Intro
Around 5 years back, I was on the hunt for my first car and ended up getting an
Estilo and so far very happy and contended with it. Now the time had come to look for a second car. Considering that my wife travels 15km in a day in Bannerghatta road, my suggestion to her was to catch a bus. But our house is not near a bus stop which means another commute in two wheeler till the bus stop. This was getting complicated and so most of the times she was happily driving the 2 wheeler for the entire 15kms.
This particular road is known for a lot of accidents. In the last one month we heard of 3 accidents (4 deaths) all involving 2 wheelers. So we sat down and decided to get a second car. The obvious plan was to hand over my Estilo to her and get ourselves a nice family car. I was drooling over XUV but our parking and pocket were against it. Though my wife has driven Estilo a lot of times she was never comfortable with slotting the gears. I have seen her fighting with it. I wanted to keep the Estilo with us for another 4-5 years and hence thought that the best approach would be to get her a car.
The Decision Process
The moment we thought of a car for her, we started from Alto, K10, i10, etc. Having read a lot of user reviews of A* AT, I thought it would be a good idea to get her an automatic and use it also for our intra-city family commute (2 Adults + 1 Kid). It is a pity that we have just 2 options either the A* AT or the i10 AT (Sports/Asta) to choose in Hatchbacks (leaving the overpriced i20 Automatic). I liked the cute A* AT and so did my wife. Considering the fact that the car is going to be used primarily for city commute and 90% singe, the extra rear and boot space in i10 did not warrant an additional 70k or so. Add to that the pathetic mileage figures being posted in this forum for i10 Auto. It was one of the easiest decisions to be made and so it was A Star Automatic.
The Car and Booking/Delivery Experience
We went to Kalyani Motors @ Bannerghatta for a test drive and thought of booking the car there as it was closer to our home. My wife tried it and immediately liked the fact that the car was super convinient to drive and loved the part that the car never stalls even in slopes and bumper traffic. I asked the sales guy about the 2012 model availability and to my surprise he said that it is not coming for another 6 to 12 months. I told him that I have seen the news of Maruti confirming the availability in Jan itself. Still he was adamant. I was pissed off and went back to Pratham where I had got my Estilo.
Pratham @ Outer Ring Road were a lot more professional. One Mr. Ravi Prakash (team lead) was the one taking care of us and he was prompt and honest in his approach. We booked the car with a 25K discount (Feb 2012) by paying 10k. He said Silky Silver, White and Brown (the new color) were readily available. But we stuck to Bright Red and he promised to deliver within 30-45 days. We were ok to wait but to our surprise we got a call within a few days letting us know that the car has come to the stockyard. I took the Team Bhp PDI and went to the stockyard and checked out the car. No issues and hence paid the full cash. It came to 5,21,000 OTR Bangalore.
Car in Stockyard
The car was delivered with accessories couple of days later (29th Feb). The accessories that I went for were - Underchassis Anti-Rust Coating, Nippon Security System with Remote, Door Seal Guard, Car Cover, Sun Film, Door and Bumper Beading. One hiccup during delivery was that they had added an extra accessory to our car (Door Rain Water Protection). We did not like it and asked it to be removed even when it was given for free to us. Other than this minor problem the entire experience was breezy.
On delivery day - the proud owner (my wife) checking all the controls and getting the short training from Pratham sales team
Exteriors
Nothing new to be said about he exteriors. It is the same cute design that we have known. Automatic comes with body colour bumpers, no fog lamps, black OVRMs. I personally dislike the headlamps and the tiny OVRMs.
Front profile
Side profile is also good.
Rear
The bulbous headlamp
The wheel caps actually look quite good. So not planning on alloys for a year
Interiors
The dash is nice with two tone colors (grey and beige). Notice the high position of dash. There is a slight inconvenience due to this.
Leg space in rear when front seats are set to levels as in above image. Note how the front seats are tucked in to liberate some leg room for rear. Also note the bottle holder for the rear passengers on the door. There is one in each rear door.
