The
ratings are comparative eg. if a car gets one dot for Noise. It means it
is the noisiest of the lot and the one with five means that it is the most
silent car of this sample.
Cooling
Speed
Cabin
Temp
Grille
Temp
Circulation
Noise
Very
Good
Good
Average
Poor
Very
Poor
17.63
DAEWOO
MATIZ
1st
The
Daewoo Matiz has an excellent air conditioning package which gets
it to the first spot in the small car segment. Its air-con system
is the quietest of not just the small cars but of all the cars tested.
18.22
MARUTI
ZEN Vxi
2nd
This
is the surprise of the lot and all of you who are used to the old
carburetted Zens, the new injected Zen will stun you with the performance
of its air-con, as it stunned me. Another big plus is the circulation
which spreads the cooling evenly.
18.96
HYUNDAI
SANTRO LS
3rd
Despite
the grille temperature dropping to below that of the Zen Vxi, the
Santro lags behind because the temperature drop is not spread as evenly
and thus the average temperature in the car remains very slightly
higher and the Zen cools a little quicker too.
19.21
MARUTI
WAGON R Vxi
4th
That
the Wagon R has come out better than the Alto VX is a surprise because
they share the same engine and there is more space to cool. The air-con
system is quite noisy and this could be the reason of it having excellent
circulation.
19.24
TATA
INDICA 2000 Lei
5th
The
Indica took longer than the other cars to lower the temperature initially.
Though the grille temperature dropped pretty low, poor circulation
led to a not-so-low cabin temperature. What impressed was the low
noise levels of the air-con system.
20.85
MARUTI
ALTO VX
6th
The
Alto VX shares similar characteristics to the Wagon R. Initial temperature
drop is quite fast but the grille temperature remains comparatively
high. The system is noisy but very efficient leading to good circulation.
21.40
TATA
INDICA DLE V2
7th
The
Indica Diesel shares the low noise aspect of the air-con system with
its stablemate, the Indica 2000. But the cooling is not all that great
and even the difference between the grille temperature and the cabin
temperatures is quite high.
June 2001