[vivekm85]

Originally Posted by Auto freak

Awesome! They look smashing on your Black beat!!
Just noticed you have also installed ORVMs with turn indicators. Is it the GM genuine accessory?

Yes... In evening time, it is awesome in look and got appreciations from my friends and relatives for its good look...

And yes, the ORVMs with indicators are the original GM accessory. I paid Rs 1500 for it...

[thoma]

Originally Posted by salbin

IMHO, a highway drive at 70+kmph will definitely give you a better FE figure.
White-rabbit was complaining about the same issue, but I came to know from him that he got ~17-18kmpl when he himself conducted FE test in highway at 70+ speed.

I am having mixed opinion on the fuel efficiency of our petrol Beat having run 3000+ kms. Why I am much concerned on the FE of the Beat is that, FE was one major reason we went for the Beat as a second car to the family dreaming about fuel efficient city drives in the 'era of ever-increasing petrol prices'.

The Beat has been promoted as a highly fuel efficient vehicle by Chevrolet/dealers and they have got the ARAI certification of 18.6 kmpl as claim. We had also been given by the dealer reference of existing customers who claimed a minimum of 14-15 kmpl in city drives. One other customer we met on the road alone was not happy on the drinking habit of the beat and he quoted a 12 kmpl. The dealers also quoted a 15 kmpl in the city for the Beat and 18 on the highway.

Dealers and Chevrolet, please do not think that I am here for bashing you, but I wanted to get public clarification on the car and also wanted to share my short review.

For us, we are getting a paltry 10-11 kmpl in the city with A/C switched on, which I believe even sedans like the Honda City would give along with lot of power under the foot. Switching off the A/C would take the FE to 12-13 kmpl. On the highway run, we are consistently getting 14-15 kmpl with the conditioner on and 17 kmpl with A/C off. I wanted to clarify if is this all we get under normal usage? Also, does the A/C drink too much of fuel (3 kmpl difference on the highway)? In addition, comparing to a i10, Baleno and Swift, I have not felt the A/C to be a 'chiller' as some of you have reported. Is it me alone?

I have complained to the service centre about low FE and the adviser has asked me to wait till 6000-7000 kms and a couple of services. I do not get the point in waiting for this much to get the real picture in terms of FE. If this is true, why is it so, especially for the Beat?

Since I wanted to care for the new car, I drive calm, sedate, and up-shifting early (starting with 2000 rpm if possible), which I do not think is very practical on the Beat as the low-end torque is pretty bad. I have felt that the low-end torque affects drivability if we are not really careful. Overtaking trucks and trailers is a pain and a bit dangerous even if we downshift, immediate power surge is unavailable. Sometimes I tend to curse our buy as I wonder where the 80 horses disappeared. Adding to this, what perplexes me is that the low FE has not even turned out to better power in general. Yet again, I wanted to know if it is my car alone or can it be improved? Ours is a post Feb '11 model, with me having no idea on the current ECU settings it have.

The low-end torque might not be much an issue for the first time car owner but me having driven an 800cc Matiz and a 1600cc Baleno both for close to 5 years separately, think the Beat's 1200cc is marginally better than the Matiz in terms of high speed yet much worse in terms of FE and drivability in city. My in-law's IRDE i10, which was the inspiration for us to go for a fuel efficient small city car, is delivering better pick-up, drivability and very good FE of approx 16-17 kmpl in city and 20-21 kmpl on the highway with the A/C on all the time.

In the same breath, I should also comment on a particular incident which I ventured into - a highly sedate fuel efficient drive which is very impractical in day-to-day life. One sunday afternoon, after filling petrol for 300/- from an identified pump as the best around, switching off all comforts, I hit the highway with the lightest of foot I ever can and it took me close to 110 kms. The result of staying in the lowest of RPMs possible, constant speeds of 50 - 60 kmph, freewheeling(I know it is highly not recommended for the brakes and stopping abilities of the car) on declines and on anticipated braking opportunities : approx 25 kmpl FE, a splitting headache for my co-passenger and a stiff foot for me(I felt the incline of the accelerator pedal a bit steep for my foot). But this incident does not make me a bit happy as this is not at all how you drive in reality.

