[Amyth Prabhakar]

Originally Posted by crdi

Hey buddy, when was the vento ever out with a 1.5L diesel ? It was always 1.6L, that too is crdi & vgt even though they have not labelled it all around the car. Looks like you've been misled by a hyundai salesman. For those who like a make up smacked chick like one of those hindi film actresses, the verna/city will appeal. The fans of the likes of Mary kom will vouch for vento/rapid.

My apologies. I had once seen a review of it on TV and heard the anchor say
one and half litre engine on Vento.I thought it was 1.5L even when I test drove the vehicle.That's what probably misled me. I guess it was after the facelift that they started publicising the new features and specs more. Thats when I thought the VW had upgraded to 1.6L engine.

But anyway like I said before Verna was an obvious choice for me.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Originally Posted by arunkrishnan4

Great writeup! Guess high speed handling and soft suspensions are the Achilles's heel for Hyundai; thought Hyundai had fixed these at least in their C & D segment cars.

What you thought is right at least now.

Hyundai Verna Fluidic was diagnosed with fatal ground clearance problems and chronic soft suspension disease ever since it landed on the Indian shores.
I agree the car is no doubt a victim of bad roads but not as bad as it's being portrayed, and in spite of its overall strength, the High speed handling characteristics has become a big weakness.

Contrary to the general belief, in my own experience,the places where I saw it pose problems was on the badly laid out humps, and on uneven surfaces.

My car has smooched the road humps several times with full load on board along with passenger baggage. I never had any issues with high-speeds so far. Of course, it is not designed to be used like a race car.

Hyundai seems to have taken the customer feed back seriously and have worked upon its dynamics and have come up with solution for the existing fluidic cars and have fixed the problems in the new 2014 fluidic verna. "BETTER LATE THAN NEVER". I got all these problems fixed. Stay tuned for my next post as I give a complete coverage of the improved suspensions.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

A Re-Birth:My Fluidic Verna rolls out fresh with new suspensions and improved stability:

The new 2014 Verna and latest Technical Service Bulletin, or TSB for short, from Hyundai which instructs the service centres to replace and fix the suspensions problems of earlier fluidic editions under warranty inspired me to take bold steps.

After having had the bad experience, I finally decided to take my Verna to the
specialists at the Authorised Service Centre.

My car finally underwent a suspension replacement surgery successfully.

Note: Hyundai replaces the suspensions only under warranty period. Otherwise they cost around INR. 10,000

Parts Replaced under warranty:

Four coil springs ( 2 at front and 2 at rear ) and the entire silencer unit ( as it had developed a crack again after the inital replacement )

Test Resuslts:

The new set of coil spring suspensions have given a new stance to Verna with stiff ride and slight increase in ground clearance.

The car still has the stock tyres and I tested it out on various roads,with different speeds and with varying load at front and back of the car.

The front suspensiosn have hardend and does not budge. The rear too had the same effect with two people in the front and one person at the back.

But when I had two heavy weights at the rear of the car, the car started to sqeak when it went over sharp and big humps.

So I reported the problem back to Service guys and they checked it and told me that there was nothing to worry as it was new and required a bit of greasing.

Soon after this, I carried out the same test on similar roads, now housefull with ( 5 people,Advaith Hyundai Service Advisors ) and did not hear that metal rubbing noise.

Finally the car has come out with flying colors. I basically come from a Hyundai lineage as all my relatives either have or had cars from Hyundai. ( accent crdi, i10, i20, santro ).

Now the car has become more drivable on Indian roads and almost gives the feel of Accent CRDi. High speed cornering has improved with accpetable levels of body roll and touches the red bars on speed dial without any issues.

Final Verdict:

The new 2014 verna and the earlier edition with new tweaked suspensions both take the bad roads head-on and handles them quite well offering better and stiffer ride quality.

It may still not be as gracious as its twin counterparts, namely the Vento and Rapid as far as handling is concerned. But still the improvements have become very evident and visible.

The city ride quality has defnitely improved and induces more confidence to go over humps and potholes without any fear and worry.

The car feels very stable and predictable now on uneven surfaces and on highways.It now grips the road the way the roller coaster holds on to its tracks.But still there is scope for more refinement to become the segment leader.

With many new players,the game is heating up and its high time the Hyundai company takes stock of the situation and bounce back with a bang on the target with necessary changes to reclaim the poll position. Lets keep the fingers crossed and hope for the best.

I would definitely recommend all Verna Fluidic owners to get this done
if their car is still under warranty period.

