18th February 2011, 18:44
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| BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Navi Mumbai
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| Chevrolet Beat LT (Petrol) : 4000 Kms Report We are a family of 3 , My parents and me. back in June 2008 we bought out first car , a pre-owned Hyundai Santro 2000 model. It was for me and dad to learn that we got ourselves a pre-owned car. It was a very reliable car , gave us what we needed and never ever broke down. After a 7 day long trip to Konkan on our way back , i drove her for 500 Kms under 10 hours , which will remain in our memories forever. One thing that i always liked about Santro is the pickup you get in the 2nd and 3rd gear , it helped me overtake number of vehicles on NH-17. During June 2010 , the car was going to complete 10 years and it started to give some niggling problems. One of them was the window glasses would not close , they mechanism would get stuck leaving us with no option but to keep it like that. This was the time we started looking at buying a new car and since our requirement was not for a car which would have a everyday running , we stuck to a petrol car. Budget was around 4 Lakhs. So one fine day in June we 3 joined by one of my friend went to take test drives of our options. Following are our experiences while taking test drives of different vehicles , When on our way , i never had the Chevrolet in my mind , one reason being the showroom is located in a area that we hardly frequent. but my friend said that we should visit that showroom first as it is far away and then we will visit closer one's next. 1. Chevrolet- on our entry the receptionist looked at us but did not come up and ask about anything , finally it was me who went up to her and asked her if someone can assist us that we were appointed a sales assistant. We got to know later that this was his first sale and hence understandably he was very nervous and gladly well informed. he introduced us to Beat and Spark. One thing to mention here is that the person had good knowledge and explained us even the features of the engine and how they helped mileage and other factors. 1a Chevrolet Beat- Looks: The first Moment i saw her , i fell in love. The Styling from the front is aggressive and catchy. The hidden rear door handle and the motorcycle inspired central console bowled me over. Parents and my friend also loved the looks. Test Drive: My Friend drove the car first , the drive was a 4-5 kms highway strech with a flyover in between. Coming from a santro and sitting in Beat flattered us. The ride was amazingly comfortable and all 3 of us ( my parents and me) who were sitting at the rear were quite comfortable. On the way back as i drove the car , i was always left impressed. 1.b Chevrolet Spark: Out of curiosity we took a test drive of the spark as she was well within our budget and that too a fully loaded version , but after driving a 1.2 Liter engine coming to a 1 Liter one seemed low on power and also a litle compromised on ride quality. 2. Maruti: next stop was going to be maruti and after being well served at chevrolet , expectations rose as we entered the showroom. The sales assistant did not seem excited nor bored , but seemed very mechanical in the way he went about things. He did everything right , but seemed to follow of script. Anyways the 2 cars we test drove were. 2.a Maruti Wagon R ( New ): Again being a 1 Liter engine , the car seemed underpowered although it was good in terms of ingress. As we drove the car , it became quite clear that a 1 litre engine was not going to satisfy us. 2b. Mauti Ritz: The first time i looked at a ritz , i absolutely loathed it. My mother also has reservations about itz design. I must however agree that it was a good car to drive , but again we did not get the ride quality we had got in the Beat. It was also 70,000 rs costlier than the top variant of Beat. 3. Ford: The experience was pathetic to say the least , the sales team were busy with thier own time pass and had no inclination on serving a customer , we could hear them saying " tu ja na yaar , gaadi to leta nahi koi , mujhe bore ho raha hai" ( Please serve the customer , nobody takes a car , i am getting bored today). This had made me defensive. Finally , one girl came and enquired. We asked her about the figo , she just quoted the price and informed me that there will be no discounts. There was no vehicle to test drive as they all had together gone for washing.We got up and gave them my number , in case they can arrange a test drive. Ford Figo: Surprisingly , 2 days later the same girl called up and asked me for time when she can come with the car . I was free and hence said that if she can arrange for one immediately. In around 20 mins ,she came with the car and a driver. First thing is that i liked the A/C effectitiveness of the car , the car drove well inside the coty , but on the highway it left me wanting more power. Also without the discounts ,the titanium was coming to around 60,000 costiler than Beat and 10,000 cheaper than Ritz. 4. Tata: This was the most surprising , we wanted to Test drive 3 cars. Punto , Indica and Indigo.As we entered , we immediately informed the receptionsit about our objectives. She did all the formalities and informed us to be seated , we had a loom aorund of the cars on display and kept ourselves entertained. After about 15-20 mins when i asked her about the test drive , she informes me that there are no test drive vehicles for Fiat and Indica is gone for servicing. We started leaving the showoom and till date i have not got any call from them. This was thier atitude before sales , we can imagine it after sales. We then sat down later that week and short listed Ritz and Beat. Ritz ZXi - 5.34 OTR Chevy Beat - 4.56- OTR A differnece of 80,000 made us tilt towards the Beat. We had all loved the Green color, the old Santro was Blue so that was out of question and SA had informed us that Red color is non-metallic so that was also out of question , hence Green was finalised.The Dealership experience was good and the staff at Nikhil Automobiles was very courteous. We booked the car on 2 of July 2010 and got the deliver on 9th july 2010. Only problem was that they never informed me about the status of the vehicle , nor did they inform me on 9th that the car is ready for delivery. It was me who called them up and was so excited that had gone to the showroom 1-2 hours before the time of the delivery. :  Freebies given. 