[Venkatesh]

Toyota Urban Cruiser is no longer listed on company's official website. Discontinued?

[Venkatesh]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Rumour: Toyota Glanza CNG bookings open at select dealers

Toyota has launched the Glanza CNG at Rs 8.43 lakh.

- 1.2-litre petrol, 77hp and 98.5Nm

- 55-litre CNG tank, fuel efficiency of 30.61km/kg.

- Available in two variants : S, G

- Toyota Glanza E-CNG S: Rs 8.43 lakh

- Toyota Glanza E-CNG G: Rs 9.46 lakh

Source

[volkman10]

Toyota’s Urban Cruiser discontinued. Replacement unlikely. Likely to focus on the Coupe based on Baleno.

Sub-4m Urban Cruiser dropped from Toyota line-up
Toyota unlikely to replace it with rebadged new Brezza
Reasons cited, proximity in price to lower-spec Hyryder

Unlike Toyota, Maruti Suzuki has the advantage of having two separate dealer channels – Arena and Nexa. While the Brezza is sold through Arena, the Grand Vitara is sold through Nexa. This means there’s no real overlap and no real cannibalisation. So, the proximity in price doesn’t matter as much to Maruti and having more options to offer customers actually helps it snare more customers into its dragnet.

Link

[arunkh]

Is that a Camry????

Did you get a Camry?!?

These were some responses when my office colleagues found out about my car purchase through my status update announcing the new arrival into our family

History

Having been used to public transportation right from school days all through my college life, I had never really aspired to driving automobiles in my life. I used to convince myself that one doesn't need to own any automobile as it would be a complete waste of money. Well this line of thought had its first scratch in its armour when I had to start travelling long distances for work. During my first three years of work (2009-2012) my average distance I had to cover to reach my workplace and back home on a daily basis averaged initially at ~55 kms which then increased to about ~75 kms in Bangalore. The travel time initially used to be ~1hr in the morning and ~11 ⁄ 2hrs in the evening and eventually increased to ~4 hrs per day at which point I was frustrated enough to start thinking about having my own vehicle. Eventually settled to purchase a 2-wheeler (Honda Shine post which I actually learnt and obtained a licence in 2012).

Circa 2019, I started seriously considering a car and I was very interested in Nexon. As I was researching about Nexon I came across the news that Nexon EV is in the works and would be launched very soon. Finally when the EV version was indeed launched it was way out of my planned budget. Eventually 2020 happened and all plans for any new purchase were put on hold indefinitely. Earlier this year (around May 2022) this itch to buy started to grow and I met a friend with the previous generation Glanza and was quite happy with the way it looked and how spacious it was. Please note I still haven't driven any car except for getting the driving licence through the driving school and thus I only quantified my requirements based on the look and gut instinct. Decided to take a plunge and went ahead and booked Gaming Grey Glanza AMT 2022 facelift (June 2022) without knowing what a facelift meant or what were the features available in the car. Once the booking amount was made, the extensive Google based research began which entailed reading, watching and listening to all there was about Glanza 2022, what is the difference between a 3 cylinder and a 4 cylinder engine, what an IRVM and an ORVM meant, how to shift gears smoothly, how to park etc etc (you know the drill of a total noob who hasn't driven any car until now). I also enrolled for the driving classes to relearn and the basics of driving. First week of July I got a call about a potential availability of a Sporting Red Glanza for delivery in the next two weeks. Since the excitement was high I immediately conceded and asked them to initiate the process. The loan and other other documentation began and the delivery date was scheduled for July 15th. Since I hadn't driven much and I didn't want any delivery related incidents I took along my Brother-in-law for the delivery and drive back home.

Eventually over the next couple of days I started to drive the car myself and gained enough confidence to take it to the office regularly on the outer ring road towards hebbal. Having completed about 4000 kms so far, my experience with car has been very pleasant and I look forward to a long and fulfilling journey.

