This is my review after owning the car for around 2 years. Will be giving a very practical and personal experience review.
My requirement before buying this car was:
Spacious cabin.
Good ride and handling.
Good Mileage.
After Buying:
Pros:
(A) Service Cost:
Car has been serviced around 4 times now. Good thing about K-series engines are they do not need an oil change until 15000kms. Which is just amazing and value add. Have spent probably 3000 Rs till date on service. Oil change only once so saves a lot of money. Service experience has been good.
(B) Comfort and space:
Very comfortable to sit for a tall person like me.Have done long journeys in this and must say the comfort is too good. Don’t feel tired even after continuous journey. This is from drivers as well as passenger perspective.5 can seat comfortably.
You can keep 2 big one liter bottles in the door which is very helpful during long drives. In the back seat cover pocket you can put 2 more bottles as well. Always can carry 4 liters of water with comfort. The glove box is good enough. What I love is the cup holders near handbrake, you can fit in a half liter bottle there as well and keep your phone for charge. On top of dashboard you have again a small glove-box kinds to keep tickets or change or CDS or cloth. Under the co-driver seat there is an under-seat tray to put some stuff as well.
Boot space is good enough. 60/40 split seats helps a lot if you have 4 passengers and huge luggage to take. Just fold one seat and dump luggage there.
(C) Handling:
Handling in straight lines is good and very stable and planted. Cornering don’t expect a toll boy design to simply cruise through the corners at top speed, however must say in corners also feels planted at average speeds.
(D) Engine power and response:
Mid range of this is just amazing to play with. Good power to play around. Even with 5 seated in the car has a good pull, never feel under powered. Top speed I have touched in this is 170 kmph during journey from Bangalore to Davangere on highway. It feels very planted on straight line speeds. So absolute pleasure to drive on highways.
(E) Mileage:
For speeds above 100 on highways it returns a mileage of 14 to 15 with AC. Speeds between 80 to 90 the best I got from this car is 16.7 kmpl with AC on highways. In city driving it returns a healthy 15 to 16 kmpl without miss.
Cons:
(A) By giving comfort and space to passenger cabin some space compromise needs to be done at the back i.e boot. Hence boot space is a bit less. 5 people going on a long journey with 2 big and one small bag can definitely fit in not an issue.
However if you are a frequent traveler carrying huge luggage with 5 people then you just cant.Need a roof carrier probably. If there are 4 people with huge luggage you can split the seat and put more luggage on the other side. So not much of a concern for me however something you need to check on your own depending on your requirement.
(B) The doors of this car are a bit high. Dashboard is high. So when you are stuck in traffic or near a divider its a bit tough to judge to your left side or front. Even after driving the car for so long I find it a tad tough however manageable. Even while taking reverse the pillars. (D Pillars its called I believe) near the back window block a bit of visibility.
Overall experience has been amazing and would highly recommend for those who are looking for a spacious cabin and comfort with Mileage and reliability. Have test driven Swift, beat, Hyundai EON, i10, Indica, Figo, Brio, Etios Liva before buying this.