I got Alsvin Lumiere a few days ago, only driven it around 500 kms, and here are my impressions of the car:
Built Quality: Very good, much better than old city 1.5 auto. Car seems to be put together with thought, and everything is very solid. One thing that I don't like is the doors take a lot of force to close, which some people think equals quality('bhaari darwaaza hai') but I personally prefer the softer doors of city/civic.
Paint quality is very good, again better than Honda.
Features:I think this car offers a great amount of features in its price. Though I agree its overpriced(being Chinese and all), but still the features it offers like sunroof, cruise, steering controls, and parking sensors are quite nice.
Fuel Economy:Better than City 1.5 auto. 1.5 prosmatic used to give me 14-15 km/l in Islamabad city, Alsvin 1.5 is giving me 15-16 km/l. Both cars are usually only used for long trips exceeding 10 kms.
Suspension/ Ride quality: Much better than city. City's suspension is pretty harsh, and that's coming from someone in their twenties. This is much, much better; almost GLI levels of softness. I think its softer than Civic's suspension, but definitely not as smooth.
Space: The car feels noticeably cramped inside when coming from city. The leg room in both rows is lesser(or at least feels lesser) than old city. Even in the front row, you get the feeling that you are sitting way too close to the person riding shotgun.
Ground Clearance: Even though the car is quite low, but still it doesn't hit anywhere out of the ordinary. Obviously it doesn't have the ruggedness of a corolla, but anywhere I can go on a city and a civic, I can go on this car as well without much trouble.
Drive: This is one aspect in which I find the car to be slightly inferior to old city. City is not a great driving car by any stretch of the imagination, but as its the same segment car, so I'm comparing Alsvin with it. Here are some points:
- The seating position is quite high. Now this may be appreciated by people who have knee/back problems, but I prefer a lower seating position.
- The car's steering literally has no feel at all. You get no sensation of what the car's tires are doing, whether they are loading up or losing grip etc. Even though the steering response is pretty sharp, but because of the numb steering, you literally feel like playing a game rather than driving a car.
- The car's engine doesn't feel as peppy/rev-happy as the city's. This is not to say that the car is underpowered, but rather that its throttle response is a bit lethargic compared to city's. Maybe this will improve after the break-in period.
- I've learned from another friend that the DCT does not hold gears in manual mode, which is a shame. I haven't taken it to redline just yet, but my friend tells me that it will auto upshift, which I think ruins the whole point of having a DCT. Also, the upshifts/ downshifts aren't as quick as I was expecting from a DCT, even in manual mode. I can literally notice no difference between shifts in the two cars(city and Alsvin). At least for now, the car doesn't feel like it has a DCT. I've driven a Fit and a Vezel and those cars shift a lot faster when compared to the Alsvin's DCT. I hope this will improve as well.
- To me, the car's high speed stability is questionable. The car bobs a lot on undulating pavement, and gets unsettled after passing the slightest of road imperfections. Even though the old city's suspension is quite hard and will transmit every bump to your spine, it still performs much better at highway speeds. City feels much more planted when at speed. The Alsvin doesn't feel too bad, but the difference is certainly there if you drive both cars back to back.
I should say, that I have 195/60s installed on my city, and so it is not exactly a stock for stock comparison, but I was still expecting better driving dynamics from Alsvin.
Overall I think its a very good car, and one should certainly opt for it over old gen city.