Jun 30, 2005 07:23 PM
7910 Views
(Updated Nov 13, 2006 01:00 PM)
Hi all, I bought this car 2 months back and have already driven 5100 kms in it. This includes a visit to Kinnaur district in Himachal consisting of the most toughest roads in India. Well to start off, I wanted to buy a car that had luxury of a big car, a big engine, medium price tag, a good average and was not that common on the road. I had narrowed down to Palio diesel and a Corsa. A lot of people advised against a Diesel car if I wasn't travelling too much and so it all came to the Corsa. The Corsa fitted very well in my priorities, except for the fuel consumption(I'll talk about this later) and so I read a lot of reviews and was satisfied with what I read. Luckily I got 35000 discount on the car and got it for 4,82,000 with Beige interiors. And for this sum I got everything.........right from power windows...a powerful a.c. ...a rear defogger.... great comfortable interiors..a big boot...rear speakers and alllll the features of a luxury car except for that cigaratte lighter (I dont smoke and I have a mobile that gives 3+ days of battery back up.so no probs here.) Well the initial impression is the same 'low flying' feeling. The suspension is absolutely smooth. It takes in all the potholes in as it glides on. Then as you accelerate past 100km/hr, you know that this car is capable of more. I touched 170 km/hr on the Ambala-Delhi highway and it behaved pretty well. With windows rolled up, you wont even know that it is doing that much except for the muffed up roar of the engine. The cabin is very silent, so much so with glasses rolled up and music playing, u dont hear the rear car honking u. The car also doesn't knock at low speeds(20-30) even in the 5th gear, very unlike the other cars on the road. Hats off to German Engineering for this. The Ac is good and cools quickly but puts an immense load on the engine. It's a different car with the ac on. In city, with the ac on, it's problem picking up from slow speeds. Better keep the ac off when driving in traffic. The ground clearance which is the highest in it's class actually manages to scrub every speed breaker on the highway. Please be careful with it. Here the steel guard under the engine comes in handy. The fuel consumption is a revelation. With drives in the hills included, some city driving and highway driving thrown in, ac on all the time and 5 people on board it gave 15.14 km/lt. And with 2 ppl and ac on always I managed 17+ on the highway, the first week. I guess as far as the fuel average goes it has proved everyone wrong. Even the sales guy didnt promise this one. The cabin is well done and classy(I have the Beige interiors.). Seating space is good for five adults. The leg room is also good for the average height guys. I am just 5'6'', so the guy sitting behind me, is always the king. No problems so far even on the tough, 'rally like' roads in Kinnaur. The dealer is also O.K. The only hitch I encountered was the 'high' ground clearance and that is it. Everything except this is just a pro. And just for the people who are confused making choices, there is absolutely no comparison with the esteems, ikons, palios. Just go for it guys..........
Update after 20000km. So I am back with an update. The Corsa has done some 20k kms and is still doing great. Though some rickety sounds have started coming from the front suspension. Before you start blaming the ‘sturdy’ work horse, let me tell you that this malfunction was more to do with the inhospitable roads in Karnatka. On two occasions (read trips), I have found almost non existent national highways, only the boards proclaiming that those were national highways. I even managed to damage the rim of one of the front tyres. Now comes the information, immediately after this trip I went to the local service guy in Bangalore (Sundaram Motors), ran a hefty bill of 4.5K with the problem still persisting. The guy made me believe that there was no noise in the first place (!!!!) and that the car was absolutely smooth. Of what I have read and heard from people, all service centers irrespective of the make are the same (leave alone the Maruti guys). So next time onwards, I will have to find a local car garage for the repairs. Once on a trip to Kodaikanal, while it was raining heavily, the wipers stopped working. Had a horrible time then. The 24 hrs GM helpline didn’t respond and at 11 in the night, had the fortune of finding a real gentleman who arranged for a mechanic and got the thing repaired. Even then, an hour went in getting to the wiper motor, which was safely concealed under wraps and wraps of waterproof sealings. It is a sturdy reliable car, proof of it are some trips where in I have put in 500+ kms of non stop driving in a single day without any problems. Nothing beats the Corsa in comfort of driving when it comes to long stretched highways. Ever since I started this beauty, I have faced just these two problems besides the ‘high’ ground clearance (just be careful with speed breakers), otherwise my Corsa has always made me proud. The engine is still as smooth as it was the first day. The average is still 15+ always. The AC still is as cool. The speedometer still touches the other extremes with ease and I still love those long drives. Here, I have a winner, if not for the world, it has been for me. I would still recommend this one.
