[raajks]

Originally Posted by FERRO

Suzuki Sx4 with with the award winning Marutis 1.9 DDiS Engine is going to rock the Indain roads if it comes sooner

FIAT engine to be precise

[Sudipto-S-Team]

In the "good old" 60s and 70s there used to be a waiting period of 12 years for a Bajaj scooter. Anyone here remember those days?

[FERRO]

Originally Posted by raajks

FIAT engine to be precise

Who bothers its jointly made by Suzuki, Opel & lastly Fiat so its not precisely Fiat but Suzuki Engine as per the newspaper The Hindu (The Hindu Business Line : Suzuki Swift DDiS: A whole new definition to diesel)

so stop ur biased attitude towards Maruti

[aseem]

Originally Posted by FERRO

Who bothers its jointly made by Suzuki, Opel & lastly Fiat so its not precisely Fiat but Suzuki Engine as per the newspaper The Hindu (The Hindu Business Line : Suzuki Swift DDiS: A whole new definition to diesel)

so stop ur biased attitude towards Maruti

he just stated a fact, what makes you think he is biased?

[FERRO]

Originally Posted by aseem

he just stated a fact, what makes you think he is biased?

I also like Fiat cars why ? bcoz i own one, but I think its just sucks nowadays no proper service only costly spares, atleast Maruti is good at spare costs if fiat cant make good use of its multijet diesel engine why always blame Maruti that it uses Fiat engine in Swift diesel ?? let Fiat built a good car with that same engine and let them FIRST start giving their customers proper service. I am pretty sure Fiat gets royalty paid on sale of every swift DDiS so it shouldnt be matter why maruti dont give credit to Fiat

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by aseem

he just stated a fact, what makes you think he is biased?

How come its a FIAT 'only' diesel engine when its ownership is shared by FIAT and GM (also Suzuki)???

[pawan_pullarwar]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

I beg to differ on this

The list of Maruti failures

1000, Gypsy, Versa, Baleno, Estillo.

I am hoping that SX4 is a success and they come out with a 4WD version soon, which I will buy. A car that offers 190 mm ground clearance with 205 tyres is meant for city + offroading. 4WD would augment that image. But we are not so demanding on features. We are just satisfied with great looks and dependablity.

Big fauiler was Esteem Deisel and Zen diesel.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

How come its a FIAT 'only' diesel engine when its ownership is shared by FIAT and GM (also Suzuki)???

Well, it may not be a FIAT only engine as per se. Nonetheless facts remain that GM didn't know a jack about making competitive diesel engines. So the majority of the meaningful work was carried out by FIAT. That is why FIAT always corners the lion's share of the credit when it comes to this engine. As far as Suzuki is concerned their contribution is even less. They entered much later in the picture, and that too by virtue of its counter-arrangements with GM.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by pawan_pullarwar

Big fauiler was Esteem Deisel and Zen diesel.

OT from the thread: Actually no. They were far from being "big" failures. At the most you can say they did not do well everywhere. In the southern parts of the country they did ok business. Ok, so the Esteem diesel just about managed to scrape through even in south. Only the Taxiwalahs and rent-a-cab companies primarily procured Esteem diesel. However the Zen D was a super duper hit in south. In fact so much so that there used to be a huge waiting list for Zen D. The OTR price of the top end Zen D was approx 5L down south. Heck, I even saw a spanking red Zen D (the orig jelly bean design) that was 5+ years old had 87000 kms on the odo. The asking price for this car at automartindia was 3,85,000 which they reduced to 3,75,000 after much bargaining. I felt it was still very high so I left it. Within 2 days the car was gone. Sold!

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Zappo

OT from the thread: Actually no. They were far from being "big" failures. At the most you can say they did not do well everywhere. In the southern parts of the country they did ok business. Ok, so the Esteem diesel just about managed to scrape through even in south. Only the Taxiwalahs and rent-a-cab companies primarily procured Esteem diesel. However the Zen D was a super duper hit in south. In fact so much so that there used to be a huge waiting list for Zen D. The OTR price of the top end Zen D was approx 5L down south. Heck, I even saw a spanking red Zen D (the orig jelly bean design) that was 5+ years old had 87000 kms on the odo. The asking price for this car at automartindia was 3,85,000 which they reduced to 3,75,000 after much bargaining. I felt it was still very high so I left it. Within 2 days the car was gone. Sold!

Still can see few Zen and Esteem diesels here. And most of the cars i ave seen are private ones, and not used for commercial purposes.

[sgmuser]

June ACI has a snippet which says development of DDiS SX4 is completed already and so on. I believe, they keep it in the reserve to give a knock-out punch to City, if at all they come up with something that threatens SX4! But sadly, I cant see any strategic move from Honda as they dont have anything in Diesel in this range. Even the New City is being planned to be rolled out in only 2009. What next Honda?

[mail4ajo]

Diesel cars traditionally have been a hit in South India. ZenD and EsteemD have the same story. Peugeot TUD5 was a good engine. Peugeot had one of the most reliable diesels at that time long before "common rail tech" became to low end cars.

People tend to call ZenD and EsteemD failures because they had issues with excessive NHV levels, suspension etc.

Lack of trained service people for diesel was also a problem. I still remember one of my relatives in Kottaym, kerala used to get his ZenD from service only after 3 days because the technician used to come from Cochin. Service booking was also required. This added to the owners woes.

[typeOnegative]

Originally Posted by Zappo

Well, it may not be a FIAT only engine as per se. .... They entered much later in the picture, and that too by virtue of its counter-arrangements with GM.

True.

Crazy Driver, here is a link: Engine of the Year

Excerpt:

"With an output of 405,000 units in 2004, the 1.3 diesel engine represents a new chapter in diesel engine technology, pioneered by Fiat. Just as it did in 1988, with the launch of the Fiat Croma 1.9 TDI, the first standard production car in the world to be fitted with a direct injection diesel power unit. And, 10 years on, the advent of the 1.9 JTD, the first direct injection diesel unit to be built using the Common Rail technology that was developed by Fiat."

Give credit where it is due. Not all that Fiat does is wrong or bad.

[frankmehta]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

I beg to differ on this

The list of Maruti failures

1000, Gypsy, Versa, Baleno, Estillo.

I am hoping that SX4 is a success and they come out with a 4WD version soon, which I will buy. A car that offers 190 mm ground clearance with 205 tyres is meant for city + offroading. 4WD would augment that image. But we are not so demanding on features. We are just satisfied with great looks and dependablity.

1000, Gypsy, Baleno- are you joking?????
1000's were the rage when they were introduced in the 90's. it was sold as india's first premium saloon.
Gypsy is ABSOLUTELY not a failure. its rally heritage and the fact that it was an urban yuppie's favourite in the 80's and 90's is well established.
Balenos have been sold. just that they were not value for money. they are an enthusiast's favourite. AND they are rallyist's favourites too, after the esteems and old city's.

the estilo has just begun its journey and is definitely not a flop. ive seen enough on mumbai roads to prove that its not..its not selling like hot cakes but it is gradually making its mark.

[speedzak]

All the companies have some sales figures which they attempt to get to. And when a car constantly fails that for more than 6 months or so, then it can be called a flop.

Maurti/Suzuki doesn't make any duds here. All their cars sell. Maybe there are cars which are not liked to some but still they will sell. Zen Estilo is a big example of this. The car is hated by many but it still sells in some good numbers. Even if a car fails to sell initially, Maruti goes in for price cuts/gifts/other gimmicks and sells those lately. Baleno and Wagon R are some good examples for this.

Now, ain't the topic supposed to be something with the SX4 DDis model launch? anybody have any information on that?