[ptaneja]

Update on Accessories and Daily use after market products !

1.
For regular wash, its the standard 3M Car Shampoo. Good lather, easy to wash off, and gets the job done.

Amazon Link


2. I have not got the PPF or Graphene/Ceramic coating done, as I prefer getting the detailing done once in 6 months rather than a film. For own DIY, have purchased Turtle Ceramic spray at just 1400 rs, and its great for short term.
Wash the car, clay it if its just too rough, and then just 2 to 3 sprays per panel.
Buff it off with Microfiber.
It lasts easily with good water beading effect for 2 months already with rough, dusty highway driving.

Amazon Link for purchasing it.


3. One more absolutely amazing product from Turtle, which I am amazed to use. The spray from bottle comes out in foam, and cover up the tire with it. Wait for about 30 seconds, and scrub it if needed.
Wash it off, and you'll be amazed to see all dirst/brown layer peeling off from the tire. Color will be back to jet black - as it was just new.

Amazon Link for purchasing it.


4. My seat covers are in light beige color. And found an excellent product to clean them out without too much of effort.
Just spray it, wait for 30 seconds and wipe off.
Not sure if pictures will do the justice or not, but practically it just cleans off without any manual labour.

Link for purchasing - https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B09...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Condition of Seat before cleaning -




Condition of Seat after cleaning -






5. I had purchased this decal long back, and just found it buried away in a drawer somewhere.




6. Got the side beadings ordered from Boodmo, and these are Ertiga beadings. Size matches and can work for Carens too. The only reason is to protect doors from getting minor dents from nearby parked vehicles.
The original color is black with chrome inserts.

Link - https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-side_beeding-56860505/

To make it more pleasing, have got them painted Silver colour, but did not have a chance to get them pasted.






7. And here is an addition to family - for daily city traffic commutes, Swift AMT.

[ptaneja]

Just a small minor update - been using secondary cars for daily city running, so Carens ODO is still limited.

About 9 months of ownership, and have completed 8500kms, and with the existing old issues fixed, there are no pending niggles.

[ptaneja]

A small update !

Rear Guard
Got a rear guard installed. Selected toughened ABS plastic, not too heavy, and will not safeguard from any major impact. This is useful in only day to day bike/scooters touching the bumper at red lights.
Looks are of course subjective - but none look good, just that it is beneficial.
Also, rear guard is not objected by traffic police, and does not affect any sensor/airbags/rear camera etc.
Cost - 3500 including installation.







Interior Lamination
Second update being that the inner dashboard glossy black, grey section on dashboard, all door grey areas, glossy black around gear and steering section are laminated.
I am finally able to get rid of horrible white company fitted film around HU. Work done is awesome, unless closely monitored the film is unrecognizable. Would gladly recommend this to NCR folks if need to get it done.
The guy has promised a shelf life of about 24 months.
Cost - 1500 for everything.

[Jangra]

Originally Posted by ptaneja

Also, rear guard is not objected by traffic police, and does not affect any sensor/airbags/rear camera etc.

You sure? Last year my cousin was fined 2k for the bumper guard in Gurgaon citing rear and front. When it comes to these rules, Delhi and NCR is super strict. May be a nice idea to stop by a cop and ask him, it could be one way to confirm the theory. Lot of time cops appreciate the inquiry and will not fine you if that is an offence.
Drive safe

[ptaneja]

Originally Posted by Jangra

You sure?May be a nice idea to stop by a cop and ask him, it could be one way to confirm the theory.

Almost sure you can say.

I have asked three different traffic police personnel in random, and all three were ok with it. Legally, quite possible it's banned - but practically traffic police will not stop you just for it, more possibly because it would be visible only when you have passed them.

So yea, Installation is a bit in grey area, but I'll take that risk - anyday better than bikers touching rear bumper on red light and mouthing "sorry, nothing happened "...

[07CR]

Originally Posted by ptaneja

A small update !
Selected toughened ABS plastic, not too heavy, and will not safeguard from any major impact
[

More than the cops catching you, are you sure of the above? I mean are you just going by the word of Installer? Stock Rear bumpers are designed to soak up as much impact as possible and the crumple zones might not work as intended because of this aftermarket installation.

[ptaneja]

Originally Posted by 07CR

More than the cops catching you, are you sure of the above? I mean are you just going by the word of Installer? Stock Rear bumpers are designed to soak up as much impact as possible and the crumple zones might not work as intended because of this aftermarket installation.

