[ajay_satpute]

Photos taken during the boat ride










This tree was loaded with Bats ! Hunderds of them hanging on the tree enjoying the lake view



Few more






The Boat. Boat was really high-quality stuff and it seems it costs a whopping 20 lakhs. The boats are a direct import from Australia and thats probably a truth since I saw a marking on the sides saying something like Mariline ... Pvt Ltd, Australia.



And finally, my little one at one of the restaurants at the water front.




All in all, a very good place to spend one day with family and friends. The drive to the place makes it even better.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Wow Ajay, thats a lovely acount of a lovely trip to Lavasa. The recent rains sure seem to have a positive effect on Lavasa. The lake seems to be full.

Any call taken on the car? Modifications or to be sold? Which way are you going?

[Monaro CV8]

Hey ajay,
Wonderful pics those! Lavasa has turned a lot greener post monsoon.

Nice to see that you are putting your Vista to good use

Wanted to ask you about the number plates - where did you get them made?
I've got similar embossed ones but sans the 4 headed lion emblem (blue colour).

Hope to catchup with you soon, looks like the boys are planning a tapri meet!

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by Monaro CV8

Hey ajay,
Wonderful pics those! Lavasa has turned a lot greener post monsoon.

Nice to see that you are putting your Vista to good use

Wanted to ask you about the number plates - where did you get them made?
I've got similar embossed ones but sans the 4 headed lion emblem (blue colour).

Hope to catchup with you soon, looks like the boys are planning a tapri meet!

Thanks Monaro! Yup, Lavasa is looking pretty good right now.

I got the number plates done from 'Car Cupid' on the Pashan-Sus road for less than 1k IIRC. If you order today, you will get them next day morning.

Re-tapri meet, we should do it soon. Our dear Swanand is gonna fly off to a very a far off location. Gotto meet him.

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Wow Ajay, thats a lovely acount of a lovely trip to Lavasa. The recent rains sure seem to have a positive effect on Lavasa. The lake seems to be full.

Any call taken on the car? Modifications or to be sold? Which way are you going?

Thanks Swanand. No call taken on my car yet. Right now we are planning for a new car for my wife, since I have switched my company and she needs a car for herself.

[ajay_satpute]

22,000 kms completed. Nothing much to update. Its been running niggle-free and returning an impressive FE of 14 kmpl in city. Impressive for a petrol car.

Planning to do an engine flush and add synthetic oil. Also planning to upgrade the whole ICE setup. Have kept aside around 15k. Hope i get something good in that budget. Thinking of a JVC 2 DIN HU with infinity speakers in front doors and on the parcel trey. May be a Infinity bass tube if space available.

Here are 2 recent pics-

[ajay_satpute]

Completed another successful trip of about 100 kms with 6 adults and 2 kids on board. There was not even a single instance, where I felt that the car is going to die now. It was doing a really good job all the way. The car did not bottom out anywhere and was smooth everywhere. The FE was about 16 kmpl. The top speed was 125 kmph in the Katraj tunnel. With 8 passengers and some luggage in the boot, the car was flying at 125 kmph and still had some more left. Before I could test higher speeds, we were out of the tunnel. This tunnel reminds me of the Monaco GP tunnel. You can really go flat out in this tunnel, be it any car. BTW, there was this Vento Petrol which crossed the tunnel at break-neck speed (150+ I guess). When it crossed me, I was half way in the tunnel at 125 KMPH and I never saw it again. Vento is surely pretty agile in 3+ gears.

Love the Fiat engine and the space that this car offers. But, I guess I have over-utilized the space and the engine power (67 BHP) that this car offers. I hope the chasis doesn't go for a toss due to overloading the car. We have decided not to have any more trips with so much load again. Either we rent an Innova or buy a new Scorpio or XUV5OO.

[ajay_satpute]

Took my car to 3M Car Care on the Baner-Pashan link road today morning. I wanted to a basic Foam Wash for my Vista. I was there at the showroom at 9:20 AM, still the 2nd customer of the day. There was a Fluidic Verna before for filming. Boy-o-boy, did it look spectacular or what in the purple shade! It was a VVT Auto Verna. Ok enough of OT.

Back to cleaning.

- Started with pressure vacuum, blowing air at tremendous pressure. This took out each and every possible dirt particle/leaves and rest of the stuff from all those inaccessible areas.

- Then vacuum suction throughout the car. Again fantastic job.



- Then car goes into the washing bay. Water was sprayed using a fab looking nozzle which had a triangular throw from it.

- Now foaming. One guy got a portion of 3M's shampoo in a test tube kinda thing which was then mixed with some water and put into foam applying machine. That machine sprayed the foam all over the body.



- Car was again washed with that pressure nozzle and it started sparkling.

Total Cost: 345/- (all inclusive) | Time taken: 45-50 minutes




Just look at the attention to details. Before the car left the showroom, 6-7 attendants were ordered by the boss to check each and every corner of the car for dirt that is still left after the wash. Thankfully there was nothing left. At the end, they applied a spray on all the black rubber/plastic parts to give those parts a nice shine.