Likes
The ease of handling
Legroom on offer for the backseat passengers
Fuel efficiency

Can be better
Ground clearance
Slight delay in the gear shift

[trail_lover]

I own a 2022 Baleno Glanza AMT S. It has done 2,500 km currently. I would like to write down my ownership experience thus far, so that it is useful to potential buyers of the Glanza:

Given below are the problem areas, or aspects that I don't like about the car:

1. Claimed fuel efficiency is 23 kmpl. The overall average for 2000+ km is 17.25 kmpl with 80% usage in state highways and 20% usage in the town. I make a note of all fuel fillings and km run, and this is the average from Fuelio App. The fuel filled by dealer before delivery and assumed fuel filling at plant has also been factored in. A/c turned on 90% of the time, and car having only 2 passengers most of the time.

Currently, 19.5 kmpl is displaying on my instrument cluster for the average F.E. I have never seen it get to 20 kmpl so far, or may be I didn't notice it. Lets see. So far I have never driven on 4-lane or 6-lane national highways.

2. AMT tends to get confused between 4th and 5th gear in many situations. It would shift to 5th and if you suddenly press the acc. pedal to overtake another vehicle, it will drop to 4th and then go back to 5th again. Such changes leads to small lags, and drop in acceleration when overtaking. The same situation occurs when ascending bridges. Better switch to M, mode in such situations. As other members pointed out, there is a slight lag in gear shifts.

3. When climbing some large speed breakers, the AMT doesn't shift to 1st gear. It stays in 2nd gear having a rubber band effect when you move out of a speed breaker, with some strain on the engine and clutch. At such situations where there are many speed breakers in the route, I use Manual mode and down shift to 1st when fully slowing down just before or after crossing a speed-breaker, and then continue in M mode.

4. There is wind noise above 90 kmph with all windows closed. It is not annoying, but slightly irritating.

5. The seats feel too soft. Could have been little more firm for long distance drives. Some people might get back aches with such soft seats.

6. I felt the projector headlamps are not bright enough with stock bulbs. It looks like the beams have a bit of spotlight effect. Normal headlamps which have more light scatter look brighter to my eyes. In projector HIR2 halogen bulbs there is only one filament of 55W rating. There is no 60W filament/rating. This reduces brightness a bit I suppose. In projector head lamps, the high beam / low beam is controlled by a screen which goes up and down, and not by one or two filaments going ON in conventional halogen bulbs.

7. I have noticed a bit of door window glass buzzing sounds at the seals in some uneven bad roads.

8. The wiper blades are not the smoothest I've seen. The wipers make rubbing noises when you use windshield washer to wash and wipe.

9. ABS is noisy when it kicks in on sudden braking in undulated roads with stones and gravel.

10. The engine doesn't co-operate if you want to sudden acceleration in tight overtaking situations, even in M mode. Don't attempt it! This is not a performance oriented machine.

11. You need to find plastic water bottles that suit the profile of the doors, else you have RATTLES. If you use stainless steel water bottles, there is more rattles and need to match the profile of door water bottle holder exactly. You never have such problems in Hyundai cars.

12. The doors and hinges don't feel so rugged to me. When you open the doors, especially the front doors, you get a feeling that they are sagging a bit on their hinges.

I shall update new experiences as we go along. As for the good aspects of the car, it has been covered extensively by the media, and reviewers. Nonetheless, I shall cover this in future posts.

[yogiii]

Originally Posted by arunkh

I managed to update my Glanza from the following website and can confirm that the wireless AA is working perfectly fine. The steps mentioned are all same as in the previously mentioned tutorial for Baleno, just need to replace the software version as per the Glanza's.

https://www.global-infotainment-syst...ate/index.html

Cross posting from the Baleno thread.

I downloaded the software from the above link, the download was pretty slow and broke in between few times, but was finally able to download it.
Easy straight forward steps for getting wireless AA mentioned in the video posted on Baleno thread. When I went for first service at Toyota they had no idea about it.
I was facing issue of frequent disconnection from the wired AA and it also made the USB port busy and I was unable to put my pendrive for songs.

I saw in news the recall for airbag for Glanza and Hyryder, has anyone got any information from dealers or Toyota?

