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September 2006.

Buying a car used to be so easy.

All you did was go to a Maruti showroom.
On display would be different cars that all felt the same and had similar engines.

You sat in all of them. Then asked how much they cost. The sales guys would show you colorful brochures. You acted a little fussy, they acted as if they cared about you.
Finally you chose one of the cars and booked it.

If you are a smart customer, you knew they had a corner tucked away called Truevalue.
You walked inside that part of the showroom. All cars would have a cost sheet stuck on them.

I found my Pearl Silver Wagon R like this.
It was barely 2 years old and had just 14500 kms.
Took a short test drive. Satisfied I paid them the booking amount.


2013
7 years had flown by.

My needs are very different today. My family has simply outgrown the Wagon R.
I needed a car that could accommodate 2 child seats comfortably.
In theory the wagon r can do this. But it was only possible with the front seats pushed forward. Not very comfortable for driving and I had to upgrade.

Sold my Wagon R and booked my new car.

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To find my next car, I opened one of our sales thread.
This way I got a list of all the cars being sold in India.

My budget could stretch all the way to a million.
With approximately 800 kms a month, there was no real reason to avoid petrol.
I prefer Hatchbacks and I am not a big fan of SUV's.

I test drove some of these cars, some I did not bother about.

Chevrolet Sail UVA Petrol:

I loved it the minute I drove it.
+ Drive Quality.
+ Engine response.
- Its GM
- Not popular

Fiat Linea T-Jet:
Fiat: I did not even bother going to your showroom because of the way you handled this incident.

Ford EcoSport:
- Space
- waiting period
I did not test drive it.


Honda Amaze:
- Everything thing feels so thin.
I test drove the Amaze. I did not like it. Also it did not quite satisfy my requirement of having 2 child seats and space for an adult in the rear.

Hyundai i20:
+ Nice car, looks good.
+ Loaded with features.
I decided to take a test drive of i20. It looks very pretty. The drivers seat is glamorous. You have all these gadgets and it all feels nice. The i20 Asto (O) comes with 6 airbags and a sun roof.
The engine is quite refined on startup.
But 10 meters into the test drive, I am not comfortable. I cannot explain the feeling of severe loathing that steering and body roll caused in me. I cannot buy this boat.

Mahindra Verito:
+ Practical car
+ Looks decent.
+ Frugal Diesel engine.
+ Wide rear seat.
- No passenger air bag.
- Boring to drive.

Maruti:
Disqualified. Enough Marutis in my life.
But I still did end up checking out and then rejecting the Ertiga Vxi. I liked the engine and its power but I frankly have no need for its USP. The ability to carry 7 passengers.

Nissan Sunny:
+ Space
- Its too long and makes me feel like a chauffeur.

Skoda Rapid:
+ Diesel is expensive.
- Petrol is not in production.
-- Skoda ASS

Tata Vista:
-- Am not sure if I can trust the airbags to deploy.

Tata Sumo:
+ Space
+ The best Tata till date.
- Not practical.

Toyota Liva:
+ Practical with a Capital T.
+ Sensible
+ VFM
-- Boring interiors. It felt like I was sitting inside my Wagon R and did not feel like an upgrade or change.

VW Polo:
+ Looks
- Space

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Its a market dud. Its sales are barely making a dent in the sales graphs. Its not going to win any beauty pageants either. The engine is decent but its not going to burn the highway. The equipment list is not very inspired.
Not many people know this car exists. When I would tell someone I am booking a sail, they would have no idea what I am talking about.

There is hardly any advertising by GM and this is a very competitive segment.

The market has been performing very poorly and GM is currently at its lowest point. The Tavera scandal and emission issues of 1.3 liter diesel engine of the Sail twins.

To be honest, buying a Sail is going against every bit of reason and common sense.

So why did I decide to put my money on it.
This is a question that has no clear answer.

When I decided to buy a new car, I came up with a small list of priorities.
1. A good rear seat that can comfortably accommodate 2 child seats and an adult.
2. Airbags for both the driver and passenger.
3. ABS with EBD.

Resale was not in my list. So why should I care if the Sail Twins sell a lot or not.
I also did a very rough back of the envelope calculation.

Any petrol hatchback with safety kit would cost me at least 6.5 lakhs on the road.
I don't replace my cars unless I absolutely have to. So any car I buy will be with me a minimum of 7 years.
At the end of 7 years, even the best petrol hatchback will get me a resale value of 2-3 lakhs only.

Assuming my Sail gives me just 1 lakhs, my resale loss is between 1 and 2 lakhs after 7 years.
With this change in perception I felt that its a small price to pay for what I liked.

Since safety was a key factor, I took a Sail UVA on test drive with the intention of testing its brakes.
Luckily for me, the showroom is quite close to the Outer Ring Road, Hyderabad.
As I entered the ring road it started raining very heavily. There was absolutely no traffic on the road. It has a speed limit of 80 kmph. I took the car to 80 and with my friend watching the rear to make sure there is no one. I slammed on the brakes.
The ABS kicked in and the pedal pulsated for a moment or two. The car had stopped in perfect line with very little movement. Taking advantage of the completely deserted road, we tried lane turns at 60-70 kmph with mild braking to see how planted the car is.
I fell in love with its braking ability.

