[prateekswarup]

Hi All,

I used to be a proud owner of a Fiat Uno 1.0 FIRE (1997 model) till about 3 months ago before I sold it to a fellow bhpian. The Uno was one of my first fully owned cars – in a sense, I drove, maintained and dealt with the heartaches and wallet pangs of owning a car for around 5 years.

My life was undergoing a sea of changes - Post graduation happened, a new job and marriage to my girlfriend of 9 years standing. In all these changes, I had somehow managed to sell off my only means of transportation.

Beginning of May, I joined an FMCG organization as a sales / marketing executive. A traveling job that had the 1st year as a training stint, all across India. Thus, with a newly wed wife and a traveling job, I was in two minds whether to buy a car or save money for the time being.

As luck would have it, I got posted to Delhi. Here the wife's in-laws had a diesel swift as a second car that they very kindly lent us for the time being. But with frequent traveling to the market and a 2nd car needed for the wife, I was still stuck on procuring a new set of wheels.

“No second hand cars!” was the request of the wife. With this mandate, I realized that the best bets for me, depending upon my afford-ability, were:

1. Alto K10 Vxi – loved the power and the pricing!
2. Ford Figo – popular and ticked off all the right boxes
3. Polo – expensive but very very desirable

On discussions with my Dad for the alternatives, I was quite tempted to go for the Alto – cheap and I could always upgrade a few years down the line. An interim solution considering that I was just starting a new job and all.

Dad had an Accent Viva 1.6 DOHC lying around the house for the last 5 years or so. He subtly suggested that I take the car for the time being and then once I have set up a stable accommodation I can always return the car and purchase a new one. The idea was both generous and appealing. There were already 3 vehicles in the house that the organization provided for my Dad (Scorpio, Bolero and Indigo). The Accent, due to the bad roads and travel concerns had done only 18000+ kms in the last 5 years since its purchase.

The car was in pristine condition – black and gleaming. I used to have the pleasure of driving it when I used to get holidays to go home. On further discussions, we realized that this would be the best course of action to take.

The car was dispatched from Assam via the Maruti Transport Vendor through a known contact and was picked up from Gurgaon around 23rd of May, 2011. The car was a pleasure to drive with the A/C being a boon in the Delhi heat.

Some of the good points of the Accent Viva:

1. Good chilling A/C that beats the Delhi heat
2. Comfortable driving position although I used to love the seats of the Uno. Height adjustment available.
3. Fit and Finish of the car
4. Good mid range power (post 2000 rpm, it really comes alive ).
5. Decent handling upto 80 – 90 kmph
6. ABS
7. Ample seating space for 5 and decent boot space for a notch back.

The cons as I noticed:

1. Low end torque missing – frequent gear shifts in city driving
2. Switching the A/C on takes a load on the pickup – even after being a 102Bhp engine? (Surprise )
3. Flimsy handling at high speeds

Immediate problems noticed:

1. At high speeds (100 +), tire noise percolates into the cabin, making me feel uncomfortable about pushing the car further. The car currently wears Bridgestone Potenzas. Since the car has not been used regularly for quite some time, I am guessing that the tires have gone hard, and hence are creating more noise.

Upgrades planned:

1. Upgrading the Kenwood 10 CD / VCD player to a unit that supports Ipod / AUX IN / USB. The current player has only Radio and CD functions. Any good suggestions for a mid range head unit will be appreciated (I am not much of an audiophile.)

Help / Advice needed:

1. Can any one tell me what the recommended tire pressure for the car?
2. Good Hyundai service station / garage in and around Greater Noida / Noida?
3. Maintenance tips for Black colour – polish / cloth type, etc?

Some snaps (Taken from cell phone):

[bluevolt]

Congratulations Prateek on your Accent Viva. What else one wants if one gets a reliable pre-worshiped car and that too from within the family.

Keep updating the thread with more pictures.

Regarding maintenance for black color I will suggest you to wax or polish your car with good carnauba wax every month. You can use any cotton cloth, old towel and if you wish then you can get dusters from car accessory shops for cleaning purposes, make sure you don’t clean the car with dry cloth.

Happy Driving.

[ariesonu]

5 years is long time if no shoes have been changed since purchase.
Black color in Delhi summers can be testing.

First & formeost - get her a TEFLON coat.

Maintaining black color is an exercise in itself & you can search TBBP for detailing & waxing points. You can start from here:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...edge-home.html

Raab Rakha.

[Dry Ice]

Congrats prateek.

Some friendly advice. Change your rear number plate. Last thing you want is someone posting a pic of your car on the Delhi Traffic Police's fb page and you being issued a challan for faulty RC plate!

Enjoy the 1.6!

[prateekswarup]

@ Dry Ice:

What is wrong with the number plate? Isn't it within the legal parameters?

[akshay4587]

Congrats
Potenza's and Accent is one of the noisiest combination,i have them on mine and no one knows better.
Also since mine is 1.5L SOHC i find its low end torque pretty good.

[mobike008]

Nice. I used to own a Accent Viva ( CRDi) for about 4 years and it was one heck of a car. It came stock with Bridgestone's and it was definetly quite noisy over 100kmph. However, at 33,000kms replaced them with Michelin XM1+ and there was almost 80% reduction of road noise.

If you have the budget, I recommend you change it immediately especially since tyres are stock since 5 years and rubber gets hard over this long period

Also, if you get a teflon done it will gleam rather than a dull shine that you have now ( Check my profile page to know what's a real gleam)

Cheers and Drive safe !

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by prateekswarup

@ Dry Ice:

What is wrong with the number plate? Isn't it within the legal parameters?

The big hyundai logo on the side and the font. Check DTP fb page, you'll see many photos of such number plates posted by the users.

You can check sample legal/illegal plates at DTP's site too.

Take care!

[Klub Class]

Prateek, many many congratulations on your pre-cared Hyundai Accent Viva!

Well. The areas near the instrument panel is covered by dust.

Drive safe.

[raj_srini]

Prateek, congratulations. I was considering buying Accent very recently but got put off due to FE issues. What FE is it currently delivering?

[prateekswarup]

@ Raj_Srini:

Getting around 14 kmpl with A/C. However, 80% of my driving is expressway / highway.

In city bumper to bumper: Around 10 - 11 kmpl...

[prateekswarup]

Originally Posted by Klub Class

Well. The areas near the instrument panel is covered by dust.

Thanks... the car cleaning guy is really not doing his job. Guess I'll talk to him tomorrow

[supercars]

What is the Top Speed of the Car ? I mean to say what have you achieved ? Please state real speed.

btw please quote me as I receive pm so I know that you have written here.

btw What was the Achievable Top Speed of the Uno 1.0 ?

Please do answer.

btw nice looking black car. I had driven this car in red colour when it was being sold and found that engine did not have much power. :(

[prateekswarup]

New update to an old thread. Still have the Viva, now clocked around 70k and running like clockwork. Recently got the upholstery changed since drive side cloth seat cover was getting a tear.

Decided to go for Autoform from Bob's Garage at sector 14, Gurgaon. Good install and competent work. Overall paid around 11k for all seat covers and door panel match.

Before:






After:

[YCJ]

Those interiors are looking great!
The Viva was always a looker for me from the outside and with this upholstery job, you have made it a looker from inside as well.
The gear knob and the door pad job looks very cleanly done from the pictures. It has given a new lease of life to the ageing interiors!