The Zen is most Indians favorite family car, this is for two good reasons, it is compact, got a decent mileage, and comes from the maruti stable, which has Indias best network of service centres.
Well, what can I say about the car, I have my LXi version (with power steering). mpfi engine, front doors with power windows, and rear wiper. I would suggest that you save on getting the LXi than the VXi because I dont find any major changes apart from some impractical cosmetic changes to the car for that extra few 10, 000s that you pay.
I have not had much complaints about the car, except for the following (I dont want to cover the pros as I guess its been covered more than enough here)
Suspensions are plain bad - Maruti has to do something in this area in almost all their cars, I had an 800 before this and the same - suspensions were bad
Turning radius is too much for a small car like this. Don’t believe me? Check out the old honda city and you will be amazed at what I mean by turning radius for that big car if you can have such a small turining radius I think maruti can do better with a small car.
Interiors could change now its been the same thing for ages now. Get something more ergonomic and comfortable and attractive.
The latest design of the Zen is really bad, I still prefer the old buggy design, they should have gone for a complete revamp of the model in my opinion and made it more sporty and nice, they frankly screwed up with the design, which is evident with their sales figures for the new zen which is plumetting faster than newtons apple.
Having said all that, I am a die hard Maruti fan and I wish they gear up to competition and work on these points and make it the best car company in India, I might just get the esteem next, because I think its a very nice car and it looks good too, espsecially the new avatar of the esteem.
Ok folks, hope this was helpful, Ii am off to read the reviews for the esteem now :) ciao