I upgraded from a maruti 800 to a zen. I have a zen since July 2002. I have clocked 142000 km on it. I have had an absolutely trouble free experience with it. It has been regularly serviced (every 5000km) at the authorised dealer. Spares are also easily available
Its a wonderful car to start off with. It also has great resale value. It handles beautifully in traffic, has a good design, and best of all can be parked easily in the city.Mileage is excellent. 14 in city and 17 on the highway (with the aircon). The car unlike the 800 does not suddenly deteriorate in ride quality with more number of kilometres clocked.
The back seat passengers suffer from lack of leg room. Its supposed to seat 5 but 4 would be a comfortable ride. Also as in all hatchbacks luggage space is precious.
Maruti also should do away with the moulded fixed floor carpets.Its very difficult to clean (unless you have a vaccuum cleaner) and in the monsoons it gets soaked. The quality of fittings too are not very good - like the release clasp of the back seat and the window handles. They break easily especially when worked with my overzealous kids.
But all that should not deter you. Its a minor price to pay for the value you get from a small car. I’ve driven the santro also and it rattles terribly after a while. Your Zen will remain quiet and true to you for years