[pgsagar]

Blackasta, S'Baleno, I have to turn the key and hold. It cranks and cranks and cranks and then it fires up. Three cranks? Isn't it too long? I mean in my 11 year old Lancer D, all you do is turn the key and in half a crank, it fires up. Don't know why the starter has to crank 3 turns before the engine fires up. Will check with the service guys.

I am used to leaving the car always in recirculation mode to keep the dust and odours out. In the morning after I start up, as I drive away, first I lower all four windows to let out the stale air from last night and THEN after rolling up windows I turn on the AC. I have been following this routine religiously all these years across all cars. But this is the first time I am having this issue. This needs sorting out, too.

These are the only two issues with the car. The FE is really really superb. I expected 12-13. Anything above it, a bonus. But 16+ is really very very good taking into account the inner-city crawl. But yes, as I said, I feathered the throttle. S'Baleno, me, too, for some reason do not feel like flooring when I drive A-Star. May be because it's new or may be because it's a petrol car. I am very careless with diesel cars. Always drove Lancer without caring a hoot for FE.

One excellent thing with my car though is absolute smooth idling and no vibrations, repeat, no vibrations AT ALL whatsoever. In fact I wonder if it really is a 3-pot engine. I drove my cousin's 2 month old Swift VXI and I found no difference at all in NVH. They sounded same at idle. On this count, I am extremely happy. Even after early morning start ( except for that 3 crank bit ), it immediately settles into a smooth inaudible hum. Even turning on AC doesn't change that hum. S'Baleno, the rough idling you mentioned about may only be specific to your car. Check with service guys. I am sure it will go away.

While on the subject of 3-pot engines, my F-in-L traded in his old M800 and bought a new Alto just 20 days before I bought my A-Star. Though both are 3-pot motors, A-Star's NVH is leagues ahead of Alto. Also, the sound doors make when you close the doors of an Alto is rough. In contrast, the sound you hear when you close the doors of an A-Star is superb. It sounds like a premium car. Don't know why or how but this has the best sounding door-closing among all MUL cars. Better than even SX4. Try it and see.

[Mr_Bean]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

One excellent thing with my car though is absolute smooth idling and no vibrations, repeat, no vibrations AT ALL whatsoever.

Has maruti done something here to reduce the vibration levels here? When I test drove the a-star there was protruding vibration, similar to a 4-pot which has a worn out engine mount and run 60k kms..

[drsnt]

As for rough engine, I too have estilo for 1 yr and driven almost 10k. I too have rough idle problem and also instability of RPM at idle. I had long discussion with Maruti engg on the same and i also drove 3 others cars (A wagon R, another estilo and Alto with k series) all felt same and had same idle problem with RPM falling below idle for few secs.

I do not agree with you that A star has same NVH as Swift, I have extensively travelled in my friends A star (but never driven) Swift and Ritz have much more refined engines and low vibrations at lower speeds. The NVH difference becomes negligible when car are between 60-80kmph but it increases once past 80-90kmph

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Why does my car take 2/3 cranks to fire up? I always thought petrol engines fire up instantly. Or, may be I am spoiled by my Lancer D which fires up if you so much as touch the key.

I have never faced this issue yet. After you turn the key to ON position i suggest you to wait a few secs for the fuel pump priming sound to disappear before you crank the engine. This is how i do it and every time it starts with just a half crank, never had to hold it.

Originally Posted by pgsagar

One excellent thing with my car though is absolute smooth idling and no vibrations, repeat, no vibrations AT ALL whatsoever. In fact I wonder if it really is a 3-pot engine.

Same here NVH is well contained. And its better than when the engine was new. But still its not in the same league as our i10 1.2 or my cousin's Swift 1.2.

Congrats on the awesome FE you are getting on an AT car!!

[mdsaab]

Please get this cranking issue checked when at the service center next.
It is unusual that a brand new car should take so long to crank.
also as suggested wait for the fuel pump to finish it's pumping and then crank the engine.
I am pretty sure they will sort this out for you in your first service.
Good luck & Drive Safe!

[pgsagar]

Hi, everyone. There has been a terrible mistake on my part. I deeply apologise. I erred in FE calculations. It's not 16.74 as I wrote earlier but a measely 8.37 Kmpl. I had actually filled Rs.2,000 worth petrol for FE watch, which I later wrongly recalled as Rs.1,000 worth petrol. Did the math taking Rs.1,000 into account. Hence, the error by twice. I am extermely sorry. Stupid me. I hope I do not get any infraction for this.

But this FE jolted me from elation to 'not-happy'-ness. Dropped in at Service Centre in evening. The guys said after 2/3000 kms of running and 2/3 service later, it will definitely go up to 13-14 Kpl in city and 16-17 on higway. Hope they are right. While zeroing in on A-Star AT, I had prepared myself for relatively lower FE. But I thoguht it would never dip below 10 kmpl. May be I haven't yet got the hang of brake/throttle inputs right. Will give it a month and a thousand Km of running and then re-check. I am sure it will improve. Sorry once again.

[noopster]

As far as I know, you don't get infracted for honest mistakes that you own up to, so relax

FE of 16.xx in city is expecting a bit much from a petrol 4-speed AT. This is ypically what you would get from a diesel cruiser on highways!

