Uptown funk
The Hyundai Casper is set to shake up the already funky micro-SUV segment!
THE CASPER IS FRONT-WHEELDRIVE, BUT IT GETS ROUGH ROAD DRIVING
MODES
THE SMALL CAR JUST WORKS IN India. So does the SUV. Now imagine a combination of the two… can you hear that cash register go ka-ching? With Tata Motors already having thrown the first ‘punch’ (see what I did there?), Hyundai has unveiled its own take on the micro-SUV, the Casper. Hyundai has a history of making breakthrough products in segments where it did not have the first-mover advantage. We take a closer look at the Casper to find out if it is worthy of a similar feat.
Look at a Casper for the first time and the thought that strikes you is how fresh it feels. Hyundai designs have always been those to garner more than a passing comment, polarising opinions even, but to me, the Casper looks youthful. It retains a hatchbacksized footprint, with the length being just over three and a half metres, but the proportions of the Casper feel spot on. You have a headlamp arrangement that is similar to the Venue, DRLs up top and the main beam sitting lower down in the bumper. Hyundai calls the air-dam a ‘futuristic parametric pattern’ and it does grab eyeballs with its silver finish, although images suggest that certain variants will get a stealthier gloss black instead. Move to the side and you spot flared wheel arches, which house the tastylooking 17-inch alloys with lesser variants getting 15s. There is abundant body cladding, in a bid to highlight the Casper’s ruggedness. The paint shades on offer give the Casper a trendy vibe (one is called Tomboy Khaki) but the coolest bits have to be those patterned combination lamps at the rear which look absolutely sublime!
Step inside and the interiors continue to sport a youthful theme. You get three colour options for the upholstery – including dualtone options where the base of the seats are coloured in a bright blue or khaki (!). There’s also a two-spoke steering wheel behind which lies a 4.2-inch screen for the digital instruments. You get an 8-inch touchscreen for infotainment and navigation, along with Hyundai CarPay (should not to be confused with Apple CarPlay) which allows you to use the car to make payments. The Casper also gets a unique seating layout, allowing you to move easily between the driver and front passenger seat.
For the Korean market, you get a choice of two engines powering the Casper – a 1-litre nat-asp and 1-litre turbo-petrol engine, both mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission. The naturally aspirated engine produces 75bhp of power and 96Nm of torque, while the turbo-petrol boosts those figures to 99bhp of power and 172Nm of torque. And even though the Casper is front-wheel-drive, it gets rough road driving modes.
Hyundai hasn’t confirmed whether the micro-SUV is India-bound yet. That said, the Hyundai Casper does have a childish charm that I really cannot put a finger on. And since Hyundais have always been sensible, I cannot help but like the Casper very, very much.