<![CDATA[Team-BHP - Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports]]>

<![CDATA[Team-BHP - Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports]]> http://www.team-bhp.com/forum First hand enthusiast reviews of test-driving and owning (initial stages) an Indian car en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:04:28 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/bhpsilver/misc/rss.jpg <![CDATA[Team-BHP - Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports]]> http://www.team-bhp.com/forum One more i20 added to t-bhp http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/69873-one-more-i20-added-t-bhp.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:12:30 GMT Things to know before reading this thread:
I am not an expert driver. My total driving experience before this car buy will be around 1000 kms. (driven cars like M800,swift,i10)
I am not an expert like sidindica in posting threads
This is my first car

Initial Survey:
I thought i should buy my first car by april in january. Started surveying about cars. First i joined Orkut community about cars.From that i came to know about Team-Bhp.After that there was no need to open google to find any info about cars.I spent 3 hours on an average per day to read all latest threads.While i was so busy in deciding which car to buy,a thread came
Navratna:The definitive comparision of B segment petrol hatchbacks (1.2, 1.3, 1.4) . what can i say about this thread.excellent reviews by sid.I bought a car magazine which had hatch comparision.This thread was way ahead than the magazine comparision. This thread made me to decide which car i should by - "i20" clap:

Requirements:
Petrol - Since my Annual running will be around 10 to 12 thousand Km's
Hatch Back - It's my first car,so i think hatch is good to start
Color: Red (dont ask me why )
Budget: Around 5 lackhs.Could stretch a little bit upto 5.5L.

Below is my experience on different cars which i considered satisfying above conditions

Swift: Actually i thought to own Swift ever since i drove my friends car in january.After initial surveys through net. I thought this is the car which fits perfect to me.So went to Varun motors,Kukatpally. Sales person said it would take 1 to two months. So i just took the contact details and came back.Then i read some threads saying that swift will soon get phased out.So i thought let me wait. after waiting for almost two three weeks again i went to varun motors ,this time he said the waiting peroid will be 3 months(my choice was only Sunlight Copper).Now i went to Mithra agencies himayath nagar.Sales person offered me that he can get it in one month.But my friend suggested to just stick with varun. So i went to varun motors ,KBR park.Got same answer,2 to 3 months.. (Meanwhile much waiting punto was launched.so i thought lemme see intial reports). I was in no hurry to buy the car.The only reaason why i didn't book swift was that it may phase out and will come with k-series engine.

Ritz:Everytime i went to see different maruti showrooms for swift one common thing is sales person offering me to buy Ritz.First of all I didn't like the speedometer and tachometer design more than the rear design.To me sppedometer appeared smaller than M800. So didn't took even test drive.To me design is more important than to drive

Punto: First of all i have no reason why i haven't taken this.There are some minor reasons.Personally i didn't like red punto .Why do these showrooms persons provide only diesel cars for test drives.There was no petrol car. I saw the diesel car. Plastics looked cheap to me.

i20 - Initially i thought this is way ahead of my budget.So didn't even considered it. But after reading some intial dribing reports,I just went lo Lakshmi hyundai,Kukatpalli to see the car.But there was no car for demo.Later went to Talwar,had car to see.After sitting inside,i just thought this is the car.Interiors were amazing.Even the basic model magna has more features than swift vxi(like integrated mp3).Enquired if there is a petrol car to test drive. Same answer as punto,had diesel car for test drive.Heard a lot that it is little bit under powered. But as this is my first car and i am not an expert driver.I thought i20 will be fine to me.

i10 - i thought it is little bit small and thought better go for i20 even though both had same

same engine.I thought spending 1L more is worth.So after reading lot of threads one fine day i thought i20 is the car i should go for.

