Music to our ears

Last month, a couple of friends and I decided to drive down approximately 200km from Mumbai to attend a music festival that was to be held over a weekend in Pune. After all the planning, it was just the two of us in our Elite i20, who set off in a convoy of two cars, ready for two days of fun and relaxation. We set off rather early with the intention of beating traffic, which evidently didn't quite work out as we would’ve liked, with traffic holding us up. But, thanks to the Hyundai's agile nature and perky motor, we briskly made our way past most of it. All the while warming up to the tunes of our favourite rock bands, courtesy the i20’s easy-to-use entertainment system. The steering-mounted audio controls gave me a list of information and options to switch between, which I found to be a nice touch. The cabin, overall, is a really comfortable place to be. The seats are very accommodating over long distances, the air conditioning worked fabulously on that 27-degree Celsius 'winter' morning, the water bottle in the door pocket was easy to access at all times, and there was enough space to stash away loose change, receipts, sweets, and some other stuff on the go. Once we got to the venue, as we’d learned from last year's event, parking was always going to be a pain. But to our luck, we managed to find an empty spot relatively close to the rear gate. The spot was on a poorly-lit road and in between two black cars. Here's where the Elites super-light steering, reverse camera and parking sensors made life easier. There wasn’t any need to hop out of the car to check if there was enough space to park the car properly. I managed to park the car perfectly in one shot.

After enjoying some sweet tunes for the next two days, it was time to make our way back to Mumbai, and this time, the Hyundai had two people occupying the rear seats. Traffic was thick once again, but even with four adults in the car and our weekend luggage comfortably sitting in the spacious boot, the Hyundai was able to haul us to triple-digit speeds, pulling clear of slower-moving traffic in all gears. At one point, all passengers passed out only to wake up in Mumbai two hours later. We realized that we'd made it home in record time, in utmost comfort. We'd returned well within the range of a single tank of fuel, and after a calculation, we figured that our Elite returned an impressive 16kpl. Sweet!

Published by: Top Gear