Hyundai Verna Test Drive

Hyundai’s Next Gen Verna loaded with premium features is certainly the most stylish hybrid sedan around. Recently, I got to experience this compact sedan first hand on the roads of Greater Noida. I’ll take you through various aspects in this Hyundai Verna Test Drive review.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL), invited Auto, Tech and Lifestyle bloggers including Noida Diary and top influencers from Delhi NCR on November 23. We were given a presentation on the product and its quality parameters, which finally culminated with exclusive drive experience #NextGenDrive of Hyundai Verna.

Hyundai Verna Test Drive
Mr. Rakesh Srivastava, Director, Sales and Marketing at Hyundai Motors India Limited sharing Hyundai’s vision at Hyundai India’s Blogger Meet at Radisson Blu, Greater Noida
Hyundai Verna Test Drive
Mr Amit Dhaundyal, Product Manager, Hyundai Motor India Limited giving a Product Brief at Hyundai Bloggers Meet at Radisson Blu, Greater Noida

Hyundai’s Next Gen Verna – Journey So Far

Mr Amit Dhaundiyal, Product Manager, Hyundai Motor India Limited  took us through product details explaining offerings of the 5th Gen Verna – Intelligent by Design. Further, he said, Verna is a global sedan sold in more than 66 countries and over 8.9 million customers globally. The latest edition of Verna comes with 22 new features out of which 11 first-in-segment features. It is built on K2 platform similar to Elantra which makes it super strong and stable.

Mr. Rakesh Srivastava, Director, Sales and Marketing at Hyundai Motors India Limited shared Verna is now a segment leader,

The Next Gen Verna has received strong customer response from the domestic markets with more than 22,000 cumulative bookings and more than 1,50,000 inquiries in just 2 months since its launch in India on August 22nd 2017. Hyundai has also recently bagged a record initial export order of 10,501 units for the Next Gen VERNA from the Middle East market. Hyundai Verna car is a complete ‘Made in India Car’ manufactured at its Chennai plant. This reinforces Hyundai’s commitment for ‘Make in India, for the world’ which  is totally in line with the Indian Government’s ‘Make in India’ Vision.

HMIL is the country’s second-largest passenger car manufacturer and the number one exporter since inception in May 1996. It has a  fully-integrated production plant near Chennai  forms a critical part of Hyundai’s global export hub. It caters to around 87 countries across Africa, Middle East, Latin America, Australia, and the Asia Pacific. This factory currently operating at 95-98 per cent capacity  has churned out 7.6 Million vehicles till date. Hyundai India has clocked  5 million in domestic sales achieving a major milestone. HMIL with a vision to be the most loved and trusted brand has initiated ‘Experience Hyundai campaign’ – a road show across 422 rural locations across India. The JD Power 2017 India customer service index (mass market) Study ranked Hyundai India No 1 in after-sales customer satisfaction.

Hyundai Verna Test Drive Review

At the outset, let me tell you I’m no automotive specialist. You’ll find here my observations, experience and the information I gathered on this sedan during the test drive and also during interactions with the Hyundai officials.

Hyundai Verna Test Drive Review

The Exteriors

Next Gen Verna is rather stylish having a fluidic/futuristic sleek design with a swooping roofline. The Hyundai’s signature cascade design front grille gives it a snout similar to the premium Elantra. The swept back headlamps look cool and have projector headlamps and LED DRLs (daytime running lights). Studies have shown that daytime running lights have been able to reduce accidents and collisions by up to 18%. There is little chrome detailing in the front and around the fog lamps which gives the car a rich shine. I find the rear has a certain sportiness to the design with wing shaped two piece LED tail lamps that adds to the premium look. The Verna looks classy and sporty!

The Cabin

The cabin of Hyundai Verna in two tone beige and black looks elegant. The dashboard is well laid out and is best in class with a touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in the center console. The cool leather wrapped multi-function  steering wheel comes with controls for audio, phone, cruise control and MID. There are lots of cubbyholes, bottle-holders and storage spaces including a cooled glove box inside the cabin. Verna scores high on practicality with some tweaks like a wider sliding front arm rest and cool new enhanced features to make your drive comfortable.

Hyundai Verna Test Drive

Feature-rich Sedan

This compact sedan is essentially packed with features such as Bluetooth/USB/AUX connectivity, automatic climate control, rear parking camera and keyless-go entry, push-button start/stop, 6 airbags, rain-sensing wipers, automatic headlamps, faux leather upholstery, electric sunroof, hands-free smart trunk, voice recognition, cruise control, 7.0-inch audio system with Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and satellite Navigation. The stereo is fantastic with great aural quality in the cabin. Hyundai Verna has in-built music storage of 1GB. Kewl!

Verna has certain features to provide comfort and convenience like cruise control, rear windscreen blind, rear AC vent along with a fold down hand rest for rear passengers and also ventilated front seats in SX(O) variant. The Eco coating prevents unpleasant smell to develop in A/C evaporator.

