Life With Chevrolet Sail: Ownership Review

[sacbiker]

My OE belt was Made in France. Hutchinson make.
Optibelt is a well known brand. There is another brand Bando as well which is pretty popular. Almost all of these brands have some Western country's name written on it and it supposedly makes it stronger.

 

[sacbiker]

Wiper blades were juddering and making a lot of noise despite cleaning them thoroughly. They were only 4 months old. The car was never parked under the sun or extensively used. Is was only used for about 2000km. I feel the Spark Minda wipers (bought from boodmo) were of poor quality.
I replaced them with Bosch Eco wipers from Amazon.

The car originally uses 22 and 15 inch, since 15 inch was out of stock in Amazon, I got the 16 inch instead.
It fits.

 

[deville_56]

Whenever I bought older than one year stock of Spark Minda, they tended to fail early.

 

[sacbiker]

FE update.
The vehicle returns 17kmpl while cruising in 5th gear at 65kmph with AC on. Constant gear changes brings it down to 15. Not bad considering that the manufacturer claimed figure is 18kmpl.
Something that amazed me is that of we wipe a clean tissue paper on the exhaust tip of the car, there is literally 0 soot. None. There would just be some brown dust!
It shows the tolerance of the engine and it's burning literally 0 oil.

 

[sacbiker]

4PK865 I ordered on boodmo was Gates brand. But I was given a Continental belt which was 2 years old.

A new issue has popped up. This occurs only when the vehicle has been parked under the sun for while.
The AC pulley belts start making a squealing (slipping) sound. It goes away after a few seconds and never comes back. This does not happen when the engine is cold or when the car is not parked under the sun.

 

[sacbiker]

A new issue has popped up. This occurs only when the vehicle has been parked under the sun for while.
The AC pulley belts start making a squealing (slipping) sound. It goes away after a few seconds and never comes back. This does not happen when the engine is cold or when the car is not parked under the sun.

This was resolved by tightening the tensioner.
The periodic service of the car was also done this time.
Engine Oil - Total Quartz 7000
Oil Filter - Elofic
The car had done around 4000 km since the last oil change but it is over 1 year and 6 months now. So, I got the oil changed. Previous oil was still good and there was no degradation in performance or oil quality.
I decided to go with TotalEnergies Quartz 7000 Future GF6 5W-30 ILSAC GF-6A, API SP Clean-Shield Technology|Fuel Economy Formula| Synthetic Based Engine Oil this time.

Air Filter - Purolator
I also replaced the air filter since it had done its job for about 10000km.

Spark Plugs
Spark plugs were last replaced about 18000km ago and the recommended interval for change is 20000km. I got it changed since I was planning for a long drive soon.
The stock spark plugs were made by Champion and they cost Rs.550 a piece. This is too pricey for a normal plug. The model is RA7YC which is shared with some Suzuki cars like the Alto. I got the Maruti Suzuki Genuine part for Rs 85 per piece.

Old plugs were still good but there is visible deterioration on the electrode as well as the ground leg. They are thinner!

Total Cost - 2235

The insurance was also renewed with Oriental Insurance.
IDV:157500
Own Premium: 676, TP;3416
Total:4829

We did a 400km trip in this car after the service and it was as smooth as ever. The ability of this car to swallow the biggest unexpected potholes is admirable,
The car returned a FE of 14kmpl with typical Kerala driving conditions.

The urge to sell this car and to upgrade has been at an all-time high recently. I for one was against buying new cars until recently due to the depreciation factor! But it was not until recently it hit me that what is the point of saving up and investing all the money for the future when we do not know for certain how long we are going to live! I looked at all possible cars under the 15L bracket and so far none of them have impressed me since they don't feel value for money except for the Grand Vitara. I also want the next car to have a 5-star crash test rating.

 

[sacbiker]

I recently purchased IFTEX Clean System G Fuel system cleaner and poured about 20ml in the tank. After riding for 100km, which included 30 minutes of bumper-to-bumper traffic, the fuel injectors seem to have been cleared and the car is so much smoother, especially while idling.
I have used a lot of fuel system cleaners before in all my vehicles, but this is the first time I have noticed a difference.
The car used to have slight vibrations on the steering while idling before and it's gone now.