6 months ago
59
The Hyundai Exter has arrived in Mzansi to battle it out in the hotly contested A-segment: a veritable piranha club where machines such as the Renault Kiger, Suzuki Ignis, Nissan Magnite, Toyota Starlet Cross and Mahindra XUV 3XO are fighting hard for sales chart glory.
Slotting in beneath the Venue and sharing its underpinnings with the Grand i10 hatch, the Exter is relatively pleasing on the eye – albeit a bit generic – with styling that should appeal to a broad spectrum of tastes. Keen to drive home its SUV-ness, the South Korean carmaker has given it 185mm of ground clearance (nice for tackling the odd choppy dirt road) and lots of black plastic cladding to protect the wheel arches and rocker panels from the elements.
There are faux aluminium skid plates spliced into the bumpers and, like on so many other SUVs out there these days, squinty LED daytime running lights mounted above separate main headlamp clusters. Swing around to Exter’s rump and you will find LED taillamps beset with the firm's distinctive H-pattern. The latter are bridged by a textured gloss black finisher.
Six solid exterior paint colours are on offer (Tomboy Khaki and Cosmic Blue are definitely the pick of the bunch) as well as three two-tone hues that incorporate a contrasting black roof. To please as many wallets as possible, Hyundai is offering the Exter in three model grades starting with the entry-level Premium that makes do with 14-inch steel wheels disguised with plastic covers. Dig inside its cabin you will discover cloth seats, a polyurethane multifunction steering wheel, height adjustable driver's seat, manual air conditioning, rear air vents and front/rear electric windows. Adding a touch of class is a 4.2-inch digital instrument cluster and an eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system that syncs with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
You also score a tyre pressure monitor and some rear park distance sensors. During the recent media launch us automotive scribes spent time in the mid-tier Executive model – no doubt the sweet spot of the range – that razzles things up a bit with 15-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels, a leather steering wheel and rake-adjustable steering column, cruise control, reverse camera and ambient lighting. The flagship Elite unlocks further niceties such as automatic climate control, a sunroof and cloth/artificial leather upholstery. Global NCAP is yet to beat the stuffing out the Exter so we can’t tell you how many stars it does or doesn’t score in the event of a smash.