Ahh no, nothing like that - not going by the installer, infact the shop was searched and selected after making my decission to install it.
This is not a sturdy iron girder which will not bend/break/deform on impact, and therefore passing along all the impact force to chassis. This is just a minor prevention for bikers rear ending it - that too when they are at red light or at low speed - this will break up on harder impact.

[ptaneja]

So, it was a routine travel plan - had some work in NCR, and plan was to return back to Shimla - but this time via the new "Trans Haryana Expressway".

Map -




Finished off our official work, and by that time it was around 2:30pm or so.

The trip started off with two adversaries -

Climatic Factor -

Slight drizzle has started - something unheard of in Northern Plains in the month of March end.
Before we reached Western Peripheral Expressway crossing, the slight drizzle escalated to heavy rain accompanied with hailstorm.
The sound of ice balls hitting the metallic roof was deafening - accompanied with almost zero visibility. I was apprehensive as to what sort of damage the metal sheet will endure and unfortunately there was no covered spot to park.

https://youtu.be/97fwJ-dDVZw

Man Made Disaster -
This factor is not natural - but solely because of zero accountability, lacklustre government will to improve the situation - year upon year.
Heavy rain and hailstorm for a couple of hours caused HUGE waterlogging all across. It was so intense, that I had no chance of moving ahead, and had almost the same fate if I plan to turn back and not proceed.

The water was up to half to full tire height, with waves of muddy water crashing into the car and rocking it when someone tried to drive from the opposite lane.
I was almost sure that the car would stop and the engine would die - even after my continued effort to keep the accelerator pressed, so as the water did not ingress into the tail pipe, I was not able to, because of traffic and standstill situation.
At one point the level of water was up to the bonet mark - the car spluttered multiple times, ESP light kept blinking as the tyres probably lost traction, and clutch/brake felt like a sponge !



I was able to get some sample videos from dashcam - they of course do not do justice to the actual scare !

Google Maps had us take numerous detours, and almost everywhere the situation was the same - had to backtrack, take U-turns multiple times.

https://youtu.be/MqmVbraE9gQ

Finally, after some close calls, I found some closed shops on the way with some cemented raised parking area. Parked the car there for close to an hour, and then proceeded to the destination.

https://youtu.be/No6gSrYcfTw

https://youtu.be/UO-zG18YxBw

https://youtu.be/4_d9ZN50aUg

Once I was out of city limits, the roads were excellent to say the least. Trans-Haryana expressway is a delight, with continuous CCTV coverage, speed cameras and monitoring ( mind you, the speed limit is 100 and not 120 as allowed on EPE/WPE ). Plan this section when you have packed up something to eat on the way - eateries are opening up in designated food courts, and the present one's are not up to the mark. Couple of pumps only - so plan your DTE and Fuel requirement ahead of time.





Moral of the Story & Aftermath -
- Radiator grill was full of debris. Had to get the car washed ,paying proper attention to the radiator.
- Front number plate along with black cladding was missing - leaving behind just a couple of screws. Reminder to get the replacement plate riveted in.
(Rear plate is riveted - God knows why this was left out )




- Luckily the plastic engine guard looks intact.

- Google Maps ruined it to the best of its knowledge - because of heavy rain, we followed it, and it moved us to inner lanes to avoid traffic. But those lanes were also water logged , along with unknown potholes.

[ptaneja]

Similar to what I did in my Ciaz, I opted for RogerAbs Suspension Buffers. I know that ground clearance as compared to Sedans is more, but this should theoretically improve body roll and movement.

Post installation, I do not see any hardness/stiffness in suspension on speed breakers. The drive is still smooth, I can feel the sideways movement a bit better - but that can be placebo.
On a whole, if the drive stays the same as before, then also the purpose is met.

Cost - 4000 + 500 for installation.
( Price is 4400, but gave a discount being an old customer. Earlier for my Ciaz it was around 7k ! )
Purchase from - https://www.rogermotors.com/productdetail/rogerab-duo

Time - It took couple of hours. Majority of time was spent on rear tires only, with just 15 mins for both front tires.

ODO reading is about 9700 - very close to one year/10k servicing mark.

Here is the packaging - bigger one is for front tires, the smaller for rear.




Pre-Installation Suspension -




Post-Installation Suspension for both Front and Rear -

[ptaneja]

Almost a year is up with the car, and the ODO is very close to 10,000kms mark.

