[charthom]

Originally Posted by RadiantKarma

Hope you get your problems sorted out soon. i10 is such a refined car! And thanks a tonne for sharing all this. You're ever so helpful!

As you know-I have to leave soon. can't dedicate any more time to the car.hence I will attack the problem again when I am back. The i10 will not run MUCH during my absence. Thanks for the comment, Mate. Helping nature is stamped into the people who become BHPians!!

Mods: please note that I discussed the i10 problem as a guide line.Hope this is not OT here. If so please edit/delete sutably-thanks.

Such a gem of a person you are! You keep spreading positive vibes all the time.

Thanks a lot again. You are really generous.

Your amazing thread is evolving into some kinda "All you ever wanted to know about Honda City and much more". You can think of re-titling it!

My contributions have been less-others identified it as their own and helped it grow. It is still not "All you ever wanted .....more"-and we all know it It is better to keep it as a testimony of my confused and daring venture and its success.

Btw, do I take sailing time as figure of speech for the overseas trip or is it about merchant navy kinda trip? Anyway, you deserve absolutely the best in your endeavour. So wishing you good luck.

I am a Merchant navy sailor-leaves are over,have to return to work. Will be back in March.

Thanks again for your kind wishes,RK. I will miss you all during my sailing time-will try to catch up, though.

[dkaile]

Sorry for the late entry. But coming from one T owner to another, Congratulations on a fine ride and years of trouble free service.

[RadiantKarma]

My Etios(P) front suspensions would give a little judder and a shriek (tough to explain but certainly audible) when the front tyres land after going over a bump - when the car is at some speed. Initially I thought maybe the underbody was touching. But that was not the case as the same behaviour was exhibiting even while going over those tiny, but ugly, metallic bumps so common in Noida.

I discussed the issue with the service centre during the first service. The Service Engineer (SE) took the steering and we went for a road test. While he drove fast enough over some ugly bumps, there was absolutely no such abnormal behaviour. I asked him to speed up. He drove at speeds much more than the speeds at which I would face the issue. Still nothing abnormal.

Then I took the steering and started going over the same bumps and the judder/sound were there alright! SE told me to brake the car just a little before taking it over the bump. Now everything was alright even at good speeds. SE told me that this behaviour is common to all Toyota suspensions including Camry. I took this on face value (wasn't yet a member on this forum either).

Soon I got used to this driving style and the matter was completely forgotten.

Recently, I ran the left front wheel over a small but deep crater, depth of which I could not assess till I hit it and the suspension gave that similar shriek and a little judder.

Whether Corolla / Innova / Camry and other Etios / Liva users have encountered similar suspension behaviour?

P.S.: Please note that the suspension setup feels well-tuned otherwise and I love the balanced ride offered by the car. Also, the SE obviously knew exactly what he was doing while going over the bumps during the road test I mentioned.

[milu2fast]

Yes if you are referring to the 'thud' you get when you get over bumps i think we had it sorted out.The thing is in the etios and the liva the action of the shock and strut goes to maximum extended position when it runs over bumps and the sound is produced by that 'unhinging' kind of action.We had the issue at our first service and the service engineer was a family friend and he confirmed this after having driven other livas that came for the service.Initially we thought it were the wider tyres striking on the strut but rest assured once a service engineer puts up an explanation all seems well.
It explains why there is the absence of the sound when the 'extension' is done slowly that is when you run over a bump slowly.

[danny25]

Originally Posted by RadiantKarma

My Etios(P) front suspensions would give a little judder and a shriek (tough to explain but certainly audible) when the front tyres land after going over a bump - when the car is at some speed. Initially I thought maybe the underbody was touching. But that was not the case as the same behaviour was exhibiting even while going over those tiny, but ugly, metallic bumps so common in Noida.

I discussed the issue with the service centre during the first service. The Service Engineer (SE) took the steering and we went for a road test. While he drove fast enough over some ugly bumps, there was absolutely no such abnormal behaviour. I asked him to speed up. He drove at speeds much more than the speeds at which I would face the issue. Still nothing abnormal.

Then I took the steering and started going over the same bumps and the judder/sound were there alright! SE told me to brake the car just a little before taking it over the bump. Now everything was alright even at good speeds. SE told me that this behaviour is common to all Toyota suspensions including Camry. I took this on face value (wasn't yet a member on this forum either).

