My Cool Logan

Prologue
The thought of buying a car in India originated when I came back from US 3 years ago. Had a Camry V6 3L XLE. It was a 1999 model registered in 2000 and I was the second owner. I loved that car not only because it was my first car, but the comfort level that I had. It had huge space. It could take in 5 people easily and seat all of them in comfort of leather seats, Swallow luggage's for airport trips, Full Power seats, heated mirrors, Automatic headlights, Great Audio system.
Since it was a 3L engine it never struggled at any instance.

I landed in India and travelled home in an Amby taxi. Seats were up and down and NVH was high. Smiled to myself. Next day I happened to travel in a Maruthi Zen. When I sat in front passenger seat, I felt my legs were not stretched comfortably due to wheel arch coming in. Zen, which few years ago felt comfortable as a car, now suddenly seemed to be very small for me.

I was wondering what made the change in me because before I went to US, getting a crowd free bus at Chennai felt like a comfort, Now my mind is seeking for bigger spacious cars. It took a week for me to adjust back to Indian conditions. Started travelling in train to office.

Since my first car was Toyota, Decided that I should get a car from Toyota in India.
BUT
When I started to look at the prices, I was more than surprised !. I was shocked !
Toyota and Honda was projected as a luxury brand ! where in US they are normal cars. Felt bad how Indians are taken for a ride.
These cars were crazily costly.

My budget was 6 Lakhs. Wanted a sedan and Dzire seemed to fit. But then when I started reading and asking friends about it, realised that back seat was cramped and a boot attached to a hatch. And most of them said 1 lakh price difference for a boot attached to a hatch was not worth.

Then due to some personal happenings in life, I had dropped the idea of buying of a car.

The trigger

After 2.5 years I was to attend my friends wedding along with my friend at south Tamilnadu. It was a long weekend and I could not reserve a ticket in train or any of the Govt buses. Private buses were charging 1000 Rs for Chennai to Madurai !. Felt anger and frustration as how cheap and mean the goverment is. Not controlling money swindlers.

Was little afraid as how I was going to make it to the wedding. My friend suggested that we start early and each Koyembedu at 2 PM and start our journey by the available bus.

As luck would have it, my friend who went there was able to catch 2 seats in Mudukulathur SETC bus by the traditional way of rushing into the bus. I arrived just in time while the bus was moving out of Koyembedu and I got into it admist the continuous calling from my friend who was in bus. He was afraid if I would make it before the bus moves out of Koyembedu.

As I sat down in my seat, we both sighed a sense of relief. We both started talking as how lucky we are to find a bus and that too to get a seat.

As bus reached Perungulathur, there were lots of people who came running behind the bus requesting the conductor for a seat. Huge crowd was there in the bus stop at Perungulathur. Felt bad as people of all sorts running behind buses, Kids, old men, women, men all were running. Felt really bad.
Why is that we are not able to provide adequate transport facility to the common man? why are private operators allowed to swindle like hell?

Started thinking, I knew I will not be always lucky to get a seat like this at the last moment. Told to my friend that if there was some car we could have self driven it, without worrying much about public transport.

Enjoyed the wedding, and there was another college mate who had come in car from Nagerkoil. Had a nice time going around places in his car. His was a Indigo CS Diesel.

By the time I was returning back to Chennai my mind had decided that I should get a car.


Research - Choose the right answer

Back home I started searching in Internet, typed in cheap diesel car as my search keyword. Results came up and one of them was "Logan".

Then my thoughts drifted back to 1.5 years ago. It was month of Nov and I had gone to Bangalore. I went there to see off my friend at airport. That was when I first had travelled in a Logan. I was really surprised how comfortable it was in back seat of the car. Two of us were able to sit comfortably along with hand luggage. The boot was able to swallow two big 25 kg checkin luggages. Till this point I had no high opinion about Logan. But this one instance reversed my view that ONLY CAMRY was BIG !

Started reading about Logan. Realised that there were more bashing from people because
1) Service was pathetic
2) Looks
3) Odd placement of controls and wiper orientation
4) Hard clutch

First point was really bothering me. But the more I read on logan I started realised that Logan was the one for me. It was no fancy car and I didnot need fancy.
I needed a car which is,
1) Trouble free
2) Could seat 5 people comfortably
3) Swallow luggages without costing much
4) Good fuel efficiency

Looks of the car was last in my list, but ironically I had always felt Logan looks good. I donno why others feel it as not appealing. Iam a guy who thinks that utility value comes before aesthetics. And I don't care what others talk of the car I drive. Me and my family should travel comfortably within reasonable cost and whatever car that solves the purpose will fit the bill.

