[misquitas]

Originally Posted by kevinephraim

@ Melvyn
Where in Goa are they available? Can you put up a picture for us to see? I have a few friends in Goa, maybe they could buy one for me and send it over. Else i had planned to get a piece of dark rexine cut to size and pasted on the dashboard.
Kevin

I would think that they would be available in leading auto shops in Goa. Here in Porvorim, the Apex shop had one such dashboard cover for Rs 500 but it did not give it a snug fit. I plan to buy one dashboard cover from Belgaum, when I visit the city in about 15 days. In the neighbourhood, I noticed a red I10 with an excellent dashboard cover, which had the logo 'Pride' prominently on it. I may contact the owner to find out the origin of the dashboard cover.

Originally Posted by revved_up

Hello Melvyn..!

Very nice review, this is by far one of the best intial car ownership reveiws that I have read.

I have also bought a i10 magna this (last) december, I really liked your idea of changing the wiper lever for getting the intermitent option. I might be doing the same.

Many thanks, revved_up, for your comments and interest in my ownership experience of the I10. I was initially surprised that the I10 Magna did not come with so basci a feature as an intermittent wiper and had almost resigned myself to fate, when some technicians (Goa bless them) at Goa Hyundai suggested that they could try fitting the Sportz wiper lever and check if it worked on the Magna. And work, it did, beautifully. This then gave me the confidence to pick more features from the Sportz and place them on my Magna.

Originally Posted by revved_up

Also, I am very impressed with the drivability of this car. I drive a Swift VDi and this car is my wife's car, i was very much impressed with the pulling power of this car and the low end torque which comes very handy in city driving. Apart from that my car returned a FE of 20.3X km/ltr on the first tankful (within the first 1000 kms.) which I feel is really nice. Although most of my drive was on highway and I was constantly driving with a light foot and always putting the car in the gear which the "gear change Indicator" suggested and also ensured the top speed never exceeded 80 Km/Hr.

Your FE is awesome. You and I seem to have a similar driving style that extracts a better-than-decent FE. Most of the I10 (kappa1/IRDE1) owners on this forum have been complaining about a poor FE and I was initially apprehensive about the I10 precisely on this issue. Somehow, I trusted my 'light-footed' ability and felt that even if I were to squeeze out 16-17 kmpl on the I10, the car was worth the buy. My first FE reading (18.7 kmpl) exceeded my expectations, but your FE takes the cake.

Given that you too have got a superb FE on the I10, could it be that Hyundai has actually improved on the FE of the Kappa2/IRDE2 engines? It would be interesting to have a third or a fourth confirmation (from members on this forum) on this improved FE.

Originally Posted by revved_up

I saw that you have not installed fog lamps right now, but are they available? I checked with 2 dealers in delhi and also one dealer in chandigarh. As per them fog lamps for the new i10 have still not come. Leave the fog lamps, in Delhi the i10 cars are being delivered with some aftermarket mud flaps.. which look very bad IMO.
Thankfully my car is bought from chandigarh and the dealer happened to have the orignal mudflaps, the same ones that you car has. Believe me, till date i have not seen even a single i10 next gen with orignal mud flaps. I feel so lucky.

Would really appreciate if you could let me know about the fog lamps, because I feel the front of the car looks very incomplete without them.

I will check about the fog lights when I give my I10 for its first service on January 13. Quite a number of people have asked me if I plan to install fog lamps on my I10. The answer is an emphatic NO. I will explain why.

In October 2009, my friend and I were travelling from Goa to Belgaum via Amboli. He had his Wagon R VXI (with fog lamps) and I was in our Alto LXI. At Amboli, we encountered heavy fog where visibility was reduced to about 20-30 metres. I was in front and my friend was trailing us. He decided to switch on his fog lamps and believe me, I simply could not see the light of his fog lamps through my rear view mirrors. Neither could I easily see his vehicle for that matter.

A short while later, I noticed that he had switched on his head lights and this time, the head lights clearly penetrated through the thick fog. Now, if I had been in an oncoming vehicle, I would have noticed only his headlights and not his fog lamps. In my opinion, I felt that the fog lights had miserably failed the test.

