[pyrodrive]

Nice update, Avi. Glad to know pegasus serving you well and you serving him well too.
I also do the idling routine till the C disappears, but my car idles at a lower RPM than yours, at around 800-900.
The scratches doesnt look too bad, a little touchup may mask it till you do a proper paint job later on. I have used the com paint kit to touch up a blotch in the front bumper (the paint had rubbed off and the black plastic underneath was a real eyesore on the white car). Now its hardly noticeable unless one looks very closely.

[SolidSnake]

Originally Posted by pyrodrive

Nice update, Avi. Glad to know pegasus serving you well and you serving him well too.
I also do the idling routine till the C disappears, but my car idles at a lower RPM than yours, at around 800-900.
The scratches doesnt look too bad, a little touchup may mask it till you do a proper paint job later on. I have used the com paint kit to touch up a blotch in the front bumper (the paint had rubbed off and the black plastic underneath was a real eyesore on the white car). Now its hardly noticeable unless one looks very closely.

Yeah .. Mine too , idles at 800-900 rpm not at 1000.
Is there anything to look out for ?

Is there any way to fold up the rear seats in order to increase the boot space in corporate edition?

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by pyrodrive

Nice update, Avi. Glad to know pegasus serving you well and you serving him well too.
I also do the idling routine till the C disappears, but my car idles at a lower RPM than yours, at around 800-900.
The scratches doesnt look too bad, a little touchup may mask it till you do a proper paint job later on. I have used the com paint kit to touch up a blotch in the front bumper (the paint had rubbed off and the black plastic underneath was a real eyesore on the white car). Now its hardly noticeable unless one looks very closely.

Yep, the actual stationary idling RPM is at ~800 RPM. The cold engine "C" icon disappears when the engine settles at 1000 RPM for a few seconds. Tested this today morning. Thanks!

I don't have a touchup kit with me yet. The paint job by the dealership guys is superb, so waiting till the 10K service to get it properly done.

Originally Posted by SolidSnake

Is there any way to fold up the rear seats in order to increase the boot space in corporate edition?

Nope, the facility isn't available I believe. The boot itself is quite huge (506 ltrs) so never needed it, anyway.

[spinks_69]

Thanks for the cold engine icon tip. Bought my new Honda City a fortnight back and looking forward to a smooth ride in the coming years. Will be grateful if you can kindly share the daily/weekly routine maintenance / cleaning of Silver Pegasus which you have done over the past two years.

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by spinks_69

Thanks for the cold engine icon tip. Bought my new Honda City a fortnight back and looking forward to a smooth ride in the coming years. Will be grateful if you can kindly share the daily/weekly routine maintenance / cleaning of Silver Pegasus which you have done over the past two years.

First of all, congratulations! Wishing you plenty of happy miles ahead. It's a no-fuss, practically no-maintenance, gem of a car and will give you many years of loyal service.

I don't do much. The City is pretty much a maintenance-free car and takes care of itself. Some tips from my side to keep it clean and healthy:-

1 - Get a Jopasu Duster set. It's a fantastic kit and I can't recommend it enough. Get your City dusted everyday using it. The mini Duster does wonders to the interiors. You won't need to wash/wax regularly after that.

2 - Wash once a week. I do it on weekends. Nothing like making your car shine brightly once that shampoo and water is wiped off. Tyres will need cleaning solutions. Vacuum the interiors as well.

3 - Get a good quality car wax kit and do the waxing once every month. Others do it more/less frequently but once a month is good enough. Ensure you wash the car thoroughly before that.

4 - Idling at startup, as I explained above.

5 - Ensure that all fluids/coolant are properly topped off before you embark on long journeys. Always carry some spare stuff with you - extra coolant, distilled water, toolkit, a torch, etc.

6 - Check the oil levels regularly.

7 - Enjoy the rides!


Welcome to the Honda City club, my friend.

[RavenAvi]

THIRD PAID Service Report (6th Overall): (8820 kms)


Availed - 2nd & 3rd December, 2013.

