Being economical in a time of extravagance

|
  • 0

Being economical in a time of extravagance

Friday, 18 June 2021 | Kushan Mitra

Being economical in a time of extravagance

Intelligent Variable Transmission (IVT) on the Verna and other Hyundai-Kia cars as well as on the Honda City and Nissan Magnite might prove to be a major ace up the sleeves of the automobile sector

The last few months have not been easy by any stretch of the imagination. And if you own a vehicle, the increased cost of fuel has only added to your headaches. Sure, those of us who have been driving around in the lockdown have found emptier roads than usual, but exactly a ton of places to visit. Then again, some of us have driven around more than most, take me for example, finding myself in a situation where I had to make a few long-distance journeys to Kanpur from Delhi.

At the start of the lockdown, I found myself with a Hyundai Verna IVT, the ‘Intelligent Variable Transmission’ variant which is what Hyundai-Kia call their Continuously Variable Transmission or CVT. Now, CVTs are not new in cars, and they have been around in two-wheelers for decades. They are perfect in lower power output scenarios, but nowadays, with better machining and easier manufacturing, manufacturers have been fitting CVTs in cars with higher power and torque outputs. Honda, which pioneered the use of CVTs on their two-wheelers (remember the old Kinetic Honda) brought CVTs onto the last generation of the City and the current generation car gets one as well. As costs for such gearboxes fitted in cars have come down, vehicles such as the Nissan Magnite are also getting CVT boxes. In fact, it may be only a matter of time before CVT gearboxes replace the slow Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) gearboxes.

However, truth be told, I’d never spent time with a CVT vehicle for an extended period or made regular highway runs in such vehicles. But these last three months with the Verna have been illuminating, to say the least. CVTs have their flaws, they are not designed for drivers who push the pedal to the metal. It is not easy to explain the way they work without diagrams, but you can think of two cones at the end of two shafts — one from the engine and the driveshaft that is connected by a band, in-car CVTs this is usually a metal chain and well, the cones move back and forth giving an infinite amount of ratios between the engine shaft and the drive shaft, thus the name CVT. Well, in practical applications, there are usually a few steps, in the case of the Verna IVT, eight steps which you can consider as ‘fixed’ ratios. This is best explained by a diagram, and you can watch an explainer I have out on YouTube under my Excuse The Beard series.

Hyundai-Kia have both been really aggressive in pushing their Dual-Clutch Transmissions (DCT) vehicles from the i20 to the Seltos. That is a totally different type of automatic technology where there are two clutches, one for odd gears and one for even (and the reverse) gears. Because of that gear shifts in DCT vehicles is lightning fast and they are far more oriented to the enthusiastic driver. In the i20 DCT I kept over two months earlier this year, it was a blast to drive. The IVT cars are not so much fun to drive, being far more sedate.

However, as petrol prices cross Rs 100 in some states and might even cross Rs 125 in a couple of months, the IVT comes into its own when it comes to fuel economy. The Verna I drove delivered over 18.5 kilometres per litre on the highway and even inside the city delivered over 15 kilometres per litre on longer drives. The Verna is not a small car, it is well-equipped and being summer, the air-con was on all the time as was the seat cooling. I did not deliberately drive economically, keeping the car at the speed limit of the expressways, albeit on cruise control and the IVT always kept the 1.5 litres naturally aspirated petrol engine is a very sweet spot. Delhi to Kanpur is near as makes no difference 500 kilometres, and there are some bad patches towards the end. But it was still superb. Put on a podcast, there are some excellent ones to listen to and drive this car, and you’ll be surprised. Not just at how nice it is, but also how little fuel it drinks to get the job done.

Dinosaur juice is getting expensive folks, and the IVT on the Verna and other Hyundai-Kia cars as well as on the Honda City and Nissan Magnite might have a major ace up their sleeve.

Sunday Edition

CAA PASSPORT TO FREEDOM

24 March 2024 | Kumar Chellappan | Agenda

CHENNAI EXPRESS IN GURUGRAM

24 March 2024 | Pawan Soni | Agenda

The Way of Bengal

24 March 2024 | Shobori Ganguli | Agenda

The Pizza Philosopher

24 March 2024 | Shobori Ganguli | Agenda

Astroturf | Lord Shiva calls for all-inclusiveness

24 March 2024 | Bharat Bhushan Padmadeo | Agenda

Interconnected narrative l Forest conservation l Agriculture l Food security

24 March 2024 | BKP Sinha/ Arvind K jha | Agenda