Review - My Ritz VDi

[eMGee]

Originally Posted by nikhil_d1106

Congrats and have a great ride!
Kindly post some pics
I am too booking a Ritz but confused between the colours, all of them are looking good esp green and blue.

Thanks for your wishes Blwetorch and Nikhil_d1106. Apologies, I haven't been able to post a review yet, but managed to click a few pictures over the weekend and posting those here. Not the best quality, but should still give you a good view of the color.

Nikhil_d1106 - I chose Blue, as I like the Blue color in general, saw it to be nice in pictures etc. (I hadn't seen the color in person on the Ritz) and thought that it would match well with the Blue interiors (which turned out to be true). Which version are you planning to book?

All, I'll try and send in some observations from my initial drives soon! Overall, quite happy with the decision.

[eMGee]

All,

So, I finally managed to sit down and write my review of the Ritz VDi that I bought 3 weeks ago. A few things to keep in mind when you go through this review:
- I am a first time Diesel car user
- I haven't driven the Swift Diesel ever
- The other car I had was a (manual steering) Santro
- The other car that I still have is a Civic 1.8S MT

So, obviously, keeping the above in mind, some of the review points might not make sense to people when comparing with other cars in the same category. Nevertheless, let me get going now with the review.

What I liked...
1. The car has fresh looks (never mind how the rear looks, I am sure most people will get used to it) and gives a fresh feel inside as well as driving
2. Quite spacious comaring it in the mid-segment hatches, definitely feels more spacious than a Swift. The view from the front is quite good and gives the feel of a big car - thanks to the high seating, long and wide dash, good view of the road. The interiors are also of decent quality (happy with the quality vis-a-vis money paid for the car).
3. Seating is comfortable, I wouldn't say extremely comfortable, but definitely good. Especially, the rear seats are high, so give a very good support to the back. The leg room in the back seat is decent, even with a 5ft 10in driver in the front seat.
4. Very responsive engine (here I might be comparing against petrols), it's fun to see it zooming past on traffic signals or quick overtaking. Trying to get used to the power of a diesel and enjoying it thoroughly!
5. Responsive steering - I find it rightly balanced, neither too light nor too stiff. Especially for people who'll be doing a lot of city driving, it should be fairly easy to manuevour the car around.
6. Very powerful aircon - have been using it in the peak of Delhi heat, and the aircon would cool the car very quickly (in about 5 minutes or less) even when coming back to the car after a few hours in the sun. I don't recall having used the aircon at the max speed for longer than 5 minutes per run.
7. Several cubby holes in the car to place small items. I especially liked the detachable ash-tray, which can become a nice mobile holder when the ash-tray is taken out (good for non-smokers).
8. Fairly decent boot space. It definitely seems bigger than a Santro / Wagon R (not sure if I should be comparing against these).
9. I can get a 40 lt tank full done in less than 1200 rupees!

What I didn't like...
1. Biggest nag that I could find is the play in the gear-shift in the 3rd gear. I don't know if other Swift / Ritz Diesel owners have experienced this or not, but in the 3rd gear, whenever you either move your foot away from the accelerator, or put it back, the gear-shift moves, almost by a centimeter each time (moves back when accelarating and moves ahead when you move the foot away). It's especially annoying when you're in slow traffic (and tend to drive more in the 3rd gear) and your hand is placed on the gear-knob and it keeps moving back & forth. I got this checked at the 1st free service, the guys couldn't do any thing. The AGM mentioned that this is a "characteristic" of a diesel vehicle, not necessarily an issue and claimed at least all Ritz diesels have this "characteristic".
2. Reversing is a bit of a nightmare, the view is quite obstructed and it's hard to make out much while reversing. Will need time to get adjusted to this maybe.
3. The rear door design is quite odd - let me try and explain this in detail. Basically, if you look at the cut of the door, it's at an angle, which is protuding towards the top and reducing towards the bottom. Typically, you expect doors to be the other way round (or in a straight line, isn't it?). So, when one is standing close to the door and opens it, suddenly the protuding top almost hits your face. Not that it's hit ever, but seems like that and as a reaction, you tend to jerk back! So, still getting used to this. (One of the pictures in the previous post should show this clearly).
4. Engine noise (and again, I am a first time diesel user, ok?!) - I find it to be a bit high, especially when accelerating. Would ideally have liked it to be lesser - I've been told by a couple of people, that this tends to go down when the car's run in a bit, so hoping for this to go down. Also, still don’t have ICE installed - with that, hopefully some of the noise will be less audible anyways.
5. A bit of sway when cutting sharp corners or even switching lanes at high speeds. I guess that's expected with a tall-boy design, but is still something I am still getting used to.
6. I am not fully satisfied with the braking of the car. It could be that I am more used to the brakes in the Civic, but still if I recall my Santro, I thought the brakes were more responsive in that. Could it be that a diesel being heavier has more momentum, hence takes longer to stop?
7. Rear bottle holders would have been a huge help, especially if you're travelling with kids etc.
8. Minor one, but the clock is within the speedometer console. It's fine for the driver, but if it were in the middle of the dash (like the Swift), it's more useful as others in the car can also see it.

