[Dry Ice]

@WAG7: 8 days for insurance process? Is yours not a cash-less scheme? Well, even if its not that means you need to spend first, the insurance will pay you afterwards. What are 8 days for? Surveyor visit to the workshop shouldn't take that long! Please shed some light on this.

Another 8 days for getting the part? Nissan should improve on this. They are launching a volume product and these demands will only go north if sales pick up. I hope they are doing their bit.

15 days without a car is a lot! Did you ask for a replacement car like say, Teana?
Just kidding!

Hope the car gets well soon

[shk 8896]

Sorry to see what happened to your car .I doubt -is micra's stock tire 165/80 R14 ?
Have you shortlisted the alloy wheel ??Please post a sample of alloys you have shortlisted
Regards
sreehari

[Captain Slow]

W.A.G.7
sorry about your car! we all feel your pain :(
15 days is too much time for such a small claim! who is your insurance provider?
And whats the estimate given to you?

[W.A.G.7]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

@WAG7: 8 days for insurance process? Is yours not a cash-less scheme? Well, even if its not that means you need to spend first, the insurance will pay you afterwards. What are 8 days for? Surveyor visit to the workshop shouldn't take that long! Please shed some light on this.

Another 8 days for getting the part? Nissan should improve on this. They are launching a volume product and these demands will only go north if sales pick up. I hope they are doing their bit.

15 days without a car is a lot! Did you ask for a replacement car like say, Teana?
Just kidding!

Hope the car gets well soon

The surveyor visit takes 1 day, while ordering the part and getting it here takes 4-5 days. Then painting the part in the car color takes 2-3 more days (parts are shipped in primer color, i.e. grey, while the part is spray painted at the service station on depending on the car color).

About the situation, there is some good news. Today, both the S.A and me sat and inspected the actual damage, from close quarters for half an hour. Since the door is totally intact, I need to only change the front fender which costs 1,500/- plus 2,000/- for spray painting + touching up scratches + painting the lower part of the door + labor charges.

So it should be costing me max 3,500-4,000/- for all the work and I will get the car on Tuesday i.e. 21st Sept! . I forgot to ask about getting a Teana or an X-trail as a replacement! Anyways on account of Ganesh festival in Pune, the traffic is utter chaos, so I am mainly using my bike till 22nd Sept.

Some people like the S.A. here are plain stupid, and have to be coaxed into doing things properly. Earlier he told me it would cost me 10-12K for the entire work. Today he told me that this "entire work" included replacing the front fender and repainting the entire left door! And I was like wow, why you need to paint the entire door??! Arrey yaar, sirf 1,500/- ka front fender ata hain, to sirf utna hi replace karo na!!!! And that too, when you have the front fender in stock here in Pune! Why you need this trouble of insurance, 15 days & painting the entire door etc. etc. Gave him two pieces of my mind on the spot and asked him to replace only the front fender and not the door.

Originally Posted by shk 8896

Sorry to see what happened to your car .I doubt -is micra's stock tire 165/80 R14 ?
Have you shortlisted the alloy wheel ??Please post a sample of alloys you have shortlisted
Regards
sreehari

The stock tyre is 165/70 R14. Alloys are planned in the next 6 months, no immediate plans for them now.

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

W.A.G.7
sorry about your car! we all feel your pain :(
15 days is too much time for such a small claim! who is your insurance provider?
And whats the estimate given to you?

Well, yes, even I feel the pain but some things cannot be helped. The insurance process is consigned to history, and 15 days was for the "entire process" (read my reply above).The insurance is from ICICI Lombard, and the original quote given was for 12,000/- which included painting and finishing the entire left front door.

But as mentioned in my reply above, I have not gone to the insurance step, instead asked him to only replace the front fender which should come totally around 4K. $$$ saved, because I can live with scratches on the door!!!

[W.A.G.7]

Ok, this thread has become dormant for too long time, so today I decide to update it and add some pictures of my new seat covers.

The good news is that the car came back from the workshop on Thursday 23rd Sept and was looked as good as it was when it was new. The total bill came to 4,867/- and the fender was replaced. The minor scratches on the door were repainted. Bill included fender cost + repainting charges + removing the scratches on the door + labor costs. Much better than spending 12,000/- by using insurance.

