[ajay_satpute]

I came back from the Nashik trip on Tuesday evening. The entire driving experience on all sorts of roads and in heavy rains was just fantastic. All the properties of the car, such as good ground clearance, fantastic brakes, superb handling and amazing fuel efficiency, make such road trips just wonderful.

The car returned an average FE of ~24 kmpl for the entire trip, which is the best ever for me for any car we have at home.

The car was extremely dirty when I reached back home, so had to be given a thorough wash ASAP.

As dirty as it can get.



After a thorough inside out wash.

[ajay_satpute]

I ordered following items for the S-Cross from Amazon.in.

Cushions
http://www.amazon.in/Raaisin-Comfort...ilpage_o02_s00



** The cushions are of very good quality, especially the neck rests.
** The covers of cushions are of Art leather and seem durable.

Door guards
http://www.amazon.in/AUTO-CAR-WINNER...ilpage_o03_s00

** Decent door guards for the price. 10 times better than the door guards which Maruti forcefully tried to sell to me.




Shark Fin antenna
http://www.amazon.in/Auto-Pearl-Prem...ilpage_o04_s00

** The antenna, even though suitable for S-Cross as per the product description, seems smaller to me. Its a simple DIY fitting job. I hope there is no warranty violation for removing the original antenna.




Will post pics post all the fitment is done.

[ajay_satpute]

Completed 3rd free service.

ODO reading: 9700+

Task list:

• Engine oil - change
• AC Filter - change
• Air filter - change
• Clutch roughness - inspect
• Wheel alignment, balancing & rotation - inspect+change
• General 10,000 KMs checklist - inspect

The car was picked up from my office at 10 AM, as expected. The drive who picked up the car had come on his two wheeler, which is part of dealer's fleet of vehicles it seems. But I told him that I am going to pick up the car myself in the evening. So he left his two wheeler keys with me and took my car to service center. In the evening, I rode his two wheeler to the service center to pick up the car. I kind of liked this arrangement. Saved 200+ INR for me.

Servicing with cleaning was completed by 5 PM as promised. I inspected the car thoroughly and then I paid the bill. Total bill amount - 3730/- INR. Isn't this too less or is this the standard for 3rd free service? Need to find out.

Overall service experience was very good and I gave the SA 10/10 on his feedback form, except for service quality. I told him I will reserve one point there as I need to first use the car to understand the service quality, so he got a 9 there.

The car feels absolutely wonderful now. The transitions between gears are butter smooth, not the gear box transitions, the engine feel. The car has become smoother throughout the range. I drove at some insane speed on Saturday night on the bypass at 10 in the night on a completely empty stretch. It was rocking !

The overall FE in city has gone up by a notch to 17-17.5 range, which is very good, if not excellent. I have heard Fiat owners telling me that the MJD opens up really well as you pile up kms and that seems evident to an extent.

[ajay_satpute]

Odo reading: 13050 kms

The car is running smoothly with absolutely no issues. However, whatever I do, I cannot match some of the fuel efficiency figures mentioned by few members. I have not yet crossed 17.5 kmpl in city conditions. I infact drove extremely sedately for a span of 2 weeks consciously. The FE improved to 17.5 but did not go beyond that.

So I am really shocked to see some 20+ figures reported by other members and that too who hail from Banglore. Pune traffic is still much better than that of Banglore. I am clueless now. All said and done, anything around 17 is a pretty decent FE for a car of Scross' size and weight, IMO.

I am yet to get enough relaxed time to fit the Shark Fin antenna. Hoping to do it soon.

One major thing to get done is to upgrade the firmware of the ECU, so that I can use Android Play Mirror Link and all. Its quite irritating having an entire feature completely unused since day one.

[ajay_satpute]

Crossed 15,000 Kms milestone on 26-May-2017.

The road from Pune to Nashik has improved significantly now. 80% of the road is done and it's done really well. Usually, one needs 5.5 to 6 hours to reach Nashik, irrespective of the time of start of journey from either side.

This time I reached our Nashik home in flat 4 hours, which is a tremendous improvement IMO. This also resulted in a much better fuel efficiency. I got an average of 25.8 kmpl for this trip, which is outstanding.

The rear seat occupants, who had never traveled in SCross before, were extremely satisfied with the ride quality and felt near zero fatigue after reaching the destination.

All in all, another feather in the cap.

[ajay_satpute]

20,000 KMs service completed.

Finally, I managed to send my Scross for 20,000 KMs service. Even though ODO reading was 19.5k, it was more than 10,000 KMs since last service.

List of things got done:

• Engine oil
• Brake oil
• All kinds of filters replaced
• Coolant
• Clutch bleeding (On request)
• Wheel balancing, rotation
• Windshield washer nozzle clean-up
• Cleaning

Total bill: 10,450/- INR


Overall, a fantastic experience, true to Maruti's image in Indian market. Professional, friendly, and prompt.


