[noopster1008]

Originally Posted by BLACNWYTE

Part III

Congratulation BFP - Big Fat Panda.
How do you see the new version of your vehicle, 2020 version ?

[BLACNWYTE]

Originally Posted by sabujsen

It's a great city car (not SUV)

I too maintain the same view. It's a car dressed up as an SUV, I call it a PSUV (Pseudo-SUV)

Originally Posted by Futurestan

Haven't faced any incidents of tyre bulging with the Goodyear tyres till now that you are facing.
I sorely miss the Android Auto feature on our Creta.
I would also like to know what is the fuel efficiency you are getting in the city and on the highway.
Wishing you many more happy miles in the future ahead!

Its good to hear that you have not faced any issued till now with GY tyres. And I sincerely hope it would continue to be so till you want to replace the tyres. Except for the manufacturing defect part I don't have much complaints with GYs. They have provided me with sufficient grip and traction (both wet and dry), lesser tyre noise (at <90 kmph) and decent life. Now also (>22k kms) I have about 5-6mm tread depth left. Even though Android auto and Mirror link are present I haven't used both as it has some problems connecting with the Chinese phones I use. I tried it with my newer Vivo phone and it displayed a message saying 'Android Auto failed to initiate'. Haven't tried it since.

I do my fuel efficiency calculations by tankful to tankful method using Fuelio App. I have got a minimum of about 10.6 kmpl (mainly city driving with a lot of idling with ACC on and before the first service) and a maximum of 16 kmpl (mostly highway run. Where the highway in question is the dual carriage way from Kochi to TVM where the maximum average speed I can get is 45 kmph). Overall I get about 12.9 kmpl (50:50 City: Highway). Attaching screen shot;

Originally Posted by noopster1008

How do you see the new version of your vehicle, 2020 version ?

Initially I hated the design. Now It has kind of grown on me, yes, even that rear end. I feel that even with the current headlamp setup, they could have retained the facelift grill. As for features the more the merrier. Quick glance had me thinking that the new one looked shorter in comparison to the older one but a proper look has corrected that too. In comparison to my 2017 SX+ the 2020 SX has way too many features including that big panoramic sunroof for a premium of about 2 lakhs. My car do seem bare bones in comparison and it surprises me that I'm not bothered. Maybe I love my car way too much.

[chiefpk]

Great and interesting review ! Glad that you covered all the details and yes no car is perfect, it has its own set of pros and cons. Coming to the tyres, i would suggest you to change them to MRF/Bridgestone/Michellins since the existing ones can cause a major problem on some highway drive.
Do keep the thread updated. Would be glad to know more about your Big FAt Panda.

[BLACNWYTE]

Tyre problems notwithstanding, our Big Fat Panda lazily rolled over this particular milestone today.



P. S. : The service center guys have submitted a report to GY that all four tyres are faulty due to manufacturing defect. (as I was told) I'm now waiting for a response from the manufacturer.

[BLACNWYTE]

I just realized that I haven't uploaded the images of the faulty tyres yet. So here they are, as the service center guys have marked it with yellow paint. The deformations can be felt by hand prominently but I don't know if its really visible in photos.

Right Rear Tyre has a sidewall bulge





Right Front Tyre also has a sidewall bulge





Left Rear Tyre has a sidewall depression (the bulge is to the inside of the tyre I guess)





Left Front Tyre has three sidewall depressions





P.S. - No reply from the manufacturer as of yet. I have contacted the ASS again today and they told that they will update me after contacting the manufacturer. Anybody got any idea how I can expedite this? Will mailing to Hyundai CC help?

[ashvek3141]

Originally Posted by BLACNWYTE

P.S. - No reply from the manufacturer as of yet. I have contacted the ASS again today and they told that they will update me after contacting the manufacturer. Anybody got any idea how I can expedite this? Will mailing to Hyundai CC help?

I would have said to just shoot a mail to the Hyundai Customer care if it was a 2020 Creta. But since, the car is already a generation old, the response to your issue will be lackluster at best. I remember escalating an issue to the Hyundai CC only once when my car was just under 6 months, and within 24 hrs I had received a called from their head-office (somewhere from Delhi) and in a hour from the local Service center.
Even after that, the service center used to honour my request promptly with the fear that I might escalate the issue. This continued till my car was under the factory warranty. However, the effect started diminishing post that. I wouldn't say it was bad; but that initial promptness wasn't there. Also, mails to the CC when directly in their SPAM box (I presume).
But, you can give it a try. Since, your's is already an open issue, it might just click!

