I have a White ZXi, bought in Aug 2007. The car is great, very satisfied with the car so far.(Had it for 5 months).
It is feature packed for that segment. ABS, airbags, climate control, alloy wheels, remote central locking and that well made feel. It feels well put together.
Good paint job and panel gaps.
Door pockets are great as you can stick your little oddmets like mobile phones there.
Handling is superb. Decent acceleration although you can always have some more. It can climb upto 100kmph on 3rd gear on level roads!(although 3rd gear feels a little bit underpowered if you are going uphill, I would think Maruti has tuned it more for mileage than outright power). I took it upto 130 where the roads were good enough, sure I could push it further had the roads been better.
Mileage with AC in city is 12-13 kpl. The car returned 15kpl in the highway, but this was in Kerala, where even in highways, road doesnt really exist in a lot of places.(My trip included EKM to Palghat where the road is full of huge potholes and I was shifting between 2 and 3rd gear most of the time with first gear on occassions). So, in a real highway I would think mileage would be better.
And dont think twice about it; BUY the ZXi, it is worth more than the extra money what you pay for the VXi.
Things I was not happy about:
The extreme lack of knowldege about the car for the sales reps, they didnt have a clue about the features of the car and didnt know how to demonstrate the different goddies in the car.
And poor service at the dealer, they couldnt explain what they do when I give it for service, I dont think they knew what was done!(I hope Maruti looks in to this and gets it sorted).
Luggage space is not brilliant.
The beading on the outside of front doors has poor finish.
No switch illumination for the electric window switches on the door or the glove box.
All in all, good car and the price is good too for what it offers.
*Upgrades I have done to the car:
*Sony bluetooth CD radio
Puddle lights on all 4 doors using white super-bright LEDs
Danger lights on all 4 doors with red LEDs.
An extra cigarette ligter socket in the door pocket to charge my mobile phone discreetly keeping it well off prying eyes
Rear parking sensors*
Auto-dimming rear view mirros
*LED interior ambience lighting
LED glove box lights
HID headlamps
There is a facelift coming soon they say and a picture of the facelift is attached! I certainly see cosmetic touches such are integrated flashers in wing mirrors which is good. I hope Maruti includes glove box lights, ambient lighting and switch illumination in the facelift atleast in theZXi version!
When are we getting an automatic?
Will we get a ZDi?
3 year 35000 km update(Sept 2010)
Very good buy, I would recceomend it
The only problem I had with it is the front wheel bearing giving up which made the handling dicey, the dealers took a few visits to diagnose and rectify the prblem, but once it was replaced, the car has been behaving well since!