[VT04]

Finally, Proud owner of GV Zeta+. Took delivery today.
Several vehicle I considered before zeroing on GV Zeta+ Hybrid. One of the main factor ofcourse was fuel economy and After sales service along with 5 year cost of ownership.
Looking forward for many scenic drives across India.

For new vehicle, is there any limit (older vehicle used to have so) for speed before first servicing ?

[izzikio_rage]

Originally Posted by VT04

For new vehicle, is there any limit (older vehicle used to have so) for speed before first servicing ?

Congratulations, yes the manual will tell you to keep it under 2k RPM till the first service at 1000km and not use the cruise control till then.

[mohan41]

Curious to know what are the plus points for Grand Vitara Smart hybrid vs Brezza Smart Hybrid. Both use same engine, transmission, same platform hence same safety ratings, not much difference in bootspace.

[sumeethaldankar]

Is there a version with cruise control/6 air bags and no sunroof? 6 air bags is available with higher variants only?

[izzikio_rage]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Is there a version with cruise control/6 air bags and no sunroof? 6 air bags is available with higher variants only?

The zeta variants have this combination. Sunroof starts from Alpha

[supremeBaleno]

And in less than 10months, our GrandVitara Alpha+ had racked up 10K kms & I got the 3rd free service done today at Popular, Ernakulam-North (KL). No issues to fix - just scheduled service.

Gave the car at 10AM & got back at 3PM after replacing engine oil, oil filter & cabin filter.

Cost : 3.5 litres of 0W-16 oil (₹1530) + oilFilter (₹436) + cabinFilter (₹530) + Tax (₹450) = ₹2946

I had checked the dipstick before giving for service and the engineOil looked clean & clear, which was surprising to me because in petrol cars, after running 10K kms, engineOil looks dark & dirty. This difference could be because in hybrids, petrol engine doesn’t run all the time.

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Is there a version with cruise control/6 air bags and no sunroof? 6 air bags is available with higher variants only?

Ofcourse there is, the Zeta. That's the variant I purchased since I didn't want sunroof but needed 6 airbags and cruise control +AT.

[VT04]

Got to my 500km mark within 5 days.
Some Observations:

1. So far still half a tank left with 504 km on ODO. Calculated (computer) average is @ 22.3
2/ Car did well on notorious mumbai pothole filled streets as well as mumbai - Nashik highway.
3. I dont think HUD adds a lot of value in general since same data is displayed in dash.
4. I was hoping that there is a way to manually invoke rare view camera. So far havent found that easter egg yet. If anyone knows please do share.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by VT04

Finally, Proud owner of GV Zeta+. Took delivery today.
Several vehicle I considered before zeroing on GV Zeta+ Hybrid. One of the main factor ofcourse was fuel economy and After sales service along with 5 year cost of ownership.
Looking forward for many scenic drives across India.

For new vehicle, is there any limit (older vehicle used to have so) for speed before first servicing ?

[supremeBaleno]

I hate chrome & there’s so much of it in the Vitara’s front (the rear is neat). Wrapping the grille would give the black Vitara a mean look IMO.




When I checked around, a shop said they apply PPF paint which according to them is better & lasts longer than film (film peels off after couple years they say).

Has anyone dechromed/wrapped the front grille of the Vitara ? If so please post details & snaps. Any pointers would be helpful.

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

And in less than 10months, our GrandVitara Alpha+ had racked up 10K kms…

I looked at the fuel data to see if the Hybrid is worth the hype (& the ₹2lakh premium charged).

At 10K kms, the Vitara took in 460 litres petrol worth ₹48200, returning a combined 50:50 city-highway average of 22kmpl - which corresponds with the average FE indicated on the display. That’s frugal as an Alto, which weighs only half as much as the Vitara. 👏

My Baleno 1.6P in contrast took 808 litres (75% more - 12.4kmpl) and our Swift 1.3P took 707 litres (65% more - 14kmpl) to cover the first 10K kms.

That’s approximately ₹36500 savings in fuel in 9 months of use. Plus the satisfaction of having used lesser of a non-renewable resource. 👍

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Grand Vitara Smart Hybrid 1.5 AT test drive and vehicle feedback

First service/1 Month update (ODO reading 800 kms):

- Ride quality seems to have improved even further. Perhaps its the tyre pressure which I am maintaining at 33-32 psi. I tried some mild offroading on broken tarmac and water logged potholes (although this vehicle is not meant for that), and am impressed with the maturity with which the vehicle carries itself over bad roads. There is minimal suspension noise, no sharp thuds inside the cabin , the body roll is well controlled for the size of the SUV, and minimal lateral movement compared to other cars in the segment. With 210mm GC, and a suspension that is "slightly" on the firmer side, there is very low chance of suspension bottoming out even on worst of roads.

