[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by ampere

- First question on your idea of SUV. What plan do you have for it? Highway cruising? If yes, then where does Civic figure in the scheme of things?

SUV will be for Highway, although Civic is also well suited for highway but its limited reach (i.e. ~500Kms) does not make me comfortable taking it everywhere. So for all practice purposes Civic will be for mostly City use.

Originally Posted by ampere

- Best according to me would be a good efficient AT hatch for the city and Bigger car/SUV for the highway.

, So buy a AT hatch and an SUV (i.e. Sell both Baleno and Civic). Sirjee, i am attempting to keep this transition economical. Selling any car below 8 years is almost a No-No for me (Unless there are some irreparable problems).

Although the suggestion holds immense value. My current thinking is keep the Baleno as a City beater car (Driven mostly by Driver), cheap on pocket (i.e. as long as it remains cheap on pocket). Civic for self use within City, and SUV for Highway. Or just replace Baleno with SUV and after 2-3 years buy a City runaround car like an Ertiga or something else (Used or New) which should be cheap to own and can be given to the Driver.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

SUV will be for Highway, although Civic is also well suited for highway but its limited reach (i.e. ~500Kms) does not make me comfortable taking it everywhere. So for all practice purposes Civic will be for mostly City use.

Then I suggest, dont buy the SUV. Hold on to the Civic, till it ages out. Its not at all worth buying the third car. A Civic for personal City use? Sir that is crime against Civic! Agreed it cannot go places, but still how many places like that we chose to go with our limited vacation schedules?

Later, as you said change the Baleno to a Ertiga or an AT hatch depending on whether you have the driver or not.

If you sell the Baleno and get an SUV, then you dont have a beater car for the city. So I think that does not make sense.

[manolin]

If I think about all the reasons for which I love my Baleno, I think the ergonomics would be on the top. Somehow, everytime I slip into the drivers seat, all the controls, the seat itself, the lateral support, the length of the gear lever, the steering, the space in the cockpit - all seem to be at the perfect place (except probably the arm rest).

I just don't feel this comfortable in any other car.

[si1ver0ne]

Hi Mayankjha1806,

Brilliant thread you have here, listing out your entire owing experience. Having gone through your entire thread in one sitting, I'm almost convinced to go for a used Baleno, but somewhere still have a speck of doubt. Here are the two options I've at hand, please let me know if it would be worth to go for either of them? I intent to keep the car for about 2-3 years and then upgrade!

1. Jul 2005 - Baleno VXi - 60,000 kms done, second owner, new ICE, alloy wheels n tyres, not sure about the insurance whether 3rd party or comp.

2. Nov 2005 - Baleno VXi - 70,000 kms done, second owner, well maintained, comprehensive insurance

First and foremost, how much should I pay for the above mentioned cars? Secondly, I've been told to stay away from it citing Expensive Spare Parts and Maintenance cost, but from your thread you've seemed have figured out a way around it, so need your advice.

Finally, I have also sent you a separate PM with a request which I did not want to mention publicly, please request your reply.

Thanks,
Si1ver0ne

[supremeBaleno]

Si1verOne, my 2005 Baleno is @ 69000kms today and in a few weeks will go for the 70K service, which should be a usual change-the-required-fluids-only service. There are no issues as such and it should cost me ~4000 (last 60K service was 3500 or so). Since the 2 cars you mention are of the same vintage as mine and also similar odo readings, unless they were abused or had accidents, maintenance should not be an issue. Ofcourse do stay away from MASS - the figures I mentioned are with a private garage where my car gets serviced since the 40K service.

With the Baleno, the cost is with the SGP parts which would need to get replaced say after an accident. Even for these I guess there are cheaper options available - there is a thread for cheaper Baleno spares itself which you can browse.

I have no idea about Bangalore resale prices - so would leave that for someone else to answer.

[wanderernomad]

My Baleno went for the 70000 km service and even at MASS the bill had come to about 4000 INR or so. Nothing major goes wrong unless you abuse the car but yes replacing major parts will be costly. Over all if you get one at a decent price, you wont go wrong with the choice of the car.

[mayankjha1806]

Its difficult to gauge prices of used cars, it all depends whats the condition of the car and how it has been driven, apart from mileage and age of the car.

As discussed over phone, both listed options look expensive to me.

On the maintenance front some of the parts are available as OEM parts and they usually come cheap (~1/4th or 1/5th of the price of SGP). I have personal experience in comparing these parts and their cost hence can vouch for them. Parts like suspension, arms, brake parts etc come under this.

Whereas there are some other parts (As told by the garage owner were i frequent) which do not come as OEM and have to be SGP. I believe these would be some engine, gearbox and other critical parts.

