[alexpaul]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Congrats on your new acquisition ...hope you clock more trouble free miles in A-Star Automatic.

Ride and handling :
We drove around for about 25kms with 50psi in all tyres.

50 psi ??? are u sure on this

4) Car parked at the church with all doors open so that the priest can drive away all the bad spirits.

Good the priest didnt drive away the wicked spirit in form of K series by asking you to open the bonnet .

[supremeBaleno]

^^^
Yeah, when I checked, it had 50psi on all 4 tyres. I believe it is pretty common for cars from factory to come with over-inflated tyres - many other tbhp-ians have reported similarly.

[supremeBaleno]

Another scrape - this time by wifey :

Looks like she got impatient being behind a slow-moving Ace for a long time and decides to overtake. Midway, she sees a vehicle approaching at high speed from opposite side. Panics and tries to get back into her lane, but since she is not well versed with the dynamics involved in overtaking, scrapes the front-left-bottom against the rear-right end of the Ace.

Fortunately nothing serious - other than scratches on the wheel cap, a little paint off the bumper and some white paint from the Ace on to the wheel-arch. From experience with my Baleno where I scraped against a white bus, I know that the white paint is not an issue and can be removed by some vigorous rubbing with a moist cloth. Took me 10mins and some calorie burning to get the white paint off completely - no trace at all left. Will post snaps later.

Given that she is the patient/un-hurried type by temperament, this overtaking thing came to me as a surprise. I need to teach her how to do safe overtakings.

[supremeBaleno]

In the first week of April, we did a trip to Moolamattom (Idukki district of Kerala), where there is a KSEB installation/township. The total drive was 333kms of which 100kms was done in Idukki itself to cover the Kulamavu and Cheruthoni dams.

BIL being a KSEB employee helped in multiple ways. For one, we could get boarding/lodging at their guest-house. Total cost for 2 rooms for a day and food for all of us came to a princely sum of 1100. Food was normal mallu fare, but real tasty. Breakfast of puttu-kadala, lunch of rice, sambar, fish-curry, thiiiiick butter-milk etc.

Another advantage was when we visited the Cheruthoni dam, which is off-limits for tourists. Since he works for KSEB, we were allowed to go in and see the dam and the cops guarding the dam also shared what they knew about the dam, its construction etc. Its a scenic view but photography is not allowed - so no snaps. We were told that the Mallu movie "Vaishali" was filmed there and indeed the place looked similar to what was shown in the movie.

Initial plan was for me, wifey, son Aman (3yrs), BIL, my younger sis, her daughter Amy (7yrs) and my other sister's daughter Divya (12yrs) to make it - would have been comfortable with 4 adults and 3 kids. The night before we are leaving, my 2nd sis and her son Dany (3yrs) also want to join. Since it would be tough to accomodate 5 adults and 4 kids in the A-Star, I look out for a rental Tavera, but it is too late to get one.

We had the option of taking Dad's Swift which would be spacious than the A-Star, but I had been itching to drive the A*_AT on a long drive and ruled that option out. Add to this the fact that A* has a small boot and we need to accomodate our luggage. We pack as light as possible, but still the whole boot is loaded to the gills.

I am not giving out details on how the whole crowd was accomodated in the car, but let us say we were comfortable, after some innovative seating arrangement - the car being AT helped immensely. Everytime we stopped somewhere and the whole entourage got out of the car, we could see the surprised looks from people.

A long trip was ideal to checkout the FE via the fulltank-to-fulltank method and on our way to Idukki, I fuelled up till auto-stop at an HP pump at Pala. Filled again at the same pump, same nozzle on our way back till auto-stop and the mileage came to a little above 12kmpl. Not bad given that the car was overloaded (5 adults + 4 kids) and a boot-full of luggage. Plus this FE was from driving on the hills - from Kottayam itself the terrain changes and Pala is hilly terrain.

Some snaps from the Idukki trip :

1) At the KSEB guest-house, Moolamattom, just after arrival :


2) We see this viewing point from down below :


3) A zoomed-in view of the same :


4) A view from the viewing point (privately owned and charge a small fee) :


5) A view from the top :


6) The green-beauty at the top :


7) The kids together at viewing-point :


8) A view of the approach-side of viewing-point :


9) Cutie parked alongside big-bro Innova :


10) View from the front of the 2 cars :

[supremeBaleno]

11) Loved this snap of the A-Star :


12) A side-view of the viewing-point :


13) Parked along the road - hatch-open view :


14) A side-profile :


15) Pic taken on our way back - side-rear view :



Other Updates :

1) Scrape : FIL scrapes the same front-left bumper that wifey had scraped and now there is a small dent there. Glad that nothing wrong with the metal-body - I can live with a few dings on the bumper. Given that MIL said the thud on impact was loud, I was expecting serious damage - looks like this car is built strong, unlike the M800/Alto.

