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Old 23rd February 2009, 10:10   #346
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Originally Posted by gpa View Post
12 KMPL (with AC) for the A-Star?? What happened to MUL's claims of 19.6 KMPL??
The ran has run for only 1400 kms. FE will definately improve.
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Old 23rd February 2009, 10:16   #347
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The ran has run for only 1400 kms. FE will definately improve.
Also, I think the claimed FE may be without AC.
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Old 23rd February 2009, 10:53   #348
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Originally Posted by gpa View Post
12 KMPL (with AC) for the A-Star?? What happened to MUL's claims of 19.6 KMPL??
well a lot of factors come into play here to get the company mentioned FE:

the test car has two people fo desired weight
the test car has no ICE - so no load on engine and no effects on FE
the test car is TESTED in proper test conditions not real ones
test car havign proper tyre pressure, oil levels, fuel levels etc
and so on.........

Then again the way of driving is also essential with this claim - a heavy foot will drag down the FE. Belive me I used to get a measely 10km/l with a Alto in city driving while my dad used to get 13-14 easily for similar driving conditions - his approach was a smooth one wrt to the clutch operation, accelerator or ven the brakes.

I am personally not sure regarding the 19.6 km/l in real world conditions but looking at the specs and what i have seen or even TD - it should manage 15+ easily in city conditions.

Though i must maintain its no fun to drive although handles like a dream.
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Old 23rd February 2009, 12:04   #349
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Originally Posted by DCEite View Post
Well thought that i also post my views here about the test drive we did a couple of weeks back, looking for a hatchback to replace my brother's aging Santro Zipplus.

Let me first speak about the positives:
- Good front seats which have decent thigh and lower back support. Something missing in my wagonR.
- Good and precise gearbox.

And now coming to the negatives. Note that the reference car i am using is the WagonR, which i have been driving for the past 5 years.

- Very low front visibility. The dashboard is set very high, when i asked salesman why is it so, he replied so that the ac flow is effective in the rear seat. I am 5,11, and still found the dash to be hindering front visiblity. I can't imagine what the average height people would feel like.

- Ultra small boot. So small that i wonder you can ever think about going to the shopping mall in this car. Totally useless. Again, the wagonR and Santro (old horses, yeah!) beat it.

- Rear seat space. The less said about this, the better. Pathetic indeed.
I too own a WagonR and took a good look at a demo A Star yesterday, though I did not drive it. I agree with the above observations of yours that relate to a stationary car.
When a salesman approached me and started blah blahing about the car, I sat in the rear and pointed to the lack of knee room. He said 'it is as good as any other car, sir'. I said 'Shall I bring my WagonR here and show you'?

To which he replied--'oh, sir, a WagonR is a bigger car'. Then I asked him,' why does the A Star cost more then?'. He was flabbergasted and could not reply!!!
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Old 23rd February 2009, 12:26   #350
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Seriously I dont know what MSIL was thinking when they decided to price the A star so ridiculously. They have done a Hyundai this time minus the quality which Hyundai offers.