[BLACNWYTE]

They say that misery loves company and I am experiencing it first hand. Tyre issues apart, today our Big Fat Panda met with her first accident!

Part of it is my fault, part pure accident and part intentional. There are a couple of points which many TBhpians might look down upon, so kindly excuse for I did what I thought was good.

As part of our usual monthly visit to my in-laws' place, I, my wife and two and half year old son started from Kochi to Trivandrum in our Panda. Since my kid threw big tantrums being bound for long journeys, he was on the lap of his mother in the backseat who was belted. (Plain stupid, I know). Just before reaching Trivandrum, my wife unbuckled for the ease of feeding our child and I reduced the speed to 40-50 kmph. (In hindsight, I should have stopped). Soon enough there was a sambar spilling incident and ruckus that followed, I missed a truck in front of me panic braking to avoid another car which decided on a quick change in direction. By the time I was back to my senses, I was too close to the truck for my liking and I had the following options;

• Panic brake and stop avoiding an accident but cause my kid and unbelted wife to fall and hit the door/ centre armrest console. (I still can't imagine this and I shudder at this thought).
• Veer left/ right to avoid the truck. Then it will be the trees or oncoming traffic. So NO.
• Slowly brake, simultaneously shouting to wife to secure our son and then increase the braking gradually and hope to stop before hitting the truck. I chose this.

Sadly I hit the truck before I could stand on the brakes but thankfully the speed was reduced to under 10-15 kmph. Huge thud and bump and car stalled. First of all I checked my wife and kid and they were OK. Didn't even bump their head. Thank God. My kid was totally scared and was bawling at top of his lungs. I got more worried seeing this than the car. Thankfully no other vehicles were following me. I got out and checked the damage and my heart sank further seeing the beautiful face of my Panda so damaged. The truck driver and cleaner came and inquired if I and others were alright. Since it was my fault and I was going to claim insurance so I told them it was alright and they left.

Now, I assessed the damage and first observations were if there was any fluid leakage. Thankfully none. The hood was bent, Hyundai logo broken and fell off, bumper dislodged, left fender and number plate dented and bent and some paint loss on the hood at the point of impact. Thankfully no lights were damaged. Next I called my regular SA at Kochi MGF and asked about service centers with body repair shop at Trivandrum and he guided me to Popular Hyundai near Pappanamcode. He also said if there was no fluid leakage and temp doesn't shoot up it is safe to drive to the repair center. I got back in the vehicle and cranked her up and she started without a problem. Usual dance of lights on the dash and once everything was settled I moved her to the shoulder and kept idling for about 10 mins with ACC on. Everything was working as before the incident and no temperature variation was noticed on the MID.

That is when it hit me that none of the airbags has deployed, I don't know whether to be happy or concerned. Since it was a slow deceleration and comparatively mild impact it may not have triggered the deployment. On the other hand the truck had under-run bars and the whole front fascia of the car collided with the truck and still it didn't deploy. Are my sensors faulty?

Anyway I decided to continue till the service centre in this condition and asked my FIL to come and pick up my wife and kid on the way. This was when I found out that my horn has stopped working too
So finally by 4 PM I reached the body workshop of Popular Hyundai and had a decent patient look at the damage. Even though the headlamps were scratchless, the plastic mounts (footing) of both were broken and the ASC told that they have to be replaced as a unit. There was a slight confusion with my Policy Bazaar sourced insurance and it was cleared by a call to my contact at the insurance company. Hopefully I am getting a cashless settlement. The ASC has quoted the initial estimate of about 70k and once the insurance surveyor comes tomorrow and opens the car up they will be able to give a more accurate quote.

Now after tomorrow the holidays for Onam starts and work will resume after that only. So I don't think I will be getting the car back before the second week of September. The Service Manager has assured to try his best and source the required parts asap and give the car back within one week. There will be no denting or repair work. New parts will be sourced, painted and put in.

In retrospect I like to think that with this episode our (Me and Panda) bad times has ended and now there is just happy miles ahead. Blessed are the ones goes the entire life time without accidents and lucky are the ones who walk away from one too. I thank my stars, count my blessings and is walking away a wiser man. Now onwards the rules are;

1. Kid will always be in the child seat/ booster seat with belt.

2. Seatbelts for all and it stays on for all the time. If not, the car doesn't move.

3. Food breaks only when the car is stationary. We can afford the lost 30 mins.

This time there was no resistance in implementing these rules. Had to have an accident to understand the importance.

