[Samurai]

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

One issue is that they have a speed limiter (not rev limiter) at 181 kmph which is fixed as per Japanese regulations and Maruti will not remove it for you.

Is that really a deal-breaker for people driving on Indian roads?

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

The other issue, of course, is that the car runs on petrol.

Is that really an issue for people with low usage? Won't 5L discount makeup for the difference in fuel price?

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

Ironically, Kizashi means a sign that something good is going to happen. I guess the name didn't really help matters.

Well, it is not Suzuki's fault that we happened to be one of the rare countries where petrol costs lot more than diesel.

Originally Posted by nik_kapur

2. Spare parts may be an issue 2 years from now

Hasn't been an issue with Grand Vitara since 5 years. Why should it happen to Kizashi?

Originally Posted by nik_kapur

5. Have your friends ask you.. 'You Bought a Kizashi' ?

There is no cure for such idiots. It is an excellent car, but our countrymen can hardly see past the word petrol.

See what edmunds.com says about Kizashi: 2012 Suzuki Kizashi

Originally Posted by negativeH

Sourcing parts would be a very tedious task for this in a few years for sure.

Trust me, I am not flying to Japan to source parts for my 2007 GV every time. Parts are easily available through you local Maruti dealer.

Originally Posted by vibbs

That said, I guess it is a good opportunity for enthusiasts. I remember most reviews talking good about the product but overpriced by a couple of lakhs.

At 5L discount, it is really a very smart buy if your usage is around 1000kms a month and you plan to keep the car for long. The reliability is bullet proof, service/parts are cheap, and you are backed up by Maruti network. I wonder why people can't see past the snob factor and see the positives of owning a Suzuki CBU.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by Samurai

At 5L discount, it is really a very smart buy if your usage is around 1000kms a month and you plan to keep the car for long. The reliability is bullet proof, service/parts are cheap, and you are backed up by Maruti network. I wonder why people can't see past the snob factor and see the positives of owning a Suzuki CBU.

I agree. After reading about your Grand Vitara I am very much convinced that Suzuki is capable of providing the capability people expect at the price level. What it lacks is just the snob.
I very strongly feel after the price cut Kizashi has a very strong point for itself. If initially it had retailed at this price it would have held up pretty well I guess.

Much before the Kizashi was launched in India I had been following the reviews abroad and each and every one was pleasantly surprised by this suzuki. Sadly pricing and fuel killed it in India.

If I had the money and my running justifies a petrol car, I would not think twice before buying the Kizashi at this price.

But I m not very sure it would still strike chord with the public. People at times as you said cant look beyond snob value and Suzuki did their part in killing this product by pricing it very high.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by negativeH

Even this puts it in the 14-15 L club then, Jetta TSI territory! No way am I buying this then.
Obviously too little, very very late.

What does that mean? Its got 55bhp on top of the Jetta, much better loaded in terms of features, the only thing the Jetta would have over it are parking sensors.

Good buy at this price, except the discount should be on ex showroom and not on-road, because CBU taxes are higher.

[negativeH]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Trust me, I am not flying to Japan to source parts for my 2007 GV every time. Parts are easily available through you local Maruti dealer.

But the GV was for sale for quite longer time than the Kizashi right. With an elongated stay, the dealers and W/S would be quite familiar with the car.
Obviously parts and services can be sourced, particularly for a maruti; but it won't have that quick work factor that I might get in say the Corolla or the Civic comparatively. It would have to be an extended stay of sorts.
Kizashi is a good car, I liked it initially, but I've always regarded it as too over priced.

Originally Posted by akshay1234

What does that mean? Its got 55bhp on top of the Jetta, much better loaded in terms of features, the only thing the Jetta would have over it are parking sensors.

Well am a very big Jetta fan, so I said, I still won't buy it. That said, I did not put it in reference to the car or performance, just my thoughts.

[blackbeast]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Good buy at this price, except the discount should be on ex showroom and not on-road, because CBU taxes are higher.

+ 1. It'd be interesting to see the numbers done by kizashi during month end sales figures. For an enthusiast who doesn't bother the badge, this is as sweet as it can get. I for one don't mind parking it next to M800 at the service centre. parts sharing with sx4 should keep the overall maintenance low. I know many out there who put their foot back from buying a laura because of running costs despite affording to put 18 Lakhs. If this is a price slash and not a discount, then god help 2012 civic

[mayankjha1806]

Neither the speed limit nor the petrol is a problem for me, and the discount seems to be mouth watering. My Civic cost me ~15 On road, this discount will make it close to Civic prices, which is good move.

More importantly why is this discount thrown in? It may not seem important for others but for it is, as if they are only clearing away existing stocks before they rot, then i would rather stay away as it would mean spare parts would be quiet expensive as everything needs to come from Japan.

Have been owning such a car since 2005 and sometimes i feel the repairs on my Baleno cost more than my Civic.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by negativeH

Even this puts it in the 14-15 L club then, Jetta TSI territory! No way am I buying this then.

You expected the pricing to be in the Vento/SX4 territory? From the Superb/Accord territory, it has come down to the Jetta TSI territory. Isn’t that a plus?

Originally Posted by Samurai

At 5L discount, it is really a very smart buy if your usage is around 1000kms a month and you plan to keep the car for long. The reliability is bullet proof, service/parts are cheap, and you are backed up by Maruti network. I wonder why people can't see past the snob factor and see the positives of owning a Suzuki CBU.

