Getz prime 1200km and a accident report

[sups]

Got my Getz Prime 1.3 GLS delivered on July, 07. This is to share with you my initial 1200km experience and one accident report.

The colour I opted for was "Space silver", this is a relaively new colour introduced by Hyundai and I liked the very light blue shade over the usual silver colour.

After owning a Santro, its a pleasure to drive the Getz, especially the top class gear shift. My wife always hated my driving skills whenever I used to drive the santro while she occupied the rear seat, never liked the bumpy ride. She does not complain now while sitting at the back seat of getz . There is no point in talking about the +points of getz over the santro, everybody knows it. Let me tell you a few things which was in Santro, but I miss those in Getz:

1. Trays under the driver seat in Santro. This was very useful for me.
2. Great visibility in a Santro. I need to be more careful in my getz while taking turns.
3. Though I have not checked the power of the head lights, somehow I feel that Santro head lights were better while driving in the city in the evenning, may be due to the higher sitting position. Need to upgrade the getz headlights.
4. In 2nd and 3rd gear, if I release the accelerator, sometimes there is slight jerk which never happenned in a Santro. It will be great if any getz owner can throw some light on it.

Altogether its a very nice experience to drive the butter-smooth getz with very good space and ride comfort.

Could not install ICE, no budgets, will do it later. Just three mods: keyless entry, Michelin XM1 tubeless tyres on stock size 175/70 R13 (many thanks to tbhp for help in selecting tyres) and some ordinary seat covers.

Just got my first free service done, dealer charged me Rs. 22 as some labour charge.

So far so good, then I met with an horrible experience just 10 days back. Want to share with you the same. It was 9PM and I was driving from Karve road to Pune university circle. I was about 200meter away from the left turn which leads to Symbiosis college. My wife was sitting beside me in the front with our 10 month old baby boy. None of us were with our seat belts. There was hardly any street light and I was driving at 30-40 km/h with not-so-heavy traffic. Must admit that I was bit tired with the day's activity. Then I tried to overtake a Sumo which was moving very slowly and at that point the road was curving towards left. I shifted slighty right and pressed the accelerator....... and from the heaven I suddenly saw 5-6 big size stones lying on the middle of the road and acting as road divider. Since the road was curving towards left, I did not notice it earlier and when I noticed it was within 5-6ft distance. Result.... my brand new car scraped over all the stones while making a huge sound..... thud...thud...thud...thud. The car at the rear did a great effort not to bang me. Surprisingly, very surprisingly the car after sailing over those big stones landed safe on the road and vibration inside the car was not so much as I expected, else my baby would have been thrown out of my wife's lap, many thanks to the heavy weight of the car. I stopped the car on the left, could hear my heart pounding immensely. It needed a steel-like nerve to check the bottom of the car thinking it should have been severely damaged. Again to my surprise, I did not notice anything unusual at the bottom, no leakage atleast. Took a few minutes to settle down, and drove back home slowly, could not feel any difference while driving.

But my mind was telling me that there is some severe damage inside which may not be readily visible. I was afraid to take it to the service station, as something very severe could be detected. I drove for 2 more days, did not find anything unusual. But then I thought lets face it. So, on the 3rd day drove my getz to the Bhosari workshop. The technician told me that the oil-sump has to be replaced and anything else could only be told after they inspect the car thoroughly. I kept the car with them, came back to office and waited for their call with a very weak heart. When I did not get any call from them till 12 noon, I called the technician. He told me that there is a severe damage in the chasis and he will call me again to explain me more once he goes near the car, the repair work is going on. I waited for his call, as my blood pressure started increasing. Till 3PM I did not get any call-back from them. So, I called them again. The technician told me in a cold voice "Sir, the oil sump is changed and you can take the delivery of the car at 5.30PM". I asked him what about the "severe damage in the chasis". He confimed that there is some minor denting in the chasis and can be very safely ignored. I was about to blast him for not calling me back and thereby raising my blood pressure. But the fact that there is no servere damage was such a healing touch that I did not tell him anything.

I went in the evenning to take the delivery and found a total bill of Rs. 1435/-. Payed that gladly, but insisted that I would talk to the person who actually repaired it. They agreed. The repair person "gifted" me in a plastic bag the damaged item and told me that the dent in the chasis is very difficult to repair. He assured me that the location of the dent is such that it will not pose any problem in future. Came back with a smiling face. But wife has restricted heavily my post-sunset drives , atleast for the time being.

Even after a week, those huge "thud...thud...thud..." sound still haunts me, especially when I think what could have happenned to my baby boy had the car jumped a bit more due to the heavy impact. There are 2 positive things after the incident : I have become more careful while driving and getz build quality gives me more confidence.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by sups

Even after a week, those huge "thud...thud...thud..." sound still haunts me, especially when I think what could have happenned to my baby boy had the car jumped a bit more due to the heavy impact. There are 2 positive things after the incident : I have become more careful while driving and getz build quality gives me more confidence.

