Team-BHP - Honda City V-AT Sunroof. Fell in love, inspite the rising cost of petrol

In continuation to my older post, I had sent back my car to the workshop to rectify the shoddy work that they had done on the car.

Thankfully, this time when the car came back after 4 days, all the glitches had been sorted out.

As all Honda City owners would agree with me that the headlamps of the City are woefully bad, I had long ago decided to upgrade to better lighting system. I had couple of options in my mind, for upgrading the lights, those being

90/100 Phillips Extreme Vision bulbs
HID Kit worth 7000 with installation
Bi-Xenon worth 34000 (price quoted by dealerships)

I was not to sure about the price quoted by the dealers in Mumbai for the Bi-Xenon, as I found them very expensive for the price quoted. Alternatively, I was of the opinion that getting the work done outside showroom would lead to shoddy work and the technician may end up cutting wrong wires again leading to warranty being Void. Therefore I was against it.

I was in thorough dilemma, on what option to go for. A friend of mine, owns a 2 wheeler service station in Pune, and during one of my recent visits to Pune, I was discussing about the headlight issues with him and my desire to upgrade to bi-xenon. He knew one Mr. Joy, who owned a company called Genome India Pvt Ltd, and they manufactured Bi-Xenon.

He hooked me up with Mr. Joy. Apparently, his company Genome, is into manufacturing of Bi-Xenon's and are sole suppliers of Bi-Xenon's to almost all the auto dealers in the West. Additionally, they also export these to Europe as OEM suppliers, for some of the auto manufacturers

My requirement was pretty simple, I wanted Bi-Xenon without "Angel Lights" as i found those pretty cheap, again my personal opinion here.

One quick discussion with Joy regarding my need and he was of the opinion that I should then go for the export version lamps, as all the Bi-Xenon's that he supplies in India, come pre-fitted with the Angel Lights.

After several discussions later on, and sending couple of snaps up and down, I agreed on buying the European Version.

Thankfully by the time I decided, he did have the Europe Version Bi-Xenon readily available in stock and he got it organized to be dispatched at my residence. My earlier plan was to drive down to Pune, as his factory is based out of Pune with fellow team-bhpian BalenoPower. However, due to his work commitments and my busy schedule, i got them dispatched at my residence.

I received the courier in 2 days and the technician visited my place the subsequent day. He took good 2 hours to get the fitment done. It was a step by step process of

removing the front bumper
removing the headlamps
removing the stock bulbs and fitting the Bi-Xenon
Finally, fitting the parts in reverse order, starting with headlamps first

So finally what did I purchase and at what price.

I bought the 3.2 inch Bi-Xenon (Europe version) for INR 21000/- with 1 year replacement warranty. The showroom version which Genome sells are of 2.5 inch, and the showroom sells them for whopping INR 30000/- +. Eventually, i ended up saving another INR 10000. And what did I do with those 10000, will update you soon

And am I happy with what I bought. Well I am not just happy, but mighty happy, in last 8 years of night driving, It is only now that I am enjoying driving in the night. Bi-Xenon's cover 4 lanes on the highway and travels 300 meters + on a high beam mode. :thumbs up. One can confidently zip on the national highways (read here as expressways) as the night vision has significantly improved now. My low beam is much much better than high beam of normal halogen bulbs, as well as HID bulbs.

PS- I am not able to upload pictures, as the site is showing some errors, will upload some soon.

1.5 years into ownership, 21000 km on board, it was time to give a brand new look again to the car. I had seen Abhishek’s (balenopower) Honda City being treated at 3M with Sealant coat. And the car looked amazing post the work.

I knew this shop in Kandivali (W), Mumbai by the name of Auto Shine. The owner of this shop, Mr. Parag Mehta, is only into the car detailing business from last 12 years. Earlier he used to take orders on phone and do the jobs at the customer’s place. Later somewhere 8 years ago, I opened up the shop by the name of Auto Shine. I had done the detailing of our Scorpio done from him in the year 2006, and he had done a fabulous job then.

