[CaliforniaKnight]

Enjoy the ride mate!! Congrats!!!

[shuvc]

Thank you @dceite, @hrag, @angelfire, @imjimmy, @revtech, @msprabhakar, @zulfikar, @goldie_malhotra, @goswami.j, @kphilip, @mohit, @Steeroid, @Conan, @Surprise, @CaliforniaKnight.

@deceite : I'd love to take some snaps too. It's just that I never get around to doing it. I still don't have any snaps of my Indica, in 3 years of ownership !! But I promise, I'll soon post pics in the Gallery.

@imjimmy : very keen observation I must say Yes, I did take almost 6 months to gather information and then took the decision.

@revtech : spot on ! I'll be sticking to max 2K rpm and 80kmph for the first 1000kms. The dealer said 60kmph max. But thats toooo much ! I'm also planning an approx 500km (up+down) trip next weekend. To this the dealer says, give a 10-15 min break every 100kms .. I guess I should anyway do that from the driver fatigue perspective, running in period or not !

@goswami.j : refer to @mohit's post for the answer !

@mohit : nice powers of deduction !!! You with the big blue too ?

@surprise : Year of manufacture is 2005. I booked in 2005, took delivery in 2006. Gear shift does not go click click into the slots. But I've realised, the problem has more to do with me. It's a lot better today than yesterday. Am getting used to the change from the Indica. I think I'll be in a better position to comment a week later !
Yes, 81K was a good deal ! I had a 75K deal from another dealer. This dealer topped it with the Soomoku sub and I got the impression I could have squeezed a few more K's too ! Anyways, I am happy. I would have been happy with 75K too ! The point to note is that the 81K does not include finance discount. So someone taking finance from the dealer could have got the car for maybe 25K less i.e. around 6.5 L OTR !!!

[mohit]

@mohit : nice powers of deduction !!! You with the big blue too ?

Nopes.... I am with a company whos Pres likes to shop a lot!

[lamborghini]

Hey bro,
congratulations on the car.
Surprised you said that the Ikon has high maintainance over 5 years.
In comparision to the Petra/Siena/Nexia/Cielo it does but the fact is in comparision to alot of other similar cars it hasn't.
Currently we have 2 Ikons which were with us and then now in ompany use.
One has done 80Kkm and the other has done 1.40Kkm. Apart from the usual stuff (which included a clutch pad/plate change at 50Kkm bacause one of our drivers rode the clutch always) the car hasn't given any problem.

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

Hey bro,
congratulations on the car.
Surprised you said that the Ikon has high maintainance over 5 years.
In comparision to the Petra/Siena/Nexia/Cielo it does but the fact is in comparision to alot of other similar cars it hasn't.
Currently we have 2 Ikons which were with us and then now in ompany use.
One has done 80Kkm and the other has done 1.40Kkm. Apart from the usual stuff (which included a clutch pad/plate change at 50Kkm bacause one of our drivers rode the clutch always) the car hasn't given any problem.

Thank you.
Honestly I did not have much quantitative info to support this theory, which is why I mentioned that I had a 'perception' of Ikons having higher maintenance costs. But the deciding factor against the Ikon was the cramped front seat space. 5th gear keeps knocking my left knee.

[santosh.s]

Originally Posted by shuvc

Hence .. I got myself a silky silver Baleno VXi today .. and I'm loving it !

Congratulations for your new ride!!! wish you have good times with her...

ditto for me, except that I have gone for LXi. I wanted better looking alloys which would also be suitable even for 195 or 205 tyres (may be in future!) and wanted to make an "informed" choice of the music system as well (another research is due, and my car is indeed incomplete till I fit it!). Only VXi feature that I really miss is height adjustment, I asked if I can get it done, but the dealer denied.
To my pleasant surprise, I have already got quite a few complements for my purchase... guess what for? ... I never expected many (well, non-tbhpians!) to appreciate baleno as overall car package, anyway... actually it was for its look!

another difference is that I have moved directly from a black YBX to saloon, skipping the hatch-back step

Note 1 - Fiesta/Petra/Lancer are not covered under my company's scheme. If they were, I may have spent many sleepless nights deciding between them !!

