[rrsteer]

Originally Posted by Samba

The ecu cuts off the throttle at 5.9k rpm. So when i rev the engine till 5.9k rpm there is a jerk because of the auto cut off.

May be in your case you do not rev your car much, so your car's ecu is not very accustomed at those higher rpm's.

Thank you for responding.

So, does the car does not revv beyond 5.9k? The jerk you feel after 5.9k is because the engine just stays at 5.9k?

And why do you say my ecu may behave different because I don't revv too much (which is actually the case)...is it self learning? and idea how it works?

[Samba]

Originally Posted by rrsteer

Thank you for responding.

So, does the car does not revv beyond 5.9k? The jerk you feel after 5.9k is because the engine just stays at 5.9k?

And why do you say my ecu may behave different because I don't revv too much (which is actually the case)...is it self learning? and idea how it works?

Yes petrol Etios wont rev beyond 5.9k Rpm.

The jerk is felt because the fuel supply is been cut off at 5.9k rpm.

Yes the Ecu of modern cars are self learning. It generally adopts to your driving style.

[Samba]

55,555kms update.

For a long time this thread has not been updated as there was nothing to update! Car is running just fine! Now a days Etios is used less in the daily city runs. The daily city run is mostly done in our Figo diesel. This car is mostly used for the week end drives or for the long drives.

Last week for my business purpose the Tata Ace guy didn't turn up and Etios served its absence really well! No way our Figo could have gobble'd that much luggage! The boot was loaded with 7 medium sized cartoons and 5 medium sized 15-20 liter buckets were kept in the cabin! Even with that heavy load the pick up and braking was as it is! I only had to be extra cautious on the bigger road humps though i managed all with out scraping a single time! The 595 litre boot and the huge cabin space do come handy for these odd jobs in emergency!

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by Samba

55,555kms update.

For a long time this thread has not been updated as there was nothing to update! Car is running just fine! Now a days Etios is used less in the daily city runs. The daily city run is mostly done in our Figo diesel. This car is mostly used for the week end drives or for the long drives.

Congrats on yet another milestone! Missed the car in our last meet, I thought you would have brought it as it was a weekend
Is the car still under warranty?

[Samba]

No the car is out of warranty now.

Etios has been to few Team bhp meets so this time i thought of taking the Figo. 😁

[Samba]

Went to attain an off-roading session with Kolkata Off-roaders and ended up having some fun with my Etios too! Etios managed the climbs without getting stuck! Am loving this car more and more as its getting older!

Sharing the pics-
Pic courtesy - Sourac, PapaBravo, Aj-Got-Bhp

[Sheel]

Time to shod it with some TLC. Slap on a 5 spoke alloy wheel. I am spotting a JH regd Etios and it looks just so good in it.

When I had the Figo, I didn't look at it [save for face & back] till I put on a 5 spoke

[AJ-got-BHP]

A couple of shots of your Etios from my end :





Naughty Samba !!

[Theyota]

and people still do not like to buy this fine little rolling machine all because they do not like its dashboard......:Frustrate.......try off-roading a swift....

[Samba]

Odo reading is a tad short 58,000kms and the car is again back from a 1425 kms long drive to the Himalaya's ! (Old silk route East Sikkim)

Few observation's-

Car is holding tight.

No rattles or any unwanted surprises.

The Ac was a chiller and kept us cool in the mid day hot & humid weather. Plus the cooled glove box helped us to keep our cold drinks and red bull cans chilled.

Performed flawlessly yet again for the whole trip.

The Yokohama Earth one was excellent to drive on snow.

The overall mileage for the trip was 13.5kms/ltr with 90% Ac & some heavy foot driving.

The stock clutch plate is still holding well.

Some how the engine feels more eager than before on the highways!

No power loss or any clogging in air filter at altitudes over 14,000 feet.

The Exide battery is holding up well too, plus no cold start issues in chilling early morning temperatures.

Few pics from the trip-

[dileep]

Hi Samba,
I've been reading and following your Etios Petrol post for a long time. Thank you for the continuing updates which are extremely useful.

I have been trying to find the right car for myself. Currently I drive a 15 year old Qualis which drives like a song (with my eyes closed - only a matter of expression). Since I live in Delhi and the Govt has decided not to extend registrations, I need to find a replacement.

I drive a lot in the Himalayas (as you do), mostly in Uttarakhand and Himachal - often the roads are poor, kuccha, with stone and rocks, often steep inclines combined with poor surface, sometimes they are slushy and occasionally there is snow.

Reading your experiences, I was encouraged to test drive an Etios petrol. It performed very well in Delhi, I loved the flat torque and I could shift up early like my Qualis. It has plenty of space, feels comfortable, roomy and airy. Wife loved the back seat. There was a bit of road noise creeping in - but as you mentioned the tyres will make that better.

What bothers me is the Etios's low ground clearance. I measured the gap between the front bumper and the road - it is only about 145mm.

I saw your videos of crossing the Jayanti (incidentally I've also done same some years back - a tour of the tea gardens in the Dooars) and tacking the snow in Sikkim - what would be your opinion on the Etios handling -

1. broken unpaved roads with steep incline
2. GC - with respect to stony/pot holed roads
3. How much water depth can the Etios handle

I was also looking at the Brezza. Even though the GC and tyre size is excellent, the driving stance is high, but the diesel engine disappointed me. Its a high rev engine and the turbo kicks in only after 1800/2000 rpm. Also the new diesels need more maintenance than the Etios petrol (and unlike the Qualis which I service myself).

Thanks in advance

[Samba]

Originally Posted by dileep

What bothers me is the Etios's low ground clearance. I measured the gap between the front bumper and the road - it is only about 145mm.

