Optra Magnum 0k To 10k Experience And Some Nagging Issues EDIT: updated to 15k

[raaga]

Since long i wanted to write my experience of buying and first drive but it took so much time to write this post that now my car completed 10k service so i will clube up my initial as well as long term experience.

Let me start from my buying experience ----I booked this car at Sundaram Motors, Bangalore on 14th may at the time of booking they confirm that I will be getting the car within 10 days but there was no sign of the car forget about the car they were not confirming the date of delivery also. After one month got intouch with GM marketing office and then got the confirmation that CAR can be delivered in second or third week of july only due to some excise duty issues. Well after resolving this issue second problem pop up that is about the price at the time of booking on road price was 11,67000 but due to increase in duty and introduction of ACC price was 1230000 but as per their commitment I was suppose to get the car on old price. The day they were suppose to deliver the car I received a call from Sundaram Motors stating that car can not be deliver on old price as GM is not releasing the car on old price.

Well at this stage, I took up the matter with higher management of Sundaram and GM and with lot of back and forth price adjustment, GM agreed to wave off ACC increment.

Now I will come to the actual driving experience -----

I believe this is the best in its class. Drive is smooth and comfortable. The only drawback i have seen is that the steering response is slow and grear shifting not as smooth (I do not have much experience with the gear shift of Diesel car and I am comparing with my Opel gear shift).

On engine of this CAR if the biggest USP, it feel like a rocket once the turbo kickoff and with automatic climate control inclusion I believe that GM is having a winner in hand.

The experience till now has been really satisfying…the good part first

1)Breaking – Spot on , need to be careful with the vehicle coming from behind while applying for break
2)AC – Automatic climate control, i think this was a good desicion on part of GM. it is a must for this class of car
3)Suspension – Best in class ( in my opinion)
4)Ground Clearance – For me it is fine specially after driving Opel I feel GC is much better here.
5)Space and comfort – Probably I rate this car highest, infact in first glance I feel it can easily compare with Pontiac cars
6)Power – Its is having oomph factor…
7)Economy – With AC in city 11+

The bad part ---

1. Gear Shifting – From second to first at take some effort not sure it may get adjusted after some time at present I had done only 200 KM
2. Steering – I feel it required to revolve more compare to opel, it could have been more responsive.

Now the interesting part experience of servicing at 5k and 10k

At 5K sent her for servicing at Vijay Motor with two specific complain.first the gear lever vibration in 3rd gear which was making lot of sound and second dashboard rattling.None of the issue was resolved and my service advisor at VM told that she required to change the gear input and output systems and they had logged the request to GM for parts and rattling sound has been resolved. Even after three months parts did not reach to them and in between i completed 10K on odo.

Raise the issue with GM CC and GM south india after sales head, after a week got the response stating that Praveen from Frontline Motor will send the driver to pick the car and get this resolved.At 10k again had the same problem, they took the car and open the gear box but fitting the gear box took allmost a month as GM took so much time in arranging the parts even after regular followup.
yesterday received my CAR on test drive found that gear lever is not making the vibration sound on 3rd gear, however if i keep my hand can feel the vibration.i worry that vibration will increase and again it will start making sound. Secondly car was pulling toward the left and still there were some rattling sound though it was less.

Raise the issue with Praveen, he suggested to drive for a week and even after that if problem persists then he will work to resolve the issue.

Can other optra magnum owner share some experience on gearlever vibration in 3rd gear? On rattling and pull toward left, i saw many post and come to conclusion that this is the known issue.
In short happy with CAR and still stick to my initial obsevation on the good part but not so happy with GM and their dealer.

[deepakkamath]

I have an optra magnum,which is done about 28k kms,and Some amount of vibration in the gear lever is common in diesel engines,and if you have good year tyres and they are very bad,have you got the wheel alignment and the tyre rotation done during this service? if yes there will be some amount of drag for atleast 500-800 kms.and praveen from frontline is very good technically,i know him since the trident hyundai days.

[prince_pervez]

Good honest review. Got any snaps ?

[Hades]

A Concise and Precise idea of a superb car. The minimalistic gear-tremble (what i call it) happens in almost all the diesels but it shouldnt shudder if it does then you have to rectify it at all costs might cost a lot if unchecked.

Magnum is a great car, as far as the heavy-steering is concerned , if u are on stock better change them and you'll feel little difference though nothing drastic.

Ya the engine is really a powerhouse throws you back once it has the turbo kicks in rite? Enjoy her mate. Let her stretch her legs now and then , she'll be faithful

P.S you having any tick-tock sound when crossing 140+?

