[Engine_Roars]

Ride : Hyundai Xcent S(O) Petrol
Month & Year of Purchase - 14th of August 2014
Kilometers Driven - 24000 KMS Approx.
Longest Road Trip so far - 3000 Kms (Pune-Jodhpur-Pune)
Service - All free services done as per the schedule at Garve Hyundai, Wakad, Pune.

A little Background - This being out first car purchase so far, I was not sure about the brand I wanted to go with, neither was I sure of the car I wanted to go with. I started off with test driving hatchbacks, swift to be more precise as this was the most sought after car from a middle class & small family's perspective however I soon realized that I would need a bigger space to fit my structure of 6'1 feet. I was confused, since I did not have a budget of a full blown sedan. Meanwhile, Hyundai had already launched Hyundai Xcent and compact sedan segment was picking up pace. We ended up at Garve Hyundai to have a look at I10 and came out of the showroom after booking Hyundai Xcent S(O) variant. The buying process went smooth and Garve Hyundai stuck to the dates and schedules as committed, full marks there. I had requested them to allow me to inspect the vehicle once it is with them and the sales representative was co-operative enough to take me to their stock yard in a demo vehicle to let me go through the Team-Bhp PDI list. We took the delivery of our first car on 14th of August, 2014.

Journey So Far: If you ask me if given a chance would I want to change my decision of going with this car? The answer would be a straight no as far as things stand today. This might change in the coming days, though I am hopeful it will not.

Positives+
1. I have driven this car twice to Jodhpur from Pune and back, which is 3000 Kms round-trip and the third trip is due in the coming week. The car has stood by me and has not let me down so far except for some minor rattles here and there.
2. It has ample of space for our luggage which was one of our criteria when shortlisting the vehicle.
3. The back seats are comfortable for my aging parents.
4. The Air conditioner works as expected.
5. I have not technically calculated the FE but it has not pinched me so far, so I think it should be good.
6. Hyundai has a wide service network so it gives me a peace of mind, if god forbid I get stuck somewhere on any highway or while crossing a village.
7. Ample power to drive your around in a city and almost there when on highways.
8. Smooth and peppy engine. There are times when It gets tough to ascertain if the engine is running or is switched off, I am developing a habit of looking at RPM meter in order to find out.
9. Sound system is good enough for an average Joe.

Negatives+
1. The biggest one so far - The steering wheel issue & the handling of this issue by the dealer (Explained in detail below) - Ongoing
2. It is not meant to give you driving pleasure.
3. The steering wheel is not confidence inspiring.
4. The small tyre size does not help either.
5. The free service part at Dealer's level - No attention to details as they are too packed.
6. The mechanics driving the cars like maniacs in and around the dealer's service center, whats with drifting and screeching.
7. The door window screeching sound - Now solved.
8. Feels under-powered on highways specially when you need that extra power to overtake.
9. The headlights are motorcycle like, not very confidence inspiring.
10. The breaks have mind of their own, you can not predict how are they going to react at times.


The steering wheel Issue: This has been a major pain point in my ownership so far. I had heard of stories of Hyundais and their steering wheels but I always thought those must be exception but boy was I wrong. This started somewhere around December last year. I could hear a distinctive creaking sound coming from some where but it took me a while to figure out that it was coming from the steering wheel. I was on my way to Rajasthan, I was worried about losing the control of the vehicle and what not, fortunately nothing of that sort happened and the first thing I did was to visit a local Hyundai service center to get the steering wheel checked. The service supervisor took a short test drive and told me that the clock spring has gone kaput and that needs to be changed. He said since it is not in stock and I was on a short visit, I should drive back to Pune and get it replaced under warranty at Pune. He assured me that it has nothing to do with steering wheel control and It is absolutely safe to drive. I drove back safely but keeping the speeds in check and visited Garve Hyundai somewhere in the month of January'2016 and explained the issue to the service adviser. I was told that this will be addressed when I give the car for the 20000 kms free service. I make it a point to be around the car when I give it for servicing. Although customers are not allowed on the service floor, customers can still see through a glass wall which is between the service area & customer sitting area. That is how I can see how those mechanics drive customer cars like maniacs. So, back to the steering issue, I could see the mechanic dismantling the steering wheel and applying grease to all the moving parts. I am not sure, why they could not ascertain that it was because of the malfunctioning clock spring even after me telling them that this is what I was told by the Hyundai Service center at Jodhpur. As mentioned earlier, they greased all the moving parts and put back the steering together. I was not happy with it but since the voice had reduced because of greasing I had to accept the car. As expected the creaking sound appeared again in some time, by now I was pretty pissed off with this sound and their lack luster attitude. I could see that since the car was under warranty they were trying to avoid the replacement of the part. The servicing was done on 13th of March 2016 & I wrote an email to Hyundai on 27th of March 2016 explaining the issue. As expected, I received a call from the dealer's service supervisor and he assured me that I can visit the service center as early as possible and he will make sure that the issue is resolved to my satisfaction. Below are the excerpts from the email -