This time the car was cleaned really really well. Almost as good as 3M would do. Car feels solid and eager now after the much needed service. We are planning for a long road trip in coming months and now the car is all set for it.

[ajay_satpute]

Finally, 20,000 KMs crossed on the odo.

It took a leisurely 2 years exactly to cross the milestone. Leisurely in comparison to other SCross owners. However, I have been driving the Scross daily to office and back and it is also the official weekend car. So it has never been idle since day one, except when I was out of India for 3 weeks.

After 2 years and 20,000 KMs, I am thoroughly satisfied with the product. Be it fuel efficiency, passenger comfort, sound output from the music system, Android Auto performance, braking, ride quality and many more.

Would I recommend SCross to anyone? Obviously YES ! Its one heck of a product. It makes much more sense compared to the superhit Brezza IMHO. Brezza is low on quality and features, in spite of costing almost similar.

[ajay_satpute]

Insurance policy is renewed. Total premium = 20,120/- INR including Zero Dep.

Valid From: 20-Nov-2017
Valid From: 20-Nov-2018

I renewed it directly from www.marutiinsurance.com site. The dealer had quoted me ~22k, so I probably saved 2K INR.

For some reason, the policy cannot be renewed directly from Bajaj Allianz. I got a message, that this policy can only be renewed at dealer level. Not sure, if this is normal or some kind of scam.

[ajay_satpute]

It all started with this,



It happened first on 26-March and then again on 10-April. It's a scary experience, especially you are in the middle of a mess at a crowded junction.

I booked for an appointment on 12th April 2018 at Sai Service Hinjewadi, Pune. I have been servicing my SCross here since day one. So far, I have had a decent experience at this service center. But, this time, it was the worst experience so far.

Job # 1:
I reached the service center at 8:30 AM. SA came and started checking and noting down the usual points. He then tried to start the car and Kaput ! Again, the same error message and the car won't start. This was in a way good as the issue got reproduced in front of him. Obviously, battery was the culprit, or at least one of the main culprits. I told him to replace the battery, whether or not it is covered under warranty. Very clear instruction !!! (At least, I thought so)

Job # 2:
Only one of the horns of the dual horn were functional. So, i told him to check and replace if required.

Job # 3:
Upgrade headlight bulbs to Philips Extreme Vision.

SA said that he will check with his seniors and Nexa dealer, whether battery is covered under extended warranty or not. I had hoped that SAs should have this knowledge. He said he will give me a call by 12 pm to confirm the same. I did not receive any call till 1:30 PM, so I gave him a call. He said, he is checking and the mechanic has gone to dealer to confirm regarding battery and SA himself was out on some other work.

I waited till 3 PM and gave him a call again. At this point, SA said that he will call back in 5 minutes. He called me back and told me that battery is not covered under warranty. He took 6 and a half hours to get such a basic information. First irritating point.

I told him to replace the battery and that I will collect the car by 5 PM. I called him again while I was on the way and SA said that car will be ready in 10 minutes .

I reached service center at 5:20 PM and the car was NOT ready. He said they are cleaning the car and will take some 15 minutes. I said that I will at least pay the bill in the mean time.

Issue # 1:
When SA sat down to explain the bill, I saw AMRON battery on the bill. The whole day, we discussed about EXIDE battery and I came to know that he had put AMRON battery, right at the end, when I was about to pay the bill. Very poor communication. I asked what the hell is this and why did you not inform me. I told him that I do not have problem with the brand, but communication problem. He accepted and said that Exide was not in stock (he had said that battery is in stock at least 5 times on the phone). So he replaced with AMRON and said that AMRON is much economical compared to EXIDE. Even though this point is correct, it is still a communication mistake.

Issue # 2:
The car got ready after 40 minutes. SA had said that car will be ready in 15 minutes at 5 PM, but I actually received the car at 6:10 PM. Too much unnecessary delay.

Issue # 3:
He opened the boot to show the new battery, which looked fine to me. However, I noticed that the thing with a sponge on it in the RHS corner was completely off the screw and was hanging lose. SE fixed it after I pointed it out.

Issue # 4:
Of the two wipers, the left one had bent and was sitting right on top of the windshield in off mode. SE came with screw driver and spanner and fixed the wiper.

Issue # 5:
Horn issue was NOT fixed !!! What the hell was this guy doing the whole day was beyond my imagination. There were just 3 tasks to be done and he could not do one of those. He apologized and said that he will fixed it right away. I told him that it is already too late and I need to go somewhere. He said he will give me a call next day and send a mechanic at home. I am still waiting for the call after 4 days.

Issue # 6:
Touch screen stopped working. I could not change mode, I could not call anyone from the call list, volume control was not working. I switched off and on the engine but it did not work. Finally, I did reset (by pressing the Settings and Home button together for 10 seconds) and the screen was functional after that.

