[khoj]

Hi GTO, does the 'disco' Civic have space left over in the boot for a familiy's luggage

Completely agree with you on the positive attributes of the Sunny. Last April did Ahmedabad - Rajkot - Veeraval- Porbandar - Dwarka - Ahmedabad with my parents and since Corrolla was not easily available the taxi used was Sunny. The car had 70000 kms on the odo in slightly over an year's time and there was nary a creak, groan or any other mechanical noise from the vehicle. In fact not even on the broken surfaces on the Gir approach roads. The cooling was A One and my parents had a very relaxed and comfortable ride throughout. Later the same year did a Poona- Shirdi - Nasik - Poona circuit in a Corolla taxi and my father sorely missed the Sunny's leg room.

Originally Posted by GTO

Correction - You chose the Sunny over the (loud) Civic!



True. A lot of attributes in common (space, reliability, soft ride, boring to drive).



Yeah, even I am pleasantly surprised at how well she is ageing. Not only the roads, but even the usage...

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by GTO

Correction - You chose the Sunny over the (loud) Civic!

I'm glad I didn't opt for the Civic.

My mom would have gone crazy in the back seat. That exhaust is insanely loud and the other problem is that it's insanely addictive which makes you want to redline even more.

The drive back at night was simply awesome with that exhaust.

Had I been going alone to Pune, I wouldn't had even considered the Sunny.

[sastha19]

I do not know whether it is appropriate to ask here but I bought a second hand Sunny that did not come with a manual. Can anyone help by uploading a pdf copy or if some good soul in chennai can help, I can pick up copy and return it.Any other suggestions anyone has.Thanks in advance.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by sastha19

I do not know whether it is appropriate to ask here but I bought a second hand Sunny that did not come with a manual. Can anyone help by uploading a pdf copy

I haven't even read mine - it's a simple car with simple features. Are you looking for anything in particular from the owner's manual?

[sastha19]

Thanks for the reply. With your experience you don't need to, I feel. I do not have anything particular in mind, thought if some one had it would be nice to read and find out if there is anything new. Anyway as luck would have I ran in to a noble soul who lent his book and I am in the process of getting it copied.

[super.cars]

Hmm, interesting thread that brought out some family side of GTO. I liked it

[rosh_aveo1.4]

GTO...did you know this feature in the Sunny i.e the car is off but if I flash the high beam once, the headlight remains on for 30 seconds or so, kind of those follow me home headlight feature. I guess it might have been mentioned but I missed it.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by rosh_aveo1.4

GTO...did you know this feature in the Sunny i.e the car is off but if I flash the high beam once, the headlight remains on for 30 seconds or so, kind of those follow me home headlight feature. I guess it might have been mentioned but I missed it.

^ Yep, I believe the said feature has a mention on this thread.

In other news, the Sunny has crossed 45,000 kms. Nothing to report, she's performing her daily tasks flawlessly. I am pleasantly surprised at how well the car is ageing (despite the rough use we put her through). No rattles, no squeaks, nothing. She actually feels tight. In the exact same usage & kms, my Tata Indigo had fallen apart and we were forced to sell it off. This is the difference in quality. This is the difference in durability.

A good thing I guess since all the Nissan stealerships in proper Mumbai are shutting down. Just one more year of warranty left, after which I'm going to send her to my independent mechanic for maintenance.

Related post from another thread:

Originally Posted by GTO

This is what you get for buying a car from a lousy brand.

My Sunny used to be earlier serviced at Ichibaan Nissan. Shut down.

Then, it went to Kamla Nissan. Shut down.

Though I'm in the center of the city, there is no dealer close by! It's either Bhandup (very far away) or Navi Mumbai & Thane (different cities altogether). In comparison, Maruti, Hyundai, Tata, Mahindra, Mercedes, BMW etc. all have outlets within a 5 kms radius from home.

Things just seem to go from bad to worse for Nissan & its customers. What terrible management. Hardly a surprise that they're a flop show in India. You don't work hard & smart, you don't deserve success.

[mentalmaxout]

Originally Posted by GTO

A good thing I guess since all the Nissan stealerships in proper Mumbai are shutting down. Just one more year of warranty left, after which I'm going to send her to my independent mechanic for maintenance.

My Nissan Sunny is about to cross 36000 kms in exact 3 years... Agree with you GTO on how flawlessly it ages. Had bought the car from Torrent Nissan Mumbai, and now its shut down... what do you think is the cause for Nissan dealerships shut down ? declining sales?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by mentalmaxout

what do you think is the cause for Nissan dealerships shut down?