****************************

Hi,

I got my car's (MH ** LD **** - In the name of my wife Mrs. ****** ***) third free service done on 13th of March from Garve Hyundai, Pune. The amount of bill came to 2898.00. I am choosing this way to give my feedback since I did not receive a call from Hyundai for my feedback which usually happens.

I am mighty disappointed with the way this overall service was handled by Hyundai Team.

1. I received a call at 3 pm that my car was ready, I reached there at 3:30 pm and I received my car at 5:30 pm after a lot of pushing and following up. I had to attend a funeral and I could not leave on time because your team could not get the car ready on time.

2. The car was not even washed properly. It had oil marks on windshield, door frame which were very visible. Since I was already late, I picked up the car as is and got it washed later outside.

3. The bill components were explained to me however no one took the pain to explain what ever worked were carried on the car. I drove it out from the service bay myself, paid the bill and was done with it.

4. I was told that a part needs a replacement and the person who approves warranty claims is not available. I was given an option to wait for an hour or come back later on a weekday. I chose to wait, and later the part was not even replaced. They applied some grease and that is it. Please note, I had dropped the car at 9:30 am and I had told them about this fault (There was a kar-kar voice coming from steering wheel, which was acknowledged by the service adviser while taking the car for service). God knows, why they waited till 4:00 pm to look into this.

5. I received a call from Garve Hyundai few days later for the feedback and when I told them about the issues, I was promised a call back from customer service manager, however I am still waiting for the call. I did receive a call from service adviser to take the car back to them to get it washed again, which I refused since I had already got it washed outside and also I do not have so much of free time to waste.

6. No feedback forms what so ever were provided at the time of picking up my car after service.

I would also like you to know that I am a member of Team-Bhp and I will be putting this experience on the forum. I will also be updating it with your response if you chose to look into this email.

Thanks,
***** ****

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After this email I visited the service center and fortunately they did replace the clock spring this time. The creaking sound disappeared for good. However, the joy was not ever lasting. Starting July, I could again hear a creaking sound coming from the dashboard area whenever I used to operate the steering wheel, specially when the car went over any imperfection on the road. I was pretty stuck up with some commitments and also I did not want to go through the same ordeal of explaining and negotiating again hence I did not take the car to Garve Hyundai till yesterday since I have to drive down to Jodhpur on the coming weekend.It took me sometime to convince them of the sound coming from the wheel, the service adviser did agree that there was some creaking sound coming from the steering wheel. At some point they even tried to convince me that it was a normal sound which usually comes from all the steering wheel, good that they did not push this on me after I told them that it was not convincing enough. The same procedure of applying grease was followed again. I had specifically told them I need to drive this to Jodhpur and I need to get this sorted before that. However, they live by their own rules. First, disagree, second, agree reluctantly, third, apply some grease where ever you can, fourth, try to scare customer by saying that you will have to leave the care for a day or two to ascertain what is wrong and so on.My guess, since I have bought the extended warranty, they are finding it difficult to replace some part under warrant. Had this been a car outside of warranty period, I am sure they would have already replaced the complete steering column by now.

I told them that I can not leave the car since I have to drive down to Jodhpur. The service adviser told me that it is better to come back and leave the car with them since it might take few days to ascertain the problem. He also assured me that voice will not result in any break down of the car or anything of that sort. Just to be on a safer side, I have bought their Road side assistance program by paying 920.00 for an year. I am just hoping that the car stands by my side on this trip like it always has.

I am leaving with you all a glimpse of journeys we have taken together so far, I am sure we have many more miles to travel together, once we have amicably sorted out the differences.

[nkghai]

Hyundai and steering issues with their cars are becoming synonyms.

No doubt they are designing and producing some excellent cars, but steering issue has been there since ages. Why cant they just give a solid push and get this rectified and taken care once for all.

I agree with you that the mechanics/technicians with dealers just want to scrape through any problem with grease and tightening of nut bolts. They hardly have the capability to do any root cause analysis. Steering issue in my Nanook has resurfaced the third time in last one year. I have written a mail to Hyundai that steering issue can be a real deal breaker in their cars and they need to take it seriously. Lets see what action they take.

My only advice is just make sure all repairs are done in front of you.

Keep us updated.