When I told of my decision to the people who were close to me they discouraged me from Logan. Main reason was Service issues and next was looks. This set me thinking.
They all suggested Manza or book a Vento. Vento would be beyond my budget and Manza started appealing to mind. Manza had more features at the same price of Logan. But TATA..was not sure how good is TATA build quality.


Test drive

I have a license in India and I had driven in US for long time. But still I was not fully comfortable in drving a car in India.
So took my BIL for test drive to Zulaikha motors. I sat in front passenger seat while my BIL was at drivers seat. I was able to stretch my legs comfortably and back I had made my brother, sales rep and another showroom guy to sit. My BIL was talking the car through narrow pot holed streets. Suspension was good, It was smooth and there was no much rocking over the potholes.

After a short drive, asked my BIL opinion. He said the car is good but look for service aspect. He still felt Manza was a better deal.


Choose the right dealer
Came home, Started reading about various dealers. Conducted polls on 3 dealers who stock Logan at Chennai. India Garage stood out.
Walked in with a cheque of Rs 10,000 asked for the sales rep and told him that I am booking Logan now. He was surprised. He said we can go for a test drive. I said I had already done that. He should have thought what a luck in life. No effort and a guy comes walking in for a booking.
Handed over the cheque to him for the booking amount.
This is where I made a mistake. Art of bargaining is to make the seller come behind you and you not going behind the seller. Learnt the lesson hard way.

When I started negotiations, sale rep told no discounts. Not even any freebies for Logan. He stood like a stone wall. Zulaikha had also told the same. Zulaikha rep challenged that no dealer at Chennai will offer any discounts for Logan.

Requested for corporate discount, The rep asked for my company and said that my company is not in the list of eligible companies for corporate discount.
Requested dealer to talk to Mahindra on corporate discount. Sales rep said they are talking. Days went on and no positive response. Whenever I ask sales rep just told me no answer from Mahindra.
Decided to take the matter in my own hands, wrote to Mahindra about corporate discount and the whole story. Then came quick reply that they will look into it.

One more week went. There was no answer from Mahindra. Mailed them again, Finally got a reply stating that they have requested the dealer to look into it.

Called my sales rep, he told that Mahindra had asked them to give rs 5000 worth of accessories.


Payment and delivery

Then marked an auspicious day for payment. Went with my family and handed over the cheque. Talked with the rep on pre delivery inspection date and delivery date.
Inspected my car on that date, everything seemed to be fine except the panel was touched with greasy hands. mailed to dealer, they promised to clean it before delivery.

After 2 days went in for delivery of the car. It was late evening. Sales rep was on leave so another person had been assigned to look into the delivery. Pooja was performed and keys handed over. Went to temple again did one more poojai. Prayed to god for long trouble free association with my White Logan.

Ownership experience
After a week, I utilized the 5000 Rs for under chassis rust prevention coating. After it was done and I felt NVH was very less inside the car.

I had not driven my car much for first couple of months. First service was done when the car was just 600 + kms. First service had freed the car well. Donno what they did.
The only long trip was round trip from Chennai to Trichy. When I started the car was not out of break in period. It had run just 1000 + kms. So drove carefully.
When I returned from trichy car had clocked nearly 1900 Kms. Trip and I maintained between 80 and 100 and occasionally 110.


Ok..

Now to what I like and dislike

Likes
1) Space, lots of them. The design is thought in such a way to maximize space. For those who bash its looks, remember that this boxy looks is what gives it the space
2) Good soft suspension. Handles the potholes well
3) Big boot
4) Wide back seat
Has utility filled features rather than jazzy features some of them are,
5) Starter motor protection. You cannot turn the ignition when the car has been started once.
6) Outside rear view mirrors swing on both sides
7) Lots of information in DIS (Driver information system) Distance to empty, Average speed, Average fuel Efficiency etc
Fuel efficiency. I get 16+ in city driving and 22+ on highways, Which I feel is very decent

Dislike
1) Wiper orientation. Though for normal rains its fine, I guess during heavy rains it will be an issue
2) Just one turn indicator for both right and left. AT times confuses you during turns back to back, i.e right and then sudden left..
3) Seat comfort level. When I sat in drivers seat of my friends Fabia..Man I relaized how comfortable it was. Logan seat comfort is no near to it
5) Could have been provided one more trip meter. Logan comes with only one trip meter.
6) Top end can have a better audio system. The factory fitted one is too basic.
7) Price can be even more less. Logan top end should be priced at Rs 6 L rather than 6.47 L now
8.) Suspension has bottomed out at a speed breaker with full load( 4 passengers and lil load in trunk)
9) Better ground clearance for Indian roads. Though GC is not a big issue for normal roads, but steep speed breakers or mounds will hit the bottom.