2 positives are good. But you forgot to add one learning: Always wear seat belts. Better safe than sorry !!

[Technocrat]

Those road Divider blocks are actually quite scary & more so near ind search college signal as they appear randomly on that road.

But please always wear Seat belts also if possible please have your wifey sit at the back seat when with kid.

Thank god nothing happened to the occupants.

[abhilashvk]

The technician told me in a cold voice "Sir, the oil sump is changed and you can take the delivery of the car at 5.30PM".

I went in the evenning to take the delivery and found a total bill of Rs. 1435/-.

Is that the cost of oil sump - Rs.1435 only?
For my Accent CRDi they quoted Rs.5100/- I am trying to get the damage (minor leak) welded because of the cost. Guys please advice on the cost.

[spadival]

Good to hear that you and your family are uninjured and the damage to the car is minimal.

Overtaking on a blind curve is a strict No-No, regardless of how slow the vehicle in front is moving.

[snaronikar]

First things first. Even if it is shorter drive always wear seat belt. And when with your kid, always ask wifey to sit at the back. I usually do the same though I have a Ikon. Back seat is more spacious and you cannot feel that thud..thud..thud even if you hit the spead breaker or an pothole.

[kpzen]

sups
Good to hear that everything is fine. Next time please do wear seatbelts.

Originally Posted by abhilashvk

Is that the cost of oil sump - Rs.1435 only?
For my Accent CRDi they quoted Rs.5100/- I am trying to get the damage (minor leak) welded because of the cost. Guys please advice on the cost.

Abhilash
Don't compare the cost of Getz part to a CRDi part..CRDi parts are generally costlier than petrols.
FYI the engine cover (high grade plastic) u see on top of the CRDi engine of Verna costs Rs 8600..Yes, for just a plastic cover.

[surajs]

Good to hear that you and your family are safe.
Buckle up always and drive safe.

[Elito11]

Hi Sups

Thats a very nice detailed report. Good to know ur safe!!
Don't mind buddy..but i am shocked that u were not wearing the seat belt!

Always always wear the seatbelt! Its the least we can do. God bless

Elito

[shuvd]

Thank God that all of you are safe. But, PLEASE please wear your seat belts. Always.

[sups]

Originally Posted by Eddy

2 positives are good. But you forgot to add one learning: Always wear seat belts. Better safe than sorry !!

You are right. I have a bad habit of not wearing seat belts during short drives. Better I should make it a habit.

Thanks to all of you. I would better ask wife to seat in the rear with the kid. It could have been fatal.

[cypher]

1. Great visibility in a Santro. I need to be more careful in my getz while taking turns.
2. Though I have not checked the power of the head lights, somehow I feel that Santro head lights were better while driving in the city in the evenning, may be due to the higher sitting position. Need to upgrade the getz headlights.
3. In 2nd and 3rd gear, if I release the accelerator, sometimes there is slight jerk which never happenned in a Santro. It will be great if any getz owner can throw some light on it.

I own a Getz GLX 1.3 and also upgraded from a Santro. With reference to the above

1. Yes, visibility in Santro is better. Though I have gotten used to it, the Getz definitely needs bigger ORVMs

2. I have a problem only with the high beams - visibility seems to drop when I switch them on. I think the bulb may not be working and am checking this with Hyundai A.S.S. this weekend.

3. That doesn't happen in my car. All gear changes are smooth as butter.

[mogambo]

I share the same feelings as you - great car and VERY reliable feel when you take family out.
Last week I drove it 500km from Bangalore to Thiruvannamalai and back. A big stretch of the road was bad - not even potholes, actually. There were Craters !!!. But through most of it, the Getz moved quite smoothly. My parents in the back seat felt the ride was actually quite smooth.

Point to note: We were ALL wearing seat belts.
I usually insist on my front co-passenger to always wear a belt. But during night driving and on unknown/bad roads, its better that everyone wears a belt.

Here's one more thumbs up for the Getz Prime... Great car by Hyundai..

[speedmiester]

Good that nothing serious happened, always wear your seatbelts man.
Hope you have learnt your lessons.

Had been in a similar situation when i went over a stone in the middle of the night, got out of that one with only a minor leak from the oil sump. had to replace the oil sump for that mistake.

[sups]

Originally Posted by cypher

I own a Getz GLX 1.3 and also upgraded from a Santro. With reference to the above

3. That doesn't happen in my car. All gear changes are smooth as butter.

Thanks cypher. I did not mean the gear changes, they are very smooth in all gears. But when I take my leg off from the accelerator in 2nd or 3rd gear, the car reduces speed starting with a small jerk. This is a rather delicate thing, but should not happen.