Cheeky from Maruti, Still Decent Value for your Money

Exterior Neither amazing nor boring if you look from front and sides. As everyone else wrote about this time and again, dont expect to turn heads towards you even if you just took this car out of the showroom minutes before. Move to the back, you sure will get a nasty look on your face. It looks like a man walking on the water logged, monsoon hit metro roads hoisting his lungi or dhoti way above his waist. you can see half of the rear wheels from behind. Just forget that part, then you can surely say Maruti engineers did a decent enough job.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) I have got a manual ZXi OPTIONAL. While looking at other options, I have to fork out at least another 1 lac to get all the features that I have in this car. So excellent on features. Full marks to Maruti.

Space is where maruti got cheeky. Normaly I like to push by driver seat back as mush as possible. Usually in my DZire (Old model) I'll will be able to push the driver sheet back, almost to one feet from its most forwarded postion. But in this car, the front'n'Back moves for front seats are very limited. I'm still getting used to the up-close to sterring wheel drive. So obiviously, the back side leg room is great. But, we have to accept that, this car gives you better space than its rivals in the same segment. In some cases, its better than the cars one segement above this.

Comfort - To get space, you to compromise on comfort, wherever it is. Its true for this car too. Though you get good support to thighs and all, comfortable long drives are a no-no. (though if you ignore comfort, long drives are really good with its road handling, we will come to that in a bit). Back seats are better equipped, though the attached head rests are a disappointment. you get no support at all for your neck. 

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

I was pleasantly surprised at the pick up and accelaration of this lil one. you can easily zoom in front of others at traffic signals. Fuel economy at present is showing well below 15kmpl, but I think I have to wait and comment on that after a couple of services. I'll reserve my verdict on this.

Gear box - Shame on Maruti. Whatever issues I had with DZire earlier with reverse gear, i have got it already in this. I dont know from where are they getting these boxes. While all 5 fwd gears are smooth, reverse gear already requires great thurst with your hands to put it in place.

Ride Quality & Handling Another area, which is excellent on this car. Smooth ride and handling in city traffic is seamless. You can easliy cut through the congestion. I have got height adjustable seats, which i have set at its heighest position. This gives you clear views for all four corners and its easy to navigate in peak hours. Only nagging thing on the back of my mind is the protrudding front lamps and back bumbers. Specially the back bumber corners are so sharp (You cant put any buber protector as well due to its design), its almost inevitable to get hit by some two wheeler rider. I'm expecting this to happen in the next month itself :-(

At corners and round about, at high speeds you can feel the body roll, but you can always feel you are in control. I had no worries so far.

Final Words For the price that I have paid (5.72 on road) I'm satisfied with my car. This is my fourth car after 800, Dzire and VW Passat. While one was a legend and another one is on the verge of becoming a legend (only time will say if dzire stands against the like of Amaze & Xcent), this is surely another hit from Maruti. If you are tier 1 or even tier 2 city bound office goer, go for it. If the purpose is something else, forget it. Look elsewhere.

Areas of improvement Back view, Gear Box and interior material quality (Specailly dash board plastics). 

Features, Interior SpacePlastics (Dirt Cheap), View from behind, Gear Transmission