[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by kaushik51094

Congratulations on your new purchase. Nice car and awesome color choice (we have a 2nd gen swift zxi in blue)! Maintaining it is a pain but looks awesome once it is clean and polished. Wishing you many happy miles with it!

I have learnt the fine art of maintaining the car body and interiors from friends and professional detailers. So I am not worried too much now. A good paint protection is an absolute must for a new car - That's just personal opinion. The protections I applied to my City went a very long way in maintaining its looks which in turn increased its resale value. To share some of my tips

a. Claying > Polish > Sealant (absolute must)
b. Dust the car when ever you can instead of washing the car.
c. Pressure clean body when heavily soiled and use a good car shampoo.
d. Vaccum the interiors. A portable vaccum cleaner is a good investment.
e. Colin is just good enough for glass and generic cleaning.
f. Use a mild and good perfume.
g. Most importantly, get a few good micro fibre cloth.

[kaushik51094]

Originally Posted by sudeepg

a. Claying > Polish > Sealant (absolute must)
b. Dust the car when ever you can instead of washing the car.
c. Pressure clean body when heavily soiled and use a good car shampoo.
d. Vaccum the interiors. A portable vaccum cleaner is a good investment.
e. Colin is just good enough for glass and generic cleaning.
f. Use a mild and good perfume.
g. Most importantly, get a few good micro fibre cloth.

Woah. Thanks a lot for these tips. I'm a noob at this and i just wash the car once a month or so and use 3M premium liquid wax after every wash. That apart, jopasu does its duties just before every drive Will try my best to do all the above things you've mentioned although the damages done won't be easy to overlook (a lot of scratches and swirls caused due to improper wash/wax in a 2 year old car). Never performed the claying and sealant part.

[kautilya]

Congratulations @sudeepg and fantastic details in the thread as well. "Porsche" was a nice touch at the end. It is indeed an expensive car; keep it new and enjoy the priced possession.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by kaushik51094

Woah. Thanks a lot for these tips. I'm a noob at this and i just wash the car once a month or so and use 3M premium liquid wax after every wash. That apart, jopasu does its duties just before every drive Will try my best to do all the above things you've mentioned although the damages done won't be easy to overlook (a lot of scratches and swirls caused due to improper wash/wax in a 2 year old car). Never performed the claying and sealant part.

You can also refer to this thread for more tips

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ean-shiny.html

[AtheK]

Superb write up, loved the details.

If you don't mind me asking ,which company do you work for?

[sudeepg]

Took the car to Pratham Service (on Queens Road, Bangalore) to fix one of the issues: Wipers streaking. Here's my experience.

As soon as the S-Cross showed up, everyone including security behaved as though a VIP has arrived. The works manager, Prateesh came and greeted me and took the car into the service. The car was handled very well and I was asked about the issue in detail. They thoroughly cleaned the windshield and checked the wipers. They declared that there is a problem, but unfortunately no wipers in stock due to new model. They advised me to return afternoon or after my trip (coming up this weekend) and promised to replace the wipers under warranty.

The car was given a courtesy cleaning as well.

My experience rating: *****

Originally Posted by AtheK

Superb write up, loved the details.
If you don't mind me asking ,which company do you work for?

PM'd you offline

[amiya.c]

Awesome write up Sudeep.
Congratulations on your new car and wish you lots of happy miles in this blue beauty.

I am very curious to know if you ever considered the Linea T-jet in your research to buy a new car? It would have also ticked most of your requirements except the cabin space and reliability factors.
With S-Cross you compromise on the engine competitiveness and the boot-space that your City offered. Have you got used to this multi-jet or still trying to adapt with it?

[Carpainter]

A hearty congratulation sudeepg for your new acquisition. Blue seems to be the most preferred colour choice for S cross. Happy motoring.

I'd like to ask one question though. Since you loved your previous city so much, why didn't you bother taking a look at the new City? Is it because you wanted something very different or some other reason.

[pannags]

Hey Sudeep, A brilliantly written, detailed review indeed!

Although the S-Cross in blue was the signature launch colour (familiar to many to be precise), it is still makes a great choice

Congratulations and wishing you many happy kilometers on the cool blue X-over!

[lonsharim]

sudeepg, Congratulations on your purchase and safe driving.

I will go back for a test drive sometime next week. Like you the 1.6 S-Cross is ruled out for me, does not make sense to burn that much cash. I am also considering the 1.6 Creta petrol and the newly dressed up Duster Explorer. It was therefore nice to read your perspective.

Originally Posted by Carpainter

Blue seems to be the most preferred colour choice for S cross. Happy motoring.

I visited the NEXA, Palace Orchards, Bangalore. The blue indeed looks stunning. It's easily the best. Also asked the SA on availability. She informed me that most variants and colors are available within the month. I specifically asked for the blue 1.3 and her exact words were, its readily available. She also said that their storeroom was selling an average of 60 cars a month. The ground clearance is better than the sedans but not better than the Creta or the Duster.

