[profold]

The iron chariot came home on the Chariot Day:

Took delivery of an i10 Magna (Kappa)1.2 in Champagne gold colour on 24 June 2009. Just an hour before taking the delivery on the appointed date, we were told that the day was the beginning of the “Chariot Festival” of Sri Jagannath of Puri and is considered very auspicious for inaugurating any vehicle. Hope this brings bliss and good luck to the car and its owners.

As the car is driver driven, I can post only the experience as a passenger/owner.

• The dealer experience had been pleasant throughout. The salesman called after the first week to enquire how the car is doing and also promised to accompany us to the A S S for the first service.
• The odometer now reads 512 km after an ownership of 18 days.
• The car interior with beige and brown is pleasing. The plastics (including dealer fitted seat covers) are good and do not emit odors.
• There seems to be ample space everywhere except in the trunk, the car appears bigger than what it actually is. The rear seat can accommodate 2 persons with comfort and even three persons with a bit of shoulder to shoulder feeling. (Incentive for some dieting and aerobics)
• Seats are comfortable. AC is good enough even with 5 occupants on a summer day. Engine noise is not audible from the cabin. Power windows are smooth and silent.
• Ride quality is acceptable but stiffness of the suspension can be felt at potholes, especially at the back seats. There is also a tendency of body roll immediately after bumps.
• Cumulative FE (from day 1 to 450 km) is currently 7 l/km with 100% AC and city traffic (50% start stop, 50% in relatively free 36 km streches). FE for the last 100 km is marginally better at about 8.1 km/l). Though running-in is going on, the FE is a bit disturbing. Hoping to take this up with the dealer/A*S*S after doing a proper tank-full test. Would appreciate feedback from the more experienced fellow-BHPians.
• The ICE experience is reasonable, decent, but not exciting. Surprised that car radios even today tune AM also.

More later. Cheers.

[neotraveller]

Congrats on the purchase. i10 is a car with really modern looks and interiors.

FE seems miserable for a hatchback, though. Hope its your driver's driving style.
My zen gives 14kmpl in peak traffic.

[FlyingSpur]

Congratulations on your new car! You've been using it quite a bit already. It's a great city car.

What is the deal with these new Kappa i10's though? Are they prone to returning such shoddy FE figures during run-in and before services? Either ways, this is the first M/T i10 I've heard of with this problem. The A/T's are now famous for it.

[profold]

Originally Posted by neotraveller

Congrats on the purchase. i10 is a car with really modern looks and interiors.

FE seems miserable for a hatchback, though. Hope its your driver's driving style.
My zen gives 14kmpl in peak traffic.

Thanks neotraveller.
Kolkata driver employees, as far as I know and observe, use the clutch rather liberally. The driving instructor of the Junior "explains and recommends" that the clutch is to be used for "fine speed control".

Had already taken up with our driver to reduce clutch usage and I think he is trying his best. One more thing, so far, during the run-in the engine rpm was kept close to 2500. May be after the first 500 km this may be relaxed. As the kappa is high-rev happy, could it be the reason for the poor FE?
I highly doubt it.
From the car websites, i10 1.2 as far as I know is supposed to give 11.5 km/l. (Zen is supposed to be much more fuel efficient.) . I would have accepted 10.5 km/l during the first 500, but this is rather depressing.
As I see, it is time to take it up with the dealer.

[AbhiJ]

F.E. is too low.

My CR-V 2.0 gives me a consistant 7.5 to 8.0 kmpl in Kolkata traffic.

Teach your chauffy not to ride the clutch.

[joslicx]

congrats Profold for your new car. I also have an i10 1.2 (Sportz) and it has so far done 2000 KM (just came back from first service) Prior to the service it gave me 12-13 KMPL (normal Petrol) in city conditions (Noida/Delhi run, mostly in higher gears!) 7 KMPL is too low (unless urs is Auto). And actually I also use the clutch quite liberally!!!

Also one thing I have noticed in my i10 is that engine noise is somewhat different (and distinguishable) when AC is ON! Can you also feel the same. Just switch off the ICE, roll up windows and try to switch AC ON and OFF and see if can also feel the same. It might be just my car.

Otherwise its a fabulous small car. Overpriced but really good.

One interesting question I would have is why didnt you consider Indica Vista?

[prince_pervez]

Congrats @profold! Do post some pics of the dual tone interiors. Almost forgot how hey look.

[profold]

Originally Posted by joslicx

congrats Profold for your new car. I also have an i10 1.2 (Sportz) and it has so far done 2000 KM (just came back from first service) Prior to the service it gave me 12-13 KMPL (normal Petrol) in city conditions (Noida/Delhi run, mostly in higher gears!) 7 KMPL is too low (unless urs is Auto). And actually I also use the clutch quite liberally!!!

