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Sold my 2018 S-Cross: Final observations, service & FE report at 85k km

18th October 2022, 17:27 by Rahul Nagaraj

Replaced the Maruti crossover with the 2022 Hyundai Alcazar SUV.

BHPian narayans80 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Final update of the 2018 S-Cross at 85,000 km

After I had posted the 76,000 km update. It seemed I was well on course to my maiden 100,000 by this year-end. Discontinuation be damned, this was a keeper.

But that was sadly not meant to be :(

We welcomed another human into the household, whose seat meant, we were suddenly space constrained. The search was on for quite some time, gaining a newfound urgency after Cyrus Mistry's accident.

The S-Cross left our household on the 22nd of September 2022 after nearly 4 years of incredible ownership. I must say, myself and missus was a bit emotional before the final drive.

This is the car that made us a Car Family (yes, that's our family Whatsapp group name). She took us to Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and dozen times to Maharashtra like we were visiting our neighbours. Could have seen Punjab if not for the cattle encounter and a long backlog of flooded vehicles at the Porur workshop.

She has seen bad roads, no roads, and waded in knee-deep water without any fuss.

Maintenance and part replacements

I had to replace the 8 glow plugs and glow plug control module between 28000 to 63,000 km. The glow plug replacement exercise stopped after the control module replacement at 63000.

One puncture/sidewall cut at Narara at 30000 km on the JKs. The Spare was replaced.

The JK UX Royales gave way to Continental UC6 at 58000 km. Still had good tread depth at the time of sale.

Needed a clutch plate and front suspension work on the upcoming 90K service.

All services were done at Nexa Porur. Just the mundane service consumables. No hard selling. The only thing I avoid is wheel alignment/balancing during service, which I get done outside.

Fuel Efficiency

This was something that the MJD was very good at. Lifetime FE was 21.3 km/l. Was getting 22-23.x during the suburban commute this year. Not much variation on highway runs, which was around 24-25.

My suburban drives are done at odd times 7 am-2 pm. It rarely saw B2B traffic. Was predominantly run BPCL normal diesel, one-off Shell refills and IOC COCO diet towards the last 3 months, including one Xtragreen refill. Xtragreen did not affect FE.

Was getting consistent 1 km/l higher FE using IOC COCO normal diesel over BPCL (Ekayars and MM Nagar COCO).

The worst FE of 14.62 was recorded when the car was idle during Covid. 400 km in those 6 months of vanavas

Other significant observations

This was the car I researched for the longest timeframe. I was reading this official review and every ownership thread since 2015. Really wanted to get the 1.6, which was retailing at a measly 14.7L in July 2017. Eventually got to own this darling in 2018, when the Corolla decided to shock and awe.

The best handler I ever owned. Steering was precise for a EPS. Might be a tad heavy if you are coming from light steering. Did not experience the infamous steering rattle.

The hard but forgiving clutch was a joy to use. This was my first manual transmission after a 6-year hiatus. Takes some real talent to stall this one.

Boot space might be theoretically smaller. But you can haul 2 weeks worth 2+2 family luggage and all things you buy from such a trip.

The national engine is a gem. Not meant to be driven in an enthusiastic way. Has enough grunt to be driven as a family workhorse. Gets to 80 in a quick time, with no complaints on the urban, suburban and highway runs. Saw 120 about 2-3 times on the Tumkur-Chitradurga and Chitradurga-Hospet-Bijapur stretches, when it is hard to resist. On those 80-100 kph runs, clatter levels are acceptable, but can get a bit loud after 100.

As an October 2018 manufactured piece, mine had 80-120 speed alarms. 80 was easily ignorable, 120 will wake up the family from sleep.

Sales and service have been stellar. A giant leap from my mediocre Toyota experience.

Conclusion

This was a tough car to let go of. The longest ownership we had enjoyed. It is also a difficult car to upgrade/replace without significant compromises.

The 2022 Alcazar Prestige has replaced the S-Cross in the garage. The ownership review just went live.