[valhallen.282]

What car is this?

So BayMax was the name my best friend suggested the moment he saw this first picture. That I honestly shot completely by mistake!
It made sense and the name stuck
So, Say HI BAYMAX!


I would love to add details about the car but I just would not be able to do as much justice to detail as our mod @Aditya has done in this post here

How the decision got made - a short drive around Commercial street on a weekday morning in the Ertiga was a sufficient reminder of what a run-about car needs to be. That's how counting all the frustrations (read on) - everything else went out the door and in came the Ignis.

What car is this - Post 1
What's the Story - Post 2
What's it's beating heart - Post 3
Is it comfy - Post 4
Notable Nicities - Post 5
Annoying Oranges - Post 6
First thing changed - Post 7
Roadtripping - Post 8
First Service - Post 9
Audio System - In a later post or another thread

Disclaimer - this is not my car; it belongs to a family member. Posting with permission.
Disclaimer 2 - there is a giant RANT when you see TL;DR prepare to skip or read for full story

What car is this? - BayMax is a Silky Silver Single colour Ignis Alpha Petrol Manual 1.2VVT
Costing 8.2L OTR
Old car + Exchange bonus -112K
Cash Offer -3.5K
Advance paid -21k
Funds paid 6.83L



BayMax Spec or rather notable data
Petrol 1.2L VVT (Variable Valve Train) Manual Transmission (80 PS - 113 NM)

Standard Stuff

• All black interior upholstery with Two tone Dash and side panels
• 15 inch rims
• 170mm Ground Clearance
• 30L (usable) tank
• 60-40 Split Rear Seats
• ABS+EBD
• 2 Airbags
• 175/65R14 Bridgestone Ecopias
• Electric Power Steering

Special Stuff -Alpha Trim -

• LED projector Headlamps
• touchscreen NAV + Android Auto
• 1 pair components(front door) + 1 pair coaxials(rear door)
• Auto Airconditioning
• Fog Lamps
• Puddle Lamps
• Front+Rear Defogger
• Electronically adjustable ORVM
• Body Coloured ORVM covers
• Manual day/night IRVM
• Black Cladding on body panels

Personal opinions of BayMax

Styling Interior - I loved the original Jazz. It still is a fantastic package built in the human first conceot; but it was underappreciated for a long time. It is the same case with the Ignis. Tiny package - humongous space. It is quirky; some of the design elements are confusing. The combination of boxes and circles is confusing at times but adds to the quirkiness. The interior being black is my absolute favourite part of the styling. I'm glad that Suzuki decided not to cream wash it.

Styling Exterior - The silver of our car really hides the size of it. It looks tiny because it guides your eyes to the interesting bits of the car. The wheel arches. That funky C-Pillar. Blacked cladding along the bottom adds depth and a certain amount of protection to the bottom of the car. The blacked out rims really hide how large they really are - they're huge once paired with better rubber.

Likes so far

1. The engine - Smooth, refined and in city quiet. On the Highway a howler and the Throttle Response - crisp and well balanced. Power delivery is very linear.
2. Interiors - so much easier to maintain
3. The seats - supportive and comfortable even on long hauls
4. Suspension - Sporty, but refined and absorbent. Instills confidence even in novices to do corners.
5. Ground Clearance - surprisingly high. Though it doesn't look that way.
6. Headlights - Powerful. Good light depth. Cuts through the dense fog as well surprisingly. Menacing to see in the rearview mirror. (got a few complaints from friends about it)
7. Space - Boot is roomy and deep! Swallows large bags easily one on top of another. Smaller ones on the side. So 2 large + 1 small in that tiny looking boot under the parcel shelf.

Dislikes so far

1. Brakes - spongy initially then lots of bite. They're stable but not much pedal feel not particularly confidence inspiring.
2. Steering - DEAD. There's no other way to put it. It's just dead. Also, it's missing the self-centring. So you have to turn the wheel back the whole way.
3. HVAC vents. It's a quirky car doesn't mean the vents have to be in the wrong place or not 100% closing.
4. Steel rim for a spare wheel.
5. BRIDGESTONE ECOPIA - disgusting tyre. noisy. hard sidewall. harsh ride. ruined the beautiful suspension feel.
6. Fog lamps. Most pointless things ever. No throw. No depth. Lighting up a section of road I cannot see from the driver's seat.
7. Bottle holders - Tiny. There's no other way to put it.
8. That tiny cubby on the dashboard. Why is it there? What does it do? Nothing.
9. Rear Washer - keeps squirting water on my rear windshield without me asking for it.Useless.

