The beast has crossed the 2,500 kms mark in style - as on date its done close to 2,750 kms. I'm more & more amazed by this vehicle as the days go by - I'd seriously not expected it to be so comfortable, nor had I expected that driving it would be such a breeze. The engine's settling in well & one of my colleagues recently complimented on the lack of high noise levels & vibration considering that it was a diesel behemoth.
Now we come to an interesting story (and you'll pardon me if it becomes too long & boring....) - post the running-in period of 1,500 kms, I immediately floored the pedal and was surprised to feel a vibration (from beneath the car) when I exceeded 110 kmph. And it didn't go away but stayed on with increased speed.
So off I went to the workshop at 1,700 odd kms (I'd gone to pick up the permanent number plate actually), advisor checked it out, felt the vibration & said that it was (possibly) a problem with the Differential. I was asked to leave the car there till the next evening. To cut a long story short, next evening was thereafter extended by "another day or two". I was going out of the country so I left it with them after all sorts of assurances from the Works Manager, the GM (Workshop) & the Advisor that all would be attended to in my absence.
Car was with them for five full days (with me making numerous calls from overseas to check status & gradually coming to the conclusion that the b****rs had no clue/no intentions & were just trying to get it off their backs). At the end of that the advisor called me & told me that he'd checked it out for himself and the vibration was GONE COMPLETELY - and they neither had to change the differential, nor the propellor shaft, just tightened some nuts & bolts "here & there" on the body & below had got rid of the issue!
Sceptical me wasn't convinced but I asked my driver to pick up the car the day before I returned. On return, off to school last Friday to drop the kids early morning.....on the highway, hit 110 & lo & behold, there was the vibration EXACTLY like it had been! The b****rs had kept my car for 5 days, driven 90 kms odd, probably freaked over the weekend in the car and then returned it without correcting this major problem (other minor rattles etc had been fixed)! So I was like
REAL MAD & decided to follow the practice made popular by our DBHPian Steeroid - shot off an e-mail to Tata customer support at 5.30 in the evening, copying in a couple of others including their Head of Corporate Communications!
9.30 am the next day I get a call from the Customer Service Manager from the dealer workshop profusely apologetic & begging me to go down for 10 minutes so that he & the Senior Works Manager could drive the vehicle & diagnose the issue. Obviously, he had no answers when I bombarded him as to why this hadn't been done when the car was there for 5 days!!!
Off I went on Saturday evening, the Senior Works Manager was a very competent gentleman, he drove it on the highway & diagnosed it as a case of the propellor shaft being defective. This was corroborated the next morning by them fixing a new Propellor shaft from a new TD vehicle whereby there were no vibrations at all - we went up to 130 kmph.
The part was indented & I was requested to take the car back to them thereafter (yesterday) and it was replaced under warranty. Also replaced under warranty was the left side headlamp assembly - the head-beam was lighting up the skies instead of the road ahead, the adjuster was faulty so they changed it. The CSM & Sr WM were extremely apologetic about what had happened earlier & in any case I'd decided to let it ride since the job was done real quick once they got involved.
Well, as you can imagine, I was on the edge for a few days but have now let out my breath & relaxed once again! Hit 140 kmph on the speedo on the highway this morning (don't know what that translates to post speedo error) and ran out of road but it did feel like it could go more (Steer, Nitin, Dr Fate - I'm wondering if the earlier restriction of 130 has been lifted or perhaps the engine now peaks at a higher speed cos the tacho still had some way to go to 3k even at this speed).
And the beauty about all this is that -
(a) I didn't realize I was going so fast till I saw the speedo (was busy chasing an Endeavour
) and
(b) the vehicle really feels ROCK SOLID at this speed. Someone mentioned they were having trouble with the steering showing a lack of "feel" but I've got over that now (I know it happened during the first test drive this year, steering felt weird) - in fact it feels firmly planted at these speeds.
I've posted about the FE earlier, one more fill has given 9.2 kmpl but that included the 5 day workshop stay so I'm discounting it.
Its a great feeling being "up there" & looking down on the cars in general & also being able to take the extreme left lane and cut across traffic pile-ups disdainfully.....of course, as I've said before this baby prefers to cruise along at 100 kmph plus rather than chug along at 20 kmph but all in all, takes the rough & the smooth with aplomb.
Next on the charts though I don't know when - a trip up to the snows or the slush, that will probably only materialize around Feb-March next year. I think there's a service due at 5k as well (though oil change is only at 10k) - only positive thing is, with this e-mail complaint, they are likely to stand up & give undivided attention henceforth when the beast steps into their compound!
Few other points -
1) Didn't do an oil change at 1,500 kms they said there was no need to, what with the Multigrade engine oil being used these days
2) Rajeev (Rajismine), they reconfirmed to me that October Dicors have come with the new air cleaner element so no retrofit is necessary. Will check this out at the next service though
3) On weekends, when I step into the Fiesta, it feels like one of the lightest & quickest cars on earth!! And I have difficulty for the first 5 minutes or so adjusting to the clutch & Steering, resulting in one wheelspin after the other
.....and yes, I feel that something's not right since the noise levels are like zero!
4) Missed the beast when I had to leave it in the workshop for a couple of days (Sob-sob......) & even when I was out of the country, was missing the early morning highway cruises!
All in all, a good ownership experience so far, I'd rate it a 7 out of 10, will definitely improve as we trundle along!