LUV at First Sight!

“It requires a lot of courage, skill and emotions involved at the time when you propose to a
woman. We are sure most men out there would agree! If successful then it’s a Happily Ever
After story. This proposal of LUV from Maruti Suzuki to the Indian car buyers has been
accepted almost immediately resulting in the ERTIGA story”!

32000 bookings within the first month of launch without an ad print for that matter any kind
of communication. Truly a rock star born from the stable of Maruti. But is it the right kind of
car for you to buy? Let’s find out.

Design and Styling:

A quick glance at the car nosewards and you would mistake it for a Ritz with tweaked
headlamps and bumpers. It is only that you realize it’s a (Life Utility Vehicle that Maruti
claim that they have created a whole new segment undoubtedly) 7 seater urban vehicle that
is made of different flesh and blood. Styling is typically Suzuki, with swept-back headlights
like the new Swift’s, and a grille and bonnet that resemble the Ritz. The overall design is
pleasing, but not what you would call eye-catching. Its urban, it’s contemporary and it’s a
design that can be liked by all.

Interior and Comfort:

It’s on familiar territory with the likes of its smaller siblings Dezire and Swift sharing the
same layout and feel. Except in Ertiga it gets a nice feel of Beige and Brown dual shade
interiors which gives a roomier feeling. Because of its car like feel and set up getting in and
getting out is that much easier compared to the competition. The front and mid row seats are
very comfortable and supportive even on the long drives. The layout for the rear 3+2 seats
has been done smartly by giving a reclining and sliding option for the 3 seater which allows
enough knee room even for passengers sitting in last row.

The steering wheel gets mounted controls, a 2 din music system with USB and AUX options.
The driver also gets to adjust the position he/she sits with the height adj. lever. Maruti knows
we love chrome and there is nice touch of it on the inside door handles, AC vents (rear as
well). Overall it’s a very well packaged interior space to be in because of the sea of beige
added on and makes this BIG car like feel.

Engine, Performance and Handling:
Due to popular demand, this review focuses only on the diesel option. The petrol would
follow suit soon.

A people mover which isn’t diesel doesn’t quite go well in our country. This 1.3-litre variable
geometry turbo puts out 89bhp and 200Nm of very usable torque. A very practical engine
under the hood which munches miles very easily at the same time consuming so meagerly.
The turbo kicks in at 1800rpm making it available at lower revs. But at times when the car
is fully loaded with passengers the turbo lag becomes more noticeable and thus makes intra
city commuting a little nagging. Surprisingly there is no much diesel clatter from the hood,
you won’t come to know that it’s a diesel when cruising at speeds of 130kmph. 0-100 figures
comes up under 14 seconds which is rather surprising for this size of a vehicle. Frugal diesel
engine churns out 16-17kmpl of mileage under ideal city driving conditions tested by us. The
gear box and the clutch feel light and thus make it a very capable intra city mover as well.

The reasonable amount of handling comes from the fact that the Ertiga gets a long wheel base
(2740mm) which makes it very poised and car like. Although it doesn’t feel good if you push
her around corners. Due to the soft suspension set up the Ertiga is able to absorb bumps and
city pot holes very well which also translates in highway driving dynamics. Although its an
MPV on paper it does not roll around as compared to competition and the light steering also
enables maneuverability within city.

Judgment Day:

“Hey you know what I have decided to buy Swift diesel top end variant. But man I can’t
carry a lot of luggage and my buddies in it. Ok may be the Duster would do the Job. Nice off
roader with loads of space but boy it’s very expensive. ERTIGA? Why didn’t I think of this
before? Multi tasker which does that occasional bad roading with its ground clearance and
can carry all the luggage I need along with my pals. The LUV of my life”.

So if you are out there looking for a urban stylish car which can do a little bit of this and a
little bit of that, then it’s time to fall in LUV with the Maruti Suzuki ERTIGA.

Shades of LUV:

 

SWIFT - ALL THRILL NO FRILL!

What strikes your mind when you hear the word “FUN”! An amusement park? Football with friends? Or maybe even your favorite TV show! Ask a petrol head and you are most likely to hear a list of their  favorite cars and the drives in them.

So if you are looking out for an affordable, easy to maintain, exciting, fun to drive diesel hatch look no further than the Maruti Suzuki Swift Diesel.

Engine & Performance:

This car comes with a 1.3L DDIS diesel engine awarded as “The Best International Engine of the Year 2007”, a gem of an engine which puts out a decent 75 BHP of power and 190NM torque. Commuting within city is easy and with the amount of torque on tap available for a vehicle of this size it makes driving in the stop and go traffic a lot easier. The tune of the turbocharger translates the driving more fun than just city commuting, the turbo lag is evident especially when you want to accelerate hard but once the turbo kicks in, it revs all the way to the redline with a very strong midrange which makes highway drives a pleasure. We @ MotorKind describe this turbo as “The only turbo amongst all turbo’s that acts as a turbo”! Acceleration is decent with triple digits reaching in about 12-13 seconds and can reach top speed of 180k per hour. The engine is a long termer and can last up to 3 lakh kilometres if taken care of. Coming to efficiency it’s a very fuel efficient motor, in real world driving conditions it can drive about 17 km in city and about 22km on highways for a litre of diesel.

Crisp 1.3L DDIS engine.

Ride & Handling:

First in segment independent suspension system makes this car a very sporty handler. The suspension tuning is a mix of good urban drivability and fantastic highway manners, the steering wheel communicates well with the driver making high speed cornering a habit With the car running on 165/80 R14 tyres for the Ldi/Vdi variants a tyre upgrade is seriously recommended preferably 185/60 R15 and above. Coming to braking this is one area where swift really looses out, the non ABS versions are unsafe at high speeds, and for a car of this weight (1060 kgs) the braking provided is below average.

