[Intelsingh]

Prologue:

I owned a GT TDI 1.6. Absolutely loved the car, and pampered it all these years. This vehicle got me into the world of modifications, as it was running a Quantum Red Map, KSM intercooler and a BMC stock replacement filter inside the engine bay. The 8 years that this car was with me, it had seen Brembo rotors and pads, and later I had moved to EBC Green Stuff with stock rotors.

The car had a 3 way active music system. The car was nothing but smiles, as these years were absolutely niggle free and smile inducing every time I got into the car.

As all things must come to an end, living in NCR with the 10 year Diesel ban- it was time to move on.

The Year 2022:

February, I got an offer for the Polo, and chose to move on. With 147000 on the odometer, I still had a decent offer and hence, I jumped the gun.

The important question was which car can replace my 145 Bhp, 350 Nm torque German Monster?

As I prefer hatchbacks, and wanted to keep it under 15L- The answer was clear. No car could be a worthy replacement!

So, I had to look for a car, that I could tinker with, and modify such that it gave me joy to drive and tinker with.

The Choices:

Buy the 1.0L Polo
Honda Jazz
i20 N Line
Anything from the Suzuki Stable with the 1.2L Engine.


Of the above mentioned, The i20N Line was a dream to drive. Loved nearly everything in the car. Why did i not buy it? For starters, there was no manual. Then the car was too refined, it would have been blasphemous to tinker with things, upgrade the music etc etc. Owning a turbo car before- it felt easy to work with- in the power upgrades domain.

The Jazz was ruled out because of the infamous quality of things that Honda has been offering lately.

The 1.0L Polo would have not felt like a new car. Even if I opted for a Stage 2 Map, the torque would have made it feel sluggish; and the newer stable just felt a bit poor in quality, compared to what i owned- so why complain later?

From the Suzuki stable, Ignis seemed quirky enough to meet my tastes. All of the 1.2L cars felt more spacious than the Polo any which ways! Then there was this whole enigma of tinkering with a Naturally Aspirated Engine- as the future would offer everything turbo and/or hybrid.

Jumping the gun:

Filled up the enquiry form on the Nexa website, and woke up the next day to a barrage of incoming calls for test drives. Prem Motors, Gurgaon had the most impressive staff (The rest reminded me of disinterested Maruti sales team of the years gone by). There wasn't much to register in the test drive itself, as the car felt like any other Japanese hatch available in the country. Since I had plans to tinker with it anyways, i chose the Sigma variant as that was the only vehicle with all black interiors. The compromise was made with Rear Power windows and adjustable ORVMS, which didn't matter much to me. Prem Motors also offered me the best deal from the rest of the flock, so the car was booked, and i waited for my funds to clear, and my daughter to finalize the color!

In the meantime, I started calling people to go ahead with procurement of modification parts.

Pahiya 4x4 helped me get a set of OZ racing wheels with Contiental UC6 195/60/15 and a Momo gear knob with Sparco replica pedals.

Till now I had plans to go ahead with the Music System from my Polo. So my pre purchase shopping was done!

Taking Delivery:

March 17th, 2022 I wake up to a message stating that my account has money! I call up Rahul Paliwal from Pem Motors, telling him about the fact that I am ready to take delivery. I immediately transferred the pending amount, and was assured delivery the same day.

Special shoutout to the team at Prem Motors to get the car ready for delivery when they were open for half day as it was Holi. I was specially impressed with the fact that they got my car ready, and ordered a cake with my daughters name. That's some good customer service. I was done with all the formalities and on the road by 1pm.



The reason for me buying this car was the motor, and the quirky design. What this car lacks in speed is complimented by its small footprint that makes it super nimble on the road. With speed cameras nearly everywhere in NCR, I realized that my commute still takes the same time as in my Polo. What this car lacks in acceleration is complimented by its maneuverability. I personally like the spartan interiors, as a rear parking sensor, and lane changing indicators provided from the factory do suffice my needs. The AC works like a charm while the boot space, though not so relevant for me feels like an upgrade from the Polo.

Dislikes:

The major sore point of this car is its suspension. In the city, the suspension feels quite adequate. Problems begin the moment you hit a speed breaker, that's when the rear of the car tends to jump and land with a thud! This may be avoided in single digit speeds, else the rear suspension reminds me of leaf springs. The added quirk to this suspension is that the moment you egress from the vehicle and shut the door- the car seems to vibrate a bit.
Thanks to this suspension, on some roads you can hit 90kmph and the car drives like magic; while on some roads, crossing 50kmph will make you nervous with its weird body roll on steroids kind of dynamics.
Hit some potholes, and the rear passengers are going to curse you, even at speeds as low as 20kmph.

Something else worth noting is that this is a narrow car, so if two people with medium to heavy build occupy the font seats, it may feel cramped while you are changing gears.

