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Old 14th July 2009, 11:13   #46
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Originally Posted by maglev View Post
Also do I still need to drive the car in the Running-In Mode or drive normally. It has 1100 kms on the clock as of today ???

I have never understood this running in mode really. In city driving , your RPM will constantly vary and you would be shifting gears frequently. aalso, it is unlikely that speeds would be in excess of 80 in a city. So all this is running in mode only. I guess the only thing you need to ensure is to not redline the car in each gear.

I have been driving the sx4 between 2k-3k rpm in each gear and the car moves just fine. Did a short highway trip and 2.5k in 5th gear equated to about 85 kph, which is about the speed you will keep on a single lane highway

So dude, just drive normally, new gen engines really do not need the old style running in
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Old 14th July 2009, 12:40   #47
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Originally Posted by aka_iitd View Post
Mobil 1 I think I am using Castrol and one oil change is approx 1600 bucks
Is Mobil recommended by Maruti? Service book does not says anything. It says about the grade of oil to be used.
Using fully synthetic from the starting may not be good option

I've got my 1st service done & the service advisor told me clearly that Maruti recommends Mobil1, its for this reason that the service intervals are for One year or 10,000kms (whichever is earlier). Will be posting the service experience by tonight.


Quote:
Originally Posted by himanshugoswami View Post
I have never understood this running in mode really. In city driving , your RPM will constantly vary and you would be shifting gears frequently. aalso, it is unlikely that speeds would be in excess of 80 in a city. So all this is running in mode only. I guess the only thing you need to ensure is to not redline the car in each gear.

I have been driving the sx4 between 2k-3k rpm in each gear and the car moves just fine. Did a short highway trip and 2.5k in 5th gear equated to about 85 kph, which is about the speed you will keep on a single lane highway

So dude, just drive normally, new gen engines really do not need the old style running in


I had restricted myself religiously to the 2500 rpm during the first 1000 kms, during this period the car was subjected to one wheel spin and in a separate incident a fast over taking maneuver in which the rpm went almost up till 4.5k in the 3rd gear (it was done to avoid collision with a tractor coming from the wrong side on the NH-8 Delhi-Gurgaon expressway).

When she crossed 1100km on the odometer, I was on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway and just floored the accelerator in the 5th gear she reached close to 160kmph @ around 4.5k rpm, I am just praying that it does not end up doing any damage.
(I wish I had controlled myself)

Last edited by maglev : 14th July 2009 at 12:52.
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Old 14th July 2009, 16:20   #48
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No worries Maglev. The engine is bulletproof. It just increases the fuel consumption.
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Old 14th July 2009, 16:28   #49
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Congrats on your SX4, nice to see body colored reverse parking sensors. The rear seat too looks more comfortable than the older design. How much did the Mobil1 oil cost ? In my case oil changes during both 1st and 3rd service were normal oil not synthetic.
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Old 15th July 2009, 09:24   #50
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Originally Posted by maglev View Post
I've got my 1st service done & the service advisor told me clearly that Maruti recommends Mobil1, its for this reason that the service intervals are for One year or 10,000kms (whichever is earlier). Will be posting the service experience by tonight.
If Maruti recommends then it should be there in Service books and it would have been followed across MASS.
Other SX4 owners any opinion on it.
Is that particular MASS is earning more by selling Mobil 1. This is my personal opinion.

10K KM's/6 months are there for swift also where Mobil 1 is not recommended.

Will wait for service experience and review on car after service
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Old 15th July 2009, 09:35   #51
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As far as i remember, MA** uses a different grade of oil for the SX4 and the Grand Vitara. Atleast this is what i have been told by the service advisor. During the last service of my SX4 back in April,09 i saw that all the other MUL cars were getting the new oil from this can of oil with just MGP written on it. But in the case of the SX4 and GV, a can of MOBIL 1 was used. Now whats interesting to note is that it was clearly written on the Mobil 1 can itself that the oil is specially formulated for the SX4 and GV.

BUT AN IMPORTANT NOTE-The oil used is Mobil 1 mineral oil not the SUPER SYNTHETIC variety and if i remember right, i was charged 800-900 bucks for the oil change

Cheers

Last edited by prince85 : 15th July 2009 at 09:36.
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Old 15th July 2009, 10:54   #52
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Originally Posted by prince85 View Post
As far as i remember, MA** uses a different grade of oil for the SX4 and the Grand Vitara. Atleast this is what i have been told by the service advisor. During the last service of my SX4 back in April,09 i saw that all the other MUL cars were getting the new oil from this can of oil with just MGP written on it. But in the case of the SX4 and GV, a can of MOBIL 1 was used. Now whats interesting to note is that it was clearly written on the Mobil 1 can itself that the oil is specially formulated for the SX4 and GV.

