[procrj]

Found a nice place to relax in South goa and did just that for 5 days.

Beach > Food > Books > Food > Sleep > Beach > Books > Food > Music > Sleep, this was our routine for 5 days and it was probably the most relaxing vacation. Talpona beach is a quiet, relatively unknown beach in south goa and Neelchand is one of the 3 beach properties that exist on that stretch of the beach. While they do have two rooms, other 6 are beach shacks and we opted for one with unrestricted view of the sea. The food at the inhouse restaurant is good, Subodh and his team ensure that they take care of you and customize dishes as needed. For dinner, we drove to German Bakery close to Palolem the first day and we ended up going there everyday - good food, great service and some very tasty cakes.

Beach view of Neelchand


View from the cafe


Cafe + Huts


Talpona Sunset


Just checking in



5 days just zipped by and we headed to Kumta, where we caught up with friends and had some more fun amidst sun, sand and sea. We also managed to visit the Karwar Naval base, spend some time on a ship and enjoy a meal at the picturesque NOI.

Onward journey was via Chitradurga - Shimoga - Honnavara - Karwar - Talpona.
Summary: 550 odd kms took about 9hrs of driving time, with a lot of cruising at 95kmph.

• Nelamangala - Chitradurga - Shimoga: V good roads, was on cruise control at 95-100kmph for most of this stretch after crossing Tumkur. 4 am start from BLR, breakfast stop at Shimoga at 7.50 am.
• Shimoga - Sagara - Honnavara: Good 2 lane roads, where the first 90kms can be covered in an hour and the next 70 odd kms takes about 90 min.
• Honnavara - Goa border: 4L or wide 2L in most stretches but still takes about 90min for 100kms. The tunnel and the flyover over Karwar beach stretch is open, gmaps doesn't doesn't know that the tunnel is open.

Return journey was Kumta - Kundapura - Agumbe - Jayapura - Balehonnur - Chikkamagaluru - Hassan - BLR
Summary: 500 odd kms, 9hrs 15min of drive time but was a lot more tiring vs Shimoga route.

• Kumta - Kundapura: Good roads, decent speeds possible but cant maintain speed due to two/three wheelers, cows etc.
• Kundapura - Agumbe: V good wide 2L roads, not much traffic, was a breeze to drive
• Agumbe - Koppa - Jayapura: Usual twisty roads with some broken sections that pop up suddenly. Lots of cows on the road
• Jayapura - Balehonnur - Chikkamagaluru: Roads have deteriorated after the monsoon (last visited in Feb 2023), lots of patchy sections with some deep potholes. Traffic was also high vs regular weekend traffic, made it a very tedious drive.
• Chikkamagaluru - Belur - BLR: Lots of traffic, decided to slow down and let the road racers fight it out amongst themselves till we got to Hassan bypass. After that it was an easy drive home.

Total distance covered in the trip -~1500 kms
Average F.E returned - ~15.2 kmpl (AC always on, fully loaded car)

Odo stands at 25.9K kms and the only issue with the car is the rear suspension, which tends to bounce around a bit if the car is not fully loaded. Thinking about upgrading the suspension setup to that of the 2022 XL6.
Now that night driving issue is fixed, the car is turning out to be a really good companion for both city and long drives.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by procrj

There is signifcant improvement in visiblity with the fogs. First 6s is just Low beam, and after that its Low beam + Osram fogs.
Definitely recommend the Osram 50W at Rs 5.1K price point

https://Youtu.be/pqjQbZQjRkg

I am amazed by the sheer wealth of practical knowledge on TBHP .
@procrj & Leoshashi: I have also bought the Valeo fogs off Boodmo without any offer for ~1800 , and awaiting delivery.

BUT, the LED bulbs are seemingly either unavailable or difficult to source easily online. What do you recommend?

Philips Ultinon: Only 15w compared to the Osram 50w. Is that okay?
https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-11366u90cwx2-55600893/

Osram 50w: https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-h8_h...of_2-58298702/
The one you bought is not available anymore and are 9K on other sites!
https://www.carstudio.com/products/o...6211ww-50w-12v

Also, how has been your experience with the integrated fan noise (as pointed out by Leoshashi)? Again, how have you tied off the dangling adaptor?

Any thoughts please?

[procrj]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

What do you recommend?
Osram 50w: The one you bought is not available anymore and are 9K on other sites!

Couple of folks from BLR did buy the same last week on boodmo for 5.2K, but it was fastest finger first as very few pieces were listed. Remember reading on the LED lighting thread that 50W are being sold in Delhi Kashmeera gate for 5K. Would be best to get somone in Delhi to source them for you if possible as Shashi had mentioned that the Osram 50W is much better than the Ultinon.

