ODO : 5300 KM; Final report on first long (4900 KM) drive (Jamshedpur – Delhi – Amritsar – Kasauli – Delhi – Nainital – Delhi – Jamshedpur)
After attending a family wedding in Gurgaon, the old girl and I drove back to Jamshedpur over two days. Day 1 : Delhi to Varanasi (800 KM); Day 2 : Varanasi to Jampot (550 KM).
Sunrise at Agra (we left Delhi at 0430 hrs). More pictures of this trip are at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...hi-beyond.html
I have already reported my experience during most of this trip through earlier posts on this thread. Additionally, I’d like to share the following.
Overall experience : On the whole, the XUV behaved superbly throughout. Frankly, it exceeds my expectations in almost every department. Usually, I change my cars every 5 years or so but I have this feeling that the XUV may give me company for a longer duration.
People moving capacity : During the family wedding in Gurgaon, we were accommodated in a guest house along with other guests and we needed to travel frequently to the venues where the
sehra bandi, marriage, reception and other formalities were conducted. My XUV came in very handy as up to 8 people (including me, the driver) could be transported over short (10-20 KM) distances. On a couple of occasions tall men sat in the 3rd row and they didn’t find the seats too uncomfortable (over the short distances).
Suspension : Felt quite good and solid throughout. Near Jamshedpur there is a very badly broken stretch on NH-33 and the front left suspension bottomed once while crossing a deep and wide crater at about 30 KMPH. The engine bottom guard scraped the ground.
Cruise control : Though we have some pretty good roads in India now, many of the road users are the same old
junglees. Indian highways, therefore, are not quite suitable for frequent use of cruise control. Nevertheless, I tried out the XUV’s cruise control over about 100 KM (cumulatively) during this trip and found it quite good and reliable. On the superb Yamuna Expressway I could use Cruise Control uninterruptedly for 20-30 Km at a stretch.
Bluetooth connectivity for mobile phone and ICE : These worked flawlessly throughout. I tried all inputs for music (CD, USB, Bluetooth, Aux IN and AM / FM radio) and there were no issues. I used a 16 GB Transcend pen drive with multiple directories and there were no rude surprises.
Engine oil : Either there is something amazing about the oil, or the mHawk engine, or both. Even after 5300 KM the oil hasn’t turned completely black.
Engine oil is not fully black even after 5300 KM Brake grinding noise : As I reported earlier, this has been conspicuous by its absence in my XUV. So I was greatly surprised when a shrill squeaking noise started coming from somewhere down below when I was about 100 KM short of Jamshedpur on the last day of my trip. Initially, I did not believe that it was coming from my car and thought it was coming from a nearby truck. Later, it became clear that it was coming from my XUV. The noise would increase with speed and would reduce whenever I applied brakes.
In order to identify the source of noise, my wife got down from the car and I drove around her at a suitable spot. She correctly identified the source to be the front LHS wheel. The noise was quite audible even at a speed of 5-10 KMPH. Thereafter, I parked the car and jacked up the front LHS wheel (this was my maiden use of the jack). A squeaking noise was heard when I rotated the wheel by hand, but the wheel was completely free to turn. It seemed that something small (a hard particle or a small piece of sheet metal) had got lodged between a moving part (brake disc or wheel) and a stationary part (brake pad or brake assembly).
I was contemplating removing the wheel to further investigate the matter but it had got dark by then and my wife was assisting me with a flash light. I reasoned that if some small thing has got stuck (which was not jamming the wheel) it may just get dislodged after some running. Nevertheless, I called up the Service Manager of my dealership in Jamshedpur, explained the situation and also made him hear the squeaking noise over the phone. He too opined that something may have got stuck and advised me to continue driving slowly.
I removed the jack and drove off. The noise kept waxing and waning and after 10 KM or so stopped suddenly, never to reappear. The problem had solved itself!
XUV being jacked up for the very first time. Diesel tank capacity : It is definitely more than the manufacturer specified 70 litres, probably around 75 litres. On three occasions, I brought my DIS indicated DTE (distance to empty) to almost zero before filling fuel. The amount of diesel filled on those occasions was 71.06, 71.5 and 74.26 litres respectively. It may be noted that on none of these three occasions I allowed filling to the brim (after shaking the car, etc.), so probably additional 1 litre or so could go in.