I had these options, but I still preferred baleno...

Note 2 - A very big thank you to ALL T-BHPians. Without T-BHP I would not have been able to take an informed decision.

A big thank from me too!... I should have done that on the very day I got the delivery, but its never too late

[imjimmy]

@imjimmy : very keen observation I must say Yes, I did take almost 6 months to gather information and then took the decision.

I really had noticed in a series of threads where you had posted some very useful OTR price info for various cities as well as some very pragmatic technical comparisons of the Baleno viz a viz other cars.

So i guess, you were the person who would appreciate the inherent strengths and the value of the Baleno. That's why i felt so glad when you finally purchased one..

Cheers!

[Buffetfan]

guys...congrats...

BTW I have recently finished around 11k kms in my Black Baleno Lxi.(bought 7 months ago) .Some day hopefully will get around to writing the report... .
run in the car carefully please...it will help a lot later...though you must have realised that Baleno does not come with any speed limit as all the new age engines now come prerun in...(see the manual ) but it still makes sense to allow the engine to bed in...

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by Buffetfan

though you must have realised that Baleno does not come with any speed limit as all the new age engines now come prerun in...(see the manual ) but it still makes sense to allow the engine to bed in...

Thanks ..
Yes am sticking to 2000 rpm max. Although the manual does suggest a max top speed of 100kmph for the first 1000kms. And the usual stuff related to varying the rpm etc.

[santosh.s]

manual suggests running-in at moderate rpm...sticking below 2000 sounds too low which may not be good for running in, just like too high rpm. I usually wait till it reaches 2.5k-3k before moving on to the next gear, even if it seems ready to shift earlier. The manual specifically asks us to avoid low speeds in high gears. I had crossed 100kmph mark only once, just to test new wheels (reached 120)... otherwise I am usually below 80. Hope that helps.

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by santosh.s

manual suggests running-in at moderate rpm...sticking below 2000 sounds too low which may not be good for running in, just like too high rpm. I usually wait till it reaches 2.5k-3k before moving on to the next gear, even if it seems ready to shift earlier. The manual specifically asks us to avoid low speeds in high gears.

hmm .. that sounds logical. Will soon make 3K the limit

[filcord]

Shuvc, this may be off-topic, but how did you connect the Sumoku active sub?, and where is it placed? and lastly how does it sound?

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by filcord

Shuvc, this may be off-topic, but how did you connect the Sumoku active sub?, and where is it placed? and lastly how does it sound?

Frankly I have no idea how it is connected. I had bargained for it before the deal was closed. And the dealer had installed it before I went to take delivery.

It is placed in the boot. Just placed, not anchored to anything. So I can rotate it around to any position. Additionally there is a small contraption with a volume level knob for the woofer which hangs from a wire that comes out from behind the HU. It has sticky anchor points which can be used to attach it to the dash or in the footwell (it's better there as it becomes invisble and anyway, I would not need to adjust the woofer volume frequently).

From the description above, I think it's pretty plain that I am not 'fundoo' on things related to ICE ! I like the thump. ummmm .. shall I say soft and rounded, not sharp punchy .. but then, I haven't experimented enough with it .. and as discussed in the ICE thread, due to an installation problem the woofer currently plays only when the Tuner is on. Not with CD's. So my impression is based wholly on FM music. I'll get that corrected soon. Sometime next week I should be able to gauge how my fav CD's sound.

[cnu]

Congratulations Shuv. Enjoy your new ride and drive safely.

Cheers

[Abhay]

Congrats shuvc....Now wheres the oldie (Indica) then , sold it or you keeping it too... :-)

Nice way of going about buying a car though....btw check your PMs