So this time, when I had to do the detailing done on my City, I was in two minds, whether to get it done from an old timer or give to the brand new breed of professionals called 3M.

The Sealant Coat was priced at INR 5900 inclusive of taxes at 3M, and the Glass Coat finish which is equivalent to what Sealant Coat was priced at INR 5000 at his shop. Price was never a constraint; however what really mattered was the quality of work that would go in doing the car.

I caught up with Parag on last Sunday, took a cognizance of the work that he would carry out, compared it viz a viz with what 3M would do, and took a call, to give my City in the hands of an old timer.

Steps undertaken to give the car glass effect finish

A thorough Diesel Wash on the Car
1st level application of wax quote to the entire car and srubbing
Water washed the car completely again and re-applied the coat
2nd coat applied and washed up again to get the car to its original beauty
After thoroughly wiping the car, 1st coat of glass coat appled and scrubbed
subsequently 2nd coat of the coat applied, scrubbed
At each step micro-fibre cloth was used to rub the car apart from the scrubbing machine

Time taken to give the car factory finish look: 5 hrs.

PS- not able to upload the pictures at this moment. will try and upload when I am in better connectivity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by swapnil.rahate (Post 3281137)

Hi sawnil,

Can we shift from D to S mode while the car is in motion?

Regards,
Swapnil

Hi Swapnil,

Yes, one can shift from D mode to S mode while the car is in motion. However, Honda has advised me against doing the same, primary reasons being, in S mode, there are 2 options available, 1st being the normal Sports Mode, where the car upshifts at an higher RPM, and 2nd being the Paddle Shift Mode, which is nothing but the Trip-tonic Manual Mode, where I can manually upshift or downshift the gear.

Now whether the D Mode or the S Mode both are electronically governed by the car by computing various factors to arrive at a optimum shift point, for either upshifts or downshifts. Some of the factors being GVW, Road Gradient, etc.

What technicians at Honda recommend is, shifting modes while in motion, may electronically damage the gear-box, as it may not be able to take inputs if there is frequent mode changes. Hence, as far as possible avoid it. So normally, when driving the City, If I have to change the modes, I change them while waiting at the signals.

However, I also have a i10 AT which has a more conventional AT box, where I have a 2,L and D mode. Know here, I can shift while in motion, as the purpose of having 2 is to stick in 2nd gear while going uphill and L is to control my speed while going downhill. I can shift in between these two gears while I am in motion, as the car is programmed for it.

Hope I have solved your query.

PS while driving, Auto transmission cars, it is always advisable to check with the relevant technical team of the manufacturer on how best to use the AT box, coz mind you my friend, an AT box is much more complex than the MT box, and goes without saying much more expensive to repair for any damages to it. So please be advised.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sawnilrules (Post 3283255)

Yes, one can shift from D mode to S mode while the car is in motion. However, Honda has advised me against doing the same (...)

What technicians at Honda recommend is, shifting modes while in motion, may electronically damage the gear-box, as it may not be able to take inputs if there is frequent mode changes. Hence, as far as possible avoid it. So normally, when driving the City, If I have to change the modes, I change them while waiting at the signals.

Hey, I won't presume to know more than the Honda guys about their own car but all stuff sounds a little dubious to me. As far as I know in a conventional AT you can shift between any sets of gears "on the fly" except those which are expressly prohibited. In a Vento AT you will not be able to shift between these combinations unless you press another button on the gearshift expressly provided for this purpose. Meaning if you try to go D to R or D to P when the car is in motion the car won't allow you to.

You can shift D to N, S to N, D to S and some other combinations without any worries. Only real caution to take in a slushbox is to get the car to a dead stop before engaging P (else you may break the parking pawl) and when going from D to R & vice versa.

But please take whatever precautions you feel are necessary!