The next test was the rear seat.

2 child seats and an adult in the rear.

However this is not the best fit. The seats make contact with each other. I would be using this configuration only for the next 3-4 months. My Son would soon move on to a bigger child seat and my wife may prefer coming to the front seat.

But I was still not satisfied with my decision.

I went back for a test drive of the Liva TRD, i20 and even the Ertiga.
The Liva TRD petrol has an awesome engine. But that is about it.
The i20 wallows around like a boat and I had a strong negative feeling about it.
The Ertiga is great VFM if you always carry around a lot of people. My usage did not need it and frankly it make little sense to buy it.

I finally made peace with it. This car ticks every single point on my list. The only thing against it is its low sales figures.
Since I am buying a car for myself and not for the vast majority of Indians....I decided to buy it for just myself.


There was a little confusion whether I should buy the Sail Sedan or the Sail UVA Hatchback.
For about a lakh extra all I get is:
1. 120 Liters of boot.
2. Seat Belt Pretensioners.
3. Child Seat top anchors.

I did not need the boot space and a lakh more for #2 and #3 did not add up.

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Once the decision had been finalized the rest of the things simply fell in place.

I sold my Wagon R. Applied for a car loan and started the final countdown for delivery. My Sales Advisor Kiran was keeping me posted on an almost daily basis. If anyone from GM is reading this. You guys need to congratulate whoever hired Kiran. Fantastic Guy.

My loan account was handled by Prakash from Kun Motors. He also did a very decent job.

My Car arrived in Hyderabad on 17-August. It is an August 2013 manufactured car. On 20-August, I got to meet and take her home.



Went straight to a petrol bunk and filled it up. She drank 38 liters of petrol. The tank can hold about 42 liters.
I am guessing a tank full will give me approximately 500 kms of driving without worrying about petrol bunks.

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The car has covered around 130 kms.

I love the way the dashboard looks. So wide and broad. There is no irritating reflection on the windscreen. The AC is a chiller. I first adjusted the temperature knob to make it comfortable. Then found keeping the air re-circulation off gives the maximum comfort. The cabin air filter keeps the inside clean and smelling great. Even in heavy traffic I failed to smell any fumes.

The rear view mirror is useless. The small rear windscreen limits your field of vision. Also the placement of the high mounted tail stop light blocks your already limited view. But the wing mirrors are more than adequate. Driving on the Outer Ring Road, I am able to see so much more in these mirrors compared to my old WagonR.

The low end torque is a dampener. But I have never been someone to treat the accelerator like an egg shell. So after the first day of pampering, its business as usual for my right foot.

I had to adjust the steering wheel to get a better view of the speedometer console. The steering is comfortable albeit little to light at higher speeds. However I have not yet exceeded a 100 kmph. Sticking to under 90 kmph on my office commute. Please note that the speed limit on 80% of my home-office route is 80 kmph.

When the trip meter read almost 90 kms the first bar on the fuel meter disappeared. Yesterday I drove about 60 kms with just lovely music for company. The NVH of this car is so much superior to my old Wagon R. Very little noise filters inside the cabin. However a mild rattling noise from near the door lock is irritating me. I will have it fixed at the first checkup (1,000 kms or one month).

I feel like a small child getting happy on such mundane things. Maybe as time passes and the novelty slowly wears off, I will get bored of it all, but most probably not.

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Being a Sunday, decided to spend the morning waxing my new car. Its so much easier to wax a new barely run car. Its almost clean and the surface quite smooth. The body is longer but since its not very tall, I was able to clean the roof as well.

One advantage of waxing your car yourself, is that you get to check everything w.r.t body panels. I have found a small rattle in the front left fender. One more item for the first service. The other is the mild rattle in my driver's side seatbelt area.

The car looks quite decent. Some people call it a baby Cruze. The grill is quite pretty but as I noticed today, it has a tendency to collect sand. Cleaning these is going to be a nightmare. But beauty always extracts a price.



My favorite view. The car looks really imposing from these angles.






Whatever imposing view from the front and the side is quickly lost as you get to the rear.


The Chevy Emblem is a nice touch in Gold.


The LT also gets alloy wheels


Being a Top End LT, the car gets a rear view wiper and defoggers.


The car wins on bad roads. The Suspension literally sails on bad roads. Its softer than Figo and a lot more balanced than the i20.


It would have been nice if Chevy had provided turn indicators on the Wings.


The Headlights are bright and the fogs perform decently.
However I have not driven in fog so cannot really comment on their effectiveness. I don't use fogs in normal conditions.

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So we went around the car. Hope you had fun, lets do it again.


