[newroads]

Originally Posted by Dr.Q

I have added a few accessories and alloys (the CIAZ alloys are a beauty) and it didn't get too pricey.

Hi,
I plan to get ciaz alloys too for my Alpha Petrol. Could you please tell me whether you got the stock alloys exchanged at Nexa?

What was the rate you got them exchanged at, if yes?

Thanks.

[slicvic]

Baleno alpha owners, I have a question regarding the lights

Is the main beam at a steady plane or does it keep vibrating?
The beam on my car is never steady and has an up and down movement most of the time.

Is this normal on cars with projector light?
Or is it the case with the Baleno
Or is it the case only in my car.

[owaiskhan]

Hello Everybody,
I joined Team-BHP way back in 2005 when I was about to buy fiat punto(multijet) ,unfortunately due to financial distress which took me 10 years to recover I manage to get my hands on a different variant of fiat multijet, the new Baleno DDIS ,Fire Red, Delta variant. This was a tough choice to make as the contenders were Honda Jazz as well as Hyundai Elite. Since I was having a severely strict budget of below 7.5L Baleno was the obvious choice.

I took delivery on 28th Dec and since then I have clocked 610 Km.
This being the first and only Diesel car that I have driven I want to put forth certain observations and request your expert inputs on the same further more I live in Srinagar which happens to be very cold at this time of the year in fact it was -5 degrees the night I took delivery.

Observations:-

1. Every morning when I drive for office there is a faint whistle like sound heard in cabin which I guess is coming from fuel pump.

2. After 20-30 Km of drive when I push the windows down I can loudly hear squeaking sound from tyres which comes on and off randomly. The squeaking goes off for some time just to return again.

[Dr.Naren]

I was fed up waiting for mud flaps and door side moulding from my Nexa dealer. I ordered it through regular MASS and parts arrived in a week. I will get them installed tomorrow.

[swiftnfurious]

Congrats. Hope 2016 brings you a lot of joy of driving.

Originally Posted by owaiskhan

....further more I live in Srinagar which happens to be very cold at this time of the year in fact it was -5 degrees the night I took delivery....

I read somewhere that one should park their car towards a wall or so, to avoid chilly wind blowing on the engine. Hope you are following it.

Originally Posted by owaiskhan

....1. Every morning when I drive for office there is a faint whistle like sound heard in cabin which I guess is coming from fuel pump.

2. After 20-30 Km of drive when I push the windows down I can loudly hear squeaking sound from tyres which comes on and off randomly. The squeaking goes off for some time just to return again...

1. It should be the turbo whistle. The fuel pump noise would be for 3-4 seconds when the key is in ON position & before cranking. Please note what rpms do you hear this sound.

2. The squeaky tyre noise again should be depending on the surface you drive. Please check whether you get the noise in the same stretch. Or it could be that the noise is more prominent on roads which may have "ice" on it?

[IshaanIan]

Anyone have any idea, what the solution is to what can only be described as the limp steering; needs you to guide it back to center? Seems to be a common issue with the car. Noticed it on the test drive vehicle which I drove, then on my friend's car and also remember a bhpian raising the issue earlier. Car feels very lively due to its light weight and the visibility is awesome so it is great fun piloting it about and being able to place it exactly where you want to and my only complaint would be the steering.

Does anybody know why it is like this? Can it be improved?

[owaiskhan]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Congrats. Hope 2016 brings you a lot of joy of driving.

1. It should be the turbo whistle. The fuel pump noise would be for 3-4 seconds when the key is in ON position & before cranking. Please note what rpms do you hear this sound.

The whistle is heard for about 10 min of initial driving and could be heard in low rpms which gets masked as we move to higher rpms

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

2. The squeaky tyre noise again should be depending on the surface you drive. Please check whether you get the noise in the same stretch. Or it could be that the noise is more prominent on roads which may have "ice" on it?

The noise is just like when we have worn out brake shoes striking the disk. It is generally observed when I have driven about 20-30kms on a plane surface

[1.2TSI7DSG]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Anyone have any idea, what the solution is to what can only be described as the limp steering; needs you to guide it back to center? Seems to be a common issue with the car. Noticed it on the test drive vehicle which I drove, then on my friend's car and also remember a bhpian raising the issue earlier. Car feels very lively due to its light weight and the visibility is awesome so it is great fun piloting it about and being able to place it exactly where you want to and my only complaint would be the steering.

Does anybody know why it is like this? Can it be improved?