BUT AN IMPORTANT NOTE-The oil used is Mobil 1 mineral oil not the SUPER SYNTHETIC variety and if i remember right, i was charged 800-900 bucks for the oil change

Cheers

MASS uses a semi synthetic oil from Idemitsu. It costs approx Rs 300 per litre. They are unlikely to recommend a purely synthetic oil as the same osts approx Rs 1K/litre. Most Maruti owners will not appreciate the increase in service costs that it will entail.
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Old 15th July 2009, 11:00   #53
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Originally Posted by rajneeesh View Post
They are unlikely to recommend a purely synthetic oil as the same osts approx Rs 1K/litre. Most Maruti owners will not appreciate the increase in service costs that it will entail.
Thanks Rajneesh, I do agree with you my friend that Synthetic oil is unlikely to be recomended simply coz of the added costs. I checked the bill of my last service again and the oil used indeed is Idemitsu. Wonder how i got that wrong earlier. Anyways my apologies for the same.

But one thing i can tell for sure is that the can had it clearly written that it is a specially formulated oil for the GV and the SX4. Soo i am quite sure Idemitsu is the standard oil meant to be used by MA**(all over the country) for the SX4.

Cheers

Last edited by prince85 : 15th July 2009 at 11:18.
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Old 16th July 2009, 00:31   #54
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The First Service + Buying Experience



I gave my car for the 1st free service on (13-July-2009) or rather I went for the service and came back only after settling the bill, the car was serviced at Rana Motors, Okhla. (The dealer from whom I bought the car as well)


But before I write about my Service Experience. I would like to share something about the Car Buying Experience as I have just realized that somehow I had managed to miss it while writing the very first/Intro post of this thread.


The Sales Advisor's Mr. Kaushik & Mr. Balvinder. Both were very very helpful they did not degrade the cars of other manufacturers and they also admitted that a few SX4's had problems with the clutch, drive shaft (My Team-BHP Knowledge). They also said that people have difficulty reversing the car, but that was not an issue for me due to my experience with high-booted cars (read Dad's Octavia).
The best part about these two fellows was that they knew about Team-BHP. Hence they were aware of my data source's. I handed over to them my Team-BHP PDI check-list & informed them well in advance of what I was expecting from them.


The Car handed over to me was manufactured in May 2009 (Purchased on: 19-June-2009). It had 38kms on the odometer. The car was driven from the yard in Kapashera to Safdarjung Enclave where the showroom was located or else it would have had around 10-15 Km on the odometer as per the Sales Advisor.


Accessories installed at the dealer were:
  1. Wooden Interior Trim,
  2. Parking Sensor (made by RD) certified as MGA,
  3. Carpeted Floor Mats (MGA),
  4. Rivets on all 4 doors (2 each) right below the window pane on the black strip. To prevent the opening of doors using a scale.
  5. Teflon Coating I paid a tip to the installer and got it done on the next day which was a Saturday (20-June-2009). What this meant was that the delivery area where the Teflon is done was absolutely empty. Just 2 cars got delivered that day. The Teflon took a long 4-5 hours to complete, I told the guy clearly that I was willing to wait till midnight but the job to be done should be impeccable.
All of the accessories were installed in front of me.


Overall my experience was Very Good:
  1. The staff was courteous.
  2. They Knew there stuff.
  3. My Team-BHP PDI check-list was fully satisfied.
  4. They also gave us a coupon which entitled us to 3 litres of petrol from the neighboring Indian Oil pump.
  5. Paperwork was in order.
  6. I have also been told that if I get all the free services done from them then they'll give the fourth service free as well.
  7. Lastly everything was done on time.
I left the dealership with a and a from there side.


.
.
.


Now for the Service Experience:


I made a pre-booking the day earlier and reached the workshop at 12:30pm, on 13-July-2009. The moment I entered, the guard asked me whether the car had come for running repair or service. Then within seconds the service advisor Harimohan came towards my car (I was still in the car). I got out gave him the keys, he filled a requisition slip and asked me to get the job card made while he would take the car in the workshop. It took 5 mins for the job card to be made and to my surprise my car was the 57th car for the day.