Booking Experience:
Gave a call to sales person(Krishnam Raju) of Talwar Hyundai,Banjara hills.I was told that i will get car in a month.As I am in no hurry, i agreed and booked the car on 8th August. Paid 20k in advance.Even though i know that there will no offers on i20(after reading all i20 threads),i have just enquired sales person if they are providing any offers on i20. Got the same answer - No offers for i20. Just got basic things like floor mats,mud flaps, Teflon coating.
Just called to Krishna after 2 weeks to know about the status.car was not yet alloted.Again called after one week to know the status.Good news,Car got alloted and will be belivered on Saturday(5th eptember). Called my cousin to come on saturday. But my cousin informed that Saturday is not good to but (Some Pitr paksha starts from 5th September'09 and lasts for a fortnight till 18th September'09). Called Krishnam raju again if it is possible to take before
4th.The answer is yes.He said he will arrange by 2nd september.

After booking ,i thought i would apply for car loan on my own.
Loan amount 2 lakhs.Applied for hdfc and sbi.As expected i got approved for hdfc within 2 days,but i didn't get any call from sbi even after 2 weeks.I got a call from sbi on 2nd september ,the day i was taking my car ROI - 11%. Time Period 3 years.there was only 100 rs difference between sbi and hdfc.So i just went for hdfc. I got insurance quoted 12k, 2000 rs less than showroom quote.So went for HDFC insurance.Later i heard that hdfc is not good for motor insurance.May be i will change it next year.

there was one more struggle running along with this car selection. My membership approval. I have tried 4 times :Frustrati. At last it got approved.
Thanks to all i20 owners for their valuable inputs.
Till now i have not done any modifications.Present odo reading 1800Kms. Will post my driving experience soon.

Few pics of my car.

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]]> Reddy@Hyd http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/69873-one-more-i20-added-t-bhp.html Cedia Sports it is http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/69781-cedia-sports.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:05:25 GMT Hi all, I had been browsing the forum for more than a year, when I was first looking to replace my 2005 Indigo Marino diesel, and was looking for a larger, comfortable sedan which I will be driving 20-30 kms/day in city with 4-5 highway trips a year. My budget was 10l. After a series of test drives from Aug-Sep 08: Fiesta (petrol) – very good to drive, but rear seating space was similar to the Marina, Octavia (diesel) – again, very good to drive, but well above my budget, and the horror stories of service/maintenance drew me away Cedia – When I first drove the 2008 smiley face model, I was sure that was what I wanted! But work and time away from Chennai meant that I had to put off the decision to 2009. Then the Linea happened! Can be Pete’d, superb looks, and driving, but low GC, and a large no. of niggles were reported in the forum. Did not want the E Pack, did not like all the chrome bits, the narrow foot-well (the marina has a curved cut-away on the accelerator side which helped!) was very uncomfortable., and the interior rear seat space was not much more than the Marina. Finally took the plunge, and booked the Cedia Sports white w/o stickers in early Oct at Maya Motors. Expected delivery before Diwali, but that did not happen. Got delivery on 24th Oct, and the car came with the small stickers near the ovrms.And HM/Mitsu did not give the remaining stickers separately; seems it is the new policy! On the same day, had Maya Motors put on Huper Optik films on the front, side and rears, and changed the tires to Yoko AA01. Its been almost a month of driving pleasure,, but with all the rains in Chennai, I have not had a chance to hit the highway. The vehicle is going in for its first service tomorrow. A few minor things to fix/check – a) the Kenwood unit is not fitted flush, there is a gap on the RHS, and slow response to the touch on the screen, b) there seems to be a gap between the interior lining on the front LHS door and the lining at the bottom curved portion. In sunlight, I can see the white door panel thru the gap. Can be seen very clearly in kcnetid’s photos too! c) occasionally the first gear does not engage cleanly (that could be me – trying to find a comfortable seating distance, and the super smooth clutch!) Last week, I got the Team-BHP stickers; a few of them will go on the Cedia after the service. Cheers for now… PbR2 Hi all,

