[convivial]

Hello everyone -

Not a day passes without spending few minutes on the T-bhp forum. Thought I dont comment much, there isn't a word of some posts, I would want to miss. All this while, I had been passionately reading reviews that are arguably the best one can ask for. And all thoughout this time, my Elantra had been with me - no complaints or tantrums. Sad that even when this most under-rated car never threw me tantrums, the quality of service rendered by the dealer left me clueless and fuming every time I took it for a checkup. A small accident and those guys learnt how to tinker and paint, the trial and error way! Horrendous is the after sales support offered by many car manufacturers in India and I am sure when I move on to the next segment soon, I will have to think so many times about bringing home and Avante or Santa Fe. Not because of the car, but the places I will take it for service and repair. The car being good just cannot be THE motivating factor to buy.

There were couple of mods I did - Pete's Box came in at around 10,000KM with a Green Cotton Filter and the tyres went up to 205/65 R 15. After the wonder box got fixed, the car has given me out of the world experience. I just cannot find words to express how effortless driving is when its a Peted Elantra. Imagine this, the clutch assembly almost completely worn out, suspension overdue for an overhaul, tyres not in that great condition - and I start from Trivandrum at 4AM, check-in at Coimbatore at 8:30AM! Just once did I touch 120....the way you can average is what makes this a spectacular machine to drive. The hydraulic steering is a pain in the city, but the moment you turn towards the highway and step on the pedal (the way it should be), you feel the manner in which the car gets planted on to the ground - whatever be the conditions. The low stance makes me yell at times - I am a 6 footer, imagine. But that becomes an advantage when I take it to the highway. Last evening, I travelled to Tirunelveli and purposefully stayed calm - I must admit that cruising at 7-80kmph is pleasure, stress-free. The other is pleasure too, but of a different kind! :-)

The clutch assembly has troubled me consistently - one drawback I have seen with the Elantra. The stock player has stopped working completely except for the radio - first the cassette player stopped and then the CD player. See, this is what happens when you have an engine that speaks to you - earlier when I had a Santro and Lancer, the audio unit was up-to-date. Not even once would the car move without the player on. But over the years, the CRDi has changed the type of music I listen to - its the grunt and that addictive music when you downshift, overtake and do all that - isn't that something most of you do? If not, try!

Returns a respectable economy of 14.5 kmph - whatever I do with it. With the Pete and on city and highway, I am assured of this fuel efficiency. Shouldn't I be a happy customer? The filter got replaced recently - the Green Cotton gives it a different dimension and there is certainly a difference when I change to the stock while taking to the dealership for a service.

After all the amateurish treatment at the local dealership, I now want some knowledgeable guys to have a look at the car, suggest the few important corrections that may be required. I know its time that someone qualified looked at it - the consistent oil change at 5000-6000km interval all these years has certainly helped the condition of the car.

Can I get some help from the Elantra owners out here and others in deciding whether I should go for a Synthetic oil, Turbo checks (and which dealer), suspension change (I have never changed it in all these 5 years!).

I want to use it for another 6 months to a year before moving on.

Appreicate all your help and interesting thoughts.

I will attach a picture of my handsome stallion later, cannot do it at work...

[kpzen]

Ah! Another Peted Elantra and still cruising well after 1lac kms.
You have Peter in Cochin (Petes Automotive), I would advise you to get the car checked there once.

Cheers

[deepfusion]

Is the Pete's box responsible for the clutch or is the regular wear and tear?

Just curious.

[.anshuman]

Even after one year of selling my Elantra CRDI, i still miss it. Even at ~1,50,000 kms the car was as good as new. Elantra was the only stiffly sprung Hyundai car sold in our country, i just loved the super flat high speed ride, composure at speed and the awesome brakes.



My ownership thread: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...-now-sold.html

[rikhav]

Correct me if i am wrong, Elentra was the only car in its segment to have traction control and that too switchable

This was told to me by a friend who has an Elentra

[jkdas]

I can post a pic of your car

Talk to Jerrish at Tvm or ping Peter like Kp said. If you travel to Kovai, that would be the best IMHO. About the local a.s.s., all there are bad? For painting, I would suggest Color Wheels @ Chakka.

Good to know that you car did one lac plus with a pete's box. Was in an Innova last day which had done 1.5lac with petes box ( odo at 2.7lac!)

[convivial]

True Anshuman. I had been jittery at times when I drive the new gen cars like Laura, Jetta et al. The car sure has aged - the rubber parts showing clear signs of ageing. Just when I purposefully run a project inside me to go for a new one, I get a long drive and this beauty gives me a bang on the face for my thoughts. The way this car averages is unbelievable - like I said the trip to Coimbatore was unbelievable and that too considering the condition it was in.


