[DigitalDragon]

Originally Posted by Fornax

Also got door-sill protectors as I felt they were a necessity, and they look nice too.

Why do you think they are necessary ? I agree on the asthetic part.

[Fornax]

Originally Posted by DigitalDragon

Why do you think they are necessary ?

For starters, it was collecting sandal marks and secondly my parking spot being very tight, I have to step on the door sill before exiting.

[vivprasad]

Originally Posted by Fornax

Not sure DD, the VAT might differ from state-to-state. I think I paid about Rs. 168 VAT.

Update: Got sunfilms installed today - Garware Ice-cool Elite 50% on the sides and 70% in front+back. Overall, the price quoted was about 9K but free for me as it was part of the car purchase deal itself.

Also got door-sill protectors as I felt they were a necessity, and they look nice too.

As I posted about a week back on my thread, my bill for the first free service was

Fuel filter assembly: 201.76
Fuel additive: 308.37
4.3 lts engine oil: 1231.26
Oil supplement: 330.40
Labour: 0.00
Total: 2071.79

This is more than what both fornax and dd paid. did you use the fuel additive and the oil supplement. Because in my case, they were added without asking me, and if we take away those two, then the figure would come to around 1500.

The door sills look quite neat, how are they fixed.

[Fornax]

Originally Posted by vivprasad

4.3 lts engine oil: 1231.26

That may be a factor too, haven't checked how many litres of oil were added. No additives / oil supplement were added in my case.

Originally Posted by vivprasad

The door sills look quite neat, how are they fixed.

The sill-guards come with adhesive strips (common ones used to fix perfumes and such) and are merely pressed hard on the door-sills. Please also note the photo is from MGA website, not my car.

[Fornax]

Went to New-Bombay yesterday and got a taste of the after-service effects. Now, the eagerness to race is palpable. The engine feels a lot smooth, so does the gear shift. Although MASS did not mention nor charge me, I'm pretty sure some lubricant or work was done to the gears, as their shifts are much more smoother than before.

After a good 1000 kms in my car - exclusively driven by me - I do sometimes find myself cursing the hard suspension. Incidentally my Indica had a much softer suspension, and I miss it sometimes.

Another thing I've noticed is high-revvs deplete the fuel at a very fast rate, wish the SX4 had real-time FE monitor, that tells you about the impact of your driving style of fuel-economy.

Uploading a few pics:

1&6. Sun-Film (Garware IcoCool Elite 50% on sides & 70% in front and back)

2&3. Door Sill Guards (Front & Rear)

4. Little art-pieces.

5. Speedo, odo and indicators.

[Fornax]

After my first service, I'd topped up my tank and hence was eagerly awaiting the next top-up.

Today I did so, the car gulped down 43.20 litres of ULP which was surprising (a bit) as my odo showed only 380.2 kms thus giving me an FE of 8.80 Km/L!

To be honest, this little run has been a bit of a going wild experience, and I really didnt expect her to perform any miracles in the FE department. For what its' worth here's why:

1. 100% City + 100% ACC On, I've also run the heater once for a 30 mins drive.

2. For some reason I'd set my tyres to 33 psi during the last top-up (surprisingly - today it was still the same) but now have reset it to 30.

3. At my building entrance, I have a 90-degree narrow turn at a 30-35 degree incline. I've stalled her many times at this location, and have had to race her quite a bit to get in.

4. Have been experimenting with gear-changes at different rpms, speeds, braking etc to get a firm grip.

5. Too much stop-start traffic in Mumbai.

[vivprasad]

Originally Posted by Fornax

the car gulped down 43.20 litres of ULP which was surprising (a bit) as my odo showed only 380.2 kms thus giving me an FE of 8.80 Km/L!

Is this the first time you tested the FE? What was it like before the first service? My FE figure after first service was 11.3 (I did not calculate before this), with about 80-90 kms highway at 100-125 kmph, and 110-120 kms in standard city traffic. 11.1 is what Walker has reported.

[Fornax]

Originally Posted by vivprasad

Is this the first time you tested the FE? What was it like before the first service? My FE figure after first service was 11.3 (I did not calculate before this), with about 80-90 kms highway at 100-125 kmph, and 110-120 kms in standard city traffic. 11.1 is what Walker has reported.

Originally Posted by Fornax

Fuel-Economy & Running-In: Very initial numbers here, but for the earlier 132 km city driving + one way trip to Pune (Kothrud) got me a FE of 11.12 km/litre of Speed...