This means a renewal of Insurance and paying our yearly quota of tax to the government.

After a lot of comparisons and discussions, opted for Tata AIG this time.
IDV selected was 11,90,000 with an ongoing NCB of 50%.
The only add-on packages I was looking for were -
- Zero Depreciation
- Return to Invoice

But choosing these selected packages and removing everything else was not too much beneficial financially.
Also, I was interested in these additional add-on's keeping in mind my planned trips this year.

So, opted for a complete package, which covered all the following -

- Zero Depreciation
- Return to Invoice
- Tire Protect
- Key Replacement
- Consumable Expenses
- Engine Protect
- Loss of Personal Belongings
- Emergency Transport and Hotel Expenses

Note - Engine Protect is ONLY for water ingress and oil leakage - normal engine damage in an accident is anyways covered in Zero Depreciation or Normal Insurance cover.

Also, since Return to Invoice was not there in the original/last Insurance, this means that there was an inspection done at home for the vehicle ( no extra charges )

Cost for the whole deal came at around 17,500 /- including taxes.

Next update will be for the scheduled servicing at 10k interval.

[ptaneja]

Update -

ODO stands very close to 10,000 kms - and with very limited driving, it was done in about a year.

Regular scheduled servicing planned and completed.
Booking scheduled via their app, and reached SC on time.

Had no issues with the car except normal servicing which would mean oil change + oil filter change.

As expected , SC quoted a bill in excess of 5,000rs - which included weight balancing and alignment, 3M this and that, even distilled water etc. Much to their disappointment, had them remove everything except what was there in manual - which was Engine Oil + Oil Filter !
Told them clearly, that except these two entries there should not be anything else - be it shampoo pouches in windshield washer fluid, or topping up of battery using normal water.
Grudgingly they agreed - which meant that the total bill came out to be around 1800rs.

Along with normal servicing, had them scan the ECU for any pending upate, and it did showed up one which is pending - "CLU Boot Logic Improvement" - I was not able to find out what it would do, and as usual the SC was clueless.

The patch took considerably longer than the updates which were done previously - but in 15/20 mins, it was done, and all components showed up to date.

Instead of wheel balancing and alignment, I had them do a quick tire rotation across all 4 tires ( free of cost ) - meant even tread wear out, and nuts are not jammed/free !

[ptaneja]

Experimental !!
On how to view YouTube or Videos on Carens 8"/10" HU

Disclaimer : This is just for testing it out - as a driver, you need to keep your eyes on the road - HU is not intended to play videos for a reason.

The above being said, I wanted to test this out to help my kid in the upcoming highway travel - for me, I am not interested to watch videos while driving, so its a 0% distraction for me.
The kid is old enough to navigate the menus and play around with YouTube, so this doesn't need my supervision too while driving.

Pre-Requisites -
Install the following apps -
( These are the version numbers which worked for me - by the time I post this, quite possible a newer one came out )

Fermata Auto - 1.9.1
Android Auto - 9.3.631434
Kings Installer - 1.3

All the above three apps needs to be installed on your Android phone.
Tested and works on OnePlus 6, OnePlus 8 Pro and OnePlus 11

Direct Download Links -
King Installer - https://github.com/fcaronte/KingInstaller/releases/
Fermata - https://github.com/AndreyPavlenko/Fermata/releases
Android Auto from Google Play Store.

Sequence of Installation -
1. Download the latest Kings Installer and install it. Give required permissions and open the app - it has an added option of placing a check mark if your phone is OnePlus or Oppo. Enable that as well.

2. Install Android Auto on the phone. Open the app and within Android Auto, repeatedly click on version number at the bottom section to enable developer mode and change these -
- Developer Settings - Application Mode - Developer
- Enable Unknown Sources
- Set the video resolution to 1920*1080

3. Open KingInstaller, and with this tool install Fermata ( You'll have to locate the APK file for Fermata )

Note - Before testing on car, do check if the application(Fermata) is visible in Android Auto - "Customize Launcher" section.

With all the above, it works perfectly !!


Sample Image of YouTube !

[ptaneja]

So, finally after years of anticipation, months of planning, the day has come to materialize the much awaited Leh Trip !!