Overall, very happy so far with the purchase and enjoying my first Diesel baby. The good thing was that both my mom and wife hadn't seen a Ritz in flesh, before mine got home - and both the ladies approved of the car hands-down.

For the record, I got the 1st free service done - engine oil was changed and costed Rs. 673 (incl. taxes). The FE, although not calculated properly yet, seems to be in the range of 14 - 16 kmpl, with a mix of city and highway driving.

Cheers!

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[GTO]

Nice review & pictures. Congrats!

Especially, the rear seats are high, so give a very good support to the back. The leg room in the back seat is decent, even with a 5ft 10in driver in the front seat.

All down to the packaging!

Biggest nag that I could find is the play in the gear-shift in the 3rd gear. I don't know if other Swift / Ritz Diesel owners have experienced this or not, but in the 3rd gear, whenever you either move your foot away from the accelerator, or put it back, the gear-shift moves, almost by a centimeter each time (moves back when accelarating and moves ahead when you move the foot away).

That's the engines torque effect on the drivetrain, and passed on to your gear shift. I honestly didn't notice it in my Ritz drive. Why don't you have the service station check the mounts?

The rear door design is quite odd - let me try and explain this in detail. Basically, if you look at the cut of the door, it's at an angle, which is protuding towards the top and reducing towards the bottom. Typically, you expect doors to be the other way round (or in a straight line, isn't it?). So, when one is standing close to the door and opens it, suddenly the protuding top almost hits your face. Not that it's hit ever, but seems like that and as a reaction, you tend to jerk back! So, still getting used to this. (One of the pictures in the previous post should show this clearly).

Neat feature to use "innocently" on the mother-in-law. JK.

Drive safe!

[muralisk]

Congratulations on your new ride. Great review and cool pictures.

As you said, there are many view about the rear view and it's just a matter of time people (including me) will get used to it.

[sanjayatarizona]

Congrats eMGee. Good choice. The ritz is really flying off the shelves due to the competent package it delivers. Enjoy ...

[mnhegde]

Congratulations friend. Nice review and great pics there. Any additions like alloys , ICE planned??
GTO : What's JK ??

[muralisk]

Originally Posted by mnhegde

Congratulations friend. Nice review and great pics there. Any additions like alloys , ICE planned??
GTO : What's JK ??

JK means Just Kidding.

[diwa]

Congratz eMgee. Nice color.

How about some pictures of the interior. I believe that only the blue color Ritz has the dash in blue. Is it so?

[oss]

Originally Posted by eMGee

1. Biggest nag that I could find is the play in the gear-shift in the 3rd gear. I don't know if other Swift / Ritz Diesel owners have experienced this or not, but in the 3rd gear, whenever you either move your foot away from the accelerator, or put it back, the gear-shift moves, almost by a centimeter each time (moves back when accelarating and moves ahead when you move the foot away). It's especially annoying when you're in slow traffic (and tend to drive more in the 3rd gear) and your hand is placed on the gear-knob and it keeps moving back & forth. I got this checked at the 1st free service, the guys couldn't do any thing. The AGM mentioned that this is a "characteristic" of a diesel vehicle, not necessarily an issue and claimed at least all Ritz diesels have this "characteristic".

The play mentioned by you is quite high. I have driven Swift DDiS, and have only felt vibrations on the gear shift in 3rd gear. 1cm is quite high; it is more like the dancing gear shift rods in the old metro buses

[ada]

eMgee welcome to the Ritz club, thats a nice colour you have chosen. In my Ritz I have not observed the shifting 3rd gear, maybe because mines a petrol. The looks are not that bad, its a bit european. Takes a bit getting used to.

