[abirnale]

Now the silver steed shows 53719Kms on odometer

Recently I drove it to MH and then Chennai. The silver steed isn't showing any sign of slowing down! No issues with coolant levels, nothing to worry about. Seems like I will now put an end to this "coolant reducing" phenomenon by concluding that it must be air bubbles somewhere that gave a false perception of tank being full when actually it was not. The weekly "under-the-hood" checks shall continue as best practice.

Just when there is new trip coming up this weekend, I took the car to MASS @ Mandovi today. I wanted to get these things done - Check for air conditioner filter and flow - there has been some complaints of nausea feeling from the passenger recently. I never felt it but may be its a gradual change I did not notice at all. But wife coming after a long time in the car could notice it. (yeah, as a full family when we travel last with my wife and kids is 6 months ago for a long drive). Apart from this, brakes needed to be checked and pads if worn out to be replaced.

So here is the update on general service done today -

General Service @ 53719Kms
Why - Preventive Maintenance
When - 20 May 2015, 53719 Kms
What - Paid Service (Brakes Cleaning - changed pads, All liquid top ups, Air conditioner - Vents Cleaning and Disinfecting, Overall checkup)
Where - Mandovi Motors, JP Nagar
Spent - Rs 5,785.00

If the AC shows the same symptoms again I will try as next step -
- Run for 10 minutes with high blow and hot temp 1-2 days
- Else take it to MASS again to have them evaporator coil cleaned

Let's see how it goes.

And once again, the silver steed is ready to take on roads!

[abirnale]

Twice, that is it. And so we were mentally preparing for third thinking this is a bad day. Let me explain what I am referring to.

Incidence 1 - An Omen?
Yesterday, I was returning after a vacation from Goa. A nice sedated drive we had all through first 400Kms. Somewhere after Chitradurga towards Bangalore on a Toll Booth queue, I was caught with a surprise. The car ahead of me had a tiny BHP URL sticker! It's that feeling when you see someone you might just know! But that excitement didn't last long. In the rush to make it to booth faster, this fella backs his white swift to offer his car's rear bumper to silver steed's front. I just did not understand why this rush when he was hardly two vehicles away from the booth/ counter! No damage to both the cars since it was a slow reversing - probably less than 5 Kmph speed! But that I think was first warning "omen". I just expressed disappointment to the swift driver and he just murmured sorry without lowering the car window! And I leave it there to move on.

Incidence 2: A close shave, I think.
As we approach Hiriyur, on the middle lane there was this 16 wheels lorry doing 60kmph speed. I move to right lane to overtake it. All is well until before i complete the manoeuvre. The Inner - right rear most tyre of the last pair on the truck bursts. Silver steed was pretty close to the truck and the burst tyre rubber with a thud noise flew across to my car and hit my right rear door. One of the strong piece hit the rear door of my car and made the dent - see below. The broken tyre piece flying out our way was scary. Not sure how and why, but it was scary enough for us to have the shock for next 30 minutes. before anyone in the car realises, I pushed through that lane way ahead for another 20-30 meters and then stopped to have a look. Luckily no major damage but just few scratches on the door and everyone in the car safe. no point fighting with truck driver or spoiling mood - thanking our stars we just move on.


The major dent is as shown above, all smaller ones can be brushed off with paint.

Incident 3: Even closer shave.
We left Tumkur town and crossed the first toll booth. Having experienced this drive to be the most eventful one so far, I was strictly going below 100 kmph. Traffic anyway after Tumkur towards Bangalore gets dense and rarely you can touch 120 kmph. I was in the left lane and a Volvo bus on the right. It was doing 100 Kmph for sure and I was probably at 90Kmph. While the bus overtakes us, a dog jumps out of median, manages to miss the bus and get under our car

The resultant is what we see below - dog does not survive, but thankfully we did. Felt sorry for the poor dog but there was nothing I could do to avoid this. I just ran over the dog with breaks holding lightly... but dog still did not survive.






I kept thinking afterwards, if this would have caused the airbags to deploy - I may have reacted differently and caused even larger trouble. Or if I would have been on higher speeds, things could have been totally different. With many if's and but's for sure I can tell that when things happen - they happen for a reason. Sometimes there are things you can do, and sometimes they just happen through you.

I must say this is was the second most eventful journey in last 13 years! (After my flying off road on return leg from Tirupati in Esteem then). The incidences remind me one thing I learned over the past many years - "You may be a good driver, but there are so many parameters that happen on the road, you would still need to alert and active all the time. You may be able to guarantee your own driving skills to be good but that is just a small contributor. We got to be always careful, considerate and respond to situations as they arise considering best interest of everything involved - easier said than done!"

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Incidence 1 - An Omen?
Incidence 2: A close shave, I think.
Incident 3: Even closer shave.

You were really unlucky to be part of these 3 incidents. Yes, good thing is, no major damages.
I really don't understand why some people are very impatient at the toll booths.