Quote:
Originally Posted by suprateep
the test car has no ICE - so no load on engine and no effects on FE
Wow how does Stock ICE makes an impact on FE?
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Old 28th February 2009, 20:14   #351
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Drove an A Star of my friend yesterday. It has cost him Rs 4.61 L on road (Maharashtra). Must say its a lovely car.Was metallic light green in colour with ABS,PW (front and rear),central locking and MP3/CD player.
The styling cues are quite radical and it may take time before we come to get used to it. As many of my friends have already commented on its styling.Similarly the Honda City that came in, in 2003 had many critics. The Xylo which I test drove very recently, also has a lot of gap areas in the styling department.
I too agree that the styling job of the A Star could have been better executed. The styling these days are given a backseat I believe.
Back to the topic, I saw the A Star bit by bit. The luggage space below the parcel tray is too miniscule to even carry two 24 inch VIP suitcases.Thats bad. And the hatch door opens at a height, meaning the rear bumper sits quite high on the body panel.The luggage floor is also perched at a height, with the stepney placed down below. So it will be natural that the luggage (lift off the parcel tray to accomodate the height of the suitcase) will hit the rear windscreen, crying for space in the small area.In Maruti 800's, the bigger suitcases hitting on the interior of the rear windscreen is common, but that is a 23 plus year old design.
The dash is quite well laid out and needs all the praise for getting each thing at its place.The CD/MP3 player inbuilt into the dash, with its four speakers is of a high quality and of Nippon make, though Nippon is nowhere mentioned on its front panel. Its a delight to listen to. The Xylo, Swift, DZire that I drove too have the same make music systems. The speedo console is large and accomodates warning lights and everything else. Its the only meter fitted to the dash.And my gosh, the dash designer must have forgotten about the tachometer, which sits up above the dash on the top right, with its back facing the inner side of the front windscreen.Thats a messed up job and an after-thought.
The power windows and the central locking are quite OK, much like any other Maruti. The interior plastics including PW control switches, leave a lot to room for improvement. Its below the Swift plastic quality. The inner door lining is all plasticky for the 4 doors.This is the variant that is placed second from the top.And there is no inner fabric lining on the doors-again a lapse on MSIL's part.The seat fabric is quite upto the mark for its class.
The steering is a bit smaller in diameter and the car has a double horn as OE. Thats a plus.The driver, for a medium height person like me (5'7"), has to peep raising his head with care from the front windscreen, to mind the traffic. The lower end of the front windscreen is quite high, from the drivers seat and this takes time to adjust to.From the Wagon R, Santro, Bolero , Scorpio or the Xylo you can look at the road from the drivers seat from a commading height. But here its a short car, we cannot expect the same.But at least MSIL could have given us the Alto or 800 kind of a view of the road. Thats missing.
Driving the car is a pleasure. The power steering is much too responsive and this car can be swayed through narrow lanes with great ease.The new 998 cc engine is a gem to drive and is extremely responsive and peppy. Engage the overdrive (5th) gear and is a breeze to drive with the very well executed gearbox, engine and steering matching their frequencies.The suspension is a bit on the tough side. It does not falter over potholes like other small Marutis, but gives a lot of protection to inner occupants with the ride quality.I drove the car at a maximum of 60kmph as its hardly done 95 kms on the odo, and is within its running in period. The car has an all new, three cylinder, 998 cc engine and never could I feel that I am driving a 3 cylinder engined car. The Japs have perfected the art of making 3 cylinder engines now.
The ABS brakes are life saving and again kudos to MSIL for the very well executed job on this small car with such a great option. The car has two airbags for the front occupants which is another great job done.
To get the feel as a passenger, I also occupied the backseat and prefered to be driven by my friend. The backseat can accomodate three adults, much better than many cars in its class and is quite wide (the Swift,Getz,i20 which are larger are excluded).I could feel that the car is a bit solid when it takes on the rough roads. The backseat ride should be the best in its class. We have come a long way from the Santro and Maruti 800 rear seats, which are only a bit better than a Bajaj autorickshaw.
So my overall impression of the car is that its a hot hatch with several minus points. But the plus points are also too many and MSIL claims that its USP, is its fuel consumption, with the 998 cc engine, thats at par with the Alto which has only a 3 cylinder 798cc engine.
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Old 1st March 2009, 10:28   #352
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Originally Posted by Technocrat View Post
Seriously I dont know what MSIL was thinking when they decided to price the A star so ridiculously. They have done a Hyundai this time minus the quality which Hyundai offers.
This has always been their strategy. Remember when the Alto was launched how expensive it was? I think the Alto VX 1.1 was as expensive as the legendary zen if not more. Then they slowly but surely kept downgrading it to the M800 level. I think same thing will happen with A Star and finally A Star will replace the Alto
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Old 1st March 2009, 19:34   #353
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ive tried this car, its majorly underpowered and has a lot of front view problems. You really cant see much if you're short.
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Old 2nd March 2009, 15:40   #354
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Originally Posted by revhappy View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by Technocrat View Post
Seriously I dont know what MSIL was thinking when they decided to price the A star so ridiculously. They have done a Hyundai this time minus the quality which Hyundai offers.
This has always been their strategy. Remember when the Alto was launched how expensive it was? I think the Alto VX 1.1 was as expensive as the legendary zen if not more. Then they slowly but surely kept downgrading it to the M800 level. I think same thing will happen with A Star and finally A Star will replace the Alto
Well not really the Alto VX/VXi was better in every term over the zen & the LX/LXi was always cheaper than Zen
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Old 5th March 2009, 22:54   #355
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Originally Posted by Zahir View Post
ive tried this car, its majorly underpowered and has a lot of front view problems. You really cant see much if you're short.
A point I missed, is that ingress and egress both from the driver's and passenger's seat make the head hit the body mounted door-lining and that too for a lean and 5' 7" tall man like me.
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Old 6th March 2009, 02:03   #356
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A point I missed, is that ingress and egress both from the driver's and passenger's seat make the head hit the body mounted door-lining and that too for a lean and 5' 7" tall man like me.
Yeah I faced that too. I'm 5' 9"
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Old 6th March 2009, 20:46   #357
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The review I have penned is for the A Star ZXi with ABS and two airbags- the top variant and not the second from top variant as stated by me.I had a look at my friend's car's badging and the rear defogger today. Unfortunately, Autocar India car Buyers guide, lists the Zen Estilo, as one in which ABS is optional. But none of the A Star variants have been quoted as offering the airbag and ABS options, notwithstanding the fact that they actually do for the top ZXi variant.
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Old 10th March 2009, 22:29   #358
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My a-star is giving a rattle sound just a few weeks after delivery. I complained during 1st service, but they dint bother to correct it. (Indus motors chennai). It comes just near the driver side mirror.

Any of the A-star owners have similar rattle noises?

Noise only is audible when we change gears or accelerate fast. It kind like squeaks.
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Old 11th March 2009, 04:15   #359
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btw, just incase anyones interested, apparently maruti is having a rally for astars to gauge maximum FE. Its from bandra to palm beach road. The Manager at Sai Service told me this today. Don't know when though
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Old 11th March 2009, 06:02   #360
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anjan_c2007 View Post
A point I missed, is that ingress and egress both from the driver's and passenger's seat make the head hit the body mounted door-lining and that too for a lean and 5' 7" tall man like me.
The head room at the rear is also an issue. The KB Series engine may be good but the rear seats have to be comfortable. IMO poor rear seats are somewhat common to MSIL cars.
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