Then I went straight inside the workshop, told him about the rattle from the drivers side door & the hand brake issue. I asked him which engine oil would they put as I was expecting Idemitsu (read somewhere on Team-BHP) but to my surprise he said Mobil1 Fully Synthetic Grade: 0w-40. I questioned this, to which he replied that this is what Maruti recommends and it is because of the fully synthetic oil that the service intervals from the 3rd service onwards are for 10,000kms or 1 year (whichever is earlier). This sounded like a reasonable explanation. So I went ahead with it but it made my 1st FREE Service Quite Expensive. In addition to the service I told him to do an under body Anti-Rust treatment as the monsoons have partly begun in Delhi.


I stood by my ride almost through out the exercise, except when the lunch break started and when the anti-rust treatment was being done as it was done in a curtained cubicle.


I used this time to explore the Workshop and discovered quite a few things which had been least expected by me from a car workshop in India. Things such as the following:
  1. Air Compressors to fill Air or Nitrogen in the Tyres,
  2. The Best Customer Lounge I have ever been to (In a Car Workshop), they have separate lounges for chauffeurs and for vehicle owners. The lounge was equipped with an air conditioner, wall mounted flat-screen TV (Tata-Sky), Tea/Coffee/Water, news-papers, Auto Mags were available. Apart from all this they had notices on two of the walls which had details on various things such as car maintenance warnings and stuff like Genuine Parts and all, out of the other two walls, one had the flat screen TV and the last one was a completely transparent glass one. From were one could see his/her car being serviced/worked upon (This was the best part).
  3. Window Etching Machine.
  4. Small Cafeteria.


After all this exploration I went back to my car, checked the under body coat it seemed fine. Then they took her to the express service bay. Where all the check ups and the engine oil & filter would be changed. This part was done pretty soon in about an hour. I got the oil & filter change done in front of me.
Post the oil change, the mechanical and electrical check-up took place, then the same mechanic made a few adjustments to the hand-brake cable, opened the drivers side door to fix the rattle.


Now the car was ready and it was around 4:30pm. The majority of the time was consumed
by the washing and the under-body coat.
I left the service center by about 5-5:15pm after clearing the bills and taking the advisors (Harimohan's) number as well as the 24hr helpline number.



The First Service Bill.
  1. PARTS
    • Oil Filter Rs. 154.67
    • Anti-Rust Coat Rs. 1225.07
    • Mobil1 Fully Synthetic Engine Oil Rs. 3852.07
  2. LABOUR
    • Service Free
    • Anti-Rust Coat Rs. 585.00
  3. TAXES
    • VAT @ 12.5% Rs. 172.46
      • On Oil-Filter & Anti-Rust Coat
    • VAT @ 20% Rs. 770.41
      • On Mobil1
    • Service Tax @ 10% Rs. 58.50
    • Edu. Cess on Service Tax @ 3% Rs. 1.76

Total: Parts + Labour + Taxes: Rs. 6,820.00
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Old 16th July 2009, 10:13   #55
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Originally Posted by maglev View Post
The First Service + Buying Experience




I gave my car for the 1st free service on (13-July-2009) or rather I went for the service and came back only after settling the bill, the car was serviced at Rana Motors, Okhla. (The dealer from whom I bought the car as well)



The First Service Bill.
  1. PARTS
    • Oil Filter Rs. 154.67
    • Anti-Rust Coat Rs. 1225.07
    • Mobil1 Fully Synthetic Engine Oil Rs. 3852.07
  2. LABOUR
    • Service Free
    • Anti-Rust Coat Rs. 585.00
  3. TAXES
    • VAT @ 12.5% Rs. 172.46
      • On Oil-Filter & Anti-Rust Coat
    • VAT @ 20% Rs. 770.41
      • On Mobil1
    • Service Tax @ 10% Rs. 58.50
    • Edu. Cess on Service Tax @ 3% Rs. 1.76
Total: Parts + Labour + Taxes: Rs. 6,820.00
Wow that was a fantastic review of the buying and service experience. Is your problem of Hand brake and door rattle fully solved?
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Old 16th July 2009, 14:50   #56
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Well there seems to be an increase in cost of cheap spares, at my 3rd service in Jan oil filter was priced 79.11 and now it is 154.67 !?! Are filters different for synthetic and mineral oil ?
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Old 16th July 2009, 18:58   #57
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Filters are the same irrespective of the oil used. The prices may have been revised.
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Old 17th July 2009, 00:32   #58
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@ prince85, aka_iitd, rajneeesh

Thanks for the information guys, After Reading your posts I have decided to call the Service Advisor asap and ask him which engine oil is actually recommended by Maruti. Will be asking him about the three mentioned in the discussion namely Idemitsu, Mobil1 (Mineral Oil), Mobil1 (Fully Synthetic).

