[adsgill]

Originally Posted by drive_or_die

One model which I did not find on this thread was Zen Classic. This model had round headlamps and different tail lamps as well. I never sat in that model but I understand that interiors were also different from normal Zen. The Classic model had premium price tag.

On personal note, I did not like this model . Nevertheless, the model should be mentioned in 1993-2003 journey of our loved Zen.

Originally Posted by CoolFire

Obviously not many liked this one. A terrible overkill, it can hardly be categorised with the other Zens here. Still the fact remains.

Here comes few pics of my Zen Classic. I know most of the people didn't like this variant of Zen, but I love my Classoh (that's what I call her in Punjabi). According to me the design wasn't that bad either. But yes, the tail lights could have been made more innovative. Overall she's a lovely car. I don't care what people think of her looks while admiring her, they like it or they don't, but for once she is a head turner.

[ssjr0498]

Originally Posted by zenren

Riviera red.
Mellow Yellow.
Leaf Green.
Passion Purple.
Atlantic Blue.
Exotic Green.
Sapphire Blue.
Moonbeam Silver.
Pearl Silver.
Cool Silver.
Miami gold.
California Gold.
Milky white.
Superior White.
Copper orange.
Midnight black.
Neptune Blue (93-96)
Passion Yellow or Lemon Yellow? (93-96)
Turquoise Green (99-03)
Peacock Green
Ruby Red
Cherry Red

Reviving this thread!

I own a 2001 Mpfi Zen Vx (Exotic Green). I was wanting to get this car repainted. Need urgent help with a good paint booth in Kolkata (has to have a heated paint booth) and if anyone can help me with the COLOR CODE for this color!

Cheers!

[BeemerBug_06]

I have been following this thread for a long time from the outside. Now that I am a BHPian, I am so glad to revive this thread after 3 years! I am a big fan of the Maruti Zen. I have always loved the Zen for its cute jellybean design, stance and seating position.
We had a Zen in the family, which was unfortunately sold.
I wish I can own one again soon!

Here is a Maruti Zen MH410 brochure from 1994. Enjoy the nostalgia!





On the 16th of December 2018, a group of car enthusiasts who share a common passion for older Maruti Cars celebrated Classic Maruti Day, to mark 35 years of Maruti in India.
One of the cars that attended was this pristine 'Olympus White' MH410 Zen.
This car still retains its original paint!
Although Zens are still commonly seen on Indian roads, the original MH410 Zen is now pretty rare, especially one in good condition!

Notice the embossed style number plate and the simple slatted grill!


The pristine interiors

Notice the choke since this is Zen has a carburetor powered engine


The clean side profile of the car, notice the Greenwheels sticker, the factory OK sticker and the Unleaded fuel only sticker! Such nostalgia!!


Since this is a 1995 model Zen MH410 it is probably one of the first Zens to receive the taillights without the Black borders. The original Zen had Tokai Denso taillights from 1993 to early 1995. In 1995, the design was changed to the more commonly seen Red and White borderless taillights till 2003.


The Zen with the Classic Maruti Family



The Jellybean brothers

Originally Posted by zenren

Guys,
I was searching for the exact shade name of my red Zen (95 model- should be the original shade of red that came with the initial lot) and realized after searching in the web that this seems to be highly classified information that is unavailable anywhere.

Any idea which colour shades came with the original zen when launched in 1993? Which additional shades got introduced in 96/99(with LX/VX introduction) and 2001? With many Zen owners among us, I guess some would remember the exact shade of colour (especially the prefix!)

Here is what I remember:

Red, White, Blue and Yellow were available in the initial lots of 93 till 95 though I'm not sure of the prefixes. I think the blue was called Neptune Blue and was it Passion Yellow or Lemon Yellow? I don't remember the prefix for red and white.

Some time in 96, I think some metallic shades like violet, green, sky blue were introduced. With the introduction of body coloured bumpers in 97, yellow and blue shades got some slight change IIRC - blue got a little lighter and yellow a little darker.