On the fence
Headunit - It's a beautiful system. Smart, sleek and very capable. Maps work amazingly well. Radio is iffy. Android Auto is moody. But if you disconnect Bluetooth and reconnect. The phone will continue to play the music but the audio is not streaming.
Steering wheel controls. Not particularly useful. Save for next/prev + Vol up/down. No mode control!

Pictures!




Useful Data should you want to buy an Ignis-
Product Brochure -Ignis_Product_Brochure.pdf
Official Accessories - Ignis Nexa Accessories.pdf
Extended Warranty Parts not covered - MSIL EW Parts not covered.pdf
Owner's Manual - Ignis-Manual.pdf
SLDA users Manual - User manual SLDA India.pdf
Official Accessories Catalog - 1_Lifestyle_Catalogue.pdf

Please note - all the above PDF's are copyright to their respective owners. I have not modified or edited them in any way. I have simply collated them for the purpose of knowledge.

[valhallen.282]

What's the Story

The debate

Nearing 15 years of age a very close family friend's car that lives in my garage was up for replacement. Now, this was the person's first car and it took a lot to pry away the keys. But considering it's age and the upcoming ban on old vehicles - it was overdue.

Car in question - Alto Lx 2004.
Keep the car for 2 more years as it has only driven 80k and skip the trade up until it reaches dead-weight or exchange it while there is still SOME value left. We'd had just spent 70k just over a year ago to mechanically restore it before the 15-year rule was announced. We needed to spend another 40k redoing a fair bit of the bodywork for it to really live through its final years. The Alto was religiously used for rough road city driving; but, since the owner left it in my care it only ever saw the occasional rough road. A once in a blue moon highway sprint. So roughly only about 150-200 kms a month.

THE CONSENSUS

SELL - SELL - SELL
Or rather EXCHANGE. Maruti to Maruti zindabad. The ruling came from the car's owner and my dad concurrently. Maruti's have been in our family garage for one and a half decade. They're built tough as old boots are inexpensive to run and maintain. They don't create a fuss if you don't drive them regularly and a service once a year is honestly all that's necessary. So no; we aren't going anywhere except to a Maruti. The budget set was to be within 10L OTR. Which was honestly shocking for a small car replacement.

The contenders

Now, this is a story - so be patient. It's not written like your standard review process. This is what REALLY happened; There honestly wasn't much test driving involved.

Scene Monday Morning Mandovi Motors Lavelle Road

WagonR
Up until very recently, we've had a 2004 WagonR. (now sold); so inevitably this was the first choice; but, up until this point; I hadn't tried it out. A quick visit to the showroom told us lack of boot space compounded by the rather unsupportive seats and crummy build made it a no. The buzzy engine; crummy hard plastic interior compounded by the new found love for light tones in the Maruti stable saw me wanting to run away. To be fair though it's a nifty package geared towards an urban commute and first-time car buyers who want a spacious package at an affordable price. We didn't even test drive it.

Celerio / Alto
Alto to alto / Celerio should be perfect right? And I love the K10 engine in the Alto. It's spirited and zesty; I remember driving my friend's gen 1 K10 and absolutely loving the feel/ride and space. But, remember we're moving from a gen 1 Alto. Which was known for being comfy and spacious in its diminutive size. I've fit a 6 footer and his 5 foot 8 wife behind him in the old car. But, the new Alto? Nope; Sigh. I wish it had been perfect. But it was not meant to be; the oddly shaped dashboard meant it always feels like an ape-like driving position. I don't fit comfortably and I'll be taking care of it. So no. both cars went out the door for us. Test drive was not considered for above reasons.

Swift / Dzire
Chee! I hate the way it looks - says the owner. That was the end of that. No amount of coaxing would see the owner even think about either of the cars. Not even the recently launched updated version. Which I personally think is an excellent car. Oh well. Upward and onward then... There is an Ertiga in the family and we don't honestly need another silver chariot - So no test drives at Maruti. Sad.

