The Hyundai Getz: A Giant Among Small Cars

There is something about this little car that sets it apart, not just from others in its class, but more expensive and larger cars.

Since I retired I have gotten used to smaller cars, basically since my wife and I decided to manage with one car. Mine had to go because my wife would or could not drive a large car.

It took me a long time to get used to compacts and even longer to get accustomed to small cars! I really missed my Honda Accord, but quite recently the price of fuel has really made the choice of a small car an excellent one.

The Getz was my wife’s choice. She read the reports in the paper, liked the look of it and approved the range of colours. I went along to a Hyundai dealer at her insistence and took the Getz for test drive.

Wow, what a surprise! The little Getz is not so little inside!

The seats are comfortable and there is plenty of leg room.

What’s more this little gem is packed with lots of features; electric windows, central locking, air bags, MP3 player. I could go on, but I wanted to see how she handled on the road.

From the dealer’s showroom into traffic, stop and go, stop and go, it behaved as I expected. But out on the open road I got another surprise, the 1.6lt engine was quick and responsive and the braking and handling more than adequate.

Then I tried a couple of hills – this where all the small cars I have tried, fall down.

Not the Getz!

It was a warm day and I had the air conditioning on, so I thought perhaps it wasn’t a fair trial. The Getz went up the first hill without dropping speed – and that was in 5th gear with the air con on. I tried another hill – a bit steeper this time. We did slow a little, but I was able to pass a couple of other small cars with ease.

Now the Getz was starting to get my attention.

I spent an hour on the test drive and really gave the car a good work out. My wife had 15 minutes behind the wheel and loved every minute.

We returned to the dealership and bought a Getz that same day, in my wife’s choice of colour.

We have been driving this car – which is our pride and joy, around for over year now and still feel the same way about it. It is economical on fuel and an absolute pleasure to drive, more especially when we visit a service station and can fill up in a few minutes while gas guzzlers watch all their hard earned cash going into their tanks.

Thanks Hyundai for a great car. We love it!