[DaiusPitar]

My vehicle is 4 months old as of today. And the odo reads 7789 kms.

After my initial trip in the safari in August, I did not get to take it out at all during the whole of September, save for the occasional outing within the city during the weekends. But this was more than compensated by the amount of driving done during October. So I have averaged around 2500+ kms/month in the 3 months of actually using the safari.

No issues with the vehicle whatsovever so far. Period. Yes, no niggles, no rattles, nothing. And I am happy. Because most of the driving has been on long distances and plenty over bad roads. And possibly because I expected worse from TM, I suppose

Well, there was this one thing in between. And it was due to my own doing. I had not actually checked the mileage on the vehicle till I completed 2,500 odd kms. My relations were to arrive at the then new airport in bangalore and I decided to use the occassion to check the mileage. I topped the tank to auto-cutoff at an Indian Oil pump on Old madras road and headed off to the airport. Refilled at the same pump upon directly returning from the airport and after completing around 100 kms.

Checked the mileage and got a jaw dropping, stomach turning figure of 7.3 kms/litre. I got a bit upset I tell you. Because there was practically no traffic in this entire stretch, that too on a sunday morning. I explained to myself saying this was probably because of the a/c.

Over the next weekend, I got an opportunity to test my hypothesis. Went on a trip to Kolar Gold Fields. I subjected my folks to the heat and didnt use the a/c at all. I check the mileage confidently hoping a much more reasonable figure. But alas, the calculation returns 8.4 kms/litre.

Over the next week till I got time to take the vehicle to concorde, I checked the mileage on the daily office-home commute on MG road traffic with the a/c on. I average around 7.4 kmpl. That didnt make any sense to me. After all, how could both MG road traffic conditions and highway conditions return the same mileage.

So I call up concorde and speak to the service manager, Mr. Murlidharan. He sounds perplexed on the phone and asks me to get the vehicle immediately.

They first check the vehicle with the diagnostics laptop and dont find anything. Then the quality head comes over, checks the clutch and says it doesnt feel fine. He does some setting, commenting that this should not have affected the mileage so much.

Then we head off on a mileage test drive. Fill up, and we wind our way through hosur road traffic, on to anekal and back, passing via electronics city. All this time, I am sitting and observing his driving style. He is rash, and am gloating to myself, let the bugger see what mileage he is getting. We refill and I find the damn man gets a mileage of 12.47 kmpl. Am impressed...


So we decide to retrace the route with me behind the wheel. I say to myself, what the hell. Lets give it like he did.

We return and refill. My mileage is 11.30 kmpl. I am very happy and also feeling very stupid.


I realised the fundamental differences in our driving style. For instance, the guy did not see the speedometer when changing the gears. He changed the gears only when the tacho approaches 3000 rpm. Yes. And here I am following exactly what's given in the manual.

I have a chat with him, and he gave me a few pointers. He says I press the accelerator too much after changing gears, making the vehicle pick up faster (signal start stop) but also increasing fuel consumption. Second, I change the gears too early and this is possibly because I was driving a petrol car earlier. It seems diesel vehicles have to be driven differently with respect to changing of the gears.

Thirdly, I was driving at above 110. He said the maximum mileage is obtained between 100-110 kmph.

Since then, my mileage has improved dramatically. On a recent trip from Chennai I filled in at the BPCL COCO pump in Thirumangalam/Mogappair West and refilled at the BPCL COCO pump after Krishnagiri. My mileage was 14.37 kms/litre. Not bad ehh?? Of course, this trip was without a/c completely. Granted, it was at different pumps. But even accounting for that, the mileage should not have been lesser than 13.5 kms/litre.

My technique was to change gears around what ought to be 2600-2700 rpm. And maintain it at around 2250-2500 rpm in the fifth gear. That translates in to a speed of around 100-110 kms/hr. I use only normal diesel with System D at the suggested rate of 1ml/litre of diesel.

With really bad driving and a/c on, I get 11+ on the highways.

Unfortunately, I am still unable obtain the city average of 9.5-10 as claimed by most owners on the forum. I get around 8.5 to 9 tops within the city. But thats all right I suppose, because I do only around 500kms/month within the city. Most of my driving has been on the highways.

Maybe, I can get some city driving suggestions from other 2.2 owners in bangalore city conditions. Anybody doing anything differently with respect to changing gears and all?

[DaiusPitar]

One of the trips on the safari worth mentioning is one we made to Palakkad and back.

The route we took was Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Thoppur-Mettur-Bhavani-Erode. The route is your usual boring national highway till Thoppur. The diversions get confusing around Dharmapuri because of the work on the route. The route gets interesting from Thoppur onwards with the ghat sections and winding roads. I had a near miss with one crazy dude who decided to take a u-turn all of a sudden before Mettur when we were doing 110. Stopped just short of touching the pick-up with breaks squealing and all. Let me tell you panic breaking on the safari is not fun. Its at times like this I wish i could have afforded the VX for the ABS.

