[Ragavsr]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

In case, anyone is wondering why 720 kms takes 18 hours- welcome to Kerala. Kerala roads are either under construction, or filled with potholes, or traffic congested, or too narrow even by two lane highway standards. More often than not, it's a combination of two or more of the above factors. If none of the above applies, then there are speed cameras watching for 90kmph max limit.

For all the misery I had to endure - a fuel efficiency figure of 16.54 (tankful method) was a good surprise

I guess Xcent AT might even return 17-19 kmpl on open four lane highways (like in Tamil Nadu).

16.54 for a round trip in Kerala conditions is very good in an automatic ,not far from what my Figo diesel would deliver.Off course diesel being cheaper ,fuel cost would be cheaper.

You are spot on about the road condition in Kerala. I had to endure it during a trip. What's with these speed cameras everywhere, too paranoid.

The lack of high speed driving skills is quite evident when these drivers enter good roads . I have seen countless KL registered cars on TN highways driven either too slowly or too rashly . The normal cruising speed at which the majority of cars are driven here is 100-120 while a few fast ones drive at speeds the moderators would warn me for mentioning.

Unfortunately, TN is also becoming more like Kerala roads especially around Chennai. The whole 50-75 KM radius of Chennai (Till Kanchipuram on Bangalore Highway and till Chengelpet on NH45, not to mention the mess called ECR and the Northern Grand Trunk Road) has either too much traffic or the road surface is terrible to say the least and usually a combination of both.

I remember cruising at 100+ continuously once crossing Tambaram as late as 2011. Now traffic crawls at 20kmph till Guduvanchery . The smooth, wide straight and flat as a billiards table typical Tamil Nadu roads are found only 100 km away from Chennai.

[BenjiRoss]

Been on the road for about 6 days now (TN and Kerala). Mileage that I got for my petrol AT is:
1. 460 km for 30 litres on mostly TN highways. Vellore to Karuru to around Theni
2. 400 km for 32 litres from Theni to Munnar, inside Munnar and then to Kumarakom and Kottayam.
This was using tankful method.
Overall I feel this is OK for a petrol automatic.
Will write about the rest of the trip later. Covered about 1000 km.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

For all the misery I had to endure - a fuel efficiency figure of 16.54 (tankful method) was a good surprise and really unexpected.
I guess Xcent AT might even return 17-19 kmpl on open four lane highways (like in Tamil Nadu).

Originally Posted by narayan

The good FE is mainly because of the sane speeds that are kept in Kerala roads. In 4 lane roads you would be constantly at triple digit speeds where FE will drop

Aren't KL roads more demanding in terms of gearshifts, braking and maintaining average speed? Rajain, another XCent AT owner does report 17.9 in his ownership thread.

If you maintain 80-90s on a empty 4-laner, you would be rewarded with astounding figures like 18-19. Even with 100-120s it drops to somewhere in region of 17-18 kmpl. This is from my experience owning an 2010 i10 kappa.

[Juventino]

Hello Guys

I have a Hyundai Xcent (S) Petrol. I'm looking for an aftermarket rear view camera. Any input will be appreciated.

Also, any studio/store recommendations in Mulund-Thane City-Powai area?

Thank you

[shayonpal]

I have hardly ever gotten mileage better than 11-12kmpl on the various road trips I have done in the past on my Xcent S(O). However, yesterday, I drove from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, and also quite a bit in and around Ahmedabad. I had left Mumbai on full tank, have already driven some 650 kms and yet the car isn't on reserve yet. This is absolutely astounding for me. I am not sure if the car's mileage gets better with time (ODO is on 7600+ now) or if I drove very well yesterday. It was definitely not sedate driving, I can tell you that!

[BenjiRoss]

Last part of my road trip used up 37 litres for about 520 km. This was from kottayam to Thekkady to a remote Resort and then back to Vellore via cumbum, dindigul and Salem. The road to cumbum is one of the worst I have driven on. I'm back home now.

[murillo]

Dear all,

Cross-posting here from another thread.

I am considering the Xcent S Petrol. I have already test driven the car in the city. Can you throw some light on the below points:

1. I was able to change gears only after flooring the clutch; otherwise it won't allow a gear change at all. I found this a hassle. In my current car, I can change the gear with 50% travel itself. The sales advisor told me that the test drive car is particularly adjusted for this. How much clutch travel is required to change gear in your car?