[sarathlal]

Originally Posted by yogiii

I downloaded the software from the above link, the download was pretty slow and broke in between few times, but was finally able to download it.
Easy straight forward steps for getting wireless AA mentioned in the video posted on Baleno thread. When I went for first service at Toyota they had no idea about it.

The new vehicles rolling out are having the latest version pre-installed.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by trail_lover

2. AMT tends to get confused between 4th and 5th gear in many situations. It would shift to 5th and if you suddenly press the acc. pedal to overtake another vehicle, it will drop to 4th and then go back to 5th again. Such changes leads to small lags, and drop in acceleration when overtaking. The same situation occurs when ascending bridges. Better switch to M, mode in such situations. As other members pointed out, there is a slight lag in gear shifts.

The drop down to a lower gear - is actually a well advertised feature from most vendors. Its known as "Kick-Down". The kick-down happens when the AMT controller unit / ECU registers that you are giving a higher than normal throttle input - and it assumes that you are in need of higher rpm (i.e. higher power). So the shift down. Press the gas pedal even harder - and it will even drop from 5th to 3rd. Works quite well.

The problem that you face - of a quick upshift into 5th again - generally arises from your throttle input reducing again. If you release the gas pedal soon (not fully, but even marginally) after the downshift to 4th - the car is still in a pretty good speed and rpm range - and the AMT logic, will then take the decision to upshift to 5th since the driver seems to be doing fine with the power needs .

Trick is - to hold the throttle pressed for a bit longer - when you induce a kick-down with higher throttle input. Let your overtake move be complete safely, then return to normal throttle input. Same goes for steep inclines as well. Either use the M mode; or use slightly higher than usual throttle input, this ensures that the AMT holds current gear to higher RPM, and isn't too hasty in upshifting (tuned for fuel efficiency). This aggressive upshift pattern, especially from MSIL - also causes a lot of clutch-riding / engine lugging at low rpm + higher gear, and should be carefully avoided. Its still early days - with time - you'll get the hang of using your AMT smartly and these issues will not bother you much.

[trail_lover]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

The drop down to a lower gear - is actually a well advertised feature from most vendors. Its known as "Kick-Down". .

That is very informative, and explained very accurately to a level that I could imagine it happening! I am going to keep your comment saved in a notepad file for future reference and try out on the car. Understanding how an AMT unit is hardcoded in its control units, is key to leveraging it to the maximum without hiccups.

Regarding the AMT upshifting quickly to overdrive at low speeds of 45 to 55 kmph or so, YES it strains the engine and clutch. I've seen myself downshifting to 4th after flipping to M mode in order to put less strain on engine and transmission.

Another scenario is that it tends to NOT downshift to 1st gear when coming to almost a complete stop at a speed breaker. Coming out of the speed-breaker, it gives a slightly long rubber-band like effect picking up speed in 2nd, before moving to 3rd. So at times like that I shift it to 1st gear in M mode soon after crossing the speed-breaker, in order for the engine to pull easily and reduce strain on clutch and transmission. After a few seconds I quickly shift to 2nd.

It would be worth it if we have an entire thread or section for creating awareness about AMT operation and behavior, as it would help the uninitiated and unassuming understand AMT technology better. Otherwise a person like me would be thinking that it is a malfunction, rather than an intended behavior. Once again, thank you very much!

[jsl]

I also bought GLANZA G AMT Gaming Grey on 16th July 2022. Till now I have driven it 8000kms and I am quite happy with the car. Fuel economy has now increased from 14-15kmpl in city to 17-18kmpl. I once took it to Haridwaar and car performed good on the highway returning a fuel economy of 27 kmpl for the whole trip.

[srkriz26]

Hey Friends.

Preparing to write a long thread on how I ended up buying a 2022 Toyota Glanza and my experience with it, after a year.

Chapter 1 - RX 100

2019 - Finally, I decided to part ways with my 1989 Model RX100. Back in 2012, my friend who owned an RX moved to the US, and I took advantage of his departure. While the engine stood great, everything else was junk. Right from the handlebar to the fuel tank, everything. So, I took that to a mechanic and got that all fixed. I was riding the bull happily until my friend came back after 3 months. I was shell-shocked. He was slated to stay in the US for 5 yrs. I sold my Passion Pro and spent the money thinking he would not return. Luckily, he gave me time to ride the bike, till I get a new one.

