9th May 2020, 20:31
| #1 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Mangalore
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| 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus Hello BHPians,this is my long term ownership review of our beloved Ciaz 1.3DDIS. I have already written the ownership experience of my other car in this thread. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...5l-diesel.html All the points written in this thread are my own and I do not mean to hurt anyone's feelings. The points I've noted down are my own observations and experiences with the car after 4 years and 41,000kms.  WHY CIAZ?? •The first positive point which all the Ciaz owners will agree to is the sheer amount of rear legroom. •Soft suspension setup. The car absorbs almost all the undulations and provides superb ride quality. •Excellent Fuel efficiency on the highways. •510ltrs of boot space can accommodate a lot of luggage. •Solid mid range punch from the motor is very exciting. THINGS WHICH I DON'TLIKE ABOUT THE CAIZ •Hedroom at the rear is a big tight for tall passenger especially the ones above 6ft. •Ordinary interior quality and part sharing is evident. •Turbo lag. Motor demands for a downshift during quick overtakes. •Exterior build looks a bit poor compared to its rivals. WHAT WERE THE REQUIREMENTS As we had made up our decision that we will not be selling our Ritz Vxi we wanted a completely different car from the Ritz. •Petrol or Diesel dosen't really matter but a car with decent fuel efficiency was our topmost requirement. •Rear legroom •Safety features-Airbags and ABS •Better boot space •It should be a sedan. •Only brand new car no pre owned cars. OPTION CONSIDERED The options considered were all sedans ranging from 7-12 lac on road. Dzire  Being a happy Suzuki customer for more than 11 years(2005-2016) it was obvious that the window shopping would start from the Suzuki showroom. One fine day my dad visited Muneer cars,Hospet to collect our Ritz back from the service and the manger of the showroom is one of my close friend's dad. He showed us the Dzire and dad liked it. But I did not like. Nothing wrong with the car but still most of the neighbors had the same car and even 3 of our relatives had the Dzire. ASPIRE  Back in 2016 there was no Ford dealership in Hospet. The car was suggested to my dad by one of his friends saying that the car was very fun to drive and he was so much happy with his car that his son again bought the same car. But then the Titanium plus variant was crossing 10lacs i guess and the car was kept on hold. VENTO  Well, again there was no dealership in the town and the nearest dealership was 180kms from Hospet. But still the car was excellent and the quality of materials used were top class. But the diesel was extremely noisy and the high maintenance costs were some things to worry about. CITY  This car was expensive. Dad drove Diesel one and his reactions were just okay. The only variant coming in our budget was the SV petrol. Ground clearance of 165mm was the major issue. Diesel was quite noisy. CIAZ  After trying most of its rivals we ended up to coming to the same showroom where we had began our hunt. White Ciaz was kept for the display and the car looked gorgeous. Dad took the test drive of both Diesel and Petrol and he liked the diesel. Additionally what made the deal is that we were getting the Diesel Ciaz at the price of a Petrol City. VARIANT  With a budget of 11.5lacs we had only one option that was the VDI PLUS SHVS. This variant had everything we wanted. The only things we missed were the alloys. The other preferred variant was the ZDI Plus but then it was a whole 2 lac more than the VDI plus. Zdi did not make much sense as the only thing we would miss was the push start/stop button and alloy wheels. Nothing did we know that we'll end up spending more than the ZDI variant after adding up all the accessories. BOOKING EXPERIENCE We booked the car instantly after the test drive. There were two VDI plus cars in the stockyard. One was the white and the other was the glistening grey. We chose the White one as our Ritz was Glistening Grey in color. We were promised the delivery anytime we wanted. Dad paid the downpayment and applied for the loan in SBI. D DAY  Sorry for these bad quality images Well, this is the most exciting part of being a car enthusiast. But honestly this delivery experience was not quite up to the mark compared to the last time when we took our Ritz from the Same showroom. Another disappointment was that we were charged extra 25k as the quote given to us belonged to the previous month. Not all the accessories were fitted and they claimed some of the accessories were not a part of the accessory kit which we had chosen. Luckily I had the photocopy of the package and they agreed to give the refund. Car was delivered to us with a 5ltr fuel coupon. All in all I would not rate our delivery experience to be 4/10. INITIALEXPERIENCE This is a long car especially for anyone who has come from a mid sized hatchback. Taking the car in the interiors of the Hampi was a bit painful as there is zero traffic sense followed by the locals. Forget locals even police do not wear seatbelts there. Parking this car initially in the tight spaces was a bit difficult due to its length and the lack of a reverse parking camera. This was our first diesel car and we loved its fuel efficiency. Where our Ritz was delivering 17 Ciaz was