2) A milestone achieved on 2-May-2011 :
As mentioned earlier on in this thread, the idea of getting AT was to make FIL and wifey comfortable with driving and it looks like we are getting closer to this objective each day. FIL did his first highway drive from their home to ours - a distance of 40kms. And wifey drove the car on their way back home. FIL still needs to learn to stay on the left side of the road - he sort of drifts to the right side, especially when taking right-turns. Wifey is way better at driving.

Overall, the car was a good decision made. It is a peppy car to drive, has enough space for the average Indian family and to top it all, the FE is super. If I were in the market for a hatch today, I would buy the top-end MT version without another thought - fully loaded with all you want (airbags, ABS, seat-height adjustment, ICE etc), great build, compact for the city, enough power and atleast few kms more FE than the AT version. All this at a little over 4lakhs OTR Kerala.

[Saanil]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Overall, the car was a good decision made. It is a peppy car to drive, has enough space for the average Indian family and to top it all, the FE is super. If I were in the market for a hatch today, I would buy the top-end MT version without another thought - fully loaded with all you want (airbags, ABS, seat-height adjustment, ICE etc), great build, compact for the city, enough power and atleast few kms more FE than the AT version. All this at a little over 4lakhs OTR Kerala.

Those are some good pictures. Good to know that you are enjoying the car. FE of 12kmpl with the car fully loaded(people+luggage) is a great thing. I suppose the AC was on all the time. I hope the convenience of resting your left leg is worth the few kmpl of FE. My friends and family have warned me of buying an automatic car because according to them all automatics give FE of around 5-6 kmpl. I would love to show them your thread.

[pgsagar]

S'Baleno. You loaded 9 persons in an A-Star? Ok, ok I won't ask you how you did it but tell me how you managed the speadbreakers along the way. Did it scrape screechingly on every speadbreaker? Or, may be there are no speadbreakers in Kerala! If so then I will move to Kerala and settle. Because down here in AP, the idiots have built some of the world's highest bumps. You should see the look on the permium sedan drivers' faces when they approach these breakers.

Coming to A-Star, I just adore this little car. I came close to buying the AT version as a second car ( in addition to Lancer ) but funds diverted to other commitment delayed this. Hmmm.... Lemme see.

It looks faaantastic 6th pic. I think only Chevy Beat betters A-Star in looks. And, hey, 12 kmpl with 9 on board? Wow!!! This is one helluva petrol-sipper unlike some other AT hatches which kinda guzzle petrol.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by Saanil

Those are some good pictures. FE of 12kmpl with the car fully loaded(people+luggage) is a great thing. I suppose the AC was on all the time. I hope the convenience of resting your left leg is worth the few kmpl of FE.

Thanks. Yeah, a/c is always on in our A*/Swift/Baleno. With the M800, sometimes I drive with a/c off because even with a/c on, it does not feel much different - pathetic a/c. It is indeed good to rest the left-leg, but the simplicity of driving for wifey/FIL is what makes the car worth the money.

Originally Posted by Saanil

My friends and family have warned me of buying an automatic car because according to them all automatics give FE of around 5-6 kmpl. I would love to show them your thread.

Yeah, I was also of the same impression before this purchase and so had removed FE as a param when going for AT, considering the convenience of AT. Good FE came as a surprise addition to the already good package.

Originally Posted by pgsagar

tell me how you managed the speadbreakers along the way. Did it scrape screechingly on every speadbreaker? Or, may be there are no speadbreakers in Kerala! If so then I will move to Kerala and settle.

No scraping at all. Firstly because the humps in Kerala (atleast our part of it) are well-made with a good slope. Also the A-Star has decent GC.

Originally Posted by pgsagar

And, hey, 12 kmpl with 9 on board? Wow!!! This is one helluva petrol-sipper unlike some other AT hatches which kinda guzzle petrol.

Yeah, considering I was on L1 / L2 gears almost always in the hills - both going up and coming down. I have read that D should be fine while going up, but somehow I felt better power when in L1/L2 (sort of like when we are in lower gears on MT cars).

