My Predator - Ebony Black Verna CRDI SX ABS - Review at 1 year, 13500 kms

[ShyamSCrdi]

Hmmm!!! I got a few scratches too this time around. Cant help it though. Hoping to patch them up

[pras.oct25]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Oh Dear, thats dreadful. Let me try to help you out here. Has the scratch exposed the bodywork, or is it only paint deep? In case of the former, you have no option but to get the whole panel repainted. But if its the latter, there's a special acrylic based solution available in the market that helps to remove surface scratches. Do let me know, and dont hesitate to ask for further help.

I ran my finger over it. It doesnt seem terribly deep. But I'm not able to judge if it was done with a key, or with some other sharp object like a blade or something. I'm also suddenly in doubt if it was one of the kids riding their cycle and trying to squeeze it through the tiny gap, cause theres also a scratch on the front right tyre fender. I called up the service manager at HMP and he said maybe we can try to get it off with the polishing compound. So will take her there on saturday. Hoping that it does not have to be repainted.
I now officially have scratches all around my car, and none of it has been my fault. Front bumper, rear bumper, side door. If I get all the work done outside it will cost me 5k to have it all done. If i do it at the showroom easily double of that so around 10k + tax.
On top of all that the dashboard noise problem has slowly started off again. Not as severe as before, but it feels like everytime the front of the car goes through a bump, the effect on the dashboard or the torsion bar (i think thats wat it is called) is immense. I also seem to get vibrating feedback when the car is idling in the mornings. Really wondering what is going wrong with everything. Its really stressful to be honest.
Can anyone shed some light on what the potential issue for the dashboard fitting to not be proper can be? I have had all the ac vents and center facia, and stereo system replaced under warranty. The dashboard was taken off and fit back on. The issue was fine for a month and now it has started off again. Is it a front suspension based issue, which is causing excessive shock to come through to the inside of the car? Or could it be a problem with the steering wheel? The guys at hyundai really are so sincere and even they are so drained from trying to figure out what is happening.

[predatorwheelz]

An update. This Saturday, 4th July 2009, my car has completed 10K kms. Thats 10K kms in 9 months 7 days of ownership, or about 36 kms per day.

Ownership has been a hassle free experience so far. The car has seen the insides of a service centre 3 times (twice for regular servicing and once for accident repair). I'm soon taking it for a diesel filter replacement, and a fresh coat of polish as the monsoons finally seem to have set in here. There have been no problems mechanically till date. A second dashboard rattle has surfaced recently, which I hope to see rectified.

On 12th June 09, I got the wheels aligned and balanced at 9k kms. This was the first balancing done after purchase.

Running has been only within city, with the exception of a small trip (600 kms) I did with my wife. Travelogue can be found here:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...d-weekend.html (Garpanchakot over an extended weekend)

The car is a true highway star, and I'm planning to do a loooong trip in August. Keep watching this space.

[predatorwheelz]

Another small update. This Sunday I took the car to Spring Hyundai for diesel filter replacement. The total cost came to INR 1764 (INR 1350 for the filter, 305 for a total wash and clean and the rest in taxes).

An interesting bit of mathematics. I've spent a total of INR 7164 in the last 9 months. Except for the filter, the rest was on cosmetic additions like Teflon, underbody coating, washing etc. It still works out to a maintainence cost of INR 796 per month.

Add fuel bills of INR 3100 per month, and it turns out my total cost of ownership is INR 3900 per month. My net cost of ownership (not counting cosmetic expenses) is INR 3250 per month. How par for the course is this? Can other Verna/C-segment sedan owners elaborate?

[SkyWalker]

PW, here's the data for my ANHC :

4 months, 2967 kms
Total Fuel Expenses: Rs 12926
Total Service and other Expenses: 898 for 2nd Service
Cost/month: 3456

of course, my running is low, with around 750km per month - and that includes a long trip (~600 km round trip).

[pras.oct25]

@predator - read your thread when I was at work. First thing I did after parking the car at home was take out the little book in which I make a note of my fuel filling details.
Ive driven close to 8000km now in 9 odd months. Spent around 20000 on diesel and I just had the 1500 I spent on second service for maintenance costs. I pay the watchman 250 bucks a month to clean my car everyday and do a weekly interior cleaning.
So monthly expenses will come to around 2300 to 2500 bucks at an average rate.
Apart from that cosmetic stuff include the interiors which worked out to around 8k, and the spoiler 2.5k. Headlamp upgrade was 1k. Looks like I may be spending on the green cotton filter and a new HU soon as well.
I think ultimately somehow or the other most of us end up spending quite a bit on pampering our cars. But its worth all the trouble.

[predatorwheelz]

Thank you Pras & SkyWalker.

2 interesting perspectives, based on which I did a little more number crunching.

SW's car runs about 750kms a month and has a total monthly expense of Rs 3456. Pras' car runs about 888 kms a month and TME of Rs 2500
Mine runs about 1100 kms a month and TME of Rs 3150

So cost per km:
SW - 4.60
Pras - 2.81
Mine - 2.86

Give or take a few, Pras and I seem to have identical running expenses. SW's is of course more expensive, being a petrol car.

Interesting. Any Diesel Fiesta/Linea owners, care to give inputs?

[pras.oct25]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Thank you Pras & SkyWalker.

2 interesting perspectives, based on which I did a little more number crunching.