I saw your videos of crossing the Jayanti (incidentally I've also done same some years back - a tour of the tea gardens in the Dooars) and tacking the snow in Sikkim - what would be your opinion on the Etios handling -

1. broken unpaved roads with steep incline
2. GC - with respect to stony/pot holed roads
3. How much water depth can the Etios handle

Thanks in advance

Thanks a lot.

Firstly i will say Etios is a sedan and not meant to do all these crazy stuffs!

Now coming to the point-
The toughest terrain i have encountered till date in my Etios is in North Sikkim. The approach angle of the front bumper was adequate for most of my drives. The height of the front bumper from the ground may be 145mm but i have not faced any problem with it. Only once it was hitting the ground first, that time i remember putting two bricks under both the front wheels and then taking the car up with out scrapping the front bumper. But for most of the time its adequate.

GC is a concern in bad roads. The long wheel base and the rear over hang do scraped a few times in places like North Sikkim or Ladakh. But the good thing is most of the time the mud flaps got scrapped or the over hang of the rear bumper. Till date i had no damages due to underbelly hits.

Sharing few video's for your reference. And again how many times do we take such roads!

Even in this video you can see the mudflap gets the hit, not the underbelly of the car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT7udUa5HVA

You can find one or two underbelly hits in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUXY2AEGE2I

Crossed this section without any hits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZPBGzvyKvw

Crossing slush and boulders

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YcCd9PI9Wo

One night drive on super bad roads in Sikkim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsRkOQBByxg

Regarding water wading once in Kolkata there was heavy rain and most of the roads were water logged. It was way back in 2011. I was driving and the water level kept on increasing. I saw a Zen, diesel Ambassador , Manza and a City being stranded. The water level was up-to the height of the rear bumper of a mini bus and it was easily to the bonnet level of Etios. I never released the throttle and kept on wading through the water in same pace. Surprisingly my car made it through. Not a single drop of water entered the cabin too! But i wont try that next time. As the water was till the bonnet level there was high possibility of water getting in through the air intake pipe and damaging the engine. I would say i was lucky! But again on a positive side the air intake pipe in petrol Etios is positioned really high.

At the end am very happy with the car. This June my car will turn 5 with nearing 60,000kms in the odo. Still the car is rattle free and running on stock clutch plate. I absolutely have no complaints about the car barring the basic plain jane interiors and boring looks and lack of features!

But if you want an honest answer i will say if you plan to travel in these kind of terrains, its better to go for cars like Duster/Ecosport/Scorpio etc etc. That will at-least give you much more peace of mind!

[dileep]

Originally Posted by Samba

Thanks a lot.

Firstly i will say Etios is a sedan and not meant to do all these crazy stuffs!

Now coming to the point-
The toughest terrain i have encountered till date in my Etios is in North Sikkim. The approach angle of the front bumper was adequate for most of my drives. The height of the front bumper from the ground may be 145mm but i have not faced any problem with it. Only once it was hitting the ground first, that time i remember putting two bricks under both the front wheels and then taking the car up with out scrapping the front bumper. But for most of the time its adequate.

GC is a concern in bad roads. The long wheel base and the rear over hang do scraped a few times in places like North Sikkim or Ladakh. But the good thing is most of the time the mud flaps got scrapped or the over hang of the rear bumper. Till date i had no damages due to underbelly hits.

Sharing few video's for your reference. And again how many times do we take such roads!


Regarding water wading once in Kolkata there was heavy rain and most of the roads were water logged. It was way back in 2011. I was driving and the water level kept on increasing. I saw a Zen, diesel Ambassador , Manza and a City being stranded. The water level was up-to the height of the rear bumper of a mini bus and it was easily to the bonnet level of Etios. I never released the throttle and kept on wading through the water in same pace. Surprisingly my car made it through. Not a single drop of water entered the cabin too! But i wont try that next time. As the water was till the bonnet level there was high possibility of water getting in through the air intake pipe and damaging the engine. I would say i was lucky! But again on a positive side the air intake pipe in petrol Etios is positioned really high.

At the end am very happy with the car. This June my car will turn 5 with nearing 60,000kms in the odo. Still the car is rattle free and running on stock clutch plate. I absolutely have no complaints about the car barring the basic plain jane interiors and boring looks and lack of features!

But if you want an honest answer i will say if you plan to travel in these kind of terrains, its better to go for cars like Duster/Ecosport/Scorpio etc etc. That will at-least give you much more peace of mind!

Thank you Samba for this very detailed response to my queries. The videos reveal a lot of what the Etios is capable of.

It seems you have driven the Etios to Leh from Manali (is that right?). If that has been achieved (I understand that its not the same confidence that a 4x4 or an SUV will give, but all the same) then the Etios is a great car.

Having owned a Qualis for 15 trouble free years, its very hard for me to find the right replacement since in Delhi, diesel cars get registration valid for only 10 years (not 15 as in petrol cars) - so the cost of ownership goes up a lot.

I was also looking at the new Brezza launched by Maruti, but it has only diesel option as of now.

Thanks once again.

[Samba]

Originally Posted by dileep

Thank you Samba for this very detailed response to my queries. The videos reveal a lot of what the Etios is capable of.

It seems you have driven the Etios to Leh from Manali (is that right?). If that has been achieved (I understand that its not the same confidence that a 4x4 or an SUV will give, but all the same) then the Etios is a great car.

Thanks once again.

Welcome Sir.

We did Kolkata - Delhi -Srinagar- Kargil- Leh - Hunder -Leh - Pangong - Leh - Hanle- Tsomoriri - Keylong - Manali - Delhi - Kolkata

[kotirajendra]

@Samba - thanks for the thread. Yours and Amalji's post influenced my decision to a good degree. One question - what is your opinion on the stock headlamps and fog lamps? Did you install cutouts and go for higher watt bulbs? Personally I found the performance terrible on highways.