Now need to do a tankful-to-tankful measurement of normal daily running FE in the plains.

[supremeBaleno]

I had raised an online complaint with MSIL in Jan-2011 about my car not having the "Automatic" logo - after many standard replies of "We are forwarding your complaint to the concerned department" without any action, I was really pissed off and asked them if fixing this QC issue is some rocket-science ?

Finally after 5 months, wifey got a call yesterday from the dealer that they have the "Automatic" logo with them and asking us to come get it affixed.

The car has done close to 2500kms and is due for the 2nd free service in a week - hopefully will get it done when I go to Kerala this weekend.

[indusboy]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I had raised an online complaint with MSIL in Jan-2011 about my car not having the "Automatic" logo - after many standard replies of "We are forwarding your complaint to the concerned department" without any action, I was really pissed off and asked them if fixing this QC issue is some rocket-science ?

Finally after 5 months, wifey got a call yesterday from the dealer that they have the "Automatic" logo with them and asking us to come get it affixed.

The car has done close to 2500kms and is due for the 2nd free service in a week - hopefully will get it done when I go to Kerala this weekend.

Interesting, my Maruti Dealer (Pratham Motors), told me that there are no "Automatic" stickers available. It could have been true then, I bought my A-Star AT in October 2010. Anyways, I ended up buying an i10 "Auto" logo for the rear and a couple of i20 "Automatic" logos for the sides

I like the looks of these stickers, will post a photograph this weekend

[supremeBaleno]

@indusboy, most tbhp-ians who bought A*-AT have got the Automatic logo. Some even got the Vxi along with it. Does your car have the VXi logo ?

Also, do post a LTR of your A*-AT - would help to compare notes.

BTW, was wondering if there is any utility value for the Automatic sticker ? I mean other than indicating that it is AT, does it help in any way ? Does it help the motorist driving behind an AT car ?

[indusboy]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

@indusboy, most tbhp-ians who bought A*-AT have got the Automatic logo. Some even got the Vxi along with it. Does your car have the VXi logo ?

Also, do post a LTR of your A*-AT - would help to compare notes.

BTW, was wondering if there is any utility value for the Automatic sticker ? I mean other than indicating that it is AT, does it help in any way ? Does it help the motorist driving behind an AT car ?

We did get a VXi logo. I ended up removing that and putting the "Auto" logo.

I am planning to write an LTR, not much of a writer so struggling to put something together.

IMHO the Auto/Automatic stickers are purely cosmetic. An interesting outcome of these stickers have been that we have been stopped a couple of times by strangers inquiring about FE & issues in owning an Auto in India.

[scuderiaferrari]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I had raised an online complaint with MSIL in Jan-2011 about my car not having the "Automatic" logo - after many standard replies of "We are forwarding your complaint to the concerned department" without any action, I was really pissed off and asked them if fixing this QC issue is some rocket-science ?

Finally after 5 months, wifey got a call yesterday from the dealer that they have the "Automatic" logo with them and asking us to come get it affixed.

The car has done close to 2500kms and is due for the 2nd free service in a week - hopefully will get it done when I go to Kerala this weekend.

Surprising it took them whole lot of 5 weeks. Probably, should write a mail to Maruti / get in touch with the regional office.

I will try and do that this week and pass this message on the inconsistency.

[indusboy]

Originally Posted by indusboy

Interesting, my Maruti Dealer (Pratham Motors), told me that there are no "Automatic" stickers available. It could have been true then, I bought my A-Star AT in October 2010. Anyways, I ended up buying an i10 "Auto" logo for the rear and a couple of i20 "Automatic" logos for the sides

I like the looks of these stickers, will post a photograph this weekend

Here are the photos of my A-Star with the stickers.

[supremeBaleno]

@scuderiaferrari, it's 5-months (not weeks) that they took for this simple thing.

Any idea how much it would cost to get Remote locking done on the A-Star ? Also how much time does it take to get this done and does this involve too much tinkering with the internals/wiring ?

While I am not too keen on this feature, wifey seems to like this a lot and since she is the one who uses the car most, decided to go for this. And while I am at it, I am thinking of getting the stock spoiler fitted too.

BTW, the car took a small hit at front-left, while FIL was trying to park close to the kerb. There is a dent on the metal and scrape-marks on the bumper. It is too small to claim insurance and lose NCB - will get it repaired at a friend's tinkering/painting garage.