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Dear Friends,
Things are fine at home and that is why I am back at wrting about my experiences of owning Iceberg. Thanks for your wishes Goandude and Vijay.
I had written a full one and half page review and posted it. It got lost as the connection was weak. To avoid this I am typing in notepad and shall paste in
the TBHP editor. Painful it is when you have to type it all over again.
Iceberg has completed 6 months and 13,000 km. It has been a pleasure owning and driving it all this while. I am sharing my experiences with Iceberg in the
following paras.
Cabin - The cabin is well designed. After owning it for this long I can say that. I have had 5 adults and two kids for a full day drive in Iceberg. It was
spacious and comfortable. The rear seat is a comfy place to be in. Leg room is a little cramped but none in my family is 6 footer except myself. Front seats
are as good as bed when fully reclined. At my height I have found them very comfortable. I have in fact taken naps in the car when waiting for someone. The
rear seat arm rest is good. It doesn't hurt the back of the third person as it does in an SX4. The seat belt height adjust is a good feature if you have
short people (<5' 4" tall) of kids sitting in front seat.
Storage for kick knack - The bottle holders in the rear doors are a boon. I remember how bottles would roll from one side to another in my Zen. There was no
place to keep them nicely. The centre bottle holder is also nice for the driver. The console around the gear stick is ok designed. Can hold sun glasses,
mobile, etc. The CD holder can comfortably store 8 to 12 CDs. The front door map holding pockets are spacious. I keep my Eicher Road Map of India and 52
Weekends Guide By Outlook in the front right door. Glove compartment appears small but is spacious enough to hold lots of stuff.
Illumination in the cabin - Cabin lights are bright. Very bright in fact. Making it very comfortable to read of do any other activity in the night. The
centre light is placed very well. One can keep it on and drive without getting disturbed by the brightness. I find it very useful with two little kids. My
wife sits on the rear seat and feeds them comfortably with the light on while I drive on the highway.
Instrumentation - Instrumentation layout is good. I miss the DTE feature found in Fiesta and now in Logan. Outside temp meter is pretty accurate. Instrument
panel is well let. Brightness control feature for instrument panel is a funky feature. The wiper switch has a feature like dipper. Pull it up and release,
the wiper wipes the screen just once. Good in thing to have to clean the wind screen when you just need one wipe. Placement of instruments is good and
doesn't keep anything out of view.
ICE - The CD player is just ok. Sound clarity is ok. FM reception is at the mercy of the antenna. Not good at times. Audio controls on the
steering are a boon. Make it very easy to change channels and tracks.
Boot space - The boot is large and well lit. The hinges do take away some space. If someone packs two large suitcases and three large bags, well then the
hinges would block space. For a family of 4, the boot is more than required. Have put MGA matting (transparent) in the boot as well as cabin. Boot looks neat
with it. The boot lid felt very tinni (flimsy) in the initial days but now I am used to it. And it serves its purpose of locking the boot space.
Driving comfort - The three way seat adjustment is good and helps get in a very comfortable position to drive. Steering adjust also helps a lot on long
drives. I have done 8 hours of driving in Iceberg on national highways and country roads. Never felt tired due to the posture. Steering gives a good feel
when held. The A column is thick and creates a blind spot on the right side. Specially when negotiating a sharp right turn while in hilly terrain or parking.
The centre rear view mirror is not of much use as the boot blocks most of the view. The ORVMs though are good. Minimising blind spots.
Reversing though is a little difficult cos of the high boot.
Illumination outside - The head light beam was weak with 60/55 lamps. Will attribute it to poor reflector design. The same lamps, have a brighter throw in Zen and 800. Got the lamps changed to Orsam 100/90. Very bright on the darkest of highways. The indicators are bright enough in day light. The revesring light is not bright though. Making is difficult to reverse in unknown places in dark. Haven't used the fog lamps (no fog in Mumbai).
Suspension - Have found the ride quality to be good on all kinds of roads. There is slight body roll felt on the rear seat at speeds exceeding 60 kmph. Most
of the roughness experienced was due to the stock tyres.
Under the bonnet - Neat is the word. I haven't done anything under the bonnet except wiper washer filling and oil checking. Once topped up the coolant by
around 100 ml (cos it was there lying in a container). The other time, with help from Jaggu's DIY I cleaned the air filter. Easy it was. No oils leaks, no
stains, clean engine compartment Iceberg has.
Sun films - Have got Garware Classic Natural Ash installed on all sides except front. Good heat protection in Mumbai heat. This film worked well in Jaipur
heat (45 deg C) as well in my Zen.For front I had installed Garware Ice Cool. It had some scratches so the dealer changed it free. Dealer's name - Chandrika
Auto, Gokhle road, Dadar, Mumbai. Excellant service. The current film is working fine.
Air con - The climate control is good. I usually keep it on 24 deg C. The blower is silent for speeds upto half way mark. The AC has been very effective even
at 40 degrees with 5 adults in car. There is no effect on the engine when the compressor comes on.
Engine performance - I have found the engine to be very peppy. I had a new look Zen (not Estillo) for 5 years. Iceberg is way better to drive. The feel of
power is amazing. Accelaration is superb! Makes is very easy and safe to overtake vehicles on highway. I am a conservative driver. It is stable on high
speeds. I have driven it up to 155 kmph for a short period. But 100 to 130, on good roads it is very stable. Braking is good in city conditions and average
on high speeds. Haven't experienced the tail swaying out yet. I think it is more due to the stock tyres.
Noise - The engine is very silent for a diesel. At speeds around 50 to 80 people sitting cannot tell if it is a diesel. On higher speeds, the wind noise is
more than the engine noise. The tyre noise is very little with Michelin XM1+. Over all the cabin is very quiet for the catagory the car belongs to.
Service and maintenance - Had got the third free service done at MASS (Spectra in Borivali). Nothing but regular service. I am sticking to mineral oil. My
pals in the oil industry ensured that I didn't switch to synthetic.
FE - I switched to regular diesel (thanks to one Dr Bhatti on TBHP) 4 months ago. FE in Mumbai city traffic is 15 to 16 kmpl. The best highway FE I have got
is 19.5 kmpl. On other times, highway FE has varied between 17 kmpl to 19 kmpl. With varying loads and roads. I am a little disappointed with the highway FE.
MASS says its ok. I have read about other Swift VDi owners getting 20 - 22 kmpl on highway. Can someone help me on this one please?
Rattles - I was a little worried about rattles after reading reviews of Swift. Touch wood, Iceberg has been a silent performer on this one. Not a sound,
except for the occasional knock of the things I have kept in the glove compartment.
Scratches - Iceberg has had her share of scratches. Thanks to morons on Mumbai road. Once a biker, edged past the front bumper on the left side on a narrow
road. Other time an auto rear ended it leaving a mark on rear bumper. And the third one was a Sumo who drive in from rear right side leaving a long mark on
right rear panel. Painful it is to see them. How can make the scratches disappear?
What have I got added to Iceberg - Other than sun film and matting, I have gotten seat covers and transparent door protection trims. Also got a Teflon coat done. 1600 Rs for first coat and two re-coats in two years.
Over all it has been a wonderful experience to own and drive Iceberg. Shall keep sharing my experiences with you all from time to time. Shall be posting some pics (positively) tomorrow. | 
14th April 2009, 20:28
Anyway looking fwd to your post. I've booked a dzire vdi and thus the interest in your thread. regards. GD
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Thanks
