| Logan DLE 2100+ Ownership and experience
Logan DLE 2100+ Ownership and experience
Hi there,
This is my first post ever. :-).
I initially owned a third hand maruti 800 1996 model. And i simply loved it. Then i got married and since decisions are to be made bilaterally now, it was time to let the "other" partner out of the house. So, with the heaviest of my heart, i exchanged the car.
Before shortlisting the car, as a good sensible man, i went through a week deceiding on which fuel type to buy. I had clocked 56000 kms on my maruti 800. When i had purchased it, it had done 22000 kms. I had it for roughly 5 years. So that was around 7000 kms a year. Now, i regularly drive to pune and used to share the drive with my close friend - who is also a member of this site. He had an indica turbo (with mags and all the other tamjham). Also, there were many days that i did not feel like driving the vehicle to office, so used to take the rickshaw. I had figured out that with an average of roughly 11 kms and my office being exactly 10 kms, a rickshaw cost me just 5 to 7 bucks more. Plus no parking hassles if i was a little late. :-).
So, finally, i racked up all the permutations and combinations and came up with a figure of roughly 1500 kms a month. And looking at this finalized a diesel version. AND THEN CAME VISTA. I cared two hoots about other cars. I was blinded by the VISTA and part of it was due the fact that i had driven the indica turbo on the expressway at speeds above 140 with cruising speed of 120 / 125. Whenever rarely i took the 800, the speed was down to 90 - 100 with cruising speed at 75 / 80. So the faster driving with the a/c always on was always a pleasure.
Now, my wife does not think it that way. She knows and loves a maruti 800 or a mercedes. Its actually quite funny. She kept on insisting she wanted a mercedes. I told her that it costs over 30 lakhs for one and probably had 30 thousand with me and i convinced her for a vista. I contacted Concorde motors for a test drive. The executive was very helpful and very well informed. I was impressed with the test drive and called for one alongwith my wife. She was impressed too – due to the brainwashing that I had done citing the various benefits of the car time and again.
The price was an issue as the lower model didn’t have the tachometer. So to haggle on the price and finalize the deal we went to the showroom. Shortening the story – my wife say the indigo cs, saw the price tags, and openly in front of the whole showroom (including the tea wala, sales manager, receptionists, loan wala and the executive) chided me with “You are an obvious fool to buy that small car when you can get a Mercedes for lesser than that price”. Ahhhhhha – the lights turn on and it is realized - what she meant by Mercedes was a Sedan. And the truth is – SHE WAS RIGHT. This was echoed by Abhi – the indica guy.
I now went back to the drawing board. I had a budget of around 4.5 lakhs (after exchange of the old vehicle). Again worked on the finances and increased it to 5.5 lakhs (after exchange price).
Now the vehicles I short listed were
a) Dzire LDI
b) Ikon
c) Logan DLE
Now the prices that I mention below are inclusive of floor mats, mud flaps, teflon coat guaranteed for a year, and huper optic / lumar filming including the front wind shield (all six glasses.) I initially took the quotes with a factory fitted audio system and front power windows, but that was simply beyond my reach. So stuck to the first combination. The vehicle would be registered in Pune as all residence proofs have a Pune address.
All vehicles, lowest version. In Ikon, there is only version – the loaded one. Now came the turn of test drives and interaction with the executives. Every test drive was for around 10 – 20 odd kms. Nothing less.
a) Dzire LDI – Executive Name – Krishna Mishra. Dealer – Vittesse. Excellent person. Vehicle – Impressive. His knowledge about the engines and competition was excellent. His time schedule and promptness in responding was excellent too. Completely satisfied with the service that he provided. Took two test drives of the vehicle – one alone and one alongwith my wife.
Observations : I was very happy with the test drive. The vehicle was the top end model. Engines is very good and is very sporty. The car was ready to be delivered as there was stock available and that too in the silver colour (my wife’s firm choice. Get any Mercedes sedan – colour will be silver only – that was the ultimatum. And this was fine by me too. )
Then came the bomb, the lowest version does not have the power clutch and not tacho (oh no). Other small tick tacks also gone. I asked for a test drive of that version and they didn’t have that car.
The final quote for the vehicle after exchange of my Maruti 800 with mud flaps, floor mats and filming – 6,20,000.
b) Ikon : Executive Name :- Sanjay. Dealer : Wasan Motors. Excellent person. Lovely interaction. Geniune person. And since they also have a Tata Showroom alongside, had insight of the engines. The vehicle is good. Engine noise pretty evident, but a really sporty engine (new engine from the old fiesta). The dashboard curves on the front passenger side, give a feeling of extra room. Come in one model only, fully loaded with power windows all around and all the small knick knacks. I would recommend this car to any person.
