The write-up below consists of MY VIEWS ONLY. I have made an effort to honestly document my feedback as an owner & regular user of this car. All my comments might not be very generic or agreeable with everybody.
Well, here’s the starter: Being a hard-core Motorcycling enthusiast and tourer, I hate driving. I hate being inside a closed cage cut off from the fun of being one with nature. And I bought a Maruti 800 simply because I hate driving/being in that car more than any other car.
So why did I buy a car in the first place? Why did I need a car at all?
My need for a car could be completely summarized in seven crisp bullet-points. e.g.,
I needed a car that would be:
1. Having a roof to protect from the rain & dust (and rain + dust = slush/mud) and closable windows to protect from other vehicles splashing mud at me.
Having an AC which will be cool enough keep me from sweating and in shape when I need to be.
Should be affordable in my present financial status
Should have a decent resale potential and value if and when I want to get rid of it
Should have a good mileage (the surge in petrol prices are making my salary appraisal look negative!)
Should have four wheels, a spare wheel, a horn that sounds good
Should wear a decent color so that my wife does not refuse to be seen in it, inspite of it being a Maruti 800.
I didn’t care a damn about -
1. Driving Pleasure [I derive all outdoorly pleasure from my bike when I need it]
“Fun” factor & “Prestige” factor [I don’t have the money to care about these if I am talking about a car; I prefer to have a high-end bike which can give all of these to me at a lot lesser cost.]
What people would say [people have mouth, mouth will talk, not enough duct-tape for everybody, its always easier and cheaper to play deaf & ignore.]
After doing all the research that I did, I found that the Maruti 800 gives ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING that I needed, and doesn’t give any of the things I am not looking for.
Now coming back to the point where “I hate a Maruti 800”…. It’s a toy-like four-wheeled tin box, looks like one too, moves like one too, you can feel the smallest pothole on your butt. Feeble chassis, absolutely no safety features, a high-speed crash is almost always fatal. Push it to a little more than 90 KMPH and the body/steering vibrations make you slightly nervous. Anything beyond 100 KMPH is outright dangerous, for you, your passengers and others on the road. Having said that, yes, I have touched and maintained 120 on Pune-Mumbai Expressway while the throttle was floored, and it was not a great driving feeling ... I would say the experience is not for the faint-hearted.
The car starts rattling noises all over the chassis from the tender age of 15-18 months. Some of these "noises" are absolutely incurable while others are, but they need constant attention (if you are as finicky as I am about "noise", you will know what I mean). If you happen to live in a city famous for its potholes and bad roads (e.g. Pune), your Maruti 800 will start getting these symptoms before you celebrate its first birthday.
Internal fabrics, plastics, switchgear, AC vents look very cheap, toyish and home-made. Same go with dashboard, steering, controls. No power steering, no power brakes. That’s the cheapest car for you. What you pay is what you get.
Space is a major issue for slightly well-built mortals or people bestowed to hold their head higher than average – travel for a few hours in this vehicle (especially on the back-seat), you will have to count your cramps. In a nutshell, it is the cheapest among Indian four wheelers (excluding the cheaper packing-box named Omni), and the price factor determines the quality & quantity in every bit – you get what you pay for.
But why did I buy it although I hated it? Please don’t laugh at the answer, its kind of crazy, but that’s me. So that every time I drive the Maruti 800 – it will remind me every day that I am driving the Maruti 800 because I cant yet afford to drive a Audi A8 or a BMW 6-series.
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The Following part has been added on 22 Jan 2010, after completing SIX years of owning the Maruti 800
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My ugly duckling is six.
After practically zero-maintenance six years of running, I recently spent approx Rs. 20, 000 on the car @ 58, 000 kms. This expense was mostly to meet partial/full replacements of worn parts like all tyres (JK Steel Radials) steering assembly, drive-shaft (axle), front suspension, timing belt, decarbonising of engine, overhauling (all suspension + brakes + steering) in addition to a fillip of MOBIL-1 to keep her humming for longer. It feels sweeter to run the car - now that EMIs are over, and my running costs have come down to just "fill it, shut it, forget it".I took her to a valuer @ Maruti Tru Value - although I did not quite like their offer, one thing made me don an ear-to-ear grin - the engine condition is almost as good as new. Thanks to probably my well-trained driving habits and meticulous servicing at the right intervals.
I would repeat:
M800 has got a not-so-powerful but very dependable engine under its bonnet. Like scotch, it gets smoother and smoother with age. With almost 60K kms under the belt, this engine is humming like a new one after de-carb, a service, new sparkys, and oil change to MOBIL-1.
The best value proposition of this car is its "Total Cost of Ownership". Being one of the highest-mileage, easy-to-maintain, cheapest-spare-cost and virtually trouble-free machine, the TCO is lower than any other Four-wheeled contraption on the road.
In summary - this was a car that kept my pocket happy. I will never question its reliability - my Maruti 800 never let me down - even under challenging driving conditions.