[shajufx]

Originally Posted by Chillout

My heart was in my mouth.............I could not experience the ABS coming into action. I have heard from the service folks that you can feel the jerks on the brake pedals when ABS is activated, however I did not notice any such jerks( or I may have missed to note it). Has any one else experienced the ABS coming into action.

Considering your situation (heart being in the mouth), you may not notice even if the car lifted itself 2 inches from the road and stoped on hard breaking !

I hav had lot of expectations on the ABS, but all of them have gone for a toss after owning an ABS enabled car. I thought ABS will kick in everytime you press the break. Therefore I would get that pulsating effect and a kind of massage for my right foot. Later I got matured in my thinking and realised ABS is like a visiting professor, it comes only once in a bluemoon. When you expect it to be active, you wont find it. When you face situations like 'heart in the mouth' kind, you realise ABS actually worked but went unnoticed.

My Fiesta ran 3000+ kms, so far no luck on the ABS. Sometimes I feel like laughing when I hear people commenting to each other "Oh that car has no ABS and Airbags". I connect it to someone commenting about another "Oh that guy has no beard and sunglass" ! How many people really understand ABS and Airbags are connected to the 'heart in mouth' situations majority of the time.

Safety features are not a priority out of awareness in our country, but a feature that comes handy to those who can afford. I might have driven on the highway in 160 kmph because I have ABS. But can I forget the Omni guy who overtook me on the highway and dozens of Indicas that flew past me in great speed ? NO. Life is the same for all of them.

Sorry, comment became a lecture.

[s3va]

nice thread Mr.Nair...!

Originally Posted by Chillout

I had to break hard and managed to stop inches before the truck. My heart was in my mouth and it was one of the close encounters that I have had. The car did not skid but I could not experience the ABS coming into action. I have heard from the service folks that you can feel the jerks on the brake pedals when ABS is activated, however I did not notice any such jerks( or I may have missed to note it). Has any one else experienced the ABS coming into action.

I think the service guys are 'jerks', hence you didnt feel the 'jerks' ! How many of these service guys would have themselves felt the jerks before sharing such an information.
I think you have answered your own question. Its the ABS that saved you from kissing the lorry ! So just ignore if you didnt feel the jerks !

[ruchirtnt]

Originally Posted by nairrk

+
So you are happy?
Dealer agreed to book the car in 1st week jan2010 based on the present price with agreed discount 50k.
Suggest, after few days ask him to give a quotation (say it is for your bank loan purpose) so that you have written confirmation and then he cannot go back and change the rate/discount etc.

But it seems that you have not yet decided the car?
Still dancing between (of confusion) fiesta,SX4 and City?

the dealer told me today that the ex showroom rates are applicable on the delivery date and not the booking date, so there is no benefit booking in dec and taking the delivery in jan, he also told that the cost will rise by atleast 25k to 30k, he also told that this usually happens every jan, could you please suggest is this true?
Then in that case he is suggesting me to book the car in dec only because i will keep the car for atleast 5 to 6 years and there wont be any benefit for buying a new year model

[nairrk]

@shaju

Nice comments, not lecture !

ABS is not much helpful or you will not find the difference just only for
straight braking. It can be more helpful on curves,sharp turnings, slippery or wet roads etc and will safetly you can manoeuvre the car without skidding.

Fiesta just came to me and not much mileage done (eventhough I took a long drive of 500kms), still to find the difference.

However 3/4 years back, I had a Hyundai Accent with ABS and I experienced it. Once I was driving from Chennai to Kerala (monsoon season). Everything was smooth till walayar. AFter that heavy and continuous rain and many slippery roads. Irrespective of the adverse weather, I managed to drive the car at allmost 120kmph with lot of overtaking, sudden braking, curves etc and the car never ever moved out of the line.

