All things Cedia...

[maven]

i have driven a few thousand kms and hence would qualify for a long term ownership post. this post is further to my intial ownership report which was posted after the first week's experience where i was comparing my cedia to my older palio.
Some of the grouses took care of themselves.

AC:
The a/c which was fogging the windows stopped doing so in the second week. I may also point out that the rear windshield wasnt cleaned properly from the inside at the corners which was giving an effect of the fogggin.
The side windows was a genuine case though and the side vents were throwing air directly onto the glass so that may have caused it. During the recent rains the foggin was at bay whenever i switched to defogging mode. It is very useful (as Palio owners would know) specially when its raining at night. You need clear glass all round.
The ac is as effective as that in the Palio, fair & square. and i do not really miss climate control.

Stalling:
the second issue is almost minimal now. i used to stall the car specially when moving from stationary on a slope. this is almost sorted. i rarely do it now. i think the car and me know each other better now.

Drive:
the handling in some situations is better than the Palio. this one takes it yawning at most times. fastest i have gone so far is 155km's on the noida-greater noida e-way and the car hardly broke a sweat at that speed, was reassuring and well planted.
Had done a trip to Lansdowne during the rains and the drive was not tiring at all. just took at 10min tea break both sides. did not stall the car on the hills either.

Headlights:
this is a sore so far. But only for people who do a lot of night highway driving. i feel it more also because of being used to the double headlamp setup of the Palio. Looking for a HID projector setup to solve the headlamp issue.

Front bumper skirt's:
This is a find from last week. the skirts are clamped on to the bumper and if few of the clamp break the entire skirt will need to be replaced. needless to say i did manage this by bumping into a dog or rather both of us went the same way and collided. the skirt's come off from the corner. the clamps are broken and therefore the entire skirt will have to replaced if i am really fussy about getting it done. right now the repair shop has bolted a screw from the inside next to the front tire. its working ok for the time being.

Residues from other car's:
the Biggest grouse.
the car doesnt have side protectors..the black strips that are fixed on most cars to protect the sides from scratches/residues. people have this habit of opening their car doors so wide that they end up banging the car parked next to theirs. in my case one of the devils is the car cleaner who cleans the car's parked next to mine on either side. I have got the stains removed once, but i have got lot of new ones. But today there is a new big white paint residue from the other car.
i am getting teflon coating done on saturday. hopefully the coating should offer some protection. Maybe even get side protectors fixed. the car will look ugly
Also have to look for a scratch/residue remover.

[mav2000]

Hi Maven, Nice review, can you share more details, like the milege, kms run, normal usage pattern etc.

[sridharps]

Nice update! I have always been a great admirer of this car, especially the Sports version with it's stunning looks..If not for the fact that one of the dealers closed shop mid-way during my purchase process, and the fact that the Sports model itself went out of stock, I might have bought this car myself.
Anyway, nice to see a happy customer, but it's interesting that you mention about the handling. I recently saw the Autocar magazine where Narain has given very low marks to the Cedia on the race track (I think 4/10).( The Civic, the Fiesta, the Swift are some of the cars in the list he was given) Specifically, he mentions that he felt the handling was very vague.
I am no Narain, but I was quite surprised to say the least. I always felt the Cedia to have good handling abilities and comparable to the cars in his list.
So i was interested to know what the junta here thinks about that.

[Path_Finder]

Maven, a good practical review.
How many kilometers have you covered? And what is the mileage?

[ethanhunt123]

Nice review there yaar. Repeating the question that others have asked. Whats the mileage you are getting in city and in highway ? Also, are you using Premium or Normal fuel ?

[raajks]

Nice review.
I plan to make Cedia my next car.
Like Sridharps, Autocar's edition where Narain has rated Cedia very low is a huge let down for me.

I must admit that 3 folks including Naren have had similar views.

Would some GURU on the forum care to clarify?

[sj_koova]

Originally Posted by maven

the Biggest grouse.
the car doesnt have side protectors..the black strips that are fixed on most cars to protect the sides from scratches/residues. people have this habit of opening their car doors so wide that they end up banging the car parked next to theirs.

Nice review mav.

Same with me. I already have few dents on my doors.
Right now I can only curse those careless guys park next to me.
I too was thinking of the black protection strip my car.
If anyone finds a suitable one for cedia, please let me know


I have upgraded my headlamps to Philips Xtreme Power 60/50W without the relay. Looking for an upgrade to HID next year.

[maven]

I wonder how i forgot to mention about the mileage in my post.