We stopped over at Erode for lunch at a friend's place. We reached Coimbatore via Avinashi and spent the night there.

Headed off to Palakkad the next day and spent two days there visiting our family deity and relations in the area. Returned to Coimbatore the second day night. The next day we headed off to Udumalpettai via Pollachi and spent the night there with a relation. Returned to Coimbatore the next day via Palladum-Sulur just for the heck of taking another route. This was straight, green and empty.

With time to kill in the evening in Coimbatore, we headed off towards the Isha Foundation near the Velliangiri foothills on a whim. Very interesting place. Check it out for curiosity sakes.
Dhyanalinga Yogic Temple
Isha Foundation - Home

On the way back, we stopped at the Perur Patteeswarar temple. Man, was I impressed with the architecture of this place. The inner sanctum and supporting structure is more than 2000 years old with intricate carvings that are very unique to this temple. They have exquisite stone statues all around. And they have huge interlocking stone chains hanging from the ceilings. How the hell did they carve all that and place it up there? It seems the history of this main part of this temple is lost in antiquity although there are sufficient records of subsequent dynasties like the Cholas, Nayaks etc. having extended and modified the other parts of the temple. All this information was garnered from a placard placed by the government where they have also requested people not to touch or smear the pillars for they might destroy them. Unfortunately, all the information was in Tamil putting the understanding out of reach for non-tamils. Fortunately for me, my wife is one.

My plan to leave for Bangalore early next day morning to skip traffic was delayed by a mighty hearty breakfast at Hotel Annapurna in Coimbatore. Since we had made plans for Eid biryani at another friend's place in Erode for lunch, we took the Avinashi road. Unfortunately the morning traffic had caught up with us then. Retraced our route back and took a bypass to the trichy route. I decided to take the Sulur-Palladum-Kangayam route to Erode. That turned out to be a good decision. For the route was interesting. Not the boring bland national highway stretch. And coincidentally my father-in-law who was with us got a call from a client with a request for an urgent professional consultation. The client had come to know we were in the area. Now, my father-in-law is a retired vet. And the client was a professional goat breeder of some special breed. So we stopped off at the goat farm near Kangayam where I got to learn about the toughness and speciality of the goat breed (dont recall the name) and even more so about the pride these people had in the native Kangayam breed of cows.

We stopped for a delayed but well worthwhile biryani for lunch at Erode and headed off to Bangy. This is where the route got better. From Mecheri, I took a left and followed this route till Bangalore: Mecheri-Pennagaram-Papparapatti-Palacode-Rayakottai-Hosur-Bangalore. This was based on the advice of csentil on one of the threads. And let me tell, the dude was right. This was one of the better decisions in the trip. The route is scenic and exactly as he has described. Not for those who want to get from point A to point B though. Check out his description:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/718936-post21.html

And if you do take this route, correct me for I think night driving made me see some funny things. The route from Rayakottai to Hosur is for the large part surrounded by these huge trees chopped for road widening with trunk diameters of easily more than a metre. I would say a metre and a half.

Other trips done include Tiruvanamalai, Gingee, Kolar etc. So I am going to end this mini-travelogue of sorts.

As usual, I plain dumb forgot to use the camera while driving. The lack of pics is the reason I am placing this post here rather than in the travelogue section. I guess my driving style is more about listening to music, watching the surroundings pass by and thinking.

I promise to adapt my style to include taking pictures from the next time on.


I am reclaiming my life with the safari 2.2.
cheers:

[DaiusPitar]

Mods: Please change the thread title to include (7800 kms update)? Thanks.

The only issue that needs immediate attention on the vehicle is the broken fog lamp casing (driver's side). Funnily enough the fog lamp works. Seems like a stone or something might have hit it while driving. Pic below.

Apart from that, I plan to upgrade the headlights to Osram Silverstar as many have done on the forum. The price quoted by Reliance Auto Agency over the phone (from Dadu's link) is Rs.250 for a single one. That seems far higher than mentioned anywhere else on the forum (350 per pair). Any ideas anyone?

I have decided to postpone the upgrade to Bosch wipers for sometime now. Before next monsoon maybe.

Plan to get the huper optik sunfilm finally when I get the time this month.

Now, I plan to give the vehicle for servicing. Anybody with safari experience at the Prerana W/S on Old Madras Road? Or Manipal Motors off, Airport Road? I have so far dealt with only Concorde Motors and have had a good experience with them. However, distance wise, these two beat Concorde Motors hollow. They are practically behind my place.

I plan to get the engine oil changed. Check all other lubricants and coolant. Ask them to check brake pads/clutch/battery etc. And also check undercarriage and suspension. Especially the steering idler arm etc.

