[gururajrv]

How did this happen?
What happened then?
When did it happen?

This report is comprised with three phases describing the experience of my past & present!

Well, finally here I am writing about my obsession (I wouldn’t call it possession, as possessions are meant to change!). Please don't expect the story to be jot down in a para or two! I’m going to take easily 20-25 minutes of your time and test your patience to the core. Please consider this as Statutory Warning and arrange for some tasty eatables to keep your mind rolling and mouth munching!

How did this happen?

Firstly, I developed this strange phenomenon within myself when I was a kid, roughly around 4-5 years of age, a natural inclination towards machines that moves humans around! Any machines for that matter – Bicycles, Motorbikes, Cars, Buses, Lorries, Trains – anything that is terrestrial in nature that supports daily human life, I used to be curious. I didn’t develop any leaning towards Aircraft's / Ships because I do not like to fly high or sail deep! I always love to ride / drive (Remember LIVE TO DRIVE phrase?!) & remain in close proximity to the ground.

As the days raced over, my age rolled, I passed out of school and stepped into college. Year 2005 – this is the day I was waiting for to get a bike first, which I eventually got after several days of continuous bugging and chasing around my mom and my beloved uncle! I wouldn’t cover the story of biking here as I will keep that to a different thread when I review my P-220 FI 2007 model! Yes, you read it right; I will come up with my ownership review for bygone era of Pulsar 220 Fuel Injected version sometime later which will have my story on the persistence nature which haunted my uncle and mom!

I completed 10 years with this bike last month in August 2017!



What happened then?

Fast forward to 2013, I’m working in an investment bank and I was surprised to get a promotion in just 1.5 years of my induction into the company! I had challenged my uncle that I would get one and he would agree or grant permission for me to get a car of my own when I get my first promotion. The day arrived and the news broke out of the box that I was promoted to the next level. That’s when the car-hunger struck demon (demon – not the bad one I mean, it’s little towards the good side) came out and gave the results to mom and uncle. That’s when both agreed to get a car for myself.

I was a noob frankly with respect to owning or maintain a car because I was comfortable maintaining a bike until the car enthusiast, who grew silently within me, came out strong and convinced me it’s fine to maintain one with the little knowledge I had from the 2 wheel wonders I owned. Mom and Uncle were concerned because i was bit too big handed in spending for bike and they were wondering what I would do with the money I earn when I own a car?! Valid thinking from elder’s standpoint. But me, I wasn’t really worried because I was convinced already that I would still blow major portion of my earning over car or bike for sure

26th Jul 2013:
Finally the decision was made with the date to arrange for finance over the weekend of 26th Jul 2013 – me and mom traveled to Mysore – my hometown. Finance arranged by my dearly Mom & with the blessings of my Uncle. Okay, so now what? Finance arranged, Blessings obtained, what next man?! I started searching through the city for the car of my choice with the budget I had in mind around 4L!

Meanwhile readers mind to me - Hey wait; didn’t I come here to read the story of your Brezza?! Yells the reader at story composer Me!

Me: Sorry Sir or Madam, you would be introduced to him a little later in this story. I think it would be completely unfair of me if I don’t introduce you to the chap who changed my life. Lets continue, shall we? Reel rolls;

I call him the Silver Wonder aka Maruti Suzuki Baleno 2006 LXI variant. Yes, I was out looking for used cars as it seemed a bit too quick if I had invested on a new one, said the dear ones around me. That’s when I went in search of a car that would fulfill the wishes of the enthusiast in me with restrictions on the budget allocated or available back then for 4L budget. I did test drive a few power ones such as Getz CRDI – absolute cracker, but the niggling mechanical issues drew me out of the decision. Then, the very 2nd car I drove was the Baleno (pic below) and I was blown as soon as I floored the gas. God Almighty, the previous owner had maintained the car so well and had modified it with headers, K&N, sweet looking 15” PLATI alloys finished in Blue Metallic & yes Pioneer headset with Sub and Amp. I was absolutely taken for a spin in my mind. I instantly locked up for the purchase and spoke to my uncle and mom again on the decision I made by showing them the car. I was at first reluctant because the car had headers and didn’t know if my uncle would approve of it because it made a sweet humming sound when you ignite the pistons to come alive. I took him for a spin and he just kept mum until we came back from the little drive we took. I was nervous as to what he would say! Damn, he agreed because he liked the thump the car put out – never knew he had liking for thumps to some extent atleast. I sealed the deal with the owner for 3L and I convinced myself I have made a good purchase at the time. Herewith, I present the classic Baleno;



My uncle flagged us the next day to drive back mom from my hometown Mysore to the workplace in Bangalore – I connected with the car so instantly and never knew I could handle it well on the highway! More on the experience in a different ownership report that I’m hoping I can comprise on my adored Baleno 2006 – which I sold to one of my dearest friend in Nov 2016!

