[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by audioholic

The only niggle now is a creaky exhaust when accelerating and braking hard.

Guess you need to check the exhaust pipe rubber mountings.

Regards,
Shashi

[k88k]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Overall, I am quite happy with the car. For the price, the product has come way forward compared to Maruti standards and as a daily drive, this makes a strong contender. The car has excellent highway manners, but does not like being loaded up. The character changes when I drive solo and when there are co passengers, especially the heavier ones.

I have done 14500 kms in 7.5 months with my car and it has been 60,Highway:40,City driving ratio.

I can't agree more with @audioholic on the highway manners of the car. It really feel planted and you can cruise at 100-110 kmph with ease. I have managed to hit the top mileage figure of 21.5 kmpl and currently averaging at 18~18.5 kmpl. My trips have almost always been with luggage loaded to the brim and have felt the car struggle sometimes, especially at inclines. When Solo you can have a ball with this car and switching to Manual mode and pushing the car makes it much more fun.

Areas of improvement:

-Seats: They are THIN and lack on back or thigh support! Long drives definitely call for 1.5~2 hourly once breaks, for stretching.
-Storage space: The car easily runs out of storage spaces. The glove box is quite deep though. Plan to accessorize it with a center arm rest.
-NVH levels: Road noise is quite noticeable at higher speeds. Planning on thicker carpets and/or under body coating (need to check if it really helps before taking the plunge).

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Guess you need to check the exhaust pipe rubber mountings.

Regards,
Shashi

Thats an issue with the exhaust O rings. The mounts are good. The O ring wears out due to hard driving. Then when the pipe expands due to heat, the ring starts brushing against the pipe and starts creaking. The sound was gone when they replaced the ring but after around 3k kms of driving, it is back. Will get the issue fixed on my own in FNG.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by audioholic

It is bound to come down further as my Garage is planned to expand by a bit soon. That time I see the monthly usage might almost halve of the current

With a plan of adding two more wheels to my garage, the attention may shift from now on. That, when the plan executes given my work and travel schedule.

So the garage expansion finally happened and I brought home this one exactly 14 months after the car was brought. The Celerio was delivered on 12/08/2016, while I got home a new Kawasaki Ninja on 12/10/2017. My dio coincidentally was delivered on 12/11/2013. So each 12th of the month one vehicle turns a year older. More on the bike sometime in a thread, when time permits.

[HappyWheels]

Thanks for the detailed review, @audioholic!

Getting the wife a Celerio ZXi AMT (O); should be home later this week or early next week.

It was a toss between TATA Tiago AMT and this; but due to lack of interest from the TATA dealer, never got to see that vehicle. With that knocked off, the Celerio was a natural choice.

Glad to know its handling capabilities and how it is holding up post one year.

[audioholic]

20000kms update - Service:
I covered the first 10k kms within 8 months, but like I had mentioned earlier, the usage of the car came down, and it took 12 months for the next 10k clicks on the odo. As the car approached closer to 20k kms and I had a couple of more travels planned, I got the 20k service done last weekend.

Service updates:

• 20k service involves replacing engine oil, oil filter, air filter, coolant, brake fluid. In addition I got the AC filter replaced.
• I was running on synthetic oil earlier, but those guys had no idea about such an oil existing(0W20 shell fully synthetic) and I had to settle for their castrol semi synth. I will get it replaced at my friends garage since the shell oil made a difference that the Castrol didnt make. That is how it can be put in simple words.
• The clutch had a mild judder, but I was offered a replacement immediately. However, I decided to hold on until it became unbearable.
• The brake pads of my car were worn out, especially two which were having around 10% life left. This is mainly due to hard braking on the highways, since most of the times it is driven without passengers and that gives me the freedom to push it harder. There was a mild vibration during braking which was due to some of the friction material breaking off the base.
• The worst part was that the new brake pads cost 2.2k, which is a steep hike compared to before. I had replaced my SX4 brake pads for 1.8k sometime back. Wonder why it became so expensive.
• Good part of the service was that the extra add ons are now gone and the paid service labour is now 1750.
• Total cost of the service was 7200 out of which the big chunk was the brake pads.

I also purchased the fifth year warranty for the car which was 3150 since I was unsure of the reliability of the AMT module and though I plan to sell it before that, I did not want to give the new owner some surprises and a potential for anger and frustration in case the AMT fails after the car is sold.