[DigitalDragon]

Hearty Congratulations on your sensible buy! The ownership report has been nicely written and covers almost all aspects a prospective buyer would like to know from a customer.

I am in a cross road to decide between S Cross, Creta, Rapid DSG and the upcoming Toyota Vios & Baleno. To me, both Creta and S Cross are over-priced, though.

You mentioned about 3M HRBR, are you residing somewhere nearby? I am based out of Babusapalya.

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by amiya.c

Awesome write up Sudeep.
I am very curious to know if you ever considered the Linea T-jet in your research to buy a new car?

With S-Cross you compromise on the engine competitiveness and the boot-space that your City offered.

Have you got used to this multi-jet or still trying to adapt with it?

I didn't consider the Linea T-Jet for the following reasons (Although a brilliant car)

• Ground clearance is not that great.
• Unsure about service & upkeep costs. I feel european cars are great when it comes to engineering, but not reliability and service.
• Don't like the looks of the car at all. The latest interiors are not that great either and the model has been around for quite a while now.

Earlier, we used to travel heavy, but now since my son is 3 years old, we figured that we travel a lot lighter. Further we 3 are the ones mostly travelling with one or two occasional passengers at times. With a 60:40 split seats, we can manage the space better. Agreed - the engine power is not comparable to the City, but it more than suffices our needs. I have explained further what I plan to do if I feel it's inadequate.

Originally Posted by Carpainter

I'd like to ask one question though. Since you loved your previous city so much, why didn't you bother taking a look at the new City? Is it because you wanted something very different or some other reason.

Great question. In fact I did walk into Whitefield Honda and give it a thought, but ruled out for the following reasons

• My wife was of the opinion that if we wanted to keep the city, kit the existing one and keep it for a long time.
• Service problems with Whitefield Honda. Dakshin, which is much better, is very far away from my home and Office.
• The new city, although better equipped has several problems where as mine would run 364 days a year and sit one day at service and make me poorer only by about 4,000 INR. The new cars have lots of issues according to ownership reports on this forum as well as the service advisors themselves.
• Personally inspecting, the build quality of the new cars is no where near the City I had and what S-Cross has to offer.

Originally Posted by DigitalDragon

I am in a cross road to decide between S Cross, Creta, Rapid DSG and the upcoming Toyota Vios & Baleno. To me, both Creta and S Cross are over-priced, though.
You mentioned about 3M HRBR, are you residing somewhere nearby? I am based out of Babusapalya.

You are in a great soup! I tried to keep my ownership report as a comparative of what I saw in S-Cross vs. Creta. I think anyone who can afford the top end Creta diesel makes a sensible choice, unless you are not so particular about the features and build quality on lower variants. Creta rides better, has great sound insulation and has a very good engine. Rapid DSG is the best of all when it comes to pleasure of driving. Given the current soup VW group is in, I am not sure how many would want to buy a car that will rapidly lose its after market value. For me, the major decision making parameters were

1. Budget
2. Reliability
3. Should have enough engine power for long distance trips
4. Features (Nice to have)

I am not too worried about the 1.3 DDiS engine power at the moment because:

1. After using the car for over a week now, I feel the power is more than adequate enough for me & my family of 3 members. On the highways we touch a max speed of 100-110 and the S-Cross delivers it well. We always prefer relaxed & safe cruising rather than spirited driving. We have a 3 year old on board.
2. If I feel the engine power is inadequate for highway and ghats, I will opt for a remap of the engine from Code 6 to boost its torque. As a consequence, there will be a increase in power output too.

The costing is relative for everyone. For some folks with cash to spare, the 1.6 may be value for money, but most BHPIans feel that 1.6 is overpriced. Some feel that Creta is overpriced where as some have the opinion that it's worth the extra cash when compared with Duster/Safari. So it's all relative my friend. Get a car that fits your need and more importantly satisfies your budgets and also appeals to you every time you drive it.

My 2010 City was 11.3 Lakhs on road and the car had an excellent engine, build quality, reliability and very poor equipment level. I paid 13.88 Lakhs for S-Cross and I get excellent build quality, Maruti Reliability, Equipment and a not so great engine performance out of the box. End of the day, I am extremely happy with the car because it fulfills my needs from a car as of today. With a 3 year old, I have some very important priorities coming ahead and I am not willing to make a compromise there.

I stay in Banaswadi

[DigitalDragon]

You are in a great soup! I tried to keep my ownership report as a comparative of what I saw in S-Cross vs. Creta. I think anyone who can afford the top end Creta diesel makes a sensible choice, unless you are not so particular about the features and build quality on lower variants. Creta rides better, has great sound insulation and has a very good engine. Rapid DSG is the best of all when it comes to pleasure of driving. Given the current soup VW group is in, I am not sure how many would want to buy a car that will rapidly lose its after market value. For me, the major decision making parameters were

1. Budget
2. Reliability
3. Should have enough engine power for long distance trips
4. Features (Nice to have)

I am not too worried about the 1.3 DDiS engine power at the moment because:

1. After using the car for over a week now, I feel the power is more than adequate enough for me & my family of 3 members. On the highways we touch a max speed of 100-110 and the S-Cross delivers it well. We always prefer relaxed & safe cruising rather than spirited driving. We have a 3 year old on board.
2. If I feel the engine power is inadequate for highway and ghats, I will opt for a remap of the engine from Code 6 to boost its torque. As a consequence, there will be a increase in power output too.