It is also not good to leave out the unique positives of the Beat. Some few points are as below. Maybe some other time I will try writing a detailed review with more positives and negatives. First and foremost, is the futuristic design, especially the front and side profiles. Even the latest EON has copied and made better the side profile of the Beat. Next is the interior layout along with the blue lighting effects which I think can easily be incorporated into many high end cars leading to awe inspiring interiors all together, but unfortunately, they are not making use of. Another is the low NVH at near idle speeds is a never before experience. I have not seen a lighter clutch in another vehicle. Also, the smoothness of the drive on good highways at moderate speeds(till 100 kmph) feels like it is a good cruiser(don't torch me for this, as I feel we do not have the roads and laws for much high speed driving), especially on the comfortable front seats. In its segment, the Beat should be a satisfying car for the front co-passenger, with ample leg space, good seat and head support, a smooth ride up front, classy interior lights to his/her right, than the driver, getting frustrated on the lack of pick-up and his pocket emptying fast due to frequent visits to the petrol bunk . Remembering somebody pointing out the Beat as "the best car for your girl friend", but forgetting who.

P.S. Due to the above positives of the Beat, I feel like taking her out quite often, albeit in a relaxed manner. But at the end of the day, the practicality of the Beat is making me constantly thinking of skipping my 'Heart-Beat'. There is no smilie for depressed! Yes, that is exactly what it makes me feel more often than pride and happiness.

P.S.S. I calculate FE not based on top-up but on consumption till reserve, taking a consecutive average for more than one filling to reduce error. I do keep a regular check on the tire pressure too.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by thoma

I drive calm, sedate, and up-shifting early (starting with 2000 rpm if possible)

Please read the RPM as 1000 instead of 2000. Sorry for the typo. I am unsure of how to edit an old post, since I am new to the forum. Or, is it not possible after a time period?

No excuses for myself. I found out the answer at Team-BHP - Team-BHP FAQ: Basic Forum Usage. And voila, look what I stumbled upon? A perfect guide for the newbies. A solution for those who are thinking why some posts can get everyone's immediate attention and some just are so difficult to read, that they get ignored. Read them at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...tml#post500073. Ahem ahem. Long sentences. I need to keep a vigil on myself!

Moderators: If you could edit my previous post (the change is at the beginning of the 6th paragraph), you may delete this one. Thanks.

[white-rabbit]

According to me, Beat’s FE drastically vary in city and highway conditions. If you look at the way I tested FE:
With Service advisor in car and GM's FE instruments I got,
a) 9.6 km/l when I drove without ac in city
b) 14.3 km/l when advisor drove without ac in city.

I didn’t trust these results, so I did a test myself:

In highways, I started with emptying the tank completely, and putting 1L petrol

A) Good road with no humps and traffic and kept the speed between 70-80
Result was 21.3 KM/L and no ac.
Also I changed gears only to take a U turn

B) Good road with no humps. Couple of stops (speed to 0)
Result was 19.1 KM/L and no ac

C) Road with some humps and varying speeds like 70-110 and less traffic
Result was 17.9 KM/L without AC

D) Good road with tight traffic:
Result was 13.8 and no ac

[thoma]

Originally Posted by white-rabbit

According to me, Beat’s FE drastically vary in city and highway conditions.

Exactly what me too have found out. This is in contrast to some other cars which have a narrow variance in FE with respect to driving conditions.

Topolino, myavu and others have been advising about the Performance Improvement (2nd Gear/Drivability) (xxxxxY4) ECU update for both performance and FE. True? Next time when I visit the service center, let me find out if I am updated with this setting. I am not intending to be above 100 kmph much so I would prefer FE and torque at the lower end of the RPM. Moreover, my drives are more over ascents and descents and in city. Hope this ECU setting can help me.