[quote=.anshuman;2611298]Even after one year of selling my Elantra CRDI, i still miss it. Even at ~1,50,000 kms the car was as good as new. Elantra was the only stiffly sprung Hyundai car sold in our country, i just loved the super flat high speed ride, composure at speed and the awesome brakes.

Correct Rikhav - Its the only car in that segment (back then) to have TCS (with an ON/OFF switch), big rear armrests with a tray, ABD/EBD, All wheel discs, a proper 2L engine (i now have around 125 ps to be proud of), a nice glove box and centre arm rest. You know what, to be honest, I had started test driving few cars to just get a feel of what I would replace this with. I wated to remain just below 11-12L and get a good powerful car and test drove Vento day before as the first from among the list of Vento, Altis, Laura Ambiente Manual and the Rapid (eager to see - launching on 19th in Trivandrum). Vento is powerful - agreed and delighted - but I am so spoiled by the sheer space offered by the Elantra that I somehow can't get myself to be enthralled by the overall package. I would test drive Altis "only" for its space and rear comfort. The engine would disappoint me - I know. Rapid - I await its launch here. It has more character than the Vento and I presume the NVH levels are also less than the Vento - something I wished VW paid more attention to.

Originally Posted by rikhav

Correct me if i am wrong, Elentra was the only car in its segment to have traction control and that too switchable

This was told to me by a friend who has an Elentra

Hey JK, do you have a pic of my car? :-) Ages since I met you. Where in Kovai would I get a good dealership to show the car? The dealerships around? Let me give you an experience - the chief service engineer in the 2 major dealerships tell me "Sir, we understood why you were complaining loss of power. We removed the blue box and all is well." I ask them to come with me for a ride with and without the box fixed. Then the next question "Sir, how does this work?". Tell me, how do I trust these guys?
Its a big struggle within to let go or retain the car. One of my close friends prays daily that I get wiser and sell this car, so that he can buy it. :-) He was with me on the trip to Coimbatore. How is the Innova with the Petes Box? Does the box transform the car like anything?
The new Avante is all around my desktop. But what do I do with dealerships like these? It gets launched in May/June (I got it confirmed from the dealership) and I dont know whether to put my neck into......

Originally Posted by jkdas

I can post a pic of your car

Talk to Jerrish at Tvm or ping Peter like Kp said. If you travel to Kovai, that would be the best IMHO. About the local a.s.s., all there are bad? For painting, I would suggest Color Wheels @ Chakka.

Good to know that you car did one lac plus with a pete's box. Was in an Innova last day which had done 1.5lac with petes box ( odo at 2.7lac!)

[convivial]

Fondly remembering every day since June 2006 when the Stallion stormed into my life. In the first image, you can see BHPian Ram completing the formalities of delivery. A MILLION THANKS to this enthusiast who urged me to take this car. I remember the day I got pissed off with my Lancer LXi for its "performance" and "quality" and decided to switch to an Accent. Even gave him the cheque, but got it back. After a year of buying a Petrol Lancer, getting another car for 9.5L was a pain, a very difficult decision to take. But was it worth it? I bet - a million dollars! This has made every trip of mine memorable. Top speed of 190kmph (Madurai-Rameswaram) and countless trips to Cochin giving breathless performances! You know what - I have even patted him many times after a drive! :-) Thank You dear.

Performance, cabin space, turning radius (4.5m - isn't it phenomenal?), stability, brakes (not the best, but definitely sufficient even after Pete-ing it) - its real value for money!
Recently, I got him a new i10 auto for company. Done almost 7600kms and gives an economy of 11-12kmph in the city. Elantra is a pleasure the minute I take the turn into the highway, but mostly a taxing experience when I run the errands on a Saturday. Owing to the low stance (my tires are upgraded, but thats nothing), I have done some damage to my back. i10 is a toy and fun to move around with in the city. More on the i10 in a new thread soon.

[misquitas]

Originally Posted by convivial

Fondly remembering every day since June 2006 when the Stallion stormed into my life.

This has made every trip of mine memorable. Top speed of 190kmph (Madurai-Rameswaram) and countless trips to Cochin giving breathless performances! You know what - I have even patted him many times after a drive! :-) Thank You dear.

Performance, cabin space, turning radius (4.5m - isn't it phenomenal?), stability, brakes (not the best, but definitely sufficient even after Pete-ing it) - its real value for money!
Recently, I got him a new i10 auto for company. Done almost 7600kms and gives an economy of 11-12kmph in the city. Elantra is a pleasure the minute I take the turn into the highway, but mostly a taxing experience when I run the errands on a Saturday. Owing to the low stance (my tires are upgraded, but thats nothing), I have done some damage to my back. i10 is a toy and fun to move around with in the city. More on the i10 in a new thread soon.

