Chevrolet Beat Drives in a New Diesel Variant

That small cars and hatchbacks rule the Indian automobile market is no news but there are no diesel cars in this segment is a little surprising. Well, Chevrolet has broken this trend and introduced its new Chevrolet Beat TDCi in the Indian market. Is this car really is worth the attention? Let’s take a closer look.

The Smartech diesel engine jointly developed by GM and Fiat is the reason for this car’s popularity. To fit in to Indian conditions that engine has been toned down from 1248cc to 936cc by taking out one cylinder.

This job has been tedious on the GM engineers since removing a cylinder out of the equation means giving more vibrations in the car and as the car is small it has less body work so the effect would have been even more amplified but we drove the petrol version first then we tested the diesel one and we came back amazed. The thump and vibrations were really polished off cleverly by Chevrolet and world’s smallest diesel engine in a car really impresses on a drive. All in all, the engine has been carefully modified for this car. Getting this done caused a delay in getting this car to the market but the effort is good.

In slow traffic conditions the car just strolls across comfortably in higher gears as the rev counter needle touches 1000rpm. This happens until the needle hits the 1600 rpm mark where the slow progress of the car breaks out of the box and shows a glimpse of turbo power. Driving in the city is made pretty easy by the 15.29kgm of torque that is enriched by short gear ratios especially in the first and second gear as the powerband is stretched up to 3500rpm.

Beat’s engine reacts to peddle kicking in an assertive manner although it still lacks some raw energy. In the ride that we took we could stretch the car from 20-80 km/hr only in 14.1 secs. (it’s still better compared to 15.9 secs. by the petrol version) and from 40-100 in 16.48 secs. It is moderately impressive considering Beat’s kerb weight of 1027 kg.

The car makes a typical diesel engine noise as its limits are tested and while on the highway if you try to take it from 0-100 it will reach there in 18.5 secs. Also while going at higher speeds overtaking and steering control gets a little heavy on the driver and it’s not easily that the small engine reaches its 5000rpm limit, so its better to rev up early. The gear box is slightly botchy and gives a feeling that they could have put in a shorter throw in the gear.

The engine and the car as a whole are small and this has played a big part in delivering a record 19.1 kpl on the highway and a magical 16.1 kpl in the city. This is surely made for India and it will compensate for other corner cuts in the hatchback. The engine is not the only place that Beat has improved on but its performance on highways has also shown positive results thanks to the new gas charged shock absorbers that make it a comfortable ride.  The new tires are 165/65 R14 by Goodyear.

These new features are the reason behind a good ride in the Beat even on bumpy roads and over speed breakers. The small car gives a good ride. GM has also replaced its earlier hydraulic steering with new sophisticated electrically-powered steering that provides variable assist.

The interiors of the car have been given minimum attention and look like the petrol variant with the same quality of material on most parts. Space still is an issue as both the rear and the front feel cramped for leg space and carries a very small boot.

The higher variant has all general features like power windows, automatic A/C, airbags, ABS. even the music player looks the same but its performance has only increased with a full size USB port and a better console.

So apart from the tag at the back that mentions the fuel type of the car nothing else reveals it. The accessories include usual fog lamps and 10 spoke alloys with some style.

At about Rs.4.29 lakh to Rs.4.99 lakh this car is really attractive and surely will get the pay off it deserves. Whether it will dominate this new segment? Only time will tell.