[Poitive]

Originally Posted by dnaturallywired

This is like a new leaf in the old book but i'll be happy to contribute and what more, am happy that my car gave me the initial problems as GM guys have got my car covered under warranty for 5 years instead of 2!!!!!!! i did give those blokes some sleepless nights and shot mails directy to the then MD of GM India & it worked. But now, the car is perfect and after numerous long drives (goa,alleypey, belgaum,chickmagalur etc) i have not faced a single issue...Trust this experience continues

Quite a feat, DNW!!!! Getting that warranty!
From what one sees on the forum, even though many have had some initial issues with the car (including me), eventually the buyers are happy.

Originally Posted by kjmads

First glimpse of the Chevy Optra Magnum I have booked. Waiting in the stockyard for a wash and clean up.... Likely to be registered tomorrow.

Congrats kjmads! Welcome to this ever-growing club of Optra owners on the forum. This colour makes the car look younger. A good change from the SD Grey's around (which I too have ).

Ground Clearance
After over about 14k of usage, I have not had any significant issues, but a large part of my driving has been on good roads. The front overhand is a bit more, so if the car is inclined downwards, and there is a stone/sidewalk you need to climb over, you might have some issues (like I had and reported on another ownership thread). The suspension being soft, also makes the car "bounce" a bit. If you "bounce" just at the wrong time over a small speed breaker (one where all the tyres are off the speed-breaker), you may scrape a bit. I have only had one issue of each till now.

In my view, the suspension of this car is brilliantly tuned (by Lotus - more in the "Experiencing" posts on the "Finally!" thread). Also, given how sensitive this car is to tyre pressure, it may not take well to chalu mods in suspension. But talking to a member Brraj should give you more authoritative views on it, as he has done some serious mods to it. Unless you travel on terrible roads, a mod for GC isn't needed.

PDI and VIN
Do a proper PDI. Some members reported issues, which could probably have been prevented with a proper PDI. Look for Sreejinair's thread and Viswesh's threads. Hope you have checked your year of manufacture. There is some unresolved issue with VIN numbers. GM has probably changed their format again. A member, Klever shared some of it here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2685666
Also do read this:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2473011

Also visit Wildon's thread about the VIN. Would strongly suggest you make sure that it is not an old piece.

All that aside, it is a brilliant car, as most buyers would say.

PS: You may also want to take care of the Clamp/HPS leakage issue described a little above Klever's post in the link above. Very minor, if taken care of at the right time.

[Auto freak]

Originally Posted by kjmads

First glimpse of the Chevy Optra Magnum I have booked. Waiting in the stockyard for a wash and clean up.... Likely to be registered tomorrow.

Congrats on your Opty! She looks lovely in that colour

Last Friday, an Opty has joined our family as well! Its an upgrade from dad's 2006 Ford Ikon Flair.

Many thanks to bhpians Poitive and Keyur for all your valuable test drive reports. We couldn't find a car to test drive given that our home town is atleast 200km away from the closest Chevy dealership and even they did not have a TD car!

Your test drive reports were so comprehensive that we got more than a clear picture of the car to take the plunge!

Opty was a car I always wanted to have in our garage since the day i read a comparo of it pitted against the Skoda Octavia 1.9TDi way back in July 2007 ACI. Reading through all the reviews here only made the desire stronger

Got to drive the first 200 km to home. Man, she's a beast! Guess it will take some time to adjust for the turbo surge having been used to petrol motors till now

Here go the pics! Note that the chrome lip that used to be there on the hood lip of the LT variant is now missing on the new cars. It isn't present in kjmad's car as well

[keyur]

[quote=kjmads;2686677 I am yet to take delivery and it might be on the 22nd, Keyur. it was your comprehensive review that pushed me to opt for the Optra.
Thank you.[/quote]

Hey, Congrats on the choice! Am happy to see more and more guys joining the Magnum club! You will love the car!

