[Abhi_abarth]

Originally Posted by pdma

Pleasant Experience at AV motors.

Today, I went to AV motors service center at sanath nagar for PDI of 2 cars (90 HP Evo and a TJet), not mine though . I tagged along with the owners on their request as I had a day off.
While we were about to start the process (accompanied with the staff), the SA - Sandeep walked upto me and said while you are busy with the PDI, why don't we get your car a complimentary wash. I for sure felt happy about this nice gesture.

Thank You AV .

Cheers,
pdma.

I had a completely different experience with this gentlemen. As per my experience they treat their customers based upon the cars. Mine being a palio S10 I was subjected to second class (or rather labour class) treatment. I have vowed never to go them in the near future. It's either Butta or Mazda Motors (FNG).

Glad to hear you are treated well sir

[pdma]

Originally Posted by Abhi_abarth

Mine being a palio S10 I was subjected to second class (or rather labour class) treatment. I have vowed never to go them in the near future. It's either Butta or Mazda Motors (FNG).

Glad to hear you are treated well sir

Hello Abhi,

Sorry to hear about the bad experience.
I know another S10 owner who has positive feedback about the place.
Anyways as long as we get the car serviced on time, at a place which gives us satisfaction, we are all good.

Thanks for the info on Mazda motors, it would help some folks who would be looking for alternatives post warranty.

Cheers,
pdma.

[pdma]

Service Update

Odo Reading : 14950 KM.

Type of Service : Free - 1 Year (15000KM).
Service Center : AV Motors - Hyderabad.
Service Cost : Rs 4962/-.
Wheel Balancing & Alignment : Rs 848/-.
Taxes : Rs 843.
Total : Rs 6653/-.

It is close to 10 months and the car has clocked close to 15k and it was time for the second scheduled service. The appointment was pre booked for Monday 14-Dec and I was at the service center by 915 AM. I parked the car inside and saw that the entire service staff was in a hurdle along with the GM - Service @ AV Motors.
Srinivas was the service adviser assigned and he came to me by 930 AM and the Job card was opened.

Issues to report

1) Driver door squeaking (during opening and closing)
2) Trip B on ODO was stuck from a few weeks.
3) Missing plastic screw cap on windshield (Pic shared below)

Regular schedule @ 15000 KM

1) Change of engine oil.
2) Oil Filter
3) Fuel Filter
4) AC Filter
5) Wheel alignment, balancing and rotation (every 5k).
6) General checkup
7) Wash.

By 10 AM the car was in the service bay, with all the needed parts assigned to the mechanic.
The seat and the steering wheel were properly covered, to avoind any unnecessary marks



The car was raised on the hydraulic lift and a through under-body check was done, the suspension was checked and any loose nuts and bolts were tightened.



In the next 2 hours, all the 4 filters were changed, engine oil was drained and the new oil was refilled. A new drain plug was installed. Battery was checked and got the needed top up of distilled water. Regular checks of bulbs, and other electrical components was done. The other fluids were topped up as needed, wheels were balanced, rotated and aligned thoroughly.





Post this they connected the computer and reset the service interval. They have reset the trip settings as well (as the Trip B was stuck). I got the technician to check for the error log and noticed one error which read something like " Clutch & break signal", they said it is nothing to worry and the log was cleared. When I spoke to another friend he mentioned that this can be because of a possible stall of the car, which did happen when I was driving in heavy traffic.



The squeaking driver door was adjusted and greased and the sound no longer exists.
They did find the screw cap as well and had it fixed where it was needed .



We went for a test drive to check and confirm that all is well, post which the car is sent for a foam wash & interior vacuum. The dashboard and tires were also polished as expected.

I had a short conversation with the mechanic and informed me that the break pads would last another 15k , and since the tires were always aligned at regular intervals he said I may need not worry regarding the tyre change upto 50K. These words were assuring as I always want to keep the maintenance cost as low as possible.

The maintenance cost per KM is just around 50 paise which can definitely be considered as very good and more over the first paid service of the car would be at 45000KM, which gives you sense of relaxation and saving of atleast 6-7 K in terms of labor when compared to a few other manufacturers.

