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View Poll Results: Do you still buy a Maruti today?
Yes 346 35.41%
No 631 64.59%
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Old 26th October 2021, 12:15   #121
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

Voted no.

On the plus side, I find Marutis extremely practical and value for money. I especially like the Ertiga.

On the minus side, their cars feel "tinny", unsafe and DULL. Further, I am a tall person and I do feel like they don't have a product that appeals to people like me. It also bugs me that they are the only company through words and action have conveyed that they don't care about safety.
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Old 26th October 2021, 12:15   #122
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

Not a chance unless their cars suddenly starts meeting safety standards. Also if they bring in better AT into their cars.
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Old 26th October 2021, 12:23   #123
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

Yes, and I bought a Brezza one month back.
I owned a Maruti 800 for 8 years and after that i10 for 11 years. In between, I drove Swift for a short time on rent. Both companies have good sales and service departments. Both are proactive in contacting you to get regular service for your car. One difference was that in Maruti, you never had to leave your car for more than few hours for servicing. But with Hyundai, while regular service was quick, if any part had to be replaced, I had to wait for 7-10 days for the part to arrive from Chennai (to Mangaluru).

While looking at options for a new car last month, I checked with many of my friends who owned different cars about the car and the service. All Maruti and Hyundai owners were happy with the car and the service. But Tata guys were not happy with the service. One guy who owned a Tata car told me that the attitude of service people was as if they were doing you a favour by servicing your car. This was very disappointing considering that I was very keen on buying Nexon. I hope Tatas will fix the service issue soon (I see there is a thread (Tata Motors sales have outpaced their service network | More Tata workshops desperately needed)on this in TBHP).

I did not consider Ford, Renault etc as the news of Ford folding-up came and I feared similar issue with other smaller players as well.
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Old 26th October 2021, 12:27   #124
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

I don't own a Suzuki car yet but for all practical purposes (I am tall, own a car whose service center is across city and takes more than 2 hours through grueling traffic and very risky reliability) I like Wagon R for a good city runabout. Safety is the only concern with Suzuki but with our highways and maturity of our fellow drivers, no car is safe enough here. And Suzuki's engines are really good, although their maintenance is really expensive now. All said and done, Yes, if I need a good city car, I would still consider a Suzuki.

We have our freedom here in this Forum to aim for the moon but for an average Indian, mileage, reliability and ease of service are paramount, and that is why I think Suzuki will be here with 40%+ market share for years to come.

Last edited by rangarx : 26th October 2021 at 12:29.
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Old 26th October 2021, 12:43   #125
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

Voted 'Yes' as there is no 'Maybe/Depends' option.

I own a Tata Zest and though it feels sturdy, it feels lethargic even with 4 cylinder Turbo engine, when I drive Swift, I am swept off with the power and overall drive, but as many have pointed, safety is a big concern and that is where maybe part comes in.

So in future if I like a Maruti and has decent safety features (which I feel will happen in due course with Govt taking steps here) it will definitely make it to my top few list for sure.
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Old 26th October 2021, 12:47   #126
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

Not at All! Even knowing that Maruti means less niggles and lower cost of maintenance, but I cannot risk my safety specially with the menace of motorists in today's time. Would spend higher on maintenance and take a VW.
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Old 26th October 2021, 12:48   #127
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

Voted NO

I always cherished my first car Maruti Alto, I always loved the utilitarian compact car for its practicality to drive around within the city while being pocket friendly. But as a company I feel MSIL is purely driven by profits and would value Money over safety of its Drivers any given day.
Considering the number of car/traffic plying on city/highways now compared to 10 - 15 years back. I would want a certain standard of safety in my car and purely for this reason I would definitely not go for a Maruti (at least for the foreseeable future).

Last edited by srivatsahg : 26th October 2021 at 12:49. Reason: removed spaces
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Old 26th October 2021, 12:51   #128
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

I believe Maruti have found themselves stuck in the rut. They have been so focused on selling in the mass market that they have either overlooked or don't have the expertise to make cars in the higher segment. Their focus has always been to sell cheap / economically priced cars with high fuel efficiency to the common man. The common man's first car will mostly always be a Maruti. To build economical and fuel efficient cars, Maruti had to ensure the cars are light which meant a compromise in the quality of the car's structure which in turn compromised safety.

