Hyundai Alcazar 7-seater Car Mileage, Interior and Exterior
Hyundai Alcazar 7-seater Car Mileage, Interior and Exterior
First, I will state its pros and cons and finally tell how I feel about the car so far. I faced with their products and hope they can work on it to make Hyundai an even more amazing brand. I am a fan Hyundai Alcazar of their idea of segment features and ideas!
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I wanted to upgrade to a Hyundai Alcazar. In mid-2022, we started the search with the following preferences:
Experience the Open Sky
Enhance Your Drive with a Panoramic Sunroof
Automatic transmission. No AMT
Good luggage carrying capacity
Maximum budget would be 25 lakhs.
Feature-rich + Android Auto is a must.
XUV700 AX5 AT was in my budget. But it did not have a rear camera as well. Also, the ORVMs were not folding internally. The waiting period was too high. So skipped it as well. But I must say, I still admire this car.
I had initially deliberately avoided Hyundai Alcazar cars as I wanted to try a different brand this time. But, visited the Hyundai showroom after the options ran out. The plan was to look at both the Creta and the Alcazar.
Experience Unmatched Comfort and Versatility
Hyundai Alcazar
We took the Alcazar out for a 45-minute long spin. I could drive the car easily in city traffic and on highways. Everyone liked the car, especially the interiors and the paInitial impressions:
The car comes with a lot of features like ventilated seats, 360-degree camera, TPMS, cruise control, auto IRVM, auto fold mirrors, puddle lamps, cooled glove box, air purifier with perfume, customisable ambient light, idle-stop-go, built-in navigation, wireless charging, auto headlamps, side cam view on instrument cluster when turn indicators are mentioned.
The car is 4.5 metres long which is smaller than all sub-4 metre sedans available in the market today. This makes it easy to manoeuvre in the city.
On open roads, the fuel efficiency can easily reach 20 kmpl, provided you drive slowly. In heavy traffic, it can even drop to 6-7 kmpl. I travel 11 km to reach office. Normally, it takes an hour, and I get around 9.5 kmpl.
The engine/auto gearbox does not offer a very spirited driving experience, but it is definitely not underpowered. Overtaking is very easy. Ergonomics are just perfect.
Android Auto works well. Didn’t explore the inbuilt navigation much so can’t comment on that. Nice feature!
Very comfortable car to drive. Unique, like a special edition! Feature-wise, the Alcazar offered everything we wanted and more. It also has many features that the Creta didn’t have like: 360-degree camera
Exploring the Hyundai Alcazar:
Unpacking Mileage, Interior Comfort, and Striking Exterior Design
Optional third-row seat which comes in handy when travelling with extended family. Also, you can fold 2 rows to form a flatbed.
The second row seats recline just like the front row. There is a fully digital instrument cluster.
There are 18-inch wheels.mSide steps that can potentially save your car from scratches. I don’t think anyone would use it for the intended purpose.
Finally, we zeroed in on our next car. We decided to go for the top-end version for the following reasons:
The prices of the entry-level and top-end variants are not very different from each other. It offered front ventilated seats and front parking sensors as additional features. So, choosing the Signature variant was not a big deal.
Pros:
The well-arranged ergonomics provide enough space to keep my phone in the door side pockets, which are big enough for a 6.7 inch device.
The rear seats have these tables and cup holders which aid in using laptops on the go and the sunshade helps in maintaining privacy. There is also wireless charging at the rear and there is a lot of storage available under the armrest. Also, the small mesh on the back of the front seats makes it very easy to keep my Airpods and other small items.
The third row also has a dedicated blower speed button which helps a lot in keeping the last row of passengers comfortable. Kudos to Hyundai Alcazar for keeping this in mind, as other brands don’t even offer proper cooling in the second row.
The infotainment screen is HD and works great (mostly), sometimes it shows black screen and lags, but it happens only 2/10 times. I can get all the relevant information easily.
360 degree camera
7-seater Car Mileage, Interior and Exterior
The 360 degree camera does its job pretty well and helps in tight spaces, with the click of a button one can see what is around, and the cameras especially on both sides of the ORVM keep monitoring the wheels and make sure I can see everything around the tyres, making traffic driving and parking in tight parking spots easier.
Apple CarPlay is the best, it enhances the cockpit experience. It utilizes the entire 10.25-inch display and makes driving a breeze, the maps are nice and big, and the music info is laid out in a great layout, overall, simple and great.
The BOSE speaker system is powerful, clear and fun. The new pop audio is a lot of fun to listen to as the bass plays the beats well and makes the drive even better, it’s loud enough for my liking (goes up to 45VOL) and it sounds like 35 VOL at least not like it does in some cars where the top end of the volume doesn’t make a difference.