Overall, I highly recommend 3M car care for basic wash for your car. The cost differs based on the size of the car, but its still worth IMO.

Goodbye to those local car washers!

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

This tree was loaded with Bats ! Hunderds of them hanging on the tree enjoying the lake view

I hope there was some noise they could enjoy, as they are blind

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Took my car to 3M Car Care on the Baner-Pashan link road today morning. I wanted to a basic Foam Wash for my Vista. I was there at the showroom at 9:20 AM, still the 2nd customer of the day.

Ajay, thanks for the recommendation. Do you think they accept appointments over the phone for the weekend? Also do you know what other services are on offer?

[Swanand Inamdar]

Wow Ajay! Thats some professional work being done there.
I till date, used to take my cars to the local guy to do this. In all honesty, I was satisfied with the work done by him, but looking at this, I sure am tempted to take the car to these guys!

I second Bala's question. Do they take appointments over the phone? If so, then I know where I am spending a good part of my Saturday!

The Vista still looks as good as new! Kudos to you on taking the aches and pains for keeping it the way it is. Dont you get rid of this so soon, will you?

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

I hope there was some noise they could enjoy, as they are blind

Stupid stupid stupid.

Ajay, thanks for the recommendation. Do you think they accept appointments over the phone for the weekend? Also do you know what other services are on offer?

I don't think you really need to have an appointment. But I will PM you the contact details and you can find out yourself.

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Wow Ajay! Thats some professional work being done there.
I till date, used to take my cars to the local guy to do this. In all honesty, I was satisfied with the work done by him, but looking at this, I sure am tempted to take the car to these guys!

It was truly fab job man. The car looks as good as it looked in the showroom on day one. Well, almost.

I second Bala's question. Do they take appointments over the phone? If so, then I know where I am spending a good part of my Saturday!

As I mentioned, you don't have to chase them for appointments. You should be able to just walk in and get the job done on any day. But, still I will also PM you the contact details, just in case.

The Vista still looks as good as new! Kudos to you on taking the aches and pains for keeping it the way it is. Dont you get rid of this so soon, will you?

Thanks for the compliments. I try my best to keep the Vista spick & span.

[ajay_satpute]

Received these pics from the 3M guys, the Before & After kinds.

Front-view

Before:



After:



Side-view

Before:



After:



Rear-view

Before:



After:

[ajay_satpute]

Finally, I got the engine oil changed to Fully Synthetic oil. The cost breakup was as follows:

1) Mobil1 0W/40 Fully Synthetic oil (4 liter can): 4100/-
2) Labour: 200/-
3) Oil Filter: 199/-

As per the guidelines, the next oil changes is recommended after a huge 25k KMs, since this is a very high grade synthetic oil. Only Oil filter change is required after 15k KMs, since its life is only that much.

Does the car feel better? Yes, I can feel the smoothness has gone up and the engine note is softer, especially at idle. I can feel the difference most drastically when I am trying to pull the car from dead speed in the 1st gear. Previously the feeling was as if someone is scratching the whole system vigorously.

I did the oil change at CARWALA, Bavdhan. He did a decent job. Only complaint is he had no options for oils. He has a tie-up with Mobil1 and he stocks only that. After going through various info on the web regarding Mobil1 and rest of the companies, Mobil1 seemed to be a good choice.

The car manual says that Vista petrol can take 2.6 liters of engine oil. However, the old oil, which was flushed out completely, measured a whole 4 liters. I was a bit surprised about that. I guess Tata has goofed up the manual. So when he started filling up the Mobil1 oil in the oil reserve, I told him to check the oil level frequently to avoid spilling of expensive synthetic oil. However, the oil reserve DID gulp down the full can of 4 liters. So the capacity IS 4 liters.

Here's the official page of the product: http://mobil1.co.in/products/product_0W40.aspx

NOTE: Carwala, Bavdhan does not have a card swipe machine. All transactions have to be done in full cash, which was a little irritating for me. After the job was done, I was hunting for an ATM and then returned and paid him the bill.

Attaching couple of snaps:

Vista on the ramp:




Old oil and the oil filter. Observe the colour of the oil, it almost looked like tar to me.

[skumare]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Finally, I got the engine oil changed to Fully Synthetic oil. (Mobil1 0W/40)

Any implications with regard to warranty etc.? Did you check with TASS?

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by skumare

Any implications with regard to warranty etc.? Did you check with TASS?

My Vista is already out of warranty. Its 2.5 years old and I did not opt for the extended warranty, since I could not foresee anything beyond the first year of ownership being a Tata product. Jokes apart, the car has served really well and it has been a complete niggle free experience till date.

[Monaro CV8]

Hi ajay,

Great going with the oil change buddy. Good to see that you are already enjoying the benefits !

The moment I read that you've got Mobil1 for your car, I was like - dude, thats the best synthetic oil available in the country, followed by Shell and then Castrol (IMO).

There's a thread about synthetic oil vs non-synthetic oil, in this forum. You will notice that Mobil1 is highly talked about.