P.S. - Net connection is a bit spotty so I will be uploading the pictures of the damage as a separate post.

[abhi_tjet]

Originally Posted by BLACNWYTE

today our Big Fat Panda met with her first accident!
Part of it is my fault,
This time there was no resistance in implementing these rules. Had to have an accident to understand the importance.

Glad to know that you and family members are safe. Car will be repaired fine. Don't worry on that. Hyundai service is quite good.

Now, regarding accident, as you also said, it might be destiny so that we understand the importance of life, following rules, etc.
It takes guts to accept one's fault. You are a wiser man already.
All the best for future drives in your Panda.

[BLACNWYTE]

Couldn't upload the pictures earlier, so here they are;

The impact zone.



RHS. The quarter panel/fender also has some dent and misalignment.



LHS. Thankfully the quarter panel here is undamaged as per my observation.



LHS broken headlamp assembly footing/ base. This is made of plastic and the ASC is going for complete replacement of the HL unit.



RHS headlamp assembly footing/base. Same as that of LHS.



RHS side once again. Impact was more angled towards the right side I guess since this is the most damaged area.



Odo at the time of accident. She is due for regular service in about 1400 odd kms more.



The broken Hyundai. I'm keeping this as a reminder to always be careful and prepared.



I have not seen the engine bay, so can't really comment on the condition of front cross member, the condenser, radiator fan and locking mechanism of the hood. That will be known today. The locking mechanism of the hood is most likely shot and the horn is gone for sure. I am expecting a call by midday after the insurance surveyor make his assessment.

To be updated.

[BLACNWYTE]

Update as on today:


They have started the work on the car after the extended holiday weekend (associated with Onam) and has finally opened the hood and removed the bumpers on 2nd August to assess the internal damage. There is a bend on the front cross member, Radiator fins have bents and is to be replaced, condenser needs to be replaced, and AC fan needs to be replaced. No intrusion to engine or other components. Insurance surveyor has cleared and approved every work. I'm also getting some other scratches touched up along with this. The radiator and condenser are unavailable with them so they have express ordered them. Hopefully I will get back my Panda in all her glory by next week.

Fingers crossed.

[BLACNWYTE]

Final Update:

So after 15 days in the workshop I got back my Panda on 11/09/2020. Damaged (even the slightest damage) parts were replaced and some other minor touch ups were done. My FIL drove it down to Kochi on 12/09/2020 and finally I saw her in the flesh after 15 days and 23 hours since I dropped her off for repairs.

First things I checked for was the panel gaps, fit and finish of the parts and painting. It was very good and kind of met my expectations. The colour being white, I was not that concerned about colour matching. The work was decently done and the panel gaps are what they were, when I got the car from the showroom; fairly tight and consistent. To put me at ease, my FIL had called on the way and told me that, she was driving like new. But that would be decided by me after driving her. I opened up the hood and had a good look inside. Everything on that front support panel has been replaced including the support panel itself. This will include Hood, both headlamps, horn, right fender, bumper and cladding, grill, Hyundai logo, radiator, condenser, radiator fan,coolant reservoir assy and the fiber frame support. I'm not sop sure about the front cross member. They had told me that it only have a slight bend which can be corrected but from the WIP pictures it seemed to have been replaced by a new one. Rear bumper was repainted and some old scratches removed. Sadly I lost my LTD sticker in the process.

Total cost came to Rs. 115k out of which parts cost Rs. 88.5k and Labour cost 26.5k. I paid about Rs. 8k (2k compulsory deductible and remaining for coolant, AC gas charging and other works and an affidavit cost) and remaining was paid by insurance provider. (Excuse the poor quality of the picture since the print out was faded)





During the weekend I got to driver her about 100 kms and the first thing I noticed was the sound of horn has changed. My wife tells me it sounds the same, but what does she know. I feel the new one, even though the ASS claims it is the one for pre facelift model, is louder and less sweeter than the old one. When I told her this, she told me that it's better that the horn is louder now and when I started to complain for the third time she retorted that, had I focused more on my driving then the horn would never have had to be changed. That shut me up for good.