As the days passed, I fell in love with the car and I also fell in love with a girl, whom I eventually got married in 2014. From being my better half, she also became my navigator (dummy actually) because she wasn’t really into this cars and bikes thing I had and never got to taste the essence of it at all. But yes, she’s atleast better now as she recognizes cars and bikes that would be around us and she passes the credit to me. With a blink of an eye, we completed 3 years with the car with odo reading standing at around 95k kms as I had completed 30k kms since the time I bought it in 2013. It was standing at 65k kms when I laid my hands on it for the first time. With the years passing quickly, one day wife and mom casually said they had liking for taller vehicles that stands a bit high on the road. Conversation continued and wife started talking about upgrading since we felt it was time we switch. I also had it somewhere in the back of my mind. She made me pursue my decision of changing as I was a bit hesitant at the start of the conversation because our budget was a bit extended upwards 12L from initial budget capped between 9-10L. She convinced both my uncle and mom as well as it was her task this time around (LOL). Jan 2016, wife was pretty impressed with the BREZZA being out from MS’s womb which was doing rounds for a long time. She then kept talking about Brezza a lot, but little did she know that I was already following it when it was doing rounds somewhere in Europe (vaguely remember) & also in India. Codenamed YBA, derived from the XA Alpha concept showcased in Delhi Auto-Expo 2012. Before my wife could harvest the thought in me, I had made the decision in my mind already that I would upgrade to Brezza if I’m ever replacing my Baleno, when it was launched.

When did it happen finally?!

4th Sep 2016:
Since the foundation was laid already, decision to switch was made and we went directly to Suraksha Maruti Suzuki showroom located in Electronic City, Bangalore. As soon as we stepped in, we saw a Brezza parked in the showroom which I remember it to be VDI version with dealer modification package applied on it such as roof-wrap and few other visual enhancements. I was certain and had made it clear to my family, if at all I’m switching, I’m going for the top variant of the car I choose. They knew of this point and were okay with it on the condition I had made. So, I called in the sales advisor and told him to just book the ZDI+ variant as it had all the bells and whistles I had expected a car to have!

It wasn’t over yet. My wife and mom saw Ciaz parked around whilst I was checking out the Brezza parked in the showroom. In this minute time-frame, the SA who was attending had convinced my mom and wife to take a test drive in Ciaz for the comfort it offered promising it to be better than what the Brezza offered. You know how ladies get convinced when they hear about comfort right? This is where the confusion started and they were wanting me to test drive the Ciaz again. I was wondering how Ciaz is coming into the league of ‘High on the ground’ cars. With great compulsion, I said okay to them and took them for a test drive. Unfortunately or fortunately, MT version was not available for a test drive when we visited. Thus, he offered me to drive an automatic variant. I was hesitant to drive an automatic as I wasn’t really a fan of automatic cars or bikes. But, I really liked the way VVT Ciaz drove around with the automatic but I really missed the manual shifts as I could have exploited the power out of the petrol engine. Anyways, he again convinced us that he would get both Brezza and Ciaz MT home the next day as it wasn’t available on a Sunday noon due to closing hours being a bit early on a weekend.

5th Sep 2016:
He called up and confirmed to me the cars aren’t still available and he would arrange for the TD vehicles to reach me on the following day i.e. on Tuesday – 6th Sep 2017.

6th Sep 2016:
He turned up with both the TD vehicles. My wife was not at home since she had started to office. My mom was around to feed updates or decision on the selection to my wife. Drove Ciaz first as mom wanted to go in the sedan. It was wrapped in white and it looked sumptuous to my mom and god it did impress me with the Diesel variant the SA had got with additional SHVS feature in it. I should accept Ciaz offers sheer luxury in the segment it’s placed, can say. It did impress me with the Diesel punch which petrol AT lacked. But, bummer was the ground clearance which I and mom instantly found out in the bad patch of roads I took it to experience how it feels. It doesn’t really filter any undulance the roads offered, as mom was happy how she was wrapped around with those big seats and spacious leg room the car extended. But the car’s underbody, took a bump when I moved it at just 5 kmph over a deep sharp pothole – I remembered my Baleno which had similar problems of getting hard hit by deep potholes due to low ground clearance. Damn these roads do take a toll on car’s body big time man. Don’t know what the local authorities are upto!

Next came Brezza’s turn on the same set of roads I took a spin on Ciaz. I was happy driving the Brezza with the stance it offered and the great view and visibility the seating position presented me with. Mum was happy car just didn’t take any hit on those bad patches of road. That’s it, the deal was sealed with color of me and my family being WHITE and I gave my final decision by making my wife and mom understand the condition of these roads that could be troublesome to the car we maintain.

SA confirmed to me with the invoice for the advance amount of Rs.20,000/- and the remaining to be paid at the time of delivery. Okay, that’s when the delivery date approximate was asked. He had told me it would take a minimum of 4-6 months due to high demand – but this is the period I should be expecting the car to reach me anytime. The wait began!

