[Desmosedici]

Originally Posted by SDP

Met with fellow BHPian desmosedici and clicked a few snaps with his true off-road machine:

Thanks Desmo for the drive! It was great fun!

You are most welcome and thanks for letting me have a go at the Duma. Loved the interiors. First time i sat inside a XUV and i loved it.

[SDP]

Wanted to do a "1-year review". Did not happen. Intended to do the 2nd year review when we completed 2 years. Even that did not happen. Most likely something to do with the anniversary coinciding with peak monsoon time.

And here we are now!
Date: 30th June 2015

Completed 3 years of ownership today and still remember everything from the delivery day 3 years back very vividly.

Its been 33600 kms and I still look forward to every chance to get in the driver's seat and drive off, even if it is the daily trip to office.

Yes, the Duma has visited the service center many more times than I would have liked. But, in hindsight, most of the issues were minor and some were not issues at all and was just paranoia from my side.

Yes, knowing M&M's reputation, I have always felt some amount of anxiety about mechanical/electrical failures in the car. But, in reality, I have not been stranded ..ever!

Yes, some parts like power steering hose, brake-pads were poorly designed. But, when pointed out, M&M did replace them under warranty.

Lots of people talked about "the gizmo-laden M&M vehicle would be prone to electrical/electronic failures". In reality; the so-called gizmos, the Auto-headlight, cornering lights, auto-wipe, bluetooth integration, ABS, TPMS, ACC, HHC, HDC, touch-screen, cruise-control have never failed me.

Yes, there have been minor inconveniences here and there, but overall I am still quite a happy owner.

Three cheers to a worthy trusted companion!

[vdm]

Hello SDP. My membership just got approved & I have been reading about your Duma. You won't believe I have just been glued to this thread. What an amazing write-up & the way you have been maintaining your duma, Its just superb. I thought the day my membership gets approved my first posting would be on your thread. Congratulations on the completion of 3 years. May you have many more years of drive with it.

[Maneesh.MK]

Hi DUMA,

Belated Birthday wishes !!!

@SDP

I read in some of your posts that you replaced the stock low beam bulbs with imported Morimoto HID kits. Howevere what's your thoughts on this one: OSRAM XENON HB4 4200K

My Post in official review with product snap

[SDP]

Originally Posted by Maneesh.MK

Hi DUMA,

Belated Birthday wishes !!!

@SDP

I read in some of your posts that you replaced the stock low beam bulbs with imported Morimoto HID kits. Howevere what's your thoughts on this one: OSRAM XENON HB4 4200K

My Post in official review with product snap

Saw your post. Was planning to reply, but couldn't figure out if HB4 is the same as H7. As you are aware H7 is bulb/socket-size for low-beam, so while changing to xenons, you would still need H7 size bulbs. Also are these 35W or 50W?

Osaram is a good brand and these should be good.

BTW, there is a Morimoto supplier in Mumbai now. So procurement would be relatively easier (no custom hassles).

[fusionbang]

Originally Posted by SDP

BTW, there is a Morimoto supplier in Mumbai now. So procurement would be relatively easier (no custom hassles).

How much does it cost now? any idea? Also have you changed the fog lamps and static headlamps to white ones, because the morimoto will throw white light whereas the others yellowish. Can you help me with some pointers here as I have started feeling the lights are not sufficient during night drives and as I am planning to upgrade the bulbs ASAP.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

How much does it cost now? any idea? Also have you changed the fog lamps and static headlamps to white ones, because the morimoto will throw white light whereas the others yellowish. Can you help me with some pointers here as I have started feeling the lights are not sufficient during night drives and as I am planning to upgrade the bulbs ASAP.

Sorry, no idea about current prices.

4300K Morimotos give white light when you start them. But the light hue changes to yellow in about 30 seconds. As they warm up, their yellow light is pretty close to the stock halogens in the hi-beam and fog-lamps.

6000K gives out while light. It looks cool, but is useless in foggy conditions. 6000K are available everywhere as those are quite popular. I specifically went for 4300K as I wanted the light to be yellow (as close as possible to the stock lights) and functionally useful.

[fusionbang]

Originally Posted by SDP

Sorry, no idea about current prices.

4300K Morimotos give white light when you start them. But the light hue changes to yellow in about 30 seconds. As they warm up, their yellow light is pretty close to the stock halogens in the hi-beam and fog-lamps.

6000K gives out while light. It looks cool, but is useless in foggy conditions. 6000K are available everywhere as those are quite popular. I specifically went for 4300K as I wanted the light to be yellow (as close as possible to the stock lights) and functionally useful.

That's some useful information SDP, thank you so much Even I will opt for 4300K and I am still contemplating whether to go for the HID kit or just replace the bulbs. Kindly suggest

Also will the warranty be an issue with change of these bulbs/kit? I will still check with my RM once before going ahead.

[Maneesh.MK]

Originally Posted by SDP

Saw your post. Was planning to reply, but couldn't figure out if HB4 is the same as H7. As you are aware H7 is bulb/socket-size for low-beam, so while changing to xenons, you would still need H7 size bulbs. Also are these 35W or 50W?