[Intelsingh]

Tinkering and getting to know the car:

Post Delivery, it was time for me to understand the car, its maintenance, fluids needed, aesthetic changes, and music. The first order of business was to get rid of the chrome on the bumper, as it felt like a major eye sore.








Though this car shares its engine with the Old generation Swift, with the new BS6 norms, I was unsure of what engine oil to flush out the company oil with. Since the Suzuki K Series VVT engine can have either 5W30 or 0W20. I started by search for synthetic variants of both. Got my hands on Motul 8100 X Clean 8100+ 5W30 and decided to give it a try. Purchased Motylgear 75W80 for the gearbox.
Flushed out the company engine oil and replaced it at 2885kms on the odometer. Before, my car was giving me a mileage of 14.7 kmpl in city drives, which dropped to 14.5 kmpl. Whether this was the oil change, or the heat- I have no idea! Did not replace the gear oil at this point as the rain Gods seemed to be looming over NCR.

What was decided was the roof wrap though



Car Audio and German Cars came in my life at the same time. Switching over to a Japanese Manufacturer made me understand the the need of car dampening. This got me into a spiral of enquiries to the door step of audio installers which gave me bouts of acidity. The prices were vague. Most of them were non committal when it came to either a quote regarding the scope of work, or the time lines.

Here is me enjoying the bare bones interiors



Enter Sundown Audio! (drumroll please)
I had interacted with Anubhav Gupta of Hype Audio(Sundown Audio dealers in India) in the past, this man gave me nothing but genuine advice. As I was sharing my frustration with him- I happened to hear one of his setups and was blown away by the clarity. Thus I tried my hands on audio installation for the first time, since Hype Audio does only Competition Installs. Thanks to Anubhav, I got all the parts needed to get working. My free time was filled with the audio built in my driveway.







The above sights were a norm as i would dismantle a certain section of the car in my free time till the audio setup was complete. Another interesting observation as I completed the setup was that the doors felt more solid with the dampening, the car became silent- and, surprisingly, with the amps and the subwoofer- the rear of the car felt lowered. The springs seemed to be sagging with the weight of the music hardware.

Before this car, a remap would have been my first go to. With the Ignis, I realized that the suspension is the weakest link. What would performance upgrades serve, if the car feels wobbly on normal speeds on certain roads?

The rest of the things that are there, are all quite impressive- hats off to Nexa Experience. The car is well packed, feels sturdy, and even the service experience is extremely professional. From the moment the car would be attended by a service rep to the time of final delivery: the whole thing works like a well oiled machine. In the first check up at 5000 kms, I was expecting to be billed for some random miscellaneous bits or an oil top up. Nothing of that sort happened- though they cleaned all the filters, tightened all the bolts, and even checked bits that i don't have a working vocabulary for. I did opt for both Air and Cabin Filter change personally. (Chargeable of course)
By the first week of November, my car had reached its 10k mark; and once again I take it to the Service Center. The well spoken staff was still there, and most of them remembered bits from my previous visit. This again speaks volumes of the kind of training Nexa employees get. To add to the the smiles, I see that Nexa is really working on having a bunch of gadgets that car owners might use being offered under their roof, and come with a company provided warranty. Now, for a car charger or any other small item, I don't fret over which accessory store to go to, as I know a visit to the service center will take care of it. The 10000 Kms Service is the last of "free labor" services. The hit to my pocket was around 2500INR (Oil change with the oil filter and misc. and a cabin filter with other liquids topped up)

[Intelsingh]

A relationship begins:

Post the 10k service mark, the mileage had moved to a little over the 15 kmpl mark in city. Then, there was the joy of the music. The single most bang for the buck change that I felt till now, was due to a gear oil swap. Switching the gear oil made the gear shift smoother, and the drivability had a drastic improvement. All the theoretical bit of making your car move better could now be seen in action.

Now, I was really motivated to work on the suspension. The solutions available in the market were:

1. Coilovers
2. Change the Struts and get the solution from ARC Suspension.

Coilovers were ruled out for pure economical reasons. The minimum spend would have been over 1.5L where I still had to gamble with the whole bit of- whether I am going to like them or no?

ARC Suspension team had the best explanation for the Ignis Suspension, that was quite similar to my observations.
Ignis has super soft springs that come in from the factory, the struts that come with it have a small working area. Thanks to the size of the strut in this car, there is an actual limitation to how much it can compress. The combination of this setup makes the suspension feel stiff, yet on a undulated road- makes your car rock like a boat! To counter this, ARC offers a new set of struts that work really well. As there was no one running an ARC suspension in the Ignis in NCR, I chose to stick to the philosophical difference that was creeping up in my mind.

If the springs are the problem, why fix the strut?

The problem was identified, with no solution in sight. Enter my alter ego- The Mechanic!

Once again, the car started seeing these phases where we would be in the FNG, opening things up and researching like Da Vinci. Various strut combinations were looked at, a few other cars were studied. People around the workshop started judging me.
I started borrowing and procuring random suspension components to fill the missing feel!