After sales maintainence is higher. I compared the part prices of the three cars concerned and yes, the ikon has the highest prices - lowest margin being 10% to a whopping 90% high. And the prices concerned are regular parts such as a diesel filter and oil filters etc.
This car was unfortunately outrightly rejected because I am heavily built. (5ft 8 inches, 120 kgs and counting ) and this vehicle seats really low. My knees were being blocked by the steering wheel and after the test drive, I could feel the strain on my feet. So this car is not for me or for people for my structure.
The final quote for the vehicle BEFORE exchange of my Maruti 800 with mud flaps, floor mats and filming – 6,20,000. Didn’t call the evaluator for the old vehicle.
c) Logan DLE :- Executive Name : Swati / Shaikh. Dealer : Global / NBS. Why the smile? If I say that the executive I was dealing with from Mahindra were the worst of the lot, it would be an understatement. A simple question like – at what RPM does the turbo kick in? would be responded with – “engine malai jaisa hai sir. Renault quality hai sir and Global is the most reputed Mahindra dealer with x amount of years experience” That basically sums up the answer to most of my questions asked. Other than that, time punctuality was maintained and I took one test drive with 5 people loaded in Pune too (Father, brother, myself and two people from Sahyadri Motors, Pune – very co-operative people and quite well informed, though not in the class of the maruti personnel.)
Observations : I didn’t get an actual test drive vehicle for Logan. In Mumbai as well as pune, I got a new vehicle for the test drive. Middle version with the front two power windows and a computerized information centre. The vehicle isn’t sporty as the other two – but definitely is more comfortable. With full load of five people, and mind you, my brother and father are quite well built, we could easily stuff in one more person.
The engine power quoted appears to be on the lower side. I would say, I found it to be more powerful as compared to the Ikon. It is not sporty as the other two, but having crossed thirty and becoming a manager sitting at the office warming my chair against the a/c blast, being sporty was lower on my list.
The seating was comfortable and apart from the power windows, I didn’t find anything that I didn’t want in the car. The metal on this car is definitely a grade higher than the other two. Plastics are comparable. Interiors – beige. Downside at my model choice – the steering wheel and console cap are black – rest is beige.
Now coming to the price – well it was quite some fun involved. You must have seen the name of Mr. Shaikh, an executive at NBS, the official show room of Mahindra at Girgaum Chowpatty. I have not met him. It was by sheer luck / chance that I came to know of him through one of our mutual friends who has purchased 21 vehicles from him. It helped as he quoted a price lower than what Global quoted me. This haggling of price brought the price of the vehicle down by a cool 10 grands.
Maybe in some other thread, I will elaborate more on why I brought the car. But, the fact is – I LIKED IT (boxy design et al) and EVERYBODY I LOVE ALSO LIKED IT.
The final quote for the vehicle after exchange of my Maruti 800 with mud flaps, floor mats and filming – 5,72,000. I feel that is a decent deal.
I am attaching the details of the deal as below. I got the car security system (in lieu of the cool 10,000 I had saved in the further bargaining). They fitted it with Nippon and it has a cool Logan written on it.
Date Particulars Sub Particulars Sub Tot Exp Tot Expenses
Logan Car Cost 665518
1st July 2009 Global Gallarie Car Invoice 581739
4th July 2009 United India Car Insurance 21308
14th July, 2009 RTO OTT Paid 41536
14th July, 2009 Temp Registration 300
14th July, 2009 Pune Octroi 11635
14th July, 2009 Pune Registration Chgs 3500
14th July, 2009 Nippon Car Security 5500
Discount - Car Exchange 35000
Dealer Discounts 53147
Total Car Paid 577371
25th of July, 2009 Audio System Pioneer HU with JBL Spks 9800
I took the delivery on 16th of July. The car has run 2100+ kms so far. So far I am quite satisfied with the car. There are some niggles here and there which I hope gets fixed in the first servicing which is now due.
I must mention the name of Mr. Rajan from Global. If anybody is interested in buying a Mahindra vehicle, I would recommend talking to this wonderful guy who would possibly go out of his way to help you out in the purchase. Trust me, he is not an executive. He sits way up the ladder in the hierarchy, but is very approachable none-the-same. Message or call me and I would gladly give you his contact number (or any of the other exec’s mentioned in the report).
