[honeybee]

The third service was completed last week. This was the last free service, and the car has completed 20k kilometres, in about a year. The service experience this time was rather interesting.

There were the usual reminder calls from the dealer's workshop. Finally two weeks ago, on Saturday I reached the workshop. There was no service advisor available, so a CRM executive (or manager?) took on the role of the service advisor. And what a thorough job he did! He went over the points and the car many times to ensure he didn't miss any points. Also on certain queries on price estimates, he actually ran up to me as I was leaving and updated me on the tentative prices. A wonderful experience from Mr. Sandeep Singh!

The advisor appointed was, unfortunately, not as customer-centric. No proactive updates on the status of the work done, and finally when I got a confirmation from him that the car was ready, the car wasn't ready. I squeezed into the workshop during my lunchtime and straightaway made for the car which was 'ready for delivery'. Checked the doors, and the rear left door still didn't unlock with the central locking - something I had asked them to fix.

I finally resorted to speaking only to the CRM and he ensured the problem was attended to. The A-pillar trim was out of alignment, possibly because of a missing clip, which too was attended to. Unfortunately I had to leave without the car as my lunch time was up.

Next day again I had to call up the workshop to know the car was ready. I also wanted to replace the beige dashboard and the A-pillar trims to black as I can't stand the reflection. So I paid Rs. 3k as advance for ordering the materials - something weird but I didn't mind. Now a week has gone by and I had to call up again today to check if the dashboard has arrived.

The FE immediately after servicing went down to a 'pathetic' 15kmpl. However a week-end Pune trip clocked about 24kmpl (aided with sedate 80-90kmph driving on the e-way) - with about half time with AC. Not bad, eh?

[honeybee]

The paid service is done, the car has now clocked roughly 32k kms. If this is the kind of usage, I am looking at clocking 1L kms by five years of owning the Nano.

What's the chance of me being the first person to drive a Nano to this magical figure?

[freakmuzik]

Originally Posted by honeybee

The paid service is done, the car has now clocked roughly 32k kms. If this is the kind of usage, I am looking at clocking 1L kms by five years of owning the Nano.

What's the chance of me being the first person to drive a Nano to this magical figure?

Wow that's awesome honeybee! Congrats. I've a 2010 Aug nano that's clocked just 29k. That's some good running that you've done. Waiting for you to quickly hit the 1L mark How's the car serving you with regard to build quality? And do you take it on the highways? I've always been a little apprehensive to take it out on the highway!

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by freakmuzik

Wow that's awesome honeybee! Congrats. I've a 2010 Aug nano that's clocked just 29k. That's some good running that you've done. Waiting for you to quickly hit the 1L mark How's the car serving you with regard to build quality? And do you take it on the highways? I've always been a little apprehensive to take it out on the highway!

Apprehensive? I love taking her out on the highway. How else do you think I clocked all those miles?
Past few days I have been running AC in the mornings as the summer is on, and I still got 20+kmpl in my last two refuelling stops.
No breakdowns, no persistent rattles, no major repairs. Fill it, shut it, drive it!

As a matter of fact I am taking her to Goa along with my other better half this weekend.

[kannan666]

Did the Goa trip with the Nano materialise ? If so, did you put in a write up here about it ? I am contemplating buying a Nano sometime soon, so would love to read how it performed. Incidentally, just got back from Goa myself after spending 9 days there a fortnight ago and guess what, did the entire drive in my trusted Maruti Omni !

[honeybee]

Yep. The trip did materialise, though I haven't posted a log.
It was very unremarkable as in the Nano worked flawlessly. Except for a high FE there was nothing distinguishing it from the other hatches, if you get my drift.

[honeybee]

40k kms finally over by Monday. The car has just returned from the scheduled service. The car also completed two years.

Today I replaced the rear tyres with Ceat, same size. The old MRF were quite bald, so much so that the used tyre guy refused to buy them.

The front ones still have another year's tread left. That should give an idea how much load the rear tyres carry in the Nano. They are also the driving tyres. Perhaps since they can only rotated between each other and not the front, the wear and tear is more pronounced. Mind you, they are MRF, one of the toughest!

[kkg]

Originally Posted by honeybee

40k kms finally over by Monday. The car has just returned from the scheduled service. The car also completed two years.

Today I replaced the rear tyres with Ceat, same size. The old MRF were quite bald, so much so that the used tyre guy refused to buy them.

The front ones still have another year's tread left. That should give an idea how much load the rear tyres carry in the Nano. They are also the driving tyres. Perhaps since they can only rotated between each other and not the front, the wear and tear is more pronounced. Mind you, they are MRF, one of the toughest!