This photo shows both the front and rear seats. You can understand that there is some tradeoff between the space in the front and rear.
The centre console houses the music system, Air con controls, 12V charging point, and a place for cell phone that is illuminated at night and is skip protected.
The gear levers. The car can be switched on only when the gear is slotted in 'P' mode (parking). Same goes for removing the keys. The Neutral and Drive can be slotted with just one vertical up or down between them. This ensures a tension free drive. Also between D and '3' there is just one horizontal movement. Hence if you feel the need for a quick acceleration, you can slot from 'D' to '3' and back very easily. The '2' and 'L' are for lower gears. I rarely use them but 'D' to '3' was used a lot. Notice the storage space beneath the AC controls and two bottle holders.
The steering wheel is nice and does not interfere with the dials. I am planning to wrap it with art leather along with seat covers. Notice the lever for internally adjustable OVRM. Would have been nice to have it electrically
The Dials are big and easy to read. The Tachometer is missing from the Automatic Variant (only available in Zxi manual). Dual Trip meters, ODO and Clock. Nice and simple
The front doors gets a small magazine holder.
The glove box is a bit small. It holds an umbrella, the user manual and service booklet here. There is a nice place on top of the globe box where you can keep your wet umbrella or other small things. No vanity mirror on the sun visors. I tried getting them from the dealer. The passenger side was readily available (from Zxi), but the driver side is not there. Wife would have preferred one there.
The music system is decent and takes in CDs with MP3s and WMA. The major problem though is absence of USB or SD card slot. AUX is present. No Bluetooth (didn't expect one).
A view of the maximum leg room for the front guys. It really is huge and that is why is makes sense as a perfect mini-family city car. Note the dirty carpets. It is covered with a full floor mat now. As usual the power windows and central locking is at the proper place. The boot lid and fuel cap openers are near the driver seat (below) and bonnet unlock is also very handy. Headlamp level adjuster is present. The driver seat has height adjustment - a boon for my wife since the high dash limits her visibility otherwise.
Boot Loading - There is a definite problem when you have to life heavy baggage as the loading bay is small and high.
Boot Space - It is not as bad as it it is made out. I took a check-in baggage placing it vertically on its longer sides.
Boot Space with one Rear Seat Down - The new innovation in 2012
Boot Space with Both Rear Seats Down
City Driving Experience
On the delivery day, I drove the car back from Pratham and it was around 5.00 and the entire Outer Ring Road was full of traffic. The AT came to use immediately and I felt like sitting @ home in a sofa, just holding the steering wheel and press/release the brake. It was so convenient. Wife took it for work and she has given it full marks. She says commute has suddenly become so enjoyable. With AC on and 3 adults on board, going up a fly over was bit of a struggle and prompted me to move to '3' from 'Drive'. But without AC switched on there is absolutely no perceivable lag. I am not sure if there is a better city car for bumper to bumper traffic.
Highway Driving Experience
We took the car immediately to our native - a drive of 300 kms one way. Since we had to keep the car at the max of 80 km/hour, could not comment on high speeds. But the ride was planted and comfortable. The lack of engine braking is something to be aware of as it might be a bit scary to see the car not slowing down after you take your leg off the accelerator. You do have ABS as standard in Automatic which is a good deal. A Star glides over potholes without a hint of rattle - a rarity for a Maruti car. It is definitely a premium feel - could be the reason behind its huge exports to Europe
Mileage
Before the first service it was 10.5 Km/lit in City and 17.5 Km/lit on highways (both with 75% AC on). Need to check after couple of services.
Conclusion
The car may not be a great choice as a single car for a family, especially considering the other options like Ritz, WagonR, i10, Figo etc which are much more spacious with good boot. However those who want a comfortable tension free city drive or a second car, there is no beating A Star Automatic for the convenience it offers.