In 99, they introduced LX/VX variants and introduced a bunch of new colours. I literally lost track of the changes from here on!

Next set of changes could be with the introduction of the Euro 1 and Euro 2(MPFI) Zen.

Here are the colours mentioned by sidindica. I feel we still have some shades missing. Please add/correct. If someone remembers the duration during which the colour existed, that would help others verify

Riviera red.
Mellow Yellow.
Leaf Green.
Passion Purple.
Atlantic Blue.
Exotic Green.
Sapphire Blue.
Moonbeam Silver.
Pearl Silver.
Cool Silver.
Miami gold.
California Gold.
Milky white.
Superior White.
Copper orange.
Midnight black.
Neptune Blue (93-96)
Passion Yellow or Lemon Yellow? (93-96)
Turquoise Green (99-03)
Peacock Green
Ruby Red
Cherry Red

Hello Zenren!
As per this early Zen brochure that I have uploaded, your Zen's red shade was called St.Germaine Red
Now from the brochure you can identify that initially there was only St.Germaine Red, Passion Yellow, Olympus White and Midnight Blue/Neptune Blue from 1993-1996.
Other newer and metallic shades came post 1997.

[Leoshashi]

Zen 2 door launch brochure: Carbon and Steel

[BeemerBug_06]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Zen 2 door launch brochure: Carbon and Steel

Attachment 1838916

Attachment 1838917

Attachment 1838918

Thank you very much Leoshashi for posting the brochure scans!
I have been looking for one of these since donkey's years What Nostalgia! The Zen Steel and Carbon were so cool and futuristic when they came out. It's a pity that there's very few of them that are still around in their original condition. Cheers Mate!!

[zxcv444]

Did all the MPFI models of 1 liter Zen ( before Estilo) have 4 valves per cylinder? And was the MH410 model available without AC?

[BeemerBug_06]

Originally Posted by zxcv444

Did all the MPFI models of 1 liter Zen ( before Estilo) have 4 valves per cylinder? And was the MH410 model available without AC?

Hey zxcv444! The MPFi models of the Zen did undergo some changes in the engine in their life. When MPFi first came in 1999, the engine had 2 valves per cylinder, so 8 valves in total . From 2000-2003(honeycomb grill) , it was upgraded to 4 valves per cylinder, so 16 valves in total. But then for the facelift model 2004-2006, known as the Tiger shape zen, the engine was downgraded back to 2 valves per cylinder.

Of course MH410 model had Ac! The Zen always came factory fitted with Ac.
In fact, I know of an MH410 Zen with a very good AC

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by BeemerBug_06

But then for the facelift model 2004-2006, known as the Tiger shape zen, the engine was downgraded back to 2 valves per cylinder.

The 2V Zen was never introduced after its demise in early 2000. It was 4V(16 in total) till 2006 when the Original Zen was discontinued. A pic from 2005 brochure:

[anjan_c2007]

When the Zen was first introduced in mid 1993, Mr R.C. Bhargava, the CEO when asked about the then steep price tag of nearly Rs 3.00 lakh plus, said that this segment (B) was unexplored and in the long term, the demand should pick up.

[Vinith7979]

Beginning

Hello Bhpians hope everyone is doing well and this is my longterm ownership review and restoration of my 1999 Maruti Suzuki Zen Classic.

The Selection Process

Back in 1997 we had an Ambassador Diesel with Isuzu engine,Maruti 800 and Zen MH410.In 1999 my dad wanted to upgrade the zen by the time the car had completed 40k kms.

Cars Shortlisted

1. Fiat Uno.
2. Maruti Suzuki Zen Classic.

Dad actually booked the uno and due to the long waiting period,he cancelled it and left with no other options he choose the Zen again but this time the zen classic.

Workhorse

After the classic reached home it became dads daily driver since Ambassador and 800 was used by grandparents. The car ran miles and miles without a single hiccup. Dad single handedly drove the car for 175k kms.

