The Hyundai Exter squares-off in the compact-SUV segment. The Exter rivals the likes of the Tata Punch and the Citroen C3X crossover in the Indian market. Hyundai offers the Exter with a naturally-aspirated petrol engine, however, it also gets a CNG bi-fuel variant. The company also offers manual and AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) variants with the Exter.
The Exter is not only good in the urban environment but also on the highways. But how good is the Exter on your pocket, a much-asked question, “Kitna Deti Hai?” To answer this, we set out to on a mega mileage run from Thane, a Mumbai suburb to Mahabaleshwar, a forested hill station in the western ghats.
The ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) an internationally recognised certification, homologation and automotive R&D organization has certified the Exter with a mileage of 19.4 kilometres per litre for the Manual Transmission option and 19.2 kilometres per litre for the AMT.
We set out on a journey to check how much mileage the AMT variant Hyundai Exter would give in a real life driving situation. We were two adults with the air-conditioning turned On to a comfort setting. And we were surprised with a fuel efficiency the we got which was 19.6 kilometres to a litre. We commenced the mileage run from Thane by fueling up the tank to full (till the pump’s auto cut-off).
And we repeated the drill again upon returning from Mahabaleshwar which was a trip of 500 kilometres. Using the tank up method we could also cross check the mileage shown on the Exter’s trip computer (Mileage Indicator) and both were within a fraction of each other. Thanks to this we can also deduce that the car’s trip computer is quite accurate.
Mahabaleshwar is at an elevation of around 4,500 feet from sea level. The hill station has some of the steepest ghat roads in the state of Maharashtra. Both the elevation and the altitude are a recipe to increase fuel consumption of an engine. Driving the Exter on the nearly flat roads in an around Thane which close to sea level returned us a mileage of over 20 kmpl.
As we started our journey towards Mahabaleshwar, we encountered three ghat roads. The first one was the Lonavala Ghat which has an elevation of around 2.000 feet above sea level. Up next was the Satara Ghat which is also around 2,000 feet above sea level and infamous for its bumper to bumper traffic in the twisty. The third Mahabaleshwar Ghat stands at around 4,500 feet above sea level and is famous for its five holy rivers, Temples and the home for strawberry plantations.
We also encountered some traffic going out of Mumbai as there are plenty of area in and around Mumbai and Navi Mumbai with road works going on. This does of course cause traffic and that means a lot of idling and slow bumps to bumper driving. We encountered the same while crossing Pune and while approaching Mahabaleshwar. At out turn around we also drove the car to a few picturesque locations to shoot some B Rolls for our YouTube video linked below.
Powering the Hyundai Exter is a 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol engine producing 83 PS of power and 113.8 Nm of torque. The CNG Bi-Fuel variant produces 69 PS of power and 95.2 Nm of torque. The engine comes with a 5-speed manual transmission or a 5-speed AMT (Automated Manual Transmission).
Also Read: 2023 Hyundai Exter SUV Review