I, however, recall that during my childhood visits to the Gulf during our vacations, I used to see a number of cars with fog lights. But these fog lights had a yellow glow, as opposed to the white-glow fog lights presently available in most cars here in India. These yellow-glow fog lights were really effective in identifying an oncoming vehicle during sand storms and during fog. Could it be that the white-glow fog lights are not as effective as the yellow-glow fog lights?

Originally Posted by revved_up

Just wanted to share some pics of my car, since i never got the time to put an exhaustive review like yours. Sorry for hijacking your thread.

You are most welcome to add your ownership experiences and photos on this thread. You would be contributing (rather than hijacking) to this topic. After all, your experiences of the I10 would be of great interest to us all.

[blackasta]

on fog lamps for i10 - I find them useful for viewing potholes etc. on roads that are very near, and also the foglamps cover a wider area than the regular headlamps. Remember people - foglamps have to be correctly installed at a specified angle - if not done so, not only would they fail miserably at their job, but also suddenly strike the oncoming traffic with a blinding light. I myself have seen several cars with poorly installed aftermarket foglamps badly fit.

[revved_up]

Originally Posted by misquitas

Your FE is awesome. You and I seem to have a similar driving style that extracts a better-than-decent FE. Most of the I10 (kappa1/IRDE1) owners on this forum have been complaining about a poor FE and I was initially apprehensive about the I10 precisely on this issue. Somehow, I trusted my 'light-footed' ability and felt that even if I were to squeeze out 16-17 kmpl on the I10, the car was worth the buy. My first FE reading (18.7 kmpl) exceeded my expectations, but your FE takes the cake.

Given that you too have got a superb FE on the I10, could it be that Hyundai has actually improved on the FE of the Kappa2/IRDE2 engines? It would be interesting to have a third or a fourth confirmation (from members on this forum) on this improved FE.

I always believed that the FE of a vehicle greatly depends on the driving style and the kind of route/roads the car is driven on and this car has re-instated my faith in this fact

Originally Posted by misquitas

I will check about the fog lights when I give my I10 for its first service on January 13. Quite a number of people have asked me if I plan to install fog lamps on my I10. The answer is an emphatic NO. I will explain why.

In October 2009, my friend and I were travelling from Goa to Belgaum via Amboli. He had his Wagon R VXI (with fog lamps) and I was in our Alto LXI. At Amboli, we encountered heavy fog where visibility was reduced to about 20-30 metres. I was in front and my friend was trailing us. He decided to switch on his fog lamps and believe me, I simply could not see the light of his fog lamps through my rear view mirrors. Neither could I easily see his vehicle for that matter.

A short while later, I noticed that he had switched on his head lights and this time, the head lights clearly penetrated through the thick fog. Now, if I had been in an oncoming vehicle, I would have noticed only his headlights and not his fog lamps. In my opinion, I felt that the fog lights had miserably failed the test.

I, however, recall that during my childhood visits to the Gulf during our vacations, I used to see a number of cars with fog lights. But these fog lights had a yellow glow, as opposed to the white-glow fog lights presently available in most cars here in India. These yellow-glow fog lights were really effective in identifying an oncoming vehicle during sand storms and during fog. Could it be that the white-glow fog lights are not as effective as the yellow-glow fog lights?

Totally agree with your thoughts! The only reason i want fog lamps is because IMO the front of the car looks very incomplete with those black pieces that cover the fog lamp slot.
I had checked with a local accessory shop too about the fog lamp and they told me that aftermarket fog lamps will come soon and they will be priced around 1/10th the price of the genuine ones. But I dont want to take a chance with these after market ones and will wait for Hyundai to provide the original.

[kevinephraim]

I fitted the OEM fog lamps on my i10 kappa1 sportz (its doesn't come with them) including wiring loom and original switch last week. Hyundai dealers made me run around for this since i bought the car last year, but finally managed everything only now. Total cost for both sides including fitting / labour was a shade below 5k.

They are a great help and add to the overall look of the car as well.

Now to get the dashboard glare sorted out!

[revved_up]

Originally Posted by kevinephraim

I fitted the OEM fog lamps on my i10 kappa1 sportz (its doesn't come with them) including wiring loom and original switch last week. Hyundai dealers made me run around for this since i bought the car last year, but finally managed everything only now. Total cost for both sides including fitting / labour was a shade below 5k.