To add on, other than the Vitara, this probably is the only Suzuki where there is no cost cutting measures/compromises in the name of VFM tag. I wish they show the courage to bring in this as a CKD.

[VeyronSuperSprt]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Is that really a deal-breaker for people driving on Indian roads?

This is a fact. It isn't a deal breaker. Whether it becomes a deal breaker is an individual's point of view. In my drives of the Kizashi, I found the manual quite punchy (didn't find the CVT the same though) and I was able to hit high speeds quite easily. The Kizashi feels extremely composed and the engine and chassis clearly let you know that they are capable of a lot more! The Kizashi SLS now available in the US looks superb. The Kizashi was benchmarked against the base versions of the A4 and C in the US and it had actually bettered them in the slalom and braking tests which speaks a lot about the car.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Is that really an issue for people with low usage? Won't 5L discount makeup for the difference in fuel price?

This is again an individual's point of view. In my books the Kizashi is as good as a Laura although the Kizashi may have more features. I had always thought the Kizashi to be worth a max of Rs 15 lakhs and therefore the discount in my books brings it in line to what would have been it's real value. Suzuki could have indigenised more rather than bringing it in as a CBU to achieve this price target. So the 5 lakhs is not a saving but a reduction of the custom duties etc that we would have otherwise paid. I consider the Laura and the Kizashi to be more or less equivalent except for the features which I dont care for. So if I was buying a new car what I would do is compare the base diesel version of the Laura with the Kizashi and therefore would not find a great deal of saving.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Well, it is not Suzuki's fault that we happened to be one of the rare countries where petrol costs lot more than diesel.

Petrols are more sporty and certainly handle better than an equivalent diesel. I have been a petrol head and the prices of petrol didn't effect me when I weighed it against the driving pleasure on hand. Until the last year when they started raising petrol prices almost every day! I do a lot of long distance driving and i found myself calculating the costs of the trips and I didn't want to get into that situation. I did evaluate the Kizashi as a buy last year and it ticked all the right boxes except for the speed limiter and the price which was pegged at a point where you would get a used BMW 320d. Now, however, i would add petrol to that list too.

Originally Posted by Samurai

At 5L discount, it is really a very smart buy if your usage is around 1000kms a month and you plan to keep the car for long. The reliability is bullet proof, service/parts are cheap, and you are backed up by Maruti network. I wonder why people can't see past the snob factor and see the positives of owning a Suzuki CBU.

I couldn't agree more about the reliability of the Kizashi, and I dont think parts would be a concern. The bullet proof reliability that it comes with would keep the requirement of parts to a bare minimum. And they would certainly be available for a long time. Suzuki's game plan doesn't include axing the Kizashi anytime soon and if you look at the American Suzuki site, you would see that this one of their most important models. I have a 2000 model Baleno (with the fully imported parts) which I use as a test/ R&D / breaker car. The reliability that i have experienced on this car for the last 12 years is amazing. I havent even changed a single light bulb for the last 12 years. It looks as good as new and it still has the original paint. I can get into the car right now and do a 1000 km long drive and drive it at 160 - 170 kmph too and it would feel just as it did when it was new. Talk about long lasting !!

Originally Posted by Samurai

I wonder why people can't see past the snob factor and see the positives of owning a Suzuki CBU.

You couldn't have put this better.

[dZired]

Maruti wont get any huge benifit from all this now. This product is already dead. Most of the folks in our country (the uninformed ones) dont even know that such a car exists. From its launch I have only seen one Kizashi on road. This shows the utter failure of the product.
I really think the discount is to clear the pending stocks.

[ankur_fox]

Its unfortunate really. The car is an absolute stunner on the road. Great to look at, I'm sure good to drive as well. A pity, its heading towards the wall.

[nik_kapur]

Which dealer is offering this discount? I went to Rana Motors today in Delhi and they had no idea about any disc. I walked into the showroom and found no Kizashis displayed (which is the case with all dealers) and i had to sheepishly ask about the Kizashi to which somehow i drew blank faces. Some of the guys even looked me up and down as if i had asked about a 'happy ending' massage in a regular massage parlor. . After much confusion i was made to speak with some exec on the phone who told me that he could offer 1 L and he would find out more about the 5L discount tomorrow.

After that i called a friend who owns one of the biggest Maruti dealerships and he confirmed a 3L discount on the manual and no availability of the Auto.

[Samurai]

Source of the news has been added to the first post.

[a4anurag]

Beautiful discount! Good enough but seems a little late for the market I guess.

Is this a stock clearance effort or making way for any kind of upgrade in future?

Spares and after sales will not be a problem since it is a Maruti. Lets wait for the coming months sales figures to see whether it has done any good to Kizashi.

[svsantosh]

3 days ago I saw a very unseen car (Kizashi of course) brand new with chandhan-tilak driving around my town, I was wondering what got into the mind of the owner to pick this car at this time of the year/economy!! I was hoping at least a discount of 2-3lacs would be needed to convince to pick one up - this is a Killer deal.!

[SkyWalker]

Too little and too late. Kizashi should have come at this price at launch, and then *probably* it would have had a chance. Now, however Suzuki decides to slice and dice it, it has got the name of a failed model, and nothing is going to change for it.

Things could change though, if they bring a fiat sourced ~2L diesel engine for GV and Kizashi.