[raviacc2825]

Before I start with the review, I would like to thank:

1) GTO: For super AWESOME review of Chevy beat
2) Other owners, who have contributed a lot through their own reviews.

I will try to meet the standard set by other reviewers but in case I do a blunder, kindly bear with me.

I have divided my review in to the following segments:

1) Background and buying decision
2) My requirements
3) Booking and delivery experience
4) Issue/s faced in 1.5 years of ownership
5) Car servicing experience
6) ICE section
7) Accidental damages to car
8) Additional accessories
9) Likes and dislikes

Some Pictures first:






















Back ground and buying decision:

So it was Feb’10 when I seriously started to think about buying a new car, at that time I was driving Santro (year 2000 model) and it started giving me problems every now and then. I must mention that it gave me trouble free service for 1, 55,000 Kms , and I sold it when odo meter was at 1, 87,984 kms. Now, before I could start looking for a car, I had to travel abroad for a month on an official trip. I returned at the end of March’10 and the search begun.

I took a day off from the office and visited showroom of each and every company which were offering Hatchback. After taking a test drive of each and every car I decided to stick my options on shortlisted i10 and Beat. At that moment buying a diesel car was not on my mind as my month running was under 1000 KMS.

I won’t get into the details which made me short list i10 and Beat but YES, at the end it was my heart which shortlisted Beat where as my mind was more inclined towards i10.

My requirements were:

1) Good looks
2) Low maintenance
3) Decent mileage
4) Good features
5) On road price not more than INR 4,50,000

Booking and delivery experience:

I booked my car with Shiva motors in Sahibabad (NCR), booking experience was very smooth. I went to the showroom on 8th April’10 and told the sales guy that I need the car by Sunday (11th April), he told me Sir, we have waiting for a month, you can book your car and I will try and deliver it in 20-25 days. I told him no thanks, I will opt for i10 as I need a car on urgent basis but still take my number in case something is feasible and walked out from the showroom.

In the evening when I was getting ready to go to Hyundai showroom to book i10, I got a call from the Shiva motors:

Sales guy: Sir, can you please come to the showroom?

Me: Why?

Sales guy: I have talked to the manager, we can give you the delivery tomorrow.

Me: Ok, coming.

Went to the showroom, had an option of black or blue. I opted for blue but had to postpone the delivery to Sunday due to loan disbursement issue.

Finally, on Sunday 11th April’10. I went to the showroom with family and a friend, inspected the car, signed few papers, got the picture clicked and headed home.

Overall delivery experience was very smooth, the price and other details as below:

1) On road price, Delhi: 4,33,XXX
2) Accessories from dealer: Only central locking for 3500
3) No discount or freebies at all.
4) Model: LT, Petrol

Issues faced (nothing major) with the car in last 1.5 years of ownership:

 Do I miss the temperature gauze? Oh yes I do, I have a habit of opening the bonnet once in month or so, to check if all the liquids are at a good level. One fine morning, I opened the bonnet and to my horror, coolant reservoir was empty. I topped the reservoir with water and drove to the service centre as it’s very near to my home.

The guy inspected the car and the problem was a leak in the reservoir. I asked them to change it, they said sorry sir reservoir not in stock and it will take 15 days to get one. For the time being they applied M-Seal on the bottle and told me it will work fine for a month, I thank them and drove to office.
Next morning, again I checked and reservoir was empty. I went to service station, they said sir leave your car for a week it’s not safe to drive like this. I told them, nothing doing it’s a month old car and giving me all the trouble, do something I can’t do without a car. The service guy went in the workshop and came out with a new bottle, I asked him from where you got one as till yesterday it was not in stock, he had no answer and I didn’t bother to ask again as my work was getting done.

They replaced it, filled coolant, total cost ZERO. I was really happy with the service given by SHIVA motors.

 Very first 3 full tanks gave me FE of 8-9 KMPL, I went to the service station to find the cause for the same. They connected the laptop with the car and started to diagnose the cause, it was found that some setting in the ECU were not correct. After the correction I started to get the FE around 12.

Again, after 15000 KMS service, same issue happened and ECU was reset. FE was back to normal after that. Is there some issue with the ECU?

Car servicing experience:

1) 1,000 KMS: It was just a normal check-up but due to my ignorance I had to shell out INR 645. The service guy asked me to get the silicon coating done on all the doors, bonnet and advised me to get some magnetic stuff on fuel line to improve mileage. Man, I was so dumb, anyhow lesson learnt.

2) 5,000 KMS: NOT GOOD, went to service station and told the service guy to change the oil and oil filter. The guy, who did it, forgot to tighten the oil filter as a result oil started to drip from the bottom. It was noticed only when car was turned on and oil came rushing out from beneath. They immediately turned off the car and again refilled the oil, total oil refilled was around 2 litters. I asked them if any damage might have been occurred to the engine, the answer was obviously NO.

3) 10,000KMS: Normal checking and washing.

