[kcnetid]

I got the TR number yesterday evening. Went to the showroom and stuck it on. There is a Mr. Vijaya Kumar there who was very helpful and walked me through all the documents.
In a later post, I will try and give a brief write up about the documentation process too. It should help a lot of first time buyers.

To start with, a word on the GPS to respond to previous queries and comments. It is good, works and talks to you. Typing the destination is slightly laborious as the touch screen response is lazy. Typing will be slow and can be aggravating until you accept that it will not be the same as you PC/laptop.
One other minor niggle is that the music pauses whenever you navigate on the touchscreen - maybe the processor is slow. It has so many features that navigating around to find what you want needs some getting used to. But thats just 5-10 mins a week and I use pretty much the basic stuff - music, tuner and directions just for the fun of it.

Regarding tryes, I will continue with the bridgestones for now. I have no clue on tyres at all and will do proper research before I make a decision. Will look at the PP2 at that point. There seems to be a whole section on this site dedicated to tyres - I love this community !!!
I will change them after a few months when I think I have decided on the right tryes and plan to push the car. Will be very picky 'where the rubber meets the road'.

I am actually recovering from viral fever + a bad case of drug reaction and had swollen joints and even walking/stairs was difficult. The 2-3 weeks was pretty bad. But nonetheless, once I got the T/R number, the freedom to take the car out on public roads proved too tempting and I immediately took the car to the Airport via ORR. I decided to push it a bit as long as I did not cross 3000 RPM.

The car is phenomenal. It just surges when I caress the accelerator - at any gear!!. It is reluctant only if below 40 in the 5th gear on an incline. The road feel is great. I easily touched 100 kmph at less than 2500 RPM in 5th gear. The car was nonchalant...just another walk in the park.... and I had to be very careful with the throttle to keep it at 100 kmph. I felt that it was idling at 90 kmph. I did touch 110 by mistake and even then, it was below 3000 RPM. Can't wait to see what it will be like at 4500 RPM...

The responsiveness of the engine is definitely something I can't stop writing about. I did not feel any lag between putting pressure on the accelerator and the car surging forward. The moment, I take the foot off, the tacho needle falls as if it died.
At hundred, the engine seemed to be looking back at me, flicking its eyebrows and asking...'what now dude? whats the plan?? do we go beyond??' The engine is not reluctant, not aggressive - just obediently powerful with a touch of mischief....Alladin's genei?

There are a few diversions along the way where the road narrows and there are 'S' curves. I did not have to brake for even one. Just had to lift off the accelerator. I actually experienced the expression - 'cornering like it is on rails'. Absolutely no tyre slide even with slight loose dust on the road. Solidly planted. My wife kept bracing the first couple of times and by the 4th-5th 'S', even she was comfortable relaxing during the 'S' in the passenger seat. Her comment - "This car does not throw around passengers much"

Closer to the airport, changing lanes at high speed was a breeze, and staying in the center of the lane during long curves at high speed seemed just.....natural - on rails feeling again. It used to be a struggle in the hatches where I had to keep constantly correcting to keep in my lane - forget about keeping at the center.
I can't rave about the braking enough - I'll keep quite now.

Responsiveness, suspension, turns, braking...everything just feels.....tight

And I have not even run through the breaking in period. Can't wait for the first servicing to be completed and check out what happens when I really push the car.

I will post a pic without the ribbon.

[Ramsagar]

That a good choice you have made in purchasing a rally car. All the fit & finish is simply superb and not over boarded interiors. And japs are good at breeding these kind of machines.

Try upgrading the tires to PP2,these are the best in terms of comfort & grip with less road noise.

[RajaTaurus]

Originally Posted by kcnetid

.... My wife kept bracing the first couple of times and by the 4th-5th 'S', even she was comfortable relaxing during the 'S' in the passenger seat. Her comment - "This car does not throw around passengers much"

My wifey said the same thing too when we took our car first time. More so, she has been riding in Camrys and Galants in Saudi and she didn't feel much difference here with the Cedia. That's the Rally suspensions keep the car near flat cornering.

When I bought the Cedia I though was a bit more mad than others in kind of 'possessing' it and going gaga about evey bit of it, but in these 2 years I see almost every single owner of Cedia here are almost same like me. Mad about it.! And that is being Ceduced.

[kcnetid]

Originally Posted by RajaTaurus

When I bought the Cedia I though was a bit more mad than others in kind of 'possessing' it and going gaga about evey bit of it, but in these 2 years I see almost every single owner of Cedia here are almost same like me. Mad about it.! And that is being Ceduced.