A parent company (Nissan) that treats them like dirt basically. In turn, the frustrated dealerships ill-treat their customers.

Remember how Nissan kept a middle man - Hover Automotive - between itself & the dealers. It was only after the dealerships went on a strike, refusing to sell Evalias, that Nissan stepped in and removed Hover.

That, and the poor sales numbers make it a no-brainer for any dealership to move to a more profitable brand. And one that'll actually look after them.

Nissan is as bad as Skoda is in India. The only difference being, their cars are reliable.

[rosh_aveo1.4]

I was just telling another member here about the rather good service experience I had here in EVM Nissan, Kochi.
I gave the car for the 30k service. Its out of warranty and I had actually planned to give the car to an independent garage but when I checked the price of some of the components from spare shops (the same place I bought comparatively cheaper spares for the Civic and the City), I found out the spares for the Nissan that they have are actually more expensive than the dealers
This was in the case of air filter, oil filter, front lower arms, tail lamp, brake pads and brake rotors. Was pleasantly surprised, so I went back to the dealer itself.
Now it ran 30k but as per time line, they wanted to do the 50k service which I said is fine but I get to dictate what needs to be done and not them and it worked out fine.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by rosh_aveo1.4

This was in the case of air filter, oil filter, front lower arms, tail lamp, brake pads and brake rotors. Was pleasantly surprised, so I went back to the dealer itself.
Now it ran 30k but as per time line, they wanted to do the 50k service which I said is fine but I get to dictate what needs to be done and not them and it worked out fine.

Quite surprised!

But by 30k kms did you need to change the lower arms and brake rotors? My Micra is on 24k kms and was guessing how long would the lower arm last; as it was the most changed spare on my erstwhile Baleno.

Do you mind sharing the spares cost and the grand total?

[rosh_aveo1.4]

Originally Posted by thoma

Quite surprised!

But by 30k kms did you need to change the lower arms and brake rotors? My Micra is on 24k kms and was guessing how long would the lower arm last; as it was the most changed spare on my erstwhile Baleno.

Do you mind sharing the spares cost and the grand total?

Well, my brother used the vehicle before this and he isn't what you call a careful driver. So not surprised. But other than that I think it should have lasted quite a while. The same goes for the brakes, I didn't have to change the rotors yet, they said I can change it at the next service but prefered not to cross 4 to 5k km. Will do that later. Once again, sure rash driving caused this.
The total cost came to Rs. 11k i.e. 4.2k for the lower arm and 7k for oil change and all associated filters and stuff, brake bleeding, some a/c compressor disinfectant and other consumables. I can scan the bill if you want.


And here are some of the approx prices in the format 'Dealer price (outside spare shop price)'

Air filter: Rs.330 (Rs.900)
Front L and R Lower arm: Rs.3,200 (Rs.4,200)
Brake pads: Rs. 2,400 (Rs.2,800 and they aren't sure if it fits)

[thoma]

Originally Posted by rosh_aveo1.4

Air filter: Rs.330 (Rs.900)
Front L and R Lower arm: Rs.3,200 (Rs.4,200)
Brake pads: Rs. 2,400 (Rs.2,800 and they aren't sure if it fits)

Is it a diesel? Did you have to change both L & R lower arms! And together they cost 3200/-? Maybe a scanned bill will be helpful when you get time; thanks.

I remember being charged close to 6k for one lower arm for the Baleno.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by GTO

The importance of a Beater?

I'm a huge believer in having a beater car if your garage has more than 1 vehicle. Basically, the beater car is the one that is driven by the chauffeur, borrowed by friends & family, driven on rough roads and is put through the chores (e.g. parked on suspicious roads or transporting furniture). The advantage of a beater is that other (nicer) cars in the house stay well-maintained and don't go through rough use. Yep, the Sunny Diesel is the beater from my garage.

Had not paid much attention to this 'beater' definition during initial reads. Noticed it during a recent re-read. I really like this definition of a beater

This is one problem I face with my Vento TSI. I am scared to give it to others (apart from a couple of folks), worried about taking it to places where parking can be iffy or the only option is to give to a valet, not comfortable parking in risky places and my wife who used to comfortably drive my SX4 is not keen on driving the Vento because it is a " Volkswagen" and a "DSG".

In such situations I miss a 'beater'. I think if and when I buy a 2nd car, it will be a beater.

My in-laws family have a couple of cars and one of them is a chauffeur driven Etios. It is touching 80K now and they have half a mind to replace with an Automatic. I explained this concept of a beater and told them to hold on to the Etios as long as it runs and replace the other car they have if needed.