Hyundai Xcent 1.2L Kappa Petrol: Long Term Review, Fleet Introduction

Petrol cars are making a comeback. Sure the past few years have been tough on them but it’s soon becoming a more logical buy since the gap between diesel prices have narrowed down. And I live in the Capital now, one of two places, the other being Goa, where petrol is cheap (comparatively) and so who better to drive a petrol car than yours truly. 

I have been beating down that logic into my head ever since the Xcent petrol was to arrive. And now it’s here to join our long term fleet. Logically, I shouldn’t be driving a petrol car, I do over 500km a week and at least one trip out of town every month. I’d be averaging over 30,000km every year, besides the fuel I merrily burn for work, that is. So I’m still not convinced the Xcent petrol is the right car. Challenge accepted.

Now I am not sure if Vikrant had it planned, but he’s put me to work on some fuel efficiency guides in the past month you will be reading soon, probably hoping I’d put them to practice with Xcent. Subconsciously it’s working. It’s nearing the end of the month and so I’m driving with a light foot, checking tyre pressures, upshifting early, the likes. I’m yet to get a fuel economy figure out of the car but I’m sure it’s going to impress me. 

I don’t think it’s going to last long though. The thing is, the Xcent has a sweet little petrol engine that’s quite rev happy if you give it the gas. The 1.2-litre unit develops 83PS of power and 114Nm of torque. The same engine does duty in the i20, was under the hood of the i10 till it was discontinued recently and is also part of the Grand i10 line up. The positive part here is that the engine has finally got a car dynamically capable to let you enjoy it, the Grand i10 notwithstanding. And so periodically I am going to give it the beans, indulge in a bit of hooliganism and ruin its fuel economy figure.  

And it’s going to get some outstation trips before it departs because what’s the point in buying the sedan over the hatchback if not for that extra boot space. 

Initial impressions of driving in the capital are its ease of driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic, light steering and good ride quality. You get good visibility out of the driver’s seat and the cabin is well insulated on the inside.

We did a study recently on the best pertrol cars to buy between Rs 5-6 lakh and the Hyundai Xcent came up on top. The car in these pictures is the top of the line SX (O) variant that costs a shade over Rs 7 lakh on-road. For its price, does the Xcent offer enough bang for your buck? We shall find that out and more over the next few months. 

Date acquired: June 20 2014

Km when acquired: 3041km

Fuel consumed: NA

Overall fuel efficiency: NA

Cheers: City-centric, equipment

Sneers: None yet

Total Cost: Nil