[TheDoctor]

Originally Posted by subratasenn

Even I read these reports and was optimistic. But the problem seems to persist. I took feedbacks from Figo owners who purchased the car in May this year. Even their cars have the kiss disease.

Humm.. do not have a feedback from Figo owners (Sept 2011 onwards) and my source at Cauvery Ford, Bangalore denied having any knowledge of the same, but hopefully they would have sorted it out in the new Figo.

Anyway congratulations on your purchase

[subratasenn]

Four days of local driving, much lower than what I normally travel to get a feel of the car. The odometer is now showing 140 kilometers since I got the tank filled up on the first day. In the fuel metro all the bars are still full. It's not yet time to judge the FE.
Meanwhile, I needed to spruce up the interiors a bit. The dark black seats had a leather-swede seat cover with a small patch of red. The ICE was put in. It was Pioneer FH-P6050UB. Two rear speakers were added, which gave the sound a more complete feel.
I had decided to add little bit of red when I got the delivery of the car, that was the reason I chose to have the red and beige steering cover and changed the gear knob to a red knob. Now, the interiors, IMO looks less drab, with those patches of red. I wish the Pioneer stereo had red display, it was not to be. It came in blue.

[subratasenn]

The red gear knob and the beige and red steering cover.

[subratasenn]

The seat covers in leather and swede, with the red patches:

[subratasenn]

A view of the ICE from the back seat and the rear speakers. I was initially reluctant to go for the rear speakers, thought of managing with the OE front speakers only. The dealer literally pleaded to go for rear speakers and once they were installed, there was a huge difference.

[subratasenn]

Filled up the tank today after 372.6 km on the odo on the eighth day of ownership. Diesel needed 23.48 km.
So this comes to 15.8 km to a litre.
All of city driving, 70% B2B. AC on 90% of the time.
How is it?

[subratasenn]

The second refuel on my Liva GD. 337 kms and 20.90 litres. It comes to 16.17 km to a litre on entirely bumper to bumper city traffic and about 90% AC on.
The odo now reads 787 km.
The first service would be due pretty soon, next weekend I suppose.
I am quite satisfied with this car, at least in the city I live in.

[subratasenn]

The first free service done today. Took the car for servicing at odo reading 1161 km.
Also fitted the car with OE fog lamps, costed Rs 3999/- The fog lights don't seem to light up enough, it's more of an ornament. Will do something about it the near future.
Also got the car 3M underbody coating done. This costed me Rs 2435/-
The service people finally gave me the nod that I can go for alloy wheels and this will not void the warranty. Glad to hear that. That's another another thing I'll go for this week, thereby completing the initial ownership posts.

Meanwhile, after the first service I topped up the fuel tank. This time it was 27.88 litres to 420.1 km. FE coming to 15.08 to a litre. Was expecting more as the last time I had touched 16. :(

[swiftnfurious]

I liked the seat covers. Very subtle, yet stylish. But the beige + red steering cover is out of place in an otherwise neat interior. Please try & get a grey / black single color steering cover if you don't mind. I think even a grey + red combo will complement the seat covers.

Originally Posted by subratasenn

....So this comes to 15.8 km to a litre.
All of city driving, 70% B2B. AC on 90% of the time.
How is it?

Originally Posted by subratasenn

The second refuel on my Liva GD.... It comes to 16.17 km to a litre on entirely bumper to bumper city traffic and about 90% AC on...

Originally Posted by subratasenn

....Meanwhile, after the first service I topped up the fuel tank. This time it was 27.88 litres to 420.1 km. FE coming to 15.08 to a litre. Was expecting more as the last time I had touched 16. :(

Pretty good for a brand new car which has run only around 1000 kms. Don't worry about it. You will get a real good FE in highways too, going by the given B2B FE with 100% AC.

[subratasenn]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

I liked the seat covers. Very subtle, yet stylish. But the beige + red steering cover is out of place in an otherwise neat interior. Please try & get a grey / black single color steering cover if you don't mind. I think even a grey + red combo will complement the seat covers.

Yes, I know. Will change the steering cover soon. Actually, I ordered the steering cover along with the delivery of the car and, in the Toyota accessories list, this steering cover is branded as "red".
Since I was planning to put a bit of red here and there, ordered this (along with the red gear top). Never knew that this steering cover also had beige in it. :(
And thanks for liking the interior of my car.

[subratasenn]

Went for Apollo Accelere R14 radials today. Retained the OE tires, which I would be replacing at around 30K km.
My car is complete now.

[subratasenn]

Two months and 10 days on my Liva GD, clocking 3344 km so far, I think I have started loving my car. The diesel clatter is now reduced to a kitten-like purr, and I am used to this now.
Have driven so far in city, with AC on for about 60% of the time. The FE, last calculated (234 km before today's post) is 17.9 km/l.
The small vibration sound which was coming from the dash from the ICE area has been nicely fixed by Toyota people. No rattles from anywhere so far.
Have started liking the following things in Liva GD:
1. Excellent drivability in the city. The gears are perfect, specially the second and the third and you can manage with less use of the clutch.
2. Excellent placing of the AC vents. Does not irritate your hands while driving. AC reaches the back seat too, without being obstructed by anything.
3. Excellent GC, haven't touched the underbelly of the car even when negotiating huge bumps unmindfully. GC was one reason that tilted my decision towards Liva compared to Figo.
4. The steering is neither too light nor very stiff. Excellent feel.
5. The position of the steering and dash makes driving comfortable, with nothing touching your knees.
6. The single wiper-blade. Initially I was sceptical about this, but after the heavy monsoon this season found it better than the twin blades. There's no triangle formed between the two blades which causes a little bit of discomfort while driving -- a single wiper wipes everything clean.

