Hyundai Xcent compact sedan launched; Prices start from 4.66 lakh rupees

Hyundai India has just launched the Xcent compact sedan here, just a month after its unveiled the car in the run up to the 2014 Indian Auto Expo. The latest entrant to the compact sedan brigade, the Xcent measures just under 4 meters in length, and this puts the car in a lower excise bracket.

The lower excise bracket has translated into price tags that are stunners to say the least. The Xcent starts at a price of 4.66 lakh rupees for the petrol version and at 5.56 lakh rupees for the diesel engined model, with both prices reflecting ex-showroom Delhi figures. These prices undercut those of the Dzire and the Amaze comprehensively.

Bookings officially start today with deliveries to begin by the month end. The Xcent is available in a total of 12 variants, three (Base, S, S Option, SX and SX Option) in petrol and diesel, and two in petrol automatic (S and SX). The SX variant rides on 15 inch alloy wheels while the Base and S variants make do with 14 inchers. All variants of the car are available in a choice of 6 colours.

Variant wise ex-showroom Delhi price details:

Petrol 

Base: INR 4.66 lakhs, S: INR 5.32 lakhs, S Option: INR 5.57 lakhs, SX: INR 6.22 lakhs and SX Option: INR 6.47 lakhs.

Diesel 

Base: INR 5.56 lakhs, S: INR 6.23 lakhs, S Option: INR 6.48 lakhs, SX: INR 7.13 lakhs and SX Option: INR 7.38 lakhs.

Petrol Automatic 

Base: S Option: INR 6.28 lakhs and SX Option: INR 7.19 lakhs.

The Xcent is based on the Hyundai Grand i10 platform, and shares its mechanicals, features and interiors with the hatchback. Improvements on the Xcent include the addition of the automatic climate control, rear parking camera and a rear seat with a greater recline angle for more comfort. The boot is a class leading 407 liter unit. The previous segment topper in the boot space stakes was the Honda Amaze with a 400 liter boot.

Like the Grand i10, the Xcent comes loaded with features such as the automatically folding wing mirrors, a cooled glove box, 1 GB capacity on the 2DIN stereo, keyless entry, push button start and rear AC vents. Top end variants get twin airbags as standard kit, while ABS is available as an option on the S and the SX variants.

Coming to the mechanicals, the petrol version of the Xcent is bog similar to the Grand i10, what with the 1.2 liter-4 cylinder Kappa motor outputting 82 Bhp of peak power and 112 Nm of peak torque. Transmission options on the petrol Xcent include a 5 speed manual and a 4 speed automatic.

Given the fact that the Xcent is positioned higher than the Grand i10, the 1.1 liter-3 cylinder diesel motor has been tweaked to output slightly higher power and torque. Hyundai claims that the higher power and torque figures come courtesy a remapped ECU and a water cooled exhaust gas re-circulation (EGR) system.

The motor now outputs 71 Bhp of peak power at 4,000 rpm and 181 Nm of peak torque between 1,750-3,000 rpm, up from 69 Bhp-160 Nm (4,000 rpm and 1,500-2,750 rpm) of the Grand i10. The 5 speed manual gearbox is retained.

Despite these slightly bumped up power and torque figures, the Xcent Diesel is the lowest power compact sedan in its class what with the Dzire and the Amaze delivering more punch. The Xcent Petrol manages an ARAI certified fuel efficiency figure of 19.1 Kmpl while the diesel powered version delivers 24.4 Kmpl. The petrol automatic variant manages 16.9 Kmpl.