“And now to see if I was wrong.” That was the first thought that ran through my head when I collected the Ritz petrol ZXi for our road-test. You see, I wasn’t too impressed with the engine when I had a short drive at the car’s launch, and that surprised even me! Back to the present – I turned the key, let the engine idle for a while, blipped the throttle…
…and was amazed by the way the needle on the dash-mounted rev counter rushed around the dial. Yep, my first impression was wrong, Suzuki hasn’t forgotten how to make exciting engines. All is still well with the world. On to the rest of the car.

Design at the rear polarises opinion

The Ritz’s design polarises opinion like no other in its segment. The rest of the cars either ape each other’s designs, or look bland so that they don’t offend anyone. The Ritz’s front end looks like a mixture of Wagon R and Swift, and is inoffensive at best. Special mention must be made of the grille: all it needs is a chrome surround to make it look like an Audi one. The silhouette is conventional, with a high roof, until you get to the rear. The concave rear is something we certainly aren’t used to, and that reflects in the opinion of the general public. Despite the oddball rear, the lights do manage to redeem the posterior from certain angles, but when viewed from dead rear, it doesn’t seem pleasing to the eye, the height and tapering-to-the-top stance contributing to the unusual shape. Full marks to Suzuki for being bold with the car’s exterior design, though.

Interior is a mix of familiar elements and new additions.

There’s an impression of space in the Ritz, contributed by the high roof and big glass area. There are familiar bits in the Ritz – the steering wheel, for example, is similar to that of the Swift’s, as is the factory-fitted music system. You don’t have to crouch to enter the Ritz – the high roof allows you to step right in. One of the changes that Maruti has incorporated into the Splash to make the Indian Ritz is raising the hip point of the seats – as a result, the front seats feel very comfortable, almost like sitting in an armchair. You’re sitting so high off the floor, there is no real need for a footrest for your left foot! Everything will fall easily to hand to a person of normal height, but anyone over six feet tall will have to either deal with adjusting the seat length so that everything is well within reach, or making their long legs comfortable and having to reach out ever so slightly to the steering wheel and gearshift lever. You have to watch out for the top of the rear door while entering the rear seats, and while it is roomy in the second row, we’d have like a little more space. Two six-footers sitting one behind the other will have to compromise on knee room to accommodate themselves.
The Ritz’s instruments are displayed in the same vein as the A-Star’s; a single large dial displays speed, and the area surrounding the numbers is dotted with indicator and warning lamps. The ZXi variant gets a dash-mounted tachometer to add a little sportiness to the car. The steering wheel has controls for the audio system, a very useful feature. The single-disc mp3 player does well enough with radio, but the speakers fall woefully short of expectations. The low frequencies are unclear at best, and there is a lot of distortion if you turn the volume up. To be fair to the system, this distortion occurs only at really loud levels. The air-conditioning works fine in cloudy weather, cooling the cabin adequately. The indicator noise is too soft – you don’t realise if it has cancelled itself or not unless you look at the flashing light on the dash. It was also surprising to find mirrors that had no electric adjustment, even on the ZXi.
The plastics have good fit and finish, but are a little hard and shiny for our liking. The all-grey combination can get depressing, but there is the option of a blue/black combination on certain exterior paint shades. There are a number of places to keep things – the front door pockets will accommodate small bottles, and there’s an open space above the glovebox itself that adds to convenience. A very useful addition to the top of the dashboard is the coin-holder-cum-small-covered-space which is really handy when it comes to toll fare and receipts. This space as well as the recess above the glovebox would have benefited from a rubberised finish, as things kept here tend to slide and/or rattle when going over bumpy roads.
The concave rear has eaten into boot space – two duffel bags or a single medium-sized suitcase is all it’ll take to fill the Ritz’s boot. In a nation of one-car-fits-all families, that is not necessarily a good thing.

Note 'shorty' air intake for the K12 engine.

Engine
We tested the ZXi, which has the K-series 1.2 litre, four cylinder powerplant. It generates 85bhp@6000rpm and 113Nm@4500rpm. It is India’s first BS-4 certified engine, so it has good emissions in addition to that horsepower figure. It sits comfortably in the Ritz’s engine bay, and we noticed a ‘shorty’ air intake that should please the boy-racers among us.
This engine is smooth right up to the redline, and delivers power in such a linear manner, you might get fooled into believing that it is slow, the way we did when we first drove it. The numbers show that it isn’t a slow car, however – it managed a 15.2 second 0-100kph run in the dry. What we really do like about this engine is its drivability. It responds with urgency no matter what the gear or speed, and what pleases us the most is its responsiveness even below 2000rpm, which is where the current crop of engines with similar displacement from the competition seems to be lagging behind.

Drivetrain
The console-mounted gearlever has much of the same feel as the Swift – precise throws that slot positively into gear, but the shifts need a little muscle. The gearing is matched well to the engine, both for the city and the highway.

Fuel efficiency
The K12 motor lives up to its reputation. We received our test car when the monsoon gods had just begun venting their fury, and as such spent indecent amounts of time stuck in traffic, or crawling along in first or second gear. The Ritz STILL managed to return over 14kpl, and it dipped to 12kpl while testing, which is really very good when you consider how responsive the engine is.

Supple ride, predictable handling and tyres that we wish gripped better.

The Ritz is based on the Swift, but the suspension has been softened bearing in mind the target market. This has resulted in a much better ride than the Swift, with most bumps kept out of the cabin. This has made commutes so much easier in the Ritz, but sacrifices a little in the handling department. The Ritz exhibits body roll while cornering, but if things are kept smooth, it is quite capable of keeping up with the Swift. We didn’t like the feel from the steering, which is accurate, but weighs up artificially when turned, thus impeding confidence. The car does tend to move around a little when faced with a crosswind at speeds above 120kph. The weak point in the handling department is not the chassis or the suspension, but the tyres. Ground clearance is good enough to pass our ‘giant speedbreaker’ test with ease.

Braking
The ABS-equipped ZXi stops equally well in the wet or dry, with good bite and progressively increasing stopping power with increasing pressure on the pedal. It manages to haul the Ritz to a halt from 80kph in 40.5 meters and 3 seconds.

Tyres
The same JK Vectras that provide the Swift a connection to the road were present on our test Ritz. However, the car may also be shod with JK Tornadoes. The ZXi is shod with 185/70 R14s, and JK Tyres claim that the Vectra is developed for long life and good fuel economy. They are quiet at speed, but do not encourage spirited cornering or speeding in the wet. They start protesting very early if the car is pushed, but let go in a very progressive manner, which can be fun for fans of drifting – although we wouldn’t recommend that in a Ritz!

Safety
The ZXi is well equipped with ABS and two airbags for the occupants of the front seat.

  The top-of-the-line petrol ZXi is priced a shade over Rs 5 lakh, ex-showroom, Mumbai, which makes it decent value for money and offers people looking for a good city car a really good alternative. What it has going for itself is that lovely engine and decent seating space, what goes against it is the quirky design and the boot space, or lack thereof, which will matter a lot to one-car families.
    If boot space doesn’t matter too much to you or you have ageing parents or grandparents who need a car to run about in the city, the Ritz could just be what you’ve been looking for.