[ashis89]

7 months and 2800 kms update



This was my second meeting with the Brezza when I went home for a few days. The run-in period was over and, the first as well as second service were already done.

The odo was at 2100 kms when I was handed over the keys. Over the next 10 days, I drove the car for 750 kms, including a trip to Bargarh and few short errands.

I will add to my previous observations as well as compare this car with my Seltos.


1. The engine fumbles when driven pedal to metal clearly showing the economy tuned engine doesn't like to be hurried. The mantra seems to be to go gentle on the throttle and move through the gears to make quick progress. Short gearing means I seldom have to downshift and the car chugged along happily without any struggle or knocking. Use of 1st gear felt like an overkill most of the times. But I missed a sixth gear all through the drive.

2. Power seems to taper between 2-3k and then regains some momentum beyond 3k. I did go beyond 4.5k a few times but didn't find much progress even though the engine sounds smooth and sweet! My turbo diesel has been a point and shoot machine, something which I keep missing on the petrols.

3. The suspension is very pliant for bad roads. A lot of roads had been damaged due to recent rains in OD. I could march through a lot of them broken sections and even few potholes without slowing down. Brezza is slightly better than the Seltos (which is running higher profile tyres).

4. The Brezza doesn't feel as planted on the road as the Kia. I guess it is the lighter car(and lighter engine over the wheels), narrower track and shorter wheelbase which contributes to the experience. The over sensitive steering doesn't help too. That said, body roll is in control. On the plus side, the car feels very agile in tight areas (provided one can master the steering).

Seltos is running at 110-120 before I know it, take little time to reach those speeds and feels confident at that range. Brezza is comfortable at 90-100 and takes time to gain speeds beyond that.

5. Twitchy steering is very light but doesn't inspire confidence as the speed builds up. I struggled with the non-retuning steering for a long time. This was the single biggest disappointment for me in the car.

6. Brakes good a very good job and feel more than adequate for the car's weight. Never struggled even under sudden braking or bad roads (unlike Seltos ABS which is it's Achilles heel).

5. AC is very good but due to large glass area, it does take time to chill it. It keeps the cabin cool at all times.

8. Never got a chance to push the tyres but I wonder if a better set can improve the handling. And I missed the rear wipers as the slightest of rains covered the rear hatch glass with muck.


9. Tall stance and good seating posture from the driver's seat ensures a comfortable ride. But the seats are hard and not comfortable beyond 4-5 hrs. I never felt this issue on the Seltos.

10. Large cabin with large glass area makes it very airy while also offering very good visibility all around. Has that extra headroom like our ex-WagonR. I could tilt and drink water comfortably from a 1L bottle while in the driver seat. On the Seltos, I can't drink the last 100ml as the bottle hits the roof. Neither car has sunroof and the driver seat is raised to the max height.

11. I got 14.5kmpl after driving for 400kms. But the car idled at a few spots when we were waiting, AC on at all times. Also 150 kms were undivided roads, 20 kms were village roads and 230 kms were 4 lane roads. I haven't refueled after the return leg but looking at the remaining fuel, the FE would be slightly higher this time.

10. Headlights are inadequate for undivided roads. Will think of some LED bulbs the next time I go home.

I noticed some fogging in the rear taillights when I washed the car. It went away on it's own after few hours. Didn't see this when I washed the car again after a few days.




Road conditions:
The Bhubaneswar - Badkera - Sambalpur/Gosala - Bargarh is in decent shape now. Badkera - Sambalpur is 80% complete and whatever is left(WIP), is in decent driveable condition. Bbsr - Badkera stretch has some broken patches due to continuous rains. It took me an hour extra for this route back in 2022 even though I could maintain higher speeds on my Seltos.

I stick to my stand - I would pick the Maruti any day for city use, Kia for highways.

Now some more pictures of my time with the car

City was getting ready for the Puja


Had an early lunch at Hotel Tapoban. Veg meals were ready good. Clean washrooms too.


Noticed these plastics for the first time. They are bio-degradable!


After covering 286 kms, we had a little more than half tank fuel. 550-600 km range is possible


Visited Samalei mandir


It was bright hot sunny throughout the trip except for the last half of the return leg where we kept getting intermittent rains.

