I bought my Spark LS around 7 months ago from Talera motors, Pune. Looking back I have no hesitation in saying that I took the right decision and would recommend the car to one and all. Before this I had driven & tested the santro, i10, palio, indica and wagonr. Each of these cars had there pros and cons but I found Spark to be the best compromise of the lot.
Space, Comfort, Interiors and Ride:
This car appears very small from outside but its amazingly spacious inside for its size and can seat 4 people in comfort. The seats are comfortable but the front seats could do with more thigh support.
The dashboard design is great with the speedometer placed in the centre and has a lot of cubbyholes, bottle holders, suit hanger, backseat magazine pockets, cigarette lighter, sunglass holder, indicator alerts for low fuel, door ajar etc etc.Also standard are the tubeless tyres, wheel caps, foglamps. In short you get a whole lot of these features at a very competitive price.
The boot is only just adequate at 120litres & could be a disadvantage during long weekend trips. Coming to the AC, it takes a long time to cool during hot summer days particularly during noon time. Also the blower fan makes a lot of noise at higher fan speeds but I thnk this is more because of the vent design rather than the fan motor itself. However one thing I noted is that there is very minimal lag in acceleration when the AC is switched on as compared to when its off.
SOme minor irritants include the unconventional positioning of the indicator(left) and the wiper stalks(right) similar to the Ford. This takes some getting used to.
Also the horn is placed in the center of the steering wheel and needs to be pressed hard to be heard.
The ride is fantastic with the suspension literally soaking up every bump on the road. I would rate the ride on par with the Palio which is the benchmark.
Powertrain:
The 1000cc engine generates the same 63 bhp power as that of the 1100cc santro and is virtually silent and very smooth. Its also very fuel efficient with 13.5 to14 kmpl in the city and 17 on the highway.
The best part is that you can drive at 20kmph even in 4th gear without any engine knocking. In short the gear ratios are well sorted out and atuned to city driving conditions.
Even at high speeds the car is poised, well balanced and stable without signs of any strain whatsoever.
In many Spark reviews I found people complaining about the gear shift being notchy. But however I find the gear shift to be very slick and precise and nowhere as negative as described in those reviews.
Pre-sale and Aftersales service experience:
More than the car I was worried about the after sales service, fortunately my experience till now after 2 services has been good.
The same cannot be said about the presale experience though. For one the company wasnt able to deliver the high end model LT that I had ordered due to production constraints and instead requested me to settle for the LS version .
Also the requisite predelivery inspection was not done on the car as it had a disconnected speedometer and the engine malfunction indicator was on, both of which were rectified at the workshop the next day. Thats not a good experience particularly when you are spending lacs on a new car and that too on the first day itself!
I would recommend to buy the LT version as it has split and double folding rear seats(good for stowing odd sized baggages), roof rail, spoilers, rear wiper(very useful in monsoons), demister/fogger, rear power windows, premium blue fabric seats, storage under co-drivers seat, tinted glass and host of other features as standard.
And all this you get for 3.76 lacs on road Pune along with a 3 year /100000kms warranty which is the best in class.