I checked into the service center at around 9:30, stayed there till the service was over and drove out at 12:30. They have installed RFID scanners all over the place and can track the movement of the car. Not sure how they are implementing the whole thing though.

The car:
The car on the whole has been performing well. There arent any rattles till date and the front bumper has taken some scars due to Bangalore road manners. Apart from that, the AMT has taken up abuse very well, especially since it spends quite some time in bumper to bumper traffic and I dont look twice before I demand a gearshift from the car.

Over time, the AMT has adapted very well to my driving style and now there are no more early upshifts. It holds in second gear upto 40kmph and third upto 60. Fifth comes only above 70kmph that too if I ease off the pedal. This makes the engine stay in its comfort zone and provide good acceleration without early upshift and back hunting gears.

If not for the issue with the clutch judder, I am pretty happy about the car.

Planning to replace the bumper and then do some TLC to the paint, hopefully I get time for all that.

[sairamboko]

Audioholic - this thread has been the guide for me!! I drive my dad's Wagon r and my personal issues are sorted and now its time for my own car. I used to drive an Alto K10 AMT but sold it because of my personal issues. I am planning for the ZXi (O) MT variant, as i feel AMT wont be needed. The car will be used for my daily commute which is around 15 kms a day. This will expand to 80kms next year this time. I need a car now but cant afford diesel too. I am still confused between the Wagon R VXi+ (O) and Celerio ZXi(O). Both are same K10 engines. Hows the NVH in Celerio as compared to the tall boy?

Edit: Hows the highway driving comfort especially for the driver? From next year June, i need to commute 80kms in a day and will celerio be comfortable?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

Audioholic - this thread has been the guide for me!! I drive my dad's Wagon r and my personal issues are sorted and now its time for my own car. I used to drive an Alto K10 AMT but sold it because of my personal issues. I am planning for the ZXi (O) MT variant, as i feel AMT wont be needed. The car will be used for my daily commute which is around 15 kms a day. This will expand to 80kms next year this time. I need a car now but cant afford diesel too. I am still confused between the Wagon R VXi+ (O) and Celerio ZXi(O). Both are same K10 engines. Hows the NVH in Celerio as compared to the tall boy?

Edit: Hows the highway driving comfort especially for the driver? From next year June, i need to commute 80kms in a day and will celerio be comfortable?

If your choice is only between the two, it will be Celerio any day. Not because I currently own one, but I have owned a WagonR before and apart from the cabin space in the WagonR, the Celerio is superior in all other aspects, be it NVH, refinement, handling, braking, highway behaviour etc. The only place where the WagonR slightly leads is in rear seat comfort. The Celerio is more bumpier.

For me, the car is mainly used with one or two passengers both on the highway or city. It is rarely loaded completely. Hence, the rear seat comfort is not a big deal. However, your priority may differ. If this is mainly used on the highway, then I feel that the power is lacking. Especially if you want the manual variant of the car, then it will make things worse since the car will require frequent downshifts on the highway. At least in the AMT, all I have to do is to floor the pedal and it gets going. But in the manual, this will be an irritant. For sedate driving, the power is sufficient enough. But I personally feel it lacks punch for the highway, especially if you are loading it with 2+ passengers. Driving alone, I feel the power is sufficient for cruising at the 100 mark with faster bursts to overtake. Instead, if budget permits, get the Ignis or the Swift. The 1.2L engine will be far better on the highway and it wont affect economy much, since the K12 is equally efficient and more refined.

[sairamboko]

Originally Posted by audioholic

If your choice is only between the two, it will be Celerio any day. Not because I currently own one, but I have owned a WagonR before and apart from the cabin space in the WagonR, the Celerio is superior in all other aspects, be it NVH, refinement, handling, braking, highway behaviour etc. The only place where the WagonR slightly leads is in rear seat comfort. The Celerio is more bumpier.