1. GM genuine autocop keyless entry system 2. Mud flaps. 3. Mats 4. Keychain 5. Chevy teddy Thins that i have done on the car. 1. Garware Ice cool sunfilms 2. GM genuine Seat Covers 3. GM genuine Car Cover. 4. GM genuine mini usb to normal Usb Converter port. 5. GM genuine 3M underbody coating. Things i love about the car. 1.Extermely Silent Engine , at signals it makes you forget if the car is on. 2. Excellent Ride quality 3. Automatic AC , this was a feature i took time getting used to. 4. Fresh Design. 5. Well thought about , storage spaces which includes sunglass holder , coin holder. 6. A music system that suits my requirement. 7. Blue lighting inside the car makes it a pleasure to drive in the night. Things that could have been better: 1. Boot space of 170 Liters. Although ,the 3 of us never travel much with baggage , it could be a game changing factor for a bigger family. 2. No bluetooth on the music system 3. My left leg at times keeps hitting the cental console. 4. Driving position is little low , this can be a hindrance for drivers with small height. Beat went for her first servicing ( 6 Month Servicing) in January. Some of the things sorted out were 1. A/C not cooling effectively : This was taken care by the SA , they tweaked the Auto AC setting to make it more powerful now. Could notice the change after the tweak 2. Secondly , i went for the ECU remap. The SA prompty attached a laptop and made sure he installed the recent settings for the ECU. ( Thanks to team-bhp for this). Someone who would have driven my car on 2nd gear with AC on before and after can easily notice the difference in pick up. The car is more fun to drive around the city now. 3. I was not charged even a rupee for everything , overall very satisfied with the servicing. I have done 2-3 long drives with her and have got a varied mileage. the lowest being 15.7 kmpl to the best being 18.6 kmpl using unleaded petrol with AC on 80% of times and 80% highway driving. I am yet to check the FE figures after the remap. Attaching some pictures , feast your eyes! Front-Side profile  Back-Side Profile  Another View  Rear window  Side- profile  Those curves  This is my favorite  Another Favorite  Chevy bow-tie grill  Huge headlamps  Roof Rails add character  Central Console  Auto AC  Gear Knob and 2 cup holders  Sunglass Holder  Power window controls  Speedometer  Pedals  Boot space  I am 5 ft 6 and the driver seat is taken as back as possible , so you can see that there is enough space out there  View from the Rear seat  Taken during trip to nashik  Beat LT - Plan Ahead  Cheers. |
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18th February 2011, 19:34
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18th February 2011, 19:35
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| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: electricity
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18th February 2011, 21:41
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| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: India
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| Re: Chevrolet Beat LT (Petrol) : 4000 Kms Report Quote:
@Mr Beat : Congrats on the Beat. It's a great car. Cocktail green is my fav color too. Hope Chevy launches the diesel version soon. | |
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18th February 2011, 22:25
| #5 | |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: KA17|KL65|KL41
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| Mr. Beat, Congratulations on your Chevrolet Beat.  You've clicked some awesome snaps. I love the last pic. Which cam do you use? Since you've mentioned that your legs hit the centre console, let me ask - how tall are you? Please share the picture of the Chevrolet Teddy that was gifted to you by the dealers. Quote:
Last edited by Klub Class : 18th February 2011 at 22:40. | |
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18th February 2011, 23:17
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| BHPian  | Re: Chevrolet Beat LT (Petrol) : 4000 Kms Report Seriously awesome pictures. I was not quite a fan of the green colour until I saw these pictures. Congrats from a fellow Beat owner  Quote:
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18th February 2011, 23:32
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19th February 2011, 00:16
| #8 | ||||||
| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Navi Mumbai
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| Re: Chevrolet Beat LT (Petrol) : 4000 Kms Report Quote:
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The last two pics have been taken on my mobile phone which uses a 3.2 MP camera while the rest have been shot on a Olympus 8 MP digicam. I did mention, i am around 5 ft 6 inches tall. The ECU remap was to improve the pick up in the 2nd gear. I will upload few more pics, Chevy Teddy coming up! Thanks a lot Quote:
I still have to find the right position for my car. I drive her only on weekends when i come back home. What is the color of your beat ? Quote:
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19th February 2011, 02:52
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19th February 2011, 20:23
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19th February 2011, 20:32
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19th February 2011, 20:59
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| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: India
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| Re: Chevrolet Beat LT (Petrol) : 4000 Kms Report Quote:
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19th February 2011, 22:48
| #13 | |||
| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Navi Mumbai
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| Re: Chevrolet Beat LT (Petrol) : 4000 Kms Report Quote:
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There is a huge difference in the gear shift quality, One of the reason could be that the Santro was 10 years old , but to be honest Beat's gear shift is no where close to that of the i10 which i drove. | |||
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19th February 2011, 23:06
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20th February 2011, 01:05
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