Because of this, Maruti has practically stamped themselves to be cars that cannot sell above 12-14 lakhs. I don't think anyone would buy a Maruti which will cost more than 12 lakhs when there are better option available. Anyone remember the Kizashi? For those who want prestige; a Maruti would never even been considered.

What Maruti is also starting to lose out on is on the long term maintenance. Whoever still believes that a Maruti is cheap / economical to maintain needs a jolt. We own two 2019 Maruti Wagon R Lxi CNG cars in our company and their regular service costs us around 12k per car. They require to be serviced twice a year. Not to mention the small niggles of AC failures, door handles breaking off and other minor issues not expected to fail in a 03 year old car. My 2012 VW Polo 1.6 costs the same but needs to be serviced just once a year. The service of our 2010 Hyundai i10s (fitted with CNG) cost us around 4k per car and need to be serviced twice a year. Marutis are definitely not economical to maintain anymore.

We have already decided that the replacements for these 02 Wagon Rs in the next couple of years would be Hyundai. No more Maruti cars for us.

Last edited by Epic : 26th October 2021 at 12:55.
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Old 26th October 2021, 12:56   #129
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

Voted No,

Currently, Maruti is missing so many things in its portfolio. Proper Diesel+AT, Safe body structure the list goes on.

There was a time when Maruti 800 owners were easily founding their next car within the portfolio. Even Maruti was the first to introduce a loyalty bonus for buying Maruti again. The SUV craze was not there at that time. Currently, The Existing i10 or i20 owner can find their upgrade from the Hyundai portfolio itself. Not the case with Maruti now.

I always feel that purchasing power of consumers is increased by multifolds. People are happily spending 22L for Kia Seltos even though better and bigger cars are available. Consumers are also trusting new entrants like Kia, MG, Citroen.

People still want diesel engines on their SUVs. AT would be the cherry on the cake.

I sometimes feel that The Salespersons at Maruti are being trained to defame Diesel because they have none in their portfolio. I've personally met some customers coming out of showrooms and saying Maruti people are saying that diesel engines are going to be banned soon.

I myself own a 2017 Ertiga ZDI+ with ODO touching 1.3L. The practicality for the price paid for Ertiga is great but Maruti now doesn't have any product that excites me to check out.

After owing the car for some time, I've realized that the car servicing now is not at all cheap that used to be. Major roles are being played by labor charges and they are as per the moods of the service advisor.

Normal 10k service for Maruti diesel car now costs at 10k bucks that is with all the manufacturers now. Except if you've some good relations with the advisors.

In the last 6 months, Sales charts also speak themselves that Maruti miss Diesel engine badly. They want to cover diesel sales by company fitted S-CNG offering but that formula is not working that much either because of limited options and again no proper AT.

If we closely monitor the prices of normal cars vs. CNG, The price difference is massive 1L rupees. That is a lot of money. If I want to spend 1L more then I will better buy Diesel.

The picture here is the on-road price of Alto LXi petrol vs. company-fitted CNG. The same goes with Ertiga and other brand CNG models too.

Would you still buy a Maruti today?-price.png

Last edited by N4Nikunj : 26th October 2021 at 13:12.
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Old 26th October 2021, 12:57   #130
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

Yes. But only a Used Alto for my wife.

I might never consider buying any other model from Maruti.
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Old 26th October 2021, 13:13   #131
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

Voted Yes !!!!

Previously owned Maruti vehicles:
a) 1999 model Zen Vxi
b) 2013 model Ritz Vxi
c) 2018 model S-Cross

Given an option I would still buy any of the three cars listed above. VFM pricing, a strong dealership network and fuss free ownership is still what many of us crave for even with the best of brands available today but no one can match Maruti on these 3 parameters.

Just so, if a more safe and secure sturdy build can be incorporated on their car lineup, I don't see anyone cutting their percentage share from the Indian market for the next decade atleast.
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Old 26th October 2021, 13:13   #132
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

In short No.
Reason - I was in the same conundrum about a month back. My wife drove a Jazz and owing to the lockdown, we sold it as it was just gathering dust. Now she needs a new car and she wanted a SUV-ish car where she has good GC and a commanding view of the road. We settled for the Kushaq but before that we looked at all cars and the Brezza was a potential buy for us till i read that the Automatic unit is over a decade old and that Maruti might be laughing a new generation very soon. The maruti cars seem very dated especially from the interiors. There are subtle updates on the exterior to keep them competing but the interior is just awful.