Tyre situation on my nano is exactly different after almost 41k. The front ones are more worn out than the rear ones,may be due to the alignment or lower arms getting damaged twice. The tyres at rear look good for another 15k at least. I myself am surprised at the situation coz i also thought just like you, that rear ones are under more stress but thay never even got punctured in these 41ks.

[honeybee]

I did have one puncture. I have asked the A S S to check the suspension at every service because of the terrain I have been driving on and the not so gentle nature.

Also the tread wear was most pronounced in the centre and least at the edges. So it isn't likely a suspension issue.

[honeybee]

The Nano completed the 40k kms mark in July. Underwent the routine servicing and the performance seems to be a notch better, especially the gear shifting is pretty smooth since the tranny oil was replaced.

Then about three weeks ago the fuel pump conked off. The car was at Pune at the time. It was towed to Concorde Motors at Baner overnight (which was a Saturday). It was towed on a flat-bed truck, which was a pleasant surprise. The diagnosis was made late Monday and the service centre told us to expect at least a week till the replacement pump arrived.

The pump arrived much earlier, and the work was completed before estimated. However we couldn't pick up the car as it was at Pune. Finally the car was picked up about ten days after it had been towed.

The car is back to running fine since. No issues so far. Have to check if the new pump has increased the FE. The pickup seems to be marginally better, but it could just be my mind taking to the Nano after a long gap.

[honeybee]

The car has completed 46000kms now. A bit less, because the Accord was used for the last few outstation trips.

Last evening as I drove back ho e from the BMR, I noticed a problem. Whenever I revv the engine high in a gear, there is a weird noise heard, some kind of grating maybe. As I depress the clutch, the sound is gone till I upshift, and then again it comes back when I revv it higher.

I shifted to neutral and just pressed the accelerator and again I can hear it on high revvs.

The acceleration has been good, no noticeable loss of pickup, but then after noticing this issue I didn't indulge in any spirited driving. The gears are shifting normally. The issue wasn't there yesterday morning when I drove to the rally. It might have come up during the rally, as there were a couple of wheel spins on the ramps of the NSCI, but I wasn't in a position to notice.

What could be the fault? Clutch or gearbox or somethjng loose?

[honeybee]

Took the car to the local Tata service centre and they diagnosed it to be the loose silencer bracket. The car was hoisted on a lift and we found the two bolts locking the bracket into the transmission housing had sheared off.

The bracket:



You can see the bolts sheared off - shown with circles.

[justwheels]

I must say honeybee, this thread is one of the most updated, regular and honest log of your ownership experience of NANO. Hats off to your patience and regularity. How about a couple of pics of your NANO now and then.
It's quite unfortunate that Nano did not set sales chart on fire, but it surely is a very capable vehicle. And it's good that TATA's are getting serious with A.S.S. issues. Great to see many miles crunching on the beautiful Nano.

[honeybee]

Thanks for the compliments. Here are a couple of photos :

Taken yesterday afternoon at Dadar:




Taken on Sunday afternoon after the rally:



The bracket was fixed, a headlight bulb and a foglight bulb were replaced and the total damages came to Rs. 1350/= So it's not exactly cheap if the bracket gets loose like this, specially if the bolts have sheared off. The lathe wala's charges were Rs. 600/= for the two bolts.

[honeybee]

Ever thought the Nano would own the Evoque? Ha ha ha!

Couple of days ago as I was driving back home, at the Kalwa end of the Mumbra bypass I saw a white Evoque and the usual thoughts of Tata's cheapest car and costliest car together rushed through my mind. The guy was pretty good and fast, however soon I caught up with the Evoque on the bypass and took advantage of a misjudged move by him to pass him from the left as he got stuck behind a container truck. Then on for much of the bypass he was trailing. But near the Kausa toll he just zoomed past me and although I had him in my sight till the bypass ended, he pulled away clean on the road towards Shil.

As I approached Shil O was greeted with a huge traffic snarl and lo! There was the Evoque trying to get out of the mess. I slid through the gaps, creating some whenever the situation permitted and hurried along. He tried to overtake a few times but the slow traffic in the left lane put paid to all his efforts. There after till the junction of the Badlapur pipeline road I was far ahead. At the Katai toll booth the traffic jam allowed him to catch up and finally he broke free of the traffic to disappear soon.

Today found a big hole and two small ones in the right fromt tyre. Cost of removing Rs. 450. The front tyres are nearing the end of their useful life after nearly 50k kms. Before monsoons I shall be choosing between the Ceat and MRFs.