Nissan Sunny versus Hyundai Verna Fluidic

Nissan Sunny is a successful new entrant in the midsize sedan segment in India. It’s the 10^th generation Nissan Sunny launched in India and brings the latest style quotient competing successfully against other entrants in the sedan market. This new car adds to the confusion and a new buyer can find it difficult to pick the best car. We compare two of the hottest selling sedans in the market today; Nissan Sunny against the popular sedan Hyundai Verna Fluidic. Verna has been in India for a long time and has seen upgrades in the past. But now Hyundai has come out with a fantastic car and while we compare them, you can decide which one is better for you.

Looks and design:

Nissan Sunny is a very good looking new car in the sedan market. It brings contemporary looks and design in its latest 10^th generation iteration. Nissan Sunny has large headlamps and flared wheel arches combined with chromed large trademark grill upfront gives the car a muscular look and noticeable road presence. The car has a slightly bulky look but has been proportionately designed from front to back. It has superb paint quality and finish and build quality is top notch. Nissan is really stepping up the competition and making it difficult for other manufacturers by bring quality product into the market.

Hyundai Verna Fluidic has a contemporary ‘fluidic’ or flowing design theme which has given it a fantastic new design element. The car has quite a character owing to its flowing body lines and sharp looking headlamps. The design element continues from the front to the rear looking well proportionate all over. Verna has a huge bumper with sporty looking L-shaped fog lamps. The this hot new sedan is a premium mid-size car with top notch paint quality and finish and Hyundai hasn’t cut its budget and given this car fantastic build quality as well.

Looks overall – Nissan Sunny – 7.5/10
Looks overall – Hyundai Verna Fluidic – 8/10

Interiors – design, space and features:

Nissan Sunny has excellent interior features and the first thing that is hugely evident is the amount of interior space that is available in the car which can even fit in a 6 plus footer person easily. It will comfortably seat 5 persons in the car owing to its long wheelbase. Nissan Sunny is clad with beige colored upholstery all across its seats along with beige colored dashboard. The plastic qualities of the interiors are quite good and the dashboard fares a simple yet elegant and functional look and incorporates the instrument console and MID. Nissan Sunny incorporates true key-less entry amongst its big feature list and includes a 4 speaker CD player with Aux-in and steering mounted audio controls. Nissan Sunny has height adjustable driver seat and includes AC vents for the rear passengers as well. Nissan Sunny includes a cubby holes and various other storage compartments and a large 490 liter boot space.

Hyundai Verna Fluidic has well made interiors with dual tone dashboard with high quality plastic which has anti-slip feel to its surface. Verna has very comfortable seats with leather upholstery and they provide amazing comfort to the driver and passenger in terms of aiding the back and thighs while traveling in the car. It sports a functional instrument cluster on the dash which looks quite modern and has MID which shows external temperature, instant FE etc. It also features integrated stereo music system which produces a high quality sound. It also features automatic electronic climate control system with 12 adjustments, height adjustable driver seat, 60:40 split folding rear seats and more. It also has ample storage space inside with the glove box having a cooling function to it and comes with a boot space of 465 liters.

Interiors overall – Nissan Sunny – 8/10
Interiors overall – Hyundai Verna Fluidic – 7.5/10

Engine – performance, power, torque, fuel economy, smoothness:

Nissan Sunny is very good performer and Nissan has done well to use their 1.5 liter 4 cylinder engine which produces a healthy 98 BHP at 6000 RPM and 134 NM of torque at 4000 RPM. It is currently available only in petrol variant with a single engine and transmission option. The petrol engine delivers excellent fuel economy of 16.95 kmpl as certified by ARAI. Nissan Sunny is a fun car to drive in its segment as it develops more torque and makes for an excellent sedan in the city and on the highway thanks to its peppier engine. The car has lots of low end torque making it easy to drive in the city and on the highways.

