[MileCruncher]

I had TD'ed the A-Star last year just after it was launched. One thing that had surprised me was the pick-up with AC in the city. Having driven the Alto and 800 I felt it was a nice upgrade. But to me the major drawback was the high price and almost negligible rear seat space. And presence of too many models in the Maruti Stable alongwith the amazing i10 takes the cake away from A-Star. Maruti needs to up the ante if it wants to retain its market share

[alto99]

Originally Posted by khanak

The cheapest Alto sells for Rs. 2,69,202.

The cheapest Alto (MARUTI ALTO STD BS III (WITH IMMOBILISER)) sells for ~ 2.35 L ex showroom.

[amtak]

Although 800 has been replaced by the Alto, 800 is still sold. Unless it is discontinued, alto prices wont go down further. Unless, alto prices go down, A star prices won't and it wont be a big seller. I do expect the A star to sell in good numbers when it happens....

[haithereitsme]

IMO

1. Alto is a 4 seater car. For some reason we have the habit of pushing the front seats to the extreme end, which is not the right way to drive and hence less leg room in the back.

2. All new cars have a cabin forward design and we are never going to see the cars front as in the old gen cards. We have to adjust or live with it.

3. WRT to boot, even indica dosnt have a great boot. I sell 50 x 50 tiles that fit exactly on Santro's boot. Even Wagor R dont fit them flat on the ground.

4. The car has is refined, but is priced high. Ideally it should have sold at 3.4 to 3.8, similar to the spark. Thats the segment to attack and not Santro or i10 Era

5. Exterior design is subjective. I personally love the front, have a large grill making it a bit sporty with pepy head lamps, rear is a let down.

6. Suzuki wants to hold the model till it gets the last paisa out of it. It might even die a sad death like the Zen. Rather dis continue old models , replace them with exiting new models, this would have made A star perception better.

[Soumya_Ramesh]

I feel SUZUKI wanted to gradually consume all Altos through A-Star's and start facing out Alto's. They did not wanted to go 800 way to keep supplying spares for old cars and wanted to refresh the market with new replacements continuously. Anyway the intention remained an intention. First the price of A-star was a dampener and next the design, the front looked incredibly good but as one moved towards the rear all their imaginations got hit by a turbulence, wonder how come they are getting such drawings. Suzuki i feel is getting obsessive with flat rear, look at Wagorn - R, Ritz, Estilo and A-Star, they always want to hit the rear with a hammer. Better to go the swift way.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by Soumya_Ramesh

I feel SUZUKI wanted to gradually consume all Altos through A-Star's and start facing out Alto's. They did not wanted to go 800 way to keep supplying spares for old cars and wanted to refresh the market with new replacements continuously. Anyway the intention remained an intention. First the price of A-star was a dampener and next the design, the front looked incredibly good but as one moved towards the rear all their imaginations got hit by a turbulence, wonder how come they are getting such drawings. Suzuki i feel is getting obsessive with flat rear, look at Wagorn - R, Ritz, Estilo and A-Star, they always want to hit the rear with a hammer. Better to go the swift way.

Its very true that MSIL wanted the A Star to be the future Alto but that idea has bombed.Poor A *.Look at the design. After being in the Indian market for more than 25 years they don't appreciate that most Indians travel with adults on back seats for long distances these days. And with at least some luggage to sustain! And many have only one car not two -one for city use and the other for long distances.
The sore point is that being 25 years in business how at all on the earth they could sit in their board rooms and visualise that the A* will replace the Alto may be one day?

[jp2u]

Is MUL reading this thread, better they do and act fast, because hyundai is becoming a favorite among the budget buyers with santro and i10 selling in decent numbers.

MUL according to me has only one recent winner and its SWIFT

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by jp2u

Is MUL reading this thread, better they do and act fast, because hyundai is becoming a favorite among the budget buyers with santro and i10 selling in decent numbers.

