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Hyundai has upped the game of the Verna with the 4S, however, the fuel efficiency isn’t very encouraging
Hyundai’s Fluidic Verna was a revolutionary product for the Indian car market and since then there has been no looking back for the Korean manufacturer in India. The fluidic design has been carried forward on all its new models. Now, Hyundai has revived the Verna and renamed it as Verna 4S. We find out how good are the upgrades on this new sedan. Dig in as the mystery unfolds.
The Verna 4S gets a new wider front grille with a lot more chrome and this looks as if it has been derived from the Fluidic Sonata’s grille. The Verna looks a lot more mature now with the larger headlamps too. The Verna 4S is a lot more stylish than the outgoing version. The side profile remains unchanged, but the sexy-looking diamond alloy wheels are now not available.
The tail lamps also get a minor tweak, but the new rear reflectors add some more styling, as the previous car’s reflector looked rather boring. The Verna’s design has evolved and it looks a lot more grown-up. There is just one downside, no more LEDs in the headlamps, which was liked by many.
The interiors of the Verna haven’t changed much. The centre console screen’s text is now blue on black instead of the earlier black on blue. This certainly looks a lot more stylish. Then the controls on the in-dash music system have also been changed, with Media, FM/AM and phone settings. Now, one can skip tracks for Bluetooth audio through the centre console and even the steering controls. Before one had to do back into the iPod or the mobile phone to change the tracks.
A new addition is the co-driver’s seat back and forth from the rear, which makes it a great feature for the owners who are chauffeur driven. The front and the rear seats are comfortable and what is impressive is the recline for the rear seat, which makes it a relaxed trip. Then there is the centre armrest too, which enhances the comfort.
The Verna 4S is one of the most comfortable sedans in this segment when it comes to rear seats. The headrest is fixed, but this is just fine can’t complain much about it. Then there are the rear AC vents too for faster cooling of the cabin. Then there are automatic headlamps and rain sensing wipers too. The top-of-the-line variant also gets six airbags, which wasn’t the case with the 2014 models, this means increase in safety.
The driver’s seating position of the Verna 4S is decent and the steering’s height can be adjusted not its reach. The suspension has been tweaked for better driving dynamics compared to the MY 2014. The steering wheel now weighs up compared to the previous Verna where it was very light. The feedback from the steering wheel has improved, but it does take a while to get used to it. The car does handle decently and perfect for city and highway driving. It hasn’t been designed to be taken around a racing track and it does lack the alacrity of the European sedans.
The Verna is the only sedan in this segment to get four engine options, two being petrol and other being diesel. These are available in five-speed manual and the bigger petrol and diesel engines also have the option of four-speed automatic transmissions too. We drove the 1.6-litre diesel automatic.
Hyundai has tweaked the engine mapping to some extent to make the power more linear and driveable. But the power output and the numbers are the same. Driving it in city or even the highway is a breeze, and even the response from the engine is good enough. However, the fuel efficiency isn’t very encouraging. This returns about 12km/l in city driving if you are light on the throttle.
The Verna has been a great product and in fact this has the most premium looking interiors, however it is the price that is a bit on the higher side. One of the biggest USP of Hyundai was this never ending feature list, but now some of the competition has caught up and some have even moved ahead.
The higher duty due to the 1.6-litre diesel engine has attracted more duty for the Hyundai Verna, bumping up the final price. The Verna is the ideal premium sedan but it comes at a premium cost. Hyundai has upped the game of the Verna with the 4S.
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