[Diablo37989]

Originally Posted by aveoman19

Keep it. The beat diesel is a great car. The tractable engine is a joy to use in the city and those dimensions are perfect for the new age traffic. They don't make cars like these anymore and that is sad. Please enjoy the beat for as long as you can.

Encouraging to see so many Beat owners confirm how well built this car is. Many thanks all.

Going to keep this car as long as I can, after everyone's input. Yes, I have put in a dieseltronic tuning box a few years ago. Not all that, but there is a slight boost in performance, which is welcome.

Any tips on after market performance parts for the 2011 Beat diesel would be welcome. Figure if company parts are an issue, why not just get better options?



Again, thanks a lot everyone.

[Vinod_nair]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

All's going well. Come June 2023, I saw a couple of Dazzle Blue Nano's on the road and everytime I remembered our Nano. Dialled the owner, who was a ex-army senior citizen. Told him my story. He is a very kind hearted man and said "puttar tusi gaddi wapis chahidi" son due you need the car back, and we struck a deal. July 5th, the original date of us buying the Nano, I got her back home after 4 years, and the family was jumping with joy.

Wow what a touching story. Liked it because of my love for Nano's.

I'm a senior citizen, got my dazzle blue XTA in 2016.



Just love it for its no nonsense drive.
Regards

[adisan]

Originally Posted by Mortis

As a result the interiors got soaked and without any sunny days, mould created an issue.

This is what a Chevy ASC manager. once told me:
In such cases the seats ought to be removed, then all the layers of carpet/ foam from the floor as well - before leaving those and the car to dry directly under the sun. Otherwise, no matter how powerful vacuum cleaners the professional interior cleaning vendors use or how long the car is left under the sun, it won't prevent rust and mould.

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by adisan

This is what a Chevy ASC manager. once told me:
In such cases the seats ought to be removed, then all the layers of carpet/ foam from the floor as well - before leaving those and the car to dry directly under the sun. Otherwise, no matter how powerful vacuum cleaners the professional interior cleaning vendors use or how long the car is left under the sun, it won't prevent rust and mould.

Thanks. What i did after getting the car back from detailing was to borrow a neighbours garage since mine was inaccessible due to repair work, removed all the mats and stuff that I could and kept a pedestal fan on blowing air to get rid of the remaining dampness. Also kept a box of Absorbia in each footwell. Kept it like that for four days and it dried well. Couldn't sun it at the time because it started raining again. I have sunned it a couple of times since.

[adisan]

Originally Posted by Mortis

... removed all the mats and stuff that I could ...

For the sake of clarity:
The ASC manager said that the car floor has layers of foam/ carpet that can be removed only when the entire seats are unbolted and removed from the floor. And unless those layers of foam/ carpet are removed and dried - and also the floor is dried - the car will likely get rust/ smell/ mould.

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by adisan

For the sake of clarity:
The ASC manager said that the car floor has layers of foam/ carpet that can be removed only when the entire seats are unbolted and removed from the floor. And unless those layers of foam/ carpet are removed and dried - and also the floor is dried - the car will likely get rust/ smell/ mould.

Got it. I should have clarified that it didn't get that wet. On the floor.

[Ashdel]

Buddy - my only apprehension is - its a Oil Burner + Chevy + 10 years old - Dont mind but this is not an enthusiast car - its more kind of a BEATer - just sell it and get a old Japanise or Korean car - you can thank me later.

[ahmad.007]

Wow. I feel highly qualified to answer your question since I was in the same boat!

We have a Chevy Beat as well. It's a diesel 2011 too. We bought it pre-owned in 2012, it was the demo car from my city's Chevy showroom. Got a great deal at that time and, the best 4+L ever spent!

We were in the same boat about 2 years back and due to fear of diesel engine opening it's mouth for expensive repairs. The engine was throwing off some oil from the dipstick area. The Service centre quoted us a whopping 80k for the repair which left us scared.

But we were lucky enough to find a great FnG and simply got the timing filter changed for 5k. All is good since then!
No turbo failures. Dieseltronic box added for better power delivery in full load with AC (Beat struggled somewhat in AC). Front suspension done at 85k kms.

We decided to run it to the ground and beyond till the government allows us to. We will perhaps reconsider selling it just before the renewal of RC in 2026 as well.

Reasons for not selling -
* Ultimate BEATer car.
* Compact city size- They no longer make good compact cars anymore! Obesity is real. Even if they do make, the safety is compromised, or there's no diesel.
* I see yours is a LT(O), which means it came with airbags, along with 4 star safety.
* Frugal diesel, we get 16+ in city. Highways have seen 24+ in its prime. BS4, what BS4? Enjoy the diesels till you can.
* Fuss free 1.3L km ownership. Has never let us down. We trust it more than the other newer cars in our garage. We've somehow had Japanese level reliability with this one!!
* With 1.25L resale value, we'd rather use it a few more years more and sell it for 1L! Resale value doesn't make a difference now.

Reasons for selling-
* Vibrations from dashboard have started. Not really rattles, but low rpm vibrations from the left side of the dash. (Don't get me wrong, still way more refined than a similarly aged Maruti hatch)!
* The clutch, oh the clutch is super heavy!! Left knee gets a superb leg day if you ever get stuck in bumper to bumper.
* The engine isn't very enthusiastic (but the tuning box helps make it a bit more lively).