St Marks Road NEXA

Ignis
Me- Look; this is the best you can buy. It's the latest in tech and safety and an amazing package.
Owner - Yuck! who will buy such an ugly car.
ME- but you drive it and not LOOK at it.
Owner - Yeah okay it's spacious but it's not very pretty is it?
Me - WHAT

Baleno
Owner - Oh look! so pretty. Such a nice colour(Nexa Blue). So comfy.
Inside my brain - So old, so oversized, so heavy, too common.
But we looked at it anyway. The petrol was the engine of choice here. Cheaper to run since we don't really drive too much. We were offered a test drive. The owner loved the Alpha instantly and refused to look at lower trim levels because well you only buy a hatchback once every couple of years might as well get one with everything. But before we could do the paperwork for the test drive the owner spotted the ->

Ciaz
Owner - Oh look! Sedan! Premium!
Me - ERM it's more expensive than your Ertiga bro for not a whole lot extra. And WAY outside budget.
Owner - But I want THIS!
Test drove both the Petrol and the Diesel. I loved the Ciaz Petrol. The engine is smooth and refined. It's a breezy car to drive. Not brisk like the diesel but no slouch. I found it rather too long in the nose though. Settled for the Petrol Zeta trim. Because the Alpha was WAY outside the budget ballpark. The diesel further out of the ballpark.

Buying experience - Wait what?

But Val, thread says IGNIS! Where did this come from... Yeah. Hold your horses. Time to go bargain hunting at showrooms. So, I went around asking for buy back prices for the Alto. Never getting more than 70-75k. Until finally a couple showrooms later New consensus arrives along with an interesting price on the Alto. For 4 (FOUR) thousand rupees more - we're getting a previous gen S-Cross. WHAT! Yep! For 4k more than the Ciaz Zeta petrol we were getting a Diesel S-Cross Zeta. WHOA! 11.48L OTR is what i remember it being.

Called the owner brought them to the showroom. Test drove the S-Cross 1.3 and the Ignis Petrol and Diesel back to back just because I insisted upon it. But there was too much in the S-Cross Zeta's favour - All wheel discs + Cruise Control + Touchscreen entertainment and nav + more space + all black interior. Why the hell not For 3L more than the Ignis. The owner still wins the argument Ignis versus S-Cross. Despite driving the Ignis through bumper to bumper traffic and realising it's roomy and comfortable while being an overall pleasure to drive. Space and size beat packaging and price. The S-Cross is coming home.

All right let's do this. Booking - 1 S-Cross Zeta Diesel in white please.
Dealer in question Nexa Banaswadi. Booking done. Begin process for loan approval.

THE RANT

TL;DR version
Booked S-Cross - bank guy goofed up. showroom goofed up. Offered to pay full funds on card. They insisted on charging me fees after removing a significant discount that was offered. Said no thanks. Spoke to showroom owner; the S-Cross was like a bad omen of sorts so we changed cars - got a barely palatable deal (Discount of Rupees 3500 + 20k Exchange bonus) on an Ignis Silky Silver Petrol. Had to wait for 20 days post full payment to get the car due to software issues. Finally sorted.

skip to post 3 or read Full length

Day 1 Booked the S-Cross at 21k. Was offered consumer offer of 20k + exchange of 40k + corporate offer of 20k + 20k from the showroom.
We confirmed that this person did not work in India. I was there; my father was there as was the owner of the new car.

Day2 They offered us 91k!! (WOW) for the old car on exchange. This deal was too sweet to pass up. 2L less makes the Zeta reach 10L OTR cost to be paid. We were being handled by a Team leader no less. Not the sales rep. This is what service feels like!

Day 3 Asked for them to Start the paperwork the next day while the owner did 4 days 1.5k round trip in the Ertiga. Got the papers for the old car signed over. They insisted on us dropping off the Alto to them the next day.

At this point we were quite trusting and satisfied. Until - we weren't.

Day 7 Bank guy insisted on papers upon papers upon papers. it was maddening. While we struggled to get that done showroom guy realises -
öh! the owner does not live in India. That means no Indian company proof for the corporate offer. Tries multiple other methods to get that and then says not possible. Said okay. Give me the showroom manager's number. Nope. No? Okay. Give me back my car i'll take my business elsewhere.

the response - let's make this loud and clear
"We have sold your car to another client. Who has already taken posession."

WHAT. THE. ####################################

Day 8 & 9 Then proceeds to knock off the promised dealer 20k as well. We asked to speak to the showroom owner/manager. Nope. We can't let you do that. Heavy arguments over offered discounts ensue. Demanded to see whoever the manager was the next day. This is bullshit.