They are a great help and add to the overall look of the car as well.

Now to get the dashboard glare sorted out!

Congrats
Too bad that the fog lamps for Kappa2 are still not available.

[revved_up]

Hello Melvyn!

Did you find out about the fog lamps?

Thanks

Jaspreet

[misquitas]

Originally Posted by revved_up

Hello Melvyn!

Did you find out about the fog lamps?

Thanks
Jaspreet

Hi Jaspreet,

I took my I10 for its first service yesterday morning (more about it in a different post) and during my wait at the Hyundai showroom, I checked if the fog lamps were available for the new I10. A technician mentioned that the fog lamps were available. In fact, a friend who recently bought an I10 Sportz at the same showroom installed fog lamps on his car. The entire fog lamp assembly cost him about Rs 4000.

Thanks,
Melvyn

[revved_up]

Great! I hope its available in Delhi showrooms also. Will get it installed during the first service this weekend hopefully.

[misquitas]

We completed 1400-odd kms on January 15, a little over a month since we took delivery of the vehicle, and our I10 was due for its first service, scheduled between 1200-1500 kms or two months, whichever comes earlier.

Being based in Porvorim-Goa, I had the option to service the I-10 either at the Goa Hyundai’s service point at Caranzalem-Panjim or at its showroom at Verna. I chose the latter as I had one final modification pending there and wanted to merge the mod job and the service in one visit.

Readers of this thread may recall that I had made a few modifications on my I10 Magna. One modification that had been incomplete was the luggage lamp on the boot section of the car. The lamp and the wiring were in place, but the technicians had messed it up a bit last month by cutting a large hole in the plastic trim plate of our I10 to slot the lamp. Since the trim plate of the Magna does not come with a hole for the luggage lamp, we then had to order for a new trim plate of the Sportz model (the hole is already made available in the trim plate for the Sportz model.)

Once I confirmed that the trim plate of the Sportz model was available in the Goa Hyundai service centre in Verna, I decided to take the car on January 15 for the service.

I needed to get the car serviced by 3 pm as I had to get back to work in Panjim by 5.30 pm. I was informed that the first service would involve minimal time since there is no need to replace the oil or other parts for that matter. Since the service centre opens at 9 am, I decided to reach there by 8.45 am so that I would be among the first batch of customers to have their cars serviced.

When I reached the service centre at 8.40 am, there was not a soul at sight, apart from the few security guards and two customers before me. Within the next few minutes, the staff trooped in and the area was bustling with activity. I was assigned to a service advisor called Siddhu, whom I knew, when he was a technician attending to my dad’s Tata Estate car in the mid-1990’s.

I quickly got in touch with Prem, another service advisor, since he was to install the trim plate and luggage lamp on my I10. Since I had no issues with the car and no problems to report, I was told that the car would be given a wash after the trim plate was installed.

I decided to wait at the Customer’s lounge while work was in progress. Got a bit bored as there were nothing to do over there and after watching a little TV and a few emails on my phone, I walked around the premises to kill time.

I happened to see the service maintenance interval chart on the wall and noticed that spark plugs and other items are generally replaced after every 30,000 kms. In Maruti (or at least in our Alto) such a change was necessary after every 20,000. I thought it may have been a wise decision to opt for an I10 as opposed to a Ritz LXI (my other finalist), since these changes would be done twice in the I10 every 60,000 kms as opposed to the thrice every 60,000 in a Maruti car (or is it only for an Alto?)

Around this time, the Assistant Service manager S Habbu met me and wanted to know the feedback of my I10. I told him that I had posted a detailed ownership review on team-bhp.com and he showed interest in checking out my ownership review. He was also pleased to note that I had obtained a fuel economy of 18.7 kmpl in my first fuel economy test. I then went to his computer and showed him my ownership review on team-bhp.com.

