[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

My Civic too though i am not sure if the second (a/c) is actually a issue.

I specifically checked with them. As per them its not a problem, the engine to keep itself cool cuts off the AC when the car isnt moving fast enough. I am guessing here, the airflow from front helps in cooling engine in someway hence when the car starts moving at decent speeds the AC gets chiller.

Other updates, also updated the Civic problems thread. Got the Discs replaced (Front only) with Pads. The old ones had a decent groove on them and i could feel it with my fingers. Here are the pictures and the invoice.

[F150]

Wow, disc and pad replacement within 6 months and 9K kms ?
Sure looks like a manufacturing defect.
The discs last much longer and the pads usually give up around 20-25K kms depending on the vehicle and driving style.

Mayank,

Keep us posted about your warranty claim with HONDA.
Brake pads are much cheaper if bought from EBAY, refer bhuvan prasad's thread.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Other updates, also updated the Civic problems thread. Got the Discs replaced (Front only) with Pads. The old ones had a decent groove on them and i could feel it with my fingers. Here are the pictures and the invoice.

Do you get your car washed by the building car wash boy? They have this bad habit of splashing dirty water on all the wheels after washing so the car looks washed (water around the wheels) when the owner comes down. What it does is rust the hell out of the discs with dirty water.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Do you get your car washed by the building car wash boy? They have this bad habit of splashing dirty water on all the wheels after washing so the car looks washed (water around the wheels) when the owner comes down. What it does is rust the hell out of the discs with dirty water.

Yup even my washer used to do that. I had strictly instructed him to wash the wheels only on sat and sun as that's usually when i drive the car.Rest of the days since the car sits idle if he were to wash the wheels the disc etc gets more prone to rust.On the weekends since i drive the car the problem is reduced to a quite certain extent.

[mayankjha1806]

Got the car washed over the weekend, and did a cursory check under the bonnet. This is going to be my first night drive earlier ones where either ending in the night (or late night), but never went through the night. This time its different.

Did a small highway run to check the Discs, and effects of synthetic oil. Looks perfect for now. As stated elsewhere the plan is to start by Friday midnight to reach Tadoba by Saturday afternoon. Safaris are planned for Sunday, morning and afternoon and then we continue our drive to Raipur on Monday after breakfast.

Will get a chance to test my newly acquired D90 and 15 year old 28-300 Zoom Tamron Lenses.

[mayankjha1806]

Started at 11 in the night from Bellandur and reached HYD at around 6am, with @ranjitp's help had good breakfast and then started from HYD at around 8AM. Reached Svasara Resort (Svasara Luxury Resort at Tadoba | Jungle Safaris, Tadoba Tiger Reserve India) at 3 in the afternoon. Car behaved wonderfully, did not stop anywhere and maintained decent speeds (not super fast) and she did return wonderful average. Overall covered 1080 Kms in 16 Hours with 1.5 hours for breakfast and 30 mins for lunch plus multiple small stops for nature calls.

After 116 Kms on the highway


After 206 Kms, still very good looking fuel efficiency


At 595 Kms in Hyderabad, fuel efficiency figures that might put some hatchbacks to shame, and this was with decent speeds not slow. She touched 17.4 peak fuel efficiency but later dropped back to 17.1.


In the end, decent traffic in between lots of gear changes. Still respectable in my eyes.

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

In the end, decent traffic in between lots of gear changes. Still respectable in my eyes.

Wow, those are some superb fuel-efficiency figures! As you rightly said, that would put some hatchbacks to shame. This is exactly what I love about Honda's gem called i-VTEC. Be it power, be it fuel-efficiency, it hardly disappoints. Have a great and spirited drive back mayank.

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

She touched 17.4 peak fuel efficiency but later dropped back to 17.1

I have manually tracked FE for my car from the first fill onwards using the auto cutoff readings. I've observed that the dash reading is ALWAYS inflated by 10 to 15 % !!! I suspect this is one way by which Honda enhances the perception of being FE gods ;-)

Having said that, it's still wonderful efficiency that you've achieved. On a recent trip out over 200 odd kms I managed around 16.7 on the display with 100% AC and very sedate driving. 205 tyres with 31 pressure.

What tyres are you running on? What pressure?

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by shuvc

I suspect this is one way by which Honda enhances the perception of being FE gods ;-)

Ohhh, No, my heart is broken

Originally Posted by shuvc

What tyres are you running on? What pressure?

Stock Micheline with 32 psi.

[nilanjanray]

That is great FE. Good to know that the drive went well.

All the best for the safaris!

[F150]

Originally Posted by shuvc

Having said that, it's still wonderful efficiency that you've achieved. On a recent trip out over 200 odd kms I managed around 16.7 on the display with 100% AC and very sedate driving. 205 tyres with 31 pressure.

What tyres are you running on? What pressure?

Yeah sedate driving is the keyword. BHPian DOT also reported similar or better figures on his CIVIC AT during a trip to DAMAN or GUJARAT.

He installed some VTEC indicator, that was his reference for fuel efficient speeds.

Mayank,

Whats the update on your warranty claim ?