Okay, why Suraksha, when there’s many others in the market?
My experience with them getting my beloved Baleno serviced for 3 years has been really sweet as they are very professional and courteous towards their customers in getting the issues or queries addressed – atleast to my experience. With the service background of the dealer being too strong, I thought I should just try out their sales experience as well.

Dealership sales experience – I rate 9 on 10. 1 point deducted solely because I wasn’t given the extra attention on the day of delivery. Pictures they took was too lame, it never reached me and they had just kept 3 liters of diesel in the tank with no coupons offered too. I later refueled it. Other than these trivial points, the rest of the process was taken care of pretty smooth such as with the updates with car document, payment and delivery process.

From 6th Sep 2016 until 18th Nov 2016:
I keep giving intermittent calls to my SA to see if he can push someone on his side to get me the car allotted ASAP. Somehow, I was convinced that it wasn’t possible and the wait had to run its course completely on me.

19th Nov 2016:
Lazy Saturday noon, I finish my lunch and turn on the TV to watch some movie to kill time. I receive a call from the dealer stating car that had landed to get into the garage of another customer was somehow withdrawn due to loan rejection and I was next in line which system picked my name automatically. I literally controlled my excitement until I hung up the call and shouted out loud that my boy had just been waiting for me. Yes, yes, that’s my WHITE CHARIOT I’ve been bragging about this long and making you wait with this big story. My wife and mom were excited but weren’t showing it like I did – that was lame! I told my uncle as well and he was like, okay atleast now he can breathe without me haunting him daily to get someone to push from his contacts side which he had obtained for me, which was no longer needed though.

20th Nov 2016:
I drive back to Mysore with wife and mom to make necessary arrangement.

21st Nov 2016:
All the necessary arrangements were done. As usual, I and wife took blessings from my godfather uncle and my mom. We started with a big smile and drove back to Bangalore, landed up directly into dealer showroom with a little kid in my heart pumping the blood rapidly to meet the new member of our family. Handed the DD over to the SA and asked him to get me the car delivered by 24th Nov 2016 at 10 AM IST because Thursday is always considered auspicious for my family as we are devotees of Raghavendra. Thus, 24th Nov 2016 at 10 AM is what the time I asked as I had to reach the densely populated traffic area that is Koramangala Ganesha Temple to get the blessings showered upon my new obsession which was located nearly 10-12kms away from showroom. I also asked him if I can take a look at the car that day. But it was still in their stockyard waiting for PDI clearance and other formalities. I had mentioned to him PDI had to be done before me. But by then the PDI was already done and I was okay with it and left for that day. Boy oh boy, I was so bloody restless the entire day and night but thankfully my mind was preoccupied with the work I had back at office somehow putting me to rest at night.

In the meantime, I was pursued by another SA in the showroom to sell my Baleno to him since I’m going in for new purchase. By then, I had few others around me asking for the car. SA quoted 1.75L whilst I was expecting to stretch atleast 1.9-2L (sorry if I was over-expecting). But somewhere I believed my car had the potential and it was worth every penny I asked for. In the end, I sold it to one of my dearest friend who willfully bought it for 1.5L since he was adamant on his decision knowing the car had run almost a lakh in its mile and moreover he was my dearest friend, thus the discount. But he knew, it bought in more smiles every mile!

22nd Nov 2016:
I wake up and finish off all the morning rituals. I got ready by 11 and called up the SA to check if the car had arrived from their stockyard. He said yes and I could visit anytime. I skipped my breakfast which my mom found out later and took me for a trip as she’s very strict in food related matters. I somehow convinced her and left. I took my beloved Baleno to check on the new entrant.

12:37 PM IST – yes, there it was waiting for me with all the pre-checks done and parked aside. I was excited but maintained my composure. But my imaginary world had a kid rolling over the floor and screaming the lungs out before the car and grabbing with long hands and embracing the stance the chariot carried when I first met him. Took a good look around the car and left with mixed feelings of how a small kid with so much of desire, passion for cars and bikes was dragged until this day to buy one of his own! I take another moment to thank my uncle, mom for blessing me and my supportive wife for pursuing me to make up my mind for the unprecedented purchase.



Infact, this was by far the biggest investment me and my family ever had done in my life. Yes, I will call it an investment on the passion and desire I had whilst others around me call stupidity knowing car is a depreciating asset and I should have invested elsewhere at current situation. Enthusiasts like me don’t think car & bike as an investment or depreciating asset or liability. Rather, they are part of one’s family and it completes the ‘U’ in Us, making it whole! But I do acknowledge their suggestions as it is one’s own thoughts & ideas which everyone should respect and support.

23rd Nov 2016:
I wake up and then realize I didn’t check few things in the new car such as the ODO kms which is one of the basics anyone should check. Please visit the link below for PDI checklist prepped by our BHP gods which I couldn't check at the time of purchase;

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...heck-list.html

My car had run 23km when I again visited the showroom and it was parked in the terrace to get ready for the next day – that’s D-DAY (2nd time after Baleno’s day) – I was convinced as their stockyard was a bit far from the showroom and was okay with it. Frisked around for any noticeable aberrations either internally or externally and luckily it was transported safely which did give me a firm feeling of it being fresh out of Owen.



