| The Azure wonder: Chevrolet Optra Magnum 1.6 LT
So after waiting few years to get my own car, It was the time when I had saved some money and the hunt began.
There used to be days, when I wanted Mitsubishi Lancer or the Old gen Honda City. Times changed and we no longer have those clean lines and the stance in cars anymore. It's all about curves and random lines everywhere in a car now and I've never been a fan of such things. I'm a guy who loves clean lines, no abrupt ending of any design clue, wide and lower body stance, not too high seats. Now after having saved some decent amount, it was time to hunt for the right car.
Went through complete list of sedans available today. Hatchbacks are strict no for me and I've never loved them and they are simply not my taste. After the Lancer and OHC, I could only think about Chevrolet Optra. I Love everything about this car. So this was it.
I told my friends about the car I want to get, and almost everyone said, Why chevrolet? and they just bombarded me with their reasons of all sorts. Some said, it's damn to expensive to maintain. some said parts availability is pain, some said better go for maruti and if not maruti then look for hyundais or the Honda city (dolphin). They just did not approve of chevrolet. And then I realised, All of them have never been in a chevrolet, and neither are much aware of the positives of Optra and neither they have taste :-)
Still, in order to have the peace of mind and to shut my friends off, I checked other cars and went to see following:
Honda City 2007 Vxi: car was good. was kept well. but as I'm not too fond of it's design, could not justify myself as why I should pick this car up. Hence, She was rejected for no particular reason
Second was Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia. This car was well kept too, and was within my budget. Took td, and she pulled from 2nd and 3rd gear brilliantly. totally loved the way she performed. But found few things really odd. 1.> The steering has huge bulge as if the Airbag might come out any moment. 2.> upon closer inspection, found that the car has been repainted and the owner could not give me a reason worth believing. 3.> car was not on his name. It was on someone else's name.
After this, I simple was left with no choice but to look out for Optra.
Now my only option was to go through all the available data available about the car on online forums and found tbhp to be the best source of information. found no other site which is so detailed and so unbiased. spent countless days on almost all the threads related to Optra, and always got the best reviews about the car. Everyone who owned this beauty had plenty of good to say about her. Hence, my decision was final.
Met few car dealers and everyone gave cold shoulder to optra and insisted of selling me the cars I did not wanted in first place. Then I decided to go through online classifieds, and was amazed to see so many optra's on sale in Delhi alone. Contacted few which were in my budget, met few but almost none of the cars were kept clean and were abused horses. So my desperate wait stretched for another month.
One fine day, saw an ad on Olx, car looked clean and Loved the color too. contacted the seller and went the very next day to look at the car personally.
And, Fell in love with her in the first go itself. now few details about the car
Model: Chevrolet Optra Magnum 1.6LT
Year: March 2008
Odo reading: 45060 kms
Service history: Yes (complete)
Tyres: 2 brand new, other 2 still have long life left. + the 5th tyre is new as well.
Battery: New
Highlight: Sunroof
revert parking sensor: Yes
Negotiated a bit, and the owner was happy to reduce the price a bit more. The car had everything going for her.
Negatives:
Car had scratches on almost all wheel arches, left RVM not working
Took the car to my trusted mechanic the next day and he test drove the car thoroughly and asked me not to loose the deal. Paid the initial amount, and asked my father to come and be the first person to get into the car with me.
Went office all week on my new found love, and finally the weekend came. Thanks to Good-friday, I got extended weekend. Decided to drive to Punjab and visit few places. I started at 9:30 at night on Friday. First 100 Km's were total pain as found the worst traffic ever. could not go beyond 3rd gear and most of the time was cruising in 2nd gear only. That's when I realized that the car has close to perfect gear ratios and it never puts pressure on Driver in such conditions. afterwards, it was a breeze. the sun/moon roof is an added bonanza and is perfect for some fun time on the highway. I reached Rajpura, Punjab at 1 in the night. Next 2 days were spend mostly travelling. took my parents to Fatehgarh Sahib Gurudwara and Dukh Nivaran Gurudwara in Patiala. Then a short drive to Mohali and around. came back last night and I could not be happier for my choice. My parents and my dog Loved the car, especially the back seat.
It's been a week now, and I've completed over 1500Kms. The car has been a total rockstar apart from one major problem.
While cruising above 120kmph, the steering vibrates and I feel the steering moving in my palm. Also the same vibration comes when I'm braking. Have kept my coming sunday to get this checked and corrected, As driving this machine at 100kmph is boring, and the sweet grunt she produces above 120 is sheer pleasure to ears.
Apart from all above, below are my findings about the car.
- Overall build quality and fit & finish : Couldn't have asked for a better build quality. There are practically no niggles, no loose ends, no cabin noise. The ground clearance is pretty nice and I'm yet to scrap the bottom on the speed breakers where I've done it multiple times on OHC and Baleno. Doors close with solid thud sound and the Door handles give real urban look. The only area where I think they could have improved on is the roof. The top of the roof feels very delicate and does not give confidence of a solid roof.
- Interior design & quality: I'm a man of subtle taste, and the dashboard is perfect for me. no gimicky buttons, no over the top design etc. and that Fake wood garnish gives the car very upmarket feel. Although I wish they used little better material for it and made it look actual wood rather than the shiny piece of plastic. The interiors have been designed in a way where everything feels right in it's rightful place. the ease of accessing all the buttons is really good. and I never had to look away from road to operate any button. talking about interior design, how can I not mention the lovely leather seats and the wonderful material used on the doors. Full five points here from my end.