[xtremeshock]

Congrats man, got myself one too. Got a silver one. I feel this is more praictical car over the swift, plus its easier to get in and out compared to the swift.

[ariendj]

congrats,the car looks chick in blue!!so what's the list of accessories!!did you get any freebies?

[Caramelo]

congrats! man.. some questions for ya.

1)i still cant figure out what color has what interiors?

2) also are there any grey interiors in ritz. ?

about the brakes i think that you are used to civic with abs. and this is diesel its like a 100 kgs heavy! if am not wrong.

[srishiva]

Regarding the jerk in the gear lever, Isn't the gear a indirect linkage type, then why should it jerk?

[eMGee]

First, many thanks everyone for your wishes! I'll try and respond to questions / comments below...

Originally Posted by srishiva

Regarding the jerk in the gear lever, Isn't the gear a indirect linkage type, then why should it jerk?

Don't know the technical details, will try and get this checked at the next service. At least the guys at Vipul Motors, Faridabad were unable to do anything with this.

Originally Posted by Caramelo

congrats! man.. some questions for ya.

1)i still cant figure out what color has what interiors?

2) also are there any grey interiors in ritz. ?

about the brakes i think that you are used to civic with abs. and this is diesel its like a 100 kgs heavy! if am not wrong.

The interiors are a mix of Grey and Blue. The dash is all Grey (I guess only the ZXi has a Blue colored dash, other models are all Grey); the seats and door inside inserts have a mix of Grey and Blue.

Originally Posted by ariendj

congrats,the car looks chick in blue!!so what's the list of accessories!!did you get any freebies?

(Also a response to mnhegde)
List of accessories is as below:
- Mud flaps (done - MGA for Rs. 270)
- Car mats (done - local for Rs. 600)
- Sun-film (plan to get the Garware Classic, approved film. Expected cost is Rs. 1800)
- ICE (yet to install, need some ideas for something under 10k?)
- Security System (plan to get the MGA version for Rs. 4900 as not sure if the Warranty will get void if I get this done from outside)
- Seat covers (yet to get done - planning something with art. leather, hopefully under 4k)
- Alloys (no money left for these!!)

Some other minor ones under consideration are a Steering Wrap, Rear Parcel Tray, Reverse parking sensors etc., but will depend on cost and mood the day I get the accessories installed!

As for the freebies - the dealer wasn't ready to give anything worth a penny even for the VDi model.

Originally Posted by xtremeshock

Congrats man, got myself one too. Got a silver one. I feel this is more praictical car over the swift, plus its easier to get in and out compared to the swift.

Congrats xtremeshock! Which model did you purchase? Especially if you got a Diesel, have you also notice the problem I mentioned in the 3rd gear? Also, yes the pro you mentioned is an important one, especially with elders in the family.

Originally Posted by ada

eMgee welcome to the Ritz club, thats a nice colour you have chosen. In my Ritz I have not observed the shifting 3rd gear, maybe because mines a petrol. The looks are not that bad, its a bit european. Takes a bit getting used to.

I am quite certain people will get used to the looks sooner or later!

Originally Posted by oss

The play mentioned by you is quite high. I have driven Swift DDiS, and have only felt vibrations on the gear shift in 3rd gear. 1cm is quite high; it is more like the dancing gear shift rods in the old metro buses

Yes, I'd agree. And it's especially irritating if your attention goes towards it while driving - then your mind just cant go anywhere else!

Originally Posted by diwa

Congratz eMgee. Nice color.

How about some pictures of the interior. I believe that only the blue color Ritz has the dash in blue. Is it so?

I'll try and post some pics of the interiors. As I replied earlier, the dash is blue only in the ZXi model (but I could be wrong).

Originally Posted by GTO

Nice review & pictures. Congrats!

That's the engines torque effect on the drivetrain, and passed on to your gear shift. I honestly didn't notice it in my Ritz drive. Why don't you have the service station check the mounts?



Neat feature to use "innocently" on the mother-in-law. JK.

Drive safe!

I'll get this checked at the next service now, thanks for the tip around getting them to check the mounts.

Around your remark about the feature, could be used with the boss too, isn't it?! ;-)