Originally Posted by kjmads

Hi Keyur,
I will be driving around in the new car by next week hopefully. While your opinions and experience was highly satisfactory, there are others who had concerns with the performance and reliability. I am worried about the GC of the vehicle. Is there any way the GC can be increased without major modification (Not affecting the warranty).

"Sabr ka phal meetha hota hai" - and what phal!! There are a few things sweeter than the ride in the Optra, the pull, the power and the non chalance in using that power!

The GC is a wee bit of an issue only at the front. Sudden braking right before a big bump might lead to a slight scraping of the front bumper - but only cosmetic damages (read scratches) - nothing serious.

The underbody can get nicked when going over extra large bumps as well, so tread carefully. Another thing is getting your vehicle on and off a steep ramp. Due to the overhang, you can face some scraping of the front bumper.

Any attempts done to increase the GC will result in voiding of the warranty - atleast of the affected components. Also, increase in the GC will change the driving dynamics and handling. With the already soft and independent suspension, you will experience increased body roll, so you might need to get the suspensions stiffened.

Still, if you want to do this, here are a few options :

1. Increase the rim and tyre size so overall diameter is increased (risk of wheel touching the body on bumps - you might have to remove the mud guards)

2. Increase the air pressure of the tyres by 3-4 psi (risk - bumpy ride, increased road noise)

3. Add spacers to the suspension (top) (risk - increase in the suspension height will lead to changes in handling)

4. Stiffen the suspension - this will lead to lesser sag. This can be done in 2 ways :
a. Change the oil / dampener filled in the shockers. Your shocks are removed, cut open, refilled and refitted. Cannot be reversed (warranty void)
b. Add a coil spring tensioner / adjuster / booster / spacer. This is a rubber bush which sits between 2 coils of the spring and adds resistance to the sag. This is reversible and will not void warranty (costs around Rs.2000 for a pair)

Check this and this link to get a general idea of the same.

The better way is to just tackle the bumps in a better way, avoid braking just before the breaker etc.. You will get used to it.

Originally Posted by dnaturallywired

This is like a new leaf in the old book but i'll be happy to contribute and what more, am happy that my car gave me the initial problems as GM guys have got my car covered under warranty for

That's cool man! I need to find a way to get this done

Originally Posted by Auto freak

Last Friday, an Opty has joined our family as well! Its an upgrade from dad's 2006 Ford Ikon Flair.

Many thanks to bhpians Poitive and Keyur for all your valuable test drive reports. We couldn't find a car to test drive given that our home town is atleast 200km away from the closest Chevy dealership and even they did not have a TD car!

Your test drive reports were so comprehensive that we got more than a clear picture of the car to take the plunge!

Got to drive the first 200 km to home. Man, she's a beast! Guess it will take some time to adjust for the turbo surge having been used to petrol motors till now

Congrats AF! Looks like we have enough guys here now to plan an exclusive Optra meet!
As for me, I loved the surge so much that I got myself a RaceChip, drove around like crazy with a stupid(er) smile on my face and then decided that it's so good and the Optra can do so much better, that I removed the Race Chip and am going for the NEXT STEP in a couple of days!

[blueorchid]

Originally Posted by chetan_l

I now own an Optra for the past 1.5 months

Congrats Chetan (pretty late, but nevertheless, congrats!!)

Originally Posted by kjmads

First glimpse of the Chevy Optra Magnum I have booked. Waiting in the stockyard for a wash and clean up.... Likely to be registered tomorrow

Hey kj, congrats on your Optra. Finally, people are realizing the existence of the Optra!

Originally Posted by Auto freak

Last Friday, an Opty has joined our family as well! Its an upgrade from dad's 2006 Ford Ikon Flair.


Here go the pics! Note that the chrome lip that used to be there on the hood lip of the LT variant is now missing on the new cars. It isn't present in kjmad's car as well

Congrats AutoFreak on the purchase!
I did not quite get the 'lip' that you are talking about. Could you please show that in the pic or post a comparo?

