Maruti Celerio

Five USPs of the Celerio:

• It’s a perfect city car – the small footprint, ease of driving, AMT option, great visibility, and light controls make it a comfortable car to live with. It’s small enough to wriggle through those tiny gaps in the traffic. And it's also easy to get in and out of.
• The cabin space is good for its size as it has grown in dimension. There’s a good amount of space upfront, so you are not rubbing elbows with your passengers. Even at the back, three can fit in just fine too. The boot space of 313 litres is as much as you get in a bigger Brezza.
• Although it is slightly noisy and a tad vibey, the engine is far from what you’d expect from a three-cylinder unit. It can also hold 80-90kmph with five on board. With the convenience of an AMT, the Celerio makes a good car for first-time buyers.
• With an overall real-world fuel mileage of just under 20kmpl (19.61kmpl, to be exact) under CarWale-tested figures, the Celerio will not burn a hole in your pocket.
• Like before, even the new Celerio offers the option of a factory-fitted CNG. It is offered in the VXI CNG trim, which is just Rs. 95,000 more than the non-CNG version.

Two Negatives of the Celerio:

• Compared to the older Celerio, the new one has gotten a lot more expensive. In fact, it is over Rs. 1.40 lakh more expensive version to version. When compared to the Tiago, the Tata offers more features like projector headlamps, LED DRLs, follow-me-home lamps, dual-tone paint job, cooled glove box, voice command feature and four extra speakers, and a rear-view camera.
• Although the new AMT is good, it's still quite an affordable technology with a slight trade-off. The throttle is erratic at times, as the gearbox holds onto gears unnecessarily, especially at low speeds. You can also feel the AMT gearbox’s abrupt downshifts.

• For safety, the Celerio offers dual airbags, ABS with EBD, ESP, rear parking sensors, hill hold assist, and front disc brakes.
• Do note that the Celerio hasn’t been tested for any crash tests yet.

• The cabin of the new Celerio is an all-black affair. But you do get some silver inserts around the air vents, on the centre console, on the steering wheel, and around the gear lever.
• For practicality, there’s space for knick-knacks, couple of cup holders, bottle holders on the door, and a glove box.
• And for the driver, you also get height-adjustable seats and tilt steering. Even though the seats are offered in the Wagon R as well, they do offer good support and the dead pedal is a welcome addition.
• And for the driver, you also get height-adjustable seats and tilt steering. Even though the seats are offered in the Wagon R as well, they do offer good support and the dead pedal is a welcome addition.
• Like the seats, most of the cabin is carried over from Wagon R, like the steering wheel, instrument cluster, and seven-inch touchscreen unit.
• As for the back seat, it’s comfortable to get in, thanks to the wide-opening doors. However, it is best suited for two at the back.

Negatives:

There are no complaints when it comes to material quality but if we were to nitpick, it would be the placement of window switches and central locking on the centre console below the touchscreen and not on the door.