The problems:
1. The clutch is a tad hard than what I think it should be. Got used to it though.
2. The engine noise. But as I said earlier, it has kind of settled down to a "purr" post 2000 km. But it's not a silent cabin nevertheless.
3. The suspension making a thud kind of a sound whenever the car hits a pothole at high speed.

I have no complaints about the interiors after I got the seat-covers done. Changed my gear knob with the red one (costed me Rs 550/-) and the steering cover (red-beige) to add bits and pieces of colour to the interior. I am not fond of beige interiors, therefore rest of black-grey interior suits me fine.

Overall this is a practical car (so far) for the city. Yet to test on highways though. Hope to do soon.

[subratasenn]

Odo touching 4289 km. Just about three months of running. No issues so far.

The last three tank full gave me 18+ km/l in city driving. I should have no reasons to complain.

Planning to take the car to TASS at 5000 km, for an alignment of the wheels and wash and polish. Next service (also tyre alignment, and rotation as per manual) due only at 10K but would like to check the alignment as I changed to alloys.

[sups]

Originally Posted by subratasenn

The problems:
1. The clutch is a tad hard than what I think it should be. Got used to it though.
2. The engine noise. But as I said earlier, it has kind of settled down to a "purr" post 2000 km. But it's not a silent cabin nevertheless.
3. The suspension making a thud kind of a sound whenever the car hits a pothole at high speed.

Got my October manufactured Liva GD delivered on 30th November, 2012. I am switching from petrol vehicle, so naturally I knew I will not be so happy with the noise and those stuff. Last saturday and sunday, I changed the following few things (other than regular stuffs like seat cover etc.). And what a change it has made to this vehicle! It feels like its a altogether different vehicle that I got from the showroom. Following are the changes done:

1. My stock tyres were goodyear. Switched to 185/65 R14 Yokohama C drive on stock steel rims. The tyre shop is a very trusted one. He himself has a Liva GD. He asked me to go for 185/60-14 if I go for alloys and 185/65-14 if I go on stock steel rims. He mentioned that he faced some issues with 185/65 R14 with alloys due to width mismatch hence went for 185/60 himself. Anyways, without landing into controversy, I went for 185/65 R14 on stock rims as this is used by most people in tbhp here. Total exchange price for 5 tyres: Rs. 7500/- and a arrow formal shirt free from Yoko.
Effect: Less road noise, slightly weighted steering and I liked it very much, better comfort and while driving it feels like a bigger car suddenly. The last point was repeatedly confirmed by my driver. Its an worthy upgrade for sure.

2. Damped all the four doors with damping material. I wanted to go for dynamite extreme, but did not have a ready stock here. The accessory shop owner has used "Noisekill" daming material in his swift diesel and he showed me the effect. Less noise from passing vehicles, better audio quality even from stock speakers, each door weight increased by about 1.5kg and it closes better now. Looking at the effect, I went for "Noisekill". Total cost: Rs. 5500/- for all 4 doors.

3. Lamination on the whole floor with thick laminates. This is exactly not a branded daming material, but works quite good as confirmed by few people who has done it. The immediate effect is much lesser road noise. Its now so easy to clean the floor of the car now due to lamination. Total cost: Rs. 3250/-. With a better budget, one can go for "Dampmat" kind of product, which will be even more effective and cost about Rs. 9000/-.

The combination of above 3 things has made the car so better and quiet that it feels like a different vehicle altogether. The total weight of the car has gone up by about 14 kg due to this. A swift diesel owner sat inside my car and felt that its not louder than swift at all. I strongly suggest the above changes to all liva diesel owners.

I am yet to do 3M underbody coat. Note that 3M has two different products for underbody. One comes with a 3 year warranty and the other comes with a 5 yr warranty. The liva owners should go for the 5 yr warranty product as the coating is much thicker (and hence able to reduce noise) than the one with 3 year warranty. This was confirmed directly by the 3M people.

I will post in more detail in the liva test drive thread after a few days.

[subratasenn]

Originally Posted by sups

3. Lamination on the whole floor with thick laminates. This is exactly not a branded daming material, but works quite good as confirmed by few people who has done it. The immediate effect is much lesser road noise. Its now so easy to clean the floor of the car now due to lamination. Total cost: Rs. 3250/-. With a better budget, one can go for "Dampmat" kind of product, which will be even more effective and cost about Rs. 9000/-.

The combination of above 3 things has made the car so better and quiet that it feels like a different vehicle altogether. The total weight of the car has gone up by about 14 kg due to this. A swift diesel owner sat inside my car and felt that its not louder than swift at all. I strongly suggest the above changes to all liva diesel owners.

I am yet to do 3M underbody coat. Note that 3M has two different products for underbody. One comes with a 3 year warranty and the other comes with a 5 yr warranty. The liva owners should go for the 5 yr warranty product as the coating is much thicker (and hence able to reduce noise) than the one with 3 year warranty. This was confirmed directly by the 3M people.

I will post in more detail in the liva test drive thread after a few days.

@Sups, would be grateful if you share what you exactly did with the floor. What is this thick laminates you have talked about? Is it under the carpet?

I have done 3M underbody coating with 3 years warranty, it helps in damping the sound, though not much. Somehow, post 2000 km Liva settles to a nice purr, instead of the initial clatter. My car is now at 4700 km and if you help me out with your floor treatment, I can run my car like a Swift.