Chevrolet Sail

While the interior cabin of the Chevrolet Sail is not as dull as the exterior design, and boasts of nice build quality and layout for its price, what actually lets down is the fact that it lacks a number of comfort and convenience features for a car of this price, thus generating an overall dated appeal.

The three-spoke multi-functional steering wheel with silver finish on the spokes looks nice and feels good to hold, and the instrument console too looks nice with blue highlights. The cascading theme of the dashboard’s centre console too looks premium with silver bits at places, however, the lack of a touchscreen infotainment system in this day and age is simply unacceptable.

Except for the presence of an electric sunroof, there are no major comfort and convenience features onboard the Sail, still, the sedan has some compulsory inclusions like automatic climate control, electrically adjustable outside rearview mirrors and steering mounted audio and bluetooth controls for the 2-DIN audio system.

With the segment-best wheelbase and width, the Chevrolet Sail offers ample amount of room for five passengers on board, making it one of the most spacious cars in its category.

The Chevrolet Sail, at the time of its arrival, was one of the most contemporary-looking sedans in the market. However, in current times, the model has lost the sheen and has begun to show its age.

However, there are a couple of design cues that make the Chevrolet Sail still an eye-pleasing vehicle. Take for instance, the two-part grille, which has chrome surrounds and the Chevrolet logo tucked in the middle. The sweptback headlamps are large in size, though the lack of any LED or projector elements make it look plain.

The side profile of the Chevrolet Sail is the best angle to look at, with the nice proportions and the sharp crease flowing through the doors making it look decent. The rear profile of the Chevrolet Sail too is okay, with the large tail lamps having small creases on their upper inner corners, which blend nicely into the license plate housing. The integrated boot spoiler too is a nice touch here.

The Chevrolet Sail is not a purist when it comes to driving manners, for the lightweight steering setup and the soft tune-up for the Macpherson struts and stabilizer bar at the front and non-independent torsion beam at the rear. However, the ride quality is on a decent side, which is plush for daily urban commutes.

For the Sail, Chevrolet has employed two powertrain combinations. The base variant of the sedan has a 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, which is coupled to a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard and produces 100 PS of power and 127 Nm of torque. The other variants are powered by a combination of a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and a four-speed automatic transmission, which delivers 108.8 PS of power and 141 Nm of torque.

Given that affordability is the key aspect of this car, the Chevrolet Sail misses out on many sophisticated safety features. However, it still has dual front airbags, ABS with EBD, reverse parking sensors and ISOFIX mounts for child seats.

The Chevrolet Sail is not a vehicle that will click your hearts with either its plain styling or decent driving dynamics. What it surely is one affordable package for a family of four or five with basic urban commutes that can be done comfortably and in a fuss-free manner.