MUL according to me has only one recent winner and its SWIFT

One thing that MSIL has improved over the years is the quality of glib talk that their salesmen or women do with prospective customers to push some of their shoddy products.Only the Swift and Dzire sell well and even their Japanese MD based at Delhi/Gurgaon quoted this point when the annual results were out for 2008-09 sometime in April. He had said that MSIL cannot ride piggyback on its success permanently with only two products viz. Swift and Dzire.

[romeomidhun]

Though a price reduction of Rs 50,000 for A-Star may do the trick, Maruti will not do that because in international markets, it sells well and they may not like to price it very cheap compared to those markets.

Personally, I like to see A-Star with an extended length of 300mm to give extra rear leg space and boot space.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by jp2u

hyundai is becoming a favorite among the budget buyers with santro and i10 selling in decent numbers.

Santro sales have really gone down post i10 launch. It is down to almost half of WagonR sales, its old enemy.

i10 has really hurt Maruti, IMO! Not only is it earning BIG cash for Hyundai, it showed the public that small cars need not mean cheap cars!

[jp2u]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

i10 has really hurt Maruti, IMO! Not only is it earning BIG cash for Hyundai, it showed the public that small cars need not mean cheap cars!

Truly accept this.

IMO If the situation goes like this, the brand image of Maruti will go down and Hyundai will be replaced as the next Maruti for another 20 years to come and Maruti will be known as the confused car maker who can't adapt to the present and will stay in the grey past

[ACM]

A really cocky response to the thread question would be:

...cause it an't "A Star".

[rohan_iitr]

Last December, I was in the market for a hatchback in the Rs 4 lakh range. The A-Star was just launched at that time and I was really excited about this car as this was the first to be offered with the Maruti's revolutionary K-series engine.

My requirements were typical for a first time car buyer:
1. Decent power (1000 cc or more)
2. Decent mileage (13-14 kmpl in Bangalore city and 16-17 on highways with AC)
3. Good all round visibility (I was a learner at that time)
4. Space for 4 adults to be seated comfortably (even on occasional long drives)
5. Decent boot space for accommodating 2-3 suitcases/bags (without obstructing rear view)
6. Decent brand reputation and A.S.S.
7. External and internal appearance and overall build quality
8. Ease of ingress and egress, especially for elderly parents
9. Ride and handling
10. Preference for new models (resale value)
11. Discounts/freebies

I considered A-Star, WagonR and Santro only. Spark, Palio and Vista were ruled out because of #6.

A-Star started as number 1 on my list, but ended up as the loser after the test-drives. It ticked only #1, #2, #6, #9 and #10.

My heart was telling me to go for the A-star because of its power, mileage, handling and Maruti badge (cheap maintenance and good resale). But my brain was telling me that A-Star is not value for money and it ticks only 5 boxes out of the 11. I would be making a great mistake if a bought a car that meets 5/11 of my requirements.

Then I came across the i10 1.1 ERA. I could not believe that it was priced almost the same as A-Star Vxi, and I was also getting year end discount worth 17.5K on the i10 1.1 ERA.

Gave some thought to the i10 1.1 ERA, it ticked all the 11 boxes for me.

My verdict is that A-Star is a good vehicle to have as a second car (if you already have another bigger car at home). But it is not a wise decision to buy A-Star as your only car.

Rohan,
Bangalore

[longhorn]

The AStar has two major drawbacks.
1. Lack of rear legroom
2. Inexistent boot

Most small car owners have only one car that acts as an all rounder ie they should be able to use it in cities as their daily commute as well as be able to take it out on long trips when required. The cramped rear and inexistent boot are IMO the 2 major flaws overlooked by Maruti. This just does not cut ice with a small car buyer. Maruti must realise that things are not what the used to be like 20 years ago. Now we have many more choices. In fact many people who wish to buy the A Star and forced to go in for the i10 for these 2 reasons. And they don't want to go for WagonR/Estilo / Santro because they are older models. Hence their options are limited to AStar/ i10 if we take out the Chevy Spark(another old model). And here the i10 wins hands down as an all rounder.

[Neil.Bhujbal]

Looks - I personally hate the rear end look

Space - A little cramped interiors.