Also one thing I have noticed in my i10 is that engine noise is somewhat different (and distinguishable) when AC is ON! Can you also feel the same. Just switch off the ICE, roll up windows and try to switch AC ON and OFF and see if can also feel the same. It might be just my car.

Otherwise its a fabulous small car. Overpriced but really good.

One interesting question I would have is why didnt you consider Indica Vista?

1)All the more reason to be disturbed about the FE. If you got 12/13 km/l in Noida/Delhi, I reckon in Kolkata I should get at least 11, even with AC. Mine is manual too.
2)I would check the engine noise first thing in the morning and report.
3) we indeed considered indica vista, lot of space, decent interiors etc. Several factors tilted the scale. (i) The garage was rather narrow and vista was 4" wider than i10. (ii) Friends owning indica reported about irritating niggles and advised against Tata Cars. (iii) Wify and Junior liked the looks of Hyundai i10.
Cheers.

[gpa]

Am planning on upgrading my Santro to the i10. The FE seems dismal, but I think its more to do with the driving style. Hope this improves after the 1'st service.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by gpa

Am planning on upgrading my Santro to the i10. The FE seems dismal, but I think its more to do with the driving style. Hope this improves after the 1'st service.

If you think FE will improve after first service then you are in for a surprise! its not necessarily true for new-gen engines and in fact my FE has marginally gone down after first service (12-13 before service, think it is about 11 now just after - looking at the needle). Probably the reason is we tend to drive within the speed limites (50-60 KMPH) before first service which is ideal for FE, but post service occasional flooring the pedal becomes the norm! At least that is the case with me. Now I just want to fly whenever I see an empty stretch of the road.

[profold]

Originally Posted by gpa

Am planning on upgrading my Santro to the i10. The FE seems dismal, but I think its more to do with the driving style. Hope this improves after the 1'st service.

Dear gpa,
please don't be influenced by my post only. Others are getting much better FE BEFORE the first service. Mine may be a bad exception
Yes, driving style is a definite factor and much of our first 500 km was in only 2 km hops in bumper to bumper traffic.
From the forum posts I feel Kappa is not going to give more than 11.5 km/l in dense city traffic. The 1.1 irde would probably give better FE in the city, but you may not get Magna/Asta or sports in 1.1.
Cheers.

[profold]

Originally Posted by joslicx

If you think FE will improve after first service then you are in for a surprise! its not necessarily true for new-gen engines and in fact my FE has marginally gone down after first service (12-13 before service, think it is about 11 now just after - looking at the needle). Probably the reason is we tend to drive within the speed limites (50-60 KMPH) before first service which is ideal for FE, but post service occasional flooring the pedal becomes the norm! At least that is the case with me. Now I just want to fly whenever I see an empty stretch of the road.

joslicx,
IMHO, the Kappa engine seems to be rev happy and so in longer stretch, with tacho reading 4000 rpm or so, FE is expected to improve.
I only hope that the poor FE in our car is due to wrong ECU settings and has nothing to do with the Engine per se.
I also feel that all service guys may not be equally conversant with ECU tuning (pre delivery and during first service). May be I would encounter a more experienced service advisor during the first service.
This evening, I have done a tankful and would test it after clocking another 100 km, tankfull to tankfull. I would be able to give a clearer picture.
Please standby.
Like Rohan says, Cya.

[mobike008]

Congrats profold for the i10 Magna. I bought the same car for my wife and since she is a newbie driver the car runs mostly between 1st to 3rd gear and 4th gear would be probably once or twice in her daily 12 kms up and down to office.

We are currently getting an FE of about 11kmpl which i used to think is pathetic but have come to terms that it will not give any more than what its giving now.

I am sure your FE will improve after the first service. Drive Safe

[StarVegabond]

Hi Prof

One more thing you need to ensure is that you are present when car is being re-fueled. Also ensure good quality fuel from a good/reputed fuel station.

[profold]

Friends!

Here is the latest FE update using tankfull to tank full method.

Distance travelled:667-533=144km (3 X 30 km stretch 40-50 kmph, rest start and stop hops about 4km each, Ac on 100% but low cool setting)

fuel used 15.97 l, say 16 l (ordinary)

FE=9.0 km/l . Present odometer reading is 678 km.

There is major improvement over first 300 km (7 km/l avg) and marginally over the last 100 km run (8.2 km/l). Identical driving habits.

The improvement could be due to (i) tankful method (ii) running in or (iii) low setting of AC

Is the FE expected to improve with further running in?
Will the FE improve after first service? AFAIK, no engine tuning gets done in the first service. Other members of this forum are getting far better FE. Should I be worried? I do not wish to loose credibility with the dealer by crying wolf too soon.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Hi Prof

One more thing you need to ensure is that you are present when car is being re-fueled. Also ensure good quality fuel from a good/reputed fuel station.

@ StarVegabond,
I had been present and out of the car when it was being refuelled, both the time.
The fuel station is close to our residence and the general opinion about the station is good.

Cheers.