2020 Hyundai Verna: Things you may like and dislike

Despite the Corona prevailing lockdown and the resultant slowdown in sales, Hyundai has mustered the courage to launch its updated 2020 Hyundai Verna in the Indian market. While the timing of the launch is arguable, there is no doubt that the Verna has come well-prepared to take on the upcoming all-new Honda City - which should hit the market by May. So while we wait for the City to arrive, here are a few things we think you will like and dislike about the new Verna. Let us begin with the latter.

Dislikes:

- 1.0L turbo-petrol

The 1.0-litre turbo-petrol is a lovely engine and with an output of 120PS, it isn't underpowered either. But for the price at which the Verna sits, and continuing with its tradition of being the powerful one in the class, we hoped to see the Creta's 1.4 T-GDI engine in the Verna's BSVI avatar. More power is never enough, but the 140PS output would have been the perfect brag.

- Ventilated seats
We love ventilated seats, don't we? And we love Hyundai for including these on all their cars that sit upward of Rs 10 lakh. The Verna does that too, carrying over the feature from its outgoing counterpart. But how many people have been choosing the Verna despite its below-par rear seat comfort, we would have liked the Verna to include seat ventilators on the rear seats too!

- Colour choices
The Verna's sporty engines and edgy styling certainly deserve better colours than a scale of grey. Apart from black, white, grey and a (near-black) midnight blue, the only colourful option is a Fiery Red. We think the Verna deserved a better palette.

Likes

+Design
Which brings us to the design. The Verna was always the bold looker in the segment, and the 2020 model continues to deliver on that tradition. Though it is a facelift, it is inspired heavily from the Le Fit Rouge concept car that was showcased at the 2020 Auto Expo (the one that also previewed the upcoming 2021 Hyundai Elantra's design direction). Therefore, the Verna gets the bold new grille, which flows into the tapering headlights to create a unique front end. The chrome finish for the criss-cross detailing of the grille is complemented by the dual-tone alloy wheels and the subtle chrome garnish around the sides of the car. The treatment looks classy despite begin radical. We also like the detailing of the headlights, which looks far more elegant and less polarising as compared to what we have seen on the updated Elantra.

+BlueLink connected tech
The cabin of the 2020 Hyundai Verna now gets the BlueLink connected tech from Hyundai and unless the Honda City gets similar stuff, the Verna is likely to be the only car with this rich technology suite. Apart from some cool stuff like remotely starting the car and pre-cooling the cabin, the BlueLink also brings along an added layer of safety with its SOS capability and vehicle tracking functionality.

+New instrumentation
The Verna now boasts of a new digital instrument cluster with easy-to-read graphics and a 10.25cm full-colour multi-info display, which lift the premium feel of the cabin.

+Smart Boot
We love Hyundai's Smart Boot functionality because it simply needs you to walk close towards the trunk with the key in your pocket for it to unlock automatically. A much simpler and better tech than the one that needs you to dance behind the bootlid with the hope of impressing the boot lock. The Verna now gets this handy feature.

+All-black cabin
In our reviews on the Verna in the past, we had voiced our wish of having an all-black cabin and it has finally been answered in the 2020 Hyundai Verna. Choosing the 1.0 turbo variant gets you the all-black treatment and it looks rather nice with the revised design of the dashboard.

+New infotainment
Which brings us to the next thing we like about the 2020 Hyundai Verna - the new infotainment. It is now a stick-out type display panel that sits higher up and in line with the instrumentation. It is mated to the sweet Arkamys audio unit as before.