From this


to this


Half the roads were concrete 4L roads. Other half was undivided busy roads going via several villages

Most of the irrigated lands were blooming through the 300km stretch we travelled and so it was soothing green everywhere


Some stretches were deserted






Saw a rainbow too


FE on the MID for last 290 kms. I had reset it after refueling near Attabira



Google Maps had played a dirty joke on us and we were fooled into taking a shortcut. It was a narrow canal road with 1-2 feet deep slush filled craters with occasional nasty drop. I might have scraped the Seltos on that stretch but not the Brezza. Unlike the Seltos where the front wind deflector is prone, Brezza has very good clearance and sailed through fine.

Good part of this bright silver color is the camouflage. It hides dust and dirt very well. Look from the front and the car looks very clean unless one has a keen eye on the splashes on the lower bumper.


Rear tells the true story


Too many side panels spoil the look. And they look further ugly when the muck "leaks" through those panel gaps


The gap between the wheel and the arches are so big that I could easily access the wheel wells while cleaning. Must be very easy for puncture repair without removing the wheels


Misaligned panels means the muck splatter is uneven too


Before returning, gave the yellow eyed Buoi a nice wash + wash




When I got back to Bangalore and started my Seltos, everything felt heavy - clutch, steering, brakes and even the doors! Seltos clutch felt as if it was stuck or resisting movement. And that diesel clatter. Took me a good few kms to settle down to the old normal. I was telling my experience to my father, how refined his car is and he chuckled that he has the better ride.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Trueno

If your Android HU is a Smartplay system, then you can disable the seatbelt reminders through settings.

Yes, I have the Smartplay system and it has an option to disable the seatbelt reminders. Turning it off removes just the visual reminder on the HU. But it does NOT make any difference to reminder chimes, they are still present.

[ashis89]

I had been wanting to check the performance of LED bulbs for some time. Few months ago when I got the headlamps of my Seltos replaced, I was tempted to remove the HIDs and install LEDs instead but decided to maintain status quo. The other guinea pig was the Brezza and it already had not so great headlamps. LEDs could be tried on it.

After going through some posts, I ordered a pair of OSRAM 4200k HB3 bulbs from Planet Car Care for 4699 rupees (20 days later, the same product is listed at 5999!). While at it, also ordered a pair of OSRAM T10 LEDs for the parking lamps for 349 rupees.

Installing the parking lamps were straight forward and done in few seconds. Turned on and one of them didn't work. By now I had learned that LEDs need polarity correction and so I flipped it and then it worked fine.


For the headlamps, I wasn't very sure. Seltos has a similar projector assembly with HB3 holder but the bay is cramped and the access to the headlamps is very tight. Went through a couple of videos and realized Brezza bay has lot more space. With some trial and error, I installed the first bulb. The light was bright and the cut off was similar to the other halogen. I had used the allen key to align the holder adaptors so that the LEDs are aligned on the left and right within the housing. Then I worked on the right bulb and noticed it is loose with the stock rubber washer.

The OSRAM box comes with a couple of spare thick washers, an allen key for adjustment (learnt it the hard way later) and a couple of zip ties. I tried again after fitting one of those washers that was too thick and I couldn't it. With no other option, I left it loose fit and installed the dust covers. With a short drive in the neighborhood, I figured there were a couple of dark spots. Overall the bulbs were brighter, whiter and marked improvement for low beam. But the high beam still felt weak when I compare to the HIDs on my Seltos. The throw and reach of the HIDs are far better than these LEDs.

Right is LED, left is stock halogen


Both are LEDs now






A day later, I went on a long trip. One evening, I got to use the lights and I noticed the beam pattern was inconsistent.










So once I was back home, I opened the bulbs again. The loose right one had almost come out of the holder and was all over the place. No wonder the beams were weird. So I adjusted the stock washer and that fixed the fit issue. Then I aligned the bulb again in 3-9 position and fit it. Pattern against the wall looked slightly better than the other bulb. I thought of adjusting the left one again slightly. BIG MISTAKE!
LED pattern on wall


Stock halogen


I have sloppy hands. While refitting the bulb after readjustment, the adaptor ring fell off somewhere in the engine bay. It probably wasn't tightened well. looked around for a lot time in all possible corners but couldn't find it. Finally I fit one of the halogens there and have placed an order for a HB3 adaptor hoping that it will work with the OSRAM bulb

Mismatched pair in use for now


I had also ordered a Qubo dashcam as the initial reviews on our forum had been good. Only recently I read about the bad experience and non-existent customer service but it was too late. While installing the dashcam, I realized the build quality is inferior to the 70mai one I have on the Seltos. The test video seemed decent and I won't lose my sleep for now.