This car is for sedate drivers and does not feel like a diesel. I donot know what a turbo lag is because Iam yet to experience it.

Intotal if you are a person who cares more about utility value than looks then you can go for it.

For the Money I had, I felt this car suits me the best and it has been so far. I hope that I remain this way. I will keep updated on this regularly

Congratulations! Its a beauty.

Nice car, man!

About your dislikes
1) Wiper orientation
2) Just one turn indicator for both right and left
(What do you mean with "just one turn indicator" ?)
3) Seats comfort level.
(On long distance, is indeed tiring)
4) This car is for sedate drivers and does not feel like a diesel
(I disagree - rev'd up your engine, and the car will go pretty fast)

PS: There is always place for improvement: right side wipers, better seats, more hp, soundproofing...
but the price will be higher.
Logan was designed as a low cost car, you can't compare it with ©koda Fabia, wich cost probably 50% more



Have a great ride with your Logan!

Than Rajesh and Dan. Thanks for the pointing it out. I will reduce the size of the pictures from next time on. Did not realize it will display so bigg

True, Logan was designed to be a low cost car, but my view is seat ergonomics can be modified by a company when something good comes in. I guess Renault will also have cars with good seating comfort and why not to take that concept to their own Logan.

Dan..Thanks for sharing the pictures in smaller form, I have edited my post now with links from your post ..Thank You

Nice write-up MCL.
I am sure quite a many people on this forum prefer functionality over looks. Which is why they bought the Logan.

Am not saying that the car looks bad.
Vanilla is a flavour right? And I like Vanilla.

The car knows its job and does it very well without complaining.
It knows it wouldn't stand a chance in a beauty Pageant. But then It would never try to enter one either.

The diesel motor packs quite a punch. All you need to do is rev it a bit for the magic. Take good care of it during the running-in period.

congrats

Quote :

Dan..Thanks for sharing the pictures in smaller form

You're welcome, man!

Did a one day trip to Bangalore. Was pretty much happy about the way car handled in highway and in city. Few of my observations are,

1) Car likes 80 Km/H. It is very smooth at this speed and remains so till it touches 100 Km/H. After that engine becomes noisy and I did not like to rev it beyond that.
2) Max I did was some 125 Km/H. Beyond which I was not comfortable nor the engine was, Nor the car was.
3) GC with full load becomes less to handle Bangalore speed breakers. The speed breakers in Bangalore are really car breakers. With 3 people and some 30 kgs in Boot, Car started scrapping badly. Thrice it scrapped in Sarjapur road speed breakers. Then found the trick to prevent scrapping. When car reaches speed breaker slow to almost zero. Slowly start climbing over the speed breaker and when the front wheels reaches the top of the speed breaker with brake ON climb down very slowly. Make sure that speed is like as if some one is trying to push the car with hands. After I started following this technique I did not scrape any more
4) Car wiper is not of that great quality I guess. When I drove back in night with heavy rains rubber started wobbling. Wiper was on most of the time for some 6 hours. This is the first time I have used the wiper in this car.
5) Wiper wipes the best in intermittent setting. The FAST setting is not great because when it moves fast it does not seem to clean well.
6) TURBO LAG seems evident only during hill climbs. The boost for this engine starts at 1500 RPM, after which it has lots of power. So during hill climb make sure RPM is 1500 and above.
7) I felt stock headlights are quite adequate. But I follow a manual trick to gain more light from stock headlight when I was needing more visibility. I turn on fog lights and in dip mode I pull the light stalk towards me and keep it so till I need extra light. This means there are 3 lights which are on simultaneously. i.e both dip and high beam is on along with fog lights below.
Fuel efficiency during return trip seemed to be little less. Not sure what would have been the reason. May be due to head lights(Both dim and dip were on for some 30% of the time) with fog lights burning, Wiper on all time and extra load of nearly 100 Kgs may be the reason. Car had consumed 36 L for 743 kms( both to and fro) travelled. This is NOT fuel tank method. But calculated the remain fuel in tank by getting into the diagnostics mode. Similar calculation during onward journey showed that it returned nearly 24.5 Kmpl. So averaging out, return journey had consumed lots of fuel. Onward was during dawn break and day time with no rains, so no lights on and no wiper.

