Black Chevrolet Beat TDCI: Ownership Review

[zapperjapper]

We have recently completed 2 years of ownership of our Beat Diesel PS . It has mostly been a trouble free ownership experience.

Choosing the car : In 2012, I was looking for a cheap diesel car as my running has increased. I test drove Liva D , Figo and Beat. These were the cheapest diesel hatchbacks. Liva was a good 1 L rs costlier than the Beat. Figo with all discounts was about 50 K costlier. Given that the initial cost was a big criteria, choice was between Figo and Beat. Points that tilted the choice in favour of Beat were.

• 
  Price difference of 50 K
  Light steering of Beat in comparison to Figo.
  Proximity of Chevrolet service centre to my house.

In September 2012 we bought the car. My observations over the last two years.

Things that I like :

Comfortable seats for 4 adults.
Back leg room.
Ease of driving.
Sports bike style console.
Power delivery on highways above 1900 rpm.
Paint quality.

Things that can improve, but I can live with :

Clutch angle and effort needed to suppress the clutch.
Low end torque.
Boot space.
Bouncy back suspension.
Ground clearance.
Milage of 20kmpl on highways.

Things I hate :

Low seating.
Visibility in low beam.
AC effectiveness, the glass area is huge and causes the dash to heat up, reducing AC effectiveness.

More to come

 

[zapperjapper]

Initial Price : 5.6 L On road Bangalore on 30th September 2012.
Accessories installed : Stock double din Audio system installed on LS and LT variants ( Cost around 5 K ).





1st Service : 1000 KM ~ 0 Cost
2nd Service : 5000 KM ~ 3 K
3rd Service : 13000 KM ~ 4 K
4th Service :22000 KM ~ 8 K

The recommended service intervals is 7500 KM or 6 months.

Resent Updates

Tyre upgrade : Bridgestone s243 165-80 R14 ( stock were Good year 165-65 R14 )
The Car was going to be driven by my better half , I wanted to increase the ground clearance , new tires provided a good 1-1.5 inch increase in ground clearance. Upgraded done at 25K. There was substantial life left in the stock tires. Sold them on OLX. The ride quality has improved immensely after the upgrade. The difference in mileage is around 0.5 KMPL.

EGR Valve change : Engine Check Light came on at around 27000 KM. This was a rude surprise. Took it to Trident service center the next morning. The Vehicle was left overnight. Service manager diagnosed the problem as EGR valve failure. It was replaced under warranty. Beat Diesel come with 3 years or 1 Lac KM warranty. EGR valve costs around 10K.

 

[Releesh]

Congrats on your black beast..oops beat.

May be black colour also contributes to ac non effectiveness. My cousin had a white petrol beat. Never felt ac cooling is less.

service charge looks little costlier for the small diesel hatchback.

How you calculated the milage? what is the milage in city? after your tire upgrade, there will be error in speed/km calculation in meter also i feel there may be difference in drive experiance.

 

[ASIR]

Glad to see a Happy Beat Diesel Owner. Why did the 22000 service shoot up to 8K???

 

[Ritzzxi]

Hi zapperjapper! Congrats for the Beat. Nice choice of color, I must say. Black is looking much better than the white, that most people go for.

I'm surprised at two things:
1> The 4th service charge is too much at 8k. Would you mind sharing the bill and details?
2> Are you sure the HU cost you 5k only? I got a quote of 12k for the Ritz, when I enquired at MASS. Also, I think that the HU comes standard on LT only.

Any way, the car is looking nice and I'm glad that you are happy with the car. Any plans for alloy wheels on the 30k milestone?

 

[zapperjapper]

The Cost of service was high because of following reasons.

1. Front Brake pad replacement.
2. AC cleaning.
3. Wiper cleaning.
4. Wheel alignment and balancing.

I agree on the Black color contributing to AC non-effectiveness.
More than that i think the Front Glass area is very big for the car size. On sunny days the dash gets super-hot, thus reducing the AC effectiveness.

The AC is very effective during gloomy days ( evening and nights ), I have to set the thermostat to a higher temperature even on first blower settings.

 

[Ritzzxi]

I agree on the Black color contributing to AC non-effectiveness.
More than that i think the Front Glass area is very big for the car size. On sunny days the dash gets super-hot, thus reducing the AC effectiveness.

The AC is very effective during gloomy days ( evening and nights ), I have to set the thermostat to a higher temperature even on first blower settings.

Even I used to face this problem in my Ritz. I earlier had a black Ritz.
The AC used to perform well when driving in evenings and the difference was felt even when driving in roads with trees on the sides! The moment my car came under the shade of a tree, the cooling effect was felt and as the car moved to sunlight, cooling effect was gone!

What I did was got a white vinyl on the roof. It costed me Rs.2000, but was money well spent. The AC used to cool better and when parked under direct sunlight, the cabin was cooler than before. I suggest you to get the roof painted/covered (via vinyl) on the car, its effective on black and red cars, especially.

Since sun films are banned, I would advice you to get a roller sunshade for the front windshield. It would cost around Rs.500. I had used an ultra light sun film on my earlier Ritz, but it wasn't effective at all.

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

The only problem with beat is its steering,its too light,not a highway rider,swift and figo weighs up brilliantly during highway rides though.
The diesel NVH is Superb.

 

[riturajchaturvedi]

Hello Sir, could you please confirm that you are not facing any issues of tyres touching the body while turning when vehicle fully loaded. I am also planning to upgrade the tyres but the dealer said its unfeasible

 

[Ambylovers]

Hi,
Beat is a good vehicle in the price range. It delivers a good mileage too.
Wishes to clock many more miles without issues.

Whether you have mis-typed the amount which you posted for the last service.?

 

[bhvm]

Crisp Review Mate.
Wish you many happy miles in the small beast.. err beat. It's a very peppy vehicle and can be driven spiritedly.

For safer night driving i suggest you add OEM fog lamps and keep them ON with low beams.

 

[duttan]

i had a Chervolet Beat Lt(0) model of 2014 . I want to add a remote central lock to my car , what are the things we must check while during the installation of the central lock to my car . I decided to go for the Autocop central locking

There is problem to my Chevrolet beat such that a sound will here from the backside of the car where the car was placed on the inclined position . Such that " drrrr " sound . ASS says that the sound was similar to all beat such that the sound was heard when the brake pad was tight to hold . The sound was heard only when the vehicle was stopped at the inclined position same as the image at upload along with this question

 

[bhvm]

Its the sound of Brakes Grinding. It sometimes happens on my XUV 500 too.
Park the car in 1st gear when on incline. Should help.

 

[duttan]

Is this usual the Brake Grinding sound was from the Beat while the vehicle was at incline . Is this any problem .

 

[bhvm]

it's not a problem..brakes are working hard to keep vehicle steady on incline. hence park in gear and put bricks behind tyres to ease the brakes.