[Cayman360]

[quote=thegame;1576128] Checked the mileage a week back, was just above 15 with AC on half the time in the city. Speedo needle didn't move a mm above 140 Kmph, when I floored it on the NICE road today. The position of the central console in the dash cramps my left leg, more so with the absence of the dead pedal. The visibility is poor while taking sharp right turns, thanks to the A pillar design. GM should have threw in a tacho, atleast in the top end variant. The car is dramatically sluggish in lower gears with AC on, but the AC is effective never the less. Chills the cabin in no time. Over all happy with the purchase - money well spent.

quote]

Hi! My dad has a 8 year old Matiz(800 cc), and it has the same issue of massive power loss when the AC is switched on. However, with the new 1000cc engine in the Spark, wasnt the issue taken care of? Spark is known to be a zippy mini, does anybody else face such sluggishness with their Spark with the AC on?

[mkh]

Originally Posted by thegame

Completed the first 1000 on the Friday. Got the reassurance checkup done on the Saturday. No major issues with the car so far. Few things that I wanted fixed during the reassurance service:
1. 3 middle lines in the rear demister didn't work
2. engine revs up when upshifting from 2nd to 3rd
3. Braking produced squeaking noise on 2 or 3 occasions
4. wanted NO stickers on the car

Dropped the car at GM showroom at 10:30AM and picked it up at 6:00PM. They looked fairly busy, probably because it was a weekend. No free pickup and drop service was bad news. But I can live with it as my office is not far from the GM A.S.S. The service advisor tried to sell me Teflon coating and 3M underbody coating for 3K. Politely refused it. Issues 2, 3 & 4 were fixed. The car was washed and polished. Engine sounded a tad better after the service. No revving when up shifting. The brakes felt more effective too. The dreaded GM A.S.S was after all, not all that bad. So far, so good.

My take on the car:
The car zips through in traffic and has a major size advantage within the city. Need for down shifting in traffic is less compared to other cars I have driven. Handling and braking are fairly good. There are lots of provisions for placing stuff all around the car - in the door, in the dash, under the dash around the gear console, on the seats which IMO is very thoughtful. Checked the mileage a week back, was just above 15 with AC on half the time in the city. Speedo needle didn't move a mm above 140 Kmph, when I floored it on the NICE road today. The position of the central console in the dash cramps my left leg, more so with the absence of the dead pedal. The visibility is poor while taking sharp right turns, thanks to the A pillar design. GM should have threw in a tacho, atleast in the top end variant. The car is dramatically sluggish in lower gears with AC on, but the AC is effective never the less. Chills the cabin in no time. Over all happy with the purchase - money well spent.

Questions:
To fix the rear defogger, the service guy said the rear winshield has to be replaced (Ofcourse under warranty) and that he has ordered the part. I mean I can live with a thin strip of fog for a few minutes in my rear winshield - but is it worth the pain? Will the winshield fixed by A.S.S be as good as the factory fitting?

How does one source signal in Spark for an after market RPM meter?

Its the best choice i feel for the bangalore traffic where one just dreams of 3rd gear and above in peak traffic hours...and even in non peak hours
I had driven this and the i-10 before buying and i really liked its drive and handling - i felt this would be THE top car to drive in city traffic
However my wife did feel that the gear shift was tough and also a couple of more reasons on which i-10 scored more
I am really surprised at the low numbers this sells compared to the i-10, i think its not fair as this is a better car to have purely for city drives. Probably the GM branding and the "small car" tag has hit the sales...

[SPARKled]

I have completed 2500 KMS so far and I have had the same brake squealing problem. Though its taken care now at the GM pune service centre, the Navi Mumbai centre could not take care of such a simple problem. I agree the Spark is fantastic inside the city and I prefer it to my Ikon in bumper to bumper traffic which is saying a lot.

[thegame]

Originally Posted by blackasta

Absolutely, get the rear glass replaced. The demister lines are heat conductive material painted on glass, and they are connected by 1 or 2 socket type wires (look closer and would notice) with the car circuitry. Windshield fixed by A.S.S should be as good as the factory fitting (especially it is rear glass - if it was the front windshield , you could have thought twice)


Are you sure you want a astar/ritz like tacho in your car?

Thank you! Thats very reassuring. I would like to hear from others about this aswell, just to make sure its not an issue.

Tacho - yes. Not for the looks, but for the utility of it. How does one source the signal for the RPM meter if I have to fit a after market one in Spark?

[thegame]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Did you get the service done @ Kropex ? I think I saw your car

Possible. The car was serviced in Kropex. But I saw more than one black LT Spark.

Originally Posted by Cayman360

Hi! My dad has a 8 year old Matiz(800 cc), and it has the same issue of massive power loss when the AC is switched on. However, with the new 1000cc engine in the Spark, wasnt the issue taken care of? Spark is known to be a zippy mini, does anybody else face such sluggishness with their Spark with the AC on?

Its not as bad as Alto or a Matiz. But its not better than the Santro either. The TD vehicle did much better with AC on.

Originally Posted by mkh

Its the best choice i feel for the bangalore traffic where one just dreams of 3rd gear and above in peak traffic hours...and even in non peak hours
I had driven this and the i-10 before buying and i really liked its drive and handling - i felt this would be THE top car to drive in city traffic
However my wife did feel that the gear shift was tough and also a couple of more reasons on which i-10 scored more
I am really surprised at the low numbers this sells compared to the i-10, i think its not fair as this is a better car to have purely for city drives. Probably the GM branding and the "small car" tag has hit the sales...

Surprisingly I don't see any issues with the gear shift. i10 is a great car, but is overpriced IMHO.

Originally Posted by SPARKled

I have completed 2500 KMS so far and I have had the same brake squealing problem. Though its taken care now at the GM pune service centre, the Navi Mumbai centre could not take care of such a simple problem. I agree the Spark is fantastic inside the city and I prefer it to my Ikon in bumper to bumper traffic which is saying a lot.

The brakes are good after the first service. Yes - its easy to zip through in City traffic.