For me, the car is mainly used with one or two passengers both on the highway or city. It is rarely loaded completely. Hence, the rear seat comfort is not a big deal. However, your priority may differ. If this is mainly used on the highway, then I feel that the power is lacking. Especially if you want the manual variant of the car, then it will make things worse since the car will require frequent downshifts on the highway. At least in the AMT, all I have to do is to floor the pedal and it gets going. But in the manual, this will be an irritant. For sedate driving, the power is sufficient enough. But I personally feel it lacks punch for the highway, especially if you are loading it with 2+ passengers. Driving alone, I feel the power is sufficient for cruising at the 100 mark with faster bursts to overtake. Instead, if budget permits, get the Ignis or the Swift. The 1.2L engine will be far better on the highway and it wont affect economy much, since the K12 is equally efficient and more refined.

Thanks Audiholic!! This makes sense!! I am under strict budget of 6 lakhs and Celerio is exceeding it by 30k already. Hence unable to stretch further. This car will be driven in highways occasionally with my family onboard. I am not a power driver and having driven my dad's wagon r for the past 6 months, I can understand the lack of power in Celerio. Not a deal breaker for me. Thanks again! I think now i am clear of which car to chose

[jetsetgo08]

Audioholic, sorry to hijack this thread. But, when someone is at such crossroads of Wagon R vs Celerio, I consider myself eligible to answer.

Originally Posted by sairamboko

Audioholic - this thread has been the guide for me!! I drive my dad's Wagon r and my personal issues are sorted and now its time for my own car. ....
I am still confused between the Wagon R VXi+ (O) and Celerio ZXi(O). Both are same K10 engines. Hows the NVH in Celerio as compared to the tall boy?

Edit: Hows the highway driving comfort especially for the driver? From next year June, i need to commute 80kms in a day and will celerio be comfortable?

The issue is that neither Celerio nor Wagon R has a suspension that is tuned for highways/speeds. These cars tend to feel floaty at speeds.

So, please do try the Tiago before settling on either of the Maruti's or if you still want a Maruti, Ignis Delta/Sigma with the current ongoing discounts. Trust me, you will not regret either of Tiago/Ignis. Both these cars are way better when compared to the Wagon R/Celerio.

[sairamboko]

Originally Posted by jetsetgo08

So, please do try the Tiago before settling on either of the Maruti's or if you still want a Maruti, Ignis Delta/Sigma with the current ongoing discounts. Trust me, you will not regret either of Tiago/Ignis. Both these cars are way better when compared to the Wagon R/Celerio.

Thanks for the suggestion!! I have ruled out tiago because of its lack of refinement in petrol engines. Ignis is not in my list. The Delta variant seems to be a good package and the cost in lease EMI compared to celerio is less. Let me check it out and see.

[sairamboko]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

Thanks for the suggestion!! I have ruled out tiago because of its lack of refinement in petrol engines. Ignis is not in my list. The Delta variant seems to be a good package and the cost in lease EMI compared to celerio is less. Let me check it out and see.

Unable to edit my post. Just now back from the test drive of ignis and I am sold!! Delta variant costs cheaper than Celerio zxi (o) after discounts!! Thanks to both of you for your suggestions!! Will be booking the car next week

[sairamboko]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

Unable to edit my post. Just now back from the test drive of ignis and I am sold!! Delta variant costs cheaper than Celerio zxi (o) after discounts!! Thanks to both of you for your suggestions!! Will be booking the car next week

The dealer messed up with the discounts, saying most of them are not eligible as I am going with car lease and this will lead to not taking Maruti insurance! So i was offered just 15k worth of discounts!!

This made ignis beyond my budget!! Back to square one. Consulted with my dad and booked a wagonr VXi+ O variant. Why wagonr again you may ask? The comfort of getting in and out and the sitting comfort is not matched by other cars according to my parents. The car lease process takes around 15 days to process. The car is available in the stockyard and delivery will be given once the lease is processed. Thank you for your inputs audiholic and jetsetgo!!

[audioholic]

I came across this ad by Blaupunkt speaking of a Diwali offer and heavy price cuts on their HUs. I was no longer interested in mounting a phone somewhere and trying to keep its screen running for navigation. Hence, the thought of an ICE upgrade was running in my mind on random occasions. The stock HU of the Celerio was never disappointing WRT its output nor with its integration. Almost everything was perfect right be it connectivity options, bluetooth music as well as clear phone calls, flawless pairing with phone and very decent sound output. Not amazing, since I spend quite some time sitting in cars with a truckload of speakers all over the cabin. But still, for a person who didnt want to rip out the car for a sound upgrade, this music system was more than enough. In comparison, the stock system in my SX4 is nothing but pathetic and it is switched off most of the times while I enjoy the engine note.