Second grouse is that there is a loud 'tak-dum' sound from the LH headlamp when I put on the high beams or flash the pass light.It was not there for the previous headlamps or for that matter from the new RH one. I will have to get this checked from the ASS. Apart from these two issues, she has not missed a beat. The cabin is as silent as before, no rattles (touchwood) and for a change the Hyundai ASS after vacuuming has forgotten to put that slippery interior polish anywhere. Now for some pictures of the beauty after the plastic surgery.

RH side



RH Panel gap.



LH side fit and finish.



LH side.



Front three quarters.

[BLACNWYTE]

Update : Fourth Service - 3 year/ 30000 kms

So it has been almost 10k kms since last service (ODO Reading - 24355 kms) and owing to my regular HASS at MGF Kochi shutting down, I was trying my luck with Popular Hyundai Vyttila. This is my first paid service. I called them up and booked an appointment for 10/10/2020 and they promptly took it. I reached there with the Panda and I see a huge rush for service. Anyway after waiting for 5-10 mins one SA came over to me and I told him about the works I wanted done on the car. As soon as I mentioned the shoddy work done by their Trivandrum branch, he at first tried to excuse themselves from it by saying that the car has already run quite bit after it and after I showed them the poor painting and residue paint on the hatch beading and B pillars, he quietly agreed with me. The sound from headlamps turned out to be from the projector beam actuators and even though I haven't heard it from my older lamps, I have decided to leave it for now as I'm covered under warranty till 2022.

I had asked them to touch up some scratches inside the door-sill and on the fender where some paint was chipped off, most probably while installing the headlamps. Rest I wanted the regular 3yr service done, along with an internal sanitization. The estimate provided to me was for a whopping Rs. 8800/- and I was shocked. I expected it to be around Rs. 3-4k as per the Hyundai service calculator App and I notified the SA regarding the same. He told me that the brake overhauling (read inspection, cleaning and greasing if required) was separate from PMS (periodical Maintenance Service) and is chargeable (PMS + Brake O/H ~ Rs. 4600/-). The internal sanitization was quoted at Rs. 1800/-. Oil Change and related consumables at Rs. 2400/-. I reluctantly agreed with this and leave.

I get a call around 4 in the afternoon regarding the progress of service from the SA and he says that the Panda is cranking a bit slow and the starter motor is on its way out. Now I regularly monitor the startup time and I have not found any noticeable delay in engine cranking once I push the start button, maybe half a second delay. I suspect it to be the now three year old battery and anyway I told the SA to let it be and if I observe more than one second delay I'll get it replaced (expert advice please!). The SA told me that the battery is in perfect condition. He also told me the the Air intake filter needs to be replaced and I give the go ahead for that.

In the meantime I'm getting messages from Hyundai over Whatsapp regarding my service booking and job card. +1 to HMIL for that. And in a couple of hours after that I get a Whatsapp message from Hyundai that the service is complete and the bill was amounting to Rs. 5953/-, a bit on the higher side but OK and less than the initial quote. I reach the ASS promptly and I took a quick inspection and found that the touch up part were not attended to and the rectification of the shoddy paint job was not done to my satisfaction. They started to give excuses and I honestly gave up. I'll get it sorted by myself or from outside. Some stain from the side cladding polish was on the door which they got cleaned. I settled the bill and drove home.



Pleasant Surprise: On the drive home I observed that there is one additional readout on the MID now, the service reminder, both in Kms and days left. It was not there earlier. Maybe they updated the software. It would have been better if they could have added the DTE and Avg. FE readouts too.



This morning I got a decent look at her in daylight and found overall cleaning to be satisfactory and they have put the old air filter in the boot along with two sachets of car shampoo. I also had the pleasure of BHPing her up again as the last one was lost during the bumper repainting.







P.S.: The tyre issue is still pending with MGF as Popular people told me some story that the dealer who sold the car will only be able to sort it out. So I guess, I will take it up with MGF when I can. Next is the insurance renewal, which is due in a month and as I have lost the NCB due to the claim, I'm not sure how much will I need to shell out.

[BLACNWYTE]

After the service, I had parked the car and it remained unused till yesterday. I had to go with my father to his native and it was our usual 45km round trip. About 20 kms into the journey I was feeling power loss at times for a second or so. Initially I ignored it and thought maybe it's because of my laid back driving. But on the return journey the power loss was frequent and I saw that the CEL has started to blink. I stopped the vehicle to the side and as soon as I stopped the CEL went off and the engine was still idling. I revved for a bit and started again after about 4-5 kms the same power loss and CEL blinking started. Now I knew one of the cylinders were misfiring and that's leading to the power loss. I thought it could be a faulty spark plug.

