[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

What about the magnum oil sump issue?

Does the Optra Magnum have an oil sump issue? What kind? Please elaborate on this...

[bblost]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Does the Optra Magnum have an oil sump issue? What kind? Please elaborate on this...

I think its about the oil sump being the lowest part in the engine with no protection.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...sign-flaw.html

[SS-Traveller]

I see. Can't really say it's a design flaw - low slung cars usually have this issue. Even old cars like the Amby and Fiat had problems of this sort - Amby with a low-slung sump, and Fiat with a low-slung petrol tank (I'd managed to puncture both at some time or the other). Not all cars come with bashplates protecting the sump either. If one is so scared of hitting rocks by accident, one ought to buy off-roaders or Fusions.

No one else seems to have contributed further reports on that thread or elsewhere except the originator, so I presume we're making a mountain out of a molehill.

[rider60]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

I see. Can't really say it's a design flaw - low slung cars usually have this issue. Even old cars like the Amby and Fiat had problems of this sort - Amby with a low-slung sump, and Fiat with a low-slung petrol tank (I'd managed to puncture both at some time or the other). Not all cars come with bashplates protecting the sump either. If one is so scared of hitting rocks by accident, one ought to buy off-roaders or Fusions.

No one else seems to have contributed further reports on that thread or elsewhere except the originator, so I presume we're making a mountain out of a molehill.

its a terrible design flaw that chassis is the daewoo's designed for a max 1.8L petrol engine but chevy plonked a stonker 2.0L diesel in it!!!

well coming to the new age cars, hell even my accent viva crdi comes with a sump guard plate beneath it! and I cant digest this fact that the car is low slung already with no guard plate! its a premium sedan costing 12L for the top model. They should have provided the protection considering our highways and roads!

well if you are pondering between them both mason i say pickup a Sonata Transform CRDi, it has all that you need and the resale will be fair after a period of 5years+.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by rider60

its a terrible design flaw that chassis is the daewoo's designed for a max 1.8L petrol engine

By your inference all Ambys and Fiats were severe design flaws. Yes, yes... we all know the Optra was the erstwhile Daewoo Nubira, and that the Accent Viva CRDi has a sump guard (even mine does ), but please do a survey of all the cars being sold today, and check how many have a sumpguard like the Viva CRDi's. Walk into a series of showrooms, and take a look underneath the cars parked there.

Please don't exhort about a design flaw and deride an excellent car just because ONE Magnum took a sump hit on this forum. I am sure there are other discerning Magnum owners on this forum, but we haven't heard anything about this from anyone else yet.

@manson: After this, you'll have to take the call yourself about wanting the Magnum!

[dockap]

i have a magnum it will be 2 years old in june i have scrapped the underside of the car several times so far not managed to puncture the oil sump

[Ravveendrra]

I drive a Tank, err I mean a Laura.

I had a mis-adventure last week in my Laura - my fault - not the car's. The car went off onto the right shoulder and took down a milestone. Not satisfied with taking the milestone down - the car dragged itself over the stone and drove off!

I checked the damage - it consisted of 2 dummies missing from the grille area (next to the fog-lamps) these cost about Rs.250/- each. I checked the under-body. There are no indentations or dents at all. Just a few scratches on the solid sheet that protects the engine bay. The other parts too (mainly exhaust) are tucked away neatly and there are no protrusions at all. Read more here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1216276-post607.html

The road holding and handling of the Laura are excellent/ The FE for the manual is about 13 Kmpl in the city with A/c. on. The servicing interval is every 1 year of 10000 km and costs between 5k and 10k. The ride though is stiff.

The facelifted Laura is all set to be launched, this is the reason for the discounts. I however understand that the mechanicals of the car remain unchanged.

The achilles heel for Skoda remains its dealers. If you can find a decent dealer it should prove its worth over the years.

Cheers,

[manson]

Originally Posted by rider60

well if you are pondering between them both mason i say pickup a Sonata Transform CRDi, it has all that you need and the resale will be fair after a period of 5years+.

I was already stretching a wee bit for the Laura, the Sonata Embera would be overshooting the budget I had for my daily drive.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

@manson: After this, you'll have to take the call yourself about wanting the Magnum!

The oil simp issue does worry me a little as I often travel on bumpy surfaces, but I think I can live with being a little careful while driving through an oddly laid out road.

