Alright ! This is my third review in Mouthshut and all of them are about the cars. The first two were for Mahindra Renault Logan which I don’t drive anymore. I’m writing this review much later than the purchase date as I think the best time to write the review is when the car is about an year old. Let’s start from the test drive. I decided to buy a hatchback when I was fed up by the city traffic (really pisses you off when you drive a sedan vehicle on jam packed roads) and wanted a car with smooth manoeuvring and fuel efficient. Short listed some hatchbacks:
1) Nissan Micra : Ruled out as Nissan has only one service center in Mumbai
2) Maruti Suzuki Alto/WagonR : Ruled out as I need more power
3) i-20: Premium sedan, obviously, out of my budget
4) Ford Figo : Poor fule efficiency and after sales service
5) i-10 : I personally feel that this car has feminine looks (no offence to anyone owing this car. This is just my personal feeling. Car is fantastic by the way.)
6) Fiat Punto: Poor after service. Ruled out.
7) Maruti Swift: Great car but I get claustrophobic feeling when on the rare seats and of course expensive than Ritz.
(I drove all the cars above except Punto and Micra)
Finally, I narrowed down my search to Chevrolet Beat and Maruti Ritz . Called up Chevy sales centers. Two of them didn’t respond at all and one of them turned up with the test drive. I found several shortcomings with the Beat. First of all, it lacks space inside. Really small vehicle for the cost.
It’s engine lacks power. You can feel that instantly. Tyres are small (I consider tyre size a major factor as they play significant role in vehicle stability and shock absorbing capacity).
Called up Maruti sales centers. Out of 4, 3 turned up for test drive. Sat on the driver’s seat and wow !!!! The elevated driver’s seat impressed me a lot. Started the vehicle and immediately got the feeling that, K-series engine is a brilliant piece of engineering. The car has the power, the style and of-course the great manoeuvring. The pick up is quick and no noise what-so-ever inside the cabin. Test drove the vehicle multiple times and decided to purchase it.
Showroom Experience:
Called up nearest Maruti sales center. Got the call back within a day. Visited the showroom. All clear talks. No false promises. Promised the delivery on time. Got free accessories like window sun film, engine coating, floor mat, steering wheel cover. No fuss and no overrated talks. Maruti announced free gift to all it’s customers after 6 month of my purchase which the sales agent personally visited my home to deliver. How many auto companies do that?
Overall, thumbs up to the sales team.
Car after 1 year:
I drive my car daily (about 22 km) and I’m completely satisfied with my purchase. The car is true value for money till date. K-series engine loves peace. Comfort at it’s best for driver as well as for passengers. I sometimes turn the ignition key only to realize that engine is already running.
Great shock absorbers (big tyres at work). The rare seat passengers sometimes feel more bumps due to it’s tall design. The fuel efficiency is good. I get 13 kms(12.89 to be more precise) in city with A/C in moderate-to-high traffic. One of the advantages Ritz has over its competitors is the low turning radius. I manage to take several U-turns without backing up which otherwise I would do with at least one. This is a great feature for city driving. The rare is big enough to accommodate substantial luggage.
The car has a security system (which I had to pay for) which works well. One excellent feature of its security system is that the doors get locked when car reaches 20km/hr. Air conditioning system is one of the best in this segment. Cools the car instantly without any noise. But, yes, it lacks automatic climate control which Chevy beat has. It has fog lights for the vxi version. I don’t think any of the contemporary cars have fog lamps in this version. I sometimes find little difficulty in backing up as the rare view window is on the smaller side.
Now finally the looks ! Looks for me is not a primary and comes after robustness, interiors, and fuel efficiency. Most the the people don’t like Ritz’s external looks because of it’s European tall boy design. Nevertheless, I liked that design. It’s not one of the best but enough to impress me.
Interiors are of good quality and no signs of inferiors quality material. I also drove Etios and was taken aback by its interiors. They seem like plane plastic fitted to the dashboard.
The bottom line,
Go for Ritz without any hesitation if you have your eyes on it !