I started looking for RX100 and ended up buying a 1989 Japan-made model for 15k in 2012.

I took along, a repair person from a mechanic shed opposite my office, to whom I had conversations earlier. He promised to bring the bike back to life and returned with it after 10 days. The bike was better. But, it was nothing like an RX. I lost trust in his words and took the bike to a mechanic whom I had known for years. He had a look at the bike and told me everything needs to be replaced. I agreed. He took time but returned the bike in a better condition. While it was good, I was never satisfied. Months passed, and I found another promising mechanic. This time, I wanted to restore it and he helped me do it. From then on, it became an integral part of my life. I explored my riding nature with it. After a couple of years, I found a new mechanic who tuned it better. It was then, I realized the full potential of what I was riding. Words can't express the happiness and finesse of the machine.





Chapter 2 - Parting ways with RX100

On May 2019, decided to part ways with my bike and buy a pre-owned car. I sold my bike to get out of my comfort zone. My colleagues, who bought cars were reluctant to drive at first and often relied on their bikes. I don't want to be like them and decided to sell the bike, so I had to rely only on my car for transportation. Never thought about the consequences and sold my bike. I miss my RX to date.

I have ridden a lot of two-wheelers - Star City, Passion Pro, Pulsar, Max 100 R, FZ, R15, Bullet, KTM, scooters, etc., But RX 100 is unique. It is an engineering spectacle like nothing else. No other bikes offered the road grip, accessibility or balance it did. The old-style suspensions were starting to affect my lower back and new-age suspensions didn't help either. One fine Saturday, a guy who messaged me for my ad, tested the bike, paid on hand and took it away. It was one of the hardest decisions to make.

Chapter 3 - Search for a car

I always enjoy the process before buying something. I think through a lot, filter and browse a lot of options, before buying one. Similar to the routine, I started browsing through used car ads on OLX, Facebook and Quikr. I was hell-bent on buying a used Alto VXI. I like the design of old gen Altos. They looked international compared to the curvy designs of the 2014-2021 Alto. I nearly found a perfect match for my need but ignored it due to the asking price. While the asking price was only 2.4 L for a first-hand Alto 2014 VXI model, I thought the price was high and didn't proceed with it.

I took a test drive of the Tiago and my better half convinced me to go for a new car instead of a pre-owned one. Along with a friend, who was also looking to buy a car, we started testing a host of budget hatchbacks - Swift, Grand i10, Santro, Wagon R and Tiago. I almost finalized Tiago and decided to book the car 2 days later.

Just a day before booking Tiago, I saw an ad for a used first gen Honda Jazz and fell in love with it instantly. I went ahead to look at the car and it was terrific. I always had a crush on first gen Jazz and this looked like a perfect match. Took my friends and advisors to negotiate a deal with the agent and things were screwed completely. 3.5 L was the quoted price. While I was ok with it, my friends played a spoilsport saying, it's a 9-year-old car and not worth the price blah blah, and the purchase didn't go through. Eventually, a convinced my wife that, a used car would help me learn to drive in city traffic and started looking for used cars again.

Chapter 4 - Hyundai i20

I always ignored Hyundai for no reason and preferred Maruti or Honda over Hyundai. Would mock someone buying a Hyundai due to their Korean nature. As fate would have it, my first car was a Pre-Owned Hyundai i20. I saw the car, test-drove it and booked immediately from Hyundai's pre-owned car division in V3 Hyundai, Tiruvanmiyur, Chennai. From a quoted price of 3.9L, I negotiated a deal for 3.5L with fresh paints on the Bumper.

I was a novice car driver and wasn't convinced about driving 15+ km on a busy evening. One of my friends agreed to drive me home. Despite differences in the bumper paint job and body colour, I took delivery of the car with a promise of bumper repaint during the first service which was honoured later. Anything and everything that happens in my life will be escorted by rain. I was born when it was raining heavily, I met my wife for the first time in the rain and it rained heavily during my wedding. On the day of delivery, it rained as usual and I was convinced due to the sentiment. My friend came on a scooter and asked me to ride that back home as he had other commitments.