How could I afford the system is material for another thread. I have driven the vehicle twice on the pune Mumbai highway and a visit to venkys balaji temple from pune. So the running is 60 city : 40 highway. The niggle that I have faced are
a)the vehicle veers to the left (hardly noticeable, but it becomes evident driving on the highway) – had pointed this out at the pdi and the next day they said that they had fixed it – but apparently it has been not.
b)The parking bulb went out the second day of the purchase. The technicians came to my office to fix it. Apparently the bulb had got loose in the holder. He dropped the bulb and could not find it. (the logan is the only car with an engine guard at the bottom. the replacement bulb he got was dim (reddish yellow) when switched on and I refused to have it put in my car. Finally settled with the bulb taken out from his vehicle. Works perfectly now.
c)The Nippon security system. Two problems. The back door was not getting unlocked. Some plastic part was not installed properly and broke off and second, the driver door side lock does not open with the keys. It has to be electronically opened. Still not completely fixed. The drivers door cant be opened with the key. However due to the technician coming from the authorized centre, realized a lot of features of the security system. Got the valet switch and the led bulb fixed on one of the fake switches on the dashboard. . Yay. No drilling, no nothing on the main dash.
d)The water jet is clogged. Was always clogged. God damn the pdi. . They did not even fill up the water in the water box. And it was raining outside.
e)Once about a couple of days back, I heard engine noise in the passenger compartment. YIKES. I had driven about 6 odd kms. With half clutch bumper to bumper traffic – 4 people in car. The temperature on the indicator was 4 notches (normal) but there was definitely sound coming from the engine when I parked the vehicle and waited for a few moments to switch it off. When I opened the bonnet to see what it was, it was missing there, but once inside, the sound was evident. It was like a muted rhythmic beating of the walls. I think it could be the fan spinning faster and becoming loose or the sound proofing material hitting against the car or something. But it definitely was there. It has reappeared once yesterday, but is normally missing. Will get it checked at the service centre.
When I took the delivery, it was raining, and it still is. Rajan recommended that the Teflon (I think its more like waxing) be done in the dry season. I agreed. And as far as the filming was concened, they didn’t have the film. WOW. He reasoned that its anyways better to get the filming done after the rains. The a/c in the car is superb. So I settled for the deal. So the vehicle still has to have the films and Teflon done.
I have driven the vehicle with 100% a/c on. (that’s why its there for –right?) and mostly driven with the full load of people. Always pick up a couple of people when I go to Pune (free of cost – mind you). Also went to balaji’s with 5 adults and a kid comfortably. Going back from office means pooling the vehicle with atleast 3 other people. So its normally a load of 3 – 4 people atleast. And I don’t have any discomfort driving the vehicle.
Whenever I was on the highway – speed maintained was around 100. RPM never raised beyond 2400 so far. After 200 kms took the vehicle to 130 kmph for 6 kms to see the stability of the vehicle. Result – mightily impressed. No sound whatsoever. Even today, no niggles or wiggles anywhere.
Coming to the punch time – Well here are the fuel consumption figures. As per the electronic system I still have 18 lts of diesel left. Avoided the premium diesel and have just fed her regular diesel. The following are the results. I will not look deep into these as the vehicle is brand new and not even been put through its paces. So you or the mods decided how to interpret the results. No comments from my side except that I am mightily satisfied.
Car MIS - Figures for car consumption
Amt- Ltr- Cum- Kms- Cum- Avg
180- 5- 5- 70- 14.00
375- 10- 15- 70- 150- 8.00
500- 13.91- 28.91- 150- 450- 21.57
375- 10- 38.91- 450- 550- 10.00
200- 5.45- 44.36- 550- 682- 24.22
1299- 36.17- 80.53- 682- 1383- 19.38
400- 11.2- 91.73- 1383- 1610- 20.27
1400- 39.2- 130.93- 1610- 2120- 13.01
0-0-130.93- 2120- 2120-16.19
MIS Data Results
Total Days 44
Total Amount Spent 4729.95
Total Diesel Consumed 130.93
Total Kms Run 2120
Average Kms / Day 48.18
Average Kms / Rs 0.45
Average Kms / Ltr so far 16.19 (with 18 ltrs still in the tank)
Average Rs / Day 107.50
I have loads to share. Will do that in some other post depending on the response I get here. I will also update the feel I get at the first service which should be somewhere round the corner. 5000+ report will definitely be there. Why I chose the logan and also the audio system etc. will also be there.
I have to still get the seat covers, Steering wheel cover, power windows and filming to be done. So once I get the moolah or a good deal from any of you out there, I will get it done and update you guys. Also will upload the snaps too.
Regards,
Nishant
9322198742. | 
25th August 2009, 16:35
