Ertiga AT: My Family LUV

Owns 2016 Ertiga VXI AT. Driven 10000+ in 13 months. Costed 10,40,000 on road including multiple accessories (headlight upgrade with relay, sunfilm, arm rest, chrome handles, rear spoiler, seat covers, dual mats, full floor matting, bumper & side protectors, wind wiser.

Exterior: Nothing Offensive. Perfect Family Looks. Nothing to hate about. With re-designed bumper & grills, it looks really smart. Wish MS should have extended rear lights & increase power of head lamps or provide better reflector forhighways.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort): This is where Ertiga excels. Perfect for a mid-size family with occassional long trips. With Facelift, Electric Adjustable & Folding mirrors, 2 Airbags, ABS, Integrated Stereo with Bluetooth come as default. Middle row AC (not just Fan) adds super comfort to all rows. No complaints whatsoever.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox: Slight disappointment. Engine definitely is underpowered & to add pain, 4 Speed AT gearbox is really Old school. They could have given 5 speed CVT. I am in Hyderabad & roads are crests & troughs. Car struggles with AC to pull neatly & engine noise becomes audible. Fuel Economy I get around 13 KMPL incity (non-traffic), 10-11 in traffic & close to 17 on highway with speed maintained below 100. On straight road, no complaints regarding pickup. Wish they could have providedsame SX4 1.6, 103 BHP Engine. Also, there is no manual option (I was well aware as I was driving Ritz AT prior to that), but wish they could have provided manual option like Hyundai (Grand i10, Xcent eventhough they are also 4 speed).

Ride Quality & Handling: Ride quality is good, not excellent. Suspension is tuned pretty much like Ritz/Dzire. Wish they could have provided 195/65 R15 or higher tyres. Currently its 185/65 R15 which is similar to Swift/Dzire/Ritz ZXI (They are different category). Also, Maruti for God Sake, please don't put JKTyres. Start using Bridgestone. I shifted from Ritz to Ertiga. No Handling difference. Feels nervous above 50 KMPH making a turn. But, Ertiga drives like a car, easy to park, handle.

Final Words: I wanted a big Petrol only Car (7 seater) with Automatic Transmission below 14,00,000. Was waiting for BRV, but was extremely disappointed when I checked & saw it costing 14,90,000 on road with side looks exactly same like mobilio, Innova Crysta was way out of my budget (Around 1800000 on road), Scorpio, XUV 500, TATA Hexa all in diesel. Not crazy to buy Audi/BMW/Merc as theyare easy to buy but impossible to maintain . Only Ertiga fitted in my budget.

Areas of improvement: Pickup in AT (Please provide CVT like in Baleno), Better quality parts to avoid Rattling issues, modify Rear Lights shape. They don't Gel at all with car looks & size (reminds me of Hyundai Getz). Maruti after sales service is getting pathetic day by day.

Mileage, Car like driving (Swift/Ritz), Seating comfort, VFM, FeaturesPickup in AT, Typical Maruti Rattling issues, Rear Lights, not so good after sales service anymore