Originally Posted by keyur

The GC is a wee bit of an issue only at the front. Sudden braking right before a big bump might lead to a slight scraping of the front bumper

The underbody can get nicked when going over extra large bumps as well, so tread carefully. Another thing is getting your vehicle on and off a steep ramp. Due to the overhang, you can face some scraping of the front bumper.

Any attempts done to increase the GC will result in voiding of the warranty - atleast of the affected components. Also, increase in the GC will change the driving dynamics and handling. With the already soft and independent suspension, you will experience increased body roll, so you might need to get the suspensions stiffened.

Still, if you want to do this, here are a few options :

1. Increase the rim and tyre size so overall diameter is increased (risk of wheel touching the body on bumps - you might have to remove the mud guards)

2. Increase the air pressure of the tyres by 3-4 psi (risk - bumpy ride, increased road noise)

3. Add spacers to the suspension (top) (risk - increase in the suspension height will lead to changes in handling)

4. Stiffen the suspension - this will lead to lesser sag. This can be done in 2 ways :
a. Change the oil / dampener filled in the shockers. Your shocks are removed, cut open, refilled and refitted. Cannot be reversed (warranty void)
b. Add a coil spring tensioner / adjuster / booster / spacer. This is a rubber bush which sits between 2 coils of the spring and adds resistance to the sag. This is reversible and will not void warranty (costs around Rs.2000 for a pair)

The front GC scenario that you have given is spot on. We were thinking of getting the front bumper cut or modified for this, but eventually gave it up.

The spacer or booster option that you have mentioned sounds interesting. Checked up a few options online as well. I have 2 concerns here :

• Adding the spacer will increase the length of the suspension. The shockers are at a slant (not perpendicular). So, how would this affect the wheels?
• By adding the spacer, you are effectively nullifying one spiral in the coil. What about the load on the other coils? How will it affect the suspension?

[keyur]

Originally Posted by blueorchid

The front GC scenario that you have given is spot on. We were thinking of getting the front bumper cut or modified for this, but eventually gave it up.

I was giving that a thought as well, but that could have spoilt the look. Also, cutting the bumper would have required cutting the entire front and the underside. Did not want to do that as it would have exposed wires, fogs and other stuff directly to external elements.

Originally Posted by blueorchid

• Adding the spacer will increase the length of the suspension. The shockers are at a slant (not perpendicular). So, how would this affect the wheels?

That is the reason you should not overdo it. Change in the length will affect the camber. As long as you do it just within the limits that can be readjusted by wheel alignment, you should be ok. This means that once you do this change, get the wheel alignment done, or you will see increased or uneven wear of the tyres.

Originally Posted by blueorchid

• By adding the spacer, you are effectively nullifying one spiral in the coil. What about the load on the other coils? How will it affect the suspension?

I am not sure about the nullification - would rather put it as buffing up (strengthening one spiral). The load will normally remain the same.
The spacers are normally used to help weak sections of the coil, but is useful for increasing the GC as well.

[chetan_l]

Originally Posted by blueorchid

Congrats Chetan (pretty late, but nevertheless, congrats!!)

@blueorchid, thanks much. Your own thread was much fun; I was glued thru it. Glad you chose an Optra - you were pretty much brow-beaten I guess! Belated congratulations to you too

Originally Posted by keyur

As for me, I loved the surge so much that I got myself a RaceChip, drove around like crazy with a stupid(er) smile on my face and then decided that it's so good and the Optra can do so much better, that I removed the Race Chip and am going for the NEXT STEP in a couple of days!

@Keyur - If an RC does not satisfy you, then I am very keen to know what is in store. Will be checking thru this weekend to see if you have updates!

[keyur]

Originally Posted by chetan_l

@Keyur - If an RC does not satisfy you, then I am very keen to know what is in store. Will be checking thru this weekend to see if you have updates!

Check this for some more details

Since you too have an LS, you could try these out!

