[Vid6639]

Since this is the newest thread on A-star automatic, I had a question regarding the steering. I have been driving a friend's A-star AT for some time now and found a strange behaviour in the steering. My friend did not notice it till I told him about it and then he realised what I said was right. Now he is irritated by it as well.

Basically the steering is heavier when turning left as against turning right. You can turn right from centre with ease and steering is very light. The minute you try to turn left the steering feels much more heavier and offers some resistance. This is only when moving. At stationary there's no difference.

Maruti service guy said he will do some "calibration" of EPS after which the issue will be fixed. Even after calibration I did not feel any difference. Now the guy says this is normal since the gearbox is on left of engine and AT is heavier gear box.

Anyone else faces it? I plan to check another AT A-star to confirm.

[pgsagar]

Vid, no such thing noticed in my car. This could be one of a kind. Check another car.

[supremeBaleno]

Congratulations, rr_zen. Good choice there and like you said, the A-Star is a very under-rated car here. Our A-Star_AT is nearing 12K on the odo after 2.5 years (usage is low) and it is fun to drive with the left-leg getting some rest occasionally. Infact we are now planning to try out the MT version (ZXi+options) as replacement for my sister's M800.

Originally Posted by S.MJet

Only issue I have is higher placed dashboard. Can it be a deal breaker. Both of us are of average Indian height.

Apart from having a higher dashboard, the front-seats are such that the seating area is inclined to the rear so you feel like sitting lower. These issues are mostly taken care of in the AT (and Zxi) version by the driver-seat height adjustment feature. So you should be OK.

[rr_zen]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Since this is the newest thread on A-star automatic, I had a question regarding the steering. I have been driving a friend's A-star AT for some time now and found a strange behaviour in the steering. My friend did not notice it till I told him about it and then he realised what I said was right. Now he is irritated by it as well.

Basically the steering is heavier when turning left as against turning right. You can turn right from centre with ease and steering is very light. The minute you try to turn left the steering feels much more heavier and offers some resistance. This is only when moving. At stationary there's no difference.

Maruti service guy said he will do some "calibration" of EPS after which the issue will be fixed. Even after calibration I did not feel any difference. Now the guy says this is normal since the gearbox is on left of engine and AT is heavier gear box.

Anyone else faces it? I plan to check another AT A-star to confirm.

Thanks for bringing this topic up which I almost quite forgot to comment upon. Overall, I feel the steering of the A Star to be like an HPS rather than an EPS. It certainly doesn't feel like an EPS at all. Also, when making a complete turn(either side) from standstill the steering is very tight and feels as if it is a normal one sans EPS or HPS. I thought this would settle down over time but its been two months since I bought the car and the issue remains. I need to take this up with the M.A.S.S shortly.

[rr_zen]

I thought I will provide an update on the FE of the car. The car has completed about 1250 km till date predominantly being driven within the city and for very short distances, say 2-4 km in a trip.

The FE is abysmally low and hovers around 8.3 - 8.5 kmpl. While I understand that the car has just completed 1K on the odo and its first service and will take a while to settle down in addition to the fact that it is being used for short trips, the numbers am seeing are ridiculous. I would expect at least a minimum of 10 kmpl during this time.

The car is mainly driven by my wife who is not an aggressive driver. Any thoughts on what could be the issue here ? I was told by the dealer that the car gives 16 kmpl in the city on an average. Would be great to hear from fellow bhpians on what mileage they get out of their cars.

[supremeBaleno]

The 16kmpl quoted by dealer for city-usage seems over-optimistic to me. I don't have Chennai figures for comparison since our car is used at Kerala and the traffic there is at best or actually at worst town-traffic, not metro-traffic we have in Chennai. Long time since I did an FE check, but when I used to check FE religiously during the initial ownership, I remember it being in the 13-14kmpl range (with a/c on always). Accounting for higher traffic in Chennai, it should be 11-12kmpl, which is what scuderiaferrari used to get in Blore (denser traffic than Chennai).