A "limp" steering is usually based on the suspension tuning, wheel Geometry and tyre characteristics of the car. Usually this phenomenon is a characteristic of the car and cant be altered easily. It is observed higher with EPS systems due to the added friction of the power assist motors.

Usually there is a trade off between the steering effort and the steering returnability.
Lower the effort- lower the returnability.

There is a rare chance this effect will be fixed

Quick fixes -
1. Check wheel alignment- set caster to a max possible value (don't know whether it is adjustable on a Baleno)
2. Alter the tyre pressure (do a number of trial & error)
3. Change the tyres to a different construction

Other than this there is little you can do unless there is a problem in the steering system itself (which i doubt).

[Dr.Q]

Originally Posted by newroads

Hi,
I plan to get ciaz alloys too for my Alpha Petrol. Could you please tell me whether you got the stock alloys exchanged at Nexa?

What was the rate you got them exchanged at, if yes?

Thanks.

I got them exchanged at NEXA itself for 24k. I didn't have alloys, I had wheel caps as I had opted for the CVT which comes in delta variant only. I was given the steel rims and wheel caps back with the car on delivery.

[Dr.Q]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Looks like you have already fallen prey for the A$$ scams!

How so?
Can you tell me about the other A.S.S. scams i need to look out for?
I've seen people add that up at petrol pumps. It must be worth something?

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by 1.2TSI7DSG

Usually there is a trade off between the steering effort and the steering returnability.
Lower the effort- lower the returnability.

There is a rare chance this effect will be fixed

Quick fixes -
1. Check wheel alignment- set caster to a max possible value (don't know whether it is adjustable on a Baleno)
2. Alter the tyre pressure (do a number of trial & error)
3. Change the tyres to a different construction

Other than this there is little you can do unless there is a problem in the steering system itself (which i doubt).

I thought the same that wheel and suspension geometry would affect it but I don't want to go around recommending altering the caster of the car. I was thinking of telling my friend to swap the tyres for some performance ones something like Hankook Ventus Evo12s or something similar. The extra grip might make the steering stiffer and maybe improve the return rate (hope it doesn't make things worse). Is there no way one can actually tune basic parameters of an eps? That was what I was hoping to achieve.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Anyone have any idea, what the solution is to what can only be described as the limp steering; needs you to guide it back to center? Seems to be a common issue with the car. Noticed it on the test drive vehicle which I drove, then on my friend's car and also remember a bhpian raising the issue earlier. Car feels very lively due to its light weight and the visibility is awesome so it is great fun piloting it about and being able to place it exactly where you want to and my only complaint would be the steering.

Does anybody know why it is like this? Can it be improved?

http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...-399402.aspx/0

[coolboy007]

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...-399402.aspx/0

If Maruti has given Baleno a stiffer setup unlike Ciaz which was softly sprung, why did they have to mess up with the steering. Have driven a 2014 Swift ZDi on many occasions with 195 tyres and the steering is one of the better units in the hatch back segment, why fiddle with some thing which is widely accepted and almost perfect. I do not think Swift has this thing with its steering.

According to the review, still can not believe that Jazz has a better unit, i have driven new City multiple times and that steering is a typical play station wheel with no weight, Jazz must be better than i20 which has a joke of a steering but i feel Baleno should have had a better steering. Honda might have reworked some thing for Jazz.

[hershlulla]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

According to the review, still can not believe that Jazz has a better unit, i have driven new City multiple times and that steering is a typical play station wheel with no weight, Jazz must be better than i20 which has a joke of a steering but i feel Baleno should have had a better steering. Honda might have reworked some thing for Jazz.

Completely agree with you on the Swift vs Baleno steering (won't comment on the i20 because I too believe it has a joke of a steering). I own a 2007 Honda City and a 2015 Jazz, and there is some difference between the two. The Jazz steering is definitely better weighted and has a good feel to it, and is pretty responsive too. It is the most 'realistic' steering-driving experience of the lot.

P.S. TD'd all (i20, Jazz, Baleno) and settled for the Jazz purely on drive experience as that was pretty much my only point of contention. To add, my experience with the City probably set the benchmark a bit high on drive-ability and handling

[Dr.Naren]

Hello Team,
I got Mud flaps, Door side chrome moulding, LED parking light installed from MASS. I had not got any updates about accessories from my Nexa dealer. Maruti dealer sourced the parts in a week.
Mud flaps 800 rs
Door side moulding 1800 rs
LED parking light 200 rs
Labour 200 rs
Total 3000 rs
Also I observed underbody of my Baleno. Exhaust looks different from Swift petrol.