The costing is relative for everyone. For some folks with cash to spare, the 1.6 may be value for money, but most BHPIans feel that 1.6 is overpriced. Some feel that Creta is overpriced where as some have the opinion that it's worth the extra cash when compared with Duster/Safari. So it's all relative my friend. Get a car that fits your need and more importantly satisfies your budgets and also appeals to you every time you drive it.

My 2010 City was 11.3 Lakhs on road and the car had an excellent engine, build quality, reliability and very poor equipment level. I paid 13.88 Lakhs for S-Cross and I get excellent build quality, Maruti Reliability, Equipment and a not so great engine performance out of the box. End of the day, I am extremely happy with the car because it fulfills my needs from a car as of today. With a 3 year old, I have some very important priorities coming ahead and I am not willing to make a compromise there.

I stay in Banaswadi

Thanks for your detailed response Sudeep. One question though, when you remap, would it void the warranty?

On 17.xx lacs ORP for Creta top end, why would one not look for Jetta or Altis with even more power, features and premium branding. Yes for people who have money to afford they can afford it but it is certainly not a VFM, again subjective.

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by DigitalDragon

Thanks for your detailed response Sudeep. One question though, when you remap, would it void the warranty?

On 17.xx lacs ORP for Creta top end, why would one not look for Jetta or Altis with even more power, features and premium branding. Yes for people who have money to afford they can afford it but it is certainly not a VFM, again subjective.

Yes, it will void the warranty (provided the service can figure out the change when a warranty claim is made or you openly declare it). CMS on this 85 PS duster thread (which was remapped by Code 6 and had a huge increase in perf) said that he has a good rapport with his service advisor and therefore is not an issue. First of all, it will be hard to notice the remap unless some smart mechanic carefully looks into it. I believe for high end cars, they can figure out if the ECU was flashed by looking at the count of updates. But who really goes to that extent while servicing?

Your second question is perfectly valid, which is why a lot of us feel that S-Cross 1.6 is grossly overpriced. And for that matter, why not even consider XUV500 W8 variant? I was asked on this thread if I considered the XUV W4 variant. So there are a few options in this price bracket and very interesting too! But in the end, it all boils down to what your application is going to be. If you have to carry more than 5 people, then XUV makes sense. If you are jittery about reliability/niggles/services etc and have less than 5 people to carry, then XUV 500 may not be an option. And again, if there is only one car in your home and has to do the daily duties like market runs, would you want an XUV500? It all depends on a case to case basis in my opinion. I am fortunate enough to have an i10 automatic which does all daily duties and thus my need to have some good enough highway performance from the bigger car.


Service Update

Got the wipers replaced from Pratham under warranty. The cost of wiper blades were about 600 for the driver side and about 300 odd for the passenger side. It seems like wiper problems are emerging as one of the issues with the S-Cross. Satishtv and sandygordon also have run into this problem.

[DigitalDragon]

Originally Posted by sudeepg

Yes, it will void the warranty (provided the service can figure out the change when a warranty claim is made or you openly declare it).

Thanks again Sudeep. IIRC I came across about peted 1.3 MJD elsewhere which is kind of plug and play and you can remove the stuff when you take it to the service center. or am I wrong?

Your second question is perfectly valid, which is why a lot of us feel that S-Cross 1.6 is grossly overpriced. And for that matter, why not even consider XUV500 W8 variant?

Agree mostly. I forgot to mention the S Cross along with Creta. Now, I am a huge anti of any Mahindra car. The reliability/niggles/services of Mahindra is definitely there. I am more concerned on safety. While all the bells and whistles are there I have hardly seen any Mahindra vehicle including the XUV taking up any moderate crash, whether frontal or side. If you look at the accident threads, most Mahindra vehicles involved in any crash are barely recognizable. Just try to open a door of XUV and you can feel how thin the sheet metal and overall door itself is vis-a-vis even Maruti cars.

For me it will be my only car and I would probably do a bit of rigorous research before changing. Honestly, my Sunny is doing perfectly fine and I may have to find myself enough ++ in the successor. To name one, I am now at 63000 KM and still my stock clutch plates are doing the job. In case of Maruti (I had SX4 before), I had to change in some 40K odd KMs.

Hunt is on and will update on my decision.

Service Update

Got the wipers replaced from Pratham under warranty. The cost of wiper blades were about 600 for the driver side and about 300 odd for the passenger side. It seems like wiper problems are emerging as one of the issues with the S-Cross. Satishtv and sandygordon also have run into this problem.[/quote]