Coming back to the BP(Blaupunkt) ad I came across, I saw the Monte Carlo 750 for the first time which earlier was listed at around Rs. 33k but cut down to 16k with some additional discount for online purchase. Now that was significant. I was in Germany during that time and I was not able to check out the product in real. The first glimpse of the HU was pretty impressive, it offered whatever I needed, especially Apple Carplay and Android Auto. But I could not find a single review of the HU anywhere. That also made me put up this thread . I was still a few weeks away from home and really had no plans of swapping a HU in either car. However, I gave it a shot and purchased the HU without even planning where to put it in.

Alternatives available:
At this price point, there is no other HU available with Apple CarPlay. Pioneer has a HU available at 25k MRP which has more features, but comes with a resistive touch screen. The MC750 has a capacitive touch screen with a superb response. Another alternative an Android HU from Aliexpress which is built to match the same shape and size as of the stock music system which looks very good, like it came from the factory itself. It also comes with a truckload of features and interfaces. This was always my interest but I was unsure of how well it would integrate with the car as well as my phone since we do not use Android phones at home and CarPlay makes pairing the phone so simple and works like a charm. Android HUs also come from many brands and it was not possible for me to find any first person reviews and if there were any warranty issues, it would be tedious to send the item back to China and work on a claim. Hence, the major plus points which made me buy this HU are:

• Brand and warranty support readily available through service centers
• Confidence on product and sound quality compared to an unbranded Chinese HU
• Capacitive touch display
• Apple CarPlay
• Ready to use with Steering controls
• Clean front panel without buttons and excess light accents
• VFM quotient
• Link to product page: https://www.blaupunkt.com/in/nc/prod.../single/17071/

Purchase experience:
I purchased the HU directly from Blaupunkt India through a portal of theirs. This portal was new to me and after the payment happened there was nothing but a payment mail from the portal without further details. This was Saturday night IIRC. On the following Monday, I finally got a confirmation mail directly from BP India and they informed me they would ship the HU shortly. The HU was shipped through Bluedart and reached my home in two days whereas I still had more than two weeks before I returned home.

Purchase experience with Boodmo:
Initially, I was unsure of where to use the HU so I ordered dashboard fascia for both my SX4 and Celerio from Boodmo.com. They were inexpensive, at Rs. 60 each. More on the boodmo experience later. I ordered the face plate for both the cars from them. While they shipped the part of the Celerio quite quickly, they never got hold of the same for SX4. What is worse is, while the part reached me in the first week of november, I returned only by the end of november by when the return window was closed. When I opened the parcel, I was shocked to find that the condition of the face plate was pathetic. They had sent me a used part full of scratches, faded color and dust. When I contacted their support, they gave me a standard reply saying I can return it, even without checking that the return window had closed. When I informed them of that, they just sent a regret mail saying nothing can be done in this case. What is more bizarre is that the images of the product they have put up on their own website has the damage, which means they sent the same piece to me. Only after the CEO intervened, they got to their senses and offered me an apology and a refund, which was not a huge amount in the first place.

By then I had already visited the MGP store in my neighbourhood and inquired about the parts. Both the parts were in stock in their head office and they got it for me the next day. They were fresh stock in good condition. I then realised that just visiting the spare parts store would have been a better idea at the first place.

[audioholic]

Wiring preparation:
To take care of the wiring and installation, I had also ordered a Suzuki compatible connector from Aliexpress to break out from the factory harness. I planned to prepare a harness on my own based on the pinouts. I replied to the order confirmation from BP India asking them the wiring material that was provided in the box. To this they replied telling that they would send car specific harness complementary with the HU. This was a good move though I was still curious to see what they would send since I was unsure if they would take care of the Steering control part.


The Aliexpress seller however, didnt send the product according to description. I had ordered an audio connector for Suzuki along with a converter for the antenna. What was sent to me was a Suzuki to ISO audio harness which just had the basic power connections and speaker connections. However, the required signals were more. Here is a list of signals provided by the stock connector of Celerio/SX4:


In the SX4 pin number 12 is unused since the illumination brightness isnt adjustable, while my non VVT SX4 does not provide VSS signal at 18 for speed based volume control. It also does not get a third connection from Steering wheel control at pin 8(more on this later). The USB port, Aux-In, Mic reach the stock HU via dedicated connectors. The pinouts for these are fairly simple. Thankfully, the harness sent by Blaupunkt had whatever was required by their head unit, except the FM antenna.