Day 10 Bank guy gives us an underwhelming offer of barely 7L. But Why? This was going badly. We decided to upfront the complete payment on a card; Because of a facility offered by a known bank. Showroom says pay 40k card charges!? WHAT! 3.something percent. then comes down to 22k when I obviously got vocal about it. We walked in at 6 and left there at 9:30! No deal.

Day 11 9:30 AM Turns out the owner is a junior from school. Had to reach out to riding buddies to get his contact. The person whose contact the showroom guy was refusing to share. Spoke to the owner. Turns out in his own words - we're that customer who is asking for the moon on a white zeta S-Cross.
No sir. I'm that customer asking for the deal I was promised. Finally we said forget this shit; the S-Cross is a bad omen to us. Just give us an Ignis Petrol Alpha. I'm done with your bullshit. What's the offer on the Ignis? 20k exchange bonus and that's it. But you know the BEST OFFER we can make for you is a 3500 cash discount. WOW.

Day 12 Closed formalities on that and left.

10 days pass at Day 21 - after repeated calls and messages and some string pulling inside the showroom come to know that we have finally been allotted a car.

AND THEN

Day 29 The car reaches Maruti stockyard on November 1.The moment I hear about it - I jump the gun and have the funds sent to them despite it being a bank holiday.

Day 31 The car is still in the stockyard. No idea where it is - standard showroom response.

Day 33 Still, no idea where it is... Raised complaint with Nexa

Day 35 It's in the stockyard. It may come.

Day 42 Car arrives at showroom

Day 44 Patience and decency went out the door. Money paid in full. No car. The response is we don't know what is wrong. This doesn't work. I said for all this frustration the showroom has to do something for me as a customer. Was called by an amazing genius called the Quality Manager - Says I've been asked to EDUCATE you about the difficult margins we work with and therefore 3500 cash discount is the best we can do. Son, you need an education in speaking etiquette.

Day 46 Give me the RM's number. RM is some ass hat called Dheeraj. We made multiple calls and texts; He has neither the decency nor the courtesy to answer a customer call or message. Still haven't got a call or an apology.

Day 48 The call comes from the showroom. Delivery day. What was the problem? Suzuki updated some backend software and certain vin numbers were not getting logged. Am I happy? no. Why? Delivery is another two days away.

Day 50 Finally. It's home. On to more important things.

[valhallen.282]

What's it's beating heart

BayMax's heart is the beautiful 1.2L Variable Valve Timing K12M Petrol Engine


The four-pot is smooth and very refined. Extremely frugal too! The underside of the bonnet comes with a reasonable amount of sound deadening.


The breather pipe comes out behind the upper grill on the driver's side of the car. You have to disconnect the breather to fill engine oil. Dipstick is just to the right. Sadly, there is no under chassis protection; though the mounting holes can still be seen. Assume this is a remainder of the international version. I suspect a DIY can be fashioned for it. But would need jack stands to get it banged out.




Other attachments that I'm not too well versed with I'm sure someone would be kind enough to explain ->



Unfortunately the LED headlamp looks to be a sealed unit with just these connectors plugging in ->

[valhallen.282]

Is it comfy?

Like his name, BayMax is MAX on space and comfort. You feel cossetted. To address those who say this car does not have space! Just because something LOOKS diminutive (small) doesn't mean it IS! Now I'm a tall guy. I have tall friends. I have people at home with back issues. But BayMax is spacious for his size. What AMAZING packaging. There few downsides but yeah, they're liveable.

This is the driver's seat without it being at it's lowest. Adjusted for a combination of comfort and visibility


There is enough pedal room


The passenger side footwell is reasonably accommodating with a recliner-esque feel


With the front passenger/driver seat set for maximum comfort, there is still some knee room left at the back for the same sized person.


This last picture for this post is with seats in the positions mentioned above


Last thing to address are the rear view mirrors (eyes behind your head)
ORVMs are well sized. IRVM is annoying though.

[valhallen.282]

Notable Nicities

Boot lid gets a nice handle - awesome.


The boot also has a lamp in it - thought it does not come with on-off control. But hey it's there


Fuel cap comes attached! Sweet!


Ride Height - Despite how short the car looks and feels. It's a proper mini-SUV like the international reviewers like to call it. It swallows potholes and speed breakers for breakfast.