Also will it damage my engine or hamper in the run-in process if I use Mobil1 (Fully Synthetic) from the 1st service, considering the fact that its in the car and I cannot remove it as its so expensive.



Quote:
Originally Posted by nurni76 View Post
Wow that was a fantastic review of the buying and service experience. Is your problem of Hand brake and door rattle fully solved?
Thanks! The Hand-Brake & the door Rattle issue have both been resolved.

Last edited by maglev : 17th July 2009 at 00:45.
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Old 13th September 2009, 03:20   #59
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/// Update \\\

.
I called up the service advisor at Rana Motors to find out about the oil issue. He now very politely states that the minimum required oil for the SX4 and GV as per Maruti is Mobil-1 semi-synthetic. But for best results Maruti recommends the use of Mobil-1 fully synthetic.

To confirm this I called up another dealership in the vicinity by the name of JR Automobiles & to my surprise they also said the same thing, but being the inquisitive self I am I called up another dealer: Apra. This one now claims that Maruti recommends Mobil-1 semi-synthetic and upon further enquiry about Mobil-1 fully-synthetic, I find out that the chap has absolutely no idea about it. These guys apparently do not even stock it.
any comments ??


About the car:
Well for a start I have completed close to 2800 KM as of today and not faced any rattles yet, except one (drivers window) which was sorted out during the 1st service. The Fuel Efficiency is on the lower side I have been consistently getting between 8.0 - 8.3 kmpl within the city (100% A/C) with a maximum 50 kms of highway driving per cycle. Tankful to tankful method with the auto-cut fuel dispenser. Fuel filled was Speed-91 twice after which I have shifted to regular fuel from Bharat Petroleum.

I have developed a big liking for the short-throw gear shift action as well as the thick surge of torque around the 2500 rpm mark. Have been giving her the close to red line dosage (not beyond 5.5K rpm though) once or twice a week. Slowly and gradually trying to open up the engine. Did close to 170 kmph on the Delhi - Gurgaon expressway (NH-8). I just couldn't resist the empty expressway on that delightful Sunday.

Also she is quite a huge car in terms of size, my dad's Skoda feels smaller on the inside and out, hence I am still adjusting to the dimensional change after the Accent. The car has handled the rains in Delhi quite nicely wading through roads turned into rivers for upto 300-400 meters, crater sized potholes and the best part about her is that she can climb onto most pavements which in turn helps in parking (Read: Make your own road/parking) and that horrid BRT


Issues Faced:
One of the roof beeding's has come loose right above the driver's side door I guess it could be the rain. Any guess'?


Suzuki SX4: 16000KM Update!!-photo04751.jpg


Shunts:
I got rear ended twice. Once on the rear left corner (by a bike) and the second time on the rear right corner (By a white Maruti 800). Both the times the culprits got away as during the bike incident it was dark and during the 2nd one, by the time I got out of the car the guy just sped away. In both the cases the bumper bent and got dented. The left one has no trace of the incident. Paint / tire marks of the bike causing the shunt removed and the bumper is back in shape. On the right side though the bumper was bought back in shape, it is still not perfect, some paint stains simply refuse to go.


Glaring Omissions

1. Dead Pedal

2. Low fuel indicator

3. Multi-Function Display or atleast a Distance to Empty / Average fuel
Consumption indicator.


Accessories: Installed

1. Sun-Film Llumar: Total Cost 6K: 3 year warranty
Sides: 5% Visibility (Jet Black)
Front Windshield: 75% Visibility (transparent type)
Rear Windshield: 75% Visibility (transparent type)

2. Under Body Anti-Rust Coat from Maruti: 2k

3. Registration plates: custom font.

4. Klaxxon Dual Horn a.k.a. Skoda type horn.


Accessories: In the Pipeline

1. Art Leather (Full Interior), Also are there various types of ART leather, if so
which one should be bought?

2. Gear Lock (MGA)

3. Custom grill (like the SX4 Sedan in America)

4. ICE (when my pockets are deep again)



All in all I am liking the car more everyday, although I am having a few adjustment issues (primarily size). I know I will be putting her through her paces pretty soon. Enjoying the ride smoothly!
Suggestions / Comments / Criticism welcome
..

Last edited by maglev : 13th September 2009 at 03:27.
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Old 14th September 2009, 12:57   #60
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Why can't opt only for a rear spoiler,it looks dam sweet on the SX4
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