giving us upwards of 22kmpl. Sheer amount of space was also a big plus. The car managed to touch its chin in one of the speed breakers in its initial days. EXTERIOR      This car was a love at first sight for me. I always loved sedans which I don't nowadays and this car was no exception. The length makes the car look beautiful. The car is quite low from the front and looks elegant. The front of the car is dominated by a huge chrome grill with the logo upfront. Headlamps are projectors with regular set of fog lamps. From the side the car is dominated by its length. Chrome door handles were added with chrome strip on the window beading like the one from the ZDI variant. Coming to the rear there are regular taillamps which looks similar to the ones on the Honda City which it's a bad thing. There's no chrome strip in the back like the top end variant. This version gets body colored parking sensors too. Some might call the design of the car plain but I like its simple uncluttered exteriors. I'm not too sure on its build quality but compared to our Ecosport this does feel flimsy  . INTERIOR   Automatic climate control  Power window switches and ORVM joystick  Height adjustable seatbelts Nothing wow element is present in the interiors. It's all simple and functional. The car comes with dual tone dashboard Black and beige with a dark faux wood panel separating both the colors. This looks good as compared to the busy cabin of the Honda City. Steering wheel comes from the Swift and so does most of the parts come from. The power window switch are also carried from the cheaper Suzuki cars. Vdi plus gets electrically adjustable ORVM but there's no foldable function. IRVM is not auto dimming and has a manual lever to adjust it. There's no Touchscreen in the center but it does come with Automatic Climate Control which looks classy when compared to manual ones. Steering wheel can be adjusted for height but not reach. Centre armrest adds up for the practicality part further and the leather paddings in the door does get dirty easily due to the lighter fabric. Storage areas in the centre are good. Glovebox is a bit small and it's not a cooled one either. All doors come with a dedicated bottle holder which can accommodate a 1ltr bottle. There is two cup holders and a place to slot the mobile as well. In the rear there is a small slot below the A/c vents and you do get an armrest with two cup holders. Seat belts can be adjusted for height. Some of the small features which are absent in my car compared to the top variant are sunglasses holder,rear reading lamps and footwell lights. SPACE MANAGEMENT  This is one area where Ciaz trumps all its rivals. The space at the back is excellent plus the soft suspension makes it one of the best cars to be chauffeured around. Sitting three abreast is not a problem at all. But there has to be some negative and the culprit here is the lack of under thigh support,fixed rear headrest and rear headroom for tall passengers. Manual rear windscreen sunshade is also absent in this variant. The front seats are comfortable too. Boot space is a massive 510ltrs. We being a family of three find it massive even when we go out for some long trips,the boot most of the times with all our luggage is half filled. But the rear seats cannot be folded so its impossible to load some big vertical boxes. MID  Real time FE and average FE  Trip meter and range The car has a simple MID hosting a small display. It serves almost everything needed for daily use. It offers two trip meters,temperature indicator, time,average fuel efficiency, range,gearshift indicator and some other functions related to central locking. The speedometer dials have a cool blue outline with the SHVS branding in the speedometer. This was available only in the diesel SHVS variants. It gets analogue display for the temperature and fuel level indicator. But still the MID in our Baleno is far more intuitive and advanced even though the car costs less than the Ciaz. TYRES AND ALLOYS  Tyres in my car are from MRF. Vdi plus gets 15 inch wheels with wheel caps. 16 inchers even today are only available in the top variant. MRF ZVTV is the model of the tyre which my car gets. Grip from the tyres are okaish but the tyre noise is not that evident inside the cabin. As with the case of MRF the sidewalls have now started to wrinkle at 40k kms and should be replaced after 45k kms. Alloy wheels are from the 45km done new Swift Zxi. These are boring looking alloys but still I chose these instead of Chinese ones just for the safety point of view. A black paint should makes things a bit more likable. Last edited by Sahilrai166 : 13th May 2020 at 20:08. |
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10th May 2020, 19:18
| #2 |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Mangalore