4) 15,000KMS: Oil, oil filter, air filter and pollen filter were changed. They were forcing me to get some other stuff done like fuel nozzle cleaning, I straight away said no.

So far service experience has been good and quick. Staff there is very helpful and give answers to all your queries.

ICE - ICE baby, for me it was Pain - Pain baby:

As we know that stock speakers are not of good quality, so decided to change front as well as the rear speaker and got JBL. I always wanted to have amplifier and woofer installed in my car, so again shortlisted on JBL amplifier and bass tube.

Encounter 1) Tried a local reputed shop to do the stuff, installation process was nice and neat. Sound also got improved but some humming noise was audible, installer tried everything but it just didn’t go. He told me that stock system is the culprit as it doesn’t have RC output and advised me to change the same or else he can’t help. I denied as I really like the look of the integrated system.

Encounter 2) After few months, Reliance AutoZone opened in a close proximity. I went there to check out the stuff, again zeroed down on JBL amplifier and subwoofer. As usual installation was neat and clean but again humming sound was very much audible. They tried and tried and tried but no solution to the humming sound, as per them, culprit again was the stock system.

I must mention here that Reliance guys were very professional, I made the payment for Amplifier and Bass tube but they agreed to exchange them for Alloys.

So now I have decided no more amplifier or woofer in my car.

Accidental damages to car (see the pictures):

1) A colleague of mine bumped the car straight into the wall, luckily it was at a very low speed.

2) Rear bumper got several hits from bike and scooters but still intact.

Likes:

1) Really good looks
2) Best in class interiors
3) Comfortable front seats
4) Nice to have both ways foldable side mirrors
5) Good VFM


Dislikes:

1) Uncomfortable rear seats
2) Poor mileage (for me), my Santro use to give me the same.
3) Poor pickup, I mean really poor even after ECU update


Additional accessories on the car:

1) Alloys from Reliance AutoZone: 14000
2) Central locking from dealer: 3500
3) Seat covers: 3200
4) Mats: 600
5) Films: 1800
6) Gear lock: 900
7) God idol: 550
8) Flip key from Harison: 2000
9) Baseball bat: Na, not for road rage, I gave to do night shift sometimes and the route is not safe.

Thanks for reading the entire review, suggestions are welcome.

[revintup]

Your car looks COOL !Awesome alloys,and the blue just gels perfectly.


By the way whats with you and blue?Even the basebal bat is blue.

Reminds me of the blue song,am bluue

Blue is the colour of my chevy beat;
And blue are the people,who drive inside


OT:The basebal bat in the trunk wouldnt come in hand in an 'unsafe' situation.Keep it some place where you can have access from the driver's seat itself.

[raviacc2825]

Originally Posted by revintup

Your car looks COOL !Awesome alloys,and the blue just gels perfectly.

By the way whats with you and blue?Even the basebal bat is blue.


Blue is the colour of my chevy beat;
And blue are the people,who drive inside

OT:The basebal bat in the trunk wouldnt come in hand in an 'unsafe' situation.Keep it some place where you can have access from the driver's seat itself.

Thanks a lot revintup , well blue baseball bat is just by coincidence, it was the only option available with Store99.

I always keep the bat on rear seat but had to drop few colleagues yesterday, hence bat in the boot.

[Dieselone]

ditto problems on FE with my wifes Beat. The car gives us a paltry 8-9 kmpl. Have got the ECU reset twice from Sundaram Motors bangalore but do not see any significant change. The service advisor promised on both accasions that the car should deliver at least 12kmpl in city driving conditions, but do not see that happening. Am i missing something here or are all Beats giving this kind of millage? Had read several posts claiming a FE of 14 to 15 kmpl. Need advise on this .

[myavu]

Originally Posted by raviacc2825

3) Poor pickup, I mean really poor even after ECU update

Thanks for reading the entire review, suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for sharing. Agree with most of your observations. I too own a White LT (May 2010)

Kindly update your ECM software to Performance Improvement (2nd Gear/Drivability) (xxxxxY4) it's a new update.Your Beat will be a different animal altogether. Will give good mileage also.

Cheers!

Vinu

[raviacc2825]

Originally Posted by Dieselone

ditto problems on FE with my wifes Beat. The car gives us a paltry 8-9 kmpl. Have got the ECU reset twice from Sundaram Motors bangalore but do not see any significant change. The service advisor promised on both accasions that the car should deliver at least 12kmpl in city driving conditions, but do not see that happening. Am i missing something here or are all Beats giving this kind of millage? Had read several posts claiming a FE of 14 to 15 kmpl. Need advise on this .

Sometimes people say that may be my driving is bad, but then i also drive Dzire petrol and manage to get FE of around 14 in city 100 % AC. I seriously believe that one of the batches had some issue with the ECU because once it's reset, FE comes back to 13.

[raviacc2825]

Originally Posted by myavu

Thanks for sharing. Agree with most of your observations. I too own a White LT (May 2010)

Kindly update your ECM software to Performance Improvement (2nd Gear/Drivability) (xxxxxY4) it's a new update.Your Beat will be a different animal altogether. Will give good mileage also.