SW's car runs about 750kms a month and has a total monthly expense of Rs 3456. Pras' car runs about 888 kms a month and TME of Rs 2500
Mine runs about 1100 kms a month and TME of Rs 3150

So cost per km:
SW - 4.60
Pras - 2.81
Mine - 2.86

Give or take a few, Pras and I seem to have identical running expenses. SW's is of course more expensive, being a petrol car.

Interesting. Any Diesel Fiesta/Linea owners, care to give inputs?

I think if you consider only fuel costs, then you must consider the conditions under which the car has covered its kms. City driving (with and without ac) will invariably provide poorer economy as compared to highway drives.
Then again we always come back to the point of driving style. The verna tends to make you a constant clutcher, by default when you slow down, cause the cars tolerance to lower rpms at a higher gear is lower, as compared to a petrol car or even the getz crdi. Likewise, the crazy pick up from the car also tends to make you want to floor the gas more. So either way you are hitting your economy!
But I have seen that the verna is a lovely car to cruise in if you maintain a decent driving style, and dont go to extremes of being too slow, or too fast. Maybe we should watch our driving styles for a month and see if we find a difference in expenditure for that month. Unfortunately every time ive tried, my attempts dont last for more than 2 days, before I start flooring her again

[predatorwheelz]

Boring, I tell you. Really, really boring.

What, o fellow bhpians, is the point of owning a car if there's nothing to report about it? Every morning the car just gets cleaned, then takes its owner on a 17 km office trip. Waits patiently at the parking for 10-12 hrs, then ferries back the owner. Each weekend, it takes owner and family around town (or on small trips), does 100-150 km. Yet goes on like clockwork, and nothing, nothing ever goes wrong with it. No character, I say!!!!

And just in case you guys thought I'm mad at my car, you couldn't be more wrong. Predator has just completed one year yesterday (27th September 2009), with the odo somewhere at 13355 kms (touched 13500 today). This one year, except for the one accident where the bumper was ripped off, has been totally incident free. The car has been a dependable workhorse, and I couldn't love it more for that.

Tomorrow the workshops open up post Durga Puja. I'll take her for her annual/3rd scheduled service. Lets see what the costs come to. For now, since there's nothing to report, enjoy a few pics:

Predator in front of the Garpanchkot temple ruin - The ancient and the Modern.



Predator getting a good wash at her 2nd service - I love it when they dry the car out and it comes out squeaky clean.



Predator at the recently concluded INRC in Kolkata - merely a spectator.

[anekho]

nice report - the predator looks as good as ever!

you should have got a skoda if you wanted excitement

[shuvc]

Boring = good ! Touch wood.

Just noticed from the snaps. Any particular reason you have bumper protection strips in the rear only ?

[SS-Traveller]

That's the way you want your car to behave ALL the time! The boring part is confined to the ownership, the interesting part to the driving experience. You are supposed to get in, turn the key, and then expect the car to digest everything you throw at it (or throw it at...). My ownership experience of the predator's elder sibling has been utterly boring for the last 57 months; but the driving experience over 105k km - that's another thing.

Shubho Bijoya.

[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by anekho

nice report - the predator looks as good as ever!

you should have got a skoda if you wanted excitement

Good point. I feel sad for Skoda. Have always admired their cars for the sheer quality of engineering and all round VFM. But now everyone avoids them for pathetic After Sales Service. There are easier ways to destroy your reputation.

Originally Posted by shuvc

Just noticed from the snaps. Any particular reason you have bumper protection strips in the rear only ?

Good observation. Actually I had fitted the car with bumper strips all round when new. But sometime in April a nerd banged into the front bumper, mangling it, thereby calling for a replacement. Never found a similar set of strips to put on the new front bumper. Thats why you see them only on the rear bumper.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

That's the way you want your car to behave ALL the time! The boring part is confined to the ownership, the interesting part to the driving experience. You are supposed to get in, turn the key, and then expect the car to digest everything you throw at it (or throw it at...). My ownership experience of the predator's elder sibling has been utterly boring for the last 57 months; but the driving experience over 105k km - that's another thing.

Shubho Bijoya.

Shubho Bijoya to you too, dada. Very very well said. Here's hoping that Predator continues to remain trouble-free, while providing miles and miles of smiles to its (lucky) owner!

[sajands]

Predator, congrats on your car back to shape with new front bummper and awsome write up and follow ups. Total big thumbs up for that

You got a awsome black stealth SR-71 blackbird with you. Alloys complete the killer look.

Are you getting the Xenons to your headlights????

[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by sajands

Predator, congrats on your car back to shape with new front bummper and awsome write up and follow ups. Total big thumbs up for that

You got a awsome black stealth SR-71 blackbird with you. Alloys complete the killer look.

Are you getting the Xenons to your headlights????

Thank you Sajands. Glad to know you liked the write-up. Yes, I love my car, and I guess the quality of prose is directly proportional to the love.

As for the looks, trust me, it takes a lot of effort to keep the car that black and shiny in Kolkata weather!

I've been planning to get Xenons for my baby for a long time now. Beside the bulbs, it will require fitting a projector setup (angel eyes) and extensive rewiring. And I have a bad habit of sitting down and thoroughly R&Ding a mod before actually applying it on my cars. Not getting the time to do that right now.

Lets see, maybe in Nov-Dec. Watch this space.