Soon I got used to this driving style and the matter was completely forgotten.

Recently, I ran the left front wheel over a small but deep crater, depth of which I could not assess till I hit it and the suspension gave that similar shriek and a little judder.

Whether Corolla / Innova / Camry and other Etios / Liva users have encountered similar suspension behaviour?

P.S.: Please note that the suspension setup feels well-tuned otherwise and I love the balanced ride offered by the car. Also, the SE obviously knew exactly what he was doing while going over the bumps during the road test I mentioned.

Hi,

When we had got our Etios we too had noticed this 'thud' when the car went over the speed breakers, however, we then tried the braking action as suggested by your SE ( we just tried slowing down a little more than what we were already doing when going over the speed breaker ). This corrected the sound and I think over the course of time we formed the habit and forgot about it .

Probably, this is the way they expect us to use it and the sound is a gentle reminder that we ill-treated the car .

[heman_369]

I agree with all of you guys. The low end torque of Etios is so addictive that initially i used to take smaller humps even on 3rd gear at 25-30 km/hr as there was no fear of bottoming out. When doing this the same 'thud' sound would appear. Now i have modified my drving style and slow down a bit more before the humps and the sound is not heard

[RadiantKarma]

Guys, thanks for sharing your observations.

Originally Posted by milu2fast

Yes if you are referring to the 'thud' you get when you get over bumps i think we had it sorted out.The thing is in the etios and the liva the action of the shock and strut goes to maximum extended position when it runs over bumps and the sound is produced by that 'unhinging' kind of action.We had the issue at our first service and the service engineer was a family friend and he confirmed this after having driven other livas that came for the service.Initially we thought it were the wider tyres striking on the strut but rest assured once a service engineer puts up an explanation all seems well.
It explains why there is the absence of the sound when the 'extension' is done slowly that is when you run over a bump slowly.

It's more of a 'shrill thunk' rather than a thud. Hence, I called it a shriek. But guess it's the same phenomenon that you've mentioned. However, I haven't noticed such sound from other cars I have driven. Is this issue unique to Etios/Liva or to Toyota cars? Did you encounter this in your Qualis?

Originally Posted by danny25

Probably, this is the way they expect us to use it and the sound is a gentle reminder that we ill-treated the car .

That's how I rationalized too!

Originally Posted by heman_369

Now i have modified my drving style and slow down a bit more before the humps and the sound is not heard

You can still go pretty fast and brake your car a little just before you hit the bump. Mind you, you are still doing pretty good speed, but no sound comes now. Not sure though why this makes the difference.

[automachine]

Originally Posted by milu2fast

Yes if you are referring to the 'thud' you get when you get over bumps i think we had it sorted out.The thing is in the etios and the liva the action of the shock and strut goes to maximum extended position when it runs over bumps and the sound is produced by that 'unhinging' kind of action.We had the issue at our first service and the service engineer was a family friend and he confirmed this after having driven other livas that came for the service.Initially we thought it were the wider tyres striking on the strut but rest assured once a service engineer puts up an explanation all seems well.
It explains why there is the absence of the sound when the 'extension' is done slowly that is when you run over a bump slowly.

I have the same experience of the 'thud' sound with my Etios VD when going fast over bump or rough road (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2584788 ). Two more issues I have noticed are 1) issue of impact felt at the steering wheel when going over some kind of rough road with bumps or patched up road. 2) vibration or resonance of the car when going over rough patch which is shakes the driver violently. Have you noticed such thing in your etios? In short the Etios likes to takes bumpy roads at gentle speed otherwise any higher speed is bound to make the passengers uneasy.

[RadiantKarma]

Ran the Miss Jane through the Special Service Campaign for replacement of faulty fuel inlet pipe. While taking the service appointment with Uttam Toyota, Noida, I was informed that it would take ~3 hours for the service. When pressed that Toyota notification mentioned only 45 minutes, SA told me that they would like to give car a complimentary cleaning and wash before handing over. I asked for a free pickup and delivery which was readily agreed to. The car was picked up today and delivered back after the requisite replacement and cleaning+wash after full 05 hours as a few more jobs were also done as there were a few damages to my front bumper.