I see that you have been testing with the A/C off. But, i feel that switching on the A/C drains the tank further more. I am one who needs the A/C on most of the time, more because of the pollution on our roads than the temperature.

One another thing I noticed is that the frequent use of the clutch lowers the FE. While depressing the clutch for gear change, I have experienced a momentary over rev by the engine before it settles to the idle RPM. On older cars, once we depress the clutch, the engine would suddenly die down to its idle. Is the ECU settings the culprit? But why is it so?

I started with emptying the tank completely, and putting 1L petrol

Oops. I doubt that could have hurt the catalytic converter. Please do not run the tank dry.

[akshatverma1979]

For all your FE concerns, I guess something must be wrong in your particular batch of car or something(I'm not an expert).Do try full tank method too.
My car is consistently giving me 14-14.5 kmpl in city.Even I got 11-22 kmpl once or twice, but there was a significant difference after 5000 km service. If you haven't read my few previous posts,I've done 20000 kms now. mine is march-april 2010 LT model.
Even I had a matiz(gem of a car) earlier. Also own an esteem,an i20 and a new 1 month old corolla altis petrol...so I can vouch that the AC 'IS' a chiller. Have not had much experience with the I-10.
Driving on highways is a pleasure with the car. 120-130 kmph is comfy on good stretches. With persistent 100+ speeds,I got close to 17 kmpl FE on Nagpur Raipur trip. With 100% AC on.
I agree the power in low rpm is a little disappointing, but you can't get it all...I find 99% good and positive things with the car,and each day I feel glad I bought the beat,not i10 or figo.why cringe for a meagre 1% things that are not "best in class"..they're not the worst too.

[white-rabbit]

Originally Posted by thoma

Exactly what me too have found out. This is in contrast to some other cars which have a narrow variance in FE with respect to driving conditions.

Topolino, myavu and others have been advising about the Performance Improvement (2nd Gear/Drivability) (xxxxxY4) ECU update for both performance and FE. True? Next time when I visit the service center, let me find out if I am updated with this setting. I am not intending to be above 100 kmph much so I would prefer FE and torque at the lower end of the RPM. Moreover, my drives are more over ascents and descents and in city. Hope this ECU setting can help me.

I see that you have been testing with the A/C off. But, i feel that switching on the A/C drains the tank further more. I am one who needs the A/C on most of the time, more because of the pollution on our roads than the temperature.

One another thing I noticed is that the frequent use of the clutch lowers the FE. While depressing the clutch for gear change, I have experienced a momentary over rev by the engine before it settles to the idle RPM. On older cars, once we depress the clutch, the engine would suddenly die down to its idle. Is the ECU settings the culprit? But why is it so?



Oops. I doubt that could have hurt the catalytic converter. Please do not run the tank dry.

About the clutch,I have noticed the same.I am using xxxy4 regular ecu program.its giving better FE.but pickup is bad.its ok for city rides with fulltime ac on.

[sajjt]

Originally Posted by white-rabbit

According to me, Beat’s FE drastically vary in city and highway conditions. If you look at the way I tested FE:
With Service advisor in car and GM's FE instruments I got,
a) 9.6 km/l when I drove without ac in city
b) 14.3 km/l when advisor drove without ac in city.

I didn’t trust these results, so I did a test myself:

In highways, I started with emptying the tank completely, and putting 1L petrol

A) Good road with no humps and traffic and kept the speed between 70-80
Result was 21.3 KM/L and no ac.
Also I changed gears only to take a U turn

B) Good road with no humps. Couple of stops (speed to 0)
Result was 19.1 KM/L and no ac

C) Road with some humps and varying speeds like 70-110 and less traffic
Result was 17.9 KM/L without AC

D) Good road with tight traffic:
Result was 13.8 and no ac

Hey, welcome back mate

First of all, like others said, you are not supposed to empty the fuel lines as it can harm primarily the fuel pump as its working with the lubrication with the fuel which is running through, so chances are there to wear out easily, and you are risking the life of Catcon which is another expensive affair to replace once you fail the emission tests. Once the lines are empty air bubbles will cause hickups like miss firing for sometime again another annoying thing and this can affect the FE readings.