That night, I forced myself to sleep knowing the next day is going to be inscribed in my memory till eternity.

24th Nov 2016:
Woke up at around 6.30 AM IST and got ready to leave by 9 AM to reach showroom by 9.30 AM IST with a cab. That was the base plan. However, upon reaching the showroom at 9.30 AM, I was not able to sight the car in the delivery bay. I asked the SA and he told me it was getting prepped up like a bridegroom on the wedding day. He told me to get to the top floor and witness the dressing. I went in there to see personnel working on my car polishing each and every bit of it. We waited for an hour and finally it was in the delivery bay at 10.30 AM.

SA handed the keys to me with our favorite Ganesha idol in a box along with some chocolates. Clicked few pictures and we bid thanks and goodbye to SA for helping us out but he seemed a bit out of mind. Not sure what was wrong but handed him a token of appreciation and started my journey alongside my wife and my mother India!



Reached the temple around 11 AM IST in dense traffic and got it blessed. And yes, same temple where I got married to my dearly wife – which is why the emotional connect with the sacred place.



Didn’t really wait for the SA to take any demo of the car as I had already had taste of the functions when I visited it the previous day. Even the ICE system which appeared as sophisticated equipment at first was decoded with my experiments later in the day. Funny part is, I helped the SA to take Chassis number inscribed on a piece of paper for RTO related procedures to be completed. He told me the person who was supposed to be taking all this wasn't available at the time of delivery being too early and he was not aware of how to take the inscription on a paper (LOL again).

This is about getting the car. Below comes the experience till date.

Sorry to have taken so much time. But I wanted the story to be comprehensive.

Ex-Showroom Price as on 21st Nov 2016: Rs.9,92,831
On-Road Price as on 21st Nov 2016: Rs. 11,98,179/-
Discounts Offered: Rs.0/-
Insurance: Comprehensive ~Rs.30,000/-
Odo reading at the time of review: 12,510kms
Average: 17 kmpl both city and highway running on AC.
Color: Pearl Arctic White (that’s what Maruti calls it)
Alternatives considered: Ciaz and to some extent Ecosport. But I zeroed in on Brezza because it was fresh from our very own Maruti!
Fuel type: Diesel. No petrol powered motor yet.
Variant: ZDI+ and not dual tone model. I believe white gets dual tone based on dealership level modifications and not directly from MS.
Accessories bought from the dealer includes: Seat covers, LED interior light (to my wife liking), 3M underbody coating - approx. Rs.16,000/-
Complimentary: Car cover, vegetable bag

What I’m going to do now is, list out all the Likes and Dislikes with a very small description which should cover most of the aspects of the car;

Likes:

• Strong road presence with visual characters of an SUV – basically its the looks that drew me strong towards it.

• Promising DDIS 200 - though feels a bit under-powered at times with low end torque, it does manage to impress me on the highways with its strong torque kicking in after 1800 rpm and it's always proved to be a reliable and sweet kid for MS (though it's being put to rest by 2020 - tears rolling)

• Safety package may not be at its best but dual airbags, one on driver side and the other front passenger side along with ABS & EBD should do. Maruti should’ve thought about rear passengers too when its arch rival Ecosport has got the best build and safety package equipped.

• Fuel Economy being really decent even when you rev – it’s returning around 16-18kmpl in highway whilst city driving it returns me with 15-16kmpl which in my opinion is really frugal for a diesel mill. Besides, it's got a huge tank of 48 liters of diesel fuel tank capacity which gives you an approximate range of 600-650kms easily at an average of 15kmpl with usable fuel of 45 liters.

• Air Conditioning is really powerful in this car as climate control takes care of our body temperature well to keep us either warm or cool us from the heat outside. I like the soft touch buttons around the AC controls as it feels a bit premium.

• Suspension – I prefer to stay out of technical terms because from a layman’s standpoint, I can say Brezza has got proper suspension setup leading for a good ride quality. Very well behaved on road.

• Ground Clearance – it’s a boon to people who travel daily on bad patches of roads. 198mm clearance is sufficient for city, highway and occasional soft off-roading.

• With ZDI+ comes the key-less entry. I was always curious on the working methodology of this feature. It’s cool to use with no keys to punch in. Just get near to the door on the right or left, and press the request button (small black button) located on either sides of the front door to unlock the car. There's one more request button located in dicky door as well. One touch start/stop button feels fresh but recent reviews on this feature posted by a fellow bhpian of his City on the aftermath of Mumbai heavy rains make us think, if technology helping or causing more problems by introducing smart keys?!

• Auto-headlamps, rain sensing wipers – I liked this feature and found it to be useful.