The next morning, I left the scooter at his residence and spent 15 mins trying to start the car.

Driving schools are a fraud. They teach us the mechanics of driving a car and nothing else. They don't even let us start a car, to understand whether a car lunges forward or vibrates when it starts. Never knew I had to press the clutch and start the car

The next episode was about parking. My apartment didn't have exclusive car parking but decided to park the vehicle opposite my flat. However, when I brought the car home, I was wrecked to find 2 cars parked in the space I planned to park my car. Thankfully, one of the parked cars had a mobile number on it. The driver was kind enough to come down and move the car for me.

While space is cleared, I did not know how to park a car within the given space. That driver was watching all my theatrics to park the car, and offered to help me finally. Without hesitation or shame, I sought his help and everything was sorted out on the first day.

Chapter 5 - Living with i20

I decided to drive the car for 30 mins to 1 hour every day until I get used to the dynamics of driving. Every morning, I will start at 6 and drive till 7. While driving was easy, parking was the toughest task in managing a car. Bumped several times on adjacent walls and water tanks.

Until I bought a car, I never cared about the time I left to office, or reached home. With a car, I would call my wife and ask her to protect the parking space from auto walas and cab drivers. Looking back, it was all fun.

I scolded myself for buying an i20 often. The prime reason behind my decision to buy a pre-owned car is to get used to driving a car in the city. Alto would have been the best bet. But, ended up buying a luxury hatchback. In my initial days, I never felt I was in control of my car. The car was so damn smooth.

Until 2020 the car was a charm. Didn't spend anything other than 3.5 L and it was so good. Come to the Covid restrictions, things started going haywire. I20 started showing its age slowly. Spent over a lakh in the next 1 year and decided to part ways.





Chapter 6 - Look out for a new car

Altroz was on top of my list for its looks and design. When Turbo was launched, I was sold. But, things took a turn and I ended up testing 13 cars altogether and bought a car which I didn't test throughout the whole process.

I complicate things by pondering over the top for every little purchase. I bought a Samsung Note and then Ipad & Apple pencil, primarily to pen down my opinions and breakdown for every purchase, despite knowing none of this might turn out to be true, just because I like the process of filtering, writing down my analysis and thinking about different aspects.

The first car I wanted to test drive was Altroz. Due to poor response and inattentiveness by the sales reps at Gokulam Motors - Chrompet, I skipped Tata altogether. I raised a Test Drive request at the Tata motors website, and they never bothered to check despite raising complaints. Tata's sales numbers are on the rise, only because of the change in design and mechanics of the car, rather than their sales network. After a couple of months, I went to Gokulam motors in person to test the car. Nobody bothered to attend to me for 20 mins. I lost patience and told them I am there for booking. They hesitantly arranged a Nexon petrol which was covered with dust and had a spare wheel on the front. Still, the car impressed me with its driving dynamics. But the dashboard layout, rear design and Tata’s service issues pegged me back.

Reached out to Lakshmi Tata for a test drive and they were better to arrange an Altroz test drive just before Covid's second wave. While I like the car, it scrapped the underside a couple of times. The Main put down for me was the central lock lever and implementation. Anybody can open the car while it is on the run. As I have a kid and this is a serious safety concern, I decided against Altroz.

In extreme contrast, Hyundai brought an I20 for a test drive within 2 hours, but the car offered nothing substantial from my I20. Nothing else has changed in the NA engine. Be it the responsiveness, the way it drives, or the suspension, nothing has changed except the steering response.

Honda was a different story altogether. While I had suspicion over the longevity of service and presence of the car in the market, Honda kept on pushing to sell the car without committing to the delivery, or any hint of positivity. I wanted to test Jazz CVT, but was given WRV manual

Next was Sonet & Venue Diesel. While both were good, nothing offered the space of WRV. While Magnite and Kiger impressed me with their engines and value-for-money proposition, their clutch was on the heavy side and I wasn't an automatic person.