Pics:

I had to take special permission from the Branch Service Centre Manager to click the pictures as photography is prohibited and customers are not
allowed in there. I was asked to wait in the customers lounge and as i was browsing through the Auto car India magazine there, the Service centre manager came along with the all new Santa Fe and took me for a ride within the premises itself.

I managed to click enough pictures for a full fledged review. Will post them in the last or reserve it for another review.

Below are the pics of the surgery.I could not cover everything as they were very reluctant and somehow obliged and let me in for 5 minutes during the service operation.









Inside the Operation theatre







The rear right suspension before replacement







The rear left suspension before replacement









The front right springs before replacement









The damaged silencer



Under body Engine bay



The new set of springs



Finally the car getting cleaned up

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Post-Surgery Pics below.

The rear coil springs after replacement.













The new silencer







The front springs after replacement









The customers waiting lounge:







Finally the Bill: There were absolutely no charges of any kind.



I did a lot of tests on that day and finally headed to the AutoShow exhibition in Bangalore beside Manyata Tech Park.







Finally after all this it deserves a

[Chitta Pradhan]

Originally Posted by Amyth Prabhakar

Finally the Bill: There were absolutely no charges of any kind.

Finally after all this it deserves a

Thank you so much buddy for sharing your experience. It is really exciting to know that suspension problem, which is the only drawback according to me, can be solved to a great extent. The suspension set up do result in extremely bouncy ride on wavy roads & lesser GC. Only for this draw back,I sometime think of selling the car, which is otherwise brilliant in all other aspects. I love the NVH characteristics ( IMO best in the segment along with New Fiesta), enormous power, features etc. High speed handling is not at all a problem for me. If traffic & road condition permit, I cruise at 120/130 kmph easily. Do n't require more.

Mine is a 2011 model, how then SA told me few months back ( when my car was under warranty ) that as per the then TSB, my car does not require any suspension work?

By the way, you seem to be more of an enthusiastic photographer than a car lover.

I will talk to the SA tomorrow for getting the job done for which I may require your assistance. Is it just replacement of four springs or anything more? At my place, there is a HASS, but they might not have the springs in stock. But they can get those in 4/5 days, if I place an order. How to confirm that the springs are of 2014 make? Is there any chance that I may get the same kind of springs as my current ones. Do you think, replacement of all the springs will make the car as good as the new 2014 Verna ?

My car has done 41k & still on stock tyres. Another 10k or so life left. I will be upgrading to 205/55/16 when tyre change will become due. This will increase the GC by 5.5 mm. With stiffer springs & 205 tyres, GC should not be a problem any more. If suspension issue is solved, I will immediately go for k & N filter to add a bit of more juice & for a slightly better FE to compensate a slight FE drop due to fatter tyres. Please suggest a hard & quite 205 mm tyre for me.

If all the above work as I anticipate, I will simply forget the idea of selling the car and would like to keep it till it disintegrates. It is that good.

Thanks



`

[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

My car has done 41k & still on stock tyres. Another 10k or so life left. I will be upgrading to 205/55/16 when tyre change will become due. This will increase the GC by 5.5 mm. With stiffer springs & 205 tyres, GC should not be a problem any more. If suspension issue is solved, I will immediately go for k & N filter to add a bit of more juice & for a slightly better FE to compensate a slight FE drop due to fatter tyres. Please suggest a hard & quite 205 mm tyre for me.

For Hard Tyre information refer the following post made earlier by KPS: URL

I would recommend getting the suspension sorted out first and if the issue goes way then there isn't a need to go for harder tyres. For tyres that are quiet you could consider the Michelin Primacy 3ST where ST stands for Silent Tuning but these are not hard tyres.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

Thank you so much buddy for sharing your experience. It is really exciting to know that suspension problem, which is the only drawback according to me, can be solved to a great extent. The suspension set up do result in extremely bouncy ride on wavy roads & lesser GC. Only for this draw back,I sometime think of selling the car, which is otherwise brilliant in all other aspects. I love the NVH characteristics ( IMO best in the segment along with New Fiesta), enormous power, features etc. High speed handling is not at all a problem for me. If traffic & road condition permit, I cruise at 120/130 kmph easily. Do n't require more.

You can now drop the idea of selling your car and keep it for a life time.

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

Mine is a 2011 model, how then SA told me few months back ( when my car was under warranty ) that as per the then TSB, my car does not require any suspension work?

The TSB was released by Hyundai I guess in 2013 (last year) and applies to all cars under warranty. I saw you mention somewhere that your car has run 41 thousand kilometers and 2011 model. The initial 2 year company warranty would have definitely expired by now.

Try talking to the service manager and check if they
replace it under extended warranty if at all you have that. Check what all is covered under extended warranty. I guess the SA you spoke to was not aware of the TSB.