Since people have had a habit of keeping the window down halfway, some of the windows have started making noise when closing or opening. I guess there must be a pile of dirt within the door panels. Plan to get that also checked/cleaned.

Finally, I have a problem with the music system. I do not have a mp3 player. So i burned a few CDs with mp3s and tried using them on the system. While it works, its just passable. The biggest problem being most tracks get stuck. And the system does not get stuck in the same position when you replay the track. Tried checking the CD elsewhere on my laptop and it works just fine. Is there something wrong in my system. Or should i shell out the dough and get a mp3 player + aux cable? BTW, it is the OEM Blaupunkt system.

[hrag]

Originally Posted by DaiusPitar

Anybody with safari experience at the Prerana W/S on Old Madras Road?

Since people have had a habit of keeping the window down halfway, some of the windows have started making noise when closing or opening.

I am of the opinion that Prerana on OMR is good for small / routine jobs. While they did a good job with the 35K service (nothing is really required), they messed up with the uneven tyre wear I had during the 40K service. Concorde is a better bet for the major services or if you have a problem.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post1015159

The Safari windows work best (and don't rattle or make other strange noises) when fully up or fully down.

Oh, and with the city mileage you report, if you have the HVAC on and / or if you're running short trips, the mileage is absolutely fine - please don't lose sleep over it.

[DaiusPitar]

Todays so not a good day.

Some !!!@@@!!! has scratched my vehicle good.
And the bugger has done a good job of it. May he get royally buggered!
And have the same done unto him? With some rusted implement possibly?


OK, that feels a wee bit better.

cheers:

This is my first scratch/dent on the body in 7900 kms of usage. Even the breaking of the fog lamp casing did nothing to the paint job around.

People, whats the solution to rectify this? It looks awful. Help me out?

Looks like the !!!!! has dragged a key all along. The second picture is a close up and shows the parallel lines

[unni.ak]

OUCH That hurts just to see. There are some psychos around who do stuff like this. Damn them.

I hope the T-bhp paint-experts can guide you in what to do.

[white_vdi]

that is bad and sad!!!
i dont think much can be done about this now. just try some rubbing compound if it works.

[Strangerintown]

That looks bad!! Some people . I can understand how you must feel. You could try rubbing compund but looking at the photographs I honestly do not expect that to work since the scratch looks quite deep. If you dont want to spend too much you can ask the denting painting shop to do a touch up with a thin brush. But then that will not be 100% perfect. But then the scratches arent bad enough to justify a repaint either.

[dadu]

Originally Posted by DaiusPitar

Apart from that, I plan to upgrade the headlights to Osram Silverstar as many have done on the forum. The price quoted by Reliance Auto Agency over the phone (from Dadu's link) is Rs.250 for a single one. That seems far higher than mentioned anywhere else on the forum (350 per pair). Any ideas anyone?

The Rs250 ones are the nice shrink wrapped ones in a fancy pack whereas the 350 per pair are the loose ones just packed in a single thin cardboard boxes, no fancy packing.

Originally Posted by Strangerintown

That looks bad!! Some people . I can understand how you must feel. You could try rubbing compund but looking at the photographs I honestly do not expect that to work since the scratch looks quite deep. If you dont want to spend too much you can ask the denting painting shop to do a touch up with a thin brush. But then that will not be 100% perfect. But then the scratches arent bad enough to justify a repaint either.

I agree get it touched up but someone has used a broader object to scratch, if you look at the 2 lines and the extended superficial marks. Where was it parked when you got them ??

[trrk]

Hi,

Originally Posted by DaiusPitar

has scratched my vehicle good.

I sympathise with you. My CVT adorns a similar handiwork (maybe a slightly less deep) right from the near the right headlamp to the right rear lamp cluster, must have been done by a friendly passerby.

I have left it like that!

It is an eyesore, though!

[bblost]

Originally Posted by DaiusPitar

People, whats the solution to rectify this? It looks awful. Help me out?

For the car:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...int-tubes.html


For the person who did this:

[DaiusPitar]

Thanks guys. I was hopping mad the other day. I really wonder what perverse satisfaction these psychos get. Seriously.

Originally Posted by unni.ak

OUCH That hurts just to see. There are some psychos around who do stuff like this. Damn them.

I hope the T-bhp paint-experts can guide you in what to do.

Originally Posted by white_vdi

that is bad and sad!!!
i dont think much can be done about this now. just try some rubbing compound if it works.

Originally Posted by Strangerintown

That looks bad!! Some people . I can understand how you must feel. You could try rubbing compund but looking at the photographs I honestly do not expect that to work since the scratch looks quite deep. If you dont want to spend too much you can ask the denting painting shop to do a touch up with a thin brush. But then that will not be 100% perfect. But then the scratches arent bad enough to justify a repaint either.

