[naut]

Originally Posted by rkurup

GTO, need your practical advice on going ahead with sunfilm. I am getting my Jazz this weekend, and have been advised by many to go for sunfilm given the huge glass area. Have inquired with few vendors, all claiming to do "RTO approved" sunfilms. What is the final word on this - is there anything such as a "RTO approved" sunfilm grade?

Your advice on this will be most appreciated. Apologies if I digressed from the subject of this thread.

Thanks,
Rahul

Hey Rahul,

Although the question wasn't for me, here is my humble opinion. There is no film that "is" or "can be" "RTO approved" after the sunfilm verdict by the honourable supreme court of India period. You can look up the sunfilm verdict thread for details.

The implementation of SC order has happened to varying extents across the country. I still find quite a lot of cars flouting really dark tints in Bangalore roaming around freely. I also see a few of them being stopped and the films being forcibly removed by the cops. Depends on your luck. I would never want to be pulled over by a cop for dark films on a nice holiday drive. Remember the SC order is valid through out the country!

I do know that films of the type vkool-70 or CR-70 from 3M are extremely hard to detect from a distance and can't be detected unless a cop scratches the inner surface of the glass with a knife or a blade.

So the call is yours!

As far as I am concerned, I would like to stand in line with the SC order. I got the fims on my car removed within the deadline and drive around without any fear.

Do let us know how it goes for you. All the best!

Regards,
Abhi

[GTO]

*Update*

First service completed yesterday. Problems : Zilch. Not a bulb or fuse gone wrong. Got to love Japanese cars for their reliability

[drmohitg]

Thanks for sharing the cost of servicing GTO. Rs. 3700 sounds very reasonable for a 10k kms service. How was your experience overall? How is there attitude towards customers and the general handling of cars? Also can you elaborate on item 2 and 3 in the bill above?
The Engine oil being used is mineral right? Any plans for moving to synthetic oil?

[Jammy70]

GTO, I should say you have a convert (well, almost!) thanks to your review. I don't think anyone else could give a more balanced review - of their own vehicle. Wonderful, and thank you once again!

Coming to the 'convert' part: I am now looking at a sedan in the 10 lac budget and I had my eyes firmly on the City SMT. I did the Petrol vs Diesel comparisons (thanks to jessie007) and realised that the City made more sense than the Rapid (Ambition) or Vento diesels based on my running - approximately 14k pa. But throw in the Sunny diesel (XL) into the equation and the City holds good only if I am going to do less than 11k km pa!

So the search began and came across your review; headed directly to the dealer and did a quick 3-4 km drive in B'lore city traffic. The Sunny handled beautifully in the mad traffic with absolutely no turbo lag and an easy steering. I found the brakes to be sufficient and interestingly the SA asked my opinion about it - claims Nissan had got a lot of poor feedback about the brakes and they have fixed 'the issue'!

I have scheduled for a a more detailed TD tomorrow. Meanwhile, I have a concern which I thought you maybe able to throw more light on. I found that the white TD vehicle which had clocked a little over 12k and hadn't been serviced yet (claims the SA) had a ring of exhaust residue on the bumper. Now, I wouldn't have read too much into it until I saw another one with a similar residue today at my son's tennis class; unlike the TD vehicle, this was a very well maintained car. The driver claimed they haven't got to 10k kms yet to take it for the service. When the car drove off, there was substantial black fumes too, (each time he accelarated).

GTO, is this something to worry about - that an engine which has clocked 10k or less is giving away black smoke? Or, is this common in the DCI engines? Have you noticed anything on your car? I am attaching an image of the car's exhaust traces - I have circled it out.

Your inputs will be of great help to my decision process (the City is still in the running).

Best!

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by GTO

Fuel Efficiency

23 kpl on the highway! We reached Nasik and the fuel gauge hadn't moved:

At 395 kms:

DTE says we still have 596 kms before the tank runs dry:

My car did 3,000 kms in the first month itself. The Sunny has been consistently delivering 16 kpl in congested Mumbai city, sometimes going as high as 17. Over our Deolali trip, the Sunny delivered ~22 kpl...and on the drive back (when I realised there is no point redlining), 23ish kpl. The fuel cost works out to a mere Rs. 2 per km! I expect the efficiency to further improve as the engine crosses the 10 - 20K mark.

This is without doubt the most fuel-efficient car our family has ever owned, and we now understand why cabbies love the engine. In fact, this is a rare car that beats its own ARAI rating of 21.64 kpl.

I'm a little disappointed with the FE I'm getting. On a mumbai pune mumbai run that included in pune driving I got about 18.2 kmpl, which though not too bad is still a little lower than I expected.

Within mumbai though the FE is ranging in the 10s and 11s the two times that I've checked. I was hoping it should at least give 14.5 kmpl on conservative expectations. We are not too hard on the car so I am a little disappointed. One hope could be that over the period I've owned it, the car has been through the worst bumper to bumper traffic very often in these few fill ups - I'm talking some very bad mumbai monsoon and Ganapati traffic. But even then my bbay pune bbay run that had very modest traffic in pune still only yielded 18.2 or something like that.

Any thoughts on this or any suggestions on what I could do to either test this further or get this sorted in some way if there is indeed a problem?

PS: all mileage figures based on tankful to tankful calculation not the MID readout. On a side note, I've found my MID AVG readout consistently a little over what I get through the tankful to tankful manual calculation.

PPS: my home to office commute is about 8-9 kms so it's not that it runs very short distances (I'm aware that very short runs reduces FE to some level). The journey is from central suburbs to lower parel)

[satish_appasani]

GTO

Your review is spot on. Picked my Sunny Diesel XV last Wednesday. Mine is brick red. Love the car for the purpose I bought it, whole family travelling comfortably without spending too much money. My 5+ years old son literally walks in to the rear of the car when the driver seat is set to comfortable position for my 6'1" height. The driveability is also too good in the city. Yet to take it on the expressway (Hyderabad ORR) though it is just a KM away from my home.