Coming back to topic, this 1ltr petrol test doesn't convey anything to the real figures. I would say its only doing 75% justice to the real conditions as these tests are mostly conducted on most favorable conditions like non stop, min gear shifts, stops, inclinations etc. to exaggerate the FE figures. Tight traffic you managed to squeeze out 13Kpl is itself not realistic, if your car is returning such a good FE on such conditions then you should get an average of min 15kpl on mixed conditions. This is why everyone is suggesting the full tank to full tank - few KM spin; say around 50KM will give a realistic average. Its also a fact that a cold engine will sip more fuel than a warm one, so be it warm before doing this.

I've done a similar test last week : FT-FT-45KMs on highway with min traffic, 60-70Kph strictly within 1.5K rpm range with early shifts got 16Kpl with 100% AC. I guess its something genuine for me and am yet to a 45Kph drive as suggested by the SVC may be this week Then only I can ask the SVC guys why they are conducting the FE test on such a stupid speed range for a car.

Like fellow member "thoma" pointed out, I also want to check the load of AC to the engine on the next road test. I guess its loading more than the others may be thats one of the reason for the a super cooler than any other 1.2L siblings. I guess the high speed blower fan is another reason where others use slow and silent types. But I like this one is good, if the car is parked outside without shades, its difficult to cope with a slower fan, once the cabin is cool, you can always reduce the fan speed to min where we can achieve the silent operation

BTW, what was the speed range for the 2nd test where the FE was 19.1?

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by thoma

Please read the RPM as 1000 instead of 2000.

Up shifting at 1000 rpm is not a good idea. That means the ECU will have to pump in more fuel to avoid the engine stalling. That might be one of the reasons for your poor FE.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by Daewood

Up shifting at 1000 rpm is not a good idea. That means the ECU will have to pump in more fuel to avoid the engine stalling. That might be one of the reasons for your poor FE.

I don't think up-shifting at 1000 RPM strains the Beat's engine if - the road ahead is clear, you are not on an incline and you open the throttle gently. You might not be able to do it always as the conditions might not be favorable. But, it does knock for too low an RPM. Moreover, I have achieved worse FE figures up-shifting at higher RPMs.

Originally Posted by akshatverma1979

Do try full tank method too.

I have tried this too. But me being a drivaholic, the only way to control myself from taking out the vehicle every now and then is to fill up fuel only when needed.

so I can vouch that the AC 'IS' a chiller.

On my next visit to the service center, I will have to ask the adviser to check up the cooling of the A/C.

Driving on highways is a pleasure with the car.

Definitely true except for the in-gear acceleration upon overtaking emergencies. Bad overtaking can destroy all the pleasure.

why cringe for a meagre 1% things that are not "best in class"..they're not the worst too.

I think I have been misunderstood when I told I'm depressed. Why I am depressed is because I love many things about the car, yet my main requirement of an efficient city hatch (as the Beat herself claims, or is supposed to be - 80 bhp with 18.6 kmpl - the figures are impractical, at least for me) is not being met. Adding to the woe is the poor visibility for city drives. If the car had many negatives and less positives, I could have been easily frustrated (not depressed) and sold it off. The bad points might only be a few, but then they weigh heavily that ultimately I am caught in two minds, after every drive. In a situation that I do not want to loose her but find difficult in keeping her.

Originally Posted by white-rabbit

About the clutch,I have noticed the same.

Experts, any idea why this is kept so?

