Before Fitment /First Look:
As I said before, the kit is quite heavy. The material and the build is *solid* which is very very apparent once you touch it. 95% of the body is Polished finish, except the (I don’t know what to call them) joints which are painted in silver. Next, ummm, the muffler tip is huge which I didn’t expect. Although there are pictures in their website, I didn’t happen to think it will be huge. That’s it.
The "things" which I suppose are not of Stainless Steel Fit:
The FFE utilizes all the stock mounting locations, and fits precisely. Except for the muffler tip which touches the rear bumper. If you observe closely the Spark’s stock end can looks a little weird with end can right behind the bumper, but the tailpipe comes from the other end of the end can. This is, errr, quite hard to explain! Therefore the pipe is little towards the center of the bumper, on the inner side I mean. But this FFE doesn’t use the *cut* in the bumper which the stock one has.
Pheww, let the pictures speak. This is hard. After Fitment:
After fitment, my knees were shivering whether it’d work fine/ not. I was told to switch the vehicle on, to check for leaks. Remember, the vehicle was in a 3 way enclosed (by walls) workshop. Brrrrrrrrr - pur pur pur(pop sound) – Brrrrr - pur pur – Brrrrr. There you go, my Spark got a notch higher, and the whole place tasted a new sound. After a preliminary check for leaks, we went for a test ride. I was driving, and once I leave behind the “civilized” driving, *all the hell breaks loose*! Regarding the sound, there is a constant bass you hear on the inside (when music off) and outside (always).
Okay, let us keep sound out of the equation. Once, I switched the car on – Makkan Yaar! – The car made it official that it’s breathing much healthily. Vivek’s cast a spell on the car! Once I hit the road, the car is much eager to move. Suddenly the car felt as if it was riding on – Low rolling resistance tires, fully synthetic oil, and blah blah – simply put *less friction everywhere*. The car felt as if it recovered from 6 years of *cold and other breathing issues*.
Now on the performance front, yes FFEs tend to improve the drivability and FE. Definitely, Yes. In my case, the car has transformed completely into a different animal. The power band has definitely shifted into lower rpms. If you are a Spark owner, you realize you have to wait patiently for the power to build up once you pass a pothole/speed breaker. Well, that is really annoying especially in 2nd gear. Now the car says I’m available anytime, anywhere.
Now, I stated that the FFE was optimized for Low/Mid range improvements. Heck, if I had a tacho I’ll have explained it better. Previously my car would top up at 90 or so. But on a recent trip it dared to go obtuse. 117kph for the first time, very comfortably. Athletic, agile, handsome, robust and more so ever sweet car it has become.
The other day I had to perform an overtaking maneuver in 3rd and I was too busy to shift to 4th. Yet, the power delivery would not terminate even at high rpm. I loved it. I’m sure; the car is now able to handle higher rpms at ease. Also I need not change gears frequently, it picks up in a higher gear without the knocking/jerking issues.
Regarding sound, the car is stock silent but there is a constant bass you hear when idle as well as you drive. The sound delivery is so sophisticated and happens in stages, *artistically/beautifully* building up, in every gear. The sound is all harmony at lower gears. All the *substance* is from the mid range where the sound transforms into a wilder note. Let me say, there is a *sharp tapering effect*at the muffler end at mid/high rpms.
The FE has definitely improved. I’ve recently done a 350KM trip and the petrol expenditure was about INR1300 or so, which by my regular standards is very less.