When you buy an AT, comfort and convenience are primary factors. Everything else: driving involvement, FE etc. take a backseat.

Keep you expectations realistic and you will love your vehicle. 10 kmpl is a reasonable expectation, and I am sure you will realise this after a service or two.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

I erred in FE calculations. It's not 16.74 as I wrote earlier but a measely 8.37 Kmpl. I had actually filled Rs.2,000 worth petrol for FE watch, which I later wrongly recalled as Rs.1,000 worth petrol.

Hmm. I was a little surprised (and envious too) of the initial FE you reported because even though we stay in a much smaller town, we never got more than 15kmpl. But again 8kmpl is too low for this car. One question for you : Are you sure you monitored the fuel-up at the petrol pump ? And were not cheated ? Because while 16kmpl seems high, 8kmpl is too low - so there should be some explanation for this.

Originally Posted by pgsagar

The guys said after 2/3000 kms of running and 2/3 service later, it will definitely go up to 13-14 Kpl in city and 16-17 on higway. Hope they are right.

Well, they are wrong when they say that the initial FE of the car will almost double from 8kmpl to 14kmpl in 3000kms of running. Infact my experience has been that there has been almost negligible increase in FE between when the car was new and after few thousand kms. My Baleno has always returned ~12kmpl in city with fulltime a/c. The only times I got 13 or 14kmpl (the max I managed) was due to the nut behind the wheel (me) changing his driving style.

Having said that, 8kmpl is too low an FE for this car for your city. Given that we get 15kmpl in our small town, 12-13 should be easy for you. Do update us after a few cycles.

[pgsagar]

Thanks, Noopster/S'Baleno! Yes, 8.xx Kmpl is way too low, even for a small car. I think, I will re-check after a week or so. This time, I will make doubly sure about fuel-metering, Km read-out and arithmetic. As for salesmen/service personnel, you are right S'Bbaleno. They will say anything to please you.

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Thanks, Noopster/S'Baleno! Yes, 8.xx Kmpl is way too low, even for a small car. I think, I will re-check after a week or so. This time, I will make doubly sure about fuel-metering, Km read-out and arithmetic. As for salesmen/service personnel, you are right S'Bbaleno. They will say anything to please you.

Well my i10 used t return figures of 9 -10 kmpl when new. When I last checked - it was returning around 12-13. so do not expect any magic - but there shall be a gradual improvement of 2-4 kmpl as the engine sets in and you adjust your driving style.

[jinojohnt]

My fuel tank is almost half now, I am waiting till the fuel mark is near-empty, to calculate accurate mileage by tank-full to tank-full method. Previous mileage calculation was done over only a few liters of petrol.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by blackasta

Well my i10 used t return figures of 9 -10 kmpl when new. When I last checked - it was returning around 12-13. so do not expect any magic - but there shall be a gradual improvement of 2-4 kmpl as the engine sets in and you adjust your driving style.

Are you sure the driving conditions (daily usage, kms run, route to work etc) when you bought the car are what it is now ? Asking because I really doubt that a car's FE would increase by 35-40% after break-in period (a 10% increase itself seems high to me) and also because I remember reading that your commute involved roads that are almost highway like in construction/traffic and thus 12-13 does not seem bad for such roads.

Originally Posted by jinojohnt

My fuel tank is almost half now, I am waiting till the fuel mark is near-empty, to calculate accurate mileage by tank-full to tank-full method.

You could use the fuel-guage itself to calculate FE instead of tank-full method. Set the tripmeter to zero when the last-block in the guage starts blinking, fuel up for a known quantity and drive till it again starts blinking - tripmeter/litres should give the FE. For i10 owners it is even easier as a light pops up when it is time to fuel-up. Set tripmeter when light comes up, fuel up and then drive till when light comes up again.

[pgsagar]

S'Baleno, I have two questions. When the last segment starts blinking, how much fuel is this car left with? I mean, roughly how many KMs the car is good for, before it coasts to a halt. I searched the Owner's Manual and found no reference to it. Or, did I not search hard enough? And how do we check ATF level? Is there a dipstick kinda thing? Didn't find that in manual, either. Want to make sure they filled the right amount. The showroom guys might have underfilled or overfilled before delivery, who knows.

[supremeBaleno]

1) Once after blinking started, we had to drive for some 15-16kms before we could reach a pump. But no idea, how much more it will go after that. It is not mentioned in the manual.

2) ATF makes me think Aircraft Turbine Fuel. But I guess you meant the A/T fluid. I dont think you need to worry about this - this comes filled from the factory, not touched by service folks. Because if you read the manual, this is changed only once in 11years or some 1.4lakh+ kms - so low-maintenance compared to MT cars where gear-oil has to be changed every 20K kms. So you can ignore this.

[mdsaab]

While this fuel almost empty blinking idea can be used.
I personally would not suggest it.
First of all you may miss the first blink and may only notice it a couple of blinks later.
So it may not turn out to be accurate.
Also i feel it is best to avoid keeping the fuel tank so dangerously low.
This is just my view from my experience.
Drive Safe!