The driver infotainment is something my guests are fascinated by, and I can be proud of it too! It’s just so high-tech. I get driver info, highline TPMS, compass, fuel consumption and more in just a few clicks, plus the animations in the cluster are awesome. Switching to sports mode gives it a whole video game feel and the dials turn red and italic. This is one of the best things about the car.
Long Term
Perfectly suitable for both city and highway use. AT makes life a lot easier. Powerful enough, spacious and fuel efficient.
Ventilated seats Hyundai Alcazar – you might not like it initially, but on long term use, you will get used to it.
The 360-degree camera and front parking sensors are very helpful every time you park/pull out the car. Useful even in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
The dark colour is very difficult to maintain. Every minor scratch is visible. The car is fuel efficient. No DPF issues yet. The ride quality is good.
The music system is quite good. Frankly, I expected more from the Bose branding! Hyundai has provided only one switch to operate the sunroof. You might want to just open the roof liner to enjoy the rain, but you are more likely to open the glass area!
The Idle Stop-Go (ISG) feature does not work sometimes. Other than that, there have been no issues after 8 months of use. Everything works as expected. A highly reliable car.
The auto headlamp sensor is oversensitive. The air conditioner is quite powerful. The headlights deserve a special mention. You can still get by if it doesn’t rain. When it rains, it’s like driving without headlights.
When we were in Kerala, we have used the third row a lot. There were mostly kids in the third row. The car was driving normally. Only once we did a 1 hour long drive with 7 full-sized adults. The car was bouncing a lot on uneven roads.
Hyundai Alcazar 7-seater Car Mileage, Interior and Exterior
The auto hold is used quite often. The car is an auto, does not retract easily when it is on D mode. But because of the idle-stop-go feature, when the ignition is off and you take your foot off the brake, the car may retract for a moment before the engine starts. Auto Hold will prevent this.
Remote Engine Start – Helps you keep the car cool when you are on the move. You can use the BlueLink app or remote if you are nearby.
Electric Parking Brake – The indicator on the instrument cluster disappears as soon as you open the driver-side door. So, one cannot verify if the parking brake was engaged after getting out of the car. Many times I would lean inside the car and re-apply the parking brake. I wish the indicator would stay on for a few seconds.
Android Auto is integrated with an auto headlamp sensor. When you enter a tunnel, the headlights turn on automatically and the navigation goes into night mode. Nice feature!
The TPMS has to run the car for 3-4 minutes to show the tyre pressure. This defeats the purpose at least partially.
The cabin is well insulated from road noise. On sudden acceleration, a little noise of the diesel engine enters the cabin.
Exterior
The overall design is somewhere between good and great. The dark chrome grille at the front adds to its character, making the car look premium from the outside. The rear spoiler adds a sporty touch, though it should have been an independent spoiler and not connected via the C pillar as it is now, I think it would have looked even better.
The footsteps on both sides are helpful for seniors. All the indicators could be LED considering what the competitors are offering. Though at certain angles, the design looks MPV-like from the side, I don’t like it very much, a few things about the design and lights, unfortunately, have to go and read the cons section to find out.
Maximizing Efficiency with
Linear Pull Performance
The Smartstream G2.0 MPi CVVL (G4NM) Engine The imported engine is quick and pulls immediately when the RPMs are lowered. It is quite powerful in the rev range and has a better top end than the mid. As soon as it goes beyond 3000RPM, the motor starts working enthusiastically and keeps pulling the 1.4 tonne vehicle. It is noisy though.
City mode is quite suitable for the city. Eco is recommended mostly because FE is not good; more details on this in the cons, finally Sport mode is great, gives me full power and makes the steering wheel heavier too. It is fun to drive in the stretches and triple digits are quite easy, the 6 speed torque converter is smooth and doesn’t feel shifty most of the time except when in Sport.
Easy to drive in the city due to the light steering and peppy low end, not to forget the ever helpful 360 camera system. Overall the car is strong, delivers power as expected and also a boost of adrenaline at times. The car doesn’t seem to be of its size on the straights and in the city.
The Future of Connectivity with
Hyundai’s Bluelink Technology
The car comes equipped with Hyundai’s Bluelink-connected car technology; in a word; it’s convenient. Remote start/stop, remote lock/unlock, AC control, remote light on/off, car location tracking and the car’s complete health history along with the car’s tracked drive (speed, idle time etc) are all a boon, especially if you are giving the car to your driver.