MID is super easy to read. Brightness levels are well balanced for day and night. Adjustment steps are nice. Though, you must remember that the head unit and MID backlights are controlled only from the single button on the side. It is possible to drive with the lights in park light mode so that the head unit and MID run in night mode and aren't too bright on the eyes. This is especially useful for android auto!

[valhallen.282]

ANNOYING ORANGE

Who designed this AIRCON!
Either it bakes or freezes my left hand. Can I not drive peacefully with both hands on the wheel! Seriously!


While we're there - no adjustable intermittent wipers. And I can't even do that fantastic mod that's here on TeamBhp because the part numbers are shared with the Baleno.


Speaking of washer - The heck does this wash? It sprays straight down.. and leaks while the car is in motion! Good lord!
P.S. I did not use the washer at all! See the run of water across the middle of the rear windshield. Service guy says it's because there's washer fluid in the line that gets sprayed when you brake or accelerate hard.


Steel rim - again! Why Maruti! Why?! Be decent about it and give us a proper alloy so that I can do 5 wheel rotation properly!


This bottle holder. So tiny - only sub 1L bottles in there!

[valhallen.282]

First thing to change

The day I got BayMax there was a list of places to go - From the Ganesha temple to Sai Skanda Dosa camp in Cambridge Layout followed by a jaunt to Corner house ice cream. What was meant to be a joy ride turned into a bone-crushing; back-breaking experience. The suspension seemed to have no pliancy at all! Harsh and jarring sounds through the cabin. Friends and lady love were constantly cribbing! Sounded like BayMax was fighting us even being in the car. Something HAD to be done. Some research later I realised he was wearing terribly small and uncomfortable shoes! We can't do that! BayMax needs new shoes. Time to go shoe shopping.

Went to Cherry tyres - Michelin Energy XM -6300 / Goodyear Mc something at 5900!! (WHAT) / Bridgestone Turanza at 6000!! Exchange for the Ecopia's Rupees 4000 for all five tyres! That makes no sense. Tried two more places. similar luck.

Finally, ended up at Sai Iyengar Tyres on 100 ft road expecting just as bad stuff. Nope. This was a whopper - Yokohama Earth 1's for 4900 (oooo) S-Drives for 5300(ahhhh) Wait; what? Val those are 175/65-15. How do you get Yokos in S-Drive in that size? The answer, you don't.

I was upsizing 185/60-15 or 195/55-15. Remember I said shoes were small? But then came the catch. How fat is too fat? 195's were extremely fat. So fat that the stuck out his sides. They looked NICE. But, I didn't want to lose nimbleness for the look. I wanted the centre of the triangle of performance/price/comfort. So, out went the S-Drives and the 195's and in came a set of 185/60-15.

That wasn't the deal clincher. Oh no. The prize for that goes to the buyback of 3000 bucks PER TYRE I was offered! Meaning, I only had to spend 10k for a new set of shoes! Sweet! And now; say hello to the Yokohama Earth 1's 185/60-15.



So did anything change? Yes.
EVERYTHING CHANGED

BayMax felt happier! The abominable ride was GONE; Pliant and cushy. No more back breaking, bone knocking jerks. Jarring and fighting had vanished. Only the deepest holes of Bengaluru's potholes that would even terrorize larger cars were managed with ease though; at times with but a whimper.
The road noise. Halved! Wow. This has gotten quieter or the sound system got better!
Cornering? Like a go Kart! Point and squirt became fun once more. The non-self centering steering wheel gave me a few scares already... But I guess that's the difference between shoddy shoes and good ones.

When the showroom boys popped by to install the number plates I made sure to give them a ride. The look on their faces when they realised the NVH levels was hilarious. Watching them wait to flinch at a large pothole near home and then realising nothing happened was priceless. Oh well!

[valhallen.282]

Roadtripping

City runs -
BayMax honestly gets bored in the city. Crossing the 4k rpm mark is never necessary. There's just so much torque; he's a happy get up and go. You can actually tell though he wants to get up and run. Small open stretches put a smile on your face when putting your foot down. Puttering around in traffic second gear is best all the way from 8-10kph to the redline without ever needing the clutch.

Speaking of which; since both the owner and I were trading places running BayMax around a clutch adjustment was necessary for the super high bite point. Nothing a quick run to the outpatient room at service didn't fix. An adjustment later we were back to happy sedentary motoring. 15kmpl in the city in my hands was unexpected with 100% A/c. This is despite the amount of time I spent parked at home fiddling around on the head unit. I'll elaborate on this in the next post.