Unboxing and trial:
The HU came well packed and was sealed. The complimentary harness was packed separately and enclosed in a bigger box. A detailed invoice along with a warranty card came with the package. Inside the box was a load of cables for various connections,

1. Head unit to ISO Harness which includes all the power and stock speaker outputs along with parking brake input, reverse input ad
2. Steering wheel controls input
3. External Mic in with cable
4. 3 pairs of Pre-amp outputs along with a trigger for amplifier
5. Aux video/audio in, Rear view camera in, power for rear view camera

In addition to this, there is a compact IR Remote with the basic buttons which again is of no use to me. They sent me a converter from the stock coupler to ISO, which had to be plugged into harness #1 above. That will satisify all the basic input requirements. This made the job very easy.

Irrespective of whether we do the wiring ourself or use a ready made adapter or harness, its always good to check if the connections are correct. This is definitely a must for the power connections since there could be two chances, one the HU receiving power on a pin it is not supposed to, and two the vehicle getting return current on a wire it is not supposed to. Its not always safe to assume that the ready made harness is flawless or your manufacturer has not made changes to wiring.

First trials using the faceplates:
SX4:



Celerio:


I decided to test the system out in the Celerio so that I can first check out how it is.

Installation in the car:
Installation was pretty simple because there was nothing much to be done other than:

• Remove the silver colored dash trim
• Unscrew AC vents and remove them along with the Hazard warning light switch
• Disconnect coupler for the Hazard switch
• Unscrew the Head unit mounting screws which can be accessed from the opening created by removing AC vents
• Pull out the stock head unit and disconnect coupler
• Remove the mounting brackets from the stock head unit
• Attach the faceplate to the brackets
• Mount the BP head unit onto the bracket and align them flush with the faceplate and screw them in
• This completes the preparation of the BP head unit for fitting it into the dash
• Plug in the harness appropriately to the factory harness and the FM antenna and other connections if applicable
• Insert the HU into the slot and reverse the above steps to put everything back in place

Before screwing everything in place, it will be a good idea to power up the whole setup and just check everything works as expected. At this point of time, I have left many interfaces open.

• Currently using the onboard mic, which seems to be pretty good with calls and Siri as well. Future plan is to mostly use the stock mic inside the car, or use the external mic supplied inside the cabin light assembly. I dont want the external mic sticking out into the cabin in some corner
• Havent used the Aux inputs, and have left the factory aux pin unused. Until now, I have never used it even in the stock HU and hence will not consider connecting it.

Since the USB ports are pigtails from the HU, I have left the mass storage port inside the glove box with a USB stick, while the port for phone is randomly in the passenger footwell(never leave a cable dangling in the driver footwell. I will later connect this to the stock USB port installed in the car and use its functionality and mounting position to be clean and also safe.

Steering wheel controls:
As I mentioned earlier, the Monte carlo is compatible with steering controls. It has a 3.5mm analogue input into the HU to which there is a breakout cable from the stock coupler to the 3.5mm jack. The steering controls are analogue, ie resistance based which differ for each key. The head unit can be programmed to learn the various keys and voila, the setup is done. No need of any adapter and such. Here is a short video which literally takes just a minute to get the controls synced with the car. Wierd thing is that the stock HU uses three pins for the steering controls, while the BP does good with two pins. Not sure what was the logic behind this since two pins are good for varying resistance for various keys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kk9MNl9jQw

Steering wheel controls are now setup:



Update:
I ordered a camera from amazon(https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B07...?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and installed it. This was one of the better cameras with respect to resolution and lens and came to my hands for Rs. 1.3k. I opted for this design since I did not want to drill the bumper. Wiring for the camera was a little tedious since it runs along the entire length of the car. I do not have pictures of the installation since I do it single handedly and I do not like the idea of touching my phone with greasy hands. Hence, please bear with me for this however if you have any questions then please feel free to ask. Here are some pictures of the output: