The Most Commodious & Fuel Economic Sedan

Usually what comes to your mind when you hear the phrase "Most commodious & fuel economic sedan" maybe Honda City but no I'm talking about the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz. Today I'll share my life with Maruti Suzuki Ciaz while covering all aspects from deciding which car to buy to after-sales service. I purchased the Ciaz in late 2018 & it is the top of the line Alpha trim with a 1.5 litre K series petrol engine. When I decided to get a car I was sure that I need a roomy sedan which has maximum legroom for back seats since I'm m mostly a chauffer driven person & my running isn't that much so I was sure about a petrol. Moving on the cars which I shortlisted were Honda City & Maruti Suzuki Ciaz I was looking for the top of the line variants for both the cars but there was a huge price difference of around 3.5 lakhs & apparently Ciaz was more spacious than City & since my driver was mostly gonna drive it so I went for the Ciaz, it cost me 10.8 lakhs on-road in Panchkula. My experience at the Nexa dealership was first class, I got my car in less than a week & got free Leather seat covers, foot mats & mud flaps. The car has been driven 15k kilometres till the date, usually my driver is the one driving but on weekends I take the charge myself & enjoy the punchy petrol motor. Let's start exploring the exterior of the car, although looks are a strictly subjective topic but I'll share my thoughts about it. Taking a glance at the front of the Ciaz its truly a striking front end with a bold piano black front grille surrounded by chrome strips on the top & bottom & both the chrome strips & grill blend into the headlights giving it a seamless look. Also, the headlamps & foglamps get a LED setup which is really bright & visibility at night is not at all an issue. The fog lamp housing also gets chrome treatment which looks astonishing. The side of the car is nothing adventurous, its a conventional sedan look no coupe type roofline although I don't even expect that at this price point, chrome treatment is given to the grab handles on all the doors with a fine chrome lining flowing below the window line, the alloy wheels are a gem in this car, those bad boys are 16 inches & get a diamond cut treatment with a tyre size of 195/55 R16. Examining the rear end of Ciaz, again there is quite some chrome treatment which is so soothing to my eyes & the tail lamps are also a LED unit which look so upmarket. Addressing one of the major concerns of an Indian buyer Mileage kitni hai !!...in city driving it easily extracts 14kmpl & on highways, it goes up to 18 kmpl which is terrific for a petrol car & one main reason for such good figure is the mild-hybrid tech in the car which also brings a new feature to the table i.e. smart start/stop system, where the engine will automatically turn off when the car comes to a halt & will start again as soon as you press the clutch. Moving on to performance being a Suzuki petrol engine it is surely punchy although not as punchy as a vtec motor from Honda but still good enough from all other Maruti's cars, this motor loves to redline, the mid-range is really powerful but at the low end there is a lag maybe that is to increase the fuel efficiency but just a good motor doesn't do justice to a car we need good handling dynamics as well & sadly that is m missing on the Ciaz the handling is not that good but the ride is always comfortable & suspension tuning is better than the pre-facelift version, I found one more interesting quirk in this car & that is the front hood gets insulation to reduce the noise of the engine which is not the case in most petrol cars mainly due to cost-cutting done by companies & this insulation results in such a silent motor if the AC is switched off one can't tell if the ignition is on. The NVH levels of this car are also very low. Ciaz gets a 5-speed manual transmission & the gear shifts are really smooth. The interior of this car is so plush as you enter the car there is a feel of roominess because of the beige treatment it does not at all feel claustrophobic & when you sit at the driver seat first thing you'll notice is the instrument cluster, it has a 4-inch coloured display & it has its own cool tricks such as we can see the battery charging & discharging in the real-time also we can see the amounts of power & torque being used by the car in the real-time. These 2 things are truly awesome & at night when lights are on the instrument cluster looks just beautiful. The steering wheel is wrapped in leather & feels premium it also gets controls for infotainment, for calls & control for cruise control p.s. it's such an affordable car & still gets cruise control, moving back to the steering wheel it feels really light in the city & weighs up well on highways but still, the handling is not much on the dynamic side. on the right side, there is the engine start/stop button & controls to switch on/off the start/stop system since it is a mild hybrid, below that is the button to open the boot. The driver side door gets controls for lock/unlock, power windows & controls for ORVMs. In the centre of the dashboard, there is a 7-inch touch screen infotainment system which gets in-built navigation & support for android-auto & apple-carplay, it is smooth to use & doesn't lag. Below are the controls for the auto climate control & the AC cools the car in no time. The dashboard gets a wood trim which flows from the dashboard to both the doors & gives a premium appeal to the car. The car also gets an auto-dimming IRVM which is really useful. Exploring the cubby spaces in the car, there's so much space to store stuff each door gets a bottle holder which can accommodate a 1-litre bottle & 2 cupholders in the front & 2 in the back seat centre armrest, the front armrest also has a good amount of storage & there's space to keep your phone below the handbrake also there's space to keep coins & toll receipts below the driver side AC vent & the glove box is cooled & commodious. The boot of this car is enormous, one can easily fit in 3-4 full-size suitcases & it is shaped well. Moving on to rear-seat space it is just enormous so much legroom, these are the best rear seats in its class in terms of legroom also the seats are comfortable & supportive. It also gets rear AC vents which are really useful. It also gets a rear windscreen sunblind. which is a nice little addition. The maintenance of this car is really cheap, I got my first service done only for 2500 rupees although labour cost was excluded but if we include labour cost it still costs a total of 4000 rupees which is really cheap for a car of this class just for reference service cost of Honda City is almost 8000 rupees. I'll end my review by mentioning some pros & cons & by giving my final verdict. Moving to pros 1) best in class rear seat space 2) punchy motor 3) value for money factor is really high 4) great fuel economy 5) low-cost maintenance, discussing the cons 1) Handling & dynamics could have been better 2) It does not get a sunroof( ps I know its a lot to ask for this money but Honda City gets one) 3) Build quality can be improved. In conclusion, I would just like to say that if you want a car which has great fuel economy & is spacious & you are not an enthusiast or you are chauffeur driven or else you are tight on budget & want a car that is really value for money Ciaz is the right choice for you.