The stock interiors still holding well and it takes an effort to keep them clean.





Summary of the bill





The car all decked up for another 15000KM run. Planning a short run during Christmas weekend to enjoy the dive and the machine as usual .




Cheers,
pdma.

[arun_josie]

This FASS looks really spacious.

Originally Posted by pdma

Service Update

I had a short conversation with the mechanic and informed me that the break pads would last another 15k , and since the tires were always aligned at regular intervals he said I may need not worry regarding the tyre change upto 50K. These words were assuring as I always want to keep the maintenance cost as low as possible.

Yours is Good Years, right?!. Even I thought of pushing my first set to 50K but couldn't push it more than 35K Kms.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post3654746

But my second set Michelin 3ST is holding up good and much better than Good Years even though its a softer component.

[pdma]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

This FASS looks really spacious.

But my second set Michelin 3ST is holding up good and much better than Good Years even though its a softer component.

Yes Arun,

The stock tyre's on my car are good year. I do wish to keep them as long as possible, lets see how long they can be held onto without compromising on the safety and comfort. Thanks for sharing your experience.
This service center is very spacious, the portion visible in this picture is just about 30- 40% of the overall space they hold. They stock cars here as well unlike most of the stockyards, this is a fully closed parking lot.

Cheers,
pdma.

[pdma]

11 Months of ownership and so far so good .

The car is doing very well. A small squeak (possibly from the seat) is noticed just today morning. I need to isolate the sound, post which I need to find sometime to get it addressed.
Post a couple of weeks after the second free service at 15,000 KM the left pull issue on my car was back. I circled back to FASC on 2 Jan to get this corrected. They have done the necessary adjustments to address the issue and its behaving well now.

Updated FE stats.



Cheers,
pdma.

[pdma]

The small squeak is fixed

The issue reported yesterday (regarding a small squeak), I managed to isolate it to the driver seat. A fellow Linea owner (Saji) pointed out that this sound is observed in his car too when the driver seat is at the highest setting. Post the conversation with him, I changed the height of the driver seat (it was indeed in the highest position) before I started my drive back home last night and bingo the squeak vanished. I just lowered it by one step and the peaceful silence of the cabin is restored again . Anyways I will check with FASC as to why this has occurred at the first place (seems to be a known issue). Thank You Saji .

Cheers,
pdma.

PS : A small correction in the earlier posted FE chart, refill number 27 was on 2-Jan-2016 instead of the (11-Jan) as mentioned in the chart. This would be corrected in the next relevant post.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by pdma

PS : A small correction in the earlier posted FE chart, refill number 27 was on 2-Jan-2016 instead of the (11-Jan) as mentioned in the chart. This would be corrected in the next relevant post.

Was looking at the table and found the quantity to be 68.92. Is that an error or you clubbed two refills into one?

[pdma]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Was looking at the table and found the quantity to be 68.92. Is that an error or you clubbed two refills into one?

Krishna,

The number is a consolidated figure as captured in the legend (refer #). I wanted to check the FE post the second service and held back getting a tankup done before the 15 k service. I got partial refills done to reach a mark close to 15k before getting the car serviced.

cheers,
pdma.

[pdma]

Below is a small calculation that I have put in place which shows that the usable fuel in the 45 liter tank is approximately 42 liters.
Kindly note that the calculations are based on the below numbers currently displayed on the mid of my car, and this should hold good from my experience as well (any corrections from more experienced folks, would be helpful too). I ensure that trip A is reset after every refill so that I can track the FE on regular basis.

Average FE as per MID.



Current trip A reading.



Range as per MID.



The calculation.



Cheers,
pradeep.

[pdma]

This has been long pending and finally this Saturday, I got the mats in place for the car. The roll was bought in bulk by a bunch of us about 7 months back and I finally managed to cut the mats for my car.
Special thanks to my buddy Sai who spent time along with me in getting the mats in place.
Iam very happy the way the area is covered, leaving no gap for anything to settle in the gaps, making the floor area look very tidy. We ensured that the wastage was minimal by spending slightly additional time and planning the templates well.

The previous mats were used to get a clean template however the size was altered to allow better coverage area.