1. Sometime somewhere, the LHS front side of the front bumper had got a small cut at the bottom, as some sharp object from the ground must have tugged at it. This probably caused the fog lamp assembly to come off its fitting in the bumper assembly. This was rectified.
   
2. Once an Alto scraped, coming in from the rear, in a tight traffic condition, the RHS of the front bumper, and slightly also on the body over the front tyre. Some touch-up work was done to disguise this. Neat work! Also, the glass of the front RHS fog lamp has become a little loose apparently due to this impact. This will need to be attended during the next service as the driver who picked up the car did not communicate to the SA and I also forgot about it while mentioning other important activity of the LHS fog lamp over phone to SA.

Vehicle Pick-up Experience

The vehicle pickup experience was less than desirable, especially after my great initial impressions with the service centre. I was being made to sign the pickup form with all risks on account of the pickup being attributed to the owner. I refused to sign on the dotted line and the Service Manager agreed over phone, to the insertion of my stipulation that I would not own up any damage due to negligence on the part of the service centre. Not a great issue this though in this part of the world as even schools get parents to write that they are sending children for special schools camps solely at their risk. Similarly, a popular Maruti dealer has a condition in the Test Drive form that any damage during the TD would be borne by the driver!! I actually had to walk out of the show-room because of this, yet the dealer did not budge. Considering this, this Toyota dealer is at least offering a better deal, but not in a forth-coming and as ethical a manner as one would want it to be.

Further, the driver was handing over only the pickup form copy and not the jobcard copy (having details of what all accessories of the car / fuel gauge level / warranty book etc. the car was having in person at the time of delivery). For this too, I needed to press the Service Manager to get my way.

Need to mention that Service Manager was gracious on both the accounts, but there seems to be an inclination to short the customer if possible. In any case, it's always better for the customer to be on his toes to avoid getting shorted as I have already mentioned other worse, yet rather common, instances.

Other Tidbits

1. Recently got to TD Honda Brio for a friend interested in a small hatch. After the TD, while wondering if I had made a mistake by picking up my plain Jane with plain interiors, I got into my car and was actually stunned at the comparative comfort my own car offered!! I am comparing across segments but it was recollection of the similar feeling I had when I had opted for Etios over the City after taking back-to-back TDs. This sure is the car to go for if one can look beyond what eyes can see, and of course, the snob quotient consideration.
   
2. My car has done just about 3050 kms only. I am not regular on measuring the FE, but last measurement gave 15+ kmpl in City mostly without AC but occasionally with heater + defogger on. Presently, I am expecting a low mileage as driving very short runs with heavy foot as the engine noise really seems to be coming down.

[RadiantKarma]

Miss Jane celebrated her first birthday and went in for the 2nd free service (1 year / 10k km).

Odo reading: 4061 km
Total cost incurred towards materials including 29 L engine oil and oil filter: Rs. 1015/- (incl. VAT)

The service included free balancing. Alignment is chargeable (Rs. 400+VAT), and was advised not to go in for the same at this stage as the car has done just about 4k kms. Miss Jane also got a routine free wash and complimentary wax polish.

Also enquired about the service charges in case of a paid service - just out of curiosity - it's about Rs. 650/-

[sups]

Originally Posted by RadiantKarma

Other Tidbits

1. Recently got to TD Honda Brio for a friend interested in a small hatch. After the TD, while wondering if I had made a mistake by picking up my plain Jane with plain interiors, I got into my car and was actually stunned at the comparative comfort my own car offered!! I am comparing across segments but it was recollection of the similar feeling I had when I had opted for Etios over the City after taking back-to-back TDs. This sure is the car to go for if one can look beyond what eyes can see, and of course, the snob quotient consideration.

Can you please specify the comparative comfort factor that you mentioned? Is it the suspension, seats etc. that you are talking about in etios which is much better than brio?

[RadiantKarma]

Originally Posted by sups

Can you please specify the comparative comfort factor that you mentioned? Is it the suspension, seats etc. that you are talking about in etios which is much better than brio?

It's about both the suspension (softer in Etios) and more importantly, seating - seat height for one (too low in Brio for my liking), and finding comfortable seating position (horizontal distance adjustment) for another.