• Cabin feels airy and it does give you good view of road ahead – Mom also told me the rear windows doesn’t obstruct her view which isn’t the case in most of the cars these days as the shoulder line is in upward trend causing the rear passenger feel claustrophobic – my standpoint. It is ergonomically sound with armrest put in proper place and with all other buttons such as Hazards, AC control switches along with intuitive ICE controls in Driver / Passengers reach. Cabin space is really good with 2 cup holders in the middle, bottle holders in each door, 2 glovebox – 1 upper and 1 primary. Upper glovebox is cooled one and it should be okay to keep water bottles to maintain its current temperature. I liked the split cabin lamps given in the front. They operate well with one touch on / off spring push type feature. It’s got a sunglass holder in which I usually don’t keep anything. Brezza also has storage tray under the front passenger seat. Padded dead pedal to keep your left feet relaxed on long drives and right can be doing multi-tasking between accelerator and brakes. On the whole, cabin layout is very neat and it doesn't seem to be busy at any point in time.

• Boot space stands at 328 litre approximately – read it in a review. I feel this suffices my drives. Also, the spare wheel is tucked in neatly under the boot.

• Projector headlamps for low beam – yes, it’s got high beam in conventional reflector system. I sincerely hope this was complete projector system which could have made the performance of the lighting system to be in the controlled environment.

• Multi-Color display on the tacho – neat visual touch where Maruti has tried making up to the minimal functional MID.

• I’m a 6 ft tall man – ingress and regress has been really nice on this car. I don’t have to tuck myself in. Full on 5 stars for the easy getting in and out. I should also compliment the space inside and comfort the seats offer with the cushioning and proper thigh support as well. I’m happy with the current seating comfort. I get perfect driving position. I also feel seat and steering adjustment is apt.

• ICE package is pretty good – it’s got a big touch screen i.e. 7 inch TFT display. Fonts are crisp. But I have noticed some laggy nature when you want to switch stations running on radio using steering controls. It comes with Apple CarPlay which is nice and one of the strong points while opting for ZDI+. Native maps aren’t really great and can’t rely on it at times. Gmaps is my default choice for maps. Rear Parking Sensors and Camera are a boon for any place having tight parking space where you'll have to move to and fro a lot to park the car in it's destined space.

• 16 Inch alloys wrapped around in Apollo Almac rubber215/60 R16 that adds to the character. Anyways, I’m looking to upgrade alloys sometime later with large rubber.

• Last but not the least, it’s Maruti! Solid service network. To my experience, I give service experience a full 10 on 10!

Dislikes:

• Maruti, are you even thinking of upgrading to plastic quality of Tupperware atleast?! Plastics feel cheap. In less than a year, plastics have started to rattle here and there. It’s mild now, but I believe it’s the start of the rattles whilst I have to battle around to win over it.

• You need to switch gears to sudden overtake and you’ve to maintain the rev band to enjoy the sweet torque. Also, I have noticed the gear change to be a tad notchy.

• No auto-dimming IRVM, Bi-Xenon headlamps, MID which isn’t informative or intuitive like on the Baleno.! Maruti, when you can lift and drop cheap plastic switches from lower models, why not features like this on 12L car?

• Maruti could have given additional features such as auto-folding ORVM’s & windows power-up module when you lock the car. This is why I believe, Hyundai is rich when it comes to offering great features. Atleast as an add-on they should think of this seriously as this is a practical feature that should have been on any car for that matter to ensure safety of our belongings inside the car if we ever forget to raise any window up or preventing the ORVM rubbing shoulders or tearing itself apart when it’s parked. ORVM’s does open / close automatically but the motor feels slow and produces unhealthy sound. Dude the switch to operate ORVM sucks big time. Plastic to blame again. It’s a direct lift from Baleno 2006 – my LXI had the same switch except the closing option. Maruti, did you still have these switches thrown in your stockyard when Baleno was stopped abruptly way back in 2006? Grrrrr!

• Rear door window lacks proper support which vibrates and cause 'rattle' sound when you drive around with glasses closed / raised half! It’s so weak and isn’t planted very well.

• You will feel the movement of power window motor that gives you a feel of something protruding out of plastic near the door lever when it raises the windows up or down. This is annoying.

• Same old steering carried from all the lower models and from ages!Telephony controls are really bad – didn’t like the placement of it. You either tend to disconnect the call or answer it when you don’t want to until you get familiarized with the placement of these buttons.

• Too much of chrome used in the front – strictly my opinion as I also know there are others who love the chrome touch given to the grille in the front.

• No shark fin antenna - this would have add to the touch of visual appearance at the rear! Rather we get old school long antenna that looks a bit outdated in this era

• Underbody doesn’t have functional cover / cladding to hide the oil sump from taking any impact if we ever take it on a very rough patch – even though it’s got 198mm clearance, I’m still concerned because Maruti is somewhere over-confident about the build quality of our Indian roads. I did face similar concern around Baleno because of its way too low ground clearance and was a potential victim to all the major patches the roads challenged.

• Just one AUX / USD port! Doesn’t serve the purpose when there are music freaks inside the car or would want to recharge their phones.

