[puchoo]

There was no MEDIA option appearing to begin with , which is why it was bugging me so much , if it was but the drive was not working i would have been less hassled since i could at the very least fiddle around with the settings - in my case Media simply stopped existing as a menu option or from the voice controls.

Originally Posted by Speed Pujari

Press windows and say "Media" and it will take you to the Folders menu. Browse through the song. Once you click 'ok' it may display a 'Pause' caption on MID. Mute and unmute 2-3 times from steering mounted switch.

Also try speaking "Play" with windows button.

Whatever 'feature' this is, it annoys me to the core.

Yeah and weak battery can be a possible case. It is happening to me lately (at times media player not playing), got the batteries checked and the guy said "Sir dont worry, you are good to go for another 3 months" LOL ! .

[Speed Pujari]

Originally Posted by puchoo

There was no MEDIA option appearing to begin with , which is why it was bugging me so much , if it was but the drive was not working i would have been less hassled since i could at the very least fiddle around with the settings - in my case Media simply stopped existing as a menu option or from the voice controls.

It happens to me when I try to connect my phone through USB so that I can play songs from phone memory. But it is never consistent, at times the system just hangs.

So try to put an old pen drive and see.

BTW since it is Microsoft you might be aware of an option equivalent to Ctrl+Alt+Del. Simple, remove the battery connection for 10 minutes and let it soft reset LOL ! .

Welcome to the world of Fiat.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by puchoo

I asked why it might have happened, he said " Virus" which i was expecting but do not believe one bit.

Puchoo, what is the capacity of that music player? Generally I have heard of OE ICE head units behaving cranky when the memory stick inserted into the USB slot was of a very high capacity , say >32 GB or so. I have not gone through the Blue&Me owner's manual booklet, but maybe something about this (max memory stick capacity for operation) is mentioned there. Worth a look . I'll also go home today and check, now that you mentioned it.

I use a 16GB Sandisk memory stick (regular pen drive) in the T-Jet and a similar one in the Punto. Haven't had issues related to media player throughout my 2 years of usage.

[puchoo]

Originally Posted by Speed Pujari

BTW since it is Microsoft you might be aware of an option equivalent to Ctrl+Alt+Del. Simple, remove the battery connection for 10 minutes and let it soft reset LOL ! .

.

Yep thats what the guy did finally to make it work.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Puchoo, what is the capacity of that music player? Generally I have heard of OE ICE head units behaving cranky when the memory stick inserted into the USB slot was of a very high capacity (>32 GB or so). I have not gone through the Blue&Me owner's manual booklet, but maybe something about this (max memory stick capacity for operation) is mentioned there. Worth a look

Have read the same thing as you have and the manual and the blue and me website someplace advise against going beyond a particular size as it lowers the performance with respect to speed.

I had taken note of this before the car came and the player i use is 8 GB. I think 4 could be better.

[nareshov]

Originally Posted by puchoo

There was no MEDIA option appearing to begin with , which is why it was bugging me so much , if it was but the drive was not working i would have been less hassled since i could at the very least fiddle around with the settings - in my case Media simply stopped existing as a menu option or from the voice controls.

This exact scenario happened quite frequently with me for a few weeks in the past; my workaround was to remove the USB drive and plug it back in (might have to try this a few times). It isn't happening lately.

Did not do a root-cause analysis so not sure what the deal was. If I were to guess, it could be MP3s with unsupported bit-rates or unsupported audio codecs altogether. Or perhaps the presence of a very large number of files.

But your case seems have been solved by a battery soft-reset so putting this out here for folks for whom the reset doesn't solve the problem.

[puchoo]

I will try and find the source again , whether it was the manual or the Blue and Me website but i believe the advise it be at 128.

Originally Posted by nareshov

If I were to guess, it could be MP3s with unsupported bit-rates or unsupported audio codecs altogether. Or perhaps the presence of a very large number of files.
.