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by shuvc

I suspect this is one way by which Honda enhances the perception of being FE gods

Ok, i did a full-tank-to-full-tank calculation between HYD-BLR run, on MID it said 17.1 and by my calculation it came to 16.7. Still decent numbers by any standards, but you are right in terms of higher reporting of FE numbers.

Originally Posted by F150

Yeah sedate driving is the keyword. Whats the update on your warranty claim ?

This was not really sedate, it was all the way three digit speeds, although not revving hard. Will update soon on warranty thingy, got a call from Honda on this matter and it has been escalated to higher folks.

[mayankjha1806]

01 July 2012

While riving back from Nagpur to Hyderabad on our return journey, at around 0045 hrs, 30Kms before Hyderabad, over empty, lonely roads, with feeble traffic, on a sedate speed a dog decided to jump from the bushes in between on to the road in front of the car.

It was so close that there was hardly any time to react and the unthinkable happened (The Accident), second one after full 5 years.

Got down to check damage, the bumper was broken, so was a radiator and when started the car was heating up. Decided to call the Honda Care and within 45mins the guy with a flat-bed truck shows up to take the car to Sundaram Honda.

We drop the car to Sundaram Honda, and check into a Hotel for the night. Next day morning after assessing the damage and raising the insurance claim we leave for Bangalore by a Volvo.

Over the next two weeks, got almost every day updates from Mr Ashish Raj from Sundaram Honda (On MG Road, Secundarabad).

The Reliance Insurance, as expected and reported earlier was not a breeze (More details later). Once the car was ready we travelled to Hyderabad by train and drove the car back to Bangalore.

Some Pictures

Flat Bed truck arrives in 45 mins, excellent response from Honda Care at midnight.


This is how the car looked, painful.



Moral of the Story

• I used to think why folks drive over the middle line on a 2x2 NH Highway. Now i know why. Its safer to be away form the Bushes.
• More painful than the financial damage and damage to the car, the damage to the pride of the safe driver was.
• Another thing to worry about in Night Driving (Animals), as if existing ones were not enough.
• Keep Original RC/Insurance/Driving License with you when going out of station trips (Its a Must i must tell you). Wasted 2/3 days because of this. More details later.
• Need to research how to increase the range of my headlamps. Any suggestions.

[mayankjha1806]

The Reliance Insurance - Difficult to Rely upon

So the Insurance formalities were completed on 01 July 2012, being a Sunday it was expected that the surveyor would come on Monday. So Monday the surveyor came and informed me of some discrepancy on the documents.

What Discrepancy?

As it turns out, when buying the car the dealership sends a cover note to the insurance guys, and this cover note is sufficient to drive the car around for few days until the printed insurance copy comes from the insurer.

My Insurance copy came, and i made a mistake of not checking it completely, so the surveyor tells me that on the model name its mentioned as Honda City VMT and not Civic VMT fortunately the VIN # the Engine number were correct. When i looked at the cover note sent by Whitefield Honda it had correct information. So the mistake was completely from Reliance folks.

So the surveyor says he needs an endorsement. I tell him, its his company and he should connect with folks who are responsible to get this done (Something tells me it will not be done).

Anyway, after 2 weeks the Ashish (From Sundaram Honda) tells me the car will be ready by Wednesday, and i call surveyor to check if he has got everything he wanted. To my utter surprise he updates me he has not yet received anything from Mumbai office.

Wasting no time i pull out the URL of Reliance Insurance and escalate the matter to the email addressed given there with some un-parliamentary language, and in two hours flat i get the endorsement in my email ID.

I thought the Reliance drama is finally over, but it was not.

Honda guys inform me that by Wednesday the car would be ready and i can come and collect the same on Thursday (19 July 2012). We start by night train to Hyderabad and reach the dealership on MG Road at 9AM. The guys there update me that they have not yet received the amount clearance from Reliance after showing the surveyor everything and he taking the pictures on Wednesday morning.

What clearance?

It seems once the car is ready the surveyor needs to inform what portion of the liability will be paid by the insurance company and what portion the customer has to pay. I call the surveyor and he says he has sent the details to Mumbai office (As the amount is high, not sure if 70K is considered high), and hopefully will receive the approval by evening.

This was not acceptable as i wanted to start my return drive by afternoon so as to avoid night driving. So after some push and pull he finally shows up at the dealership at 1245 in the afternoon and approves his portion, i quickly pay my portion of the amount and leave the dealership. Time was already 1415 hrs.

In about 15 mins we get the front number plate fixed as it was broken and i did not want to take it on the highway without a proper number plate. Finally we leave MG Road at 1445 and reach BIAL by 2030 in night and home in Bellandur at around 2130.

A huge shout out to fellow BHPian @ranjitp1, who provided timely help in all occasions. Thanks a ton @Ranjit.

Ironically i had similar accident 5 years back on my Baleno, within the city when i hit an Indica in the front. The total bill at that time on Beleno was about ~90K

More pictures of how the car looks currently coming up.

Few parts that were replaced

[procircuit_234]

sad for your car.. but what happened to the dog?