Congrats on the arrival of your i10 and looking forward to your ownership thread.

Contrary to the general perception that a black-coloured car is not a popular shade due to its upkeep, your black Elantra is one heck of a beauty. Snap Nos 1 and 7 clearly bring out the best (glossy) look of the car. Just how you do to maintain its glorious shine? Take your saloon to a beauty salon???

By the way, I found your registration number KL-22-111 a bit unusual. Shouldn't there be FOUR aspects to the registration number, such as KL-22-xx-111, where xx stands for an alphabet/s? Here in Goa, at least, the alphabet (there is only a single alphabet classification till this point in time) is always printed on the number place.

[MalluDude]

Originally Posted by misquitas

By the way, I found your registration number KL-22-111 a bit unusual. Shouldn't there be FOUR aspects to the registration number, such as KL-22-xx-111, where xx stands for an alphabet/s? Here in Goa, at least, the alphabet (there is only a single alphabet classification till this point in time) is always printed on the number place.

Registration starts, in this instance, from KL-22-1 to KL-22-9999, after that KL-22-A-1 to KL-22-A-9999, and so on. The same might be the case all over India(I may be wrong though).

[misquitas]

Originally Posted by MalluDude

Registration starts, in this instance, from KL-22-1 to KL-22-9999, after that KL-22-A-1 to KL-22-A-9999, and so on. The same might be the case all over India(I may be wrong though).

I think you may be right on this count. I just checked up with wikipedia and found this info:

* The first two letters of the registration plate represent the State in which the vehicle is Registered.

* The next two digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, the numbers were given to the RTO offices of registration as well.

* The third part is a 4 digit number unique to each plate. A letter(s) is prefixed when the 4 digit number runs out and then two letters and so on.

SOURCE: Vehicle registration plates of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Incidentally, though, I have never seen a vehicle in Goa without the letter.

[convivial]

Thanks Misquitas! Well, I clean the car once every 2 days (till about 6 months back, almost every day). When you wash regularly, you don't accumulate too much dirt on a daily basis (barring monsoon and long drives, of course) and its easy every day - a few minutes of your time. I clean the dashboard and the panels every time I wash. Plus, the alloys and if possible, the tyres. I haven't done very few paid water services at the dealership. I have always followed this practice and found that the vehicle ages less over time. I mean, it looks fresh every day. May not be technically right, but I have experienced that a vehicle always looks young if you keep it clean.

Recently, I had the car painted (an overcoat), but the dealer proved how worst a job can be done. I don't have a pic after that was done. It looks shiny on the pics, but when you observe closely, you see all the undulations:-( I intend to do another full overcoat very soon, if I am not selling the car. These pics were taken before I took it to the dealership to paint the rear bumper following a small accident when an Indigo couldn't just resist the looks of the Elantra! :-) I thought I will paint it in full, a big mistake. I would like to take it to some good place in Cochin for an overcoat, but I think I will check out the place Jkdas suggested.

This car was the first to be registered in a new sub-RTO in Kerala on the outskirts of the capital city. The Kerala RTO had just been divided into many sub RTOs and the place where I got the Elantra registered had just opened its registrations. Ofcourse, I had to pay some to get the fancy number. One of the myriad reasons for this car to be dear....

[anujmishra]

Originally Posted by misquitas

[/b]Incidentally, though, I have never seen a vehicle in Goa without the letter.

In Bangalore also you can find similar numbering. Here yellow plate vehicles have number without series A, B, C.

[convivial]

I would like to get opinion from fellow enthusiasts here -

1. Moving to Synthetic oil - should I and which brand/make should I go for?
2. Tyres - steering is harder (its already hard thanks to the hydraulic unit) after the upgrade to 205. What next? Which is a better brand - Michelin? I am thinking of going back to 195. 205 had improved the stance a lot and the likelihood of hitting those speed breakers and dips. A trip to Wayanad is due and I know how horrendous the roads are, now.

Thanks in advance!

[Steeroid]

Agree, the Elantra was probably the most under-rated car sold in India - high-speed dynamics, ride, brakes, space and features that are missing in many of today's cars all add up to a great package of which the humble 2.0 CRDi unit is very clearly the highlight.

Stick to whatever oil Hyundai pours in during the regular service, dont bother upgrading to synthetic et al. For tyres 205 is fine - try the Apollo Acceleres.

Regular issues you will have with the Pete'd engine are clutch wear and the need to change gearbox mountings regularly. Please remember the car was originally a 2.0 petrol and the clutch/GB was probably not designed with a very torquey and surprisingly revvy diesel in mind.