Usually Baleno is a very painless car to own, it just keeps running without much fuss. Unless the previous owner has not maintained with reasonable care.

[kumards]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

As promised long time back, posting some pictures. The car always gets dirty in summer because of dust. Last week took her to beauty parlor to make her look her best in pictures .

Nice pics!

From the pics, it appears that the hub caps are missing on the front right wheel (left as well?)

Fyi: The hub caps on my Baleno VXi went missing twice, both times right after the car was serviced. I found spares (the black ones with the Suzuki logo) at Bimal (Mahadevapura) -- Rs.225 per hub cap, 2008 make.

Any idea about baleno SGP break pad price?

[shuvc]

@mayank, I have a similar situation to yours !
Baleno - 8yrs, fun to drive, emotional connect, low usage 'backup' vehicle which I entrust the driver with if required
Civic - 3.5 yrs, show car !, adrenaline rush medicine, sparingly used, self driven only, want to keep long term
Figo - 1.25yrs, beat car, self and driver driven, does 90% of annual family mileage

Parking is not a problem for me either

I've a similar wish. Someday, replace Baleno with a SUV. But the argument about Civic doing highway duty is also valid. Which means, for good roads and somewhat shorter distances I would prefer the Civic over a SUV. For slightly off beat places (not off-road) maybe a SUV would be better. Now with the Figo in the garage, it is pointless using the SUV in the city.

This means the SUV will be sparingly used. And hence, I think it makes sense to buy a used SUV and not splurge a huge amount on a new car. I'm a few years away from implementing this (no money !!), but to me this seems to be the ideal balance.

A small diesel for regular city use.
A f2d high revving petrol to let the hair down at times !
A diesel SUV (5 or 7 seater as required) for the occasional holiday.

[kumards]

Hello,

I took my '06 Baleno VXi for regular service (60000 km done) to Suraksha (Bommanahalli, Hosur road, Bangalore). The technician didn't find any major problems but said that the clutch plates are wearing out and should be changed soon. Of late (even before the 60k service), I've been noticing a sluggishness when I start to move from a standstill position and also when climbing slopes. I don't know whether these could be caused by the aging clutch plates.

To cross-check, I consulted a technician at Pratham Motors (Bimal, Mahadevapura, Bangalore). I didn't tell him anything about the clutch, but just asked him to drive the car and see if everything felt ok. He, too, reported that the clutch felt heavy. He had his mechanic apply some lubricant (not sure where) and said that though the clutch plates should be replaced soon, the current ones can run for a few 1000 km more.

I'm looking for advice on the next steps. Should I go with service technicians' recommendation and replace the clutch plates? Are there things I should watch out for while getting this done?

Thanks in advance. I'm looking forward to your input.

[Mr_Bean]

Originally Posted by kumards

Hello,

I'm looking for advice on the next steps. Should I go with service technicians' recommendation and replace the clutch plates? Are there things I should watch out for while getting this done?

1.) Change the clutch cable to see if the problem goes away.
2.) Problems like low mileage, shuddering in 1st gear are good indicators of clutch replacement.
3.) Clutch change is a lucrative job for MASS, however, you also took a second opinion with Pratham, so probably you should believe in them.

Failure to change clutch can have a detrimental effect on other components in the car.

[kumards]

Originally Posted by Mr_Bean

1.) Change the clutch cable to see if the problem goes away.
2.) Problems like low mileage, shuddering in 1st gear are good indicators of clutch replacement.
3.) Clutch change is a lucrative job for MASS, however, you also took a second opinion with Pratham, so probably you should believe in them.

Failure to change clutch can have a detrimental effect on other components in the car.

I got the clutch changes a few months back (at Pratham, Bellandur). It's been smooth driving since then. No sluggishness when starting from standstill and no shuddering either at low speeds.

Also, for a few weeks before the clutch change, I noticed that the engine seemed to choke occasionally. This showed up as jerks at low speeds, even in the lower gears. Unfortunately, the clutch change didn't solve this problem.

So when I took the car for a paid service earlier this month (Pratham, Bellandur again), the technician said he'd take a look at the problem. Later in the day, he called to say that the spark plugs looked "burned" and suggested replacing them. I wasn't confident that this was the real cause. Neither was he. But we agreed to replace all 4 plugs.

It's been 2 weeks now since that service, and the choking/jerking hasn't occurred even once! The new plugs seem to have solved the problem.

[mayankjha1806]

Update:

I have sold this Car, would request mods to either close this thread or leave it open for sharing experiences. I am not sure what forum rules are in this regard. Sending a PM to one of the mods as well.

Thanks