That dead steering is super light and easy to use in the city. It is a real boon not feeling too much when puttering around honestly.

Bengaluru to Coonoor
BayMax got a highway run! After a long time, I got a chance to take a break from work. Oh! What a coincidence! BayMax can complete his 1000kms. So off we went planning a weekend trip to Coonoor. Fuel full up to the first pump auto-stop. 34 front. 32 rear tyre pressure to offset the front-rear weight balance. Music to multiple devices copied. Bags packed - One suitcase; one backpack; one laptop bag plus the MGA Sonax cleaning accessories kit and a vacuum cleaner stuffed into the boot and we're ready to go.

The next morning we hit the road at 5:30 am via Mysore Road. All potholes and roadworks dismissed without so much as a sweat. Getting through early morning traffic was a breeze. UNTIL - it happened. We hit the highway. FOG and seemingly buffeting winds! Mind you the buffeting winds did not offend or bother BayMax at all! No wind shear. No fighting the steering wheel. No drama. We even had several 100-0 / xxx-0 stops with no fuss created from either the suspension or the brakes.

Fog on the highway


sorry for this terrible picture. This is with the sun out at 8 AM outside Mysore!


People say that those LED's aren't the greatest in fog. WRONG! They are AMAZE! They cut right through; I could tell because I was still stupidly doing triple digits and people would simply move aside for me. Without the lights on -
visibility at places was less than 5-8M. With the lights ON I could clearly see hints reflecting off other vehicles strangely. I found that odd but didn't stop to investigate. Four hours later we reached Nanjangud Township where we filled Baymax up the first time on the highway at 200kms. Not realising that the tank wasn't actually at half!


The decision was made to climb the ghats rather than do the roundabout route to make it on time to the lunch stop at a place called Culinarium at Bicketty.
Bandipur and Masinagudi were done at a leisurely pace watching animals in their natural habitat and other idiotic animals in their tin cans and pocket rockets stopping to gape. Then came the ghats! BayMax LOVES the ghats. Second gear climbs are easy even with the air-conditioning ON! Remembering to re-centre the steering wheel took some learning but the go-kart nature kicked in and we were off to the hill climb races! The torque curve is so linear. The power delivery so crisp. I had to stop myself several times from trying to hit the rev-limiter. Boy, does BayMax love to howl through those corners. There was a faint burning smell. It neither recurred; nor did it present any performance issues.


Food at the Culinarium is FANTASTIC! Best Italian I've ever had - authentic homegrown herbs and home-made pasta. The pastries are delicious. If you know you're travelling in advance - call ahead and ask for the high tea.

Our final halt for the day was 12km from there at the Taj Retreat Coonoor - an absolutely gorgeous 160-year-old property overlooking a valley. You can look up my Google Photos. Yes, they have private parking and I could not help but take pictures at the hotel. As many as I refused to take on our way up - I insisted on taking at the hotel.




The following morning after a lazy and sumptuous breakfast a quick call to a friend saw us heading back the way we came rather than the intend round trip via Salem-Hosur highway. A close friend's farm in Kollegal saw us going through some of the nicest blacktop(road) around. The ghats down were crazy. Second gear on an incline by itself unchecked sees 60kph! I had to remember to be ginger with the brakes and let them cool as well. It was a hairy but fun ride down. The drive was absolutely epic - until we reached Kollegal town! It is a MESS! Axle breakers and bone crushers everywhere on an arterial road in the city! But BayMax and his new shoes dealt with all of it just fine and came out completely unscathed. I was surprised and amused. Not once did he bottom anywhere! Back on the road as we were reaching my friend's farm along the bank of the river there was the expected village road. This time, however, BayMax did see one rather nasty front end bump. But fortunately no damage whatsoever.


This picture was taken at 999 kms! Happy 1K BayMax!


We headed back home later that afternoon via Kanakpura road and the crazy Sunday traffic. It was when I reached home 440kms from the first fuel stop that the BayMax's fill fuel reminder came on for the first time. Wow!

The following morning BayMax's odo read 1040kms. That can only mean ONE thing. Service. I finally filled fuel at 1060 kms having done some 480kms on one tank of fuel - 28.6L to be precise. 17kmpl with air-conditioning is actually amazing when you consider ghats both ways and a lead-footed driver.