I am using xxxy4 regular ecu program.its giving better FE.but pickup is bad.its ok for city rides with fulltime ac on.

I am having low FE and low pick up. At least one of this should improve.

[white-rabbit]

Originally Posted by sajjt

Hey, welcome back mate?

Thanks

Originally Posted by sajjt

BTW, what was the speed range for the 2nd test where the FE was 19.1?

It was 70-90 KM.

After almost one year of all trials,what I felt is,Practically for my daily usage with mixed AC,I am getting 12.5-13 KM/L (for 100% sure,not less that 12KM/L).I am not getting anything more than 13.5 till date in Bangalore city traffic .But I am happy with the car.

[myavu]

Originally Posted by white-rabbit

After almost one year of all trials,what I felt is,Practically for my daily usage with mixed AC,I am getting 12.5-13 KM/L (for 100% sure,not less that 12KM/L).I am not getting anything more than 13.5 till date in Bangalore city traffic .But I am happy with the car.

After 1.5 years of ownership I am getting the same here in Delhi. Only difference is at the time of winters. No AC, cold air for engine, so mileage 14.5 kmpl (city only)

Cheers!

Vinu

[sajjt]

Originally Posted by thoma

I don't think up-shifting at 1000 RPM strains the Beat's engine if - the road ahead is clear, you are not on an incline and you open the throttle gently. You might not be able to do it always as the conditions might not be favorable. But, it does knock for too low an RPM. Moreover, I have achieved worse FE figures up-shifting at higher RPMs.



I have tried this too. But me being a drivaholic, the only way to control myself from taking out the vehicle every now and then is to fill up fuel only when needed.



On my next visit to the service center, I will have to ask the adviser to check up the cooling of the A/C.



Definitely true except for the in-gear acceleration upon overtaking emergencies. Bad overtaking can destroy all the pleasure.



I think I have been misunderstood when I told I'm depressed. Why I am depressed is because I love many things about the car, yet my main requirement of an efficient city hatch (as the Beat herself claims, or is supposed to be - 80 bhp with 18.6 kmpl - the figures are impractical, at least for me) is not being met. Adding to the woe is the poor visibility for city drives. If the car had many negatives and less positives, I could have been easily frustrated (not depressed) and sold it off. The bad points might only be a few, but then they weigh heavily that ultimately I am caught in two minds, after every drive. In a situation that I do not want to loose her but find difficult in keeping her.



Experts, any idea why this is kept so?



I am having low FE and low pick up. At least one of this should improve.

Check the pollen filter under the glove box, take it out and clean it with a vaccum cleaner first and then blow the air from the reverse side to get the best out of it. Its just a simple DIY job, try the A/C after this and u'll know the difference. GM suggests to replace it every 10K KM, but its better to clean once in every 3 months again depending on the area you are located. During the 20 months of ownership, I've done this 3 times so far and till date its a chiller.

[white-rabbit]

Originally Posted by sajjt

Check the pollen filter under the glove box, take it out and clean it with a vaccum cleaner first and then blow the air from the reverse side to get the best out of it. Its just a simple DIY job, try the A/C after this and u'll know the difference. GM suggests to replace it every 10K KM, but its better to clean once in every 3 months again depending on the area you are located. During the 20 months of ownership, I've done this 3 times so far and till date its a chiller.

To add,Make sure you open Filter holder(the one uder glove box) gently from one side,else you may endup breaking it.Mechanic himself has broken my cars holder(they said,they will replace it.But not done for last 4 months)

[thoma]

Originally Posted by sajjt

Its just a simple DIY job

Thanks sajjt, I did it at around 1500 kms myself after reading it in the forum. And there was a little difference in the performance. There were much dry lizard droppings and few dry leaves inside the filter and it was dirty with dust too! (With just a thousand kilometers on the odo I also check the air filter, but it does not seem to be anywhere near the pollen filter in terms of being dusty)

Attaching few snaps of my heart beat.