[RadiantKarma]

It's that time of the year to resurface on my dormant thread - I took the car for the annual service (3rd free service @ 2 yrs / 20,000 km) ritual to the service centre of Uttam Toyota, Noida. The year gone by has generally been uneventful - which is quite good. In any case, the car, at the time of going to this service, had done only 7800 kms. So not much fireworks can be expected.

summary of the service.

Front Suspension change: But for this forum, I'd never have come to know that an improved suspension setup is available for replacement under warranty. Nevertheless, I was initially a bit skeptical about going for new suspension setup lest it would affect the ride quality. But subratasenn's experience tilted the scale in favour of replacement - having lived in Kolkata, I know that if the ride remains good on Kolkata roads, that means a lot! I rang up the service centre beforehand to confirm the availability of the suspension setup. The Team Lead blocked the parts against my car for the mod to be done along with the annual service.

On the day of service, the service centre insisted on road test to ascertain that the car actually had a suspension problem. The Chief General Technician (CGT as per Toyota nomenclature) who took the road test, recommended front suspension replacement and also additional spacers of 50 mm at rear suspension setup. I decided to go in for only front suspension mod, not sure how the rear suspension mod would behave. I may yet get the spacers added at a later stage after driving for a while with new suspensions.

Post-mod experience: Handling, from its original neutral nature, has become rather confidence inspiring. I can now understand why GTO loved the 1.5 litre Sportivo Liva so much! And of course, the shrill suspension sound is gone too. The trade-off? The ride has become harsher, but is by no means uncomfortable. The car is now a greater delight to drive around. My overall recommendations, if your ride is mainly chauffeur driven or you’re a very sedate driver, you're likely to be better off with the original suspensions. Most petrolheads would love the new suspension setup though.

P.S.: Special thanks to amalji, parsh, subratasenn for posting their detailed experiences on the forum!

Routine service aspects:

Got balancing and alignment done (had skipped alignment on 2nd service 1 year ago due to limited run). I asked for new wiper arm as the old one had done two seasons. Engine oil, fuel filter, spark plugs etc. went in for replacement too. Brake fluid, as per the manual is recommended for replacement every two years. Hence, I insisted for the same, even though the Service Advisor was adamantly negative about the need for the same. The matter would be taken up by the service centre with Toyota for clarity on this! The Service I/C and and Service Centre Manager thanked me for pointing out the inconsistency.

Vehicle pickup and Payment

The vehicle was ready at the appointed time. Got sms as well as a call from the service advisor. Went personally to collect the car.

The bill came to around Rs. 3200. I decided to go in for Smile package costing Rs. 4489 incl. taxes that would cover the current free service and the 1st paid service due in a year. I had to pay for the wiper arm costing about Rs. 600, the rest was taken care of by the Smile pack. The service centre had despatched a discount voucher of Rs. 500 on my birthday, which nearly took care of this part too.

Other things
Mileage: I don't measure the tankful-to-tankful frequently, as the car doesn't really run much. A recent number though : 24.86 litre filled @ 390.4 km on Trip meter -15.7 kmpl with reasonably sedate mainly city driving with 90% without AC (before the weather started heating up). No complaints.


There was this little interesting incident a few months ago. I had mentioned this on the first page of my review

A small bang at the back, not entirely unexpected in our traffic conditions, and the ultra-thin boot lid will lose its shape...the immediate practical difficulty arises if you can’t even lock the boot.

A friend had exactly the same incident, whereas the effect in my case was somewhat different and caused significant level of inconvenience. I was standstill at a signal waiting for it to turn green. And heard a bang at the back - a mild one by an Omni! The culprit driver actually claimed credit for managing to limit the hit in a car that had no brakes. The moron was ferrying two kids to school. After trying to explain in vain the danger of driving such a car, I shifted my attention to my own car. I missed the damage at that time. The next day, I was out for an errand, and while approaching my parked car, I noticed a slight dent just below the boot lock. The key in my fingers instinctively went into the boot lock and stayed there - stuck! See the picture below showing the key held by the keyhole at an unusual angle. Also, visible is the dent below the keyhole.