[blueorchid]

Originally Posted by chetan_l

@blueorchid, thanks much. Your own thread was much fun; I was glued thru it. Glad you chose an Optra - you were pretty much brow-beaten I guess! Belated congratulations to you too

Thanks to you too! (The above posts about the suspensions were from my husband - not sure what he has in mind now)

Originally Posted by keyur

That is the reason you should not overdo it. Change in the length will affect the camber. As long as you do it just within the limits that can be readjusted by wheel alignment, you should be ok. This means that once you do this change, get the wheel alignment done, or you will see increased or uneven wear of the tyres.



I am not sure about the nullification - would rather put it as buffing up (strengthening one spiral). The load will normally remain the same.
The spacers are normally used to help weak sections of the coil, but is useful for increasing the GC as well.

Thanks for the insight!

Originally Posted by keyur

Check this for some more details

Since you too have an LS, you could try these out!

So, the taunt did get to you.. he he

[chetan_l]

@Keyur, I was following that thread too but had not seen any updates for a while. Glad to see some action on it. And man, you are fantastic in providing detailed instructions...keep up the good work!

[Auto freak]

Originally Posted by blueorchid

Congrats AutoFreak on the purchase!
I did not quite get the 'lip' that you are talking about. Could you please show that in the pic or post a comparo?

Thanks a lot blueorchid!

This is the chrome lip that i was talking about. Its a small chrome strip added on to the hood. used to be present on the LT model.
I am glad by its absence as I was never a fan of it

[Poitive]

Originally Posted by Auto freak

Last Friday, an Opty has joined our family as well! Its an upgrade from dad's 2006 Ford Ikon Flair.

Many thanks to bhpians Poitive and Keyur for all your valuable test drive reports. We couldn't find a car to test drive given that our home town is atleast 200km away from the closest Chevy dealership and even they did not have a TD car!

Your test drive reports were so comprehensive that we got more than a clear picture of the car to take the plunge!

Hey! Congrats man! These sudden announcements of Optra's being bought are such pleasant surprises

Am glad that the TD reports were useful and am a bit surprised that you took the plunge even without a TD. In general, I always always recommend one. But I hope and expect you'll be happy. Most of the negatives of the Magnum can be seen on paper (lack of gizmos). The agility can be improved to quite an extent with tyre pressure. The rest is pretty good anyway.

All the best in maintaining that colour. There are some good detailing threads on the forum, which may be of use.

Originally Posted by blueorchid

Finally, people are realizing the existence of the Optra!

I (thought I) saw a convert here - from the Cruze to the Optra! Then I saw the following

Originally Posted by blueorchid

(The above posts about the suspensions were from my husband - not sure what he has in mind now)

@Blueorchid and Hubby - Congrats to both of you, too! (I was 'missing' from the forum for a few months).

Keyur and Blueorchid (& hubby), Do you really want to tamper with this wonderful suspension? There may be more to loose, than to gain, unless you go in for some serious power boost, which the current suspension can't handle.

BTW, a long time Optra (petrol) owner had also mentioned about issues with the balancing of the Optra, due to it's independent suspension. You may want to bear that in mind too.

[keyur]

Originally Posted by Poitive

(I was 'missing' from the forum for a few months).

LOL

Originally Posted by Poitive

Keyur and Blueorchid (& hubby), Do you really want to tamper with this wonderful suspension? There may be more to loose, than to gain, unless you go in for some serious power boost, which the current suspension can't handle.

Poitive, this post was in response to a question above by kjmads. He has asked for options to increase GC. I gave him all the options I could think of. I also advised against doing anything with the suspension. So, I am not tampering with the suspension, and definitely not of my car.
My posts were answers to blue/hubby's queries regarding the same, so I have shown no intention of doing anything with my car's suspensions - serious power boost or not!

Also, the suspension can handle the power boost - it's just the people sitting in the car who cannot handle the sway / roll of the car on curves. And in such a case, doing the hack jobs mentioned above with the spacer is not recommended. You need to stiffen the entire suspension (change the dampening media) or change it to a performance suspension or change the coils with a performance coilover.