[rr_zen]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

The 16kmpl quoted by dealer for city-usage seems over-optimistic to me. I don't have Chennai figures for comparison since our car is used at Kerala and the traffic there is at best or actually at worst town-traffic, not metro-traffic we have in Chennai. Long time since I did an FE check, but when I used to check FE religiously during the initial ownership, I remember it being in the 13-14kmpl range (with a/c on always). Accounting for higher traffic in Chennai, it should be 11-12kmpl, which is what scuderiaferrari used to get in Blore (denser traffic than Chennai).

I did take the dealer's quote with loads of salt, however was expecting similar figures you have quoted above. Not sure if I need to wait for the engine to be run-in further and settle better for me to see some double digit figures on FE.

[srishiva]

The steering tightness during standstill is present in my car too. Guess the EPS is not activated at zero speed.
For me the biggest grouse is lack of on-center correction during small directional changes during lane change etc. You have to bring it back to center.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Basically the steering is heavier when turning left as against turning right. You can turn right from centre with ease and steering is very light. The minute you try to turn left the steering feels much more heavier and offers some resistance. This is only when moving. At stationary there's no difference.

Was there a pull to the right at highway speeds?

I think he has an alignment problem causing it to pull to the right at high speeds and at parking speeds it shows up as being hard to turn left

[drvhplyevraftr]

Originally Posted by rr_zen

predominantly being driven within the city and for very short distances, say 2-4 km in a trip.

The FE is abysmally low and hovers around 8.3 - 8.5 kmpl.

Any thoughts on what could be the issue here ?

I am no expert but the reason is because of the frequent short distance travels as you have mentioned. From little I know, the engine needs to be warmed up to deliver its full efficiency which does not seem to happen in your case.

I have observed similar behavior with my cars (petrol Getz and diesel sunny). When I do frequent short distance travels with several shutting off the engine and starting, I get only around 8 kmpl (on the Getz) and around 14 kmpl on the sunny. On the other hand for long distances (say 30 kms) at one stretch, my Getz used to give around 12 - 13 kmpl and the sunny around 19 kmpl.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Was there a pull to the right at highway speeds?

I think he has an alignment problem causing it to pull to the right at high speeds and at parking speeds it shows up as being hard to turn left

No pull at all man. If you leave the wheel it tracks straight. Alignment was done but problem is straight line it feels fine. The minute you start turning it shows up.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by rr_zen

I did take the dealer's quote with loads of salt, however was expecting similar figures you have quoted above. Not sure if I need to wait for the engine to be run-in further and settle better for me to see some double digit figures on FE.

While I see people mentioning on the forum about FE increasing after run-in, I have never really observed this myself. And I really doubt there would be a significant increase if at all.
Is there a way you could use the car for a few days and check the FE during that period ? Or maybe take the car when you go out next on a long drive ?
Also, I assume you employed the full-tank-to-full-tank at same-pump-same-nozzle method to check FE ?

Originally Posted by srishiva

For me the biggest grouse is lack of on-center correction during small directional changes during lane change etc. You have to bring it back to center.

I never noticed this till you mentioned it. And you are right about the A-Star's steering needing us to bring it back to centre, while in my Baleno it comes back to normal position on it's own.
Not sure if this is something to do with the PS being hydraulic (Baleno) vs EPS in A-Star ?

[rr_zen]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

While I see people mentioning on the forum about FE increasing after run-in, I have never really observed this myself. And I really doubt there would be a significant increase if at all.
Is there a way you could use the car for a few days and check the FE during that period ? Or maybe take the car when you go out next on a long drive ?
Also, I assume you employed the full-tank-to-full-tank at same-pump-same-nozzle method to check FE ?

Yes. I follow the full tank to full tank method only and do not top it after auto cut-off. I did take the car on a long drive initially when it had barely completed 500 km but the FE figures were not quite impressive.

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I never noticed this till you mentioned it. And you are right about the A-Star's steering needing us to bring it back to centre, while in my Baleno it comes back to normal position on it's own.
Not sure if this is something to do with the PS being hydraulic (Baleno) vs EPS in A-Star ?

I have the same gripe with the steering. It just doesn't feel like an EPS and feels more like an HPS. Plus, as rightly pointed out it requires the driver to bring it back to the center as opposed to what I have seen in the other cars.

Also, I had mentioned this earlier. The steering is way too hard when making a complete turn from standstill. Not sure if this is common in A-Star or unique to my car.