It was around this time that Prem called me to my I10 to show me the work done so far. I was pleased to see the new trim plate installed on my I10 and the luggage lamp in place. This was the first such modification done on an I10 Magna by technicians at the Verna showroom. This modification on the Magna, as opposed to the factory-fitted one on the Sportz, has some advantages and disadvantages. The Disadvantage: Opening the hatch door does not activate the luggage lamp, unlike the one on the Sportz. You would need to open any one of the four doors or to switch on the cabin switch. The Advantage: Even if the hatch door is closed on my I10, I can still have the luggage lamp activated, simply by opening any one of the four doors or switching on the cabin switch. This is useful, if someone sitting in the rear wants to lean back (we have no parcel tray now) and pick up up something from the luggage section at night, without opening the hatch door.


The luggage lamp now firmly attached to our I10.

A second little modification was the removal of the side strips that hold the parcel tray. Readers may recall that I had removed the parcel tray on my Magna for two reasons. First, I wanted an open hatch luggage area, to enable a person seated in the rear seat easy access to the luggage in the boot space. Second, we normally travel with a lot of luggage and a parcel tray normally restricts placement of additional luggage in the boot space.

With the parcel tray removed and stored in our house, the side strips holding the parcel tray were equally redundant as well. I asked Prem to remove both side strips and when he did so, I noticed three large holes (to support the side plates to the trim plate) on both sides of the trim plate. Since these holes looked ugly, I asked Prem to put some plastic/rubber stoppers to conceal the hole. He immediately put the stoppers and the end result was very neat. No holes are visible apart from a small screw hole which kept the side strips fitted to the trim plate. The missing side strips on our I10 make the boot section look bigger now. I have kept the side strips with me, since I would need to fit them back along with the parcel tray in the eventuality we need to sell the car after some time.


The absence of the side strips on our I10 makes the luggage space look bigger.

There was a pleasant surprise in store for us. A technician happened to have a spare clock which had been recently left behind by a customer of an older version of I10 (not sure if it was a 1.1 IRDE or a 1.2 Kappa1 I10.) That customer had inserted an integrated player on his I10 and as such, the factory-fitted digital clock had to be removed from his car. As it was of no use to the customer, he had left it with a technician and had asked him to privately sell it off to another customer, who would want such a clock on the I10.

Some technicians at Goa Hyundai (who had worked on modifying my I10 last month) were aware that I was on the lookout for a similar clock, especially the 1.2 Kappa 2 Magna does not come with a factory-fitted clock. Moreover, my JBL GT 333 head unit does not have a feature to permanently display a clock. I had, however, no intention to buy a new clock from Goa Hyundai as it is ridiculously priced at over Rs 4000.

As our I10 had finished with the minor modifications and was about to be sent for a wash, a technician quickly installed the digital clock on my I10. When I offered to pay him a token amount, pat came his reply: “No sir, this is complimentary for you. Please don’t pay anything for the clock.”


The large LCD clock on our I10. It was off when I clicked the snap and hence, no reading on the clock.


The large LCD clock on our I10 at night.

You can imagine my surprise and joy to have a nice and large digital clock on my I10 for FREE. God bless the customer who had left his digital clock behind and God bless the technician for gifting it and installing it on my I10 for free.


The instrument panel on our I10 at night.

The car was sent for a wash and it came out gleaming like new. It was approaching 1 pm and I was ready to return home. The best part of the service was that I had to pay nothing for the first service and it was truly FREE in every sense of the term, unlike in Maruti where free services are almost never free. My only payment was for the trim plate, which I had ordered from Goa Hyundai.

I returned a happy customer with a job well done at Goa Hyundai. The staff may still have missed out on serving me tea/coffee (similar to our experience when we took delivery of our I10 on December 13, 2010) while I was there for nearly four hours. But more important, the technicians did a great job on what I had in mind and at the end of the day, a good service on the car is what mattered to me.

Goa Hyundai does have some excellent and committed staff (like Prem, Siddhu and some of the technicians) around and I guess, if you give them good respect they are very likely to go out of their way to make you a happy customer.

PS: Learn to Jive, it was really nice meeting up with you and your wife last evening. You have an amazing knowledge of cars and I hope to learn more from you during our interactions in the future.

[misquitas]

[Note to moderators/readers: This post may appear to be a travelogue, but it is not meant to be so. In fact, this post has been posted on this thread (and not as a new thread in the travelogue section) mainly to highlight the fuel economy of the I10 during varied driving conditions along our Goa-Kolhapur-Belgaum-Goa trip. The fuel economy test on our I10 is important, since many I10 users have been complaining of poor fuel economy.]

