My Innova Crysta diesel's 1st highway drive: Observations & few doubts

A fuel efficiency of around 15 km/l isn't too bad on a diesel automatic MPV.

BHPian humyum recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

We went for a 700-kilometre road trip yesterday as next week we are planning to go on a 15-day road trip to either North or South and wanted to get the first service done before that.

When we left home and wanted to refuel at the fuel station on the Mumbai Pune Expressway which is right after the first toll.

After a full tank, the range shown was 456 with an average of 10.8 km/l. A little fear did run down my spine about how am I going to live with a car which gives such low mileage.

Come 400 kilometres and that had improved to 15.4 km/l after we got back to the other side of the expressway after driving for 580 kilometres and re-calculated the mileage full tank to a full tank, it came to 15 which I think is not bad for a 600-700 km run automatic diesel Innova, which I think will improve more as kilometres pass by. The entire trip was done in eco mode.

Observations from the highway drive.

• The steering passes the feedback from potholes to the steering wheel, which sometimes can get irritating if you continuously drive over bad roads
• The ride quality improves leaps and bounds as the speed increases, above 100, it's like a magic carpet.
• Acceleration is just phenomenal but downshifts during hard acceleration happen in stages, one gear down--one second--second gear down and then it just lunges forward with the front end lifting a bit, just amazing. All this was in eco mode, I have yet to try normal and power but for me, Eco was sufficient to pass anything I ever set my eyes on.
• Cruise control is a breeze to use but if you are say 60 and you want to resume your cruise to 110, the car will launch itself to get to 110 and not gradually increase it.
• 100 comes up at around 1550 rpm. Lovely tall gearing. 120 is at 1800 rpm around. You can do silly speeds all day and not hear the engine at all.
• During the ghats of Lonavala while coming down, I used the S mode and controlled the speed with engine braking. Downshifts are very fast.
• Regeneration happened twice during the trip. One when the odo was at 520 and the second when the odo was at 800. Both times the DPF was full till 3 points and 20 minutes, it was down to 0 and regeneration stopped.

Things I don't understand and need help with.

1. How does the alarm work? Mine is a GX Auto. I cannot hear the beep while locking or unlocking the car. Will it make a noise when someone tries to open the door when it's locked? Or there is no such thing? I will try this today by locking it and sitting inside and opening the door.
2. How to fill the air in the Stepney? Does the wheel need to be removed to do that? The guy I regularly fill the air at did not know how to do it and we went for the road trip without checking the air in the Stepney.
3. It's a little hard push to put it in P while parking, is that normal?
4. When all the doors are locked, the driver's door too moves towards the lock position but when I pull the lever, the lock position becomes unlocked and the door just opens, is that normal?
5. I have rear parking sensors which come standard with the GX trim, but I have never seen them buzzing ever. Is there something I need to do to activate them?

Here's what BHPian jav had to say on the matter:

Congratulations on your new car and best wishes, ill try to answer your questions as best as I can:

1. The beep for locking and unlocking doesn't happen its silent, the alarm only sounds when the alarm is triggered either from the sensor inside or if someone opens the locked door
2. Have to lower the Stepney to fill the air it's not possible to reach the valve as it's facing up
3. Slotting into P or out of P is a bit hard, especially when moving out of P during incline surface so that is normal
4. The driver's door can be unlocked and opened even when it's locked just by pulling on the door open lever, this feature is only for the driver's door
5. There should be a Parking sensor on/off switch which says P with a green light near the DPF or headlight level buttons area, if it's illuminated green then reverse sensors are active else it is off.

Here's what BHPian amalji had to say on the matter:

Try doing this next time.

• Before releasing the brake, apply the hand brakes properly.
• Engage the gear lever into P
• When moving from P to D
• Depress the brakes
• Release the hand brakes
• Move the gear to D

Let me know if you still face the problem. The trick is NOT to use the P mode as the primary mechanism to prevent the car from moving. Think of it instead as a backup for the hand brakes.

Here's what BHPian nirleo had to say on the matter:

I have the same GX Auto 2022 model. I had Hyundai Verna Diesel Automatic for 8 years before this.

In all automatic cars, you always have to keep the brakes pressed while changing gears from P to D or D to P. If you don't have the brakes pressed during changing of gears between P and D, it will be hard and risky, as the R (reverse) gear is between P and D, and if you don't move the gear lever quickly, the car will start going in reverse.

Brakes need not be pressed when you change the gears between D and S or Manual mode.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.