[puchoo]

Had a bit of time this Sunday afternoon so decided that i was going to make an attempt at my first DYI project and see what i could do in terms of making some kind of a cover for the dead pedal. As mentioned in my review , the dead pedal is plastic and almost white and would get dirty very soon - and thats precisely what happened , add to it the constant getting wet and muddy from shoes thanks to the Delhi Monsoon , it had started looking pretty yucky.

The project started with me going off to the local market to source some material , managed to locate a good shop and the entire piece cost me 100 INR - and given how much i have used of it , i can probably make another 4-5 covers.

The fit and finish , is not a 100% , between it looking like starting to rain , a tight parking spot , a rather dull pair of scissors i was not able to get it millimeter to millimeter but if this stands the test of time , even 30-40 days i will make the effort and do them up properly.

Photos are not the best , taken from the mobile.

Image 1
Shows the pedal as it was prior to the project commencing. The dirt is very very visible.

Image 2
Items needed for this - the material , double tape , scissors and a piece of paper.

Image 3
Close up of the material , similar to Nomad mats but clearly there will be a big difference in quality i am sure. Soft to the touch , there was a harder material available but it was a bit 'pokey' and hence avoided that.

Image 4

The paper was placed on the area and folded and marked to help identify the exact size of the material which was required. Eventually this did not help out too much because the pedal is not straight - this is where the lack of time came in , ideally the paper should have been placed on the material and it should have been cut out to size and shape

Image 5
The final size i needed top to bottom , but owing to the curve of the pedal , eventually i had to cut this into 3 pieces to be able to place them properly

image 6

The first part goes on , at the back the only thing holding it to the plastic is lots of double tape.

image 7,8,9 and 10

The final output. Eventually 3 pieces , 2 of equal size and one really small one on top which clearly does not cover the entire area but i added it as it would otherwise have been a little smaller than my shoe.

The color , material and overall how it goes with the cabin i am happy with. I have not driven on it but will update and see how it lasts. If it lasts 30-40 days i am happy with it , the only concern i have is that the double tape will hold it there and it wont slip of - if it does then will need to find something stronger

[puchoo]

So the pedal project got its first trial today from home to office and i have to say that i am overall quite pleased with the result. The cutting was good enough so that it does not interfere with leg movement and more importantly there is an added grip factor which has come in - the plastic especially when wet used to be slippery.

[puchoo]

The DIY pedal cover continues to hold well and while still a bit early i think it will last the 30-40 days i am hoping for. On a different note headed off to Himachal tomorrow for a few days and among other things looking forward to driving her on the highway and hoping for multiple photo opportunities

Also got my T-Jet branded boot today and will post pictures soon for reference.

[puchoo]

Almost an year to the month - this time last year the Fabia 1.6 made her first trip home and just a few days back Tizzie did as well. A brief trip report and some images for everyone's reference

Trip Summary
Total Kilometers covered : 850
Plains vs Hill Driving : 70 / 30
Road conditions : Good to Poor
Weather : Rain all the way there and back!
Fuel Economy achieved : did not really noticed but i put it around 12 or so. It was above 14 till Chandigarh and post that owing to hard acceleration in the hills and jams it came down

Had to put this one up , 1 year apart.



Absolutely fantastic driving weather





Tired and dirty. But i really am wondering if the OEM mud flaps are adequate for the car and if something longer is required. They might look good but they really do not hold dirt and water back - look at the side view mirror i have back splash from the front tyre all the way up there





Not as bad as what the Fabia went through. They held up well , there is some amount of noise road with these but i am still unclear on whether a change is required.




After a well deserved bath , one of the reasons i love going home is that i can spend hours on the car - be it cleaning or polishing or simply driving around









The rain helped the cleaning process as well





Driving experience

At the start let me mention that driving up this time was not normal in terms of conditions. Lots of rain the entire journey and more importantly tons of jams including in the hills owing to it being a long weekend .