Cheers!

Vinu

Thanks a lot for guiding, but when i went for the 15000KM service, the service guy told me that i have the latest ECM settings. Anyhow, will again go to them over the weekend and will confirm once again.

[vasanthn21]

I am surprised to know about the low mileage. It must be tough for you especially because one of your requirements was "Decent Mileage".

I always believed modern engines have more power/more drive ability/more mileage (of course it depends on tuning), but I assumed city hatches were tuned for this. I know i10 and Alto are.

what do the service center guy's say is the reason for low mileage?

[Daewood]

Hi Ravi,
Congrats on completing 1.5 yrs with your Blue Beat.

Your Key Fob looks cool. Where did you get that?

[myavu]

Originally Posted by raviacc2825

I seriously believe that one of the batches had some issue with the ECU because once it's reset, FE comes back to 13.

So ECM software on stock condition gives you 13 right. So why don't you continue with that (even though drivability sucks)?

Originally Posted by raviacc2825

Anyhow, will again go to them over the weekend and will confirm once again.

Try to stand along with the ECM flashing guy. If I remember correctly, it's the fourth step (screen) after starting the process (check for the last line for Performance Improvement (2nd Gear/Drivability) - it's in a combo-box.

Cheers!

Vinu

[raviacc2825]

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

I am surprised to know about the low mileage. It must be tough for you especially because one of your requirements was "Decent Mileage".

I always believed modern engines have more power/more drive ability/more mileage (of course it depends on tuning), but I assumed city hatches were tuned for this. I know i10 and Alto are.

what do the service center guy's say is the reason for low mileage?

They advice me to improve my driving skills , On usual city driving in bumper to bumper traffic (100% AC) i get around 13. Problem is, on the same route it goes down to 9-10, then i have get the ECM reset.

Originally Posted by Daewood

Hi Ravi,
Congrats on completing 1.5 yrs with your Blue Beat.

Your Key Fob looks cool. Where did you get that?

Thanks, i got it from Harison. Search flip key on FB and you will get his page. Genuine guy and good quality work.

Originally Posted by myavu

So ECM software on stock condition gives you 13 right. So why don't you continue with that (even though drivability sucks)?

Try to stand along with the ECM flashing guy. If I remember correctly, it's the fourth step (screen) after starting the process (check for the last line for Performance Improvement (2nd Gear/Drivability) - it's in a combo-box.

Cheers!

Vinu

It gets really embarrassing when you have 5 people on board, AC on and you can't go up on the inclined road. Especially in Mall and other parking lot. I have to switch the AC off and put the car back in the 1st Gear to make it climb.


Thanks
Ravi

[Catalyst_delhi]

nice review! I love the colour of the car with those alloys. Looks stunning in the office car park. FE depends on AC usage. most cars now do not have much reserve power. I'd say most hatches I have driven up our office ramp feels like what you are describing.

[raviacc2825]

Originally Posted by Catalyst_delhi

nice review! I love the colour of the car with those alloys. Looks stunning in the office car park. FE depends on AC usage. most cars now do not have much reserve power. I'd say most hatches I have driven up our office ramp feels like what you are describing.

Thanks Buddy!!!

our office parking ramp is too steep. Eagerly waiting for your DIY thread and yes, it was nice meeting you

Ravi

[raviacc2825]

I have completed 20,000 kms journey with my BEAT last weekend and got it serviced today. Below is the cost breakup:

Total service cost: 2,124
> Break pad changed: 874.89
> Paid service: 775
> Labour (break pad replacement): 250

Rest was Tax.

I got the car serviced at Shiva motors (Sahibabad), their service standard is getting better and better, this time i was greeted by their senior manager and he made sure that i was fully satisfied with the service. Also, their waiting lounge has become more comfortable now, i was also served coffee and nice cookies.

[raviacc2825]

Hello Guys,

Need Help!!!

My chevy beat got scratched from the rear where fuel lid is placed, it was not a dent just a big scratch. It happened in Nov'11 when a bus parked near my residence tried to take a U-turn. I thought its a minor thing and will get it repaired later. Now last week i saw that the area has started to develop rust, i took it to service center and they said it will take minimum 7 days for the work. I can't leave my car for 7 days, so went to a reputed body work shop in near by locality.

The guy told me that work will done in two days, i handed over the car and the deal got settled for INR 2000.

The final out come, see the picture:




As you can see that the paint color is not matching, so i told the guy that i will not pay until the work is performed to my satisfaction, he have asked me to bring the car tomorrow for the same.

Now the queries:
1) In morning someone told me that i shouldn't have gone for the repaint job as rust will come again. I should have changed the panel itself, is it so?
2) How will the repaint work going to happen, will he remove the current paint and reapply the new color?
3) what all precautions shall i take?

This time i will be there to supervise the work.

Ravi