[raaga]

Not on my laptop rightnow, promise to post the pic soon. Thanks Deepak for your suggestion. yaa it is having a goodyear.

[beanstalk_230]

Originally Posted by raaga

Not on my laptop rightnow, promise to post the pic soon. Thanks Deepak for your suggestion. yaa it is having a goodyear.

Goodyears are utter crap though even i'm using them right now.

Steering is a bit heavy especially at low speeds though again a boon for high speed driving. And as far as the car moving towards the left... get the wheel alignment and balancing done. Will solve the issue.

And i guess its normal that you notice that bit of vibration in the gear.. Diesel.

[dockap]

my magnum has completed 34,000 kms
every time tyre rotation is done car starts pulling to left this time i finally figured it out one of the alloys needs to be at the front so when doing rotation you need to remove the front tyres from the disks and put them on the rear disks and vise versa
i have no problems on gearstick vibration or rattling
most important change the stock goodyear tyres to something better they suck real bad
i recommend Michelin pp2 205/50/15 for a whole new driving experience

[raaga]

Any clue how to specify that specific alloy.

[dockap]

yes put the left front disk to the rear and left rear disk to left front and go for a drive it car is not pulling to the side your problem is solved if not repeat the same to the right side disks
next time leave those disks in front and only swap the tyres when doing rotation

[sjcherian]

The Optra is one of the reasons GM is still in business in India. For your car pulling issues you need to get your wheel balancing and alignment checked ASAP. You dont have to bother about moving tires& wheels combinations around each time - other than the regular tire rotations.

[veishal]

Well, for one, the the brake discs are never responsible for the pulling or drift of the vehicle to one side and especially if it is on stock OE alloys unless you have identified a problem in that region. The tyres are responsible to a large extent but it needs to be verified. If swapping of the wheel assy does not help then a different make of tyres certainly would. And the tendency of the brand and pattern on your car certainly has this feature of the left drift simply because of the construction type. No problems. Its sad that a car with such potential power and torque has to be on such shoes. Cant help and cribbing certainly wont help. The dealer also has no option.

Well going lower as someone suggested [205/50/16] will make the ride miserable and you should be looking at reducing the life of your struts to half.

Suggestion: Try the 205/60/15 V550 DNA DECIBEL YOKOHAMA. You would be 6mm taller on ride and the feel of jogging on the best set of REEBOKs on the steering. Yes, thats the kind of feel you may get. The drift may either vanish or be significantly low to avoid bothering you.

[raaga]

Drove 600km after 10 k service and wheel balancing; now it seems to settle down and pull is not so prominent. Deepak you were so right about the pull observation, hats off for you. Still keeping the gear vibration under observation, I believe the said vibration is not the normal diesel car vibration as it is not happening in all the gear rather only when the car is on 3rd gear at the speed of 30-40. No plan to upgrade the tyre right now however planning to send her once again to Frontline for dashboard rattling on weekend
@Hades –I do not observe any tick-tock but it do make a sound similar to nut volt falling in boot

[dockap]

i was only giving my observations on how i solved the drift to the left
the disks i mentioned were not the brake disks but the company alloys
i get the alingment and balancing done at a reputed tyre delear and in spite of spending 2 hours and checking the alingment 3 times they coudnt solve the drift only after swapping the alloys back to the front did it dissappear
like raga said the pull is not so prominent cause hes used to it after driving 600 km
but its there and with proper alingment and balancing it shoudnt have been there
so why is he still having it?

[raaga]

completed 15 k on odo. was getting continuous reminder and follow up from Sundaram so decided to give her for servicing at Sundaram this time instead of Frontline. The good news is, Sundaram started pickup and drop service also.
This time again register the complain about pulling and deshboard rattling. Will update the result in couple of days.

[raaga]

here is the update on 15 K service---

At last pulling on my car got resolved, this time Sundaram informed that there is some problem on the tyre and that is the reson of pulling. Since car is in warranty, they got intouch with GM for suggestion. GM suggested to change all the tyre so i got new set of Machelin tyre. Now i do not see any problem of pulling to right or left.
Though all these process took 10 days but at the end i am happy that the problem has been resolved.
For rattling, Sundaram is changing the dash board assembly which will take 10 days time to come as this is not a fast moving pasrt and comes on order only. This chnage will be again in warranty.
Below is the work and respective rate -
Tyre - 5093.33 x4 charged INR 0
Engine oil - INR 1139
Filter - 67.56
Screen Wash - 32.89
Two way sticker - 35.56 (not sure what is this?)
Total cost - 1275
Now i feel it is driving better then new