PEEKABOO!

It was all going swimmingly until an inescapable obstacle came in the way...

It really could do no wrong, our Grand i10. It was thoroughly dependable, supremely capable and desperately efficient. These qualities made it an ideal Motoring long-termer, what with all the shoots, the long commutes to and fro work, the many, many trips to Pune, and the like. But then, the day came when it got its sump ruptured thanks to a truck blocking my vision of a desperately large rock in the middle of the road. It was all I could do to avoid swerving into another car to shield the Grand from the damn rock, but, a few minutes later, there I stood on the side of the road, cursing my luck and having to call for a tow truck to send the Grand in for urgent repairs.

After what seemed like an inordinate amount of time, the Grand did return to us, apparently new and fresh from a service. I say apparently because within a few kilometres of driving it, it was stupidly obvious that there was something drastically wrong with the way the turbo spooled. And so, off it went once again to the service station. In the end, Hyundai thought it better to hand us another long-termer, an Xcent, instead of the Grand itself.

Sadly, then, our last month or so with the Grand wasn't spent driving the car so much as it was waiting for it to get back from the workshop. All in, though, the months that proceeded the last month were a joy with the Grand, as our past reports would convey. In that sense, it's a shame it couldn't spend more time with us, so its end came rather abruptly and unexpectedly. I can't stress how good a car it was, though, so maybe, with some luck, our paths will cross again.

Published by : Motoring World