I think I know exactly what you mean. I am damn pleased with the Cedia Sport.

And the Evo X is going to be very expensive. I have dreams of that too. If its going to be a CKD, thats > 100% straight duty. I think it will be > 40 lacs when launched. It is expected to be launched early next year - one rumour has it in April and another has it in Feb. I suspect it will be towards mid of next year.

Probably have to just watch and drool till I can afford it - maybe in 10 yrs :-)

[visu03]

Congrats on your purchase. You are right, Raima folks are very co-operative and render good service.

I have a Cedia for last 20 months and enjoying every minute of it. It will be nice to meet up some time and exchange Cedia experiences.

[kcnetid]

Originally Posted by visu03

I have a Cedia for last 20 months and enjoying every minute of it. It will be nice to meet up some time and exchange Cedia experiences.

Yup. meet and hopefully drive a decent distance :-) 20 months of Cedia should have been fun.
Even mobike008 was looking to meet. We can look at a teambhp outing mentioned in Hyderabad thread.
I currently live in Gachibowli just off the ORR :-) and work in Madhapur. Depending on where you live, we can plan it out.

[srikanths1]

Fantastic choise kcnetid. I have a quick question for you though. You said that you went for the minimal sticker. Is that sticker optional. I thought they slapped it on every beast that came out of the factory and you have to live with it - one of the things that keeps me cedia away from the top of my choice list. I dont like the stickers, its hideous. If its optional and i can get a car delivered without it, there is nothing better than a Cedia at this price. I like is interiors, quiet subtle and well done and performance, well i think enough has been spoken about it for me to go about it again.

[kcnetid]

Originally Posted by srikanths1

You said that you went for the minimal sticker. Is that sticker optional. I thought they slapped it on every beast that came out of the factory and you have to live with it - one of the things that keeps me cedia away from the top of my choice list. I dont like the stickers, its hideous. If its optional and i can get a car delivered without it, there is nothing better than a Cedia at this price.

The sticker is completely optional. They are stuck onto the car at your dealer/workshop. I asked the dealer to hold off on them. I used the minimal stickers to break the monotony of white. I think the stickers make sense only on yellow.

Even if the stickers have been fixed, you can ask them to remove it - they are just stuck on - so they can be peeled off and a good scrub with water and/or a suitable solvent will clean up everything - be sure to get it done by a professional or enough research before you try this yourself.

Cedia is definitely great at this price. Before the Cedia, there were times when I booked a cab instead of driving around town. Now, I keep looking for excuses to drive around.
Do update after you make your decision.

[kcnetid]

Originally Posted by ashwin_seattle

well with all due regards to everyone's feelings, Cedia is a written-off Lancer in US. Didnt sell well, just bcoz of the bland interiors, trim levels, and the surprisingly subtle exterior.

Interiors in Cedia sport are quite up to par with the 'sports' tag. Subtle exterior - agree totally and you are being polite :-) In fact, if it were not for the spoiler, the boot looks *very* awkward. The good parts are pretty much the skirting, spoiler and the hood.

I was not infatuated with the car when I bought it - I knew exactly what I was *not* getting. I had driven my friends cars in the US - Beamers, Accords, Camrys...The beamer was the only fun car with stick shift. But we had to take side roads to really enjoy the car.
Absolutely no difference between a Beamer and a Focus on cruise control at 60 mph on a freeway. Only while merging in/out of freeway.

Originally Posted by ashwin_seattle

Cedia is a nice car in its own right, but i guess the superb engine and drive terrain deserved a much better looking car IMHO. To top it, this car has no climate control(shame), ruthless backseat and even the front seats grow tiring after a long drive.

Definitely deserve better looks but then again, I am always sitting *inside* the car :-)
Car does have climate control. Probably ruthless back seat and can't comment on comfort of long drive with front ones right now. I was aware of this when I bought it. For rear seat comfort, nothing beats the SX4 - its almost a sofa on wheels :-) If I had a larger family (and I slightly older...), SX4 would have been a very serious alternative.

Originally Posted by ashwin_seattle

Lets be honest and face it. But yes, compared to the competition we have, this car is a winner! So what should we say - Excellent car, Good car or just VFM? I would say nice car with decent VFM, but could have been nicer.
Mitsu folks, are you listening?

Mitsu realised the car's strengths and are pushing the sports angle. When I booked the vehicle, there was just a single Cedia variant available - the Cedia sports. The price list just had the cedia sports apart from the Lancers (2 variants), Pajero, Montero and Outlander. Apparently they hacked all the other variants a month back. They re-introduced the Spirit.