- 15+ Days
- 3200+ Kms
- 2 Adults + 1 Kid + 1 Lhasa Apso Dog
- Multiple Snow Covered Passes -
ZoJila, TangLang La, BaraLach La, Rohtang Pass, Khardungla Pass etc
- Multiple Hotel bookings done - multiple hotel bookings cancelled
- Uncertainty over Odd/Even days traffic opening up on Kashmir-Leh route
- Cancellations to skip G20 summit in Kashmir
and so on...
...

And for the first time, a Kia Carens 1.4 Petrol to test this extreme weather and terrain ( I have not seen any petrol doing it on Youtube/Blogs )

Route will be -
NCR > Jalandhar > Patnitop > Srinagar > Kargil > Leh > Diskit > Hunder > Turtuk > Pangong Tso > Hanle > Tso Moriri > Jispa > Manali > NCR


Have a look at a small presentation video made for this trip !

https://youtube.com/watch?v=6US0LfAGfZA?feature=share

[ptaneja]

Update !

Will give a short and concise summary on my recent trip to Leh with Carens. Would be breaking this up day by day, forgot to take pictures of Carens on few occasions.

Day One
NCR to Jalandhar
Total Distance Covered - Approx 440 kms
Total Time Spent - 8 hours
Hotel - Booked an AirBnB apartment
( Do Note that our hotel booking is keeping into consideration that we were travelling with a pet dog - so had to let go off many big hotels as they dont have any pet policy )

We decided to break our next day's lengthy journey into two - which meant covering the plains till Jalandhar after our office hours. So we left at about lunch time, and we were in Jalandhar in about 7 or 8 hours.

The place booked was an AirBnB as we had to look for accommodation which will host our small dog too.

It was raining throughout, with loud thunder and high speed wind.








Can't leave our pet dog behind - after all we were visiting his Home Land





This was the apartment complex where in we took an apartment for the night.




Day Two
Jalandhar to Sonamarg ( to Patnitop )
Total Distance Covered - Approx 300 kms
Total Time Spent - 12 Hours

We started off from Jalandhar early morning, and were going steady and on schedule. Crossed Pathankot, and took a right turn from Samba to bypass Jammu.
Without any issues reached Udhampur but then we were in for a surprise. The roads leading out from Jammu to Patnitop via Chenani Nashri Tunnel was blocked for traffic due to landslide/mudslide post that tunnel. We were stuck in standstill traffic for hours in end.
Finally after multiple hours of waiting, the traffic started crawling, and we inched closer to the tunnel so that we can cross. Once the tunnel was crossed, fresh rain welcomed us, which made the situation worse - resulting in yet another complete stoppage of traffic by the J&K Traffic Cops. They were not even willing to tell us the time the traffic will start moving again.

With so much traffic, uncertainty, and delays, we changed our plan to visit Sonamarg, but decided to halt our stay in Patnitop instead. So we crossed the tunnel, took a U-Turn and then came back towards Patnitop to find a hotel. We found a newly constructed hotel, the amenities were just basic, but we just had to spend a night.

It was a long and tiring day !







Zoom in and you'll see the huge line of blocked vehicles. To make matters worse, people started breaking the lines and crossed over to the other side - virtually blocking it as well.

[ptaneja]

Continued ....

Day Three and Four
Patnitop to Sonamarg to Kargil
Total Distance Covered - Approx 370 kms
Total Time Spent - 12 Hours split into two days

We left quite early in the morning to avoid traffic jams, but with the previous night’s landslide and road clearing work, multiple sections were converted to just a single lane.
Lots of traffic jams and heavy traffic welcomed us just before Banihal Quazikund Tunnel. Multiple road widening and tunnel systems are being created, but till those activities complete, the road and approach remains a nightmare.
Once the above mess is behind us, the access to Srinagar is a breeze, with wide roads and free flowing traffic. Google Maps took us from within Srinagar city, and onto Sonamarg with ease.

The next day, Sonamarg to Kargil was a breeze too as we started off very early morning and was at the check post by 6:30 am ! We crossed the deadly ZoJila Pass, with slush and snow all around. There was not even once when there was tire slip or wheel spin - car with all the load performed at par and gave no issues.




A beautiful sunny morning at Patnitop !



Yesterday's mudslide and landslide being cleared - but it was still one way at a time.





Tunnel - absolute marvelous feat of engineering.




Wide roads welcome you to Kashmir !










These are just outside our stay in Sonamarg.






Slush, melted ice and water. The road to mighty ZoJila Pass starts.












Reaches ZoJila Pass !