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

I had a mis-adventure last week in my Laura - my fault - not the car's. The car went off onto the right shoulder and took down a milestone. Not satisfied with taking the milestone down - the car dragged itself over the stone and drove off!

I did read about your escapade, speakes volumes of the Laura's terrific build quality. But I am just purely surprised how Skoda has not charged you a ransom for some lousy plastics. Good on ya mate!

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

The road holding and handling of the Laura are excellent/ The FE for the manual is about 13 Kmpl in the city with A/c. on. The servicing interval is every 1 year of 10000 km and costs between 5k and 10k. The ride though is stiff.

Appreciate the inputs.

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

The facelifted Laura is all set to be launched, this is the reason for the discounts. I however understand that the mechanicals of the car remain unchanged.

This does not concern me as I would not be considering the Laura without the current discount structure. There would be no discounts once the refreshed Laura arrives, so for the Laura, it is now if it is going to happen.

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

The achilles heel for Skoda remains its dealers. If you can find a decent dealer it should prove its worth over the years.

Harish's Numer Eins thread does have me a quite bothered since last evening, I really have to think hard whether I want to take the plunge.

manson.

[Vid6639]

Get the Magnum Manson. It is the way to go. A lot of cars have no guard for the oil sump and the oil sump is always low. That was a one off case and you always need to make sure you don't beach the middle of the car.

I believe Chevrolet are back with the 3 year maintenance plan as well. Just saw an Ad in teh newspaper.

[harishsegar]

Looking at your list of cars and what you are looking for in them, I would recommend a Magnum. Its a nice car overall.

By the way, i am on the same cross road. The cars i am considering are: New scorpio, Magnum, Linea and hopefully Cruze if it launches in July.

[sparkguy]

Originally Posted by Dippy

Manson

I think it between the Laura and the Magnum for you. The Magnum is a fantastic car with great power and a lot of car for the money. I dont think you should be too worried about resale since you will be using it for 5 years.

As for the Laura, dealers are offering a discount of 90,000/- across the entire Laura range so that makes the Ambiente a good proposition. Though I would give the Elegance a good look too. I was at the showroom last week. They were telling me that spare prices were down and they were given 3rd year warranty free.

I would say take the Laura. It s a well built car . However the Magnum back seat is more comfortable than the Skoda but I guess you would be driving yourself.

Hi Every body, Even my friend is planning to buy Laura L&K but the discount offered in just 25K and no freebies. can you pls let me know what discount we can expect from Laura L&K varient. If possible let me know the name of dealer in NCR.

[danc]

Originally Posted by sparkguy

Hi Every body, Even my friend is planning to buy Laura L&K but the discount offered in just 25K and no freebies. can you pls let me know what discount we can expect from Laura L&K varient. If possible let me know the name of dealer in NCR.

I got a discount of 30K from Giriraj Motors in Gurgaon in January on L&K A/T. Additionally the footmats, mud flaps, Teflon coating and the Laura door sill covers were provided.

Best Regards,

danc

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by manson

The oil simp issue does worry me a little as I often travel on bumpy surfaces, but I think I can live with being a little careful while driving through an oddly laid out road.
Harish's Numer Eins thread does have me a quite bothered since last evening, I really have to think hard whether I want to take the plunge.

Hi manson: Still not decided? Buying a car can be tough, eh? Do you want to worry a little or be quite bothered with your ride? (Your words...)

[manson]

So fnally I did squeeze in some reasonable TD time with the Laura. It took a while before we could take the car out for a Palm Beach spin, this was a good thing as I got a short while to lookup the interiors with much detail.

The interiors inspite of being fabric looked nice, they felt nice to get into. I would not bother changing these for a long time if at all I do buy the Laura.
The music system I had heard a bit about, so I requested for a CD, and I gave the I.C.E. a listen and I can undoubtedly say it would not need an upgrade for the average I.C.E. enthusiast, maybe just a good clean sub much later.
The RVM angle know looked super, but felt ever so delicate and I could not help being conscious while adjusting the mirrors, it felt like it was going to come off soon enough.

The sadhboard quality too was quite top, it felt quite expensive and ckassy, compared to the Magnum's very fake wooden finished interiors.
The space on the backseat was just about acceptable for a car of its size, full point to the Magnum for this one.
The driver's seat was good, sorta focussed and its always a good thing to be ableto see the hood of your vehicle while driving.