On the plains i am exceptionally impressed with the car , the turbo surge is quite evident while accelerating hard and over 2000 RPM the car picks up on almost any gear. Getting to over a 100 was child's play and maintaining it at 110-130 Kmph was easy although these speeds could only be achieved for a few minutes at any given point in time given the traffic and road conditions. At no point did the car feel strained , the 4 disc brakes are quite addictive

Going up the hills was a little different and i am still trying to figure out if its me or the car. Initially the car felt sluggish for the first 30-40 Kms , my gear changes were clearly not the best and i think this is where the turbo lag was most apparent. In the Fabia a downshift was sufficient , here the same stretch or turn probably required 2 downshifts to get the her into her power band - this was especially true during the initial 30-40 Kms as this is where the steepest part of the climb is. So i struggled like this for a while and then suddenly over the course of a few seconds it felt like the car opened up and exploded in terms of pulling power...... and it kept behaving like that till one got home. Now did something really "open up " ( Sounds a bit crazy) or was this the less steep part of the ascent which made all the difference i am not entirely sure.

My thought thus are a bit divided...... please note i am only talking about ascents not descending , between gravity and her turbo coming down was definitely no problem whatsoever. Going up however its not black and white. Maybe i was expecting too much , at the end of the day , turbo or not its a bigger heavier car and maybe expecting her to scamper in the manner the Fabia did is simply not fair. Maybe it was heavily loaded as well - i had 3 people and a boot full of luggage.

Roads inside and beyond Shimla were horrible , in some cases no road surface at all but she handled it well in terms of ride and the suspension.

I really appreciated the Speed Volume control feature during this drive , it kept the music at a decent volume despite the speeds. We also had a 3rd passenger with us which is very rare but the backseat was declared absolutely comfortable to sit or sleep on flat !!

Automatic climate control did its job exceptionally well.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by puchoo

my gear changes were clearly not the best and i think this is where the turbo lag was most apparent.

It clearly is a case of being in the wrong gear. I have experienced the exact same behaviour when going up hill. I would not go higher than third when going up hill in this car. It is better to keep the engine pinned in the turbo/torque band. Back off the throttle when you do not need any more acceleration. This is in fact more efficient as once you get off the gas, fuel supply is cut to the engine and you have plenty of engine braking to stay in control.

Reading up a few posts earlier, I faced the missing MEDIA option for the first time about 7 days ago. It happened when music was playing from the stick. All of a sudden, music stopped though the head unit still said Media Player. I could not call out any function of Blue N Me too and MEDIA was missing from the Menu. Went back home, the car was idle for a few hours, when I re started the car to step out again, it was back to normal.

[puchoo]

I Suppose so , but i am still a bit doubtful , the hills are not a new drive for me , i have probably made this trip upwards of 50 times in the last 10-11 years on all types of vehicles including a motorcycle , so getting used to driving a new vehicle is a matter of a couple of kilometers maximum.

...... Anyway , good excuse to make another trip and try it out again.

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

It clearly is a case of being in the wrong gear. I have experienced the exact same behaviour when going up hill. I would not go higher than third when going up hill in this car. I.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by puchoo

I Suppose so , but i am still a bit doubtful

Turbo lag gets really annoying in just about any situation, up hill or even in the plains. I have stopped changing to a higher gear and do so only if the next gear can maintain 1900-2000rpm or higher. Anything below 1700rpm and you are not going anywhere in a jiffy. This is a problem with all turbo charged cars. You need to be in the power band or you find yourself with no power at all. In many situations, I prefer a naturally aspirated engine over a Turbo, unless there are two or more blowers to compensate for the turbo lag. Considering we paid about 10 lacs for this car, I'd just work around the lag and drive.

[puchoo]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Turbo lag gets really annoying in just about any situation, up hill or even in the plains..

Agree completely , i am just going to have to take another drive up soon. I should also allow for the fact the car was quite loaded , typically there are only 2 people and 2 suitcases - this time around 3 people and 4 odd suitcases.

[puchoo]

One thing i forgot to mention but i think it would be important to note for others given its been discussed as an issue multiple times : i did not get any wind noise while driving even at high speeds , i remembered at some point in the drive others having mentioned it and kept an ear out for it when at 120-130 and there was nothing. Even the engine noise at those speeds was nothing exceptional , only noise really was the road noise from the tyres.