With great care the mats were cut and we managed minimal wastage.



The rough edges were sealed properly with some heat.



Driver side mat.



Passenger side mat.



Rear seat floor covered.



The process took about 3 hours but the final result was very satisfying .

Cheers,
pdma.

[pdma]

Update on Insurance Renewal

Its been close to an year and so far so good with the car. The Insurance is due to expire on 23 Feb 2016, and I started shopping around from the 1st week of Feb. The current insurance is from Future Generali (this was provided as complimentary at the time of purchase).
FG, does have some good reviews and the service centers here are comfortable with them. AV approached me for a renewal through them and they gave me a quotation from three vendors with whom they have tie ups with.

All the below quotes were with nil depreciation rider & the same IDV - 10% reduction from previous year IDV. Also there were no claims made during the policy period.
Also there were no claims made in the past year.
Also there were no claims made in the past year.

Future Generali : Rs 21,800/-, however number of nil dep claims is limited to 2.

Liberty Videocon : Rs 20,700/-, no limit on the number of nil dep claims.

Royal Sundaram : Rs 21,500/-, no limit on the number of nil dep claims.

Since I had ample time I informed them that I will get back and started shopping around. I fiddled around with all the popular websites and they for sure were giving me better deals however the IDV was being lowered to a huge extant which made me uncomfortable. Moreover I wanted to stick to any of these three vendors as the FASS was comfortable with them.

I checked the websites of the three vendors for online quotes and I got a call from RS when I was on thier website. The customer service personnel was on the call with me and guided me in filling the form and showed me the options I can play around with.
I got the online quote as Rs 20,900/- with engine protector rider as well.
Without the engine protector the quote was Rs 20,200 (approx). I decided to add to engine protector as the difference is negligible.
I informed the person on the call that I am ok with the quote and would pay sometime in the week. However since I had ample time I delayed the payment further.

On this Tuesday (16-02), I got a follow up call form the same person and was checking with me as the payment was not made. I said Iam still shopping around for a better price, at that moment he said he would check if he can do something, asked me a few questions and after a few minutes gave me the figure Rs 18,256/-.
The number did excite me and I confirmed with him the below, to which he gave a positive response.

1) No change in the IDV (approx 7.8 L, my car is Dynamic variant) that I wanted.
2) Nil depreciation rider added.
3) Engine Protector rider added.
4) No limit of number of nil dep claims.
5) No voluntary deductible addition.

I was satisfied, he sent me a quote number via email and asked me to complete the payment online if Iam fine. He shared his desk and extension number so that I can talk directly in case needed. He also asked me to share a copy of my current insurance, a copy of RC along with the payment confirmation when ever I complete it.
The best part was that all through the interaction he was never pushy and was not forcing me to complete the transaction at the minute or on the same day, which I really liked.

As the earlier confirmation (5 points) was done verbally, I sent an email to him asking to confirm the same in black and white, I received the response confirming the same .

The payment was done yesterday, and I shared the needed documents via email. I received an acknowledgement as well as a call confirming the receipt of the documents. I was informed earlier that the policy document would be generated and sent end of the subsequent day post payment. They sent me a document for verification of the details, I promptly checked the engine number, chassis number and all the rest of the details and confirmed that they were entered fine however they erred my DOB. A quick call to the person who was helping me and an email to them, he acknowledged that he would get it corrected and then send this copy for the policy generation.

So overall a very pleasant experience with Royal Sundaram and hopefully I would get soft copy of the policy document by the end of today.
Iam happy that I started shopping way in advance and since I was in no hurry I managed to get a good deal from one of the reputed vendors in the market.

Cheers,
pdma.

PS : 1 year update would follow soon.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by pdma

4) No limit of number of nil dep claims.

Did you confirm this with RS? There is no mention about this on their website atleast last time I checked. Pls confirm if the no limit on the no of claims under zero depreciation appears on th policy document or under the add on cover clearly.

Even I had a good buying process with RS for my Punto in the second year. The claims process was also smooth.

[pdma]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Did you confirm this with RS?