Coming to the drive now, the Laura really held its ground. No wierd twitchy movement, calm steering wheel, precision handling, the works. The same curve that the Magnum danced all over upon, the Laura took without shaking its head. But, the clutch has a zillion vibrations going through, feltl ike it would just packup anytime within a 100 kms, took some getting used to as well.
The engine too seemed quite coarse past 3000 rpm, did not comeby as anything close to being refined. This is one area where the Optra's engine excelled. The Laura though handled brilliantly did not have an engine half its worth, for someone who had TDd a Magnum a couple of days back, the Laura felt slow. The powerband would start and get over without any serious fun, this car could certainly do with a slightly longer mid range before dying out in the higher revvs likeits running out of power.

I will go TD the Magnum once again in a couple of days to draw a better comparison between the two vehicles, the first time I drove it I may have just been bowled over as it was the first time I was pushing pedal to the metal in an able diesel sedan.

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

If that's the case, why did you get the Innova ? It has no street presence as well and is common as hell !

The Innova was bought keeping in mind its functionality and the fact that 95% of the time it was going to be chaffeur driven to ferry around my father. Even then we had almos prepared a cheque for the Laura, but last minute changes and my dad though wanted something out of the box spacious. Also, my driver would be on the seat atleast mostly, and we did not want to take a chance with Skoda's A.S.S. pricing.

Originally Posted by harishsegar

By the way, i am on the same cross road. The cars i am considering are: New scorpio, Magnum, Linea and hopefully Cruze if it launches in July.

Does anyone have an idea about the launch date and the price point of the Cruze? Would it be a magnum replacement? The executive at the GM dealership said it was going to be higher up, and the Magnum would continue, but I hav good reason to not believe him.

Originally Posted by harishsegar

By the way, i am on the same cross road. The cars i am considering are: New scorpio, Magnum, Linea and hopefully Cruze if it launches in July.

Does anyone have an idea about the launch date and the price point of the Cruze? Would it be a magnum replacement? The executive at the GM dealership said it was going to be higher up, and the Magnum would continue, but I hav good reason to not believe him.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Hi manson: Still not decided? Buying a car can be tough, eh? Do you want to worry a little or be quite bothered with your ride? (Your words...)

This thread has sealed the Magnum in my head, but I know my father thinks of the Laura to have more of an 'image'.
Unfortunately, the TDs cpould not happen this past weekend, so I am most definitely going to have this sorted over the coming weekend. I'd get whatever he sets his mind on as I can't seem to get a hold on my continously changing prefrences.

Btw, a late night 60-70 kmph fifth gear Navi Mumbai - Bandra cruise back home has reignited the 'keep back the Scorpio for a while' feeling. Lets see how long this feeling lasts

manson.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by manson

I will go TD the Magnum once again in a couple of days to draw a better comparison between the two vehicles, the first time I drove it I may have just been bowled over as it was the first time I was pushing pedal to the metal in an able diesel sedan.

Does anyone have an idea about the launch date and the price point of the Cruze? Would it be a magnum replacement? The executive at the GM dealership said it was going to be higher up, and the Magnum would continue, but I hav good reason to not believe him.

This thread has sealed the Magnum in my head, but I know my father thinks of the Laura to have more of an 'image'.
Unfortunately, the TDs cpould not happen this past weekend, so I am most definitely going to have this sorted over the coming weekend. I'd get whatever he sets his mind on as I can't seem to get a hold on my continously changing prefrences.

manson.

I think the Magnum LT with better tires is the best bet for you. Understand that very few vehicles can match the resale value of a Innova or even a Scorpio for that matter.
The reason your dont see many Magnums in teh used market is because the customers are happy with them. At this moment there is a small risk that GM will go bankrupt but in 5 years they would have
reorganized and returned to the market because as you can see the US govt is committed to support GM.

The Cruze will arrive in the middle of the summer but I have a feeling it will be pegged against the Corolla and the Magnum will continue to exist. They cant afford to leave a huge vacuum between the Aveo and the Cruze...neither can they afford to sell the Cruze for Opta money.

Get a Magnum and fit nice upsize Michelin tires and a sump guard. that should take care of your worries. Magnum is a state of the art 140bhp common rail vs Lolla's ancient 1.9PD lump. Both will have similar resale. Laura because high cost of maintaining a 5 year old Skoda and Magnum because of GM image.