That essentially means I'm yet to learn to drive my SX4 as efficiently as it ought to be driven. However, I wouldn't read too much into the 8.80 figure as I've tried to test the limits (range) of gears, race with zippy cars at signals etc. Lets' just call this the "Diesel-2-Petrol-Switch" effect.

[maglev]

@ Fornax

How much did you pay for the door sill guards and are they MGA??

Originally Posted by Fornax

The car gulped down 43.20 litres of ULP which was surprising (a bit) as my odo showed only 380.2 kms thus giving me an FE of 8.80 Km/L!

Thats what I have been getting since the beginning, My car gave 8.3 & 8.4 kmpl in the first 2 cycles after which I did not bother to check as I didn't top her up. I was filling fuel in round figures such as Rs 1000 or 500.

But yesterday I finally topped her up and the mileage I got was a wee-bit more than yours at a still dismal 8.829 kmpl, I was glad to see atleast some improvement.

My driving style may be different but conditions are similar as to yours:

1. 100% ACC & 100% city driving,
2. 50% B2B & 50% during off-peak hrs,

3. The rpm does reach the red line atleast once.
4. I simply love the thick slug of torque from around 2000rpm.
5. My car has run around 4700kms.

[joy_swift]

@Maglev - I think those are standard MGA.

As regards FE,I have got 12.3 max and 10.2 min,normally get around 11 with 100% ACC on and 100% city.

The FE has taken me by surprise since I used to get around 11.5-12 with my earlier Swift,so wasnt expecting 11 in SX4

[Fornax]

That's correct the sill-guards are MGA and cost Rs.700

[Fornax]

Finally got a chance to buy some car-care must-haves. In order of appearance from left-to-right:
1. Chamois Towel (Taiwan) - Rs.150
2. Wind Shield Cleaner (India) - Rs.60
3. Tire Foam (USA) - Rs.200
4. Motomax Rubbing Compound (India, Pidilite Industries) - Rs.90
5. Turtle Wax (USA) - Rs. 240
6. Diamond Dashboard Polish (India, Kandivali) - Rs. 100

I did try searching for the famed 3M micro-fibre cleaning cloth, but could not find it.

Also enquired about the embossed number plates - costs about 1200 but one shop-owner simply asked me to desist from buying it as they are not official yet (Ofcourse I knew that from team-bhp).

[Fornax]

Just completed a Mumbai-Mahabaleshwar-Mumbai 580 Kms trip. This time, there was a good 70 odd Kms of hilly terrain and the car only kept surprising me. First of all, there was no issue climbing in 3/4 gear, and with ACC on all the time. Then at Panchgani entry point, we hit a traffic snarl, but had no issue going through that incline with b2b traffic ahead.

I can only goad about the car's handling, its' road grip and its ability to gobble up uneven roads, but please do bear in mind the only other car I've driven extensively is an Indica.

Rather than go through every aspect of the drive, here are some highlights:
1. Top speed of 160 Kmph (YES!) for a good 30-40 seconds on Mum-Pune Expressway.
2. Top speed of 80 Kmph on the Mahabaleshwar hill roads.
3. Each leg of 290 Kms completed in total of 6 hours with various breaks of nearly an hour. (Average trip speed 58 kmph)
4. FE of 12.25 for the trip calculated by top-up method.
5. Entire trip was done with ACC set to 24, and rarely felt any lag. Sometimes, on very steep (or long winding curves) I had to downshift to second, but otherwise a good 90% of Mahabaleshwar hill roads were done with upwards of 3rd gear.

OT: Massive traffic jams were encountered at virtually every point in Mahabaleshwar on Saturday & Sunday. It was so chaotic, that we either skipped many points, or chose to park too far away and walk!

Some pics below:

[vigneshg]

Congrats on the SX4 Fornax.
I am planning to buy a SX4 myslef. But I am confused between the Automatic and the Manual variants. :(
I really like the Auto version but am afraid it may not be as fuel efficient as the Manual as the tranny keeps revs high a lot of times.

Thanks
Regards,
Vignesh

[suprateep]

Originally Posted by vigneshg

Congrats on the SX4 Fornax.
I am planning to buy a SX4 myslef. But I am confused between the Automatic and the Manual variants. :(
I really like the Auto version but am afraid it may not be as fuel efficient as the Manual as the tranny keeps revs high a lot of times.

Thanks
Regards,
Vignesh

yes 12km in city driving (sedately) and 15-16 (minimum on the highway) is what people are getting. Worst mileage in city is 9km/l and best in highway has been ~18km/l (wonder how he stuck to 2500 rpm throughout the journey).

Anyway the AT will give around 10 in the city and 13-14 on the highway.

PS: I am getting the sx4 thursday next - can't wait to join the sx4 club