Work to be done: (listed under 10K service, same as earlier)

All necessary check-ups/top-ups,
AC Filter/Brake pads/Air filter/suspension checks,
Body paint work to be done for the bruises endured,
Brush touch-up work for some minor scratches,
Driver door power window to be checked,
Alloys to be changed back to steel rims,
Wheel alignment and balancing,
Engine oil and oil filter NOT to be changed,
Washing and 3M Car Treatment (exterior and interior).

Time Spent - 2 full days.

Charges - Full.


It had been almost 7 months since Pegasus had had his last checkup. A trip to the state capital was pending and overdue due to some personal work, and as soon as my appraisal month (November) was done, I was off with 3 days' leave.
As usual, I tanked up and got the tyre pressures checked on Saturday evening, and left my city at 1:30 PM in the afternoon on Sunday, 1st December. One of my field agents accompanied me on this trip, since he wanted to visit his parents who live at Raipur.
Traffic was light but the days had grown shorter due to winter. I was expecting dusk/twilight by 5 PM, so had to steer out of the ghats well before that. The roads had worsened since the last time I had traveled (in May). Hurried patchwork dotted most parts of it, but the most terrible sections were in the turnings of the ghats. The road there had completely disappeared, replaced by loosened stone chips and loose gravel! 10-wheeler trucks were having a difficult time gripping the surface as they veered and turned. I could see their rear wheels freewheeling! Thankfully they were few in number and I kept my distance from them, and we were out of the ghats by daylight.
Had to take a forced break at a dhaba around 110 kms from home, for about 20 minutes when my agent suffered stomach cramps. Another 10-minute break at the hugely popular Makdi dhaba outside Kanker for a sip of tea also added to the rest time. I need to make a pictorial guide for this route soon.
I used the 5th gear for the majority of the trip, with occasional shifts to 4th (even 3rd) when speeds went low and the RPMs needed a boost. Speeds were between 75-80 kmph for the most part ("ECO" indicator glowing consistently and strongly), with an occasional burst to 90 kmph when the roads permitted.
We reached the capital at 6:30 PM and I dropped off my agent, and it took another 30 minutes to reach my hotel, hand over Pegasus to the parking valet and reach my room. The trip was of 319 kms, and the FE for the trip was a surprising and stupendous 19.7 kmpl!
Pegasus was his usual smooth self, and did his best to tackle those bad roads. The suspension was working overtime, and those thin stock Goodyears weren't helping one bit!

Got up early on Monday morning (2nd December) and drove to the Honda A.S.S. center and reached there by 9:30 AM. I had called a few days before and had reserved a service slot already. My SA, Deepak, walked in at 9:40 AM and promptly came running to greet me with a huge smile. After exchanging pleasantries and some formal chit-chat, he noted down all what I wanted to get done (under the 10K paid service heading).
I wanted to change the rims back to the default steel ones because of two reasons - the alloys were not that quality and were chipping off at a few places and more than once I had heard comments from others (in my office and outside) about me copying the top model by fitting them. I wanted Pegasus to have a personality of his own, different from the other variants, plus I couldn't get rid of the OEM steel ones and they were gathering dust in our home. Noted all other checks, and then pointed out the bruises/scrapes/scratches/damages to Deepak and all the work to be done for them. He promptly called up the paint workshop manager, Ashwini, and showed them to him, and we agreed that for the extensively damaged sections, they will do a paint job, and for places which have suffered scratches but paint had not chipped off, 3M treatment will be given.
I had stopped rolling down the driver door window for almost a month now, in fear that the ultra-slow response of the window might burn out the power window mechanism. That needed to be thoroughly checked, and I got it duly noted in the card.
Engine oil had been changed at 5850 kms so I skipped it yet again. It was good for another 2000 kms at the most.
Estimated time was given as 3 days for all jobs! I had no plans of staying for so long, so asked them to complete all work by next day evening, at least. The Service Manager (my relative) had come by then so I talked to him. He promised me that he will send a technician over to the Paint section so that he could do the servicing work while the painters did their jobs.
All in all, the majority work this time was with the paint section and the 3M treatment. The servicing aspect would be only for around 4-5 hours.