The first two occasions i checked - 10.16, 10.67. most of it was through a lot of slow traffic w/ ac always on. i did not check the mileage in the first 400 odd kms.
After the first service there was not much change.

During my trip to Lansdowne the car gave 13.26kmpl w/ majority of distance in highway traffic and ac on for roughly 90% of the trip.

The last i got was 12.8kmpl. much of the part was in smooth traffic w/ ac on 95% of the time. By smooth traffic i mean the delhi-noida expressway & delhi - gurgaon toll road.

- The YTD starting from the 10.16 to the last fill is 12.01kmpl.
- I do a tank full every time i go to a fuel station.
- Have used normal leaded and not used higher octane yet.
- So far most tank ups have been IOC, 2-3 separate pumps. Although the 12.8 i got recently was after a visit to a BP pump in south extn. this could be incidental.
I have now homed in on a company operated IOC fuel station.
- i use first gear only for moving from stationary (habit i picked while using the palio), immediately switch to 2nd, in 2nd till 20kmph, then switch to 3rd. 4th is engaged at 40kmph, 5th at 50kmph.
- Tyre pressure at 30psi. except the first two mileage monitorings where it was 29psi.
- have run around 4800kms so far

[Path_Finder]

Maven, FE figures sound good. Are you still running stock tyres? If you have changed – to what? And what is your experience?

I know you are still looking for headlamp upgrades? Any other mods done so far?

[maven]

@Pathfinder

i am using stock tyres. havent done any mods.

the showroom folks called today to say what i was anticipating "we cant fit in HID projector setup you were asking about. the car has smart wiring and it will go for a toss if we make any changes". so on the headlamps issue the only option left is to change the bulbs but to those with the same 60/55 spec !

clearly they are fearful of touching any of the electricals. for that matter they dont want to do any change in fitments at all except maybe the head unit of the player.

[Path_Finder]

maven,
What is this “smart wiring” about? May be you should ask them to explain a little more.

After market HID solutions are available for all cars; only that showroom and A.S.S guys will always be wary about it. But if you go on own, you might compromise the warranty also.

If you stick to stock rating of 55/60, them Philips X-tremePower should be the best – I have got it fitted – bought from market, but got it fitted by A.S.S. That is not the ultimate, but just better than the stock.

[maven]

Originally Posted by Path_Finder

maven,
What is this “smart wiring” about? May be you should ask them to explain a little more.

After market HID solutions are available for all cars; only that showroom and A.S.S guys will always be wary about it. But if you go on own, you might compromise the warranty also.

If you stick to stock rating of 55/60, them Philips X-tremePower should be the best – I have got it fitted – bought from market, but got it fitted by A.S.S. That is not the ultimate, but just better than the stock.

its just their way of saying that the wiring is plug and play. my sense is that its too complicated for them to touch. they must have had a bad experience with somebody's vehicle.

[maven]

i got a couple of long pending items done on sunday.

Beadings: got the black side protectors or beading as the shop owners call it. these are less wider than after market or OE beading found on most cars. I thought the wider ones dont do Cedia any help in terms of looks. So now hopefully there would be some protection from opening of car doors of cars parked next to mine. they asked Rs.900 for this.

Protective coating: some new alternate to teflon. they call it glass coating. well its like once done the surface reflects as if its kind of a glass. the solution that they were using said "glass plexin" as the main ingredient. the shop said he will give a 1 yr warranty on it and will not charge anything for removing scratches. asked Rs. 4500.
i paid 5K's for both the above two

Headlamps: no luck on this. could not find Philips vision plus. came across crystal vision and extreme power. not sure about effectiveness of crystal visions. i am circumspect of using extreme vision. they might damage the relectors due to the heat generated.

[maven]

i did Noida - Lucknow (NH 2: agra-firozobad-itawah-kanpur-lucknow) and back during the week of diwali. Car was awesome on highway, absolutely no issues during the long drive. The ride was very comfortable. Did the stretch with just a 10min. break between firozabad - itawah. whilst coming back we did a couple of 10 min breaks.

fuel consumption: 14.7kmpl on normal leaded.
Max speed: 140kmph(my wife actually,
i kept to a decent 100 - 110kmph when i was doing the driving)

[Path_Finder]

Originally Posted by maven

Beadings: got the black side protectors or beading as the shop owners call it. these are less wider than after market or OE beading found on most cars. I thought the wider ones dont do Cedia any help in terms of looks. So now hopefully there would be some protection from opening of car doors of cars parked next to mine. they asked Rs.900 for this.

maven, hope the beading side protectors are serving their purpose. post some pics of the side protectors