Yes mate, this is confirmed that there is no cap on the number of claims under nil depreciation during the policy period.
They added the RSA too with no additional cost and Iam pleasantly surprised with this gesture.

Regards,
Pradeep.

[pdma]

1 Year - 17,500 KM's - Update

Its the first anniversary about a week back and the relation between the car and us is only growing stronger. The engine note has become very quite smoothed very much after the 15K service, this has just added more pleasantness to the already sweet ride.

Iam not going to get repetitive, instead will try to summarize things statistically

Total ODO reading : 17500KM

No of highway trips : 4

Hyderabad > Chirala > Hyderabad.

Hyderabad > Bangalore > Bandipur > Bangalore > Hyderabad.

Hyderabad > Shirdi > Hyderabad.

Hyderabad > Bangalore > Mysore > Coorg/Virajpet > Kannur > Bangalore > Hyderabad.

Total number of KM's on highways : 6700 KM (Approx)

Issues faced so far

1) Severe left pull - Fixed. However the pull is felt after a few thousand km's and an alignment correction / checkup fixes this issue.
2) Driver door squeak - Fixed
3) Fuel lid not closing properly - Fixed.
4) Trip B Stuck - Fixed.
4) Door Accunator - Iam yet to report this issue to FASC

At the start of my ownership I estimated the FE of the car to be 15KMPL for my cost projections, and as you can see the below stats the Average has been holding good at 16+KMPL. Stats and history below.



After 17000+ KM & 1 year I confirm that the car is still tight and not a single rattle as expected.
Scars & Scratches

The car took a few scratches (all due to impatient drivers around as reported in earlier posts)

There is a alloy chip off as well (completely my fault), I did some off-roading to save a few minutes & KM's and lesson learn't the hard way and I have been avoiding pathetic roads ever since then.

The car as usual is kept very tidy under all circumstances and the dusty conditions of Hyderabad doesn't help much, and demands some extra attention to have the ride shine always.

Driving position

Much has been said about the ergonomics of the car, however I did find a spot which does not give me any feeling of steering in the face or troubles reaching to the switches around. I used the height adjustment effectively to climb up and then adjusted the push back setting + the entire seat adjustment to find the needed comfortable position. I advice anyone who has found the driving position to be awkward to play around with all the three settings and the needed position could be found without any hassle.

The seats in this car are awesome, the cushioning, the width & the abundant under thigh support keeps you very comfortable in all circumstances. No offense but the seats in other cars in the same segment do feel malnourished in terms of the above 3 aspects to create the questionable leg & knee room.

Thick side bolstering & very good under thigh support




Accessories added.

As mentioned earlier as well, Iam happy with the stock options already provided with the car and I did not see the need to spend too much on accessories. Below is the list of items purchased so far.

> 16 GB - Micro USB drive - Rs 600/-
> Sun Shades - Rs 2500/-
> EverReady charger - Rs 350/-
> Floor mats (DIY) - Rs 2000/-
> Total Spent - Rs 5450/-

The little USB which is hard to find nicely sits in the designated slot.



Accessories planned.

> Dashboard Camera.

Things I don't like.

> The external plastic just below the wipers and the black masking on B pillar keeps getting very dull and needs constant attention to make it look better.
Iam planning to get a black wrap done in these areas so that it would look neat all the times.

> The beige interiors are a royal pain to maintain. I have plans to get some darker seat covers however this may wait till next year as Iam in no hurry.

A few pictures from the memory lane.

First day when we met for the PDI.



At the time of delivery.



Chirala Trip.



@ Bandipur



Enroute Shiridi.



@ Kannur



The car undoubtedly puts a smile on my face every time I take it out. The Linea MJD as already known is not a road scorcher, however it definitely is a very comfortable cruiser, which keeps you comfortable economically as well (I will keep everyone updated on the services costs as well over the long post 3 years let us see if the stats can support my assumption, that it would be easy on the pocket too in terms of maintenance costs).
As of now the maintenance / service cost is close to 50 paise per km (Rs 9000/- spent for 17,500Km) as mentioned in my earlier posts.

As said my many already, if you don't turn around to look at it after you park it, then you have bought the wrong one .



Cheers,
Pdma.