Got all my stuff out and proceeded to the sales section to visit my salesperson, Deepika and the manager, regarding details of the 2014 City and my booking. Collected my booking receipt and sat down to chat with the manager. I casually asked the valuation of Pegasus (2012 City Corporate) through Auto Terrace and was offered a price of 5.25L (tops)!! Whew, cars do depreciate fast (faster if you live in a god-forsaken state like me). After spending close to 10L (excluding the services/paint work) on Pegasus till now, 5.25L seemed minuscule. Thankfully, I have no plans of leaving Pegasus anytime soon. But it made me wonder about those people who boast of changing their cars every year (or 2 years), and how the heck could they deal with the steep depreciation in those initial years! Lots of money to spare, I guess.
To my extreme surprise, Honda had not provided any details or pictures of the 2014 City to the dealership. Deepika, Harjinder and others of the sales team said they had only seen a few pictures on the net! I took out my laptop, opened Team-BHP, straightaway clicked on the report from the unveiling posted by parrys, and showed them the pics of the 2014 City from all angles. They immediately gave me their pen drives and requested me to give them the pictures, which I gladly did. They sat down beside me with awe and heard my commentary on my likes and dislikes of the 2014 City, as the pictures rolled down and the ACI video (posted by Hormazd Sorabjee, with commentary) unfolded before their eyes.
After all of them dispersed, I went through a Honda pictorial which said "For Internal Circulation only", and showed a comparo between the Honda Amaze and the Maruti-Suzuki DZire. I had chanced across this in one of my previous visits, but this one looked new, so thinking that maybe I might have missed some points, I browsed through again. It was the same, maybe printed recently.

At around 12 noon I went to the paint workshop to see how far they had progressed. The major dents were straightened out and covered with putty but to my extreme horror, I noticed a brand-new, long, deep gash on Pegasus's front bumper on the left side!! I knew it wasn't one of the previous scratches he had suffered, so instantly took the workshop manager to task. I called up my relative the SM, Deepak, Deepika and showed it to them as well. All this time the paint workshop boys came over and were standing quietly. The paint workshop manager, Ashwini, feigned innocence and ignorance about the scratch, saying he wasn't in there at that time. My best guess from repeatedly checking out the new scratch from all angles (forgot to take a picture) was that it was done when another car was backing out of it's slot/ramp, and had scratched Pegasus from behind. I raised plenty of hue and cry and threatened them all with dire consequences, and was promised repeatedly that it would be taken care of, free of charge. Depressed a bit, I headed back to the sales section and told the sales manager about that as well. The owner was out so I couldn't contact him, but the sales manager assured me as well that this would be done.
I asked Deepika if she could arrange a ride for me to my hotel, and she promptly called up the guard who got out a red Brio and drove me back to my hotel. My depressed mood didn't improve one bit and I needed some fresh air, out of that place. Coincidentally, one of my favorite movies was on TV and it was looking gorgeous in HD on that huge 50" plasma in my room, and that helped calm me down somewhat.

