[Inquisitive]

@Chitta Pradhan

Unfortunately I could not go for a long drive in the meanwhile for a variety of reasons that basically precluded any overnight stay away from home. However planning one in republic day weekend, lets see if that works. I shall let everybody know my take on your queries.

If this is any indication, last week I went for a stretch of about 10kms at 130kmph. The drive was extremely smooth at that speed, NVH acceptable, monouvering easy but of course longer drives would be more appropriate.

I would also point out two instances over the weekend that reinforced my faith in the car. The first one was I had to carry a pouch of blood from central blood bank to the nursing home where mother-in-law was undergoing an operation. The cooled glove box feature came really handy during the transport.
Second was in the last evening. A biker coming from the opposite direction just tumbled in front of my wheels after failing to negotiate an auto that was taking right. I immediately screeched to halt with his head just millimetres away from my front right wheel. My spouse in the passenger seat just froze with all blood vanishing from her face in a millisecond. Thankfully nobody was hurt and the car survived without a scratch. Good brakes saved my day!!

[Inquisitive]

Took a highway drive yesterday of about 100km each way. Car was a pleasure to drive. We could cruise at 140kmph with no issues, also could overtake other cars going at 120kmph without downshifting, just a little push in the gas is all that I needed to do. One thing I noticed though there was a little shudder felt between 105-110kmph, but if you kept insisting on the pedal the shudder would go and the engine takes up relatively easily to 140. It felt like the engine could rev further but did not do it with family on board. The odo stands at 9600. Therefore, after the 1st oil change by the yearend, it should free up further. FE avg. 13.4kmpl in city conditions, about 18kmpl in highway.

[Inquisitive]

The second free service at 10,000km was done yesterday at Topsel Toyota, Maheshtala in Kolkata. I had some issues with the quality of the horn and asked them to change it. Another thing was there was a very mild rattle (only audible when driving over 30kmph on untarred surfaces) in the rear passenger door.

They found there was some tuning issues with the horn and did not replace it. I think the cars which are exported from Indian shores come with weak horns- you people understand what I mean about different driving conditions. After their work, now I find them okay for Indian conditions.

They also worked on the rattle issue, and this morning those irritating noises are all gone. I also think that they worked something on the suspension side even though I was okay with the setup. The drive to work this morning on the similar rough patch of the road was lot smoother. +1 to that.

I had Toyota smiles value pack subscribed and hence the total bill was Rs. 18 and that too for the labor charge for fixing the horn. However the 'Smiles' pack was not renewed. The dealership said the 'Smiles' package covers two services within one year. In my case that would be 20,000 and 30,000km service. As it is unlikely that the car would travel 20,000km in one year, it did not make much sense to go for it.

Overall very happy so far with the car and the service from Toyota.

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by Inquisitive

I filled the tyres with nitrogen last week (F32psi/R29psi) from neighborhood Bridgestone select store. And big surprise came when I filled the tank yesterday. The FE has jumped from ~12 to 13.5kmpl. So far I was checking the tyre pressure and necessary air filling from local tyrewallahs (not a specific one, even included a BP COCO pump). I don't think nitrogen made the difference, it must be faulty pressure gauges with these places. Just thought of sharing this with others. The car has only run about 4K kms, so I don't think engine could have contributed much to that either.

Congrats on the purchase and hoping many many miles of trouble free ownership.
Ref the right tyre pressure :
Ensure tyre pressure is adjusted to manufacturer recommended spec when cold.
Get yourself a tyre pressure guage - I personally like the ones with the dial, rather than the ones which pop the reading on a stick. Check tyre pressure often, at least once a week and intermittently on long drives.
Get yourself a tyre inflator - these run off the 12 V socket. You can get decent ones on ebay. Inflate tyre yourself where possible.

The other things you can look into -

a) Slime a good quality puncture sealant or

b) TPMS - an example is TyreProbe. Installation of such a TPMS would require a wheel balancing and alignment.

[girishglg]

Congrats on the Black Knight in your stable. Must say the color looks really impressive with the chrome inserts in the facelifted model. It has surely shed that dull feeling with better color interiors and sparkling lamps at both ends.

