SX4 2007 ZXI 20000 km report

[gopinathann]

SX4 2007 ZXI 10000 km report



It all began in 2006 where I saw some of the Chinese/Taiwaneese (not sure) SX4 Sedan pics, cute L shaped headlamps, got inspired on the looks and wanted to take them once it comes to India as it should be from the Maruti stable.
In 2007 the car was released in India, I TDed the vehicle and could not take out of the dealer campus as it was not registered, waited for 2-3 months to get the owners feedback. Other cars I TDed were Ford Fiesta, Verna, then decided to go for the SX4. I booked the car (Red color) through MSM assuring to deliver in 1 month, later they didn’t have the red and asked to take Black, Grey. Then I decided to go for the Orange one and thought that it would look like the Swift orange color, accepted the color compromising for the delay. Then I got the car delivered in August 2007 from Khivraj, Chennai. Before 1 week of delivery I gave my Santro to my friend and paid around 4 lakh as down payment and 4 lakh loan. When the car was delivered, to my surprise I love the color rather than the Red, reason being it was a little dark compared to the swift orange.

Coming to today’s story, I completed the 3 rd service and got the bill for Rs. 1400 including oil changes & wheel alignments. The drive shafts & engine bed was changed under warranty. The car is smooth after the 3rd Service.

Looks:
Got the manly looks and love the headlight cluster, really this is a hot machine. With great GC and side fenders looks like a SUV Sedan. Rear is not pleasing and the tail cluster is very simple, loved it if it were like the Fiesta/Laura/Civic kinda design.

Power: With 100+ horses it has good power to pull when fully loaded & AC at its highest and overtaking is a breeze. The car starts to vibrate once it goes 150+.
Problem comes with the slow speeds as the car stalls and driving skill (using clutch & accelerator in sync) is the only solution to overcome this, this makes a little discomfort in stop-go traffic.

Control & Handling: Handling is pretty good, steering is smooth but not silky smooth like the i10. Hugs the road well, thanks to the wide rubber, able to drive along the curves in 120kph. The clutch initially looked a little hard, but now it has become smooth and precise. The stock tyre produces more noise, need to change to Michelin/Yoko later. Engine not refined and noisy at high speeds, but love the racing sound when it roars. The ABS is amazing, driving skill is reduced with the help of ABS. Had couple of instance in highway where I had brake & right-left swing when a vehicle in front of me stopped suddenly. Without ABS the car would have gone in a different pattern with skids and turn hitting the vehicle in front of me.

Interiors: I loved the interior the time I jumped into the car. The curvy dash and integrated MP3 player, it really looks awesome when the Orange lights come on. Plastics are okay but have to improve a lot compared to Toyota/Honda. The seat knobs when used looks very cheap for this segment . The horn sound is very much audible inside the car, after changing to Siebel/ROOTS the sound is pleasing and not very much audible inside. The climate control is awesome and it cools very fast, I think one of important factor to mileage is the climate control. I got a mileage of 13 in the city with 100% AC by keeping the temp at 25 degC. So without climate control the compressor keeps on running which consumes more fuel



Seat comfort: The driver seat is a huge bonus, you can fine tune it to get the best possible driver position, raise it for city driving and lower it for high way driving. When raised it looks like you are into an SUV and others cars in the road look small.
Again many people complain of rear seat. I agree that SX4 is designed for 4 people though the company claims to be 5. Though the protrusion looks awkward it does not give you that much discomfort. You don’t believe me that we went to Chennai-Vaniyambadi-Chennai with 6 people in car. 4 of them was in the rear seat and no one complained of backache or any discomfort, they were able to manage it during the 450 km drive. I would say that the middle seat is a minus but NOT HUGE minus, reason being some people have decided not to go for SX4 because of this reason alone.