ABS brakes mostly for improved directional stability on slippery surfaces than straight roads.

please see below the illustration given by the car company:




You can see the two lanes - one with ABS and see how the car supposed to behave in such curve, and the other one without ABS and the car movement. Hope this explanation is more or less correct

Originally Posted by ruchirtnt

the dealer told me today that the ex showroom rates are applicable on the delivery date and not the booking date, so there is no benefit booking in dec and taking the delivery in jan, he also told that the cost will rise by atleast 25k to 30k, he also told that this usually happens every jan, could you please suggest is this true?
Then in that case he is suggesting me to book the car in dec only because i will keep the car for atleast 5 to 6 years and there wont be any benefit for buying a new year model

+
So, you listen suggestions given by other members i.e
Book the car towards end of dec (who knows, may be after 15 dec there
may be some more discounts and that is the time the dealers used to chase the buyers) but tell them to register the car only in January 2010 ?

[unni.ak]

Originally Posted by shajufx

My Fiesta ran 3000+ kms, so far no luck on the ABS. Sometimes I feel like laughing when I hear people commenting to each other "Oh that car has no ABS and Airbags". I connect it to someone commenting about another "Oh that guy has no beard and sunglass" ! How many people really understand ABS and Airbags are connected to the 'heart in mouth' situations majority of the time.

Let us hope that you never come into a situation where you get to know that ABS functioned. You are 100% right about peoples understanding of ABS. It is not a magical thing that makes a car stop instantly. And, just because one has a ABS enabled car doesn't mean he can drive insanely fast and ABS will take care. All it does is give you steering ability, and in some rare combination of situations (say gravel on road or wet roads), decrease the stopping distance.

[Gilead]

Originally Posted by ruchirtnt

the dealer told me today that the ex showroom rates are applicable on the delivery date and not the booking date

He is trying to con you. You can always take the price in writing when you make the booking. It is applicable only if there is a huge gap between the date of booking and the date of delivery. My suggestion would be to book the car in the 3rd week of Dec and register it on 2nd of Jan. If the dealer is acting funny, take delivery of the car in Dec with a TC and do the registration in Jan through a driving school or an agent. Nairsaab did this and there is nothing that the dealer can do. This is assuming the color you want is readily available. If you want an Aquarius S, it will take 3 week to come if it's not in stock.

[nairrk]

For RTO registration - even this you can do itself provided if you have time to stand in the que at the RTO office?

[Moonraker]

@nair saab... what i meant by activation is ABS kicking into action to stop the vehicle during hard braking and the situation which caused ABS to function.

I never felt any pulsating effect but i am sure that the ABS got activated because there were no screeching sound or smoke during the hard braking which i used to see while driving my esteem and when i hear the sound i would start the pumping action to release and apply the brakes to stop effectively. Guess what! now i have an electro mechanical component which is doing the job for me and i need to just press the pedal hard.

[oss]

ABS kicking-in is dependent on not just the speed but the sudden-ness in applying the brake and if it senses the traction is about to be lost (don't know how it is monitored though)

I tried to get a feel of the ABS kicking-in many times by applying sudden brake but ever could experience at even while braking at 100+ kmph speeds. But yesterday while driving back home, it was raining and i suddenly noticed a deep trench cut across the road (some wisecrack from the corporation decided to cut the trench to help water drain from one side of the road to the other ) and applied sudden brake, and yes, i could feel god in the activated ABS. I was doing just about 50-60 kimph, but ABS kicked in slowed down the vehicle without any drama.

[kalyan_hyd]

Originally Posted by ruchirtnt

the dealer told me today that the ex showroom rates are applicable on the delivery date and not the booking date, so there is no benefit booking in dec and taking the delivery in jan, he also told that the cost will rise by atleast 25k to 30k, he also told that this usually happens every jan, could you please suggest is this true?
Then in that case he is suggesting me to book the car in dec only because i will keep the car for atleast 5 to 6 years and there wont be any benefit for buying a new year model

1. There was a news article in this morning's 'Times of India - Hyderabad' about a possible 1-3 % rise in car prices starting Jan, 2010 by majority of the car companies. The article did not talk of Ford pricing as such.

2. As @Gilead replied earlier, the change in the ex-showroom price between the booking date and the delivery date varies only if there is a huge gap.