We just returned from a 2-day trip to Kolhapur and Belgaum on January 24. The I-10 performed admirably and exceeded our expectations in every aspect. I was keen to check out the fuel economy for the second time (readers on this thread may recall that my first FE reading on our I10 was 18.7 kmpl).

Eight of us (seven adults and one child) undertook the trip in two cars, our I10 and my uncle's Tata Indica petrol. Before undertaking the trip, I decided to top-up the tank using the auto cut-off system at the Porvorim BP station. I filled in normal petrol worth Rs 656 (11.25 litres, odometer reading: 1669 kms), before the dispenser cut-off further fuel supply. I noticed that using the auto cut-off system, the I10 does not fill completely full. In fact, only 11 of the 12 notches on the I10 fuel indicator light up. I would, therefore, suspect that there is space for a few more litres in the tank before the fuel reaches the brim.

Since I was paying by credit card, the pump attendant removed the pipe a few seconds after the auto cut-off got activated. Without a credit/debit card, pump attendants tend to round up the value of fuel filled to save on change. This, in turn, messes up the fuel economy tests using the the auto cut-off system.

I wanted an accurate fuel economy reading and hence, I decided to begin and end my fuel test by using the auto cut-off at the same dispenser of the same pump in Porvorim at the end of my journey. To make sure I got the details right, I jotted down the figures on my notebook.

Our journey began on January 23, when we (wife, daughter, aunt and myself) set out for Kolhapur at 6.30 am. We were advised to travel to Kolhapur along the NH17 via Kankavli and Gaganbawda as it is one of the shortest routes to Kolhapur. The other longer routes from Goa to Kolhapur are (1) Sawantwadi-Amboli-Ajra-Sankeshwar, (2) Sawantwadi-Amboli-Belgaum-Kolhapur, (3) Sawantwadi-Kankavli-Phonda ghat-Kolhapur and (4) Ponda-Londa-Khanapur-Belgaum-Kolhapur.

The road in Goa (Panjim-Goa border) is very good and one can easily enjoy a lovely drive. The road has some bad patches between the Maharashtra border and Sawantwadi. Between Sawantwadi and Kankvali, the road is fairly OK, but speed has to be restricted as the road has a few bad patches and the highway passes by many villages along the route.

At Talere station stop, we took the State Highway 115 (towards the right) and proceeded to Gaganbawda. The road here took is OK. The ghat route is really nice and the view at the summit is breathtaking and picturesque. Unfortunately, we were trying to reach Kolhapur as early as possible and hence, I could not stop to take some snaps along the way. Even if I had the time, others in the two cars did not have any inclination for photography on a steep ghat or during any part of the route for that matter. Hence, there are no snaps of our trip.

We had no difficulty reaching Kolhapur by 11.45 am, but the city is bustling with people and vehicles all over the place, even though it was a Sunday. As such, fuel economy would have taken a beating. Since we were driving to Kolhapur on our own for the first time, we struggled a bit (through the crowd and landmarks) to reach our destination.

We stopped to pick up a friend and we proceeded to do some shopping at Kolhapur. Had lunch and then proceeded to the Gandhinagar market, which is on the eastern side of the NH4. Unfortunately, the entire market area at Gandhinagar was closed on Sunday and hence, we decided to proceed to Belgaum.

We left for Belgaum at about 5 pm and took the wonderful NH4 expressway. The route (less traffic, lovely sceneries on either sides) was enjoyable in every aspect and we reached Belgaum by 6.30 pm with an average speed of 70-80kmph. For a short while, we switched on the AC in the I10 and there was no drop in performance, unlike in our Alto. Apart from this, our entire trip was without the AC. We checked in at our favourite hotel, Pai Resorts (opposite the Fort Lake).

After tea, we went to Belgaum town to do some shopping between 7 pm and 9 pm. Traffic was busy, but relatively more organised than in Kolhapur.

The next morning, we went again to Belgaum town and did a lot of shopping, especially since Big Bazaar had its mega 5-day offer. Both cars were quickly filled to capacity and since our I10 had a bigger luggage space than the Indica, much of the luggage went in our car.