Driver visibility. As I said before front visibility is excellent. Visibility is affected during right & U turns due A-pillar. Actually it’s not because of the A-pillar but the small pillar next to it, the plastic of that pillar protrudes and with the combination of A pillar it really affects the visibility. If we managed to reduce the plastic thickness it should improve the visibility, however the left side view is amazing with the quarter glass. Rear visibility is very poor. I happened to drive a corolla and the rear visibility was really good. For SX4 parking sensor is a must.


Mileage: Here comes the important part. Many people curse SX4 for it’s mileage, but I used to get 12-13 in city with 100% AC with Shell petrol. But now I have switched to HP due to increase cost in Shell and getting 11-12 in city. I think this is a great mileage with this heavy monster and 205/60 wider tyres. I have done couple of highway trips, but never managed to get more than 13 due to overspeeds (110+). I wanted to stay below 100 to get good mileage, however I am not able to control within that limit, it induces me to go beyond that. Next time I have to make up my mind really hard to stay within 100 and check the max highway mileage.


Mods:
I have done the following mods in my car:
MGA Skirting – Definitely improves the look of the car, though some scratches underneath the front bumper when driving in bad roads & ramps.
Rear Spoiler
Wooden dash finish
Dual-tone art leather seats.
ORVM Indicators
Underglow Blue LEDs
Black matt paint on stock alloys.
Xenos Parking sensor – Rear visibility is poor.
Narva 100/90 White light – Stock does not provide enough light.
Roots horn

Summary:
Pros:
Aggressive Looks
Driver seat position
Interior looks
Steering Audio controls
Climate control
Beep to notify a turned-on headlights when key taken is really good.
Huge & wide tyres – Improves handling, reduces mileage.
Safety features – Airbag, ABS, EBD. Wish to have ESP in the Indian version.
Mileage
Power & Handling at highways
Huge ground clearance
Suspension on high speeds
Big boot – the 5th one can go in here

Good resale value
Low cost ownership
Service support

Cons:
Interior plastic quality
Suspension on low speeds
Engine not refined at high speeds
Tyre noise
Middle seat
Reverse light – Tail cluster has one reverse light and other is used as fog light due to cost cutting.
Poor rear visibility – Parking sensor must

Rating: I would rate 8/10 for the car. I would advise people to go for this car if the requirement is power, fun to drive, big boot, spacious for 4, safety features, VFM.

Links:
My Gallery: gopinathann’s Gallery Hall
My Mods: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...hics-mods.html (SX4 Vinyl Graphics/ Mods)

If I have missed out anything, feel free to comment.

[drbabuanand]

nice car& a well written report.

good that you get 11-12 /l, i get only 9-9.5.please suggest how to improve it.i have driven 5000kms and is due for 2nd service.should i say anything in particular to service guys

Good resale value

how did you come to that conclusion.

[sridharps]

Thanks, a good report. I had a question for you. Is the rear middle seat worse in the Zxi with leather option? I noticed that in the showroom vehicle I saw.

[gopinathann]

Originally Posted by drbabuanand

nice car& a well written report.

good that you get 11-12 /l, i get only 9-9.5.please suggest how to improve it.i have driven 5000kms and is due for 2nd service.should i say anything in particular to service guys

Good resale value

how did you come to that conclusion.

Try to maintain the RPM from 1.5 - 3, which yields the maximum mileage. If you want to know more there are threads available which tells to how to achieve the best mileage.

resale value is based on the brand, car model, service support, spare parts availability, maintenance cost. I hope most of them will be fulfilled by SX4 as it shares the same platform of Swift (Swift resale value is good and lots of demand for it). SX4 cost of ownership will be definitely less when compared to other cars in same segment.

Originally Posted by sridharps

Thanks, a good report. I had a question for you. Is the rear middle seat worse in the Zxi with leather option? I noticed that in the showroom vehicle I saw.

I have not seen the leather option,so could not comment about it.

[rkbharat]

very nice report Gopi..

I am also getting FE of 11-12 and strictly keep in between 1500-3000 rpm.

Car is bit of problem in stop-go traffic. It tends to die if I do not give bit extra acceleration. little annoying. But High speed is excellent.