No manouvre could persuade the key to come out. I had an important meeting to attend, but could not leave the car there with the key stuck at its derriere. Toyota-on-road assistance took two hours to arrive and fifteen minutes to rectify. The rear seat and backrest were removed to access the boot, boot dent levelled somewhat (quite easy to do - as it's a wafer thin boot after all!) and the key released.

A small portion of the boot has lost its soft curves. I've since seen a few Etioses having slightly deformed boots around keyhole.

Nevertheless, a little misconception about Etios was busted during the rectification work. Someone on the forum had mentioned that the rear seat is held in place only by plastic hinges at the bottom of the seat. This could potentially be dangerous. The seat is actually held in place also by a metal fastner at the back of the seat. I understand the arrangement is pretty standard. Here is a picture of the removed seat showing the metal fastner.

[RadiantKarma]

After a long lull in my ownership, there is some flutter. Basically two issues:

1. At low speeds, a peculiar noise being observed from the front bonnet side as if the engine was getting strained. I was getting a little nervous about the potential problem.
2. Noticed occasional rattling sound on real rough patches especially when the car was in speed.

The first issue was identified by the technician after a little trial and error. The wiper fluid plastic bottle was hitting against the metal due to vibrations. Some foam placed as shown in the pics below (looks crude and clumsy!) and the problem got fixed. The refreshed version has a small five-rupee factory-made neat-looking foam piece snugly fitting to the bottle. Apparently, the problem was generic and had been reported earlier to Toyota.





Toyota, it would be better to fix this little five-rupee piece of foam in the older version as and when the car comes for service instead of leaving a crude solution to service centre when the problem is reported. I have conveyed my feedback to the Service Advisor, who promised to report it further.

The second issue demanded a long road test and tested the patience of the technician who was repeatedly getting calls from the service station on account of heavy Sunday workload. I succeeded in persuading him till he finally nailed one of the AC vents. The culprit vent had gotten sl…igh…tly loose, and when held, the rattle disappeared.

The culprit vent...


I was informed later that some clip holding the vent had gotten loose. The rattlesnake has now stopped rearing its head.

I had to take the car to service centre even as I was offered a free pick-up. Service centre was unable to provide an experienced technician along-with the pick-up for road-test on a Sunday. Rest of the days would not suit me. After the work, however, the car was delivered to me as promised.

Ideally, such issues should not arise with the car having done 8000 kms. Unlike Toyota? I am happy though that the service centre does take the rattles seriously. Service Advisor also said that the AC vent rattle was the first case they had encountered in Etios/Liva and would be reported to Toyota.

Since my previous service, when I got the front suspensions replaced with the new stiffer and silent ones, I have been driving over the bumps with some abandon which occasionally is resulting in a thud sound from rear suspensions. I discussed this with the service advisor. He advised me against going for addition of spacers at rear suspensions as it not only makes the ride a somewhat stiff but also, due to increased ground clearance at the rear, causes the car to rest at an inclining angle resulting in discomfort to the rear seat passengers. Best option, if necessary, is to replace the rear suspensions, more so if the car gets fully loaded on regular basis. That’s not the case with my car. I think I’ll be a little careful over the bumps.

Also a few days back, I picked up a rear-arm-rest from Espirit Toyota which has opened shop in Noida recently. In case you want any details on the arm-rest, and since I haven't personally used it myself, what better way than guiding you to the link below in the awesome thread of a BHPian…
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post3099348

[mroptimist]

Originally Posted by RadiantKarma

Service Advisor also said that the AC vent rattle was the first case they had encountered in Etios/Liva and would be reported to Toyota.

Perhaps that is the first case that dealership would have encountered but in my Etios VX (P) that problem started when the vehicle had run around 10,000 kms (The vehicle has done a total of 30,000 kms in nearly 20 months of ownership) and it took umpteen number of visits to fix.

Of 4 AC vents 3 were replaced under warranty and after few hundred kms the problem (AC vents rattling) resurfaced.

This time instead of going to Amana Toyota Malappuram I took my car to Ravindu Toyota Bangalore and they rectified it by restricting the movement of the AC vents (now I can't move the vent 360 degrees but only 180 degrees).

Currently I have some annoying squeaks coming from virtually all doors and I have lost patience to go to Amana Toyota Malappuram.

I hop in your case this particular problem won't resurface.