Other options are:
1. Pick up the Osram 25W which is listed on amazon for 3.2K, but these are 6000K temp range vs 4200K offered by Osram - https://www.amazon.in/OSRAM-46211CW-...dp/B08L91YL5F/

2. Blaupunkt 9X Pro, which I had almost purchased. Again these are 6000K temp range vs 4200K offered by Osram - https://www.amazon.in/Blaupunkt-H8-H...dp/B0B5Y1PZF1/

IMO, best bet is still the Osram 50W since its 4200K and its Osram. Hence would suggest you source them from Delhi or call up a few of the BLR dealers and check if they are able to match/come close to the 5K price.

Also, how has been your experience with the integrated fan noise

Barely audible, need to listen real hard to hear this when driving.

Again, how have you tied off the dangling adaptor?

Used this clip to hold the adaptor in place. You could just get this at any MASS as they will have it in stock. Might not be same part number but a variation of this clip.

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by procrj

Used this clip to hold the adaptor in place. You could just get this at any MASS as they will have it in stock. Might not be same part number but a variation of this clip.

Sweet! Thank you for this. Solves a minor issue for me w.r.t to holding the LED adapter for my car's fog lamp setup! Thank you!

[raj4466]

Originally Posted by procrj

There is signifcant improvement in visiblity with the fogs. First 6s is just Low beam, and after that its Low beam + Osram fogs.
Definitely recommend the Osram 50W at Rs 5.1K price point

https://Youtu.be/pqjQbZQjRkg

Those fog lamps needs to have aiming levels checked. Its appears too high in the video. Even in the garage photo, one can see there is a 1 ft height difference vs the OEM fogs. Bring them down a bit turning the plastic screw on the fog lamp housing.

[procrj]

Happy new year folks. Wishing everyone more miles and memories in 2024.

Odo stands at 28.5K kms at 2.5 year mark, and the car has been quietly doing its duty. A few short trips over the last few months has kept the odo ticking over and there is nothing much to report. No new niggles, no issues, just smooth sailing. Planning to get 30K service done in the next couple of weeks and maybe some detailing as well.



After driving the car for 2.5yrs, I have realized that there are a few flat spots in the rev range and low end torque is nothing great. Downshift and rev hard has the been the only way to get moving, especially if you have 4-5 people on board with luggage. While searching for ways and means to address both of the above issues, I stumbled upon throttle controllers in 2022. Read up a bit and then ignored it as I started thinking about a remap. After discussion with a few folks, decided that a remap on N.A petrol might not really deliver a lot of low end grunt.

Then came Jimny and ultimate9's evcX throttle controller. Read up more on the same, compared and contrasted. After 3 months of dilly dallying, finally bit the bullet and got an evc throttle controller for the car. Installation was a 10 min job and the first drive was very satisfying. Over the last week, I did play around with various settings available and drove the car around the city and a few short highway stretches. Will continue to experiment over the next few months and will share feedback after I have logged a good mix of city and highway driving with evc.

A quick look at stats for the last couple of years made me realize that my average cost per km (fuel only) was 7.61 in 2023 vs 7.81 in 2022. Average F.E in 2023 was 13.40 kmpl (38% city, 40% highway and 22% mixed driving conditions) while avg. F.E in 2022 was 13.33 kmpl. Highway drives average 14 kmpl while city drives average 12 kmpl. Lower F.E numbers is a result of my driving style and car load (typically 3/4 + luggage during highway drives). I prefer driving early mornings, mostly empty roads, where I end up cruising at 100-110 kmph with short bursts for overtaking. I have tried cruising at 80-90 kmph but I end up missing the growl of the N.A engine. Hoping that evc also helps improve the F.E by a wee bit.

Kickstarted 2024 with a few short birding drives to the outskirts of the city. Fresh air, empty roads, early morning sunshine, lots of chittering avians and a whole lot of greenery, nothing better than this dopamine fix to kick start your day/weekend. A few pics from the outings last week.

White Storks



Black winged Stilts


Golden Oriole Male


Eurasian Hoppoe


Marsh Harriers
We got lucky, had the opportunity to observe 4 marsh harriers in their natural habitat. They were just lazing around the lake, drifting around in circles, flying very low over water. Light was bad as it was very cloudy and my 600 lens needed service, hence had to make do with the 70-300. Hence the low detail as the birds were some distance away from the trail that we were following.






Easy drive


Looking forward to an awesome 2024.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by procrj

Then came Jimny and ultimate9's evcX throttle controller. Read up more on the same, compared and contrasted. After 3 months of dilly dallying, finally bit the bullet and got an evc throttle controller for the car. Installation was a 10 min job and the first drive was very satisfying. Over the last week, I did play around with various settings available and drove the car around the city and a few short highway stretches. Will continue to experiment over the next few months and will share feedback after I have logged a good mix of city and highway driving with evc.

Lovely pictures! Do let us know how the EVC pans out. .

