[audioholic]

Originally Posted by zenren

EDIT: Does anyone remember the exact year when rear seat belts were made mandatory? Just checking when 800 or Omni came with them should suffice since Maruti would have never included seat belts into these two cars unless the law mandated it. Some old news articles point towards 2002. Can someone confirm?

Our 2003 march Omni had rear seat belts. And that was one of the first batches coming equipped with rear belts. A few months back my uncle purchased an Omni prior to us and they did not get rear seat belts. Also another change was the omni used to come with the static belts, without the ELR mechanism. After 2003, the front passengers got ELR seat belts and the front ones installed previously were shifted to the rear.

[kannan666]

Did a Bangalore - Jog Falls - Goa - Bangalore 9 day trip last month with family in my little red riding hood ! The Omni never missed a beat for the entire trip and returned a mileage of around 20kmpl !

[DicKy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqtDAr-EVhw

A cool video having the Suzuki Carry (or is it Omni itself?) with a rotary engine swap.

yeah, yeah .. There are tons of videos showing Suzuki Carry drifting, burnouts and even stoppies, but they were all kind of style wise different from our Omni.
But the one in this video is just weirdly Maruti Omni like. Down to all the bumpers and lights.

[simplyself]

I was quite apprehensive of buying Omni but I had, at that time, no other option.

Bought one in October, 2011. I dreaded the dynamics, I banged my head several times against the roof sill while climbing on, my heart skipped a beat or two with its stopping power.

The distance I normally cover in two and a half hours took me about 4 hours. That afraid was I.

Once it entered the city, it was a different story. Vision was superb, small dimensions very convenient to go through narrow lanes.

Steering was heavy, understandably. Braking efficiency, compared to other cars, was pathetic. Ride was, well, a little better than bullock cart with tyres.

Power was a bit lesser compared to the 800, and Omni was not as peppy as the 800.

With all its limitations, Omni was a great thing to move around in cities. Afterall, it was not designed for highway cruise.

Omni, without AC was cumbersome to start with, I shudder to think of the engine responsiveness with AC.

[hillram]

Can i fit 13" tyres on my 2002 Omni? Currently it is running on 12".

[hillram]

It has been a total fun driving my 2002 Maruti Omni since i bought it this year.
Its so spacious and can carry lot of luggage while leaving good room for 5 passengers.
MPFI introduction from 2000 was a boon to Omni.
I installed a National Air blower and cool air effect is awesome, of course not the AC effect exactly
Here are some pictures of my "Silver Box" aka Maruti Omni.

[kannan666]

Nice pics Ram ! Where did you get the blower installed and how much did it cost you ? I have a 2007 model and would love to get one installed too !

[amreekan]

Great pics, Ram. Is this in Hyderabad? I hope to run into it one day.. : )

And off-topic, the roads looks squeaky clean!! can't imagine which part of HYD this is in

[hillram]

Originally Posted by kannan666

Nice pics Ram ! Where did you get the blower installed and how much did it cost you ? I have a 2007 model and would love to get one installed too !

Thanks. The Blower costed me Rs.2850 with Switch costing an extra Rs.300
This is a National Japanese make and really powerful blower.

Originally Posted by amreekan

Great pics, Ram. Is this in Hyderabad? I hope to run into it one day.. : )

And off-topic, the roads looks squeaky clean!! can't imagine which part of HYD this is in

Thanks. We can catch up anytime as Im a staunch Hyderabadi. This clean road is on my way to work, which is Road No.45 Jubilee Hills. I stopped opposite a Sandwich outlet to grab a quick bite.

[kannan666]

Thanks for the info Ram, need to scout around the JC Road area here in Bangalore to see if I can pick up one !

[amreekan]

Originally Posted by hillram

Thanks. We can catch up anytime as Im a staunch Hyderabadi. This clean road is on my way to work, which is Road No.45 Jubilee Hills. I stopped opposite a Sandwich outlet to grab a quick bite.

Sure Ram! By the way, I checked out Chez Ram's FB page and it's really nice. I like the concept. Share some more info on the service, if you can. And, just out of curiosity, why did you choose the Omni for Chez Ram?

[hillram]

Originally Posted by amreekan

why did you choose the Omni for Chez Ram?

Its the most economical mode of transport for Chez Ram.

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by v12

I remember us owning 2 Maruti vans - one blue low roof model and a dark brown high roof model.

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

The other day moralfibre and me spotted this original high roof van dating to about 1985, on the Bombay Poona expressway.
It appeared to have a sliding roof mechanism as has been discussed earlier. Very interesting to see, I'm seeing it for the first time.

The only difference between the High Roof and Low Roof vans was the roof panel. Now is is possible to buy the High Roof panel from MASS and modify a Low Roof to High Roof? I remember a school friend had a High Roof Van which they converted to Low Roof by changing a panel.

Originally Posted by hillram

Here are some pictures of my "Silver Box" aka Maruti Omni.

Where is the customary photo of yourself standing next to the car with a matching (car brand) shirt and coffee mug. You have done it for all of your other vehicles.

On a serious note, we are waiting for a detailed review from you. If you google you can find many ownership reviews of Maruti 800's but virtually none of the Omni.

[hillram]

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

Where is the customary photo of yourself standing next to the car with a matching (car brand) shirt and coffee mug. You have done it for all of your other vehicles.

On a serious note, we are waiting for a detailed review from you. If you google you can find many ownership reviews of Maruti 800's but virtually none of the Omni.

I did not know that you observed so closely my matching livery. My Philosophy is called EON - Everything or Nothing !!
Here Im in Suzuki Livery..


As far as review goes, I will pen it down when i have more time.

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by hillram

I did not know that you observed so closely my matching livery. My Philosophy is called EON - Everything or Nothing !!
Here Im in Suzuki Livery..

Oops. I didn't notice that photo. My slow net connection is the reason it did not load.
But then the Suzuki Coffee Mug is still missing

As far as review goes, I will pen it down when i have more time.

Waiting for that. Contrary to popular beleif, the Omni is actually a fantastic vehicle. Except on the safety front. I remember reading many years ago (Indian Auto Journal or Car & Bike International) an article where someone fabricated a crash cage (similar to a rally car roll cage) for an Omni with the primary purpose of protecting the driver/passenger in the event of a frontal collision.