I own a used maruti esteem lxi, model 2003. I thought of taking a brand new vehicle but I felt 4.79 lakhs is a way too costly.
I compared the accent and ikon in the category. I kon has enormous power and goes rugged. accent is much like an official look and goes very smooth, the gear shift is excellent in accent. both of these may have high maintenance but I don’t mind
later I compared my own esteem with accent and ikon, as my friends have these. the doors of esteem just looks like an iron sheet, the effect of closing and opening the door shows the bad quality of esteem.
the braking is poor
gear shift is very bad
the front bumper often goes lower and I have to give it to service to bring it up.
even the paint work is not good, metal gauge is very less. it looks very light.
after 150kmph in mysore road, the dashboard vibrates badly, vehicle looses 20% stability and stereo goes switched off
over all body sounds on an average road, after a service its rectified, but another 2000km brings the vibration back
engine jerks after every 5000km
too much of engine sounds
bad AC performance
bad interiors
in ikon I felt the power is amazing, braking too good, vehicle goes rugged upto 160kmph
the accent on the other hand, is very smooth, gear shift is dam easy,
overall I see that may be in year 2000 or upto that the esteem was good. but for the price of approximate 5lacs we pay, I feel we have better vehicle than esteem in the market providing the same mileage and better build quality and excellent drive experience