Next morning I called up Deepak and inquired about developments after I had left. He said Pegasus was in the body paint shop, drying off the body-paint treatment he had received the day before. Servicing and mechanical work was scheduled for today, followed by washing and the 3M treatment. He also informed that he was on leave today, but had left instructions and all my jobs would be completed well in time.
I was very apprehensive since the events of the previous day, and now that Deepak was gone, apprehensions doubled! I finished my complimentary breakfast hurriedly and was off to the dealership by 9 AM.
Pegasus sat quietly inside the dark space of the body paint shop, his treatments shining nicely! The paint jobs done to him were top-notch, and there was little evidence of all the damages/scars he had endured in the past 1 year. All major scars were covered, including that new gash he had suffered yesterday. I was impressed. Very impressed.
Pegasus was driven into the service hangar at around 11 PM. First thing done was the wheel-swapping. The steel rims were balanced with weights, and then rolled over and fitted into Pegasus.
A weird predicament was faced here - apparently the steel rims have larger nuts than the alloys, and were tightened using washers. Now, when I had swapped them for alloys, the guy who did the swapping either lost those washers or broke them off. The technician said each washer cost Rs. 100/-!! That meant, 4 washers per wheel or 16 washers altogether would cost 1600 bucks. I requested him to check the hangar and see if he can find some spare usable washers, and if he couldn't, then I would need to buy them from the store. He called up another technician and both of them promptly scoured the area and after a long search of 25-30 minutes, were able to search out 16 washers between themselves. A small amount saved. I thanked both of them for their efforts.
The technician checked the driver door panel for any obstructions to the power window, and told me that all the stuff inside (central locking gun, wires, speaker, etc.) were clear from the window and it's rolling up/down section. The winding mechanism seemed okay too, and as soon as he sprayed the power window channel with some rubber spray, it started operating smoothly again. He confirmed that this problem was arising repeatedly because of the amount of dust accumulating in the window rubber, and asked me to buy a can of the cleaning rubber solution spray from an accessory shop (since it's not available for sale from the official Honda accessory workshop). I must admit it was a bit of a relief, although I still have a small nagging doubt, since Honda has issued a recall for the 3rd generation City (2007-2008) for faulty power window switches, and wondered if the same problem wasn't carried over to this version of the City as well.
All checks, top-ups, cleanings and stuff was completed (before lunchtime), and then Pegasus was driven over to the alignment ramp for the wheels alignment. (detailed pictorial to follow)

Pegasus came out of the service hangar at 3 PM, and was handed over to the 3M boys. They took him to get washed first, but since the washing section already had a bit of a queue, he was driven back to an empty slot and the 3M guys proceeded to tackle the exterior scratches while doing the interior cleaning. 3 guys got busy with air-drying, vacuuming and polishing the interiors, while 2 guys brought some liquids and applied them on the deep scars/scratches on the bonnet, roof, sides and other areas.
All this while I was chatting with the 3M in charge, and got to know from him that the dealership had entered into a contract with the local 3M outlet, and since they were a contract team from outside, they were excluded from the normal Honda servicing team and didn't have any privileges! I was surprised to know about this step-motherly treatment for them, specially since they were providing service to Honda customers of the dealership, and had limited time to do their skills, so were performing at their best at their fastest speeds. Sad situation, I must say.
His scratches treated and his interiors shined and polished to a T, Pegasus headed for the showers 30 minutes after. I took that moment to check out the dealer's stockyard just behind the washing section and saw several Amaze i-DTECs there. Needless to say this dealer wasn't experiencing any shortage in diesel Amaze deliveries.
Pegasus had a nice, long shower and went back to get the exterior 3M treatment, his last scheduled job of the day. 2 guys came over and cleaned off all the dripping water from his body. Out came the machine and 3 guys started on the exteriors - one polishing beforehand, the second applying the paste/mixture, and the third guy applying the machine to spread the polish evenly all over Pegasus's surfaces.
By the time they were done, Pegasus was gleaming fabulously! Even in the rapidly dimming evening light, his shine was bright! I went around him and admired the wonderful work by the 3M guys done in the limited time they had at their disposal. Thanking them all, I headed out for the trial run.
Came back satisfied from the trial run, paid the bills, grabbed the gate pass and was out of the A.S.S. by 6:15 PM. Called my agent and asked him to meet me in 1 hour at the designated exit point of Raipur (a place called Panchpedi Naka), and headed for my hotel. Checked out, drove to our rendezvous, and left the capital by 7:45 PM.

Traffic was light on the return journey, and except for some nasty new bumpers just before Kanker (had noted them on my forward trip but completely forgot about them in the return), the trip passed off smoothly. Since I was targeting reaching home by midnight, I kept the speed at around 100 kmph, occasionally dropping to 75-80 during the really bad patches of the roads. Reached home at 1 PM, after taking a tea break in-between to stretch and rest my fatigue-ridden and tired body for a bit. The return trip was ~303 kms, and the FE showed a solid 18.2 kmpl.