The above solution is just to increase the GC, with the side-effect (positive or negative) of the suspension getting stiffened. This kind of stiffening of a single coil will be localized and should not be considered as an alternative for performance upgrades.

Originally Posted by Poitive

BTW, a long time Optra (petrol) owner had also mentioned about issues with the balancing of the Optra, due to it's independent suspension. You may want to bear that in mind too.

The independent suspension should not affect the balancing of the Optra. It's probably some uneven wear that is causing balancing issues.

[blueorchid]

Originally Posted by Auto freak

This is the chrome lip that i was talking about. Its a small chrome strip added on to the hood. used to be present on the LT model.
I am glad by its absence as I was never a fan of it

That sure looks ugly! Glad they removed it.
But I don't remember seeing this even at the time we booked ours (or before that). Probably been removed long back.

Originally Posted by Poitive

I (thought I) saw a convert here - from the Cruze to the Optra! Then I saw the following

The convert part holds good! Am happy that we went for the Optra - (after some long distance driving in both the Optra and the Cruze).

Originally Posted by Poitive

@Blueorchid and Hubby - Congrats to both of you, too! (I was 'missing' from the forum for a few months).

Why is the 'missing' in quotes? You got banned or something (I too had been away for some time now, so am not aware of what happened)?

Originally Posted by Poitive

Keyur and Blueorchid (& hubby), Do you really want to tamper with this wonderful suspension? There may be more to loose, than to gain, unless you go in for some serious power boost, which the current suspension can't handle.

Who said anything about tampering? There was a discussion going on, and there was this informative post by Keyur. We just wanted to know what it was all about - no mention or intention of doing any of that. Take it cool!

[keyur]

I have been having a ball with my Optra and I do not find it lacking in power or pickup in any way. But there is the issue of the turbo lag and the requirement to downshift frequently in traffic – not to mention the complete mess of the FE in 1st and 2nd gears (read 9kmpl)!


To overcome these issues, I had a couple of options :

• Remap as per my need
• Piggyback chip tuned (or tunable) to my requirements

I quickly decided against the remap because at a minimum of Rs.45000, I found it very expensive, coupled with the fact that there was a possibility of someone from the service station finding it and voiding my car’s warranty. (But who am I fooling here - it was more about the price and the VFM factor)
Also, I talked to a few tuners, but they all had standard maps (custom maps were more expensive), and these maps were tuned at giving more power and torque, and not as much at reducing the lag and improving FE.


The piggybacks (Pete’s, RD box etc) were a less invasive option, removable at will and not detectable, although they would not give results as good as the remaps.

Pete’s box seems to work by increasing the injection timing while the RD box (DT Pro) raises rail pressure.



Raising injection duration was not something I was looking at as :

1. there is no feedback mechanism (sensors) to the ECU to know if the duration is incorrect.
2. the extra interval, resulting in more fuel without the extra air would result in black smoke (my logic – hope it is correct).

On the other hand, raising the rail pressure :

1. provides a feedback mechanism to the ECU (via the fuel rail pressure sensor)
2. hence the possibility of the ECU itself increasing the turbo boost pressure as well (without directly having to make changes to the boost) AND
3. the guarantee of getting atleast a warning signal if the rail pressure goes too high – again, this is a logical assumption, which feels right to me!

So, ( as written in earlier posts), I had nearly decided on the RD box with it’s 4 remotely controllable settings (Economy, Stock, P1 and P2). I wanted something between Stock and P1 and probably the possibility to fiddle with it to make changes as I deemed fit. But the box has only 4 presets and I wanted more! The cost of this was going to be Rs.20000.


Then I came across the RaceChip . This also works by raising the rail pressure, but it has multiple settings (2 dials x 16 settings each) – the caveat – you have to open the bonnet, and then the box to make the changes – but no issues there.
I contacted their team in Germany and had a 5-6 days interaction, asking them multiple questions. All my questions were answered promptly and effectively enough to give me a good level of confidence in the product. The best part was that this is priced at 129 Euro + 43 Euro shipping to India. At the Credit Card exchange rate of approximately Rs.68 to a Euro, this deal was to cost me Rs.11696. This was nearly half the cost of the RD box and gave me a chance to play around with the settings at a detailed level to ensure that the boost that I would get would be specific to my needs (or wants for that matter!)