Hyundai Verna is available in multiple engine options and today we look at the petrol variants on offer. Verna Fluidic comes with two petrol engine options. The 1.4 liter petrol engine variant developing 105 BHP at 6300 RPM and a max torque of 135 NM at 5000 RPM and is available in only 5 speed manual gearbox. The 1.6 liter petrol engine develops 121 BHP at 6300 RPM and a max torque of 155 NM at 4200 RPM and this variant is available in a 5 speed manual and 4 speed automatic gearbox with triptonic function. ARAI has certified the petrol Verna Fluidic to deliver a fuel efficiency of 17.43 kmpl for 1.4 L Verna Fluidic and 17.01 kmpl for 1.6 L Verna Fluidic. It offers excellent driving performance and the engine options is unmatched in its segment.

Engine overall – Nissan Sunny – 7/10
Engine overall – Hyundai Verna Fluidic – 8/10

Suspension – Ride, comfort and handling:

Nissan Sunny has very comfortable suspension that takes of driver and passenger comfort over all kinds of Indian road surfaces. Sunny sedan has struck that perfect combination between ride quality and handling owing to the finely tuned suspension. It has excellent drive quality and remains composed over potholes and at high speeds ensuring high level of rear passenger comfort. It absorbs all bumps and bad surfaces without causing the rear passengers to bounce all over inside the car. Nissan Sunny also manages to keep the cabin noise at minimal levels and comes with an excellent safety kit comprising of the ABS + EBD and Airbags to keep the passengers safe at all times.

Hyundai Verna Fluidic has a softly tuned suspension setup as seen with the previous generation Verna and it allows the car to ride over bumps and bad roads and maintain passenger comfort without bottoming out. Verna Fluidic has very good ride quality in city and improved passenger comfort. However this is again is well control and provides adequate stability to the car at high speeds on the highways although it does have minimal amount of body roll. Fluidic has a responsive steering unit provides excellent feedback to the driver while negotiating hard corners it is quite light to use within the city. Verna also features ABS and EBD which further enhance its braking and help stop the car quickly from speed.

Suspension overall – Nissan Sunny – 8/10
Suspension overall – Hyundai Verna Fluidic – 7.5/10

Value for money – sticker price, standard features:

Nissan Sunny comes loaded with kit and features that are unique to the car in its segment. It offers quality interiors and build quality and brings the top notch Nissan engineering to the masses. The petrol variant of Nissan Sunny is priced from (ex-showroom Delhi) 5.78 lakhs for the base variant Nissan Sunny XE, 6.88L for the middle variant Nissan Sunny XL and top petrol variant of Nissan is priced at 7.68 lakhs. Nissan brings the new Sunny at good value and anyone looking for a great new sedan with a elegant design and excellent features can surely consider it.

Hyundai Verna Fluidic is the latest and the coolest new offering from Hyundai and is featured packed. It offers excellent ergonomics and features with good fuel economy and almost nearly endless engine and gearbox options and a complete scorcher on the road with its performance. The price for the new Verna Fluidic ranges from 7.08 lakhs for the base model petrol 1.4 L Verna Fluidic VTVT going up to 9.77 lakhs for the petrol 1.6 L Verna Fluidic SX VTVT AT. The pricing is great and that makes the Verna Fluidic a total value for money car that you can buy.

Value for money overall – Nissan Sunny – 8/10
Value for money overall – Hyundai Verna Fluidic – 8/10

Verdict:

Nissan has taken the market by surprise with their hottest new entrant in the ever growing mid-size sedan segment. Sunny brings great features at good value and it’s a car that everyone will enjoy driving and being driven around. It also brings excellent safety features and is now directly competing against all major players in the market. Nissan has also tried to increase its dealer network and improve its service quality.

Hyundai on the other hand have been doing a good job all these years with their Verna. They have a wide dealer network present in the country and very good service back up in place. Their latest version of the Verna is not just a cool new car but also one which has been a tried and tested model in the country. The latest set of upgrades makes it a great value and potential buyers are already flocking at the dealerships to buy the car.