There are instances when the keys are at home, and I need to put some stuff in the car, I just unlock it from the app, which saves time! Also, when I am out of station, I start the car remotely from anywhere in the world, so that the car remains usable. If only one thing could be better is if the network reception is stronger, sometimes the car doesn’t respond to Bluelink commands.
It also has all 4 discs which makes braking satisfying, it’s a confidence-inspiring set of brakes. Awesome work there.
Dynamics, didn’t expect much, none delivered:
SUVs are not the epitome of driving dynamics unless it’s a Porsche!
I didn’t expect much from this one, cornering the Alcazar at higher speeds feels a bit like the car just doesn’t want to turn. I think this could be due to the wheelbase and wheel placement. It’s also not overly enthusiastic around turns unlike one of its rivals. I wanted a little better dynamic response, but at the end of the day, it’s just not there, maybe in the future N-line Hyundai Alcazar (if it ever comes then maybe miles will sort it out.)
Cons:
Key Considerations to Keep in Mind
Ride quality, it’s both great and downright bad:
In the initial days after taking delivery of the Alcazar I was surprised by the ride quality, it was comfortable and smooth in the city and also went through uneven roads with ease (these are not broken roads or patches, just the road was rougher in some places than others). The pillion comfort was really good, no issues. The city ride is still the same to some extent, but not as comfortable as the initial days anymore; not sure if it is due to usage or what (ODO at around 26K km).
Now at least the city part is manageable, but things change on the highway. I have to travel around 125 km 3-4 days a week on concrete highways, and overall the ride quality was not satisfactory. There are minor and major bumps all the way on some flyovers on the highway and the Alcazar transmits every bump carefully to the passengers! I travel at around 80-100 kmph and the cabin shakes when I encounter such conditions, it increases according to the intensity of the bumps.
I understand, the suspension is soft and city oriented, but if I am buying an SUV it is obvious that I will be going cross country or at least on the highway sometime in my lifetime, in my case 3-4 days a week! And any vehicle in this price bracket is expected to behave a certain way regardless of the terrain, I am not expecting much but at least good highway characteristics are a must.
Fuel efficiency, gas guzzler!:
While driving in the city, FE is around 6-7 km/pl in moderate traffic with AC on. It is a 2000cc engine so it is expected to consume more fuel but this kind of consumption is not very good economically. Average is 12kmpl on highways, at its best in Eco mode I extracted 17.5 km/l for the trip and overall FE shifted to 13.9 km/l though it was very light-hearted driving at 80-90kmph. Not practical all the time though. It could have been more efficient, not sure about the new Hyundai Alcazar with 1.5 TGDI but I have read that FE is better. I can deal with it but having better won’t hurt anyone.
Wishlist for future versions of Hyundai Alcazar:
Better headlights
More spirited gearbox for diesel
More exterior colour options
Redesigned front end. The car looks awkward from certain angles.
So, if you are looking for a car with city-friendly dimensions, which can be used as a 7-seater occasionally, is fuel efficient and extremely reliable, then the Hyundai Alcazar is a good choice for you. But if you need a robust SUV with great power along with more space, then look elsewhere.
Especially if the car is fully loaded, the suspension sinks down in minor bumps. The vehicle bouncing at such a load is understandable, but not that much.
To mitigate these problems, I went to the internet and looked for a solution and eventually used ROGERABS which I got installed about 6 months ago. The ride quality got firmer and only helped absorb bumps better due to the added stiffness, I never felt any improvement in the general ride. Sometimes I felt the ride quality was better in the city before the buffers and the only benefit I got was the reduction in the jolts from bumps. I am still using them, but I don’t know what to do next, I am not even completely satisfied with it.
Lights, just insufficient
All the LED headlamps are not good enough for the roads at night, they leave a particularly dark spot ahead on the road, both the illumination and the throw could be improved a lot, though it is good for flickering. I have seen cars from other brands with LEDs with better throw than these units at half the price, this is a problem faced by many but there is no proper solution other than adding custom projectors to the fog lamps. However, there might be warranty issues, so I didn’t even think about it. Managing these units is not a viable option for me.
What I think about Hyundai Alcazar
First of all, the reason for buying the Hyundai Alcazar was its high-tech cockpit, great ergonomics, space and above-segment features and honestly, it has delivered everything that was needed. I appreciate its pickup, the features it offers and the comfort and space.
Now it leaves me wanting for better highway and driving dynamics but no car is perfect. The shortcomings I have mentioned, if addressed, can become my favourite car in this segment. Also, the design also grows on you over time. As seen in the international markets, Hyundai can offer a very well maintained product and hopefully this level of attention to detail in the new cars will boost the brand in terms of customer satisfaction and other factors. This is my opinion about Hyundai Alcazar.
