The Maruti SX4 is probably one of the silliest designs I have seen in a looong time.
The roof support bars are placed sooo awkwardly that to compensate, the smart blokes decided to split apart the front ones, and give a gap to see through. Bheja fry! Instead of enhancing driver’s scope of vision, they created 4 blind spots out of 2. Hahaha.
But wait, the joke isn’t over yet. The mid-supports create 2 more blindspots, and the ones at the back of the the car, worsens things.
You actually have to lean waaaaay forward in the driver’s(or even the passenger’s) seat, to be able to see anything! Believe me, this will not help when you are trying to take a U-turn, or even a left/right-turn, gauging distance in traffic, or when parking/reversing.
Forget your own turning, you won’t be able to see it if the guy driving behind(or even in front) of you, is taking a turn when covered by the blind spot.
Look at the Wagon-R for example. In that mushroom, you have much much better visibility of the road. So any comments about blind spots being normal in a car, is baseless. Have u ever driven a Beamer?
Apart from that, the seating is cramped, the mileage is nothing khaas, and the pickup is weak for a mid-size car, especially considering that its petrol, not diesel.
The only way a family of 5 can sit comfortably in the SX4, is if there are two humans, and 3 kittens or puppies(only such small things can get leg space in the back).
For some God-forsaken reason all new Maruti cars have the Great Wall of china(aka transmission shaft) running through their middle. That means that if you want to change seats at the back, please make sure u are wearing comfortable clothing, so u can lift your legs up high. If not, then stay put.
This also means that only 2, not 3 can sit uncomfortably at the back.(unless, like I said before, the third is a cat)
The engine is not very responsive, especially considering the Petrol engine capacity.
Chevy engines(eg: Spark) are way better at comparative costs.
The handle of the gearbox is soooo small, that it feels like its been lifted from a toy car.
Because its small, it takes a lot more effort to quickly change gears.
Buyer beware! Don’t buy it just cos the people next door have.
I don’t like this car at all.
Whoever designed it had better go back to First Year Engg. and learn drawings.
For the same/approx. cost, go for Ford, or Chevy.
Cheers mates!