I had been browsing the forum for more than a year, when I was first looking to replace my 2005 Indigo Marino diesel, and was looking for a larger, comfortable sedan which I will be driving 20-30 kms/day in city with 4-5 highway trips a year. My budget was 10l.
After a series of test drives from Aug-Sep 08:
Fiesta (petrol) – very good to drive, but rear seating space was similar to the Marina,
Octavia (diesel) – again, very good to drive, but well above my budget, and the horror stories of service/maintenance drew me away
Cedia – When I first drove the 2008 smiley face model, I was sure that was what I wanted! But work and time away from Chennai meant that I had to put off the decision to 2009.
Then the Linea happened! Can be Pete’d, superb looks, and driving, but low GC, and a large no. of niggles were reported in the forum. Did not want the E Pack, did not like all the chrome bits, the narrow foot-well (the marina has a curved cut-away on the accelerator side which helped!) was very uncomfortable., and the interior rear seat space was not much more than the Marina.

Finally took the plunge, and booked the Cedia Sports white w/o stickers in early Oct at Maya Motors. Expected delivery before Diwali, but that did not happen.
Got delivery on 24th Oct, and the car came with the small stickers near the ovrms.And HM/Mitsu did not give the remaining stickers separately; seems it is the new policy!

On the same day, had Maya Motors put on Huper Optik films on the front, side and rears, and changed the tires to Yoko AA01.

Its been almost a month of driving pleasure,, but with all the rains in Chennai, I have not had a chance to hit the highway.

The vehicle is going in for its first service tomorrow.

A few minor things to fix/check – a) the Kenwood unit is not fitted flush, there is a gap on the RHS, and slow response to the touch on the screen, b) there seems to be a gap between the interior lining on the front LHS door and the lining at the bottom curved portion. In sunlight, I can see the white door panel thru the gap. Can be seen very clearly in kcnetid’s photos too! c) occasionally the first gear does not engage cleanly (that could be me – trying to find a comfortable seating distance, and the super smooth clutch!)

Last week, I got the Team-BHP stickers; a few of them will go on the Cedia after the service.

Cheers for now…
PbR2 ]]> PbR2 http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/69781-cedia-sports.html My New Getz Prime 1.1 GLE http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/69729-my-new-getz-prime-1-1-gle.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:17:38 GMT *Test Drive Report:* This was test driven by my brother. We kept reading that Getz 1.1 is very underpowered and not really worth it. Well, this was on our minds as we got into the car. First impression was very good. The Car is very silent and you do not know that the engine is on at all. Space. Tons of space inside especially when compared to my Zen and the WagonR. I am 5.11 and my bro is 6.0 and with him stretching the driver seat to his usual ease, I could still sit comfy behind. The pickup was quite good and this was with the AC on. Drive felt smooth and also my bro after coming across an auto, slowed down and moved from 3rd gear on slow speed. The car did pick up without any fuss. We were both decided that this was the car we would go. *Booking:* We booked the car on October 25 and after the usual slow processing by SBI, we got the car delivered today. The dealer is Trident Hyundai, 100 ft Road, Indiranagar and the experience I had with them was very excellent. The sales Guy we interacted with was one called Tejas and he knew what he was talking about and also gives good opinion. You can refer either me(Rajesh) or my bro (Sriraman) and he will remember. Not many buy the Getz *Details:* Car: Hyundai Getz Prime 1.1 GLE Colour: Black Dealer: Trident Hyundai, Indiranagar. *Freebies:* 1. Floor Mats and Mud Flaps 2. Teflon Coating 3. Sun Film *Others:* 1. Changed Tyres to the 175 profile ones from the default 155. Cost INR 12,000. Make - Bridgestone 2. Installed AutoCop - Cost INR 2,000 with 3 year warranty ICE: We got our existing Blaupunkt head unit moved to the new car. We got the JBL speakers installed and the total cost worked out to INR 6,000. Gave a discount of about INR 800. I would update as and when Kms are logged for those who are interested :) Test Drive Report:
This was test driven by my brother. We kept reading that Getz 1.1 is very underpowered and not really worth it. Well, this was on our minds as we got into the car. First impression was very good. The Car is very silent and you do not know that the engine is on at all. Space. Tons of space inside especially when compared to my Zen and the WagonR. I am 5.11 and my bro is 6.0 and with him stretching the driver seat to his usual ease, I could still sit comfy behind. The pickup was quite good and this was with the AC on. Drive felt smooth and also my bro after coming across an auto, slowed down and moved from 3rd gear on slow speed. The car did pick up without any fuss. We were both decided that this was the car we would go.