2. The horn pad is hard to the press. I had to really push hard to honk. Does the horn pad get softer with usage?

3. I didn't get a chance to check the car's capability on inclines such as those of hill stations with full passenger load, trunk-full of luggage, and with a/c switched on. How was your experience of the car's performance under these exact conditions? 99% of times I will be driving in plains only in and around Chennai, but still would like to know for the occasional family trips to the hills such as Ooty or Valparai.

Any light you can throw on these of my concerns will be helpful.

Thanks.
murillo.

[Ross]

I own a Xcent S Auto. Completed little more than 15000 KM in last 13 months, majority on Bangalore roads except 2 trips to hill stations with 2 Adults+2 kids and boot full of luggage. It took all inclines of both Kodai and Waynad with aplomb and never gave me any chance to worry. Only humps I scraped are within 1 KM from my home in Blr where roads are pretty bad.

It may not be fast like bigger sedans, but will do the job neatly for the price. Pretty happy with the decision overall.

[roby.thomas]

Originally Posted by murillo

1. I was able to change gears only after flooring the clutch; otherwise it won't allow a gear change at all. I found this a hassle. In my current car, I can change the gear with 50% travel itself. The sales advisor told me that the test drive car is particularly adjusted for this. How much clutch travel is required to change gear in your car?

I always floor the clutch while changing gears, that's safer to do. However my Xcent had a clutch pedal free play which was causing serious drive-ability issues in stop-and-go traffic, mild obstructions and climbing a major gradient from standstill. This gradient handling from standstill was a terrible concern for me.

I've driven cars with different levels of clutch play, but this car is tough to manage with less than ideal setup. After the clutch play was adjusted (now zero play), everything is fine.

Originally Posted by murillo

2. The horn pad is hard to the press. I had to really push hard to honk. Does the horn pad get softer with usage?

I don't think It gets softer. Problem is not that the horn pad is hard to press, but it is shrunk to accommodate all the steering mounted controls. So our extended thumb can't exert the usual pressure that we can.

I've become accustomed to horn a lot less, probably good for reducing sound pollution.

Originally Posted by murillo

3. I didn't get a chance to check the car's capability on inclines such as those of hill stations with full passenger load, trunk-full of luggage, and with a/c switched on. How was your experience of the car's performance under these exact conditions? 99% of times I will be driving in plains only in and around Chennai, but still would like to know for the occasional family trips to the hills such as Ooty or Valparai.

Just came back from a Kodaikanal trip, with four adults (three of us around 60 Kg, another one about 70-80 Kg), a 5 year old kid and boot with sparse luggage.

Vehicle did manage well, but I was following a Chevrolet Beat Diesel in our group and struggled to keep pace with it. But it is no slow runner, had I been alone I would never run that fast and Xcent would do the job fine. Keep the engine on the power band (3K-4K RPM) and it's fine. In Kodaikanal route, it would mean keeping the car in 3rd and 2nd. The second gear is a lot lesser powerful than the old 1.2L i10, so it took a while for me to catch up what's really wrong with it. If you chug along sedately and then suddenly if you feel like accelerating, the vehicle doesn't honour it (In-spite of being in a gear where it can deliver). This can be a problem when you are comfortably tackling the terrain in second gear, and suddenly the car ahead in your convoy accelerates. RPM decides to stay around 2500 even if you floor the accelerator later. And you can't shift at that speed to 1st gear, at the least it will be a jerk and make the passengers uncomfortable. The surge of power from this engine is right in the 3000-4000 RPM range, below that the engine is dead. If you drive all along with a heavy foot keeping the engine at that power band on inclines, it's responding to the command adequately without you being left wanting for more.

Steepest of inclines and broken tarmac in Kodaikanal gradient have been tackled well. I have had serious concerns about gradient handling based on my prior bad experience, and I purposefully took this opportunity to test the vehicle capabilities - It's satisfactory for my needs, but the trouble that I faced earlier was all about free clutch play which makes it impossible to properly slip the clutch on start, or a rough gradient terrain.

[murillo]

There is another thread in Team-BHP about Grand I10 and Xcent steering issue.

A few members reported that they faced the issue wherein the steering becomes loose for about 10-15 minutes, i.e., they can rotate the steering wheel freely. The wheels are of course responding to the steering input but the same turning effort now produces higher and inconsistent turning result, which is very scary.