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

By the way, you seem to be more of an enthusiastic photographer than a car lover.

Yes, I am one. These are only a subset of pics that I have clicked for the whole review. I have a big collection of photos and just don't want to flood this post with too many of them.

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

How to confirm that the springs are of 2014 make? Is there any chance that I may get the same kind of springs as my current ones. Do you think, replacement of all the springs will make the car as good as the new 2014 Verna ?

If after replacement, if you witness a difference in the ride quality,
and feel that it has improved,then that should give you an indication that the springs are new and of 2014. By the way, they all come box packed as Hyundai Genuine Parts.you can ask the SA to show it to you before they proceed to make any changes.That's what I did and also have posted a picture of them still wrapped in sealed covers. Just check them out.

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

My car has done 41k & still on stock tyres. Another 10k or so life left. I will be upgrading to 205/55/16 when tyre change will become due. This will increase the GC by 5.5 mm. With stiffer springs & 205 tyres, GC should not be a problem any more. If suspension issue is solved, I will immediately go for k & N filter to add a bit of more juice & for a slightly better FE to compensate a slight FE drop due to fatter tyres. Please suggest a hard & quite 205 mm tyre for me.

If all the above work as I anticipate, I will simply forget the idea of selling the car and would like to keep it till it disintegrates. It is that good.

Thanks

You can consider Bridgestone Turanza 205/55 R16 . But I have no actual experience with them. So i guess its better to shut my mouth.

I go with vsrivatsa here. Bridgestone's are good but Michelin's are the best as far as my knowledge goes.Go for it. They will cost you a little more but still its worth the price.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

The Verna Fluidic SX variant comes fitted with Bridgestone tires from the factory.



The model is B250 195/55 R16 87H tires.. I don't find them listed anywhere and are not available commercially. I guess these are not sold separately and are made only for Verna.



For all those who wanted to know what it means by

B250 195/55 R16 87H tires., the below picture gives a nice explanation.

B250 - 250 is the model Number and B stands for Bridgestone.



The picture above has V instead of H and is the speed rating of the tires and equals to 210 km/h.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

Is it just replacement of four springs or anything more?

They just replace the 4 coil springs and nothing else.
and silencer in my case as it was damaged due to bottoming out.

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

Do you think, replacement of all the springs will make the car as good as the new 2014 Verna ?

I have so far driven about 250 kms after the replacement and am seeing noticeable improvement. Some stretches en route from my home to office are bad, and now I don't slow down over them like before. The scary feeling is all gone now. It now glides over them.

And yes its been a rebirth for my car and its no doubt become as good as new 2014 Verna.

The replaced springs are the ones that are now available on the new 2014 model. To be more sure, I even drove the new model and compared it with mine. Both appears to be same now on bad roads.

[KPS]

The upgraded springs to made a huge difference in my car. My car is also a 2011 car. Since I have extended warranty all changes have been done free of cost.

I too am very happy on the feel of the car with this upgraded springs and tyres. Few months back I had been on the infamous Hunsur--Thithimathi Road towards South Coorg with 4 of us and the car took this road very well.

Would strongly suggest all the 2011-12 Verna owners to upgrade the springs

Cheers

KPS

[Chitta Pradhan]

Originally Posted by KPS

The upgraded springs to made a huge difference in my car. My car is also a 2011 car. Since I have extended warranty all changes have been done free of cost.

I too am very happy on the feel of the car with this upgraded springs and tyres. Few months back I had been on the infamous Hunsur--Thithimathi Road towards South Coorg with 4 of us and the car took this road very well.

Would strongly suggest all the 2011-12 Verna owners to upgrade the springs

Cheers

KPS

I strongly feel that Hyundai should do the upgrade free of cost to all older model cars. I think you had replaced your springs in 2013. Is it that the stiffer springs were available in 2013 too?

Originally Posted by Amyth Prabhakar

You can now drop the idea of selling your car and keep it for a life time.

Surely I will. I was seriously in search of a new car. But I was not able to convince myself. It might so happen that I may have ended up buying Verna-2014. My usage for last one year has reduced drastically , thus even contemplating for a petrol car. THanks for helping me to shelve these thoughts & to save few lacs as well.

My car is out of warranty & I have not taken extended warranty. Today morning I had a talk with SA. New springs are available readily. Inquired about the price. His reply- Rs 1500/- each for front springs & Rs 700/- each for rear springs. Thus total cost will be Rs 4400/-. Did not ask about labor charges, but guess it should be around Rs 1000/-. This makes the replacement cost of all springs to Rs 5400/- approx. Do not mind paying this for getting rid of the worst problem of my car.

