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-   -   Maruti A-Star Automatic : Ownership Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/96070-maruti-star-automatic-ownership-review-8.html)

I agree. The car feels a lot more planted than the i10.. I have used both the cars quite extensively.

In fact, I have updated on my ownership thread, a comparison based on my experience and perceptions.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2257077

Did a day trip from Bangalore to Pondycherry on my A-star automatic. 640km in a day done peacefully. Impressed by this little car!

Does anyone know other after market orvm that can be fitted to the A Star? As mentioned I definitely would like to change them if possible.

what are the D-3, 2 and L modes of drive here? I understand that the "2" mode is for crawling traffic and the gearbox shifts between 1st and 2nd gear only. The A star is 4 speed AT right? So shouldn't it be D-4 instead of D-3? stupid: Also, the sales guys say L is for climbing? What's the L mode for?

These are basically for limiting the shifts to happen only between certain gears. Also, it is a primitive way of allowing for manual shifting (the newer comparison being the paddle shifts :) )

For e.g., when you are in L mode, the car will strictly stay in the 1st gear ratio only.

When you are in 2, the car just shifts between 1st and 2nd. it will not go beyond 2nd, even when you hit the engine rev limiter. It just stays there.

In 3, the transmission shifts between 1, 2 and 3.

Now, as to why when you select 3, the car shifts down to 2nd and 1st, and not stay in 3rd gear alone unlike a manual. In pure layman terms, this is to ensure that the car does not stall. Imagine being on the brake completely in manual car in 3rd gear without applying the clutch. The car would just shut off. In an AT car, to avoid this, the car would shift down and stays in the gear which ensures the engine does not shut off.

Now, what are the situations when one would use the manual overrides:

1. When driving in ghat stretches / hilly terrain, both incline and slop

a. Incline: Assume you are going through a series of hair pin bends at 20- 30 km/hr. As you turn into the bend, while you are still on the throttle, the car senses there is load and you will be in 2nd gear. Now, as you negotiate the turn, when you get off the throttle, if the car senses a reduction in load, and based on the speed upshifts to 3rd gear. And when you try to accelerate, you are in 3rd gear by now, and the response would be slower. The transmission, in this case, senses load again, shifts down to 2nd and continues. Now, if you have already selected 2, then you do not have to go through any of these hassles, and the car is more predictable. After all, the ECU is not as good as a human brain in anticipating.

b. Slope: The rule of thumb says - whatever gear you use to climb, you need to use the same when coming down a slope. This is to ensure that you have adequate engine braking to help you out, plus to ensure you are not unnecessarily wearing out the brakes. In an AT car, in the interest of fuel efficiency, the transmission always tries to shift up to the next gear, once it sees you are the minimum speed for that gear and the load on the car is low. Which means, when going down a slope, the car would have already been in 4th, even before you are doing a 50 km/hr. Now with that sharp turn in front of you, you will have to use the brakes excessively to bring down the speed as you do not have the engine braking. In this situation, if I preselect 2 or 3, then I get adequate engine braking, and avoid unnecessary wear and tear on the brakes.

2. To overtake: You can always use a heavier foot to accelerate harder and overtake. Again, the moment you are off the throttle, the car upshifts. So, if you are doing a 70-80 km/hr, trying to overtake that long truck, nudge the lever to 3rd, use the power from the engine and confidence that the car wont shift in between when there is another vehicle coming at you, complete the overtaking move.

3. For some spirited driving: Who says AT cars are not fun??? Yeah, they are not as fun as manuals, agreed. But, you still can have a lot of fun (and peace of mind being sure that the engine wont shut off, if you are too slow and a bit late to apply clutch) by using the gear selecter manually. In A-Star AT, the car stays in gear and wont upshift even if you are at the rev limiter. So for fun, once in a while, start off in L, shift to 2 when you have reached say a 30 or 40 or 50, stay there till close to a 100, then 3 till a 120+ and to D, to let it shift to 4th and continue.


[/quote]

Like I mentioned earlier, when in:
1 - you are in ratio 1 only
2 - car shifts between 1 and 2 based on the speed
3 - between 1, 2 and 3
D - between 1, 2, 3 and 4 (That's what I use in 95 % of the situations)

Even if I had a separate 4, it would not do anything different than a D. Thus, you do not need a 4, in case this case.

Hope this was helpful and answers your questions.

Thanks for the elaborate answer, I guess I should do another TD,m this time not a restricted 200m one.

I guess my problem was I never saw the "D " separate from the "3". I thought it was D-3. stupid:

BTW, I made a booking, Paradise Blue at Kalyani Motors Brookefield Bangalore.

I drove the Zxi and automatic back to back last weekend at Pratham Motors. I kind of liked both the models, my wife loved the automatic due to the way one could switch gear from L,2, D, D3 mode :) The surge is quite nice when we rev it all the way up in 2 mode and move to D3

I like to rev my car (ex baleno owner) but also dread the idea of driving in heavy traffic. I think I will take the automatic as I could let my wife also drive the car.

