Hyundai Alcazar Engine & Performance

The Hyundai Alcazar comes with two engine options. There is a 1.5 litre four cylinder turbo diesel putting out 115 horsepower and 250 Nm of torque, and a 2.0 four cylinder petrol good for 159 horses and 191 Nm of torque which was our test car for the drive. Both engines are offered with the choice of a 6 speed manual and automatic gearbox. The petrol engine has great refinement levels and is very smooth. Clearly the focus here is on relaxed driving.  Power delivery is very linear and driving with a light foot or medium throttle makes for the perfect driving experience. Try driving aggressively and the engine does tend to get noisy towards the redline. The gearbox isn’t quick but gearshifts are seamless and do the job well. At times there was a slight lag while executing a kick down but otherwise everything is smooth sailing here. There are three drive modes on offer: Eco, Comfort and Sport. These alter the engine and transmission responses and even change the display on the instrument cluster. If you do want to do a bit of spirited driving, the Sport mode surely adds some zing and if you want to shift manually, there are paddle shifters mounted on the steering wheel. Additionally, there are three traction modes as well: Snow Sand and Mud.

Another noteworthy feature is the blind spot monitor. Give the left indicator and the camera mounted under the left ORVM will show the display on the speedometer cluster, while the right will display feed on the tachometer dial. This is a very useful feature, though old school drivers like me who are only used to using mirrors will take a while to adjust to it.