But the big question is how old the springs are which are in stock with SA. I had specifically asked this & SA the told that the springs are in stock for last 7/8 months. Guess that the manufacturing date is available on the pack. Is it that I should go for replacement only if the year of manufacture is 2014? In that case I do not mind waiting few more months to get 2014 springs. How then other Bhpians managed the stiffer springs in 2013 ?

Originally Posted by Amyth Prabhakar

If after replacement, if you witness a difference in the ride quality,
and feel that it has improved,then that should give you an indication that the springs are new and of 2014. By the way, they all come box packed as Hyundai Genuine Parts.you can ask the SA to show it to you before they proceed to make any changes.That's what I did and also have posted a picture of them still wrapped in sealed covers. Just check them out.

Was 2014 mentioned over the pack as the year of manufacturing?

Originally Posted by Amyth Prabhakar

The model is B250 195/55 R16 87H tires.. I don't find them listed anywhere and are not available commercially. I guess these are not sold separately and are made only for Verna.

[/b]

B 250s are very much available. Price around 7 k a piece. I had seen those in one tyre store. Stock size 195/55/16 was also available in one more brand- FALKEN ( if I correctly remember]. Cost was 300-400/- less than B 250. In "chage my tyres", users have written positive reviews about this brand.

Originally Posted by Amyth Prabhakar

I have so far driven about 250 kms after the replacement and am seeing noticeable improvement. Some stretches en route from my home to office are bad, and now I don't slow down over them like before. The scary feeling is all gone now. It now glides over them.

And yes its been a rebirth for my car and its no doubt become as good as new 2014 Verna.

The replaced springs are the ones that are now available on the new 2014 model. To be more sure, I even drove the new model and compared it with mine. Both appears to be same now on bad roads.

This sounds so encouraging. I think with tyre upgrade, feel will be still better.

Thanks

[revved_up]

Originally Posted by KPS

The upgraded springs to made a huge difference in my car. My car is also a 2011 car. Since I have extended warranty all changes have been done free of cost.

I too am very happy on the feel of the car with this upgraded springs and tyres. Few months back I had been on the infamous Hunsur--Thithimathi Road towards South Coorg with 4 of us and the car took this road very well.

Would strongly suggest all the 2011-12 Verna owners to upgrade the springs

Cheers

KPS

Originally Posted by Amyth Prabhakar

Post-Surgery Pics below.

The rear coil springs after replacement.


Finally the Bill: There were absolutely no charges of any kind.

Attachment 1223389

Folks,

This sounds very encouraging, handling and the ground clearance were the major pain points for this car. I have a June 2012 CRDI Verna, can you give me some pointers about this TSB. I just checked with my service centre and they dont seem to have any clue about the whole suspension being changed.

Please guide me, I want this to be done on my car desperately.

[KPS]

Originally Posted by revved_up

I just checked with my service centre and they dont seem to have any clue about the whole suspension being changed.

Please guide me, I want this to be done on my car desperately.

The whole suspension will not be changed. You have to ask them to change/upgrade your 4 coil springs to the stiffer set up. Ask him to refer the matter to Hyundai for approvals, for change under warranty.

Show him this thread as proof that such warranty replacements have happened

All the best

Cheers

KPS

[revved_up]

Originally Posted by KPS

The whole suspension will not be changed. You have to ask them to change/upgrade your 4 coil springs to the stiffer set up. Ask him to refer the matter to Hyundai for approvals, for change under warranty.

Show him this thread as proof that such warranty replacements have happened

All the best

Cheers

KPS

Thanks for your reply KPS. I already told them about people getting these replacements under warranty, but they wont budge.

I have now written to Hyundai service - crservice@hmil.net, hoping they would guide me.

Does anyone have any contact in HMIL who i can contact to get this done through the dealer?

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Originally Posted by revved_up

Thanks for your reply KPS. I already told them about people getting these replacements under warranty, but they wont budge.

I have now written to Hyundai service - crservice@hmil.net, hoping they would guide me.

Does anyone have any contact in HMIL who i can contact to get this done through the dealer?

I suggest you talk to the service center Manager regarding this. He/She should be able to guide you. you can get the details at help desk if necessary. if they still don't budge, you can escalate the issues to higher authorities.

Refer to the pic i posted earlier. Below is the link of the same.
Enlarge/zoom the pic to see the escalation matrix.
Check the Yellow Board beside the wall mounted TV.
You should be able to find them in any service center or showroom.



There are 4 levels of managers. Depending upon how they react and respond you can always go to the appropriate level for help.

They are "Rating conscious" and always consider negative customer feed back as high priority.