Hyundai Verna

While enthusiasts may not take well to the Verna’s floppy high speed ride and uninvolving driving experience, these are secondary considerations to typical buyers in this segment

Published on Jun 06, 2011 07:00:00 AM

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Depress the clutch, thumb the starter and you will realise just how refined Hyundai’s latest U2 diesel engine is. Idle is a mild hum and even when you get going, noise and vibrations are well contained.

This 1.6-litre common-rail diesel churns out a class-leading 126bhp and 26.5kgm of max torque but these figures are only impressive on paper. They somehow don’t translate into blistering performance on the road. Its 20-80kph timing of 13 seconds is actually half a second off the older Verna’s time. And this is despite the new car having an additional sixth ratio. The culprit here is the tall gearing which has blunted performance in the interests of fuel efficiency. In fact, you have to really break the highway speed limit to make the most of the sixth gear which, at 80kph, turns over a lazy 1500rpm, which is just above tickover!

Power delivery, however, is pretty linear and you can barely feel the turbo kicking in. There’s a gentle surge at around 1900rpm, followed by a strong thrust till the model’s 5100rpm rev limit. What’s good is the engine is fairly tractable for normal driving and you don’t have to constantly work the smooth-shifting gearbox.

Like the diesel, the all-new Gamma petrol engine scores high on refinement too with a near-silent idle. Peak power is 121bhp, making this the most powerful car in its class. But once again, the car just doesn’t feel as fast as it should forcing us to suspect the power of the Korean horses under the hood. The dash to 100kph is completed in a brisk 11.49sec and the engine has a fairly linear power delivery. The mid-range is strong but the top end beyond 4000rpm is stronger. So as the revs rise, the Verna pulls harder. Hence, to get the most out of this engine, you need to keep the motor spinning. This can be a task at times because with widely spaced ratios (between second and third), the engine doesn’t always fall back into the meat of the powerband, even at high rpm upshifts. The five-speed gearbox itself falls easily to hand and is always smooth in operation.

Tall gearing may have dulled the diesel Verna’s performance but it has also enhanced mileage. 13.8kpl in the city and 17.9kpl on the highway is impressive for such a powerful motor. The petrol Verna did well too, returning 9.8kpl within the city and 15.3kpl on the highway. Long distance range is a bit restricted as a result of the relatively small 43-litre fuel tank.