But each time I bring the vehicle to a stop the CEL goes off and I resume journey. About the 3kms from my home the CEL comes on again and this time it's not blinking and stays on. So I called the Popular Hyundai Vyttila RSA and tell my issue. I also told them that I had done the service only two weeks prior and from their service center. They reach the spot within 15 mins. They take out the spark plugs after finding the cylinder misfire error through an OBD scan. One of the spark plugs seemd very corroded but after cleaning with sandpaper it appeared to be useable for a short period. Only one of the spark plugs seemd to be in decent condition. However, all four were cleaned and put back and I was advised to take the car to ASS for replacement of spark plugs.

Now I have to appreciate the quick response from the RSA since it was Pooja holidays and the showroom was closed and not a single mechanic wants to touch his/her tools on Pooja. These guys not only showed up, but checks the fault with OBD scan tool and once it was found to be cylinder misfire (second cylinder), they took out the spark plugs cleaned form and put them back so that I can drop my father off at home. Kudos to the RSA team of Popular Hyundai Vyttila. And in my hurry to get back home with my father I forgot to even ask their names. I owe them a big thank you.

As per their instructions I drop the car off at the ASS for the spark plugs replacement. Also I noticed that the usual 45km trip on the Odo was now showing a bit over 50kms. I thought maybe they recaliberated something and it was causing the error. I also wanted it checked. I went today morning to the ASS and encountered the best service experience so far from a Hyundai ASS.

The SA was a very pleasant guy, who listened patiently to my issue, asked me only relevant things like petrol filling and additives used if any. He told that usually spark plugs last for over 30k kms and issues happen only if there is bad fuel filled and mine was only at about 24.5k. I assured him that I only fill up from BP COCO pumps. I asked him why this was missed during the regular service and since the problem occurred within 100 kms after the service, the condition of the spark plugs may have been like that for sometime now. He didn't give me any BS and straight forward apologized for it and told me that it might have been missed during the service.

I asked him to get the spark plugs replaced and also informed about the behavior of odometer. After the work was done he came with me for a test drive and everything was OK. At his offer, we also took their company car (a Verna SX(O) AT diesel) for a test drive through the same route to check the Odo error. The error was not there but he asked me to bring the car back if I found any problems hence. The spark plugs replacement cost me Rs. 1442/- with labour.

Part number - 18855-10060 (2017 Creta spark plug assy)

The old spark plugs.


P. S. - I got to experience the ventilated seats in the Verna and I have to say that it's a nifty thing to have in our hot and humid climate.

[BLACNWYTE]

Insurance Update

I had earlier gone with New India Assurance (NIA) via Policy Bazaar and had good experience with the claim process. So this time also I decided to go ahead with PB and NIA. But the quote from NIA through PB for Zero Dip comprehensive insurance was over Rs. 40k with an IDV of 9 lakhs. This was more than the first insurance I bought at the time of registration. Maybe this was due to my claim this year. As I didn't want to go with other providers, I decided to check Coverfox.

Here I got the same insurance, Zero Dip, Comprehensive with IDV of 9 Lakhs from NIA at Rs. 28k. While I was furnishing the details, I get a call from an executive at Coverfox and offers me an additional Rs.2k discount for the same. So finally I got it renewed at Rs. 26k. I guess it's a decent enough IDV which is about 66% of the on-road price when I bought the car in 2017. The only major thing I lost here is the cashless claim and of course the NCB.

P.S.- I'm in no way associated with/promoting Coverfox or PB, my experiences with them are strictly for purchasing of policies and opinion is based on my personal experience only.

[batish]

Originally Posted by BLACNWYTE

.

Pleasant Surprise: On the drive home I observed that there is one additional readout on the MID now, the service reminder, both in Kms and days left. It was not there earlier. Maybe they updated the software.

Can you please ask your SA as to how he did it? When I sent mine to servicing, the SA told me "saar it's not possible, that might be a different variant"
Didn't want to argue with him so sent him the image of your MID. Still he gave lame excuses as to how he is unable to do it. At the end told him to give it to me in writing and this is what he wrote:



Can you please help me by asking your chap to make this chap understand how to do it?