Also high GC is doing its job very well in the washed away roads in Gurgaon.

[aaggoswami]

Nice report.
The fuel efficiency you are getting in city is fantastic.
I never expected this to be the fuel efficiency for such heavy car with wide tyres and 1.6ltr engine.

[Zodak]

Hey gopinathann,your SX4 looks amazing and also the mods are very tastefully done.Must say that Red SX4 is a head-tuner.
BTW,hide the registration no. asap

[iTNerd]

Gopi, excellent report! I agree to most of your observation. One thing is the stiff suspension setup. Due to that the ride quality in lower speed suffers for the rear passengers. But on the bright side, due to the stiffness, the car does not bow down and kiss the tyre when it is fully loaded (5-6 people with their baggages). I have seen aveos and NHCs whose rear wheels literally kisses the underbody wheel arcs when they are fully loaded, and I can only imagine how driving would be in, especially in speedbreakers, rough roads etc.

[gopinathann]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

Gopi, excellent report! I agree to most of your observation. One thing is the stiff suspension setup. Due to that the ride quality in lower speed suffers for the rear passengers. But on the bright side, due to the stiffness, the car does not bow down and kiss the tyre when it is fully loaded (5-6 people with their baggages). I have seen aveos and NHCs whose rear wheels literally kisses the underbody wheel arcs when they are fully loaded, and I can only imagine how driving would be in, especially in speedbreakers, rough roads etc.

Yes, I have also seen some of the cars almost touching the ground at full load.

[mobike008]

Thats an excellent report. Quite comprehensive and also pretty frank. Mileage outlined is just too good for a car of that size.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Really thats a nice review.

Nice alloys on your car, it gels with the color.

Surprised about the city mileage,

Best of luck with your ride. waiting to see some travelogues from you.

[drbabuanand]

gopinathann

thanks,will try that

[SX4_2007]

Originally Posted by gopinathann

SX4 2007 ZXI 10000 km report
I completed the 3 rd service and got the bill for Rs. 1400 including oil changes & wheel alignments. The drive shafts & engine bed was changed under warranty.

Rs. 1400 is quite less, last week I have done 3rd service of my SX4 but total amount is around Rs 3000. Just want to conform about oil charges and requirement at 10,000 KM.

Engine oil : B5W30 - Rs. 1261 for 4.1 liters.
Gear oil additive: - Rs. 293
Oil supplement: - Rs. 337

Does SX4 require 4.1 liters of engine oil and other additive/supplement ?

Wheel balancing : -Rs. 275
Wheel alignment : -Rs. 350

Does wheel alignment, balancing is not covered in free servicing ?

Thanks

[gopinathann]

Originally Posted by SX4_2007

Rs. 1400 is quite less, last week I have done 3rd service of my SX4 but total amount is around Rs 3000. Just want to conform about oil charges and requirement at 10,000 KM.

Engine oil : B5W30 - Rs. 1261 for 4.1 liters.
Gear oil additive: - Rs. 293
Oil supplement: - Rs. 337

Does SX4 require 4.1 liters of engine oil and other additive/supplement ?

Wheel balancing : -Rs. 275
Wheel alignment : -Rs. 350

Does wheel alignment, balancing is not covered in free servicing ?

Thanks

Sorry the total 3rd service cost was 1753. The engine oil was alone replaced with 4.3 ltrs for Rs. 730, no supplement was added. If you want them to add it then they will add it otherwise NO. First I thought of going for Mobile1 synthetic oil which costs around 950 per litre, so it comes to around Rs. 4000. Since it does not yield any performance or mileage and only for the engine life I decided not to go for that now.

Wheel balancing & alignment are optional and does not come under service. I am surprised to see that the labour charges are up & down for the same type of work.

Check out the bill below.

[anandtheleo]

Hi,

Why were the engine mounts and shaft assy changed so soon? Even though i see that they were changed under warranty