Quote:
Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM Dear ACM - I would be interested to know your experience, especially as regards vehicle performance, particularly the transmission linkage issue. Kindly post.
Best regards,
Behram Dhabhar |
Sure will be detaiing the same in the next few posts. BTW, met Cyrus and also had a chance to read a full page article on your family - car 43 - in Sep Auto India Back Page.
The Aria performed well overall. Even in situations of Slush it held grip. Yes AWD does matter in certain situations like on wet grass, sand and in mild slush.
Saw that the Team Full Throttle Aria's (snaps in later posts) had raised suspension, Shorter Front Bumper, Raised Intercooler and no Air Spoiler Rubber Skirting Strip up front. These must am sure help with the off roading drives "Trails" and would protect the intercooler while taking a bit away from the highway manners and the elegance look. Felt that the intercooler measure with the added grill in bumper should be added to the road going Aria as well with the front rubber spoiler removed as the middle path. (with added grill in the modified bumper i.e.)
The Aria needs some improvements to it's looks to match the match crossover image.
1) Roof Rails.
2) Rear Roof Spoiler of the Safari type - not the aftermarket ones.
3) Rear bottom blackened or silvered out panel in the area covering the Exhaust - not like the current body coloured one that makes the bottom unending.
4) Side step like in the ML Merc of the X5 - this can be an integrated one that replaced the side skirting that is provided by default below the door. The side step options presently provided lower Ground Clearance and look real sloppy - even the Safari has better stuff.
5) Coloured touch screen with updated Satnav maps - preferably just Google Maps would be great.
6) The top model should retain the reverse sensors along with the reverse camera. Both are required.
7) Powered front seats would have made the pricing more accetable and given this a real edge.
8) Infotainment should have controls in the middle row arm rest as well.
9) 170 Bhp would have been the right level of power considering the wt of the Aria. 140 is adequate but second gear pull at low rpm is quite low and at bit of an effort, a sixth gear would have been ideal.
10) Felt that 265 or 255/65/R17 would have been more appropriate a tyre size compared to the 235's provided. Would aid stance, soften the ride a bit for the R17's and add further to the on rails driving experience. PS would not harden too much I guess and effeciency too would not take a hit more than 3-4% at most possibly.
The Gearbox issue first manifested during the Mumbai Goa trip and the gear box did last 500 odd kms more, First getting the gear into 4th would accompany slight"kerr" sound, then getting the gear out of 3rd became hard after coming to a full halt with clutch pressed and in the meanwhile the gear box had an increasing level of possibly bearing sound in gears 1-2-3. Finally the sound became clunky at mangalore so had to take it to the service centre. No alarms popped up.
The gearbox and engine normally are quite smooth and silent (dont need to keep the deck at higher volume.)
The Aria is very comfortable to drive over long distances. But for a guy my size 6ft 120kgs+ if the font seat slid back a bit more and the steering telescoped besides the tilt then it would be better for the back and legs. More than 50% of the paying participants were built quite similar to me.
Also if the gear stick was mounted just 1-2 inches further back it would aid the drive comfort and ergonomics further. The firm seats are good, the front seats could have even greater level of side bolstering.
The Aria took the potholes quite well but when full loaded one could hear the thud of the rear shocks reaching their limits. Touched the bottom on some stuff only once in about 2500 kms of really rough roads.
My car was the most loaded one (wt terms) (top end Pride with the highest weight plus a full strength 5 member team on board) this affected the pleasure of driving on rough roads a bit but considering the wt on board felt that the Aria performed quite well missed a few horses possibly. Also could do with even tougher shocks to keep the lateral movement on continous pothole filled roads even further down - it is much lower than in the Safari but on really rough roads the heart wants a bit more. I tend to keep the Aria permanently in AWD mode and pressed the 4X2 button possibly just for the second time in the 48,000 odd kms to reduce the strain on the transmission when the issue came up during the trip. (It reduced the noice in gears 1-2-3 a bit and freed up the power availability a bit.) But was back to 4X4 mode for the return trip from Jog falls to Mumbai - 800 kms - straight drive though most were suggesting a halt at Goa or Kolhapur.
Hope the short summary feedback helps in development.