{"id":247396,"date":"2023-12-05T11:21:42","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T11:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/?p=247396"},"modified":"2023-12-05T11:21:42","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T11:21:42","slug":"hyundai-alcazar-ownership-experience-major-upgrade-from-our-honda-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/news-features\/hyundai-alcazar-ownership-experience-major-upgrade-from-our-honda-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Hyundai Alcazar ownership experience: Major upgrade from our Honda City"},"content":{"rendered":"
BHPian pms<\/strong> recently shared this with other enthusiasts.<\/p>\n I was using a Honda City V MT 2012 model and the itch to upgrade kicked in from last year. Honda ownership has been pretty stress-free, and the car served me well for 11 years. i-Vtec engine has been a gem and the vehicle has never let me down barring minor cosmetic niggles. I would have kept the City for some more time had there been one more driver in the family.<\/p>\n Plan was to buy an SUV, an automatic for the ease of driving, getting in & out for all, better ground clearance to tackle the broken roads and lastly a good interior with some of the latest features. We are a family of 4 who do quite some long drives, especially to Kerala and use boot space to the max. Honda City has kept us very happy in this department and this too became one of our selection criteria.<\/p>\n With this started our search for the one that fits our needs and wish list. It finally ended up in the Hyundai Alcazar. Went ahead with the Turbo Petrol variant as I found it fun to drive, powerful, refined, and feature-loaded with attractive interiors. On the downside I was prepared for bad mileage, but to my surprise it wasn\u2019t that bad, maybe I kept the expectation very low.<\/p>\n Took delivery on 13th July and so far, it has run ~4400 Kms with two 1200 Kms long drive & rest within the city, mostly in B2B traffic.<\/p>\n Key Handover<\/p>\n <\/p>\n First drive to CCD near Hoskote<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Front and side profile<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rear Profile<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Will try to pen down my initial ownership experience with the vehicle. Most of the Pros and Cons listed below are in comparison with the Honda City I had.<\/p>\n Pardon shortcomings and oversights.<\/p>\n We did TD of the below cars, before finalizing on Alcazar, these are just my personal observations, not to undermine any of them.<\/p>\n Finally, we decided to go with Alcazar as everyone liked it and it was a jack of all trades. I feel it’s an under-rated product that lost prominence in front of its more popular siblings Creta, Seltos, Carens, and the barrage of SUVs from Tata and Mahindra which are more popular & butch-looking. Also, Alcazar is an MUV with no 4-wheel drive option. Alcazar Turbo petrol might excite those who need that luxury & refined feeling, plush drive, occasional use of 7 seats or luggage space, exciting & powerful turbo engine with less worry on the mileage and lastly the Hyundai Service. For me, it’s a miniature Tucson minus ADAS at a much lower price.<\/p>\n It’s not a looker compared to others and doesn’t stand out with this new grille now! Some of my friends and family didn\u2019t even know that Hyundai has models named Alcazar & Tucson.<\/p>\n Both me and wife had decided (I influenced) on the new Tucson and had booked it as well (Signature 2WD Diesel Variant) in Nov-2022 though it was above our budget. After 5 months of waiting, we decided not to shell so much and decided on Alcazar as we felt it meets most of our needs at half the price. We felt the vehicle to be value for money. My wife was more than happy as she was not completely aligned with spending so much and rather invest rest of the money. A wise decision indeed and no wonder, they are called the \u2018Better Halves\u201d. In fact my family got more impressed with the interiors of Alcazar than Tucson. That aside Tucson Diesel is a very good vehicle in its category but I felt it’s overpriced for a Hyundai tag and for what it offers!<\/p>\n Same time I also came to know that they are stopping the 2.0ltr one and launching the new 1.5Ltr Turbo, this was a bit concerning for me as I wasn\u2019t sure how the vehicle would perform considering its weight plus the DCT gearbox. Also, I had taken TDs on the 2.0ltr ones and was happy with that. I still went ahead and changed my booking from Tucson to Alcazar Turbo in May.<\/p>\n Apart from the new engine & gearbox, the facelift came with some additional features like Idle Stop & Go (ISG), gear indication in the MID, seat belt indicator for all 5 passengers (on the roof), Alcazar logo projection, new front grille, Turbo badging (rear) & DCT badging (driver side), 3-point seat belt from the roof for the 2nd-row middle passenger.<\/p>\n There were no TD vehicles despite so many follow-ups with multiple dealerships and I was clear to my SA that I would cancel my booking if I was not happy with the turbo model. He was perfectly fine with it and reassured me that all Kia\/Hyundai Turbo ones are going be replaced with this new engine to comply with BS6 Phase 2 RDE (Real Driving Emissions) emission norms.<\/p>\n Finally, in the month of June, he got me the new Verna Turbo petrol for a TD. I was really impressed with the drive and performance, also got me thinking about whether to change the booking to Verna. Mind keep playing games. At this point, my wife put her foot down and said it\u2019s going to be Alcazar, or we keep the Honda City for another year or two. All settled!