Reasons for choosing the Race Chip over the RD DTPro :

1. Both use similar technologies and boost the rail pressure.
2. Both use adaptive learning methods and adapt to the driving pattern (both claim the same, although I can’t understand how as both work on only 1 signal – the rail pressure – there is no other signal for RPM, speed, temperature etc.. with which it can learn)
3. The RD Box has only 4 settings, out of which I am completely uninterested in Economy and P2. So, assuming that some mode starts leading to engine rattle or excess smoke, there is nothing that can be done about it.
4. In the Race Chip, there are 2 dials with 16 settings each. So I get enough to play with and tune as per my needs. (Although one would ideally play with a maximum of about 20 settings, no more). So if there is excess noise or smoke, I can adjust the settings accordingly.
5. I am not interested in the remote – I have no intention of switching between modes on the fly. (The ECU also has some dynamic memory and it too seems to adapt as per various parameters. Even the chip manufacturers state that it takes about 50 kms before you start seeing the actual results – this goes against the on-the-fly switching logic!!)
6. Also, one may play with the remotes and the modes a few times, maybe a couple of months initially, but in the long run, you would prefer a setting that takes care of your city driving as well as your highway driving equally well.
7. The Race Chip is cheaper by a full Rs.8000 (more if you can get someone to bring it here)!! So if I am going to experiment, might as well do it at a lower cost! Also, it becomes a smaller risk as well – if the damn thing does not work!
8. The Race Chip team promotes this as a DIY and is confident about the ease of setup. The RD guys said that their person would install it for me – I prefer DIY!!
9. Just by replacing the connectors, you can use it with different cars.

So, eventually, I did order the Race Chip. Had it delivered within 5 days. Unfortunately, had a slight issue with customs (don’t ask me what and how, but I did manage to get the box to me safely – although I had to pay about Rs.1800 extra.)

Here are a few pics of the Race Chip :


The Box



Contents (Connector, Race Chip, Check Plug, Cable Ties, Manual, Receipt)




The T-Connector (the right side - female - gets the incoming signal from the car - the left one - male - goes into the rail)




A close up of the connectors (male - left, female - right) - this acts like a proxy. The cable from the ECU (going originally to the rail) goes into the female, and the male goes into the rail.



The serial port connector on the Race Chip



The other side (open this to see the adjustment dials)



The PCB (it is potted to prevent leakage issues as well as piracy). The jumpers enable programming mode (don't know how)











The check plug (opened). You can see that there is one LED and two other wires shorting a 2 pairs of pins. The LED is on the positive supply going to the rail. The other two are for the signal to the rail and the ground. The plug just checks if the polarity is correct (otherwise the LED won't light up)





The serial connector of the cable opened up.



RED : +12V supply
BLACK : Ground
GREEN : Signal coming from ECU to the rail (now going to the chip)
YELLOW : Modified Signal from the Chip going to the Rail (instead of the green cable directly from ECU)


The T-section of the cable. You can see that the GREEN, RED and BLACK cables going to the Chip (from the ECU) and the YELLOW cable going to the rail. (A pair of RED and BLACK cables also go directly across from the female connector to the male)



This is the end result after fitting the Race Chip




Details about how to fit the Race Chip, what the dials do, how the settings work etc.. can be seen here in my DIY thread.

Disclaimer : This MAY or MAY NOT have been done on my own car and could be a figment of my imagination, as imaginary things do not void car warranties

[blueorchid]

Originally Posted by keyur

This is the end result after fitting the Race Chip


Details about how to fit the Race Chip, what the dials do, how the settings work etc.. can be seen here in my DIY thread.

So, what are the changes after putting in the chip (imaginary or not ).
Any performance figures?