The Zen


Yes you all may think this is a Vx, actually around 1lakh km mark the front bumper got damaged and the ASC said that the classic grills are imported from japan and hard to find so better go for the Vx grills so the car was fitted with Vx kits. I still feel atleast the rear lights could have been left with the classic's.

Restoration

Almost 20 years and the car was still running good, but the car started ageing the steel rims had little rust but the body was in pristine condition with minor Scratches.

In 2018 I decided to restore the car and dad agreed to do the same as we both have no idea of letting the car go. During the time the car had completed 232k kms.

Parts Replaced During Restoration

1. 2 Headlamps and parking lamps
2. 2 front indicators
3. New Side mirrors
4. 2 New tail lamps
5. Instrument cluster lights
6. 2 new front discs and pads
7. New drum brakes
8. Steel rims changed to Neo Alloys with yokohama earth 1 rubber.
9. New Seat Covers. stock seat is still clean and new as it was always with the covers on.
10. New roof liner
11. Pioneer audio with usb,aux and cd player. The stock kenwood casette player gave up after restoring the car.
12. Under body antirust coating.
13. The side door trims came with white cloth material, changed them to grey leather.
14. The engine and the power window motor was untouched.
15. Three new wiper blades including rear.
16. New Sun films with 50%.
17. New clutch plate and 5th gear teeth.

The Rear


Rear looks simple and elegant and yes it has rear wiper with washer.

The Side Profile



Notice the door handles and the orvm are body coloured,earlier they were black.



The Jelly Bean Design and the alloys looks matching to the cars design according to me.

The Alloy



155/65 R13


The Instrument Panel



Almost 242k done. Still gives a mileage of about 16 without A/c and 14 with A/c on.

The Dashboard



Simple and elegant with those wooden finishes [classic exclusive].

The Door Trim



Notice the new leather trim and power window switches for driver and passenger with lock function. [classic Exclusive].

The Engine



Carburetor engine with no problem till date, recently changed 4 new spark plugs and carburetor was cleaned, coolant flushed and added new.

The car still crosses 100 kmph easily.

.

Conclusion

Zen is one lovely car to own, i still enjoy driving it on the weekend. I also learnt to drive in this car, purely mechanical and the speakers are still the old ones which are pioneers and they work well till date.

The car is still being maintained at Maruti Asc and now its perfectly alright and the asc says the car is good for another 1 lakh kms.

The Zen is always a lucky charm for us so it will be in our garage forever

We still use the stock key and the spare key is untouched till date.

My suggestion is anyone who owns any car for more than 10 years try to keep it within your family as it posseses lots of old memories and will be a piece of history in future.

Thank You.

[Umesh Rao]

You have not mentioned which city you are based in. Can you let us know if you are impacted by the BS6 norms? Are the emissions as per the norms? Till when is the car registered?

[charanreddy]

Echo what you have said. I briefly owned a zen (2002 MPFI - LXI) from 2014 through 2017. Sold off just a month before fitness expiry. This was the second car ( Chevy Beat Diesel being the primary). I can vouch that this car is very fun to drive and own. We ran it 20K kms and all this took was oil changes. Each service cost was approx INR 2000. Would like to own a zen carbon sometime as a hobby car, such is the strong brand value of Zen to me.

[RDS]

I used to own MPFI Zen till 2017, when it was sold. We drove it for 13 years or so, after which I shifted to Ford Aspire TDCi.
Very fun to drive and took me places. Good old days

I still have a K&N air filter packed in box that I had bought for replacing the stock filter. However, as I sold Zen, the filter is still with me. I will be putting on quikr.
If someone needs the same, please DM me.

[Vinith7979]

Originally Posted by Umesh Rao

You have not mentioned which city you are based in. Can you let us know if you are impacted by the BS6 norms? Are the emissions as per the norms? Till when is the car registered?

Sir the car is in tamilnadu and the registration is valid till 2025.