Finally, the Creative Gods had mercy on me and I got hold of a set of a stiffer springs in the stock size. Tried them and simply loved them, sorry don't have any pics as there were multiple experiments that were happening. The experiment has turned out to be so good, that i wish Maruti gave it from the factory.
Will try to not explain something that I cannot put in words.

Acceleration has improved, cornering ability too, and the car doesn't wobble on roads anymore.








The next addition to the car would be a top luggage mounting system, as the boot has not much room

The last 5K kms have been a true joy. From impromptu trip to Uttarakhand, to any random place where I feel like going- I look forward to driving this vehicle.
Now, it feels like a wonderful machine!

[GTO]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage tomorrow

The Ignis is one fun-to-drive hatchback and I'm sure yours is a blast around town. Love your mods & love your writing style. Please share more full-profile pics of the completed car.

[vaibhavyagnik]

Nice Mods! May I know what did you use to blacken the chrome grills?

[Intelsingh]

Originally Posted by vaibhavyagnik

Nice Mods! May I know what did you use to blacken the chrome grills?

I went to a painter who assured me that the de chrome would last. Last week, while I was getting the car washed, some parts of the paint have peeled off.

[YakubKC]

Very well written, Intelsingh. As an Ignis owner, can relate to what you've mentioned about the suspension. Can you please share details of the stiffer springs that you are using now?

[Mustang_Boss]

Nice Writeup!!!

Would you please provide more details on the following?
Which brand & model Springs. I would like to give it a try too.

Originally Posted by Intelsingh

If the springs are the problem, why fix the strut?

The problem was identified, with no solution in sight. Enter my alter ego- The Mechanic!

...

Finally, the Creative Gods had mercy on me and I got hold of a set of a stiffer springs in the stock size. Tried them and simply loved them, sorry don't have any pics as there were multiple experiments that were happening. The experiment has turned out to be so good, that i wish Maruti gave it from the factory.
Will try to not explain something that I cannot put in words.

[aka8921]

Nice writeup!! This is actually the first post I'm reading without skipping a sentence

[Intelsingh]

Thank you everyone for your response! It's overwhelming.

As for the suspension mods go, I wish I knew I was going to hit home with this one- would have documented it for sure.
The suspension size of the Ignis is so small, that for reference, if the strut of an older swift or a brio is fully compressed is when it matches the size of a non compressed strut from an ignis. Thus, my initial experiments with replacing the rear strut with some other cars strut went for a toss.

An image for comparison with the strut of a Brio on the right- this was clicked while the final solution was underway.



Finally, I procured an old spring from an ignis, and that became my template for comparison. Tried getting my hands on springs from other cars for comparison, and later started to beg and borrow from friends in the tuner industry.
Now the job was fairly simple. Compare the new spring with the spring of the Ignis visually- that's the only tool for beginners. After a few tries with different springs from various manufacturers, a set of lowering springs from Triple S for some car seemed to be the closest (As the box was destroyed in storage, so I happily picked them up from my friends basement while making cheap jibes of taking them for a super discounted price) I did try this same procedure with springs from Eibach and a few other manufactures- though did not document as the sizes were off!



Went ahead with the rear swap, as that was fairly easy, and the test drive made me realize that the months of mulling over did not go in vain.
Swapping the front springs was a bit cumbersome as the Triple S springs were a bit wider than what's provided in the ignis.
This had us fabricate a few new washers and bits. After a few failed experiments- we did succeed in coming up with something sturdy and dependable.

Where I hit jackpot was with the fact that, as the size of the strut of an ignis is small, it only compresses a little- or the working area is small. match this with a pair of stiffer springs and its like a match made in heaven.

I hope this gives you an idea of the predicament I face in explaining what I did for the suspension!

[TejasV]

Great mods! Would be nice to see some more pictures of the car itself to ogle at

[Kln]

Great to see the humble Ignis getting love! Would strongly recommend upgrading to 195/60 R15s. The handling and cornering upgrade that follows is indescribably good. I personally have opted for the Conti UC6s.

[Intelsingh]

Originally Posted by Kln

Great to see the humble Ignis getting love! Would strongly recommend upgrading to 195/60 R15s. The handling and cornering upgrade that follows is indescribably good. I personally have opted for the Conti UC6s.

That's exactly what I am running!

[ron_9191]

That Ignis is getting some serious love and affection that is much needed. I am one of those who love its shape for some reason. To my eyes, it captures a lot of JDM design language. Much like the first generation Wagon R.

Can't wait to see what other mods are coming up on this one. Congratulations @Intelsingh

[wbd8779]

Great writeup - my suggestion would be to revert to the pre - facelift front grill , that one looked far better and was a mature design , any day better than this 4 hole pseudo SUV rip off .

Ive been on the fence about getting a Ignis and doing it up with a K14 and other performance stuff , this thread has come at the right time !

Looking forward to the updates .