On Jan 26 2022, I decided to book Sonet or S-Cross. Took my family to SVM Kia and checked the car in person. The salesperson said, the official waiting period is 3 months, but he can deliver the car in 45 days. His lead was genuine and mentioned it could take 50 days. I booked Sonet HTK+ NA Petrol, after the sales guy and his manager gave solid confirmation of delivery within 50 days. However, the booking docket from Kia mentioned the waiting period as 5 months. There was no alignment on the waiting period mentioned in the docket, agreement with sales, or the initial information from the showroom.

Chapter 7 - Sonet

On Feb 26, the sales rep called to inform me, my car would be ready next week and asked me to prepare for financials. I sold my i20 for a 50 K lesser because I need to pay the initial within the next 2 days. Come Mar 4, nobody in the showroom answered my call. On Mar 5, I was asked to wait till the 14th, as there is a huge shipment coming to their yard and I can take delivery immediately after payment. I agreed.

On Mar 14 & 15, there was no word from the sales guy. I dialled the regional manager and got a response saying, it will take another 2 months for delivery. I lost my patience and decided to walk into their showroom and hear them out. My sales rep's lead (who was genuine and confirmed to deliver in 50 days) told me there is a delay and it will take another month, which is again not in sync with the regional manager's status. At this point, I lost my cool and started calling out his outlandish commitments, and his team made me sell my car with a 50K loss. He was silent at first, and then made some calls to tell me, there is a diesel variant available which is 2.5 L more than my preferred variant and can be delivered immediately after RTO (4 days). I denied and cancelled my booking due to the way they handle customers and think we are fools.

I complained about this showroom to KIA, via email and on Twitter. The showroom manager visited me personally and apologized for all their mistakes and asked me to take back the complaint.

I got a call even last week, saying the car I had booked is now ready for delivery. They had called me 6 times till now, asking me to pay and collect the car I booked, despite returning my booking amount and acknowledging my cancellation on 16th Mar 2022. Customer service is a joke to these guys.

Chapter 8 - Title winner

A day before cancelling my Sonet, I casually visited the Maruti showroom in Chromepet, to check out the 2022 Baleno. I was impressed with the increased kerb weight and solidity of the car. It was late in the day and I could not test drive the car. I told him about my KIA booking and looking for an alternate car, the new Baleno's official waiting period stood at 45 days.

After cancelling my booking, I was en route to the Maruti Nexa showroom to book for Baleno. On my way was Harsha Toyota Pallavaram where I stepped in to enquire about the just-launched Glanza. I spoke to the showroom head and told him my experience about a cancelled Sonet and enquired about Glanza delivery. The car was launched on Mar 15 and I was enquiring on the 16th. They agreed to deliver before 1st Apr if I booked the top model on the same day. It was within my budget and I made a booking. As promised they delivered the vehicle on 31 Mar 2022. First registered customer all-new 2022 Glanza in TN. They invited me to unveil the car and launch the sale being the first customer. I asked the sales guy, to click photos of the delivery on my phone. But, he was stupid enough to click on his mobile, which was shaky and sub-par, eventually leading me to delete all those photos.

I analyzed my usage, thought about Diesel cars, and EVs, and booked a car I always liked, but bought a car which was never on my list. Still, I was happy about the purchase. The only nagging thought was, I bought a hatchback again than upgrading to an SUV. Me being short, an SUV would have helped a bit on potholes and road awareness due to visibility. Would have bought Brezza or waited for Fronx if it's 2023.




Chapter 8 One year with all new Glanza

This new Glanza impressed me right away with its rev-happy DNA on the city. My main requirement back then was 80% city and rare intercity highway drives.

I was able to reach 80KMH without even noticing it. The only thing I couldn’t get used to was the sharpness of the clutch.

Things took a turn after Aug, as I had to make frequent trips to Bangalore and my car is already close to 10k km.

I constantly drive between 100-120 on highways and pick-up hasn’t been an issue for me. I could see a lot of them complaining about a lack of eagerness and spirit in Maruti engines, but I have no complaints. This is by far, the best NA petrol engine you could drive on Indian roads today. I am not a pro and for a commoner, this is a perfect hatch for city n highways. The improved build quality and stability of the new Baleno/Glanza are very much apparent till 130 KMH. It isn’t meant to drive beyond 120 in the real world.