[procrj]

30K service update

Since the car had run 10K since the last service, planned to get 30K service done even though the odo is a few kms short of 29K. Decided to get the same at Arena and not at Nexa, hence called Arena service and confirmed that they have 0W16 oil in stock. Reached there at 9.40 am and the intake bay was chock a block with cars. Spoke to the SA and asked him to fast track service and take the car straight to bay, else I was driving to Nexa. The manager of the unit was walking by and heard me, he immediately got things rolling and work started while the job card was being created. Took about an hour to replace oil, filter, inspect and clean brakes, top up fluids, run a diagnostic scan. Final bill was Rs 5.2K off which Rs 521 was knocked off as reward points redemption and net cost was Rs 4750.

Front brake pads look good for another 15K kms, but observed some uneven wear on rear tyres. These were recently moved from the front to rear and I'm assuming that after another 10K kms, the set of tyres in the front will also start showing similar wear. I was hoping that the tyres will last 50K kms but that seems a little far fetched. Looks like I will have to start saving up for a tyre change in early 2025.



During the road test, the service advisor was surprised by the throttle response and he said "pickup ide saar (car has good pickup)" 3 times during the short drive. I had removed evc display before heading to the service center but the setting was still at U3

Having driven about ~1300kms after getting evc, I must say that I am really enjoying the drive now. Before, there was always a worm in my head about moving back to a diesel. With evc in U3/U4 mode, which has kind of become my default driving mode for both city and highways, I do feel like I am driving a car that’s almost a diesel. Good throttle response and torque availability makes it so much easier to drive. Added bonus is the increase in F.E that evc is able to deliver - Approx 10% increase in city conditions and sligthly more during highway driving. Will compile more data with time and post separately on the throttle controller thread.

Got the car washed and spent a couple of hours wiping down, claying and then coating with Optimum Optiseal. It had been a while since the car received some TLC and its very satisfying to see the end result.



There are a lot of micro scratches on most panels, couple of big ones on the front and rear bumper, and paint spray on roof + left side doors. These stand out when the car is clean and its getting harder to ignore them. Will be reaching out to a few folks to check on costs for paint correction and maybe ceramic as well.

Few pics of the car from a short drive today morning.

[sagarpadaki]

The uneven tyre wear definitely looks like a bad alignment issue. I suggest you get the alignment checked at a reputed outside tyre shop.

[ashis89]

Agree with Sagar. The outer thread is almost gone and it seems like a positive camber issue. Is the wear out same on both the rear tyres (then it might be alignment issue else a suspension issue)?

[procrj]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

The uneven tyre wear definitely looks like a bad alignment issue. I suggest you get the alignment checked at a reputed outside tyre shop.

I have been getting tyres aligned at a known place for the last few years and he does keep his quipment calibrated and knows his stuff. Need to check with him about this.

Originally Posted by ashis89

The outer thread is almost gone and it seems like a positive camber issue. Is the wear out same on both the rear tyres (then it might be alignment issue else a suspension issue)?

Observed similar wear pattern on both tyres. Now i'm wondering if I need to get alignment done more frequently. I have got it done thrice in the last 29K kms.

[ex-innova-guy]

I had a similar experience in my Innova a couple of years back. The steering had a left-pull and had naturally eaten out the tyres. The culprit was a ball joint which had to be replaced. Please get it checked.

[Zen_forever]

Originally Posted by procrj

30K service update


Front brake pads look good for another 15K kms, but observed some uneven wear on rear tyres. These were recently moved from the front to rear and I'm assuming that after another 10K kms, the set of tyres in the front will also start showing similar wear. I was hoping that the tyres will last 50K kms but that seems a little far fetched. Looks like I will have to start saving up for a tyre change in early 2025.

Tyre uneven wear seems to be similar to that I observed in my car. The rear axle was replaced under warranty.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5655673 (Maruti Ertiga : Official Review)

[Ashtoncastelino]

Originally Posted by procrj

I have been getting tyres aligned at a known place for the last few years, and he does keep his equipment calibrated and knows his stuff. Need to check with him about this.

Observed similar wear pattern on both tyres. Now i'm wondering if I need to get alignment done more frequently. I have got it done thrice in the last 29K kms.

How often do you carry out wheel rotations?

I had faced a similar issue on my 2006 Swift, but I think the damage was done before I took ownership, and even the previous owners were not aware of the same.

Link (Azure Grey 2006 Maruti-Suzuki Swift VXi | Ownership Review)

I checked in multiple shops to eliminate the wrong calibration on the equipment and also cross-checked their target values with the service manual, but still every shop machine readings were consistent. The only way I found the root cause was because my mechanic used a tool to measure the distance between the two rear tyres.

The tool was used to lock the measurement taken from one of the coloured lines, and the same distance must be of the other coloured line. If one of the lines is off the measurement, you need to dive deeper into the issue and check the Spindle as well. Ever since this axle issue I've decided to get the alignment, rotation and balancing for front tyres done every 5000 kms.

Hope this helps
Ashton Castelino