<\/p>\n Still my mind was wavering about how would this engine perform on a heavier vehicle. Strangely there were no credible reviews on YouTube or any other media to get clarity. And just a week before the delivery, SA got me the new Alcazar for TD and all my doubts were put to rest. The vehicle performed smoothly with 3 people on board, didn\u2019t experience any struggle.<\/p>\n I had opted for Trident Hyundai Indiranagar dealership as it was closer to my place. Overall, it was a good experience right from the booking to the delivery and I must mention Mr Santhosh M who was my Sales Rep. He worked with me patiently to answer all my queries, arrange multiple test drives, documentation and making sure the delivery was smooth.<\/p>\n Delivery was fixed on 13th July, evening.<\/p>\n Dealership gave me a chocolate box and an instant photograph of the ceremony which was nice. I distributed a sweet box to the dealership folks and gave a small gift to Santosh.<\/p>\n Soon after delivery, heavy rains started. My first drive home was through those rains in B2B traffic, and it was indeed a task. This was the first automatic I was driving, plus I was lost in all those controls, features, and alerts! It took me a while to control & operate the intermittent wiper speed, rear wiper, and experience the auto start stop function in the midst of the maddening traffic.<\/p>\n I took the car via ALD Corporate Lease which had a tie up with my company. On-road price was 24.56L. I got floor mats, perfume, mud guards, Ganesha idol as freebies.<\/p>\n There are lots of feel-good and useful safety features, will mention the ones that stood out for me and my family. In this regard, Alcazar was a major upgrade to us from our humble Honda City. In terms of features, it was a giant leap into the future.<\/p>\n Thankfully, all the features work as expected.<\/p>\n Primary usage is home to office and back. A total of 25Kms commute through heavy traffic. Once in a quarter to my native in Kerala (1500 Kms to & fro).<\/p>\n Really good and hope everything ages well! Yet to observe any uneven panel gaps. Fit & finish overall is top notch.<\/p>\n The wheels are of specs 215\/55 R18 and it came with JK UX Royale tyres. Have no complaints so far.<\/p>\n Due to the powered driving seat and tilt\/telescopic steering, one can easily nail down the best driving position. Once set, Alcazar gives a good all-round view from the driver\u2019s seat, front seats itself are very ergonomic and comfortable.<\/p>\n Very planted with excellent grip, I find it more stable than Honda City at all speeds.<\/p>\n Other than that, we are happy with the purchase and pray & hope for a good long term ownership experience. Will keep updating here as the journey goes on.<\/p>\n Have attached some snaps below, not all are of good quality, sorry for that.<\/p>\n 3D Camera – Front View<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Boot Space with 3rd row seats folded<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3D Cam – Night View, feed is good even in low light conditions<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3D Cam – Side Camera Angle<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3D Cam – Top View Angle<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blind Spot Activation<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blind Spot feed – this mobile snap doesn’t do justice, in real, it is very clear<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ‘Alcazar’ logo added in the facelift<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Comfort Mode in MID – white color is very appealing<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Eco Mode – Green color of dials<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sport Mode – Red color dials. Also displayed are the various terrain modes<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Interesting one, I like this cube type display<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ambient lighting, some 9 pre-defined shades are already there, in case you aren’t happy with that, pls choose something from the 64 palette range.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tray Table, not so useful, as it eats up some knee space plus is made of hard plastic. This seems to be an ergonomic flaw to me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ambient lighting inside the cabin<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Front view of the dash and controls<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Charging and Connectivity ports. Wireless charging pad as well<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Power window controls<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Compass displayed in the MID<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Trip details since refuel<\/p>\n <\/p>\n TPMS details, it shows the figures once you start driving only<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2 Keys – Leather cover is aftermarket. Buttons in the key are for remote lock, unlock, engine start and boot open respectively.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bluetooth audio connected.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n DCT badging on the driver side<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Side by Side with Creta, Alcazar facelift doesn’t look imposing<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Continue reading pms’ ownership experience for BHPian comments, insights and more information.<\/p>\n\n
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