My favourite feature is the 360-degree cam. It has helped me park in congested spaces. HUD is only a gimmick in its current state. But, can be improved with updates.

Another gem is the suspension. For someone coming from Hyundai, the level of tuning and suspension not affecting your present inside the vehicle is a great boon.

My personal experience with Harsha Toyota has been great. They helped me replace my front bumper and scratches with insurance without much fuss.

While the voice assistant was irritating at first, I switched it off to have a happy ride. As others say, overtakes should be planned. At times, this turned me off while trying to overtake a passing truck or a slow moving vechicle.

All in all, 2022 Glanza has been a brilliant car for me. I enjoy driving it within city and also on highways.

[Carafooz]

Congrats srkriz ! Your car looks gorgeous in red. I wanted to ask whether you have purchased a manual or an AMT.

[debban]

Hey srkriz26, I can so much relate to your ownership experience. Intesrestingly I also learned driving in a Hyundai (i10). Bought it from an individual from olx. Same parking issues and reserving of spot!
Then went on to test drive nearly all those cars you have mentioned, almost booked the Magnite but finally settled on to new Balneo.

[srkriz26]

Originally Posted by Carafooz

Congrats srkriz ! Your car looks gorgeous in red. I wanted to ask whether you have purchased a manual or an AMT.

Hey This is V manual.

[sonmi-451]

I own a Baleno Zeta CNG, It has been for months and have driven close to 7,000 kms. Here are my observations about the Baleno:

1. I live in a 2nd tier city(Vijayawada) with moderate traffic but narrow roads for the most part. I have been getting 18-20 kms/kg of CNG within the city and 27-28 kms/kg on highway if I maintain the speed between 90 and 100 kms/hr.
2. Enough has been said about the Maruthi's 1.2 Engine, I like it. It does a good job both in the city and on the highway. I noticed when RPMs fall below 900 when in second gear the engine doesn't respond quickly. I prefer a NA engine over a turbo as my usage is 70% city and 30% highway.
3. I like the brakes and suspension, I didn't have high hopes for the suspension but it has been a pleasant surprise.
4. Love the light clutch and excellent gearbox, it has helped me over some of the regret I had for not being able to buy an automatic.
5. Head lights are decent but I still added Aozoom HID fog lamps. Both combined give excellent illumination but try very hard not to blind oncoming traffic.
6. Space is excellent and seats are comfortable too, so far I only did one long trip between Vijayawada and Hyderabad and didn't find any issues with the seat cushion.
7. Boot space is negligible with the CNG tank and spare tyre in place, so I have removed spare tyre and added an air pump for now as chances of puncture with new tyres is less.

Coming to the issues I faced so far:

1. I kept the speeds below 80 kms/hr until the first service. Once it was completed I noticed wind noise like a slight whistle from front left passenger door when ever I crossed 80 kms/hr. Nexa service center kept the car for 4 days and finally resolved it but in the process they probably had to remove the door and all related parts, the door would require more force to shut it properly, this was also fixed at a later stage.
2. After crossing 5000 kms or so brakes started making screeching noise like a trains brakes would do, although noise is too high it is enough to irritate me. I have low tolerance levels for noises coming from my cars. Service center tried to fix this by cleaning the breaks but sound still exists. Will be going back to them again soon but I would like to know from BHP members if getting better break pads would fix it? If not please suggest a solution that has been proven to fix this.

I didn't come across many posts on Team-BHP related to Baleno CNG, may be I will start my ownership thread soon. Over all I am happy with the car, I do regret not going for Tiago EV sometimes when I have to pay for fuel or when I am stuck in traffic rowing the gear. I understand EV have their own set of draw backs, grass always seems greener on the other side I guess .

I tried registering on Team-BHP 7 or 8 years ago but was not successful. I was accepted a month ago, I was elated. I am excited to be posting for the first time. I have great respect towards this community. Looking forward to many more interactions.