[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

I've keep saying it - manufacturers are saving pennies by cutting quality in Indian cars. Penny-wise & pound-foolish. I know at least half a dozen 800s and Zens from the early 2000s with gear knobs which have minimal wear & tear.

True!!

Maruti cars are usually "reliable". Even if your car breaks down, they have the largest service network in India .

We would have driven around 3 lakhs Kms in last 6-7 years in our Maruti cars and there were only 2 instances where the car had to be towed to service centre. It was SX4, both the times due to a timing chain slip and clutch slave cylinder leak which is acceptable for it's mileage.

[audioholic]

Having repeatedly owned Maruti cars at home, I can say that over time, there definitely has been a drop in quality of certain parts. My 2009 SX4 had only one quality issue, ie cracked gear knob after 12 years of use. The crack was minor and I only discovered it when I voluntarily wanted to replace the gear knob from the Ciaz into my car. However, I had more issues in the 2012 WagonR such as fogging headlight, premature wear of the lower arm bushes, and in my 2016 Celerio, I was not happy with hatch door hydraulic lifter getting weak in five years while our 2003 Omni did not have this issue until we sold it in 2012. So over time, yes the quality has taken a beating. The only respite is that these parts hardly cost anything and are available everywhere. Hence I pass it off.

One thing I found atrocious was the peeling of the steering wheel material in Dr. Narens car as well as the door pads. For those who say its a maintenance issue, sorry wear and tear due to non maintenance will show up in a different way. And regarding German big brands whose leather will crack over time, this is due to excessive heat and UV in our climate. That can be prevented by maintenance. Not fabric that peels off from its base layer or door pad. Hope thats clear.

[Abhi_Automobile]

Guys,

Are we surprised to notice these points of low quality? I’ve noticed that Maruti has always been of poor quality. They may just now be of even poorer quality than before (?).

I owned Swift for 10 years. Rattles came as free feature, door handles that came put when pulled hard, funny sounds that were impossible to trace - it was a cool looking, nice driving, and decidedly low rent product.

I think while some of the above may be a bit sweeping - you get the drift. Anybody buying Maruti should buy with clear expectations of what the brand stands for. Period. Nexa or no Nexa!

Most Marutis are reliable though.

[Highh5]

Glad that you have started this thread Dr.Naren, recently been a victim of sub-par quality of materials chosen or rather repeated by Maruti year over year with no signs of improvement.
Attaching a pic for reference.
Front Doorpad Fabric came off, even the rear door ones are loose and not in a great shape.



Checked with the service centre to get this fixed and they asked me to change the full plastic door pad in order to get this fixed, told him that I will get it fixed outside from some good upholstery workshop.

Leave aside the interior quality which is deteriorating with each new car they are launching. I have even realised that the trend continues with the normal wear and tear parts as well which now gave up way too early which was not the case with the early Maruti's we have owned till now. My car's clutch got changed once and already running on the third set of brake pads with just 40k in the odometer. Believe me, I don't drive with half clutch nor do I use brakes more often than the accelerator pedal.

I have a 2010 Alto Lxi, with 65k on the odometer still running on the stock clutch and the second set of brake pads and this is that one car on which I learnt driving so yes I may have driven this with half clutch while learning to tackle inclines in my early days of driving in 2010. This car is rather less used and more abused because it is mostly driven by different drivers in the last 4 years, but still, in the name of maintenance, it asks for nothing.
From there when I look at my 2015 Baleno, though reliable but definitely high maintenance with sub-par parts life, sub-par interior quality, sub-par paint quality, dent/ding friendly body and flat benches rather than proper cushioning on seats are some of the major grouses with Maruti.

The only thing for which I'm still holding up this car, that beautiful rev-happy motor mated with an equally capable gearbox like a match made in heaven and at the end of the day, it doesn't disappoint on Kitna deti hai question, no matter how much you revv.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by Highh5

Glad that you have started this thread Dr.Naren, recently been a victim of sub-par quality of materials chosen or rather repeated by Maruti year over year with no signs of improvement.
Attaching a pic for reference.
Front Doorpad Fabric came off, even the rear door ones are loose and not in a great shape.

I see that you also have 2015 model Baleno like me with similar issues. It didn't make any sense to change the entire door trims, got leather inserts done outside. They do look premium and long lasting.

The only thing for which I'm still holding up this car, that beautiful rev-happy motor mated with an equally capable gearbox like a match made in heaven and at the end of the day, it doesn't disappoint on Kitna deti hai question, no matter how much you revv.

Oh boy!! The K12 is a delight to revv with sweet engine note

[shreevishnu]

Maruti was in fact quite good in interior quality in the early 2010s, the New Swift, S Cross and even Ciaz were having a certain "special" feeling when launched compared to competition. (Hell, they even democratized touch screen navigation with Android Auto!) Cut to 2016-18, flexing doorpads were the norm, when everything has a waiting period you sell what you build not build what you can sell.

Auto companies are run by bean counters, they will cut costs everywhere they can see - till they cut too much. Cars sell because they feel good, not because they are cheap.
Unpopular opinion, but accountants know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

The loss of subsequent customer spending (life time value) on the brand far outweighs the "savings" and "profits" from poor materials. Anybody who has had bad deal with poor interiors/quality on first car will not go back to "upgrade" with the same brand!

Easier solution - Ensure good enough to not leave a bad impression quality, spend a little less on advertising. (Innova anybody?)

[Atishay]

It all began with MS's desire to increase mileage of their cars as per Indian average car buyer, so they started shedding weight, the body sheets changed from metal to plastic/fibre which I encountered since our Maruti 800 to my current MS Celerio and the second fact that they had to cut corners so that they can keep the prices of their cars low (which again most Indians love). I wouldn't call them greedy per se because when you run a business you got to do things in order to sustain and gain profits but at the same time they could've increased prices slightly yet maintain their quality (just how flagship phones like iphones have become expensive but better).