[valhallen.282]

Post Coonoor trip - BayMax was due for 1000km service. It was confirmed with the advisor that the 60 km extra would be a non-issue. The first service is actually supposed to simply be a multi-point maintenance check

• Clutch/Brake/Throttle feel and smoothness
• Functionality of all electricals/HVAC/lights/HU/Audio/Locks/Sensors for doors
• Greasing of exposed hinges and joints
• Tightening of nuts and bolts if any looseness
• Gear lever greasing for smoothening shifts
• Wheel/Tyre check
• General driving performance check

Looking pretty at Bimal Auto Agency Workshop



What was done extra for BayMax

• On request, they checked and greased all moving brake parts and cleaned rear drums
• Readjusted the clutch a little more to make it smoother to use.
• Changed oil and oil filter (only because I'd revved the daylights out). Remember stock oil is Semi-Synthetic not Fully synthetic.
• Service Centre also insisted and fitted a RAT MESH at a cost of 1k. It was a simple metal panel to seal the air-con vent to prevent rats from getting into the system.

Total Service cost including oil change Rs.2544/-
Please note - I do not like having my car washed or polished at service I do this myself and therefore those charges were not included.

[valhallen.282]

--JUMBO UPDATE for Audio - 4 parts--

PART ONE - Audio Quality

Audio Quality - This is among the best stock Audio systems I've heard to date in the price bracket. Very easily rivalling the systems that come on the likes of the Superb and the Volvo even! The base Audi's cannot hold a candle to it. Now, that's a surprising thing. Even for me. I CATEGORICALLY waited to wear in the speakers to see if issues and generally flat spots would show up.

Nope. In the front seats - the soundstage is slightly forward. Like you're sitting in front of a concert stage. Stereo Imaging is clean and there isn't much crosstalk that is noticeable. It generally sounds as though the audio is coming from the left most edge of the glovebox on the left and just at the driver's console on the right. Instrument separation is strangely clear for a factory system. Vocals are rarely muddied up by heavy mid-bass notes. It does lack frequency response below 50hz. But you really cannot complain considering how underpowered and tiny those components are;

The settings: +2 Bass and +3 Treble with Flat EQ and speed sensitive volume set to +2.
Audio tests were done via two of my devices a Lumia 630 and a OnePlus 5( both devices come with a very low noise floor and balanced audio) via both Bluetooth (AAC audio) and line in.
I also attempted to use PowerAMP and USB DAC mode via Android Auto but it would not let me. Aux-in mode was set to Quiet.
Rarely did I have much distortion - unless attempting to push 40-60hz frequencies which the drivers are clearly not built for..

Rock classics from the likes of Eagles, Doors, Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd - never really had any flat spots. Sounds were warm and clear. It was especially amazing listening to The Wall by Pink Floyd on FLAC.

Hindi MP3's rarely saw the system falter. Everything from Ghazals to Dhinchak tracks were delivered with ease. Point to note though Tablas and Shehnai make the system struggle above level10. But that itself is TOO loud for average driving.

I'm a big fan of psychedelic trance and EDM. My psychedelic trance list had a mix of Infected Mushroom(Vicious Delicious) and Astrix(He.Art) to keep it simple. Both albums were as trippy as expected. Bass was clear. Even complex mid-bass and sub-bass portions of the tracks were delivered with ease. Something I've seen even crazily expensive systems struggle delivering. The forward soundstage really adds to the staging they tend to do with their audio. EDM was actually a streaming test. Playing off Mixcloud/Soundcloud saw a small loss in performance and an increase in jarring caused by track compression. It's clear the system does not employ any form of compressed stream reclamation software like what the Sony and Pioneer head units have. But, at this price point you cannot complain about things like that too much.

Bluetooth streaming is a REAL Pain. The compression REALLY kills audiophile grade stuff. My mum's FLAC copy of ABBA sounded SO much better on the line-in than it did on the Bluetooth connection. I'm still trying to force the system to stream via USB. Hopefully ill find a way to do that. On the upside the inbuilt DAC is REALLY good. So plugging in some music into the SD-Card should help. But note the system DOES NOT play FLAC as of writing this. I hope they include it in a future update. For how to put music onto the SD-Card while not losing navigation read PART THREE

PART TWO - 1750.2 update

I got a call from the service centre letting me know that they have received the 1750.2 update today. Though mine is a 1740.1 variant and this is categorically meant for the older cars like the S-Cross, Ciaz, Baleno, Ertiga, Brezza and the new DZire - I decided to risk it and try the update out! It's been mentioned here->




GOOD NEWS. System boot time has improved. ACC->Music->Start car->restart music no longer takes a full reboot. The system simply powers on and continues where it had stopped. But I found that I didn't always want to use Android Auto for my music as unbeknownst to most people streaming happens via Bluetooth AAC streaming which is slightly detrimental to quality.