Booking:
We booked the car on October 25 and after the usual slow processing by SBI, we got the car delivered today. The dealer is Trident Hyundai, 100 ft Road, Indiranagar and the experience I had with them was very excellent. The sales Guy we interacted with was one called Tejas and he knew what he was talking about and also gives good opinion. You can refer either me(Rajesh) or my bro (Sriraman) and he will remember. Not many buy the Getz

Details:

Car: Hyundai Getz Prime 1.1 GLE
Colour: Black
Dealer: Trident Hyundai, Indiranagar.

Freebies:

1. Floor Mats and Mud Flaps
2. Teflon Coating
3. Sun Film

Others:

1. Changed Tyres to the 175 profile ones from the default 155. Cost INR 12,000. Make - Bridgestone
2. Installed AutoCop - Cost INR 2,000 with 3 year warranty

ICE:

We got our existing Blaupunkt head unit moved to the new car. We got the JBL speakers installed and the total cost worked out to INR 6,000. Gave a discount of about INR 800.

I would update as and when Kms are logged for those who are interested :) ]]> KRRaj http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/69729-my-new-getz-prime-1-1-gle.html Linea 1.4 Petrol E-Pack - Emotional(ly) Pack(ed) Experience http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/69701-linea-1-4-petrol-e-pack-emotional-ly-pack-ed-experience.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:14:07 GMT Finally today saw the arrival of the Fox Trot Azure Linea 1.4 petrol Emotion Pack at VST Motors after the PDI. This was after an intolerable wait for the vehicle to have been transported from Ranjangaon over the past 3 weeks. I was finally able to touch and check the vehicle and even drive it today. I went to the dealership VST Motors, Chennai armed with a 12 page printout of the PDI Checklist thankfully obtained from T-Bhp threads. The Salesman was shocked to see so many items on the todo list!, He was very patient while I carried out the checklist to the T. I managed to go through the entire process over an hour and half and am happy to announce that I could tick mark every item on the checklist except the paperwork which will come only after registration tomorrow. I will be able to take delivery tomorrow once the registration has been done and I intend to be able to drive home in my new FTA Linea tomorrow evening. I have managed to take a couple of pictures at the dealership, and the vehicle has already become the star attraction as this will be the first FTA Linea VST Motors Chennai is selling. This is the first thread which I am starting, which I intend updating with the ownership experience over the days, weeks, months and years to come. I found the other threads on this site so useful, that it helped me every step of the way in my pre delivery ownership experience this far. Hoping to hear comments from other members. Finally today saw the arrival of the Fox Trot Azure Linea 1.4 petrol Emotion Pack at VST Motors after the PDI. This was after an intolerable wait for the vehicle to have been transported from Ranjangaon over the past 3 weeks. I was finally able to touch and check the vehicle and even drive it today. I went to the dealership VST Motors, Chennai armed with a 12 page printout of the PDI Checklist thankfully obtained from T-Bhp threads. The Salesman was shocked to see so many items on the todo list!, He was very patient while I carried out the checklist to the T. I managed to go through the entire process over an hour and half and am happy to announce that I could tick mark every item on the checklist except the paperwork which will come only after registration tomorrow. I will be able to take delivery tomorrow once the registration has been done and I intend to be able to drive home in my new FTA Linea tomorrow evening. I have managed to take a couple of pictures at the dealership, and the vehicle has already become the star attraction as this will be the first FTA Linea VST Motors Chennai is selling. This is the first thread which I am starting, which I intend updating with the ownership experience over the days, weeks, months and years to come. I found the other threads on this site so useful, that it helped me every step of the way in my pre delivery ownership experience this far. Hoping to hear comments from other members.