3. I was told by my dealer that the maximum waiting time for a color at present is three weeks. Panther black was available immediately, some colors in two days time and so on. If you have made-up your mind on a particular color, it would be great to ask about the current waiting period there and proceed as per that.

4. Here in Hyderabad, alongwith the date of registration, we also have the Car Manufactured month and year on the Registration card, so it won't matter much if one register's in Dec, 2009 or in Jan, 2010 as far as the car's VIN is 2009. And we get 30 days time after the purchase to get the car registered. Depending on the time period allowed for registration there, you can always take the delivery of the car in the last week of Dec, 2009 but get the same registered in Jan, 2010.

5. In general, it would be a good idea to look for offers starting the end of 2nd week of December. The dealers do have year-end targets and they try to push sales.

[Chillout]

I have my first complaint which is the vibration of the driver side window glass. The sound is annoying and this started to come with only 7500 kms on the ODO. I hope the service guys are able to fix this minor issue.

Has anyone else noticed had this issue and was it fixed......

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by oss

ABS kicking-in is dependent on not just the speed but the sudden-ness in applying the brake and if it senses the traction is about to be lost (don't know how it is monitored though)

ABS is not dependent on the speed. It is dependent on the relative speed of the wheels to eachother. The wheels have speed sensors, and if they detect that the relative speed of the wheels vary during braking (which denotes impending lock-up), the ECU releases the brakes of the slower wheel several times a millisecond.

This complicated system is programmed to eliminate the aberrations that occur when the car is in a turning - where the wheels in the outer arc travel faster than the wheels in the inner arc.

[ruchirtnt]

Originally Posted by kalyan_hyd

1. There was a news article in this morning's 'Times of India - Hyderabad' about a possible 1-3 % rise in car prices starting Jan, 2010 by majority of the car companies. The article did not talk of Ford pricing as such.

2. As @Gilead replied earlier, the change in the ex-showroom price between the booking date and the delivery date varies only if there is a huge gap.

3. I was told by my dealer that the maximum waiting time for a color at present is three weeks. Panther black was available immediately, some colors in two days time and so on. If you have made-up your mind on a particular color, it would be great to ask about the current waiting period there and proceed as per that.

4. Here in Hyderabad, alongwith the date of registration, we also have the Car Manufactured month and year on the Registration card, so it won't matter much if one register's in Dec, 2009 or in Jan, 2010 as far as the car's VIN is 2009. And we get 30 days time after the purchase to get the car registered. Depending on the time period allowed for registration there, you can always take the delivery of the car in the last week of Dec, 2009 but get the same registered in Jan, 2010.

5. In general, it would be a good idea to look for offers starting the end of 2nd week of December. The dealers do have year-end targets and they try to push sales.

I have made up my mind to go for a White SXi, there is one doubt i my mind, and that is regarding doing the booking in dec or to go for a new year model,
As i am getting the news there is a definite rise in price in Jan 2010, so is it any better for me to go for a New year model?
dealer also told me that even if you book a car in Jan 2010 you will still end up having a 2009 model and if you specifically want a 2010 VIN number then you have to wait till Feb 2010
and is there any benefit to go for 2010 model even if i have to keep a vehicle for 5 -6 years?

[nairrk]

@ruchirtnt

I dont find too much difference in a car which is manufactured in december or January unless there is an upgradation on the model. When on resale the buyers only look at the RC and Insurance paper when the car is registered i.e they mainly look for the car's running period (how much you used). Some people talk about too much on mileage reading but they should know that this can be manipulated. So what I can suggest is that see if you can get a vehicle registered in January 2010, that will be better. ! (Now, imo, you dont talk to the dealer for few days i.e give him a fealing that you are not much pushed to book a car now. And once he calls, you can do your way of talking?)

[Govinda-Govinda]

Hi,

I unfortunately scraped my bumper in the parking lot. Its nothing big, but is an aberration in the otherwise beautiful exterior of my Blue S.

Can anyone please tell me how do I go about getting this retouched. Can the Service center do it? If yes, which one in Bangalore (Lathangi or Metro) is better equipped to do it? If no, where else in Bangalore? Car was bought from Lathangi.

Will post pics later to give a better idea.