• Did I mention about the audio quality? It’s really not satisfying as it gives the quality feel of local china made speaker. Hertz tweeters and speakers are what ZDI+ gets as standard. It doesn’t justify the quality even 20% for the money you have paid! I’m looking for upgrading the unit which will be done in the coming months.

• Headlights have a weird phenomenon of developing fog / mist inside the setup. Really not sure if this is something to do with the defect on the design or manufacture altogether as I have heard the same issue with other owners reporting this phenomenon. Maruti should check on this and compensate with replacement of headlight units with improvised quality.

• LED DRL’s & LED tail lamps are not functional enough. They aren’t visible in daylight. If you are driving around in foggy morning, using the DRL’s is useless and when you park and turn on the parking lights, it’s not visible to the passing traffic.

• NVH levels could have been a little better as you can feel the engine clatter feeding inside the cabin at any rpms. But the wind and road noise are well insulated.

• Lastly, they’ve tried to mimic the ‘THUD’ sound of a German car with 3-way closing on all the doors. At times, doors don’t close with minimum effort. They feel heavy, which is a good thing, but it doesn’t really have the sturdy feel the German or American counterparts possess.

Till date, I’ve completed 3 free services; the latest includes an oil change for the first time on my car.

1st free service @ 1000 kms – paid Rs.38 as part of some clothe I bought of 3M
2nd free service @ 5000 kms – paid Rs.0 (vaguely recall paying anything)
3rd free service @ 10000 kms – first engine oil change and the overall service costed me around 5k.
4th free service due @ 20000 kms.

With this, we come to the end of the thread. I believe to have covered atleast basic aspects one would look out for before making a decision. My apologies if I didn't cover most of the technical terms since this is my first review report. I did not want to mess up writing incorrect information about technical terms. Therefore, writing in layman terms.

Special Thanks to:

• God for fulfilling my wish!
• Uncle, Mom, Wife & family for supporting me throughout in making buying decision
• Baleno for creating a strong base for the automotive enthusiast in me and taking good care of me for 3 years through ups and downs
• Team-BHP for rejuvenating the dying spirit within me and creating a space to write my own review. One productive weekend I end writing the review of my own car
• Lastly, the readers who have shelled out atleast 30 minutes of your time to be part of my life both past and present. Appreciate your patience.

I'm a fan of Marvel comics and their movies. Shouldn't I also be giving the readers a Post-Credit scene? Enjoy before the curtains are lowered;

Modifications carried on my car so far are limited to visual and functional parts. Nothing related to engine areas at all – though I’m planning for performance ECU remap sometime in the next 2-3 years. Depends if its going to hurt the durability of the engine – else, will stick to stock.

• LED headlamp bulbs switched for both low and high beam – sourced directly from Xenon Planet. I’m satisfied with the performance. However, bulb temperature stands at 5500k as per XP and they have given me a privilege of switching to 4300k incase I wish to enhance the performance furthermore. Total cost 13k. Packaging was top notch alongside assistance from XP online. See pic below - LHS running on Low Beam, RHS running on both Low + High Beam.

• KmH power up module and ORVM closer sourced from Carplus – there’s little inconsistency noted with both the modules as power up module disables one touch up/down functionality of the driver side window. ORVM window closer doesn’t work at times – it fails to open or close when you lock the car. Raised to Carplus and they are sending down the replacements. I hope this is not the limitation from the build of the modules itself because this will not solve the problem – cost 4k
• 3M Gloss Black spoiler wrap and ORVM wrap – cost 7k
• Alloy painted to matte black – cost 2k from renowned paint shop near to my place
• LED bumper reflector lights– cost 2k from Amazon
• Hella Trumphet horns - cost 1.3k from Amazon
• LED bulbs all around the cabin. Also, on the rear parking light as well.
• Custom Front Grille - 5k

Planned for future in sequence;

1. XP LED Bi-Beam projector fog lamps
2. Pioneer Sub and Amp
3. Alloy and Tyre upgrade

Happy & safe revving!

[.anshuman]

Thread moved here from Assembly line. Thanks for sharing

[Varun_HexaGuy]

Let me be the first one to congratulate on your priced obsession! It was nice reading about your take on your obsession and I enjoyed reading every bit of the report. Just waiting for the ownership report of your Pulsar.

Will be waiting for the future contributions of yours to the forum.

Drive safe,
Varun_HexaGuy

[SJM1214]

Wow!

Just Yesterday night I was reading your introduction post, & today morning you are here with an amazing ownership/experience thread.

I, myself am a Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza owner which is 550km/12 days old. I very much agree with two major points, NVH level and plastic quality. We can’t do anything for plastic quality, but irritated with NVH. I have already done Sound damping of 5 doors but still not satisfied. I will go for thick floor mats, underbody rubber coating and some more damping. Let’s See.

[bhavik.1991]

Congratulation for your white knight! A good read it was!

Do you keep wiper stalk in 'Auto' mode? I have experienced the issue of single wiper swipe done unnecessarily in 'Auto' mode when the car hits a medium sized (or larger) pothole.

