Aug09 GP MJD 1,35,000km completed

Its almost 14 months since I bought my GP and its high time I start an ownership thread. To start off I am repeating what I have said in PUG when my car was 18k km old.

============ 18k km report from PUG =============

1994 - Learned driving on my Dads Premier Padmini and Amby (shhh...I
was under-age then)
1998 - Started driving my 1st platform-geared car - Zen
1999 - My 1st long drive from Trivandrum to Mookambika on my Uncles
Maruti 800 5-speed (shhh...still under-age)
2006 - Bought my 1st car, a used Fiat Siena 1.6 ELX with 44k on odo.
Used it for 2.5 yrs and fell in love with Fiat.
2008 - Went to UK to fall in love with my 2nd love - Fiat GP
2009 - Came back from UK and went straight into Tata-Fiat dealer
Kulathungal to book a Red MJD GP Emotion. Didnt find a reason to test
drive any other cars.

Aug09 - Shes home !!!! . 1st 2 days I felt like OMG why did I buy such an underpowered car. I was crawling on my GP in the Trivandrum traffic with all the 800s honking behind me.I felt something was terribly wrong. Talked to another MJD owner to find that there was something I missed. Siena 1.6 could pull me from 1k rpm with ease which was not the case with a diesel heart. He suggested an rpm range of 1.5k+. I stepped back into my car with the new ranges in mind. Nothing much in the 1st and 2nd gear. Slot into the 3rd gear, THERE SHE GOES!!...Yes it was my fault for the 2 days of sluggish performance by my GP. I could manage 13-14km/l in city and 17-19km/l on highways. Completed 3k in the same month and did the first service with a good wash and some checkups and topups. I was confident the GP could return more than the above mentioned mileage.Started driving with the Inst.
Consumption always on which resulted in a change of my driving style. The result 15-16km/l in city and 19-22km/l on highway with a peak of 24.9km/l on a late night 100km drive with no overtaking and gear changes maintaining a speed of 60-70km (a test of my patience too).

Sep09 - Did her 1st long drive - from Trivandrum to Bangalore 7am to 7pm. I was able to reach a peak of 150km/h. The car didnt stop me from going further but other vehicles on the road did. Fiat builds European cars for Indian roads. The much talked about ride and handling is so true. The MJD is a beast on highways. FE was 16km/l which was good considering that I reset my speed limit from 100 to 120 and then to 130 and later started ignoring it on the NH 7.

1 week later I broke my Diesel tank. I was to be blamed for missing the huge boulder and driving straight into it. The rock got stuck at the rear beam and pierced into the tank. It took 5.5hrs for the towing vehicle to reach the spot which was right at the heart of the city. My 1st -ve feel of the Kulathungal service in 3 years. Order was placed for the tank on the same day. 10 days later nothing has been received by Kulathungal. Wrote to Rajeev Kapoor who forwarded my mail to the parts department. The tank reached Kulathungal the 2nd day. Fiat is yet to sort out the parts inventory and supply chain issues. Atleast I know where to knock when I am in trouble again.

Mar10 - Did my 2nd service for 15k. Again nothing much to be sorted out. Just the regular service. Everything is "boringly" reliable. No issues faced other than the small rattle in the steering which was fixed. I do alignment every 5k still I found the tyre outer edges wearing out more. I maintain a tyre pressure of 32 at front and 30 behind. The 15k interval for tyre rotation doesn't seem good for tyre. I will start rotating it every 5k once I have done 30k so that all 4 have equal uneven wear. The service bill came out to be 5.5k. Mobil1 0w40 was used and I was charged 3.5k for oil alone. Have to check outside if its the same. Still the 5.5k seems to be cheaper than a Swift which has 2k bill for 5k service and 5k bill for 10k service which turns out to be 2+5+2 = 9k for 15k service.

Did a trip to Ooty with my brother driving an Altis Automatic. Return drive was a real test of both the cars and I found a bit surprised that GP could tail behind the Altis all the way from Ooty to Trivandrum. Yes of course I lost when I was bought to a stand still but from 3rd gear onwards I can assure you we can be with an Altis
AT.

Lot has been talked about the interior plastics and the levers used for steering height and seat height adjust. But so far nothing has falled off or broken.

Now at 18k...so far so good...a very reliable car...a very comfortable car...a very loving car...

Pros:
Ride
Handling
Solid build (less solid compared to Siena)
Mileage
Service interval
Boot space
Steering
Breaks
Fog lamps
Low parts cost

Cons:
The parts department is still inefficient.
The tyre rotation interval has to be strictly 5k and not 15k
Dust accumulates around the door and running board
The dim position for headlight looks a bit too low even at the highest
level
Stock speaker should be better

Waiting for my tyres to wear out to change to 195 15" and alloys.
Waiting to reach 1lac km for Petes

Drive Safe !!!

============ end of 18k km report from PUG =============


Now its 31k. Nothing much has changed for the car. Still it looks new, with the minor scratches I managed on the left corner of the front bumper which was due to my parking skills :lol: . Replaced the stock speakers with Hertz components in front and co-axials at rear. Now enjoying the car and music like never before.