Hyundai Auto Link

Another new, segment-first feature called Hyundai Auto Link is the dynamic new way to stay connected with your car even from the comfort of your home. The car gets a Bluetooth dongle that syncs your smartphone with the car’s ECM and displays live telemetry such as engine rpm, vehicle speed and even engine load. It also tracks distance traveled, time taken for each driving session and overlays it on a map to show you the driving route. Interestingly, it also records the number of times the driver braked or accelerated suddenly. It simplifies all these driving parameters into an efficiency score represented by five bars. The higher the number of green bars certifies your efficient driving. Cool thing!

The Hyundai official told us there are 22 new features in the latest Verna of which 11 are first-in-segment features. It was fun discovering all the features that were explained to us during the product brief.

The Sun Roof – the Best part of Verna

The biggest attraction for me in the latest Verna was – the Sun Roof. It is the first time, the Verna is being offered with an electric sunroof in the  SX(O) and SX+ automatic diesel variants. On our test drive, it was a particular sunny day of November. It was fun to ride with sunroof open which flooded the cabin with light. The sunroof slides open and shut quite smoothly with the push of a button. The tarmac roads flanked by tall trees made for a memorable ride in Greater Noida.

Hyundai Verna Test Drive
Next Gen Verna has ventilated seats. There are tiny pores on the front seats and these perforations pumps out cool air. This is an excellent feature to tackle the Indian summers.
Front Seats

I found the front seats, upholstered in leatherette, wide and comfortable. There are tiny pores on the front seats. Next Gen Verna has ventilated seats and these perforations pumps out cool air. We were told, this feature is unique and no one offers it in the hybrid segment presently. I found it a very thoughtful addition to beat the summer heat especially if driving long distances, seeing that we typically have very hot summers in our country.

Rear seats

Rear seats are also reasonably comfortable in terms of support. Although, it is not very spacious in the rear but it can comfortably accommodate two adults and a kid if you do not put the arm rest down. There is rear A/C vent as well for better air cooling. The best part is the ergonomic design of Verna makes for some legroom space management for those longer drives you might want to take on a weekend getaway. Hyundai calls it an ‘ergolever’. This lever allows the rear passenger to move the front passenger seat forward, and also change the backrest angle to allow for more legroom. The lever falls easily to hand and is light and simple to operate.

The Boot

The boot is large with a capacity of 480 liters. It can hold quite a lot of luggage to see you through a weekend journey easily. The Verna has hands-free smart trunk feature that releases the boot if you stand near the boot for more than 3 seconds with the key fob in your pocket. It is really useful if you come back with your hands full of shopping bags and this smart feature helps you open the tail gate hassle free. However, the trunk doesn’t really open up totally but you have to open it manually after the lock releases.

Safety

Next Gen Verna has driver and co-driver airbags and ABS as a standard feature in all variants. Anti lock braking system (ABS) prevents vehicle from skidding while braking especially on a wet surface. Extending this thoughtfulness Hyundai has provided an ISOFIX child seat anchor to snugly fix your kids car seat.

The latest Verna built on K2 platform is strong and stable. The Verna is built strong with high grade steel which is lighter in weight used in strategic places to counter any unwarranted impact, God forbid, in case of an accident.

Hyundai is also offering a number of convenience features which augment the new Verna’s safety credentials, including rear parking sensors, reverse camera, automatic headlamps, ABS, EBD, camera, traction control, electronic stability control, vehicle stability management, six airbags and auto dimming mirror.

Hyundai Verna Test Drive

Hyundai Verna Test Drive Hyundai Verna Test Drive Hyundai Verna Test Drive

The Ride

Driving a Verna is smooth as ‘makkhan‘!

Verna has an excellent ride quality, even at varying speeds the ride was quite smooth. The clutch is light and gear shift smooth. Verna has the quietest cabin in segment. It is most certainly one of the most quiet diesel sedans in its class. Hyundai official told us at high speed air cutting is better and due to its design and specs road noise and wind noise is lowered. Hyundai officials also say that the suspension has been tuned for improved rear seat ride quality. The 6 speed automatic power transmission engine of Verna is very powerful and economical.

Closing Thoughts

I don’t get behind the wheel very often. I am actually somebody who is mostly on the rear bench of the car. I guess, it is pretty evident in my observations here as a back bencher 🙂

The Verna impresses me with its elegant, classy yet sporty design, some first-in-class premium features, a comfortable cabin and a great ride. The automatic variant is a good choice for city dwellers to cruise comfortably like a queen. 😀  It is a perfect city car ideal for a family of four. Yet I would have loved a little more space in the rear of this sedan.

The fellow bloggers concurred Verna has a set of more powerful engines which i humbly accepted being an uninitiated tech-mech gal. Most certainly, Verna delivers more value with the feel and features of a pricier car.

Have you taken the Hyundai Verna Test Drive?!

Do let us know your views on this car. Share your experience with us in the comments section. Alternatively, reach us out via email.

 

4 thoughts on “Hyundai Verna Test Drive

  1. Hyundai Verna has a classy, sophisticated and futuristic look. Glad to know that 5th Gen Verna has further enhanced the features. Thanks for the account of the test drive and detailed description Bushra. You look happy in the driver’s seat.

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