The Public Relations department of Maruti is now being replaced with whatever people they could find, knew, which end of the telephone to speak into. When you ring them up asking for a press car, they say “sorry”, for the next two months. However there is one who has been the Regional Sales Manager of Maruti for quite some time now. He is good at his job and has a good image among colleagues and sub-ordinates. And the best part? He likes motoring journalists.
Regular readers of this column must have noticed my penchant for performance and how the Maruti SX4 failed to excite me during the ‘performance mid-sizers’ comparison test, few weeks back. This comparison test was squarely aimed at finding the best driver’s car that would do the job for the family man as well. The lack of performance in the SX4 was slight but obvious when tested alongside its rivals and cannot be excused when you think that the Baleno it replaced had an even better engine.
Also I had mentioned that buying a costly Maruti does not make you feel very elite. The entire buying process is a hurried one after which they have to attend to another sale. It was all about volumes that they cared for and lost focus on quality and customer satisfaction.
Now, being the Regional Sales Manager, Mr. Anand could not ignore these comments. He decided to take them positively. Firstly, to give me a better perspective, he sent me another SX4, at a time when it could not be more ideal. It was raining heavily, the roads were more potholed than ever and there is no better time to appreciate this vehicle’s high ground clearance and fantastic grip than this. And secondly, he said he would arrange a training programme for those executives who deal with SX4 customers wherein they will be taught better methods to handle elite customers. The outcome of this experiment is yet to be seen, but it is sure that the already long queue of SX4 customers will be even longer, once it is done.
After driving this car again, I still think that the performance of the SX4 is best termed ‘docile’ and that there is not much interior space on offer despite looking like a leviathan on the outside. But if you look at it as a package, it all begins to make better sense. It does 0-100kmph run in about 12.1 seconds which is not quite quick, but performance is not the first thing that most people look in a family car. You are not going to buy it for winning races, are you?
The SX4 is built on a stretched and widened Swift platform. So it handles like a slightly larger Swift. Body control, despite the high centre of gravity is precise. Grip levels are further elevated by the wide tyres. What you would definitely like about this car is the way it handles our bad roads. The ride may be slightly on the stiffer side, but the huge ground clearance of 190mm and big 16” tyres ensured that it didn’t have any troubles by the craters on our roads. Road undulations were barely felt, with the vehicle remaining well poised while doing 120kmph on bad roads. It ran over bumps and earthern roads like an SUV and never did I have to slow down for fear of scraping the underside. So finally here is a car that suits our challenging Indian roads.
Coming to equipment levels, the SX4 leads the competition. It offers ABS, Airbags, climate control, integrated stereo, alloy wheels etc in the top version making it fantastic value. It all looks great with the Lexus like dash board and the beige interiors. Front seats are well padded and visibility ahead is great. The only serious gripe with the car is the lack of comfortable accommodation for a fifth passenger. The high central transmission tunnel carried over from the original all-wheel-drive cross-over SX4 and the bulging centre portion of the back rest makes life slightly difficult for a third passenger. Two people in the rear seat will be a happy ‘lot’, with decent head room and upright seating position.
When you sum it up, the SX4 is a great family car. It may not be very fast or frugal, but it is great value. The competition has several talents that can rival the SX4 but as an all-round car, it emerges without getting beaten much. The results of our performance comparison test were accurate. Had it been not a search for the best performance car, the SX4 would have ranked better, particularly when you consider its practicality on our roads. It is arguably the best car in Anand’s opinion. I would add ‘The best car from Maruti’.
Regular readers of this column must have noticed my penchant for performance and how the Maruti SX4 failed to excite me during the ‘performance mid-sizers’ comparison test, few weeks back. This comparison test was squarely aimed at finding the best driver’s car that would do the job for the family man as well. The lack of performance in the SX4 was slight but obvious when tested alongside its rivals and cannot be excused when you think that the Baleno it replaced had an even better engine.
Also I had mentioned that buying a costly Maruti does not make you feel very elite. The entire buying process is a hurried one after which they have to attend to another sale. It was all about volumes that they cared for and lost focus on quality and customer satisfaction.
Now, being the Regional Sales Manager, Mr. Anand could not ignore these comments. He decided to take them positively. Firstly, to give me a better perspective, he sent me another SX4, at a time when it could not be more ideal. It was raining heavily, the roads were more potholed than ever and there is no better time to appreciate this vehicle’s high ground clearance and fantastic grip than this. And secondly, he said he would arrange a training programme for those executives who deal with SX4 customers wherein they will be taught better methods to handle elite customers. The outcome of this experiment is yet to be seen, but it is sure that the already long queue of SX4 customers will be even longer, once it is done.
After driving this car again, I still think that the performance of the SX4 is best termed ‘docile’ and that there is not much interior space on offer despite looking like a leviathan on the outside. But if you look at it as a package, it all begins to make better sense. It does 0-100kmph run in about 12.1 seconds which is not quite quick, but performance is not the first thing that most people look in a family car. You are not going to buy it for winning races, are you?
The SX4 is built on a stretched and widened Swift platform. So it handles like a slightly larger Swift. Body control, despite the high centre of gravity is precise. Grip levels are further elevated by the wide tyres. What you would definitely like about this car is the way it handles our bad roads. The ride may be slightly on the stiffer side, but the huge ground clearance of 190mm and big 16” tyres ensured that it didn’t have any troubles by the craters on our roads. Road undulations were barely felt, with the vehicle remaining well poised while doing 120kmph on bad roads. It ran over bumps and earthern roads like an SUV and never did I have to slow down for fear of scraping the underside. So finally here is a car that suits our challenging Indian roads.
Coming to equipment levels, the SX4 leads the competition. It offers ABS, Airbags, climate control, integrated stereo, alloy wheels etc in the top version making it fantastic value. It all looks great with the Lexus like dash board and the beige interiors. Front seats are well padded and visibility ahead is great. The only serious gripe with the car is the lack of comfortable accommodation for a fifth passenger. The high central transmission tunnel carried over from the original all-wheel-drive cross-over SX4 and the bulging centre portion of the back rest makes life slightly difficult for a third passenger. Two people in the rear seat will be a happy ‘lot’, with decent head room and upright seating position.
When you sum it up, the SX4 is a great family car. It may not be very fast or frugal, but it is great value. The competition has several talents that can rival the SX4 but as an all-round car, it emerges without getting beaten much. The results of our performance comparison test were accurate. Had it been not a search for the best performance car, the SX4 would have ranked better, particularly when you consider its practicality on our roads. It is arguably the best car in Anand’s opinion. I would add ‘The best car from Maruti’.
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