[rock18]

Ok i will just give a brief review about my car, a Xeta that I brought after much thoughts. This follows my What Car thread (Xeta VS Santro VS Swift.Please help) that I opened in February last year.

It has done 10k so far and am completely satisfied with it. I used to drive a second hand maruti 800 before so i cannot compare my driving experience of XETA with other cars like santro,wagon-r,etc...

I test drove Swift,Santro,Xeta,WagonR before buying this car and i liked Santro,Swift and Indica.I did not like WagonR that much..Not sure why.

Out of Swift,Santro and Xeta i chose Xeta for financial benefits.
I bought the car for 3.2L (On road after 35k discount). Whereas Swift or Santro would have stretched my budget to 4lacs.

I think i have saved lot of money w.r.t Intital cost,Discounts and the interest paid.
I was offered Swift LXi model for 4.1ac.but after calculating the interest i have to shell out after 5 years of my EMI for swift...amount was pretty much close to 1.7lacs more than XETA..

So i chose XETA with lots of If's and But's.

Apart from a few minor niggles, Car has perfomred exceedingly well to my expectations so far.

Good things about the car:
Lot of space to carry your entire family...many times i go to some family get together with 4 people and will end up coming with 7.Nobody cares about the damn car...
My relatives wanted me to drop them on the way or even to their home...I cannot say no to them...
Indica Xeta perfectly fits the bill in this regard.

Mileage has been pretty consistent.
In city : 10-14 (Depends on the traffic and my mood)
Highway:14-18

Car feels sturdy on the road when compared to other small cars.
Good for bad roads...and excellent car if you have a driver.

So far it has not let me down in any of my rides.

GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY CAR.

bad things about the car:
1.Gear shift is not good.
2.Driving position is not that great(i feel this after driving a Baleno..before that it was pretty much ok)
3.Prone to lot of punctures...Advisable to get tubeless tyres during delivery itself.
4.Slightly low on image..

Long trips done:
1.Chennai - Bangalore - Chennai in 24hours 730kms.
2.Chennai to Srivilliputtur-Chennai 1300kms(roughly)..Got one flat tyre.
3.Chennai to Tirupati and back some 500kms....
4.Chennai to Pondicherry to chennai 500kms

Car was pretty much reliable apart from one flat tyre during those journeys.

Fastest:138km/h

Done with all the free service so far....

Overall:Very satisfied with the car.

Recommended :YES

Hope this will be helpful.cheers:

[aka_iitd]

You said "3.Prone to lot of punctures...Advisable to get tubeless tyres during delivery itself." is it your driving style or roads or to do with the built of the car.

[greenhorn]

regarding driving position, i suggest you push the seat waaay back and the backrest as well. The relaxed driving position is very comfortable if you are not driving in cramped spaces

This is the first time anyone has said so regarding the tyres. Which ones came as stock on your car? Goodyear GPS2's ?

My relatives wanted me to drop them on the way or even to their home...I cannot say no to them...

cant help that , especially since our car looks like a taxi, But I'm a Jason Statham/Transporter Fan , and I dont mind. Heck, my fully loaded indica pulls better up inclines and bad roads than any other car in the segment!

[supremeBaleno]

Nice review and a well thought out purchase decision.

Originally Posted by rock18

Out of Swift,Santro and Xeta i chose Xeta for financial benefits. I bought the car for 3.2L (On road after 35k discount). Whereas Swift or Santro would have stretched my budget to 4lacs.

That surely is some substantial saving. For 3.2L, you might get the Alto Lxi, but space and build wise, it would be nowhere near the Xeta.

Originally Posted by rock18

Mileage has been pretty consistent.
In city : 10-14 (Depends on the traffic and my mood)
Highway:14-18

If I am right the Xeta comes only in petrol. If so, these are pretty good FE figures, especially if your FE is closer to the top of the range that you mentioned for city and highway. What is the kerb weight of the car BTW ?

Originally Posted by rock18

bad things about the car: 1.Gear shift is not good.

Well, even if you had paid more for the Swift, this would still have remained a complaint. Actually it is bad for most Maruti's - dont know about the SX4 though. I happened to testdrive an i10 and Getz last week for a friend and man those gearshifts are butter smooth. Real nice.

Originally Posted by rock18

3.Prone to lot of punctures...Advisable to get tubeless tyres during delivery itself.

Well, that is not the car's fault per se. Its the tyres.

Originally Posted by rock18

4.Slightly low on image..

What image ? If you like the car, nothing else matters.

Enjoy the drive.

[snaronikar]

That's a good decision you have taken given the cars you have tested and the pricing they had quoted. Regardng the cons:

1) 1.Gear shift is not good.

Nothing can be done you hve to leave with it. Even other cars has this problem.

2.Driving position is not that great(i feel this after driving a Baleno..before that it was pretty much ok)

Its your perception. Why don't you sell and buy Baleno.

3.Prone to lot of punctures...Advisable to get tubeless tyres during delivery itself.

Or you can change it even now.

4.Slightly low on image..

Again it depends on person to person.

[TheARUN]

Nice review mate. What colour is the car.

The thing I hate about the Indica is its Speedo console.

And those were good mileage figures.

