Q. Which is the best mid-size car to buy- Fiesta, Verna or City?
A. I advise to wait for the upcoming New Baleno(SX4)
Sounded something familiar???? Well yes, whoever wanted to purchase a C-segment car got this answer, at least I used to recommend this to everyone because I though that it was definitely worth waiting for it. So now the wait is finally over, a long long wait for many. Its finally here, which they call the ultimate male accessory�?�.
On 7th May, 2007, Mr Jagdish Khattar, The managing Director of Maruti Udyog Limited finally unveiled its all new and very much awaited by all, MARUTI SUZUKI SX4. Bad time starts for the competition in this segment. This is like a �??never-before�?? from Maruti. Really stunned everyone with its only C-segment offering.
The masculine looking SX4 is finally ready to be driven on Indian roads. It is launched with a 1.6L power house, A 16 V DOHC with 4 cylinders, which gives maximum power of 102bhp @ 5500rpm and maximum torque of 145Nm @ 4200rpm. It comes with a 5-speed manual gearbox. The car is launched in three variants, Vxi (base), Zxi and Zxi with Leather Option. The price (ex-showroom New Delhi) is Rs.6.18 lakhs, Rs.6.89 lakhs and Rs.7.24 lakhs respectively. The car is 4490mm long with a very Indian-road-friendly ground clearance of 190 mm (for Zxi. It�??s 180 mm for Vxi).
SX4 is available in seven cool colors (all metallic): Metallic Silky Silver, Metallic Clear Beige, Metallic Midnight Black, Metallic Sunlight Copper, Pearl Metallic Arctic White, Metallic Supreme Red & Metallic Azure Grey. It has very big wrap around head lamps and very attractive tail lamps. It has a very masculine looking front end, very tall and very good body aesthetics with dynamic bodylines.
The car has very pleasing beige & dark grey two-tone interiors, material used is of high quality. Zxi variant has amazing features like Dual Airbags for driver and co-driver, ABS with EBD (Anti lock Braking System with Electronic Brake Distribution. This ensures absolute prevention of skidding on applying the brakes suddenly even on wet surface) and front fog lamps. Other useful goodies available with the Zxi version are automatic climate control, integrated In-dash CD player with AM/FM tuner, a patch antenna at the rear window for uninterrupted reception, 4 speakers and 2 tweeters. Zxi also features on-steering audio control switches for ease, height adjustable driver�??s seat, alloy wheels & keyless entry. Leather seats and leather-covered steering wheel is also available in ZXi as an optional package for some 40,000 rupees extra.
There is a lot more to tell about, just waiting to get my hands on it soon. Apart from the looks, let us see how well it performs on the road. Honda, Hyundai & Ford must pull up their socks now and plan something to stop this roaring Maruti. Now Honda also must have started thinking to bring in its new-generation Honda City soon.
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