Competition Check: New Chevrolet Sail vs the Rivals

Chevrolet Sail was supposed to bring more sales to the bow tie brand along with the Sail U-VA hatchback twin. As a replacement for the Aveo twins, the Sail and Sail U-VA didn’t actually set the sales charts as expected. To try and inject more interest in the cars, Chevrolet is launching the facelifts of the Sail sedan and Sail U-VA hatchbacks. The new Sail sedan gets features such as chrome highlighted fog lamps, black B-pillars, new dual cockpit design with black beige interiors, new leatherette upholstery for the seats, new icy blue backlight illumination, silver/chrome highlights in the cabin and a new 2-DIN music system that supports Bluetooth functionality.

The Sail will be available with the same engine options - a 1.3-litre SDE SMARTECH turbocharged diesel engine and a 1.2-litre SMARTECH petrol engine. The diesel engine produces 75 PS of maximum power at 4,000rpm and a peak torque of 190 Nm at 1,750rpm while the petrol engine puts out 83.6 PS of maximum power at 6,000rpm and a peak torque of 108.5 Nm at 5,000rpm. Fuel efficiency figures stand at 22.1 kmpl and 18.2kmpl for diesel and petrol engines respectively.

As the new Chevrolet Sail is ready to fight with renowned enthusiasm, we do a competition check on how its rivals are faring in the market.

Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire

The king of its segment, Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire, has been going strongly. Though being a compact sedan without much boot space to talk of, it doesn’t stop people from lapping it up. The Swift Dzire comes with the two engine options - one petrol and one diesel. The petrol Dzire is powered by a 1.2-litre engine pumping 87 PS at 6000 rpm of maximum power and 75 PS at 4000 rpm and maximum torque of 190 Nm at 2000 rpm. Both the engines are available with a 5-speed manual transmission while the petrol also gets the option of a 4-speed automatic transmission. The petrol Dzire returns a fuel economy of 19.1 kmpl for the manual version and 17.4 kmpl for the automatic version, while the diesel Dzire offers 23.4 kmpl. The Dzire still enjoys the top position without a worry.

Honda Amaze

Honda’s first diesel for India, Amaze, was a runaway hit on launch. The car has sold over a lakh units and that stands for the car’s success. Honda Amaze gets the option of a petrol and a diesel engine. The petrol Amaze is powered by a 1.2-litre engine with 88 PS of maximum power at 6000 rpm and 109 Nm of peak torque at 4500 rpm and is available with 5-speed manual and a 5-speed automatic transmission. The all important diesel Amaze is fitted with a 1.5-litre engine pumping out a class-leading 100 PS of maximum power at 3600 rpm with a maximum torque of 200 Nm at 1750 rpm and comes with only the 5-speed manual transmission. While the petrol Amaze gives a fuel efficiency of 18.0 kmpl and 15.5 kmpl for the manual and automatic versions respectively, the diesel Amaze returns a class leading 25.8 kmpl. The diesel Amaze also gets ABS with EBD standard across all the variants. Honda Amaze packs Honda’s brand credibility, great space and amazing performance to be a worthy contestant to top the chart.

Hyundai Xcent

Hyundai Accent has had a great run and is almost to the end of its road. Hyundai tasted grand success with the Grand i10 and a sub-4-meter car based on it was the obvious next step. Enter Xcent in place of the Accent. Hyundai Xcent comes with several segment first features such as rear AC vents, smart key with push button start, rear parking camera and sensors, 15-inch diamond cut alloy wheels, 1 GB internal memory, auto folding mirrors, electro-chromic mirror and one touch electric trunk opening. The Xcent will be available with two engine options - 1.1-litre 2nd generation U2 CRDi diesel and 1.2 litre Kappa Dual VTVT petrol. The petrol Xcent produces 83 PS at 6000 rpm of maximum power and 114 Nm at 4000 rpm of peak torque while the diesel Xcent delivers 72PS@4000rpm of maximum power and 180 Nm at 1750- 2500 rpm. The petrol engine is available with a 5-speed manual transmission (fuel efficiency 19.1 kmpl) and a 4-speed automatic transmission while the diesel comes with only the 5-speed manual. Hyundai Xcent, again like all other Hyundai cars, comes off as a better package loaded with features.

Toyota Etios

Etios is to Toyota what Sail is to Chevrolet. The Etios twins were Toyota’s first attempt to enter the mass segment and haven’t been as successful as they were expected to. The Toyota Etios also gets a petrol and a diesel engine lineup. The petrol is a 1.5-litre engine putting out 90 PS at 5600 rpm and 132 Nm of torque at 3000 rpm, while the diesel is a 1.4-litre engine making 68 PS at 3800 rpm and a peak torque of 170 Nm at 1800-2400 rpm. Both engines are fitted with a 5-speed manual transmission and the petrol engine gives a fuel efficiency of 16.78 kmpl and the diesel offers 23.59 kmpl. Great space and Toyota reliability make for good pointers but cheap interior build and finish are against it.

Mahindra Verito

Verito, the only sedan from the Mahindra lineup has been quite successful, at least in the commercial market. Again, there are both petrol and diesel versions available for the Verito. The petrol Verito uses a 1.4-litre engine to put out 76 PS at 5500 rpm and 110 Nm of torque at 3000 rpm, while returning a fuel economy of . And the diesel Verito, the favourite of the two, gets a 1.5-litre engine making 66 PS at 4000 rpm and 160 Nm of torque at 2000 rpm. Both are mated to a 5-speed manual transmission and the diesel Verito returns a fuel economy of 21.03 kmpl. Mahindra Verito has great space and ride quality, but here again lackluster styling has kept people away.

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