The last filling of the above three, i.e., 74.26 litres, was today at Jamshedpur. I found it difficult to believe that about 75 litres could go in the tank (especially because max 71.5 litres had gone in earlier) and asked the petrol pump manager to show me the quantity and density checks. He readily complied and I personally verified the quantity check with a HPCL certified 5-litre can. The density (corrected to 15 deg C) was 0.827.
Measuring density and temperature at a petrol pump in Jamshedpur.
In light of the foregoing I am assuming that : (a) My diesel tank capacity is about 75 litres; (b) When the DIS shows zero DTE (distance to empty) about 1 litre is left in the tank.
I would request other XUV owners to share their experiences in this regard.
Distance-to-empty : I made a very interesting observation about DTE – whenever I filled up the fuel tank completely, the DTE always showed 771 KM regardless of the DIS calculated average. Logically, the DIS should multiply the amount of fuel with the average figure (available at that point of time), but this never happens whenever the tank is filled up. Subsequently, as I start driving and the fuel is expended, the DTE becomes more and more correct.
Mileage : The DIS calculated average was 16.8 KMPL when we left Delhi (on our return leg) and it gradually increased to 17.6 by the time we reached Jampot. I had reset the DIS average before starting this long drive and never reset it subsequently. So
17.6 KMPL is the DIS calculated average over the entire 4900 KM trip which includes about 4300 KM of highway driving and 600 KM of city driving.
About 1300 KM was done with the car loaded with 6 adults plus lots of luggage but most of the drive (3600 KM) was with only 2 adults plus a couple of suitcases. The highway drive includes about 200 KM on hill roads and ascents to 6400 ft (Kasauli) and 7000 ft (Nainital). Being winter time, AC use was not more than 10-15%.
I started from Jamshedpur with a full tank (~ 75 litre) and filled additional 229.68 litres before returning to Jamshedpur. Upon return to Jamshedpur, distance-to-empty was showing 48 KM with 2 segments lit up in the fuel gauge. So we can conservatively assume that at least 4 litres were left in the tank. Thus the total fuel consumption adds up to 300.68 litres over a distance of 4902 KM, i.e.,
average works out to 16.30 KMPL over the entire trip.
It may be noted that on the return leg I started from Delhi with a full tank and filled 6.09 litres of diesel before reaching Jampot (1358 KM). Assuming that 4 litres were left in the tank, i.e., 77.09 litres were consumed, the
average works out to a phenomenal 17.62 KMPL during the return trip from Delhi to Jamshedpur.
You may recall that while driving to Delhi (only 2 persons, 10-15% AC use) the DIS indicated average had gradually increased to 18 KMPL and had stopped increasing thereafter. It may thus be concluded that the DIS calculated average is not inaccurate. As a matter of fact, the DIS indicated average could arguably be more accurate than the tankful-to-tankful method, the reason being that in the tankful-to-tankful method we are assuming that the quantity of fuel delivered into the tank is the same as that indicated by the pump (the pumps could be tampered and getting less fuel than indicated is not unlikely) but the DIS measures the actual quantity flowing through the injectors.
In conclusion (regarding mileage): - My XUV is giving an average of over 17 KMPL on highways in the plains during winter (10-15% AC use) with 2 adults and 40 kg luggage on board. This definitely exceeds my expectations.
- I have calculated the average carefully and conservatively over a distance of almost 5000 KM.
- The DIS calculated average appears to be reasonably accurate.
- I am confident that if I take part in a contest where the goal is to minimize the fuel consumption (only 1 person in car, no cargo, steady driving at 60-80 KMPH in 6th gear on good highways in the plains, low ambient temperature, no AC, fuel purchased from a reliable pump, etc.) I can easily get 19 KMPL in my XUV.
Kindly note that my personal driving style (no sudden acceleration / deceleration, minimal braking) is conducive to better mileage. In my Swift VDi I got up to 27 KMPL (without AC) and 22-25 KMPL (with AC) on highways was quite the usual thing.
As the car had completed over 5000 KM of running, I got my First Free Service carried out soon after returning home to Jamshedpur. A separate report on the same would be posted very soon.