Next possible replacements already in mind for 2026-
* Grand i10 diesel (pre owned, preferably 2017+ 1.2 diesel) - This is the closest in terms of car size (read width) , Diesel engine (both 1.1 and 1.2 CRDIs are frugal with great nvh), safety (not a tin can), and interior quality (1 step above the Beat). It also looks great, clutch and gearbox action are light, you may not miss the Automatics.
* Or perhaps an Ignis diesel. (Interior quality though not the best)

If you prefer to go Automatic way, then you can do so, but I don't think there are any good automatic diesels in small cars other than the headknocking AMTs.

Here are a couple of pics-

* Our silverettes-

[PaddleShifter]

Can relate with your post as I am also an owner of discontinued cars with low resale.

Originally Posted by Diablo37989

so it's a great beater car

more sense for me to use it to reserve parking space in Mumbai (where the cheapest car park is over INR 5 lacs), and I have multiple car parks in this city (but not enough cars to occupy them all).

Other concerns
1. If I do keep it, how long can I keep it for before Chevrolet pick up their skirts and truly run? I've written to them and they refuse to provide any sort of timeline for support and parts.
2. If I do sell it, does it make sense to get rid of it for a super low resale or do I scrap it and use that incentive on a more expensive car? is there even an incentive yet?

We have not one but two FIAT Punto with us:
2010 FIAT Grande Punto diesel top variant
2013 FIAT Grande Punto diesel base variant

We intend to keep these two cars for as long as possible and then we will scrap them.

Reasons:
1. Cars like Punto, Linea get poor resale in today’s time. But as long as they run with reasonable reliability, they serve the same purpose as any other car in their respective segments (costing that much). Same for yours. So consider it like a 7 lacs rupee car and keep it running as long as possible. It makes more economic sense.
2. If I have to sell our older Punto today, I will get around 1 lacs for it and I will have to spend 10-12 lacs for equivalent car such as i20. If I sell it after an year, I will still get say 80-85k and will have to shell out a huge amount again. The cars have hit baseline prices already for us after 12-13 years.
3. Parking space constraint is present in Chandigarh also. Our older Punto serves this purpose of occupying the roadside parking in front of our house. If we sell this car, someone else will occupy that place to park their cars. We wont be able to reclaim it in future if we get a new car as roadside parking does not belong to anyone.

[Diablo37989]

Originally Posted by Ashdel

Buddy - my only apprehension is - its a Oil Burner + Chevy + 10 years old - Dont mind but this is not an enthusiast car - its more kind of a BEATer - just sell it and get a old Japanise or Korean car - you can thank me later.

You're absolutely right in that it's not an enthusiast's car,in fact, it's very far from it. But given the Mumbai driving conditions, I'd be even more frustrated with a high performance, super handling car idling in SV Road traffic

Also, the issue with buying a used Joran or Japanese car here is rust (especially Marutis as has been my experience) and plus you never know how they've been maintained.

I think (for me at least) it makes more sense to keep this as a runabout, and spend the lac or so saved on buying another car in a stage one upgrade for another diesel sedan I have but rarely use.

[Diablo37989]

Originally Posted by ahmad.007

Wow. I feel highly qualified to answer your question since I was in the same boat!

If you prefer to go Automatic way, then you can do so, but I don't think there are any good automatic diesels in small cars other than the headknocking AMTs.

Here are a couple of pics-

* Our silverettes-
Attachment 2518938

Attachment 2518939

Thanks very much for your reply. Your silver Beat looks very well maintained, thank you for sharing those pics (tho you may want to check the engine light - mine lit up for months till the ASC here traced the issue to a faulty air mass sensor - not an expensive fix).

I'd like a diesel AMT, but are there any around? Altho I keep hoping against hope that some manufacturer, somewhere, will finally announce a CNG AMT. Right now my head snaps back without an AMT everytime I have a look at the fuel bill

[ahmad.007]

Originally Posted by Diablo37989

Thanks very much for your reply. Your silver Beat looks very well maintained, thank you for sharing those pics (tho you may want to check the engine light - mine lit up for months till the ASC here traced the issue to a faulty air mass sensor - not an expensive fix).

I'd like a diesel AMT, but are there any around? Altho I keep hoping against hope that some manufacturer, somewhere, will finally announce a CNG AMT. Right now my head snaps back without an AMT everytime I have a look at the fuel bill

You are very welcome. We got the light checked and it came out to be a faulty glow plug in scanner. So we replaced a couple of them, the light went away for a few days and came back. It could be MAF sensor, I'll get that checked next time! Thanks!

It may seem very well maintained in the pics, but it has it's scars and dents, and we don't like to touch them up every now and then to preserve the original paint. Though mechanically we like to keep it as good as possible. Engine is smooth as butter till 2500 rpm, after which it is the most gruff engine ever 😅

As for diesel AMT, my uncle has a Swift 1.3 DDIS AMT. It is a good city car with a great mileage. The build feels filmsy though. But no more Maruti diesels available.

If you are ok with a 4m car, I would suggest checking out Amaze diesel CVT in pre owned. Smooth and efficient drivetrain.

I think in new cars, only Nexon and XUV300 come with diesel AMT. Also, I drove the Nios AMT and found it to be a decent gearbox if your inputs are light. Hyundai AMTs have something different (electric actuators maybe), making them slightly better than Maruti, Tata and other AMTs.