While routing the dashcam wire (edge of the roof lining -> behind A pillar panel -> right side of the dashboard -> along the dashboard ledge -> centre console), I noticed that the panels below the dashboard are very flimsy. Some were sagging when I tied a single wire to it. Not happy.


Wire dangles slightly below the dashboard

[ashis89]

The first year is up and the odo is 57xx kms.

Insurance was renewed for the own damage component. Maruti insurance had been pestering me for past 2 months to renew it and finally I went with them. Asked them to add the 50% NCB from the old (and sold) WagonR and then chose ICICI to pay 11.8k for the renewal (much cheaper than my Seltos even with RTI extra add on).



The 3rd free service was due as well. I wanted to take it to the service centre myself but didn’t get time. So scheduled a home service. The team of 2 arrived in a battered Alto. They offered 0W16 semisynthetic in an open can and a 5W40 synthetic sealed can. I quickly glanced through the manual and pointed out that 0W16 is the correct grade and so they used the open one.

Engine oil, oil filter, AC filter and a couple of sachets of windshield washer shampoo costed us 2.5k. The whole service took 30 mins (or less). They gave us a coupon to get the car washed for free if and when we visit the nearby centre within the next 3 months.



The guy could get under the car without using any jacks





The Yellow Buoi continues to do a perfect duty in the city. It is a bliss driving this car within the city traffic with a light clutch, good low end torque and super short gearing. I spent 100 kms driving my friend’s SCross petrol MT as well in the meanwhile. A quick comparison shows that K15B on the SCross has a better mid range but at the cost of low end (the smart hybrid helps too) while K15C has better low end at the cost mid range. I can easily get the Brezza moving in the 2nd gear while SCross pulls better beyond 3k.

[Phantom 510]

What kind of efficiency it has been returning in pure city, pure highway and mixed scenarios with ac on.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Phantom 510

What kind of efficiency it has been returning in pure city, pure highway and mixed scenarios with ac on.

The last long trip was a 1400 km one with a fair mix of 6 lane highways, 2 lane undivided highways, ghats and broken village roads. The FE was 16.5-17.8 kmpl with AC on at all times and being driven with a heavy foot.

In the city, I haven't measured recently but believe it is in the ballpark of 14kmpl, 100% AC.

PS: Ours is the non-hybrid variant. Currently VXi MT is being offered with Smart-hybrid again. That could have a slightly better FE.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by ashis89

Only recently I read about the bad experience and non-existent customer service but it was too late. While installing the dashcam, I realized the build quality is inferior to the 70mai one I have on the Seltos.

I think you should secure those wires so that they don't interfere with the operation of the pedals. I have a dashcam installed in the front but I routed the wires from the passenger side.

[Phantom 510]

Originally Posted by ashis89

The last long trip was a 1400 km one with a fair mix of 6 lane highways, 2 lane undivided highways, ghats and broken village roads. The FE was 16.5-17.8 kmpl with AC on at all times and being driven with a heavy foot.

In the city, I haven't measured recently but believe it is in the ballpark of 14kmpl, 100% AC.

PS: Ours is the non-hybrid variant. Currently VXi MT is being offered with Smart-hybrid again. That could have a slightly better FE.

Those are excellent numbers. Very frugal I have to say. It is delivering almost ARAI like efficiency figures. No wonder it's been selling so well.

[condor]

Ashish, is this upgrade possible in the top end Brezza (2024) ?

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by condor

Ashish, is this upgrade possible in the top end Brezza (2024) ?

I guess you are referring to the LED bulb upgrade? If so then the answer is no. The top end Brezza (zxi and zxi+) comes with sealed LED headlamps which doesn't allow any modification. You could however replace the existing fog lamps with better projector units which would be plug and play fit.

The LED bulb upgrade I mentioned above, can be done on Lxi and vxi variants which come with single halogen projectors. The upgrade itself is simply plug-n-play and can be reversed any time.