The workshop people are very nice & professional. When I went to get the car, all receipts & job cards were prepared. I was shown the car before I made the payment. Before the car was handed over to me, it was thoroughly washed, polished and interiors were vacuumed. Heck, they even polished the tyres for me, which is very nice!!!

The second good thing is that the new art leather seat covers look great and the cream color gels well with the black interior. I will let the pictures do the talking

The 3rd good thing is that the car is that the trip computer consistently shows the FE as 11.9 kmpl (with the A/C on full time and in city driving) which I think is pretty ok for me. I haven't yet taken it out on the highway and all my driving has been confined to Pune city only. Never has it dropped below 11 kmpl which is good news.

Front view: The bonnet gap though not very major; does look odd.


Here is the view of the replaced fender. And I am falling in love with the red color!!!


The trip computer which shows 11.9 kmpl throughout. Great news because the car hasn't even done 1000 kms!!


The next 4 shots show the art leather seat covers. Quite good for 4k, what do you think??

[Dry Ice]

Good to see the car back in shape.

Equally happy to see the FE. After service I think it should climb to ~13-14. Time will tell.

Seat covers look good! The front ones give an impression of being a tad loose. Very nice otherwise!

[sajo]

W.A.G.7 , the more I look at your car, the more I like this particular colour. Do calculate the FE using the tankful to tankful method , just to check the accuracy of your onboard indicator.
Where did you get the car covers from in Pune ? Were they slipped onto the existing upholstery or was it taken out ?

[W.A.G.7]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Seat covers look good! The front ones give an impression of being a tad loose. Very nice otherwise!

Yes, since readymade seat covers were not available at Carax, they got them stitched from somewhere. The front seat covers are slightly larger than the seats so are a bit loose, but will do for me. These are washable plus the cream color compliments the grey interiors, so I chose the lighter shade; otherwise I would have gone in for a shade of grey or black.

Originally Posted by sajo

W.A.G.7 , the more I look at your car, the more I like this particular colour. Do calculate the FE using the tankful to tankful method , just to check the accuracy of your onboard indicator.
Where did you get the car covers from in Pune ? Were they slipped onto the existing upholstery or was it taken out ?

Yes, the tank is now 1/4th full, so I will be able to calculate the F.E, once I top it up again. Also one Mumbai trip is planned next Sunday, so I will post more updates about the highway performance and if possible the F.E.

And the red color looks great. But it seems that the silver color is selling more, I have seen at least 8-10 silver colored Micra's in Pune.

I got these art leather car covers from Carax Pune for 4,500/- Since ready made covers are not yet available for Micra at least in Pune, Carax got it stitched for me from somewhere. They are the removable & washable type, so they were just slipped on the existing seats and tied from behind and under.

[shk 8896]

Paint those door handles and ORVMs in red..
Nice looking seat covers ..
Add one chrome strip on the grille
I have seen only 3 to 4 micras in calicut .They are not selling well besause they have not still settled here
.All micras I have seen is red but one was a black one
They look very good
REGARDS
SHK

[clevermax]

@W.A.G.7: How do you find the gearshift quality of Micra? I drove one couple of times for about 20 Kms, and I feel that the gearshift is too poor. Lacks refinement, and even after pressing clutch fully, it doesn't slot in smoothly - felt like it has to go through some obstacles.

I also noticed drive-line shunting which is usually seen in old cars which ran close to a lakh kilometers or more. I noticed this especially in 2nd and 3rd gears while driven slowly (~35-40 kmph) through city traffic.

[W.A.G.7]

Originally Posted by shk 8896

Paint those door handles and ORVMs in red..
Nice looking seat covers ..
Add one chrome strip on the grille

I wish, I could, but my budget is exhausted at least for the time being. But these are planned soon.

Originally Posted by shk 8896

I have seen only 3 to 4 micras in calicut .They are not selling well besause they have not still settled here.

Well, in Pune I have seen quite a few. Orange, white, red, black and silver. I have spotted at least 7-8 of each color. The general preference seems to be the XL version and silver color though. Blue is the only color which I have seen only once or twice on road; majority were silver or black.