- The city drivability is good. Overtaking slow moving vehicles at speeds < 80kmph requires a downshift from the left paddle shifter or kickdown from tapping the accelerator pedal, and the rest is easy peasy.

- Something that I have noticed in the GV, and not in many other vehicles I have owned. Its the adjustment levels of the Seat height. As far as I could count, there are 25+ steps of adjustment of height on the manual adjust lever. Makes finding perfect driving position easy. For relaxed long drives I prefer lower seating height and for most of the other times and short city drives a I prefer around 80% height adjustment with full bonnet view and commanding road position.

- White color gives a better road presence to this car. What is immediately felt different on the road, compared to other smaller cars I have owned, is how the pesky Auto rickshaws, rowdy bikers (no offence to any biker), and notorious truckers behave more gentlemanly , and not cutting corners or honking incessantly or trying to bully. Perks of having a white SUV in Delhi NCR


- Auto headlamps is a boon, since my parking is in basement and don't need to bother with manual switching on of headlight as soon as I enter my dark basement from the bright outdoors.

- Sound quality from the stock Arkamys tuned system and overall NVH levels continue to impress. Specially given the fact that this vehicle (mild Hybrid + AT) is best driven sedately, I have began to enjoy sedate driving with quality music more in this car.

- Front driver's door continues to annoy, as it does not close in one attempt. I recall that the other display cars in the showroom had the same issue.

- Idle start/stop is very aggressive, sometimes it even switches off the engine while going over a steep speedbreaker. But the transition / switching time is quite low, so not much of an irritant, getting used to it.

- The 6 speed torque convertor is very conservative at high speeds, most of the time the RPM is kept below 1800 rpm, heck, I even saw it at 1200 rpm a couple of times for some time. I think this car needs a "Sport" mode where the engine will hold on to RPMs for longer.

- Steering has good amount of weight. Naysayers will say that it weighs a bit too much compared to the competition, but I think the weight on the steering adds to its driving characteristics even more.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by DCEite

To be honest, Grand Vitara was not in my initial shortlist.

You didn’t consider / checkout it’s twin the Hyryder ? If so, why not ?

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

You didn’t consider / checkout it’s twin the Hyryder ? If so, why not ?

No. Because:

1. Its essentially the same exact car with a different logo and some minor aesthetic changes.

2. With Maruti I got good discounts and immediate delivery, which I doubt would have happened with Toyota.

3. The Toyota version of the same car costs more. Don't understand the logic behind it.

4. Most importantly, service network. Nearest Toyota service center is 12 kms from my residence, whereas within 1 km of my residence itself I have 4 Maruti SCs.

5. GV looks a bit more pleasing specially from the front (even with all that chrome), compared to Toyota. Its my personal opinion though.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by DCEite

The Toyota version of the same car costs more. Don't understand the logic behind it.

I understand that the agreement is that the car having Suzuki’s engine & mildHybrid tech will be cheaper if bought from Suzuki, while the car having Toyota’s engine & strongHybrid tech will be cheaper when bought from Toyota.

Agree about the Vitara scoring on discounts, quicker delivery, service network & looks.

Btw, what’s your typical city/highway FE ? A friend is looking at buying the Zeta_AT, but not sure how it fares on FE.

[k.sumit]

Originally Posted by Velmurugan

Thanks Kumarji. We checked with Nexa Bangalore and the issue was different.
my issue is totally different. Any A/T 6 speed in smart hybrid have this problem, that would be helpful.

I took the delivery of my Delta Mild Hybrid AT this week and observed the same behaviour. A lot of us may have missed out reading about this behaviour since T-BHP's review on the AT redirects to XL6 review. Here is a quote from XL6 review which may answer our questions.

In D mode, the engine seems to drop to idle revs as soon as one gets off the gas pedal, essentially freewheeling while the ISG switches to regeneration mode to charge the secondary battery. This disengaging and re-engaging of the drive off & on throttle is perceptible. In practice, D mode is equivalent to a conservative Eco mode.

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by k.sumit

I took the delivery of my Delta Mild Hybrid AT this week and observed the same behaviour. A lot of us may have missed out reading about this behaviour since T-BHP's review on the AT redirects to XL6 review. Here is a quote from XL6 review which may answer our questions.

Yes, I too have observed similar behavior. Although it was an irritant at first, but now I am getting used to it and is quite predictable and does not intrude into driving dynamics or driving experience as such.