Is it possible to fit after market ECU (Race Dynamics) on the a-star automatic to squeeze more power.

I am also looking for a good dealer who could provide good discounts.

The current deal from Pratham Motors:

OTR - 5,86,###/-

Discounts - 25k
Insurance - I take it outside so I save around 6K there.

I am not good at negotiating, appreciate your advise here.

@ scuderiaferrari

Sorry for digging up the thread but I just wanted to check if you had the A-stars brake pads replaced, if yes in how much km?

I had to get them replaced in mere 13820 km, is that normal? I can post pictures of worn brake pads which I collected from MASS.

How did you find the MT-Zxi to drive, in terms of power delivery ? Great or Good or Plain sluggish ? Also, any specific points that stood out (good or bad).

Is the OTR pre-discount or after discount ? Talk to all the available dealers and since AStar is slow-moving car, you should be able to get a good deal.
BTW, prices seem to have risen quite a bit in the last 2.5 years since we bought ours for 4.5lakhs.:Shockked:

Hey how is your car(astar) doing?, they seem to have improved the drive-ability on the manual, but hardly noticeable. The vibration from the 3-pot has been dampened well.

If one has the habit of revving hard, the car will build up good speed beyond 3000 rpm in each gear. My colleague who owns a a-star says that this vehicle can maintain good speed (100-130km/hr) on the highway and at the same time deliver good fuel efficiency. But IMO, for a small engine, the efficiency should come down at such speeds.


BTW, I still haven't brought the car. Yet to decide whether it should be automatic or manual. Is it possible to fit aftermarket ECU on astar automatic?:)

Our car has done 11K kms in 2.5 years - pretty limited use, mostly highway runs and I like the freedom the AT gives, though at times (overtaking etc) I wish for an MT car to be able to drop a couple gears and revv past. :) I don't think I will ever buy an MT car again though - will keep the Baleno for as long as possible for the driving thrill when I feel the need. :)

What is the FE he gets in city/highway on his MT-AStar ? My sis is looking at replacing her M800 with an A-Star-MT (she has been driving MT for years, so no need for AT car) and she has FE as highest priority (gets 17kmpl odd on the M800 - mixed city and highway daily drive).

If your wife also would be using the car and she is not very comfy with MT, then AT would be the way to go. And since the car is very frugal with fuel even in AT version, FE should not be an issue either. No idea about ECU swaps.

[quote=Mr_Bean;3154194...BTW, I still haven't brought the car. Yet to decide whether it should be automatic or manual. Is it possible to fit aftermarket ECU on astar automatic?:)[/quote]

You won't gain anything from an aftermarket ECU (or a remap) on a NA petrol car except (maybe) a higher rev limit and some additional fuel consumption at higher revs. Oh and maybe some warranty issues.

Add a "remap" to a turbo petrol or a turbo diesel and that is a different story :)

My colleague has reported mileage of 21-22 km/litre on the highway at speeds of 80-90km/hr, not sure of the city mileage. 17kmpl in peak traffic in city could be a stretch in a place like Chennai, in kerala it should be achievable.

Which variant of astar are you looking at? How about another automatic variant to the family :D

BTW, I finally booked my car last weekend, astar AT caffeine brown. Goodbye to manual cars, this will be primary vehicle for next 5 years. The waiting time here is 25 days for the automatic. I opted for fog lamps, rear spoiler, nippon system (free of cost) altogether coming to 8.5k. The baleno was sold way back in January after an accident.

OTR - 5,68,000/- rupees

My wife was like :deadhorse after seeing the missing vanity mirrors on the AT.

Really?

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...ty-vtec-7.html

Yes really.

The car in that thread (Honda) has loads of other mods so a remapped ECU is required to get the ignition and injection systems to work properly and take advantage of them. Remapping an unmodified car has little effect.

For example - http://www.verboom.net/projects/c1/20091121/index.html

Think about it - power (BHP) is just (torque * rpm) / 5252.

So to increase the result you either increase the rpm (raise the rev limit) or make the torque part better.

The former is easy but doesn't really help.

To do the latter you need to get a bigger bang on each power stroke.

And to do that you need more petrol and more air.

A remap is not going to do that for you unless you have a turbo, in which case the computer can increase the boost level which means more fuel and more power.

Otherwise you are working against physics.

If you do the mods then I'll watch and will happily eat a virtual hat :thumbs up

Sorry for bumping up an old thread. My wife got an A Star AT in March this year and on multiple tank full checks we have noticed it gives us only around 8 KM/LT. Not sure if it is because she has just started driving and does not cross 50 KMPH which is probably keeping the car in a lower gear. I did bring it up on the second service and was told to take it on a long drive and check it before they do anything.

Has anyone else had an issue like this with the A* and know what the problem could be.

Tyre pressure checked and always at 32 PSI ( Nitrogen ).