Since 18k km the issues I faced :
1. "dak dak" sound from the steering which was fixed by replacing the suspesion mounts under warranty.
2. Pulling towards left and unever wear between the front left and right tyres, left got more wear. Replaced some gasket under warranty.
2. Rust underneath the rear door beeding at B-pillar. I figured it out only because the beeding was not fixed properly and came out regularly, may be because of the rust. LHS was replaced under warranty but due to non avaiability of stock at that time RHS still is the rusted one. They called back saying its in stock sometime back, but not yet found some time to fix it. Raised this issue for the 30k service, no stakc
3. Rattle from inside the steering. It was fixed and was silent till sometime back, but reappeard again. Its audible only when going thought really rough tar roads. Since the road conditions in our place is like "tar or no tar at all" there is little chance of a really rough tar road. Forgot to raise this during my 30k service.
4. Fuel lid closing not easy, I have to give a good bang on the lid. It was fixed once and its back in the same state again. After all its just matter of baanngg!!!. Forgot to raise this during my 30k service. GP is strong enough to take it
5. Dirt accumulates inside the fuel lid, mostly beach sand size dirt is deposited. I have noticed that while washing with hose if I direct the hose towards the fuel hose water comes out of the fuel lid. So there lies the entry point of the dirt. Forgot to raise this during my 30k service.
6. AC cooling came down around 28k. Mentioned this for my 30k service and replacing the pollen filter has done the trick. After pollen filter replacement I got cold with the full blownout setting I was using since 28k, it was chilling cold and I was enjoying it!

Yesterday I was tailgating a Civic on my way back from native, I prefer tailgating when I find a driver with my way of driving (lesser effort) in 80-110km/hr ranges. After sometime the Civic guy wanted to test the GP and I responded well and I could see him smiling through his RVM. After sometime I overtook him to show-off the TFI stickers on the rear windshield. :dance

Pretty much "King on the highways" with nothing to worry about. Still on the look out for a good set of 15" 98PCD non-OEM alloys. 2 set of tires will run for another 10k. The one tire which had more wear is now the spare wheel and I supported the other lesser worn out one with the spare wheel. The lesser worn out tire will last another 20k, so I am looking forward for a 2 stage tire replacement. Looks like I may end up with 14" alloys, but if vitamin M allows may change everything in one go with 15".


30 Service
==========
I had no complaints with Kulathungal motors, but there was nothing which said I should go back to them again. They messed up a little when I tried to get hold of the ORVM cap when the delivery was made and they had no idea where it was and never called back (as always). After feedback from royj I though I will fix my "dak dak" sound from Mohandas motors. They did a good job in sorting out the issue and they had the ORVM cover too, they messed up the color is altogether another issue. This time I thought its nothing much to be done, just regular service which requires lesser skillset, which I noticed is a DIY job if you have the parts, time and tool kit. Just to make sure they replace everything I took off from office.

Yes, they are very systematic. Each bay has an owner, he takes the job card and collects all the parts from the store and replaces one by one. Another guys helps with the tyre rotation, balancing and pressure checking. Its just a matter of 2hrs, no wonder Toyota has a 1hr service, it is do-able in 1hr. The washing queue was a bit long and my car didn't reach the bay till 2.30 (service was done by 11.30), got the car by 3.30.
Notable notes:
1. Engine a little more silent and responsive(not a drastic change)
2. AC is chilling cold

Total bill came to 4.5k, 1k lesser than my 15k service where Mobil1 0W40 was used which was not at all required, used Selenia WR 5W40 now.

The washing was an utter mess at Mohandas motors which Kulathungal motors did to perfection every time I visited them. I used to give my car just for wash and 5k alignment to Kulathungal motors.

All in all both KM and MM has its own pros and cons, but both do a good job with the servicing which is more important.

Planing for a Goa trip this month with my friends :dancing . Just cant get my hands off the steering ::T

re: Aug09 GP MJD 64000km report

Hey Pran, I got my car about 3 weeks after yours and you are already crossed double my mileage.
I am surprised to hear the washing was poor at MM, they did a good job on my car as far as washing was concerned.

re: Aug09 GP MJD 64000km report

Wow a very detailed review. The 1k difference in oil was due to brand change(Mobil1 to Selenia) or grade change(0W40 to 5W40) ?
On a side note i'll be in Goa from 4th to 10th of nov. If possible we can have a TFI meet there ::V

re: Aug09 GP MJD 64000km report

@royj : double mileage is the effect of too many relatives and friends distributed everywhere . Yes, the washing was a total failure, there were black oil spots covering the entire left side. I didn't expect the glass area to be clean enough since they keep using the same cloth, but I expected the body to be crystal clean, I had to wash myself the next day.

@atulalvenkar : I am not sure about the oil prices. I wanted to do some research before my 30k service but was too busy. I am ready for TFI anywhere :redcar

re: Aug09 GP MJD 64000km report

Sorry for the back to back posts.

For the 2nd consecutive day I managed to scratch my front bumper while parking, so altogether 4 scratches while parking. I badly need parking sensors in front !!! :A .
A cat slept on my hood last weekend and left dirt scratches right at the center of the hood :firey . Planing for a polish which can last long (alteast 6 months), can be done myself and can remove the minor scratches. 2 places quoted 1k for a full body polish which I felt was not worth it since the rest of the panels are fine. Any suggestions?.

re: Aug09 GP MJD 64000km report

Very nice and detailed review there Pran. Its amazing to see the car is going as usual after clocking serious figures. By this standard, one fine day you would report her 1L KM service without any major niggles

re: Aug09 GP MJD 64000km report

good review Pran... good to hear another enthu Punto maniac...

re: Aug09 GP MJD 64000km report

Good to know that you are enjoying the car and good mileage and good explained review.
For waxing, try Collinite 845 as I have heard it is very good.

re: Aug09 GP MJD 64000km report

Welcome to TFI Pran,very nice review.
Your 3rd service experience was usefull,since my MJD Linea is due for 3rd service next month,can you give the break up of the bill?