[Chitta Pradhan]

Originally Posted by thoma

What is your daily drive like? Inside the city or on the highways? You have to set your priorities first, based on your usage.

My drive has come down drastically now & infact diesel car for my use is not justified. But still I like the diesel because of the torque & not for economics. I have been provided a company car for daily use & my personal car has now been restricted to personal use only. I use the car for local city trips every alternate day & on an average once a month long drive of 600km (to & fro). Since my usage has come down, just thinking of a change to a hatch. But I need reasonably good highway performance in terms of engine power. On my next long trip, I will take my friend's car ( Pulse ) & try to find how it is.

Thanks

[thoma]

I was casually inspecting the engine bay today. To my horror, I found that the Brake Master Cylinder, which was replaced lately due to a recall, was not tightly attached to the body of the car. The nut, marked in red, was a good 2 turns loose and the one diagonally opposite to it was just screwed in by only 2-3 turns, probably with hand! The below picture was taken before the recall.





Pathetic and lousy service I should say. What could have been the consequences running thus? Though I have tightened both with spanner at home, should I take it up with the service center?

[Mpower]

To all those who had the recall done, what exactly is the difference in braking? Has the stopping distance reduced? How about brake feel/sponginess?

Originally Posted by thoma

Guys, do you feel that my posts in this thread are getting irritating with mostly FE figures?

I sincerely hope this is my last brag on her FE; no, not that I do not want such figures, but I do not want to bore you guys with these figures anymore unless there is much deviation. At least not until a full tank figure.

Yes please restrict your reporting to tankful-tankful figures which are more realistic

[thoma]

Originally Posted by Mpower

To all those who had the recall done, what exactly is the difference in braking? Has the stopping distance reduced? How about brake feel/sponginess?

This is my view on the brake issue:

My take was that earlier it was hard (non-reactive) at slow speeds and now it reacts more with lesser effort. But ASC claimed that many people felt sponginess before the replacement!

You can get a couple more reviews at this page.

[thoma]

My Micra has been sitting in the ASC from this Monday for correcting less cooling of the A/C. There has been slight loss of gas pressure, but the lack of number of experienced workforce is taking its sweet time in plugging out the exact leakage. For the first service, I had taken up this issue and they filled in gas and gave the car. Now, first they changed a pipe near the bumper and now they might have changed the pipe running under the dashboard. It is not a good sight to see the car, just 6 months old, to have the bumper and dashboard dismantled. Hopefully, I should get her back tomorrow.

5 days of downtime for an A/C cooling issue, that too for a new car that has run just 7k kms, is not good. Feel a bit sad in believing so much in your quick service, Nissan.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by thoma

5 days of downtime for an A/C cooling issue, that too for a new car that has run just 7k kms, is not good. Feel a bit sad in believing so much in your quick service, Nissan.

After 7 days, today, I got back my Micra with the cooling restored. But I should say that my Micra's cooling was never that much bone chilling in the first place; it was always a comfortable chill unlike my friend's petrol Micra or my in-law's IRDE i10 where my nose and ears get near to numb. There has been slight leakage from 2 pipes (!) and those has been changed under warranty. The refrigerant was refilled. I was told that sometimes, they get a complaint of leaking O-rings where the pipes are connected, but this is the first case with leaking pipes.

The major issue for the delay was that dealer/Nissan has not scaled up experienced service personnel. There are very few top notch mechanics, the rest can only do routine jobs. So, the best mechanic has to shuffle across jobs on various vehicles a day, and thus the huge delay. I do not know if Nissan is really aware of all these or they just pass the buck to Hover who seems just not to care much.

Since the bumper and dashboard were dismantled, I was really afraid that it can cause rattlings, but it seems that is not the case. But definitely, the factor fit could be missing.

One thing I admire about the car is the low end torque. One week I was using other cars and the moment I took the Micra today out of the service center, the torque was apparent. It was zooming past other cars.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by thoma

Though I have tightened both with spanner at home, should I take it up with the service center?

Today, I received two calls from the dealer at my place, EVM Nissan, inquiring about the above issue. Though earlier, I did casually mention about this loose nut issue to the service engineer when I went in for the A/C cooling issue, there had not been much follow up. And I didn't want to make a huge noise too.

But now I really guess someone higher up has noticed this thread and hence a late clean up. After hearing the issue, the service manager was apologetic and had assured me of further tightening their quality checks after service. He had also assured me that the loose nut would not have been a major issue as there are internal connections that also hold up the unit. I do not know exactly, but I wanted the incident to die; it is up to them to correct themselves, and up to me to believe them when they assure of avoiding such an incident in future. Moreover, it is impossible for me to check each and every nut they worked upon; it was just a faint tick sound when the brake pedal was released that prompted me to check the BMC.