- Interior space and comfort: The first thing anyone would notice is, The car is extremely airy and comfortable inside. None of the car's I've driven before had this much amount of space. Seats are extremely well designed. it's pretty easy to get in and out of the car. atleast for the people of my height. Once someone told me that the rear seats are like sofa, and I couldn't agree more.
- Air conditioner and other noteworthy interior points: When I bought this car, felt the AC to be operating below it's expected level. Hence got it checked from my trusted person and he filled up the AC gas. Now it cools the whole car within minutes and particularly at night, I can't keep it on for more that 20 minutes. Apart from all the space available in the car and now perfectly working AC, I really loved the way chevrolet has taken care of smallest things. Like: Providing Sun-glasses holder at top of the door on driver side. It fits my Rayban Aviators perfectly. And was totally surprised to find a knob placed neatly in the glove box. rotate it and it turns the normal glove box into chilled glovebox. Perfect to keep the water bottles etc cool in summers. Apart from this, I totally loved the way they have provided small pockets on both rear doors which can be used as mobile holder. Also, not forgetting the foot rest provided near the clutch. perfect to rest the feet when not using the clutch. Full points again to interiors.
- Engine performance & driveability in the city: My office is only about 14 kms from my home and at times I have to face bumper to bumper traffic and the car feels extremely comfortable in such conditions. I rarely have to press accelerator, only slight release of clutch takes the car forward. does't matter if I'm the only one in the car, or if the car is fully loaded. It just pulls without any signs of trouble. Initially I had some issues as the car just wanna jump forward at slight chance and I had to control it. Now as I've driven around 2000 kms in total as of today, I'm totally cool with this. I've been getting 10kmpl with AC on all the time in Delhi traffic. Which is ok with me. Cruising at 60-70 in city is breeze, and the car feels extremely relaxed.
- Engine performance & driveability on the highway: I got the opportunity to take the car on NH1 last weekend and I again fell in love with the car. I never felt the car to be out of breath or overtaking was never an issue. Even if I'm cruising at 120, and I have to overtake someone driving at almost same speed, I just had to press the pedal a lil more and the car obliged in command. The maximum speed I attained was 150kmph (+-2) and the car never felt out of control, or wobbling or vibrating. She was completely smooth with her mannerism. Also, thanks to ABS, the brakes are confidence inspiring. The only issue I had was little play in the steering. I can feel the steering play in my palm and this would be fixed this weekend.
Overall, I loved the way engine performs.
- Gearshift / transmission quality, smoothness, response time etc.: This is one area which took most of my time adjusting to. I'm spoiled by the utter smoothness of Honda gearshift and transmission. But Optra has completely different setup. the gear travel is much longer then a Honda and the reverse gear position is different. I also have issues with the notchiness of gear shifting, specially at second gear. Overall, the gearbox is below my expectation level, maybe because I'm not used to this type of gearbox or it's only because of Honda.
- Fuel efficiency : City and Highway: I've tried this twice now. reading from tank full to tank full. I've been getting constant 10-11 kmpl in City with AC on all the time and on highway I was totally amazed by getting 15kmpl with 70-75% AC on. for a petrol car of this size, expecting more would be plain and simple Lalach.
- Handling, on-road behaviour and grip levels: The car handles perfectly at higher speeds. I never felt as if the car was leaving the road or any kind of body roll. The tyre are almost new, Bridgestone make. Although they are noisy but the grip is fine.
Likings: Apart from all above, I personally Loved the way music sounds in the car. those small twitters on front doors sounds sweet. But hate the fact that the company fitter system does not have any option to connect and Aux cable or USB. But strange part is, If I fiddle with the settings on the head unit, then it has the option for Aux-in.
mentioning everything and forgetting about Boot will be a crime. Boot space in the car is simply wow. Not the best in it's class, but not bad either . I was able to put alot of bags which I though I could not.
Dislikings: Hate those stock headlamps. simply not enough for highways. I've changed the stock to Philips 90/100 H4 now. Light has increased but I'm not able to adjust the headlight focus. Someone kindly help me with this.
Things to be done:
To get the steering vibration checked and repaired
Need to get the side skirting repaired as one side has signs of abuse and has a major dent.
Need to get the left rvm repaired.
The car has original audio panel with CD and Cassette playback only. Need to get USB attached or get the complete panel changed.
Speakers are wonderful and those twitters on the front doors does their job pretty well.
Got tyre alignment and balancing done
got new wipers, steering wheel cover, new number plate, car cover, perfume etc.
Got AC gas filled, now the AC is perfect. at night, switching it on and keeping it on 1 chills the whole cabin within minutes. But during daytime, It takes little long and the knob has to be kept at 2 and above.
I'm pretty satisfied with whatever has been provided, but would have loved few more gadgets or options. Like, and Aux port and USB port in the company fitted stereo panel, Mileage display etc.
complete service to be done in approx 2k kms.
Apart from above, I'm proud of my decision of getting myself this Azure wonder.
Proper photoshoot coming up soon
Last edited by mandhir.s.bajwa : 24th April 2014 at 13:10.
Reason: Added more experience
| 
17th April 2014, 15:11
(6)
Thanks
You may get used to it over time.