Has any Xcent owners faced this issue?

On another note, how do the owners manage the overly sharp brakes? Should I be constantly worried over getting rear-ended?

[Ashir]

Originally Posted by murillo

There is another thread in Team-BHP about Grand I10 and Xcent steering issue.

A few members reported that they faced the issue wherein the steering becomes loose for about 10-15 minutes, i.e., they can rotate the steering wheel freely. The wheels are of course responding to the steering input but the same turning effort now produces higher and inconsistent turning result, which is very scary.

Has any Xcent owners faced this issue?

On another note, how do the owners manage the overly sharp brakes? Should I be constantly worried over getting rear-ended?

Well I have yet not experienced such kind of steering issue even after approximately 30k on ODO.

Regarding brakes, I have been rear ended quite a few times, usually when passing over speed breakers or surprises on road but at very low speed. No damage caused/taken.

It takes time to get used to it but once you know how to control your right foot it generates good confidence.

But if driving different cars, you might need to be cautious at slow speeds, when distance between cars is less or negligible.

[roby.thomas]

Originally Posted by murillo

A few members reported that they faced the issue wherein the steering becomes loose for about 10-15 minutes ...

Has any Xcent owners faced this issue?

Not exactly, but I've had an odd feedback from steering once. When you take acute turns at crawling speeds and straighten up (as in taking the car out of a parallel parking ), I think the power steering is naturally set to aggressively bring it back to centre. But once I had to rotate the steering multiple times to straighten it out. It's an effortless rotation, but given the rotation has to be done multiple times than what you are accustomed to, it imparts a feeling of steering becoming disconnected or loose. At any rate, it wasn't a scary situation as others described.

It occurred only once for me, so I am unable to say what exactly caused the trouble. But the road where I encountered this was en-route Kodaikanal and unfamiliar location. I think the road had a banking angle to it, though it was a relatively straight gradient road without a turn.

Originally Posted by murillo

On another note, how do the owners manage the overly sharp brakes? Should I be constantly worried over getting rear-ended?

That's easy to get used to. There is a downside of it. Once you are comfortable with Xcent/i10's brake and you later step into a Maruti, you will feel a lot less confident at braking. I marginally escaped banging a car ahead of me in a signal, while driving an A-Star on a long route for the first time.

My Xcent was rear-ended on the very first day (costing me approximately 6000/- to repair the boot), but that wasn't due to me braking it sharply. I was in a slow moving traffic, and hadn't been applying brakes (So obviously no brake lights ON). A three-wheeler carriage came at speed and he misjudged that vehicles ahead of him was at crawling speed. So while chances are there to get rear-ended, it is mostly not because of the sharp biting brakes. Xcent/i10 manages to stop much faster than other cars that I've driven.

With this I learned two things. While you are at crawling speeds, slightly apply brake pedal and release periodically so that the brake lights flash and alert a potentially reckless guy behind you. The next thing is that, be sure to maintain a really safe distance with the car ahead of you so that you never have to brake really hard on emergency. While you will be able to stop (Xcent lets you do that confidently), the other guy behind you may not.

[BenjiRoss]

The small mudflap in front of the front tire for aerodynamics is damaged in my xcent. Here are pics. Is it worth changing them? Or should I leave it alone.

[Ashir]

Originally Posted by BenjiRoss

The small mudflap in front of the front tire for aerodynamics is damaged in my xcent. Here are pics. Is it worth changing them? Or should I leave it alone.

I don't think it is essential to change. Hardly affects the aerodynamics during city drives. But if it makes you a little disappointed whenever you look at it, go ahead and change for a peace of mind. Should not be a costly affair unless it is a part of wheel arch cover.

[indianv2]

Originally Posted by BenjiRoss

The small mudflap in front of the front tire for aerodynamics is damaged in my xcent. Here are pics. Is it worth changing them? Or should I leave it alone.
Attachment 1426390
Attachment 1426391

As per the images, it seems to be an extension of the inner wheel well cover/cladding (or gola in slang mechanic terms, if referred to in Hindi). Replacing the small mudflap would mean replacing the entire cladding.

A cheaper and simpler way to fix it would be to stick it to a piece of plastic which overlaps some part of the wheel well and stick it there too. Would reinforce the broken bit with good backing.