The total bill came to ~12,720/-, details of which are posted below :-

General Repair - 561.80,
Battery Testing - 56.18,
3M Interior Enrichment - 1348.32,
3M Exterior & Paint Protection - 2471.92,
Wheel Alignment & Balancing - 842.70,
Weight 05g - 22.80,
Weight 30g - 33.17,
Weight 40g - 79.80,
Weight 50g - 37.19,
Painting Charges - 6179.80,
Medium Paid Service - 1084.27.

------------------

TOTAL - 12,717.95

------------------

In retrospect, it was a mixed experience this time around. From that horrid moment of discovering the new gash on Pegasus, to the fantastic paint job and that wonderful 3M treatment, I would say that I was left at the "Satisfactory" status. Not excellent or good, neither average/mediocre, but satisfactory.

Current ODO reading - 9143 kms.

And now for something completely different - the pictorial!


On the highway, ~110 kms from home.



The showroom of the dealership. Notice the complete absence of Citys. The new one is just around the corner.



Current City prices. Makes me wonder what the OTR of the top-end 2014 City diesel will approach!



An official Honda scheme for existing EMI car-owners to upgrade to the Amaze.



Damage area with denting done/putty applied.



Paint touch-up marked. Looks nasty? Motorcyclist was in a real hurry!



Finished job. Superb!







El neato!





Alloys off...



...steel rims back on.



Found a bit of rusting on both the front wheel discs. Technician said it wasn't a cause for worry.






(Continued)

[RavenAvi]

(Continued from above)

Alloy nut on the left, steel rim nut on the right. Notice the difference in size/shape and that tiny black washer on the bottom? That's 100 bucks per!



Compounds used for cleaning the door windows and the battery terminals.



If you think the AC vent (behind the glove box) doesn't gather anything, think again.



A shot of the service hangar.



Pegasus in the corner, surrounded by two of his more famous elder siblings!



The Balancing Process:

Wheel fitted into the mechanism.



Wheel rotated.



Misaligned weights displayed.



Weight(s) fitted.



Equal readings mean wheel's work is done.



Next wheel fitted, readings taken. Process repeated.




Rear wheel. Notice how dangerously low the wheel-section is!




The Alignment procedure:

Pegasus now on the Alignment ramp. Wheels fixed with the alignment reader panels.



Software open for the City RHD version (2002?!).



Wheel adjusted according to the angle of the scanner eye, which turns green (from red).



Readings taken, of the misalignments.



Technician reads the information displayed to him. He then adjusts the wheel settings accordingly.



All okay.




(Continued)

[RavenAvi]

(Continued from above)

Pegasus heads for the washing section.



Washing section has a queue, so he comes back for the first 3M session.



Interiors getting blow-dried.



Vacuuming in full flow.



Tackling the scratches on the bonnet.



Interior cleaning and 3M polishing.



Finally, the showers!



A vast sea of Amaze i-DTECs. No shortage of diesel deliveries for this dealer!



Back from the shower, glistening and clean!



A shot of the polished and non-polished sections of the tyre.



Exterior paint protection coating work begins, starting with the bonnet.



Job is really detailed, and job supervision is strict.




Present ODO reading.



Return trip.



FE achieved.



Bill #1.



Bill #2.



Bill #3.



Bill #4.




Ciao until the next update!

And, if I don't return before Dec 31st, a very Happy New Year 2014 to all of you. May it be bright, prosperous and cheerful for all of you and your families!

[libranof1987]

Nice work on Pegagus there! Glad you got the servicing done and also all the scratches tended to.

One thing stood out, why did you have to do battery testing? Doesn't the City have an OEM 0-maintenance battery? Or were you facing a specific problem?

My heart sinks with the valuation.. ours is the '08 version City so I'm sure it is even lesser; and we paid more. With the '14 City to come soon, I wonder what worth it'll be then!

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Doesn't the City have an OEM 0-maintenance battery?

City doesn't comes with 0 maintenance free battery.

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Nice work on Pegagus there! Glad you got the servicing done and also all the scratches tended to.

One thing stood out, why did you have to do battery testing? Doesn't the City have an OEM 0-maintenance battery? Or were you facing a specific problem?