Note: Streaming quality is determined by the head unit. Therefore, even if you have Android Oreo on your device with selectable Bluetooth encoding. The system will not accept anything higher than AAC streaming via SBC. To understand why this is important read more here ->

PART THREE - Music on SD Card

Complaint: Play music that is not streamed without losing AA functionality.
Solution: Store onto the SD-Card play from head unit.
Problem: Head unit will not read any SD card for map data.
Solution:
Download Map Data for car from here->
Unzip the data to a memory card directly (do not unzip to folder and copy. it DOES NOT WORK)
Make sure your memory card is ABOVE a class 6 - Class 10 SDHC or SDXC also work

Now in the car - start HU - wait for "No Guidance"


Eject SD Card


Go to setting from main page -> scroll down -> Reset to Factory



Turn off car (1 minute if you are on software version BELOW 1740; 3 minutes for 1750)


Get your SD card with data on it. I bought this SanDisk 32 Gb card with adapter. It works perfectly.


Insert into HU BEFORE you turn the car ON


Wait for the system to boot up and read you card. It has to say "No Guidance" again.

Note my picture says 87.5 a non-tuned frequency. this is because the HU was reset.

Tap the top left square (Radio / Media) and switch to media and select SD Card


You SD Card music should now start playing

Part FOUR - Changing Navigation Language

Problem: I HATE the English India voice navigation. They really need to improve it!
Solution: Change the language (It is very simple and stupid)

Home Screen -> Settings -> Language




Change to UK English

[Leoshashi]

Congratulations on your latest purchase, and I must say, the review is extremely well written too.

Originally Posted by valhallen.282

Other attachments that I'm not too well versed with I'm sure someone would be kind enough to explain ->

The first one is the ABS actuator assembly, while the 2nd one is the ECM.

Originally Posted by valhallen.282

Speaking of washer - The heck does this wash? It sprays straight down.. and leaks while the car is in motion! Good lord!
P.S. I did not use the washer at all! See the run of water across the middle of the rear windshield. Service guy says it's because there's washer fluid in the line that gets sprayed when you brake or accelerate hard.

Well this isn't normal at all. This issue of leaking washer fluid happened in most of the Marutis we have owned, and replacement of the nozzle solves it.

Originally Posted by valhallen.282

What was done extra for BayMax

• Service Centre also insisted and fitted a RAT MESH at a cost of 1k. It was a simple metal panel to seal the air-con vent to prevent rats from getting into the system.

Would like to know more about this mesh. Does it cover the fresh air intake??

[valhallen.282]

responses in bold

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Congratulations on your latest purchase, and I must say, the review is extremely well written too.

my thanks

The first one is the ABS actuator assembly, while the 2nd one is the ECM.
once again

Well this isn't normal at all. This issue of leaking washer fluid happened in most of the Marutis we have owned, and replacement of the nozzle solves it.
turns out this is quite normal on the Ignis; especially like me if you have a habit of keeping the reservoir full

Would like to know more about this mesh. Does it cover the fresh air intake??

Yes, the mesh covers the fresh air-intake. This is placed under the cladding below the passenger side wiper. much to my displeasure, there is no mounting point there and it has been glued on using metal paste.

[Dr.Naren]

Congrats. Ignis is a good city hatch. I found it pretty stable even on highways. Not to forget the brilliant 1.2L K series engine under the hood

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Would like to know more about this mesh. Does it cover the fresh air intake??

We had a dead rat inside AC system in our old Alto K10. We could not live with that smell even after cleaning everything, it was there for few weeks. The dealer installed a small metal mesh later. This was under the wiper compartment panels.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by valhallen.282

much to my displeasure, there is no mounting point there and it has been glued on using metal paste.

Ya, that's expected, since this is an ingenious jugaad, rather than an OEM option. Still much better than having a stinking dead rat inside the cabin IMO.

Regards,
Shashi

[aerohit]

You talked about adjusting clutch - does Ignis P have hydraulic or cable clutch?