Along with this, I had asked about the 1 week delay in A/C gas leak identification and rectification. He assured me that they had already recruited more experienced staff.

Overall, a nice gesture, that they are viewing lapses seriously.

[thoma]

Yet again, I keep comparing the Micra with the other car in our garage, the Vento TDi. I have been using the Vento for the last couple or more days on the so called highways of Kerala. So this post should have ideally been in the Vento thread, but I think the subject should be an appreciation for the Micra than bashing the Vento. And after that, today I touched the Micra after some gap and she still puts a big grin on my face. What drive-ability guys! Feels like a flower but zooms like a rocket. I have fallen head over heels with the zero turbo-lag and loads of low end torque. You need minimum input from your limbs, which is not the case with the Vento. I had a hard time not to jerk the Vento while shifting, especially while downshifting to second gear. And to unleash the beast under the Vento's hood, you need to press the accelerator hard. The long clutch travel too started giving my left knee aches. I remember that I had nil fatigue on the Micra when I did drive her 12hrs a day. At the same time, ride quality, handling and brakes are superior from the Volkswagen.

Moreover, Kerala has become one big city without real highways but with loads of speed cameras, thanks to everybody who wants National Highways in Kerala to be of 30m! When most other states have it at 60m.

[thoma]

Just back from the 2nd service (1 year / 20000 kms). But mine has done only 10.2k kms as the other car in the garage has shared 5k of the running. Oil, oil filter, air filter, a/c filter and diesel filter was changed. WA/WB was also carried out. The bill came to INR 4k. Labor was free. So, first year maintenance charges for the Micra D has come to 7.1k in total, across 2 services half yearly.

Had a small rattling sound from the rear left which is audible only one certain road conditions. This has developed after I bumped the rear on to a tree, no external damage. Actually the bumper went in then, but I could push it outside. As the ASC could not identify the sound easily, I let it alone. Let the sound be substantial enough before we check it out next. The SA has asked me to drop in if it increases meanwhile.

The tires were rotated and I wanted the ASC to do the alignment and balancing. After service, I feel that the shock absorbing capability has become a bit more supple. I do not know if it is just my feeling or if they have done anything particular, but I liked it. Earlier it was a bit more stiff. But the irony is that I was (assumption, because I have not checked for long) running on low tire pressure for some time and now they should have filled in more air.

Otherwise, there is nothing much to report. Just pure vrooooom when I press the a-pedal And I feel lately that either the brakes or I have matured enough to be confidence inspiring.

[thoma]

Diesel filter price has jumped up from ~850/- to ~1400/- in just 6 months!

With the running coming to just ~14400 kms, the 3rd service was done in the 18th month of ownership. With no free labor from this time, the cost came to around 5800/-. WA/WB was skipped to do from outside. Though the SA asked about full interior cleaning and A/C vent cleaning, I wanted to stick with the very basic service.

Had complained about a squeaking noise from rear and both rear shocks were replaced under warranty, although I had to take the car another day, after the ASC received approval for warranty changes next day. Squeak gone.

[thoma]

An uneventful 4th / 40000 km service done at just 18072 kms. The service cost do not justify the running or vice versa. Total service cost for the second year is 15357/- (9551/- for 4th + 5805/- for 3rd).

Labor cost for the 4th service has shot up to 2800/- from the previous 980/-; but I forgot to ask the SA what extra work was done for the same.

[ram_hyundai]

Thoma,are you still using your Micra. I have the same model one in orange shade. I did a remap from petes and power shot up to 90 bhp. Now she is a rocket in short overtaking manures.Mileage when run normally has increased. I get an average of 23 kmpl now.
It has done 27000 kms also.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by ram_hyundai

I did a remap from petes and power shot up to 90 bhp. Now she is a rocket in short overtaking manures.Mileage when run normally has increased. I get an average of 23 kmpl now.
It has done 27000 kms also.

The Micra already is a pocket rocket and you got some 15 hp added on! And with an increase in kmpl too! How much mileage were you getting earlier? Any modifications to the break with addition to power? She is an average brake-er.

May I ask the dent to the pocket too. Mine is still stock and run 20.5k kms.

[ram_hyundai]

Even i had 20-21 kmpl. Now i have a broad smile while on our highways when breezing past some serious cars too. The damage is 26K approx. But power is way too much now.

[vijayols]

Hey Ram.Own a micra diesel done 87k.Curious to know what modification has been done and where have you got it done?