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]]> rhenius http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/69701-linea-1-4-petrol-e-pack-emotional-ly-pack-ed-experience.html TATA Sumo Grande MKII - exclusively for T-BHP http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/69685-tata-sumo-grande-mkii-exclusively-t-bhp.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:56:29 GMT Got a good look at SUMO GRANDE MKII model today at the dealership and I did like what I saw. The model on display was GX variant which is top of the line variant in GRANDE and changes were evident from first look itself.

Exteriors

As has been expected, There is very little change in the overall looks of the car. There are some changes here and there to accentuate the looks of car and honestly speaking, what they have done is more than enough and should be liked by customers. So, what have they done ? here is the list :

* Chrome accents on front Grill
* Chrome beadings on doors
* Sumo Grande is now SUMO GRANDE MKII
* '2.2 DICOR' on front side panels (I must admit font used here is quite cool !)
* Turn indicators on ORVM
* Integrated Mud Flaps
* Safari type wheel rims with safari type wheel covers giving alloy looks.

Interiors

This is where Tata Design team and product engineers seem to have spent most time this time around. Everything from door panels to fake wood finish have been update, and for good. The buttons are no more flimsy and plastics used have been massively upgraded. Fit and finish is also a step above, but more on that later. A welcome change which I appreciate most is that they have used BLACK COLOUR plastics on floors with BEIGE on top. This not only adds great looks to car but is easier to clean and maintain. Even the steering wheel is black in colour and looks way better than its predecessor. Here is the list of changes in Interior :

* Old steering wheel has been replaced with Vista type steering wheels and in black colour.
* BLACK plastics on floor
* MP3 music system (Alpine) with dedicated Ipod connectivity in console above hand brake lever. Great for accessibility.
* One Touch fold of last row of seats
* Pockets and bottle holder seem to be bigger now.
* Separate buttons for 2nd and third row AC vents on roof.
* Better wood finish on central console and door trims.
* Puddle Lamps.

Engine and Drive

I didn't have much time behind the wheel but there is little to differentiate from the looks of it. I absolutely adore the lightness of steering and pick-up is phenomenal for an MUV. Braking continues to be a bit iffy, but then I would once again stress that I have only driven the car for less than 1 km. I will look out towards a longer test drive in near future and will update.

Fit & Finish :thumbs up

This is it. This is what will define MKII from its predecessor. No more wobbly doors. No more plastics falling. No more rattling car. This is a big step forward for this very capable car. The exteriors look sturdy, and interiors worthy of second looks. The plastics are better. The Panel gaps are more consistent (Not perfect, but much more than acceptable). The steering feels good to hold. Dashboard plastics are softer and nice to touch. Wood trims on door are a nice touch and buttons everywhere feel solid and nice. The doors close with a resounding thud and gaps in metal are also a lot more consistent. And here is the big one, You don't feel that the rear door handle would come in hand if pulled too hard. This is an achievement.

Verdict

I have to applaud the sincerity with which people at TATA went about upgrading what could arguably be labelled the biggest dud in their recent history. What they took back to design table and what they brought back to consumer is different and good. One could attribute this to the TATA habit of improving vehicles based on feedback.

What we have now is a even more competent car and will potentially do very well this time around with the target consumer base of taxi owners and long distance traveling large families. Anyone considering TAVERA should give this car and believe me, it will not fail you, This time around.

PS: Don't have any pics as of today. Will try clicking some when I go for a full test drive very very soon... :D ]]> akhilesh51 http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/69685-tata-sumo-grande-mkii-exclusively-t-bhp.html