I kept thinking afterwards, if this would have caused the airbags to deploy - I may have reacted differently and caused even larger trouble. Or if I would have been on higher speeds, things could have been totally different. With many if's and but's for sure I can tell that when things happen - they happen for a reason. Sometimes there are things you can do, and sometimes they just happen through you.

Airbags doesn't deploy for bumper hits, even the radiator looks intact. So, no chances of airbag deploying. Since you went over the dog, to be on the safer side, check for any under-body damages.

And good that you didn't brake hard, this helps from getting rear-ended, especially on the highway with higher speeds, its even more dangerous.

Being on higher speeds mean, you would have crossed that location before this incident isn't it? At least this is what i thought after I met with an accident last year. But yes, nothing in our hands.

"You may be a good driver, but there are so many parameters that happen on the road, you would still need to alert and active all the time. You may be able to guarantee your own driving skills to be good but that is just a small contributor. We got to be always careful, considerate and respond to situations as they arise considering best interest of everything involved - easier said than done!"

Yes, very rightly said.

[abirnale]

Yes Arun, I did check underbody throwing myself below the standstill car and nothing is wrong. No leakages or damages except the plastic cladding below the engine coming loose. I always had this fear if airbags gets deployed and I react spontaneously forgetting all the learnings so far. The muscle memory would overpower my brain memory - but you never know how our brains think and react. What happens, just happens and its the sum total of our experiences, reflexes and surroundings.

As a habit I spend a lot of time on accidents thread and DOs/ DONTs hoping that my mind too makes note of it!

[srinath34]

Hi Avinash,

Is your Silver Steed on sale? Saw your post on FB.

What's next on your mind? C-SUV/D segment sedan/SUV??

[abirnale]

Like every other things in life, you got to move on. Old is gold but new is fascinating. The boundaries get pushed (financially and mentally ). When we first drove home the silver steed, it was "tied for life" feeling. But guess what, the time has come to move on!

Mind you - this is nothing to do with car but just me. I wish I could keep the car with me for projects or for old time sake if nothing else. But I think I have changed. With my newfound infatuation with riding and love for more mean machines, I have to do balancing act, yet again.

Originally Posted by srinath34

Hi Avinash,

Is your Silver Steed on sale? Saw your post on FB.

What's next on your mind? C-SUV/D segment sedan/SUV??

Yes Srinath. The decision is made. Blessings taken. While I wait for the new beast to arrive, taking time to carefully let my silver steed change ownership. Something I will feel happy if it goes in right hands. it has served me very well. Not even once it let me down.

In due course of time, I shall reveal the new companion. A new chapter will start soon. Until then, let's just use this thread to stick to Silver Steed

[abirnale]

This probably is the last post in this thread about my (?, not anymore) Silver Steed.

To welcome the new beast in the garage, I had to part ways with this trusted work horse. When I bid adieu to this long time companion, here are the few stats about its life and upping -

Overall Fuel Economy -


A relook at the expenses - Fuel Stats


Oh boy, it has seen so many variations in fuel prices in its life -


This is what shows extremes of both ends - low and high I ever paid for a tan up.


Including that costly Caska thing, this is all the services, accessory expenses graph -


And while I work on putting together an ownership thread, here is glimpse of what has substituted Silver Steed -



Although I love it to be called as Orange Duma, the part of this name is already taken on our forum. And its famous too



We are yet to name this fella, suggestions welcome

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by abirnale

And while I work on putting together an ownership thread, here is glimpse of what has substituted Silver Steed -

Congratulations Avinash! A very nice upgrade and a very nice colour.
Looking forward to your ownership thread.
Happy Motoring!

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Hi abirnale,
Recently, I noticed that the plastic guard beneath the engine of my SX4 VVT Zxi is broken. I read on your ownership thread that you replaced it last year. How much did the part cost? What were the labor charges?

FYI, the front side of the guard has broken. The front fixing screws are intact and some part of the guard was still fixed to the body with these screws. The guard had broken just after these screws. The rear fixing screws too were intact.

I had no reason to notice this until I heard strange sound from the engine bay, on left side. The sound was like Krrr.... and I was getting the sound above 40 kmph. I first noticed it on the Pune - Mumbai expressway. Upon close inspection, I found out that the guard was broken on the front side and it was overhanging on the rear fixing screws. Because of wind pressure, it was deflecting and it was touching the road at speeds above 40 kmph. So I was getting a continuous krrr..... sound.

[abirnale]

Hey Rahul, If I remember it correctly, I paid around 500Rs or so. All inclusive definitely less than 750Rs.

The SX4 is now sold out and I am no more the owner of this silver steed! I had handed over all the maintenance records to the service station - hard copies along-with the user manuals. So don't have the exact details. I am sure they might not have given it to the new owner. It was sold to Maruti True Value.

Hope this info helps you.