Raised the issue to MASS around a year back. They said they will contact MSIL & update me, haven't heard back from them yet!

[gururajrv]

Originally Posted by bhavik.1991

Congratulation for your white knight! A good read it was!

Do you keep wiper stalk in 'Auto' mode? I have experienced the issue of single wiper swipe done unnecessarily in 'Auto' mode when the car hits a medium sized (or larger) pothole.

Raised the issue to MASS around a year back. They said they will contact MSIL & update me, haven't heard back from them yet!

Thanks Bhavik. Yes, I do keep it in auto mode when I notice the cloud forming to shower the rain gods over us! Certainly I’ve noticed this singularity when I run over a pothole and the car shakes violently. I believe this is to do with the sensors? But both the vipers get active when that happens and not just one in your case. That’s strange. I didn’t raise this with MASS as I didn’t want someone to fiddle around with the car and then end up screwing something causing a post-mortem of the issue later

Originally Posted by SJM1214

Wow!

Just Yesterday night I was reading your introduction post, & today morning you are here with an amazing ownership/experience thread.

I, myself am a Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza owner which is 550km/12 days old. I very much agree with two major points, NVH level and plastic quality. We can’t do anything for plastic quality, but irritated with NVH. I have already done Sound damping of 5 doors but still not satisfied. I will go for thick floor mats, underbody rubber coating and some more damping. Let’s See.

Thanks SJM. Yes, the vibrations plastics make is too irritating. I can somehow absorb and digest the engine noise as it’s sweet to ears but certainly not the plastics. I’m also thinking of door damping atleast to have better sound quality of music once I upgrade. Let me know if additional damping helps which I believe it should to some extent.

Originally Posted by Varun_HexaGuy

Let me be the first one to congratulate on your priced obsession! It was nice reading about your take on your obsession and I enjoyed reading every bit of the report. Just waiting for the ownership report of your Pulsar.

Will be waiting for the future contributions of yours to the forum.

Drive safe,
Varun_HexaGuy

Many thanks for the pat on the back Varun! I will try to push my brain to rally each cell to recall all the instances and events that lead to purchase of my black 220 FI.

I take by your username you own a HEXA! I should say it’s one mean looking machine on road upfront. Good choice.

[condor]

@Gururaj, nicely written review !

Regarding the head-lamp, did you raise this issue with Suraksha ? Fogging should not happen. See if it can be changed under warranty.

[gururajrv]

Originally Posted by condor

@Gururaj, nicely written review !

Regarding the head-lamp, did you raise this issue with Suraksha ? Fogging should not happen. See if it can be changed under warranty.

Thank you, Condor! I did not raise it yet because I have seen many other Vitara Brezza owners complaining on the issue and few who already got it replaced, raised the concern all over again as I vaguely recall reading a post on Facebook's Brezza group

Have you heard of any owner confirming resolution post the replacement?

[condor]

Originally Posted by gururajrv

Have you heard of any owner confirming resolution post the replacement?

No, Gururaj. Your best source of information on this would be the Brezza owners's groups, or the Brezza discussion threads. I am just a Safari Storme guy who was browsing this thread and noticed the problem pic.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by condor

@Gururaj, nicely written review !

Regarding the head-lamp, did you raise this issue with Suraksha ? Fogging should not happen. See if it can be changed under warranty.

Originally Posted by gururajrv

Thank you, Condor! I did not raise it yet because I have seen many other Vitara Brezza owners complaining on the issue and few who already got it replaced, raised the concern all over again as I vaguely recall reading a post on Facebook's Brezza group

Have you heard of any owner confirming resolution post the replacement?

This is a known issue with the Headlight reflectors of the Brezza and you need to ask for a replacement under warranty. I have had a friend too got the Headlamp assembly replaced under warranty for this.

Also, Refer to this post by BoneCollector on the same issue-

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post4063859

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by gururajrv

Thank you, Condor! I did not raise it yet because I have seen many other Vitara Brezza owners complaining on the issue and few who already got it replaced, raised the concern all over again as I vaguely recall reading a post on Facebook's Brezza group

Have you heard of any owner confirming resolution post the replacement?

Hi, great write up. My headlamps were replaced under warranty and I haven't faced extreme condensation like earlier but yes, there is some amount of condensation which occurs if there is some heavy rains after a hot humid weather. I don't have a snap of the same. You can go through the details here - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post4184931


The condensation issue per se. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post4084383

[GTO]

Originally Posted by bhavik.1991

I have experienced the issue of single wiper swipe done unnecessarily in 'Auto' mode when the car hits a medium sized (or larger) pothole.

Originally Posted by gururajrv

Certainly I’ve noticed this singularity when I run over a pothole and the car shakes violently. I believe this is to do with the sensors?

Definitely something to do with the sensors. I remember seeing this in my 2005 C220. Whenever a pothole was taken hard, either:

1. Both wipers would perform a sweep.

OR

2. The doors would unlock (maybe the 'auto-unlock in an accident' sensor woke up?).

With time, I just learned to ignore it. But I'm surprised to see the problem unresolved 12 years down the line. Owners of many other makes & models have reported the same thing on Team-BHP.