My heart sinks with the valuation.. ours is the '08 version City so I'm sure it is even lesser; and we paid more. With the '14 City to come soon, I wonder what worth it'll be then!

Thanks!

Nope, the City doesn't have an OEM zero-maintenance battery. It needs checking at frequent intervals. I myself came to know about this in my 2nd Free Service. I get it done in every service, since the checking doesn't cost much.

Yes, tell me about it. Petrol cars are depreciation disasters these days. Even the 5.25L quoted was because it's a City - any other car would fetch much lesser. That's why it's wise to go for a diesel if resale is a priority, but we are true petrolheads plus we love our cars to bits!

It's a definite that resale will take a further huge hit once the 2014 City rolls into the market.

Originally Posted by bluevolt

City doesn't comes with 0 maintenance free battery.

+1. Just now checked the manual and it says to check the terminals + liquid levels every month. Nowhere is it mentioned that it's a zero maintenance one.


I forgot to mention one more thing - I received another free gift on this visit. It's a collectible based on the Honda Amaze, sort of like a magic box, which can be used as a paperweight. It was sealed when it was presented to me, so I thought it was a smaller version of a Rubik's cube. But it's different. The smaller boxes which make up the bigger one open on all sides to reveal the features, interiors, etc. of the Honda Amaze. You can flip it and change it in several ways and it reveals the Amaze's features in every section.

My kid is loving it, and points excitedly at the things given inside it. Every new angle is a new discovery for her!

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

My kid is loving it, and points excitedly at the things given inside it. Every new angle is a new discovery for her!

Oh wow, she is really amazed with the Amaze. Thanks for sharing the lovely picture!

[RavenAvi]

With Pegasus's 2nd birthday 9 days away, it's time for the insurance renewal.

Last year, the IDV quoted was somewhere around 5,60-ish, which was increased upon my request to 6,31,280/-, and for that the premium came to 19,480/- (Zero dep & cashless added).

Honda Assure had tied me up with Bajaj Allianz, and they have been punctual so far. Got calls twice from them to confirm if I had received the courier (which I did yesterday), and money transfer is through regular NEFT.

This year the IDV quoted is 5,52,370/-, and the total premium is coming to 18,037/-, including Zero Dep & Cashless. Some might think that it's a bit on the higher side but when you get the Honda Assure support behind it and peace of mind, it seems fair enough, IMO.

I urge all my fellow City owners to go for maximum IDV during insurance premium renewals. In case of unforeseen mishaps, you can always press for the maximum IDV when the surveyor makes his calculation. For the cost of a little extra premium, it is worth it.

Meanwhile, Pegasus enjoys his idyllic, lazy existence in my life. I am reaping the benefits of a fully opened-up engine - the pull in 2nd gear is superb, in-city mileage is at a rock-solid 14 kmpl, and engine noise is like a kitten purring, poised to leap. As for parking issues, I'll let the following pic do the talking.

[RavenAvi]

Well, things took a lot of turns in the past week or so.

Got a very good offer from a friend of a friend for Silver Pegasus, and even though my heart went with him, I let Pegasus go. Mind won over heart, and even though heart was fiercely attached to him, the mind was set on getting a new car, considering a lot of equations which had sprung up in recent times in my life.

ODO stood at 9571 kms when he was driven off into the sunset with his new owner. I wish him plenty of happy miles ahead.

Requesting the Mods to close this thread.

Thank you, guys, for sharing this short 2-year journey with me.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Well, things took a lot of turns in the past week or so.

Got a very good offer from a friend of a friend for Silver Pegasus, and even though my heart went with him, I let Pegasus go. Mind won over heart, and even though heart was fiercely attached to him, the mind was set on getting a new car, considering a lot of equations which had sprung up in recent times in my life.

That is a very sad news & coming to us as a shock . Even before you could celebrate your Pegasus' second birthday, you have parted ways. What was "THE" compelling reason that made you take this drastic step?

ODO stood at 9571 kms when he was driven off into the sunset with his new owner. I wish him plenty of happy miles ahead.

Wishing your Pegasus a very happy second life. By the way what's next? Who is going to replace Pegasus?