How is the braking performance. I've seen many Indicas sliding under heavy braking, or is it that they were all ill-maintained taxis

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by TheARUN

The thing I hate about the Indica is its Speedo console.

hey the console looks quite good- its a VDO!

[mjothi]

First, a congrats for the new car. I understand that you have taken a good decision for getting this VFM car. So enjoy it.
Btw, the puncture portion of review.
You can replace a nice tubeless and if you prefer do an upgrade too

[Eddy]

What are the few minor niggles that you mentioned ?

[srh]

Originally Posted by rock18

Mileage has been pretty consistent.
In city : 10-14 (Depends on the traffic and my mood)
Highway:14-18

bad things about the car:
1.Gear shift is not good.
2.Driving position is not that great(i feel this after driving a Baleno..before that it was pretty much ok)
3.Prone to lot of punctures...Advisable to get tubeless tyres during delivery itself.

I am a Xeta owner and have done more than 16000 km. I agree with most part of the review but have some different experiences.
1. Mileage hasn't been as good (maybe your's is a 1.2, mine is the older 1.4). I get only around 10.5 kmpl in city and around 14 on highway. It also has to do with my aggressive driving style.
2. I have absolutely no issues with the gear shift. Although effort required is higher, the slotting is always perfect with a positive feel when the gear is engaged. No rubbery feeling.
3. I have never had any punctures all through.

I even got into a nasty accident in my car (onto a large concrete block in middle of road and then an oncoming Terracan). The whole front-right of my car got smashed up right upto the firewall. Believe me when I say that I came out without a single scratch (wearing seatbelt) and the Terracan suffered as much damage as my car. Had I been in a Maruti, I am sure that I would have been half dead.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Cool choice; congrats.

What are the accessories you got?

How many the service calls you have made so far (At 10K, you ought to have taken at least two services, no?) What was cost of each service?

ICE?

What colour is the car?

How many punctures so far? Any particular side? Or any particular wheel?
How many customer feedbacks have you submitted so far? (Grin)

Finally, as already asked, what are the "niggles"?

I am getting 14KMPL on my wagonR - NO B2B traffic, 45% A/c.


Quoting theARUN:-

The thing I hate about the Indica is its Speedo console.

What is wrong with it?

How is the braking performance. I've seen many Indicas sliding under heavy braking, or is it that they were all ill-maintained taxis

That would indicate problems with tyres - not the car itself.

You have any axe to grind against the Indica?

[hrag]

Originally Posted by srh

2. I have absolutely no issues with the gear shift. Although effort required is higher, the slotting is always perfect with a positive feel when the gear is engaged. No rubbery feeling.

The Indica's gearshift improves with time and distance. Just wait till your gearshift linkage bushes are replaced @ ~90000 km. The gearshift will feel brand new (and rubbery )

[rock18]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

1) 1.Gear shift is not good.

Nothing can be done you hve to leave with it. Even other cars has this problem.


Its your perception. Why don't you sell and buy Baleno.

.

Boss..You have replied to me as though i am asking you for some suggestions .
I know that each car has its own advantages and disadvantages...as a owner of this car i am trying to reveal what i felt about the car...not cribbing for buying Indica rather than Baleno....

[rock18]

Thanks a lot for all your replies.
Sorry i could not reply to each and every one of you as i am not good at this multi quote thing...

I would like to reply on the whole...

Regarding Fuel efficiency: I don't check the mileage very often..
Good Mileage is due to my sedate driving style and all the useful information i have learnt from this forum on fuel saving tips..
I try to shift to 5th gear as early as possible...say around 50..even in cities.I know some people who argue with me that 5th gear can be/should be used on in Highways...

I use the AC sparingly but does not allow me to sweat.i.e toggling it on and off very frequently.

18km/ltr is the highest i got during the srivilipputtur trip.so i have mentioned my lowest to highest mileage.

Regarding Tyres and punctures:
I am not sure about the make of the tyres..Wil let you know shortly.
Punctures can be attributed to the type of the road i travel..i guess
I have faced around 7 punctures so far in the 9000kms i have run.
But i always have a constant fear of this punctures whenever i take my car to some long trips...
Last week, i came home after visiting a place called Manali new town via red hills road...i came home at around 11pm in the night with out any problems..
Next morning i noticed that my rear left tyre was flat to my surprise.
When i took the tyre to puncture wala i was in for a more surprise....
the tube got torn in many places...not sure how that would have happened....
I have faced so many puncture situations before so i can easily find out if the vehicle had a puncture or not.....
This one was completely bizarre...

will upgrade to Tubeless tyres when i can save some money.

Regarding the accessories,ICE and other details...

I bought this car on Feb2007 (Read my other thread posted during feb2007 titled XETA vs Santro vs Swift
Colour:RED
Accessories:Just floor mats.
ICE: Pioneer HU,JBL speakers costed me around 15k.

Niggles: Its all very very small...nothing worth mentioningit..so that's the reason i have not mentioned it in the 1st place. :-)

I think i have covered all the important things i needed to reply..pardon me if i have missed anythingimportant..

Once again thanks all for your replies.

[trrk]

Hi rock18,

> I try to shift to 5th gear as early as possible...say around 50..even in
> cities.

As long as your does not struggle in that gera, it is fine. Does not matter whether it is city or highway.