We went to a shop (along the lane dedicated almost exclusively to car/bike parts and accessories) and purchased a grey dashboard cover (worth Rs 350) and a cheap steering cover (worth Rs 150) for the I10. I will send more details of this dashboard cover in another post.

After visiting quite a few shops and encountering heavy traffic during the day, we were ready to return to Goa via Khanapur-Londa-Ponda at about 7.30 pm. Our I10 was really loaded with luggage. To give you an idea, we had:

* 3 adults and 1 child
* Rice bags (75 kgs)
* Sugar bags (20 kgs)
* Cooking oil cans (20 ltrs)
* Container with non-veg food (9 kgs)
* Plenty of shopping bags.
* One big bag for our clothes.

Despite the weight, the I10 did not struggle for power at any point in time. Also, the four passengers were not cramped inside the cabin, even though a portion of the rear seat was used to store additional bags. I was happy to have had the tachometer and gear-shift indicator on board, as it enabled me to change gears at the "right" time to achieve better fuel economy.

I am aware that petrol in Belgaum (Rs 65) is priced significantly higher than in Goa (Rs 58) and hence, I was keen to avoid filling fuel in Belgaum. However, we had already covered 397 kms by the time we were in Belgaum and the fuel indicator had dropped to the last four notches. I was not sure if I had enough fuel to take me past the Goa border, where fuel would be cheaper.

Besides, I did not want to be left driving with last notch of the fuel indicator -- the last notch activates the low fuel indicator on the instrument panel and this would have made me nervous -- somewhere between Khanapur and the Goa border. This is because we were travelling late in the evening and along relatively isolated areas along the route. Moreover, the route was not a frequently used one by us as we normally travel to and from Belgaum via Sawantwadi-Amboli.

To be on the safer side, I only filled in petrol worth Rs 200 (3.07 litres, odometer reading: 2066 kms) at a HP pump in Belgaum. I knew this would give me an added 45-odd kms, before we would cross into the Goa border.

The road to Goa via Londa-Ponda had a few nice/smooth patches and some bad pot holes along different parts of the route as well. There were many light and heavy vehicles along the route and their blinding headlights hampered the drive a great deal.

The Anmod ghat is, in our opinion, better than the Amboli ghat (which we normally take during our trips to and from Belgaum).

By about 10 pm, we had crossed into the Goa border and I filled petrol Rs 500 (8.57 litres, odometer reading: 2157 kms) at a pump in Collem.

The road from Collem to Panjim were really nice in comparison to the one between Belgaum and Londa. We reached Panjim by 11 pm.

The next morning, I went to the same fuel pump at Porvorim to top up fuel. Using the same dispenser at the same pump, I put petrol Rs 1101 (18.88 ltrs, odometer reading: 2241 kms), before the auto cut-off stopped further fuel supply to the I10. Again, I used a credit card this time to ensure that the attendant did not add more fuel after the auto cut-off to round up the total value of fuel.

So, here are the fuel economy figures:

Total distance covered: 572 kms
Total litres consumed: 30.52 ltrs
Fuel economy: 18.74 kmpl

Readers may note that this fuel economy on our I10 was attained under the following conditions:

* Minimal use of AC.
* Heavy traffic in Kolhapur/Belgaum.
* Bad road patches around Sawantwadi and Khanapur-Londa-Anmod.
* Two ghats at Gaganbawda and Anmod.
* Heavy luggage along the return journey.
* Average driving conditions along much of the route (about 450 kms).
* Excellent driving conditions along a part of the route (about 120 kms).

Incidentally, this second fuel economy reading of 18.74 kmpl is almost identical to our earlier fuel economy reading of 18.7 kmpl, despite different driving conditions during the two tests. The first test was in Goa during a shorter period, while the second was an inter-state drive over a little longer period.

In any case, the two fuel economy readings on our I10 have left me very satisfied so far. The floor is now open for comments, if any.

Thanks,
Melvyn

[blackasta]

Nice FE you got there sir.
I once got appx 19 kmpl on NH2 - 3 adults, 3 bags, full on AC (and mine is an AT).
I presume that the gear change indicator lets one drive and achieve maximum FE from their car.