Issue # 7:
In the morning, when I dropped the car, SA asked me if I wanted the car to be cleaned after servicing. I was surprised and told him that this is the most basic task and he should not even be asking me. But he was adamant and said that this was a basic servicing and not the full fledged servicing activity so cleaning will be charged at 400 INR. I told him that I don't need it and I will get it cleaned outside for 200 INR.
But, as mentioned above, when I reached the service center, the car was getting thoroughly cleaned. Did Maruti change their policy in 6 hours? I asked SA what happened suddenly and why did he give a long lecture on Maruti's policy in the morning. He said that he is compensating for the communication problem. I accepted the apology and told him that policy or no policy, any car that comes to a service center should be cleaned by default, as a simple good gesture on behalf of the service center.

Overall, a poor experience which makes me think, where will I go for next servicing. Well, I can give the service one more chance to rectify these mistakes and let's see how things go.

The car now starts well in a fraction of a second and brakes also feel good. Hopefully, there will be no issues when I travel out of Pune on the highways next week.

Total cost of servicing: 7450/-
Amron battery: 4850 /-
Philips Extreme vision headlight bulbs: 960/-
General servicing including brake bleeding and other 30 checkpoints and labour: ~800/-
Remaining cost: GST

[vellat sasi]

Upgrade headlight bulbs to Philips Extreme Vision.
Philips Extreme vision headlight bulbs: 960/- QUOTE]

I am sorry you had such a bad experience. I had several really bad experiences in Delhi with one of the so called 'best' service units, Rana Motors. I walked out from their service and used a Maruti owned franchise 'Maruti Service Masters'. Their cleaning is not up to the mark but the rest of the service and their backup support is really appreciative. Real upgraded service.

Would appreciate your experience with the new bulbs. Are they worth the upgrade?

much thanks

Sasi

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by vellat sasi

Upgrade headlight bulbs to Philips Extreme Vision.
Philips Extreme vision headlight bulbs: 960/- QUOTE]

Would appreciate your experience with the new bulbs. Are they worth the upgrade?
Sasi

Sorry for the late response.

The upgrade is worth it. I can clearly feel that the power and throw of the light is much better than the stock bulbs. In terms of percentage, it's approximately 50% improvement. Also, these bulbs are MGA authorized.

[vellat sasi]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Sorry for the late response.

The upgrade is worth it. I can clearly feel that the power and throw of the light is much better than the stock bulbs. In terms of percentage, it's approximately 50% improvement. Also, these bulbs are MGA authorized.

Thank you. I will get them changed for my S Cross.

Sasi

[ajay_satpute]

While I was driving from Kolhapur to Pune on the NH4, just about 15 kms away from Pune, the AC cooling stopped suddenly. I switched it on and off a few times, changed temperature to 19 degrees, increased fan speed to the fastest possible, still there was no cold air from the AC vents. Then I saw that the engine temperature needle was beyond H, i.e. it was even over hottest. After few minutes, I started getting burning smell.

So I pulled over on a service road and opened the bonnet. I was shocked that the coolant tank was completely empty. I waited for 10 minutes at the stop and kept the bonnet open. The engine temperature was down to normal and I started driving the car back home, at 30 kmph speed. I reached home safely and called up Maruti care. They sent a team at my home to check the issue and the pipe below the engine had cracked and the coolant was all over the engine bay. The team suggested that I should not drive the car any more and get it towed to service center.

I called up crane service company and arranged for flat bed truck. They arranged for a zero degree truck, which is better than even flat bed trucks. I reached service center at 11:30 AM today and explained the problem to the SE. He was the same SE who was in-charge of my car’s last servicing on 12-Apr-2018. He was a bit scared whether I will complaint to his superior. But unfortunately, his manager reached my car as he had seen the car being brought down from tow truck. He asked me about when was the last service done and I told him that on 12-Apr. So he started asking a lot of direct questions to the SE and asked him whether he inspected the car properly last time.

Right now, nothing is known regarding the root cause of the pipe cracking open suddenly. They are investing and they will let me know soon regarding the exact problem. I hope it’s not something major. I have no idea what will be covered under the extended warranty.

Fingers crossed !


I am starting to lose the faith in reliability (bullet proof???) of Maruti. This was a 3rd major problem and 3rd breakdown call to Nexa in just 26700 KMs. MY 4 Lakhs Rs Tata Vista had only one issue at 60000 KMs, when the clutch pad had to be replaced. So in comparison, the car which costed almost 3 times the money, is not living upto its worth and Maruti's reliability image. Hope this is the last issue.



Scross getting loaded on the Zero Degree Truck:

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Right now, nothing is known regarding the root cause of the pipe cracking open suddenly. T

Has the pipe cracked or is the issue with the Thermostat crack( adapter at outlet) ? If so there are a few reported cases of such and must be covered under warranty ( design change )

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Has the pipe cracked or is the issue with the Thermostat crack( adapter at outlet) ? If so there are a few reported cases of such and must be covered under warranty ( design change )

Fortunately, only the Thermostat valve needs to be replaced, which according to the SE is a minor repair. I will get my car back in the evening. I have told them to inspect the assembly as much as possible to check for wear and tear.