[ajaiD]

While this is true for Maruti's but even TATA has its quirks. I was looking at the Safari to replace our age old Innova but the plastic sides on the last row had a lot of flex and the showroom people said its for easy repair.

Either way such thin panels on last row touch points is not a good practice.

[Brumby]

It is really getting worse and we say the reliability of the cars has improved

We had a 5-speed MPFI M800, model year 2001, for about 11 years and 65000 kms, the over all quality for the price I paid was much better.

2012 Suzuki Swift ZXi,
driver side door locking mechanism failed after 2 years, the car was not used much during that time.

The Suzuki logo on the steering gear lost its chrome plating in 3 years, I wonder how much of wear and tear that might have experienced, specially neither me nor my wife drive with our wrists resting on the horn pad, cost of replacement is about rupees 10K, decided not to change it. Wondering how much of respect does the company has in its brand name that they cut cost in the production of the company's logo.

In just 4 years and about 16000 kms, the brake caliper pin clearance for both front brakes, increased to an extent that every time we drive over slightly rough patches, a loud metallic sound was heard. Changed to new calipers (approx 12000K rupees).

[TrackDay]

An old thread which also contains discussion on this topic:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...l-quality.html (Is Maruti going downhill in overall quality?)

I would say, it also depends on how the car is used. From whatever Suzuki cars I have experienced in India, I have felt that people who took good care of their cars, in return their interiors have retained the quality well. For instance, from parking in a shade to avoid use chemicals to clean interiors.

[Neelanjan]

Maruti has been cutting cost left right and centre. For instance my 2012 Ritz ZXI had fabric on all the 4 door pads, height adjustable front seat belts ,full size alloy spare wheel etc whereas my 2018 Swift ZXI AMT has only fabric in the front door pads ,a space saver spare wheel (which is an inch smaller than the 4 wheels) ,non height adjustable seat belts.

The first generation Swift came with a button operated outside air circulation mode selector where as the 2018 swift comes with a cheap looking slider type outside air circulation selector.

The first generation Swift came with rear headrest even in lower varients where as the current generation Swift comes with rear headrest only in the higher variants (ZXI and ZXI+).

Unfortunately Hyundai has also scaled down its interior trim's quality in the new I20.

[Dr.Naren]

Update:

It looks like Maruti is following this thread. As per my sources, Maruti is asking dealers if these issues are frequently reported. I was also contacted by service centres asking about the issues. I have not officially written or complained to Maruti about these issues. The cars were out of warranty and parts like AC vents, cabin light lens etc were not really expensive to replace .

As per Maruti warranty policy, most of the interior parts are not covered under even extended warranty. HU also doesn't have extended warranty coverage.

Snapshot from Maruti EW Policy:

[Kln]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Update:

As per my sources, Maruti is asking dealers if these issues are frequently reported. I was also contacted by service centres asking about the issues. I

A service center is probably the wrong place to ask, IMO. My 2017 Ignis Zeta had the following issues -



1. IRVM squeaking/rattling on uneven roads. First time I complained to the MASS, they denied that there is any issue, labelling it as regular wear and tear. Despite multiple attempts to get it rectified, the service center people just won't listen. Finally had to escalate it to a senior person, who tried to solve it. The solution made it worse, as the cover over the IRVM screws was left loose by the MASS. It fell off, and after a couple of days the problem returned. Long story short, MASS people don't know what they're doing.

2. Scratching noise from the tailgate due to improper greasing of the tailgate panel screws. I had a really tough time figuring this noise out. The service center guys couldn't find the noise as well. Finally I took a long drive in the rear seat and tried everything from seat belts to collapsing the rear seats, to locate it. The MASS guys couldn't locate it. They did remove the panel and greased it. This was after a mere 1 year of ownership.

3. Speedometer console cover rattling due to tiny gaps between the console and cover. I had to put paper folds between the gaps to make it stop rattling. Again, the MASS guys brushed it off as routine wear and tear after 1 year of owning it!



The Ignis is a beautiful car and incredibly fun to drive - probably the only reason why I can tolerate the extremely shoddy body quality and God awful MASS. I doubt if they'll be honest about their answers to Maruti when asked.

[Maverick Avi]

I would suppose that most people that are buying Maruti now are either repeat customers who have had good experience with their 7 year and older cars or completely new customers who have heard good things about Maruti. Folks who have bought Maruti cars recently might not be that keen to go for this brand again as quality deteoration is blatantly evident. Brake caliper play is a very common issue that I have experienced in Dzire and Alto. But these never got addressed as it was not life threatning and only a nuisance which used to get fixed by greasing. Maruti is definitely not the same dependable and customer oriented company it used to be 15 years ago. I was happy to see its market share drop. They definitely need a wakeup call.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by Kln

A service center is probably the wrong place to ask, IMO. My 2017 Ignis Zeta had the following issues -

I doubt if they'll be honest about their answers to Maruti when asked.

I agree! When I had dashboard rattles with my brand new XL6, I chose not to visit MASS for this issue despite repeated assurances from a friendly RSM. For their workload, a minor creak is too little an issue and although Maruti mandates them to have proper trim removal tools, the chaps there prefer to use good old screwdriver to pry out panels 99% of the times. Maruti even recommends putting masking tape on edges before prying any panel out. Well I am yet to see this being done anywhere.

I had access to service manuals and hence dismantled the entire thing myself and fixed it properly. Entire ordeal is mentioned on this page(don't miss the second post on same page): Link (My first car: 2020 Maruti Suzuki XL6 Alpha MT Review)

Hence rather than asking MASS about the issue, they should contact owners for the same.

Regards,
Shashi