New Review : Written after 3 months of use.
There is an adage that we need not check the entire bowl of rice to see if its cooked or not , a single grain would tell you that. Well this could be true for a rice bowl and not for testing Cars. A small 10 to 30 min test drive does not reveal the hidden issues of any automobile. Most of the test drives are biased, in a sense when we like a particular car we just try to appreciate the good aspects of that car and on the contrary if we don’t like it. But in this process we really miss out or cant perceive certain issues which can only be noticed after buying the car and driving it for few days. I had written a review in mouthshut.com, titled “My experience with SX4” with in days after buying this car. Its been 3 months now, with 1st service completed 2 months back. And I felt that I should write this review again. I would not like to emphasize on the pro points, as this is known to most of the readers by now, so let me just jot the pain points rather.
The Mileage of this car is really pathetic. It gave me 8 to 9.8 mileage so far. You can see the fuel meter physically moving. I am not kidding. This is some thing which will prick you, especially when you see a car of similar price with similar features and power giving 12 to 14 in petrol and 16 to 18 in diesel. I don’t think I need to mention the names here. The fuel indicator bulb is dummy, so trust your fuel needle only and don’t expect warnings (mind you , we are still driving a luxury sedan ) There is no indication of how many liters are left in your fuel tank and how many more KM can be driven. Of late, this option is available in most of the small cars too . (May be this is an intentional move from Suzuki.
After all it does not want you to get a heart stroke ) When I brought the SX4 ZXI , I thought that its “Fully Loaded”. Well don’t expect that the windows will come up automatically, when you lock the car with your key. You need to raise all the windows first and then lock the doors.You got to be double , triple careful when you make that RIGHT turn. This is where you will be blind folded with an unnecessary pillar standing your way. This can cause accidents if you are not careful driver. The torque distribution of this car is not good. You need to make frequent shifts of gears in city traffic. With out which your accelerator pedal will always be touching the floor and your car still drives as if some one is manually pushing it from behind. Trust me, my old Maruti 800 is more refined here with very fiew gear changes needed in city.
Note: Don’t go by these negative points as a criterion for not choosing SX4. I have just highlighted them to make sure a regular viewer does not miss them before buying this car. By and large this is a best value for money car and should be one of the choice in deciding a car in this segment.