Whilst we are at it, another company that i stay away from now is Honda. Their servicing is awful and the fit and finish of the cars no longer says Japanese.
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Old 26th October 2021, 13:14   #133
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

Voted NO, or at least Not for now

I would have voted yes only if I was in the market for a car like the Ertiga/XL6 which practically has no competition and they are also competitive products. Otherwise, considering the current state of the portfolio, I am not excited to buy a Maruti right now.

For me right now the Germans as well as Hyundai/Kia sound like a good switch keeping aside various concerns they come with. I am not a fan of Tata due to their poor fundamentals and Mahindra does not offer anything good in the price bracket I would currently make a purchase.
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Old 26th October 2021, 13:15   #134
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

Every single time!

Caution: Unpopular Opinions and Satirical Examples ahead.

In a month or so the Alto would turn 1. And I'd not mind buying it all over again if I were to be offered a second chance at it.

This mostly has to do with me being a biker at heart, and not a recent one at it, so simply the Alto is the next best thing to an old-school motorcycle in fact I'd consider it along the lines of an ultra reliable quad on which I can clock miles on without getting wet.

Now coming to reliability there are 2 types;

1. Perceived Reliability: This is mostly unfound perceptions that one gathers from society or are even passed down from generation to generation!

"Oh God! Everyone's going by safety ratings! Buying an unsafe car is shameful even though there is a higher chance of me getting stranded with my safer car, well! I'd at least be stranded inside 5 star safety with a panoramic roof window"

Or

"Father who drove in the 80's said Japanese and German cars are reliable and so I repeat the same even in 2021!"

2. Actual Reliability: Now this is what matters for someone who is into clocking miles or long term ownership, and the variables are spare availability, spare quality and spare pricing, as these are what contribute to determining downtime.

"My pads cost only 200 bucks, heck I'd change on every alternate service, what difference does it make"

v/s

"My pads cost a gazillion bucks, god dammit I have to use up every last nanometre of pad before I change even though I run the risk of damaging the rotor and adding on to downtime cause spares for my car have to be ordered"

Now setting that aside, there is Consumable pricing, changing all 4 tyres of the Alto would set me back by 10k, changing 2 tyres of my motorcycle would set me back by 6k, the price for replacing suspension is also identical between the Pulsar and the Alto considering complete part replacement. Heck even the RVM is identically priced and even considering half engine price of the Alto and sum of all parts that do the same function are identical.

Now I did consider alternatives but the Qute was very new and OTR price wasn't as cheap as I'd epxected it to be, plus God knows whether it would stand the test of time, the Alto is immortal.

Renault and one other brand I cannot recall that made identical cars were too scarce with respect to spare availability that they didn't even make it to the list.

Then there's Tata, the pricing did not make sense, I'm not talking about the purchase cost of car but that of parts, the same function i.e internally adjustable ORM of the Alto costs 1k and that of the Tiago costs 3.5k, Why!?!

So simply put only Maruti could cater to my needs.

Again if say I'm in need of a second Vehicle then it would again be a Maruti cause it is the only one that offers a Petrol Van for 6L OTR. Imagine the money I could save if I take it on an interstate run and sleep inside it, if I take a buddy along with me then that'd cut down expenses by half again.

Now this might seem like nonsense for those who are predominantly car owners but from a bikers POV it is dope! In fact I have a biker buddy who did NE from WB in his Marina after converting the rear to a bed configuration.

For people like us with a higher Adventure (The muggles call it Risk) Quotient Maruti is the only manufacturer out there that caters to our needs, hence why we'd be returning to them until we've been provided with worthwhile alternatives.

Please don't ban me.

Regards,
A.P.

Last edited by ashwinprakas : 26th October 2021 at 13:18.
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Old 26th October 2021, 13:24   #135
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Re: Would you still buy a Maruti today?

Yes, As a beater car.

I use a City as my primary car and on a daily basis, I feel the need of a small, agile, easy to park, fuel-efficient car which would be easy on my pocket from the maintenance perspective as well. Maruti ticks all the boxes for a second car here and I'm considering an Ignis/Swift for the purpose.

Primary use for this would be short city runs, wife's office duty ( 25+25kms) when it resumes, daily odd jobs like grocery (about 1+1kms). Marutis are ideal for these and given the current fuel prices, might end up taking the plunge sooner than I imagined. Also, considering used cars if we come across any well maintained less abused options.
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