Ok, I was just kidding, lets check out these doors.
They open wide. The car ingress and egress angles are quite comfortable. I don't find it any more or less comfortable than my old Wagon R. Considering that the WagonR is known for its elder friendly seating, I think the Sail will not disappoint as well.




The rear view mirror is of not much use. It does not help when you are driving.
What happens is that coupled with the limited glass area, the high mounted stop light blocks you from seeing cars behind you. So effectively all you see is the back of the stop light and cars less than 100 meters from you. Vehicles further away are completely hidden.
It absolutely does not help when you are parking. But the wing mirrors give excellent view. Also as I realized while parking, using the controls to adjust them makes parking very easy. They give a good view of the kerb and compensate for the poor inside mirror.


A basic ICE system that supports CD's and USB drives.
It also offers Bluetooth connectivity for your mobile phones. It took me less than a minute to configure my phone. Did not even have to refer the instruction manual. All I did was switch on my phone's Bluetooth, asked it to look for devices. It asked me if I would like to connect to Chevrolet. I said yes. Connection completed. I called up my mom and my wife sitting in the rear seat was able to have a good conversation using my phone and this Bluetooth.


Chevy gave me this leather case. It contains the instruction manual and space for a pen and visiting cards.


I really like this closed box for keeping Toll receipts and some money.
When the AC vent is closed, its closed. No air leaks out at all.


Car has been drivven just 176 km till now. If you don't wear a seat belt a sweet chime is heard. It refuses to go away till you belt yourself. Realized it today when I did not wear the seat belt while moving the car around my apartments podium parking area.


The dashboard view that Chevy calls Corvette inspired. I like its subtle feel and simple design.

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You get used to the new location for the power windows. That center storage area is quite big. I place my wallet, cellphone and office id card in it.


The headlights are bright. Much brighter than the Philips Extreme that I had installed in my Wagon R.


The boot lid can be opened using the key, there is no external knob. I find this irritating.


The dealer had promised me free mud flaps and carpets. I refused the carpets and instead took this boot mat. I plan on installing 3D Nomads at a later point of time. I had ordered carpets from an online website for my Wagon R. Had never gotten around to using them. Now with the Wagon R gone, I have installed them in my Sail UVA.


I don't plan on fixing seat covers. I like the texture and color of the original seats.

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At around 8:00 PM, I took my car to a deserted street near my apartment.

A view of the instrument cluster at night. Its quite legible and the orangish hue does not distract you. I would have liked an illuminated key ring. Chevy does offer an interesting accessory called

Ambient Lighting
Light up your car from the inside and give it that extra edge.

Maybe I will have that installed.


With just the parking lights switched on.


With just the fogs.


Headlight on in low beam. That pillar which you can faintly make out on the right hand side. Its approximately 25 steps away from the car. I walked 25 paces in my normal stride.


With Hi Beam on. The pillar can be seen quite easily. The pillar after it is another 25 paces away. The Hi Beam illuminates enough distance to safely came to a halt and catch surprises before they become a headon accident.


The In Cabin light is adequate for the front passengers. The rear is however not well lit.


The Hi Beam from near that pillar. Its quite blinding.



The Low Beam, while its bright it does not blind.


The Parking lights.


The tail lights. I was alone and hence could not capture the brake lights. There is also a high mounted stop light.


The reverse lights are quite bright.


They illuminate adequately. My camera is not able to do much justice here. But sitting inside the car, I am able to see quite a bit from the wing mirrors.


The light inside the boot. It looks very classy.

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Thread moved from Assembly Line

[extreme_torque]

Congratulations on the car. I have the same view about i20 as well. It is a very uninspiring car to drive but for an average bloke its a fine car with nice interiors and good refinement. Any reason why you did not opt for the diesel?

[vb-saan]

Congratulations! The new car excitement is so evident in the way you have penned down the review
And great choice of colour!

Originally Posted by bblost

2 child seats and an adult in the rear.
However this is not the best fit. The seats make contact with each other. I would be using this configuration only for the next 3-4 months. My Son would soon move on to a bigger child seat and my wife may prefer coming to the front seat.

Is that a bassinet attached to the rear middle seat? And is it well-secured with the lap belt?

[deehunk]

Good choice by opting for petrol Sail UVA, with still no clear information about re-entry of Sail twins in diesel avatar it is waste of time waiting for them. I personally liked the packaging of interiors and space you find inside, I settled for Beat diesel after being aware of issues in diesel Sail twins well before the sales were stopped. Else I would have gone for Sail UVA. Chevy cars have always low maintenance if handled right way and the cashless ownership for 3 years is a good thing to buy.

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Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Congratulations on the car. I have the same view about i20 as well. It is a very uninspiring car to drive but for an average bloke its a fine car with nice interiors and good refinement. Any reason why you did not opt for the diesel?

My running did not warrant a Diesel. Plus I am not a big fan of the turbo stuff.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Is that a bassinet attached to the rear middle seat? And is it well-secured with the lap belt?

In this particular picture its not very securely attached. I was checking if the space is enough.

[hillram]

Congratulations Imran. Have a safe drive.