Comfort & Convenience:

This midsized hatch is quite comfortable for the driver and co-driver with decent legroom, with the seating position on a higher side compared to other hatchbacks. Ingress and egress is easy and also visibility from the driver seat is neat. At the back, legroom and knee room is a bit cramped especially with taller people in the driver’s seat; the seats are soft and provide good back support so travelling long distance isn’t a strain. Now talking about convenience there aren’t many features to boast about except in the ZXi/ZDi variant. Climate control AC, Steering mounted Audio controls, driver seat height adjust etc are missing on mid variants and that’s not what you call ‘Convenient’.

Interiors & Exteriors:

When launched in 2005 in India it turned a great number of heads towards it, a funky looking hatch and very contemporary during its time. Stunning headlamp design, big doors and wide stance appealed at many. Stepping inside you notice the interiors are rather plain compared to the exterior design language yet it’s functional. With the black and gray color combination it makes the interiors look sporty and not airy unlike beige interiors which are good for a car which carries a sporty image.

Likes:

• The best selling B+ segment car EVER in India. 18000 p.m. average sales.

• Excellent fuel efficiency and suspension set up.

• Enthusiastic drive even on open roads.

• Maruti’s after sales service and network.

• Cost of maintenance and repairs comparatively least expensive.

Dislikes:

• Long waiting periods for the diesel. Up to 6 months for the ZDI.

• No optional ABS on the VDI variants.

• Limited luggage space compared to competition.

Judgement Day:

A person came up to us and said ‘I like the SWIFT but there are so many of them on road. How can I be different?’ The simple response to this, famously inspired by Mr. Henry Ford is ‘Buy any diesel hatch as long as it’s a SWIFT’. So if you have 6-7L in your pocket and looking to buy an affordable yet fun to drive car swiftly get it.

Other options to counter waiting period: Swift LDI/VDI (3-4 months), Swift LXI/VXI (2-3months).

A 3 is a 3!

A test drive could have done once, maybe twice or even thrice. 23! Yes, 23 is the no. of times this BEAST has been tamed by us. Call it Love, Lust or Addiction this has been our relationship with the ‘Ultimate Driving Machine’

During the spring of 2011, one fine afternoon we had a joint date with this angry young woman at the corner café of BMW motors. She was there sitting in a sparkling white dress with eyes glued at us indicating we come closer. The late night transformer movie had its hangover effect on us. The eyes took the shape of the classic Corona Rings, the body forming sharp curves, nose becoming the Kidney Grille and there she stood all of a sudden transformed in to the BMW 3 Series.

Having seen the 3 from outside we decided to step in. The aroma from the leather, the black glossy  panel flowing across the dashboard and the trademark I Drive infotainment system were all there placed so perfectly. It had this elegant yet so simple layout. The consultant sitting next to us proclaimed saying “This is the best driver’s compact sedan ever made” and so have we heard. We decided to put it to the test. Let’s see what happens then.

Finger reaches the Start button and all the 4 cylinders fires up in perfect harmony, right foot goes down flooring the accelerator pedal and leaves a trail of Pirelli tyres. But hey isn’t this supposed to be a compact executive sedan and be boring to drive? Make no mistake this is a BMW and they claim it’s an executive sport sedan. And yes that WOW! still remains in our minds till date. Through the busy streets of Bangalore it felt much civilised at low speeds and one thing we immediately noticed is the low ground clearance which doesn’t suit most Indian roads but on the other hand if it were more, then it would be a compromise on the handling.

Done with city driving we decided to break the shackles. Bang goes the throttle again and the feel of the acceleration has become an addiction ever since and that’s the motivation behind test driving that car 22 times more till date. 0 to 100kmph takes about 7.8 Seconds making it one of the fastest accelerating executive sedans in India.

As we drove along that open tarmac @140kmph, we found a fast right handed corner. At this point of time you usually see the sales person beside you petrified and asking you to slowdown before the curve but surprisingly No! He asked us to floor the pedal and assuredthat the car can easily handle this curve at a higher speed and so we did, the speedo hits 160 

kmph and the steering felt so crisp and the vehicle so planted which left us wondering what made this car do so. The obsession of BMW’s 50-50 weight distribution between the front and back had come alive and we experienced this obsession in our own hands. The best handler we have driven so far!

I guess you would have figured it out what we were about to do next, we wanted to experience how a rear wheel drive car lets it tail out when taking a turn aggressively and to our belief it did spin a perfect 180 degree resulting in a wide grin on our faces and of course the salesman too. All this having shut off the Traction Control option.

We then hit the nearest expressway to see how fast this ‘Angry Young Woman’ can go and soon we were comfortably doing 170 kmph at which point the salesman reminded us about the sport mode, hands grabbed the gear lever to sport mode and foot stretched a bit more and speedo hit 215 kmph and even at that speed it felt so confident, we were informed that eventually it will do about 230 kmph on Indian Roads.

I am sure many of would remember your first love, your first date and your first kiss. This to us was something beyond. This date with the 3 would never be forgotten till we meet ‘An Angrier young   woman’!

On our way back we started inspecting other elements apart from the drive, we noticed that the rear seat is actually bit cramped for space, the legroom and knee room isn’t great especially for a car costing upwards of 3 million rupees and the rear seats aren’t too supportive either and then comes a huge hump in the middle making it literally impossible for the third person to sit at the rear, courtesy the transmission tunnel for the rear wheel drive system, so practically it’s a 4 seater and not a 5 seater. But who cares as long as you have you have the wheel on one hand and your love on the other!

Watch out for the BMW 3 video here - http://www.youtube.com/motorkind