I managed to get my mechanic who attends to my 800 to take a look. He was of the opinion that the scratches are very deep . And that no rubbing compound is going to do the trick. A brush touch up is the only solution. Its not going to look good, only better. But at least it will not look so bad and prevent any damage to the metal.

Originally Posted by dadu

The Rs250 ones are the nice shrink wrapped ones in a fancy pack whereas the 350 per pair are the loose ones just packed in a single thin cardboard boxes, no fancy packing.



I agree get it touched up but someone has used a broader object to scratch, if you look at the 2 lines and the extended superficial marks. Where was it parked when you got them ??

You are right Dadu. Managed to meet Nilesh Gandhi himself. I got myself two for 360/-. It seems I had spoken to somebody else over the phone.

I asked him if he had anything in H3 for the fogs. He said he did have some Osram for 190 per piece. But that would only be better than the stock ones. However, it had a blue tinge at the tip and I didnt pick it up. Are you are aware of any other simple solution that would improve the spread of the fogs? I have come to use this a bit, especially on bad and empty roads on night trips. Use a combination of the high beam and the fogs.

I think you have a point there. Its far deeper than would readily be possible with some key or smaller object. And its got two parallel lines throughout.

I had parked on Brunton Road (old passport office road, off MG Road). Not in the initial narrow section, but later on around where the road from Ajantha hotel joins Brunton Road. My right side (where it was scratched) was on the kerb side.

The thing is, I thought mine might have been an isolated incident. Yesterday evening while leaving work, a colleague found circles of similar depth drawn on the bonnet of his new black swift. Poor sod, and I thought mine was bad.

Our gut feel is that this is the handiwork of the indicabs, who also use this road, to free up the road for their own parking. In either case, following yesterday's incident we plan to do something about this on monday. Hopefully...

Originally Posted by trrk

Hi,



I sympathise with you. My CVT adorns a similar handiwork (maybe a slightly less deep) right from the near the right headlamp to the right rear lamp cluster, must have been done by a friendly passerby.

I have left it like that!

It is an eyesore, though!

Thats really long. I can now unfortunately empathise with you.

Originally Posted by bblost

For the car:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...int-tubes.html


For the person who did this:
Attachment 69690

Thanks bblost. You captured my feelings exactly.

[tanmay_ambre]

I think some kid must have done that. Weopon of destruction: might be a stone.

[DaiusPitar]

I finally got the time on the 17th Nov, to get the vehicle serviced at Concorde Motors, Hosur Road, on my own accord instead of waiting till 15000 kms free service.

The agenda was:
- Engine Oil change
- Fog Lamp Assembly change
- Overall checkup - suspension, battery, clutch, brakes, sensors etc.
- One rear overhead AC vent was loose.
- The passenger side door lock does not open sometimes with the immobiliser kit.
- Get something done on the scratch marks
- Wheel alignment, balancing, rotation
- Replace the OEM bulbs with the Osram Silverstar that I had purchased.

However, got a summons from work while talking with the advisor. So in the rush to get back to MG road forget to mention wheel balancing and rotation. Somehow got to mention only alignment. Will get the others done this weekend, probably at Madhu's itself where I got the alloys.

The bill:
Castrol GTX CH4 7.7 Ltrs - 1855
Oil Filter - 162
Fog Lamp assembly - 1143
Wheel Alignment - 413
Labour for std. checks and above - 413
Taxes+Cess - 529
TOTAL - 4515

Can anybody comment on the price of the engine oil? It seems like on the higher side.

Also learnt how to get the headlamp bulb changed. Dadu and Tanveer are right. The silverstar is a good ready upgrade for the safari.

Finally, the guys at concorde managed to brush touch-up the scratch marks. It is still very visible. But at least it does not look like my vehicle has got white streaks on the side. They promised to get it polished and removed at the 15000 kms service.

Overall experience: good.
Except for two things.
One week later, i find that there is rattling noise from the front two doors. And the speakers are cracking with bass. I have called up Concorde. They will be picking up the vehicle this week and sorting it out. Seems like something must have gone off when they opened the door panels to check the locks.
And while the overall washing was very good, they kind of mucked up the interior of the windscreen. I had to clean it up myself with some Colin this weekend. But otherwise the cleaning was excellent. The interiors of the safari were dirty and had not been cleaned in around ~2000 kms, i.e. a month odd. But it was near spotless when I picked up the vehicle.

One the way back, stopped at Concorde Diary Circle to get myself the Blaupunkt Aux cable. Rs. 600/-. Dont know why only blaupunkt has a unique lead on one of the ends of the cable. Proprietary to make more money off us i suppose.

[metropolis]

Really feels bad. Why people have this tendency.......psychos i would say.