Visibility during rains was very less on the sides. Though front it was good because wiper was there. But I guess I need to apply wax to side mirrors, side glasses and back glass to prevent water sticking on to it.

In total I was satisfied very much the way car performed

One more Fuel consumption figure for my whitemachine. This is a TANKFULL method
70 % highway and 30% City

Optimistic calculation

Readings as per Trip meter and fuel filled in bunk
Kilometers travelled: 1001.4 kms
Fuel filled: 45.017 Liters
Kilometers per liter of Diesel: 22.24 Km/L

Pessimistic Calculation

Possible error corrections
But Iam considering 2 liters extra as last time fuel was pumped into the tank after autocutoff was reached. And 10% error in odo
So,

Kilometers travelled: 1001.4 kms - 10% = 1001.4 - 100.14 = 901.26
Fuel filled: 47.017 Liters
Kilometers per liter of Diesel: 901.26 / 47.017 = 19.16 Kms/L


Between I have renamed my car as Burrito

Nice write-up MCL.

Hve you ever considered writing your journeys as a travelogue? The length of your post suggests that you can actually do a good coverage like a story. Please do if you get the time.

I have been trying it for quite some time and all my stories have fizzed out after 30% of writeup. Hence, they never got posted.

vsuprak wrote:

Nice write-up MCL.

Hve you ever considered writing your journeys as a travelogue? The length of your post suggests that you can actually do a good coverage like a story. Please do if you get the time.

I have been trying it for quite some time and all my stories have fizzed out after 30% of writeup. Hence, they never got posted.

Thanks Surya

The 2 trips I had made with Logan were one day trip and it was like just driving most of the time. I will post a travelogue once I make some pleasure trip

vsuprak wrote:

Nice write-up MCL.
I am sure quite a many people on this forum prefer functionality over looks. Which is why they bought the Logan.

Am not saying that the car looks bad.
Vanilla is a flavour right? And I like Vanilla.

The car knows its job and does it very well without complaining.
It knows it wouldn't stand a chance in a beauty Pageant. But then It would never try to enter one either.

My wife, kid and I actually like the boxy look! We were big fans of the original Wagon R (till they jazzed it up for the worse).

Good to hear that you like it too !

Visited the dealership this afternoon to see the new Mahindra Verito. Sadly, the Mahindra chaps have messed with the looks. And it costs Rs.20,000 more, for the bad embellishments.

Today went out for lunch with 5 normal built people. With AC on and fan blower at max, Car felt heavy...Initially felt little uncomfortable with car handling and after 5 minutes of drive felt comfortable. I guess with full load, it is good to drive sedately.

Under full load conditions, DCi 1.5 gives the impression it is little under powered.

I've not driven the 1.5, but my 1.4 petrol felt much lighter after 6000 kms... it really eases off after completing 15000 kms... the engine does require some running in.
Now after completing 32000 kms... it has never felt better.
Am sure others may also give a similar feedback.

Mine is still at 5400 Kms..By end of this month I will complete 6000 I guess..

Yes Parag, the Engine feels much more free now than the initial days.

Second service completed at 6000 + Kms. Not much satisfied

1) Has introduced rattle in dash board. Donno what happened. Seems like engine noise seeping inside the cabin is causing the rattle.
2) Fuel efficiency has gone down from from 21 to 18.5 ( From Kmpl reading in DIS)


Good ones:
1) Corrected left speaker which had stopped working. Donno if it continues the same way after some time
2) Engine feels smooth due to oil change

Fuel Efficiency now stands at 17.9 Kmpl of diesel in City driving. This is calculated based on tankful method. I donno why there is a dip in fuel efficiency. May be due to effect of second service or fuel that I had put in another bunk near to my house.

But now again I refueled in my regular bunk, changed my driving style to very sedate, changed my route to highway and DIS shows 23 Kmpl. But this route is mostly highways and I cruise at 70 kmph in 5th gear.

Let me see how much distance it goes this time