comes at Rs 4.99 lakh while the top diesel version costs Rs 7.51 lakh. With this aggressive pricing, Chevrolet could just have itself its first big mid-size saloon success.