Originally Posted by clevermax

@W.A.G.7: How do you find the gearshift quality of Micra? I drove one couple of times for about 20 Kms, and I feel that the gearshift is too poor. Lacks refinement, and even after pressing clutch fully, it doesn't slot in smoothly - felt like it has to go through some obstacles.

The gear shift quality is ok. I mean not in the league of the Ritz, but I didn't find it poor. Works quite smoothly in my car and also slots in quite perfectly when the clutch is fully depressed.

Originally Posted by clevermax

I also noticed drive-line shunting which is usually seen in old cars which ran close to a lakh kilometers or more. I noticed this especially in 2nd and 3rd gears while driven slowly (~35-40 kmph) through city traffic.

I didn't know this phenomenon but I will check and let you know if it exists in my car.

[W.A.G.7]

Yesterday, we took the Micra out for a small family function in Mumbai. The car crossed 1000 kms finally; total distance covered was 297kms, and the car got a chance to stretch its legs on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.

Some points worth mentioning after covering 1000kms:

Fuel Efficiency:
Big Kudos to Nissan for plonking in quite a fuel efficient and Zippy engine in this car. It's the single most plus point of this car I can say.
Before the trip, even though the tank was not empty, I filled in 26.68L of petrol before the tank was full again. Trip meter reading was 336.9kms, so that gives me an in-city F.E. of 12.63kmpl with A/C on 100% of the time!! Fantastic!

Even more fantastic is the Highway F.E which the trip computer shows as 14kmpl as shown below!! The car was driven consistently at 80-85kmph on the expressway with the A/C on all the time. Pura paisa vasool!!! The trip computer seems to be pretty accurate with an error margin of 10-12%



1000 kms update
After a long long time of nearly 2½ months, the car completes 1000kms. 1000kms of pure motoring bliss is what I can say. No troubles, nothing. Just start the car and zoom off. Everything is so very smooth and hassle free in this car. The electric power steering makes city driving a breeze. Parking is effortless, and to tell the truth; now I have mastered the art of parallel parking with this car and it's very nice electronic power steering!



Highway manners
Yesterday it behaved very well on the expressway. I drove it consistently at 80-85 kmph, never exceeding 90 kmph at any time. The engine is really great and never feels stressed out at any point of the time. The entire stretch of the expressway was done in 4th or 5th gear. Even in the ghat section while coming back, I didn't feel the need to downshift it to 3rd. Brilliant, responsive engine, just tap the accelerator and the car zooms off in an instant. Very nice.

The only grouse, (if it can be called a grouse) is that the feather light EPS requires you to be alert all the time. There is little feedback from the steering which means that every undulation on the road has to be carefully traversed. Else some slightly heart stopping moments are bound to follow. This is all the more obvious, after having driven the OHC in which you can "connect" with the road, due to the steering which is heavier and is not feather light.

Tyre Noise, grip and highway handling
1. Tyre noise is surprisingly well controlled inspite of these puny tires from MRF. On the tar portions of the highway, the tires are very silent. On the concrete expressway, barring a minor whirring sound, the tires are quite silent with very little noise.



2. The slightly stubby stance of the car helps to keep it planted firmly on the road. No hair raising moments at all, and the road grip of the tyres is excellent.



but can someone tell me if there is any way that the logo can be stuck even more firmly to the metal? The logo is very nice and in Mumbai while the car was parked on the road and I was on the 18th floor of the building, I was very scared that thieves would pinch off the logo in no time.

[shk 8896]

Those meaty nissan logos look great.I am sure that you give them enough protection from prying eyes because you dont want to spend money on them.Does your Micra don't have XE badge at the tailgate or you removed it ?

[W.A.G.7]

Originally Posted by shk 8896

Does your Micra don't have XE badge at the tailgate or you removed it ?

The variant badge is missing on all 3 variants. You only get the classy 'Micra' letters on the rear on all 3 models.

[Mr_Bean]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Yesterday, we took the Micra out for a small family function in Mumbai. The car crossed 1000 kms finally; total distance covered was 297kms, and the car got a chance to stretch its legs on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.

My love for micra has gone up after viewing this thread, Do you think the fuel efficiency will go up after subsequent services? You have got a great looking car.