I added the rear chrome garnish to the number plate light cover and makes the car look better than the bland stock look. My dealer experiance with Lakshmi Nissan, Hyderabad was pretty good.

Few flaws I have apart from the brake,

The storage in the car is very less for it's size. No ticket holder, compact holder for mobile phone, no space for change if the front can holders are used.
When the car hits a speed breaker a little too fast, the shock is transmitting all the way to steering. I can feel the steering hit violently. I don't know if it is just my car.

I will soon start a thread of my own.

[Chitta Pradhan]

Originally Posted by Axe77

I'm a little disappointed with the FE I'm getting. On a mumbai pune mumbai run that included in pune driving I got about 18.2 kmpl, which though not too bad is still a little lower than I expected.

Attachment 991416

My friend has a Sunny diesel & easily gets 22 kmpl on highway on sedate driving@ 80-90 kmph. In your case, I feel speed could have been the culprit. My Verna if driven at 120 kmph returns around 17.5-18 kmpl, while 80 kmph driving gives 22 kmpl.

All Sunny owners are happy with the FE. You can expect 22 kmpl @ 80-90 km/hr speed. Do update.

Thanks

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

My friend has a Sunny diesel & easily gets 22 kmpl on highway on sedate driving@ 80-90 kmph. In your case, I feel speed could have been the culprit. My Verna if driven at 120 kmph returns around 17.5-18 kmpl, while 80 kmph driving gives 22 kmpl.

All Sunny owners are happy with the FE. You can expect 22 kmpl @ 80-90 km/hr speed. Do update.

Thanks

The highway was ok actually - city highway combined with 115-120 avg on highway got us 18 plus. It's within the city that it's really really bad but maybe it's the exttaordinaly bad traffic that monsoon plus ganpati has throw up. Will see over couple more months I guess.

[satyamajumder]

Picked up my Sunny Diesel XL yesterday. Thanks to GTO's dispassionate review. In fact, I was floored the day i TD the car. I was a bit apprehensive about the service standards in the Nissan dealerships, but was wonderfully surprised with my experinece so far with them in Kolkata, Chandrani Nissan. Exceptionally professional, and kept every commitment (special thanks to Ritayan). So far, driven about 50 kms, and all very happy kms. Still figuring out the details, but the more I am discovering, the more I realise that my decision to buy this car has been a right one.Would have to test their service station standards, though.

[GTO]

I'm seeing many Sunny delivery announcements here, glad to know that my review was helpful to you guys.

Now, it's your turn to share a full, unbiased ownership report that will help others make the right purchase decision

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by GTO

I'm seeing many Sunny delivery announcements here, glad to know that my review was helpful to you guys.

Now, it's your turn to share a full, unbiased ownership report that will help others make the right purchase decision

Absolutely. I've got a reasonably detailed manuscript in place that I'm updating with my ongoing experience. Just need to finish the pics and also upload once my experience with the car is at least worth 2-3,000 kms for better initial perspective.

In the meantime, any comments on my FE experience?

Cheers.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by satyamajumder

Picked up my Sunny Diesel XL yesterday. Thanks to GTO's dispassionate review. In fact, I was floored the day i TD the car. I was a bit apprehensive about the service standards in the Nissan dealerships, but was wonderfully surprised with my experinece so far with them in Kolkata, Chandrani Nissan. Exceptionally professional, and kept every commitment (special thanks to Ritayan). So far, driven about 50 kms, and all very happy kms. Still figuring out the details, but the more I am discovering, the more I realise that my decision to buy this car has been a right one.Would have to test their service station standards, though.

Many congratulations on your new ride. Its good to have a new member who owns a Sunny. Its one practical car given the business class leg space in the rear seat. We would love to have you join us in our TBHP meets (we recently had one). Wishing you many happy miles on your new ride.

[satyamajumder]

Thanks Samarjit. I would definitely share more about my experience of owning this caar. AND I would LOVE to be a part of the larger TBHP family, and meeting some of you in person. Would post a wholesome review after driving it for at least 500 kms. I am sure with the initial experience so fulfilling, the review would be only the positives, hoping so.

[girishglg]

Originally Posted by GTO

*Update*

First service completed yesterday. Problems : Zilch. Not a bulb or fuse gone wrong. Got to love Japanese cars for their reliability

I'm seeing many Sunny delivery announcements here, glad to know that my review was helpful to you guys.

Now, it's your turn to share a full, unbiased ownership report that will help others make the right purchase decision

Have been following your ownership review from the beginning but now breaking silence to say that indeed it has helped many to make the right decision.

As a true BHPian, have been sending both the official review and your ownership reviews to some of my friends who are in the lookout for a sedan / upgrade.

Just recently one of my close friends after reading this, changed his mind and switched to Sunny XL from Dzire ZDi (even after a long wait and the delivery was just 2 weeks away!) since the price differential was just close to Rs.1 lakh between them though the VFM was much higher!

Also thanks for the servicing update and happy to know that the car is truly niggle free. A big reassurance for many potential and new owners!

[Axe77]

1000 kms check up for my Sunny D XV:
@ Kurla Kamani service station LBS Marg

Overall no issues but my driver had taken the car to the service station and he told me that its absolutely low grade. Looks like a converted tabela without decent walls and hardly any place to sit either.

Has anyone else been to the LBS Marg Service Station personally? This kind of apathy by Nissan dealers towards its service facilities is quite disappointing - will make it a point to visit it personally in the near future.