Also liked your intital review which has been very well balanced talking about the pros and cons very earnestly! Provides a very clear picture of the Liva for all others. One thing for sure the T badge means hassle free ownership and that would be a big plus if one skips the MSIL badge.

Keep us posted regularly and have many happy miles ahead!

[Inquisitive]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

Ref the right tyre pressure :
Ensure tyre pressure is adjusted to manufacturer recommended spec when cold.

I fill the shoes with nitrogen. The negatives are it practically rules out all the DIYs with the tyres. Somehow I feel MRF ZVTVs are average taskers provided you take good care of them. For whatever reason they tend to lose pressure quite fast. I only have to blame myself when yesterday at Indo Radial Club they found that the average pressure in all fours have dropped to around 18 psi. I could feel the low tyre pressure for the last two days but did not realize it went that low.

Originally Posted by girishglg

Provides a very clear picture of the Liva for all others.

I seriously do not find the reason why Liva is a market dud. I think Toyota somehow is considered a luxury brand in India and people looking for B1 segment cars shun away thinking the Toyota cars are something they cannot afford. The price I paid for Liva left several people astonished because they thought it would be way more expensive.

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by Inquisitive

I fill the shoes with nitrogen. The negatives are it practically rules out all the DIYs with the tyres. ....

they tend to lose pressure quite fast. ...

dropped to around 18 psi.

I too have nitrogen in my tyres - the cheaper kind - i.e. somewhere between 80% to 90% nitrogen.

All said & done, for me , the tyre pressure guage is definitely a must-have whether one has nitrogen or plain air. If nothing else it provides me a second opinion about the plausibility of advertiser's claims (nitrogen filled tyres can go without top-ups for 3 months! - obviously these advertisers have never seen the conditions of roads in the Indian hinterland.)

Few thoughts on offer...
a) Get the valves checked - have these developed a slow leak?
b) Is the tyre fitment on the rim OK?
c) Go dead slow on the speed breakers before hitting Taratolla road...
d) You don't have to go for the expensive electronic TPMS. Even a relatively in-expensive 'system' can give you a timely warning....
e) Having an inflator helps if one does get a nail in the tread, know about it, but can't do anything about it till the next filling point.
f) By the same token , Slime, helps - in that you don't need the inflator in case of a puncture- but it is way more expensive than an inflator. It can be used with Nitrogen or Air. But if you do get the tyres Slimed, remember to do a WB and WA before, not after.

[Inquisitive]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

I too have nitrogen in my tyres - the cheaper kind - i.e. somewhere between 80% to 90% nitrogen.

All said & done, for me , the tyre pressure guage is definitely a must-have whether one has nitrogen or plain air. If nothing else it provides me a second opinion about the plausibility of advertiser's claims (nitrogen filled tyres can go without top-ups for 3 months! - obviously these advertisers have never seen the conditions of roads in the Indian hinterland.)

Few thoughts on offer...
a) Get the valves checked - have these developed a slow leak?
b) Is the tyre fitment on the rim OK?
c) Go dead slow on the speed breakers before hitting Taratolla road...
d) You don't have to go for the expensive electronic TPMS. Even a relatively in-expensive 'system' can give you a timely warning....
e) Having an inflator helps if one does get a nail in the tread, know about it, but can't do anything about it till the next filling point.
f) By the same token , Slime, helps - in that you don't need the inflator in case of a puncture- but it is way more expensive than an inflator. It can be used with Nitrogen or Air. But if you do get the tyres Slimed, remember to do a WB and WA before, not after.

to all the points you mentioned. Apparently the tyre guys at bridgestone or indo radial did not find any problem with the valves or the rims. Toyota service also did not mention anything, of course its not their job and there was no issue with alignment etc during 2nd service. Once thought of approaching the MRF dealerships to check but abandoned the idea because of time constraints.

No way I find that nitrogen filled tyres last for 3 months without topup on Indian roads, at least not in Kolkata.

