Chevrolet Beat for me has been a winner with its out of the box designs and sports car look and feel. But I had chosen to steer clear of the Petrol/ CNG as I already have Santro Xing CNG Which is ultimate to Drive. But the diesel was a different ballgame with Brother of Fiat 1.3 MJD. I was looking at a diesel hatch for a really long time. Almost gave in to Ford Figo but felt I wanted something different and new. The Beat diesel came and gave it to me. I happened to start following up about the launch of the car. I went in to the showroom and Test Drive the Car atleast 4 times in Different Showrooms and also drove Ford Figo but the Less Ground Clearance was one of the very NEGATIVE Aspect of the Car, so I gave up.
I started the engine (1.0-litre TCDI) of Chevy Beat diesel and was waiting for the noise to sink in. There wasn’t any! Drove it further instantly felt the turbo and boy I got hooked. Showed the car to my wife and She liked it too. Not that they had any choice but for to like it.
Exterior Smooth curves, however, I didn’t quite like the satin roof rails and the Rear Spoiler. The back door handle is a plus. The car is tall from the front unmistakably Chevy. The tall grill screams Chevy with its big badge bulging from the center. The small boot door. The funny rear bumper bulges from the rear inviting others to kiss it? But one can’t design a car on your own yet! So I planned for Chevy Beat diesel base model and wanted to Modify it own my own. I bought it in the year 2011.
Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Low but adequate seats. The buckets were nicely shaped. The dash has good space, the interior is lit well with ample of pockets and spaces for the cans and bottles and the newspaper. Tall dashboard (a damper I feel). I find the dark grey interiors much better than the beige option provided by some other cars. In my personal opinion interiors are better than most of the other cars in its price range.
Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Zippy engine. Turbo kicks in around 2000rpm. Travel in the city is a breeze. On the expressway, sped to around 125kmph top speed and gave an FE of approx 22kmpl with 100% ac 90-10 highway-city usage. The EPS works amazingly well. Airconditioning is adequate & very effective.
In city driving I have never found the 3-cylinder diesel engine lacking. However on one instance in a unpaved inclined wet hilly road, I found it gasping for power – I think it’s being too demanding on this puny engine.
Ride Quality & Handling The Beat just grips the road and creases out the bumps easily. The suspension is soft but solid at the same time. A down side is that I feel that the steering does not center out after negotiating a curve or turn. I am going to check with other users on the same.
Final Words Good car to own and but. There may be users differing . But this one fits my bill perfectly and the Chevy promise says that i am to spend less than Rs 17,500/- in 3 years or 45,000 kms. What can I say? Happy with the buy !!!
Overall Build Quality: It’s quite a reliable car. Till date I have not faced any issue.
List of Mods –
- Bridgestone Tires 205/ 60/14
- 14 ” Durin Alloys
- GT Rear Spoiler
- Roof Top Lights
- Silver Painted Door Handles
- Silver Painted Side Mirrors
- Silver Painted Front Grill and Rear Panel
- Sky Blue Headlight Tint Film
- Philips Diamond Vision 5000 k Lamps
- Monster Energy Red Coloured Logo on the Bonnet
- Black Carbon Fibre Sticker on Fuel Tank Lid & on Door Panels
Refresher – Chevrolet Beat engine line-up includes 1.2-litre petrol engine, 1.2-litre petrol-CNG dual fuel variant and a 1.0-litre diesel engined model in India. However, the diesel engined model is very specific to the Indian car market, with GM’s engineers downsizing the 1.3-litre MultiJet turbo diesel engine that General Motors jointly developed with Italian automaker Fiat.
Also see – Chevrolet Beat with Lambo doors at Mangalore
See more pictures of Rahul’s modified Exquisite BEAT –
Special Thanks to Rahul Agnihotri, New Delhi for sharing his drive on BharathAutos.com.