Osaram is a good brand and these should be good.

BTW, there is a Morimoto supplier in Mumbai now. So procurement would be relatively easier (no custom hassles).

Thanks SDP,

Yes, HB4 is different from H7 (from this snap). I will check with few more local vendors here this week and will see what they have and whether they can get Morimoto delivered here.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

That's some useful information SDP, thank you so much Even I will opt for 4300K and I am still contemplating whether to go for the HID kit or just replace the bulbs. Kindly suggest

Also will the warranty be an issue with change of these bulbs/kit? I will still check with my RM once before going ahead.

The kit comes with ballasts, relays and wiring. So you source power for the Xenon's directly from the battery and do not use any of the stock wiring. This way the possibility of service center claiming damage due to a electrical overload reduces quite a bit. Also stock bulbs draw 55W power whereas the xenons that I have work on 35W. So in essence, the xenons run on lower power than the halogens, thereby reducing the chances of electrical overload even further.

Given these 2 points, one can always counter-argue if someone talks about warranty being void. I had spoken to my RM as well as my customer care manager, explaining this before I did the install and they understood. I have not faced any warranty issues till now. In fact, when a rat had nibbled part of the xenon wiring, my RM got it taped and mended although technically its an external part.

About just replacing bulbs, you should not go to higher wattage bulbs (e.g. 100W) as the heat generated would damage the headlight assembly. Sticking with 55W specification, you can go for better bulbs with same wattage. A friend had once suggested Phillips Extreme Vision. No personal experience though.

[SDP]

After 3 years and 1 month, it happened. The stock battery died.

The car gave starting trouble yesterday morning, but somehow got it to start after trying for a couple of minutes. While coming back from office, it started with a single crank but I heard some pat-pat-pat sounds from under the dash after driving for a minute or two. I stopped, opened the hood, but couldn't figure out the source of that sound. Drove back home.

Today morning, when I tried to crank, the mirrors half opened, the needles of the dials did partial sweep and came back to zero in a noisy jerky fashion. All sorts of lights blinked. Tried for 5 minutes and then gave up. Was getting late to work, so left Duma in the parking lot and took the Alto to office.

The stock battery is Amaron AAM-GO-00105D31R IIRC, which is a 85Amp-3Year warranty. Batterybhai also shows Amaron AAM-GO-000135D31R as an option, which is a 90Amp battery. Slightly more powerful and a bit more expensive. My RM had recommended to stick with the stock model. Still contemplating whether I should go for the 90Amp one. Anyone used the second one?

[fusionbang]

Originally Posted by SDP

After 3 years and 1 month, it happened. The stock battery died.

Sad to know the battery dried so soon. Was there any issue with the battery or any specific reason behind this. Even Ravi sir had issues with his battery draining out, hope its not the same with my car(touchwood)

I had my Santro for 5 years and trust me I din't face even a single issue with the battery during the ownership, which is the same with my 4 year old Yamaha R15.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

Sad to know the battery dried so soon. Was there any issue with the battery or any specific reason behind this. Even Ravi sir had issues with his battery draining out, hope its not the same with my car(touchwood)

I had my Santro for 5 years and trust me I din't face even a single issue with the battery during the ownership, which is the same with my 4 year old Yamaha R15.

Got the battery replaced with the same model as stock. Rs 5350 under exchange. The battery technician mentioned that 2.5-3 years is the average life of these batteries and Exide is no better. There are no other options.

On a separate but related note, I had started getting the GPS-not-locking issues again recently and was sincerely hoping that with the battery-change the issue would go away (as that's what my RM had claimed to be the root cause). Unfortunately, I am still facing GPS-not-locking issues. I was anyways planning a trip to the service center for suspension/body rattles. Would take this up as well.

[vinitbhavi]

Hii SDP I have been following this amongst other threads involving the XUV . I have extensively read many of your posts at one go and really excited to be finally able to write to you after getting approved!! Your style of writing and passion for Duma and the pictures accompanied show the effort and troubles taken in compiling these threads. Kudos to you for that and keep it up.

Heres wishing Duma heartiest greetings on her 3rd birthday and many more with smooth running munching miles.

I plan to buy an XUV soon but waiting for the A/T. I was planning to pick up the W10 and thought it made more sense to wait for the A/T with rumors of it coming out during the festive season. Do you anticipate any problems with the vehicle after going automatic and will the gearbox be more like the Scorpio, the Ssangyong or completely different.

I had a chance to drive the XUV W6 after renting it out on Zoomcar and absolutely loved the car. It was a short trip from dadar-bandra-nerul-bandra-dadar.What made it special after seeing so many Duma pictures was the fact that this rented cheetah was also the same color

Hope to read many more of your travelogues and adventures on your beautiful journey with Duma.

[fusionbang]

Hi SDP,

Hope you are doing good, it's been a long time you have updated your thread.

I have a quick question on the rat repellents used on your car,

1. Are you still using the repellent?
2. How good is to prevent rats?
3. How often do you have to change them?

Thanks in Advance!!