But of course these tiny toys you mentioned I think are just great on the face of it. Just wondering when different cars have different pressure recommendations depending on the tyre position, how do these gauges sense the right pressure?

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by Inquisitive

to all the points you mentioned. Apparently the tyre guys at bridgestone or indo radial did not find any problem with the valves or the rims. Toyota service also did not mention anything, of course its not their job and there was no issue with alignment etc during 2nd service. Once thought of approaching the MRF dealerships to check but abandoned the idea because of time constraints.

No way I find that nitrogen filled tyres last for 3 months without topup on Indian roads, at least not in Kolkata.

But of course these tiny toys you mentioned I think are just great on the face of it. Just wondering when different cars have different pressure recommendations depending on the tyre position, how do these gauges sense the right pressure?

In case these are standard 175/65 tubeless requiring 30+/- 2 psi you should be okay as many of these 'sensors' come pre-calibrated for this range thus being able to cater to the breadth of the market.
Certainly sufficient room to alert the driver before the pressure falls to 18 psi or worse. For more accurate real time readings the electronic systems are your answer. But if one is looking for VFM, nothing beats the good old tyre pressure guage, rolling up one's sleeve on a sunday afternoon, getting the readings directly and topping up with an inflator. If the inflator itself is human powered so much the better & cheaper albeit slower.

[Inquisitive]

I was having some issues with front suspension for a while and even though it was nothing very alarming, I raised it during the second service in Dec 2013. The dealership said it was okay but I was still not convinced and they agreed to have a second look. The car was sent yesterday and now they have agreed to replace both shock absorbers in the front under warranty. They told me that this was the first such instance for the refreshed Liva. Will send the car next week and see how that goes.

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by Inquisitive

The car was sent yesterday and now they have agreed to replace both shock absorbers in the front under warranty.

Interesting, that warranty kicked in.... I would have thought otherwise given the condition of the roads in the general area. Did they find something which pointed to a specific manufacturing defect?
What specific symptoms did you experience?
It might be something for other Liva owners to look into.

[Inquisitive]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

Interesting, that warranty kicked in.... I would have thought otherwise given the condition of the roads in the general area. Did they find something which pointed to a specific manufacturing defect?
What specific symptoms did you experience?
It might be something for other Liva owners to look into.

Roads in our area are getting better barring a few hundred meters, even that is getting a patch of tar these days. They just told me that the front suspension is hard and noisy, necessitating a replacement and they have raised that with Toyota, who agreed on replacement. But since this is, as per them, the first case reported for refreshed Liva, they needed to go all the way up to get the approval. My car's odo now stands ~12500km in 8 months.

If you refer to my very first ownership report, you will find I did mention 'thud' while negotiating a pair of nasty speed breakers. So, it was there from the beginning. My previous Alto often would scape them and as with Liva, it did not happen all the time, I decided to live with that. The car I would still say is smoother than most cars in its segment on not-so-good roads but still I was not 100% okay with that. Good thing is that Toyota responded positively to my concern.

[Inquisitive]

They did not change the entire front suspension assemblies. They actually replaced parts within these like bushes etc. They said these are based on instructions received from Toyota and will definitely keep tab of the suspension behaviour as the car drives. However the results are satisfying with a better smoothness on rough roads and the suspension noise being absent. I decided to take a call whether the remedy worked in next 2000 odd kms.

[Inquisitive]

Just to update status:

3rd Service was done on August 9th, nothing to grouse. The dealership checked the suspension again and found it to be perfect. Renewed the 'Smiles' package for the 3rd and fourth service- total damage Rs. 5574 for the package. Apart from the regular oil and oil filter change, they also changed the 4 spark plugs.

A Tata 407 broke the RHS taillight a week before servicing, replaced that as well- damage of Rs. 1630 with VAT and labor.

Strictly under city conditions, mileage consistent at 12-13kmpl in summer with AC, 14-15kmpl in winter. Highway mileage with AC >16kmpl.

Like other members have already mentioned, this car is easy on your mind and body.

[rakeshkalli]

Hey buddy how is your car putting up any change in mileage etc., am planning to buy a Liva G any suggestions?