[gururajrv]

Originally Posted by GTO

Definitely something to do with the sensors. I remember seeing this in my 2005 C220. Whenever a pothole was taken hard, either:

1. Both wipers would perform a sweep.

OR

2. The doors would unlock (maybe the 'auto-unlock in an accident' sensor woke up?).

With time, I just learned to ignore it. But I'm surprised to see the problem unresolved 12 years down the line. Owners of many other makes & models have reported the same thing on Team-BHP.

Yes, may be the sensors move over or feel the violent movement when we run over bad patches.

If this was the case way back from 2005, then there's no surprise manufacturers aren't aware of the issue. There could be 2 reasons I could think from manufacturers standpoint;

1) They may have a valid engineering reason for this singularity, which they might have kept under the table unless something major comes up.

2) They are aware of the issue, but are unable to fix them.

If Mercedes haven't found the solution to this weird issue, then I doubt if others could find the reason or solution to it.

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Hi, great write up. My headlamps were replaced under warranty and I haven't faced extreme condensation like earlier but yes, there is some amount of condensation which occurs if there is some heavy rains after a hot humid weather. I don't have a snap of the same. You can go through the details here - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post4184931


The condensation issue per se. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post4084383

Thanks BoneCollector. Yes, then I do not think replacement is permanent solution. MASS are clueless is what other groups told me as they just suggest for replacement. I'm also certain MASS will not have engineering minds to crack the case. It should rather be the engineers who designed the lamp.

I assume the fogging happens when we use the headlamps for a longer duration with both High & Low beam running together. After switching to LED's, the occurrence has reduced but it's still present. I strongly feel it's the heat generated by the bulbs are contained within causing this weird formation? I also looked out for any small gaps from the unit causing air to feed inside. Didn't find any such irregularities either. Only Maruti can advise on this - if they're looking at this post

Originally Posted by paragsachania

This is a known issue with the Headlight reflectors of the Brezza and you need to ask for a replacement under warranty. I have had a friend too got the Headlamp assembly replaced under warranty for this.

Also, Refer to this post by BoneCollector on the same issue-

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post4063859

Thanks paragsachania. Bone Collector himself is present on this thread now.

Originally Posted by condor

No, Gururaj. Your best source of information on this would be the Brezza owners's groups, or the Brezza discussion threads. I am just a Safari Storme guy who was browsing this thread and noticed the problem pic.

Thanks Condor - You own a Safari!! I'm a die hard fan of Safari from the start. One hell of a monster that car is - ultimate street presence

[bhavik.1991]

Originally Posted by gururajrv

Thanks Bhavik. Yes, I do keep it in auto mode when I notice the cloud forming to shower the rain gods over us! Certainly I’ve noticed this singularity when I run over a pothole and the car shakes violently. I believe this is to do with the sensors? But both the vipers get active when that happens and not just one in your case. That’s strange.

Both the wipers get activated on my brezza as well & they do a single sweep similar to what you're experiencing. I think I didn't write it properly in my previous post.

Originally Posted by GTO

Definitely something to do with the sensors. I remember seeing this in my 2005 C220. Whenever a pothole was taken hard, either:

1. Both wipers would perform a sweep.

OR

2. The doors would unlock (maybe the 'auto-unlock in an accident' sensor woke up?).

In case of Brezza, only 1st happens, never experienced 2nd (I am not sure whether Brezza has 'auto-unlock in an accident' feature as well)

I can also make the car perform single sweep by knocking housing of auto wiper sensor inside the cabin.

Originally Posted by GTO

With time, I just learned to ignore it. But I'm surprised to see the problem unresolved 12 years down the line. Owners of many other makes & models have reported the same thing on Team-BHP.

I tend to keep wiper stalk 'off' & rotate it to 'Auto' only when I want to summon the wipers. I call them semi-automatic wipers as I don't need to adjust the wiper speed

[SJM1214]

Thanks SJM. Yes, the vibrations plastics make is too irritating. I can somehow absorb and digest the engine noise as it’s sweet to ears but certainly not the plastics. I’m also thinking of door damping atleast to have better sound quality of music once I upgrade. Let me know if additional damping helps which I believe it should to some extent.

Yes! That irritating vibrating noise comes from parcel tray, a flask in bottle holder, some coins in ash-tray and even magnetic sunshade. Some of the Bhpian came up with a good idea for his Brio’s glove box. He pasted felt lining in Brio’s glow box. I am considering it for all the plastic storage compartments. I am not a DIY person so searching for some expert of lining works who can understand my idea.

About sound Damping, yes, it helps to some extent. Noise is reduced not removed. My problem is road noise on bad patches. It gives drum like effect inside cabin on bad roads. It feels like you are in a big drum. That is why I want to go for boot floor damping and under-body rubber coating.