Cedia is slightly more than VFM. Apart from the pure Money to exterior/interior angle, there is the performance angle. In India at least, there are very few performance/passion buys for the middle and upper middle class. Most buys are practical. Cedia gives a buzz.
I think Cedia can be truly compared only to the Cruze. At least if there are no plans to mod. I have not looked at the Cruz's suspension and brakes but will be surprised if they are better than Mitsu's.

[bottle]

congrats on the car,do post pictures of the new leather seat design too

[kcnetid]

I just completed the 1st tank full. I filled the tank with about 44 ltrs when the odo read ~ 30kms. The reading now ~ 547 kms. The low fuel sign is on and the meter is close to empty. Looks like it still has about 3-4 ltrs left. I will update the FE when I fill the tank again tomorrow. In any case it is > 11kmpl and this includes a few runs on the ORR and about 250 kms in bumper to bumper city traffic with AC on for all 547 kms.

Some notes:
1. Driver seating is lower for sportiness and hence slghtly harsh on the back and legs compared to Swift. Definitely need a neck pillow/support. Have to go on a long drive to really check this out. Probably this month sometime.
2. The A/C is great but there is an unexpected 'feature' and not a 'bug'. When you put the blower in internal circulation mode and both temp and blower in 'auto', If the cabin gets too cold, the auto system trips the internal circulation and sucks in warm air from outside. Now I wouldn't be engaging the internal circulation if I was OK with the fumes from outside. I took it to the workshop thinking it was a problem but the mechanics tested it out and showed it to me that this is a 'feature' and not a 'bug'. I had it confirmed from a HM mechanic who was visiting for somebody else's recurring problem. I think this is counter intuitive. This needs to me mentioned in manual (I did not find it in my cursory reading) or the behaviour needs to be altered.
It started sucking in external air just when I was behind particularly polluting city buses - Murphy's law?
But the good part is, they washed my car for free for having visited the service center and having left the car there for a few hours. I am understandably happy - anyone who treats my car right is instantly in my good books :-)
3. Confirmed from the workshop that starting the engine with the AC 'on' is not advisable even in the new generation cars. Not that this will cause major issues but Even of the compressor does not come on, the blower is activated which puts unwanted load on the battery and may reduce its lifespan.

Raima has a really great service center with excellent equipment including a painting chamber - complete with low dust enviroment and heat control for baking/drying the paint coats. I saw some of the paint jobs they had done and I couldn't distinguish it from the original.
Apparently they do denting and painting only for other makes too. No servicing/repairs - just denting and painting - I saw a couple of other makes they had worked on and they were as good as new.
I took a guided tour of the facilities and had a great time nosing through the engine bays of the Pajeros, Outlanders and even saw an Mitsu import - forgot the name - looked like the elder brother of Lancer.

I instantly took a quote for my wife's Swift for denting and painting and the quote was very reasonable. It was hit from behind when stationary(!!) by some nut case. The quote was almost 35% lesser to another quote from TVS guy in Balanagar. They also apparently help in the insurance claim process. I should be getting it done next week or so.

I have to say that I am revising my opinion of Raima for the better. Still to talk to the MD though.

Also there was a query about road side assistance which Mr. Narayan Iyer of HM was kind enough to clarify

As for the doubts you had in mind, please note that we have no plans of discontinuing the Cedia for years to come.

I also noticed some mis-communication on the Road Side Assistance.

Please note, we provide Road Side Assistance even after first year, i.e. The First Year comes free along with the vehicle. The Road Side Assistance can be extended for a period of 5 Years in total. The charges are : Rs. 2300 per year for Second and Third Year and Rs. 3600 per year for Fourth and Fifth Year. The most important aspect of our program is that it includes accident recovery free too.

oh, and the waiting area of the workshop is pretty neat with quite a few motoring books and a TV too - didn't spend too much time there :-) choosing to nose around the repair bays...

[Nitronium]

Killer killer write up bro. True motoring enthusiasm deserves true motoring journalism eh?

You never mentioned what she 'sounds' like.

[Ravveendrra]

Brilliant write-up, I loved the way you discuss the pros and cons of the car. Keep it coming and enjoy the Cedia.

Cheers,

[karthik247]

I have a Cedia, but that AC thing you mentioned never happened in my car. Now what could it be?

[Nikhilb2008]

Karthik, you have the old Cedia. Without Automatic Climate Control. That is why there could be a difference.