[kevinephraim]

hey melvyn,

Thats a really really nice FE from the new kappa 2 engine. I have one question though to ask... its OT regarding the FE but its concerns the i10.. Did you manage to find the dashboard cover in belgaum?

Kevin

[DRIV3R]

A very comprehensive review on the FE, misquitas! Keep up the good work. That FE figure reflects your sedate driving style.

[Live To Jive]

Originally Posted by kevinephraim

Did you manage to find the dashboard cover in belgaum?

I guess you missed this part in the long post.

Originally Posted by misquitas

We went to a shop (along the lane dedicated almost exclusively to car/bike parts and accessories) and purchased a grey dashboard cover (worth Rs 350) and a cheap steering cover (worth Rs 150) for the I10.

Good to know that the i10 is giving you good milege.

[misquitas]

Originally Posted by blackasta

Nice FE you got there sir.
I once got appx 19 kmpl on NH2 - 3 adults, 3 bags, full on AC (and mine is an AT).
I presume that the gear change indicator lets one drive and achieve maximum FE from their car.

Thanks, blackasta, for your comments. Your FE is even more amazing considering that it is an AT. I have been emphasising the benefits of the gear-shift indicator for one main reason. The fuel economy. See, if the gear-shift indicator was absent on the I10, I could have merrily (and absentmindedly) been driving on 50-60 kmph on the third gear (or even 60-80 kmph on the fourth gear) as the engine is quite silent, at least in comparison to our Alto. The gear-shift indicator immediately alerts me if I am in the 'wrong' gear, thereby improving on the fuel economy. This feature is particularly useful for many drivers, who forget to slot gears at the right time or even for those who tend to wrongly shift the gears.

Originally Posted by kevinephraim

hey melvyn,

Thats a really really nice FE from the new kappa 2 engine. I have one question though to ask... its OT regarding the FE but its concerns the i10.. Did you manage to find the dashboard cover in belgaum?

Kevin

Thanks, Kevin, for your comments. Yes, as Learn to Jive mentioned, I did make mention of it in my post. The dashboard covers are readily available in Belgaum for about Rs 350. I have post pictures of the gray "Dashmat" dashboard cover that I purchased. This dashboard cover, thankfully, conceals the reflection of the "U" line of the instrument panel on the windscreen. Moreover, the dashboard cover will minimize the heat on the dashboard on a sunny day and will, hopefully, prevent the dashboard panel from fading after a few years. Another excellent beige dashboard cover is "Pride", which I happened to see in one old model I10. However, I don't know the price of that dashboard cover. The only thing that I don't like of these dashboard covers is the slot available for mobile phones. Not only does it spoil the look of the dashboard cover, the slot is also useless to accommodate smartphones and other larger phones. How I wish they could have avoided this ugly provision.


One view of the gray dashboard cover.


Another view of the gray dashboard cover.

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

A very comprehensive review on the FE, misquitas! Keep up the good work. That FE figure reflects your sedate driving style.

Thanks, DRIV3R, for your comments. The fuel economy on my I10 is largely due to my sedate driving style and many on this forum would not want to be in my car while I am behind the wheel. But then, I enjoy a sedate drive and it helps me appreciate nature better. Moreover, my family members can sit back and relax, without having to sweat or even say their prayers each time I get going on the I10.

Originally Posted by Live To Jive

Good to know that the i10 is giving you good milege.

Thanks, Live To Jive, for your comments. I do hope your friend gets an improved fuel economy (at least 15kmpl with AC and a spirited driving style) on his new I10.

By the way, I have uploaded snaps of the dashboard cover and a cheap steering wheel cover. When I put the dashboard cover, I was forced to remove the idol (a small statue of the Holy Family -- Joseph, Mary and Jesus) that had been placed on the dashboard. I searched for various places to affix the idol, but could not find a slot nice (and discreet) enough around the dash area. Then my attention was turned towards the instrument panel. It suddenly struck me that I could fix the idol in front of the speedometer, especially since the odometer/tripmeter was not located below the speedometer, as in the case with our Alto. Besides, the small idol would not obstruct my view of the speedometer. I am quite pleased with the location of the idol and the Holy Family seems to watch over me while I am driving the I10.


The idol located in front of the speedometer, to bless the driver of our I10.