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| re: 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus HEAD UNIT   Night view of the dashboard The HU is a simple one and can be seen in all the Suzuki cars. It's a 2 din non touch screen unit with dedicated buttons given to all the functions. Pairing phone via bluetooth is only possible when the car is in neutral. Eventhough this is a simple unit it gets some amount of sound customization. It also supports USB and AUX inputs. The car gets two tweeters in the front and speakers on each door. The output from the speakers are very good but the light doors keeps on banging while playing high bass music in higher volumes. A/C AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS  Rear A/C vents The car gets an automatic climate control and the A/C cools the cabin in no time. Even though the cabin is big rear passenger do not complain much. Rear A/C vents are just okaish and their positioning is a bit odd. All the vents can be completely shut if not required. Overall the A/C cooling is better than my Ecosport for sure. LIGHTING  Vdi plus gets halogen projectors which are just about average. The throw from them is not satisfactory at all. Fog lamps are also present in this variant. Even at the rear there's no LED taillamps. Though Maruti has worked upon that part and the newer Ciaz gets sexy looking headlamps with LED DRL'S and LED taillamps which makes the car a lot more fresher and attractive from the outside. STEERING WHEEL  The steering wheel is also lifted straight from other Suzuki cars. It gets media and bluetooth buttons on the left side but there's no buttons on the right side which makes it look a bit basic(Newer models get Cruise control switches). The steering is very thin and there's no leather wrap on it either. Feel and feedback from the steering is bad. It does not self centre quickly. Its light and easy to use in city though. ENGINE  One of the major reason we bought a diesel Ciaz was because of its weak 1.4 petrol. It comes with a very famous 1.3 DDIS mill which was available in all diesel Suzuki. 90BHP and 200NM feels adequate for the car of this size mainly because of its lightweight body. As this engine is famous for its turbo lag this isn't different in the Ciaz either. There is a considerable amount of lag under 1800 rpm. Downshift is required for quick overtakes. The car in higher gear with low speed,no matter even if you floor the throttle the engine takes it own sweet time to gain good speeds. However all this drama finishes once the turbo spools up and bang it gets going easily. There is a slight amount of push back into the seats and I enjoy this. The engine revvs freely all the way till 5200rpm but there's no point in revving so hard. Keep the car in its power band and you won't feel disappointed. The engine is noisy and the cabin insulation is just about average. The car reaches triple digit speeds in no time. Being gentle in higher gears doesn't let much of the engine noise enter the cabin. Butter smooth clutch and gearbox combination with well defined gates adds for the further ease of driving in tight traffic areas. The car remains glued to the road and the body roll is minimal. GROUND CLEARANCE Well sedans always have low ground clearance and this one is no exception. It scrapes its belly almost all the times with full load on an unscientific bump. I have taken this car to village areas and got and its front bumper got scraped many times. The speed bumps in my area are humongous. No matter what circus I do but with 5 members on board it scrapes in the middle. This might be also due to the soft suspension the car gets plus the low ride height and long wheelbase. This is not just me but many Ciaz owners have reported it and I experience the same in my friends Ciaz Alpha too. PERIODIC MAINTENANCE This is a Suzuki but by no means its cheap to maintain but not expensive either. All the major services cost upwards of 12k which is equivalent to City and Verna's service cost. What adds up further is the unwanted things which they add up in the bill and the part quality isn't that great either. We had taken up extended warranty (2+2years). Service center's are least bothered about giving attention or quality service which is not possible because of the large quantity of cars they get daily for servicing. There was once an issue where we drove the car from Hampi to Mangalore (450kms) and when we reached home we could see the coolant was leaking and to my shock when I opened the hood I saw that the engine bay was completely covered by coolant. Luckily there was some coolant left. Complete floor was filled with coolant. A quick call to the service center and they said to fill water in the coolant tank and get the car because the nearest showroom is just 4kms away from our home. We gave them the car and it took 7 days for them to get the part which costed 2K and was covered under extended warranty. This is the approximate pricing of each of the services done. 1st service: Muneer cars Hospet: Cost:0 2nd service(5000kms): Muneer Cars Hospet: Cost:5.5K (4.8k for underbody coating,wheel balencing and alignment) 3rd service (10000kms):Muneer Cars Hospet: Cost:4.5K (including wheel balancing and alignment) 4th service(20000kms):Muneer cars Hospet Cost:12k 5th service:(30000kms):Bharat auto cars Mangalore Cost:9.8K 6th service:(38000kms):First choice Mangalore Cost:4.5(much cheaper compared to MASS) Check up:(40000kms)Bharat Auto cars mangalore This wasn't required but I had to get the brake pads changed as said by the First choice mechanic so I went to MASS to get it replaced and to my inner satisfaction asked them if there is any fault or service required to which they said clutch should be changed. Wait what clutch replacement at 40K to which I said that I'll get it done next time and changed the brake pads which costed me Rs3.8K including labour charges. A small accident happened when my a pig suddenly came in the middle of the road and my dad hit the pig as it was a sudden incident. The front bumper broke into two pieces like a paper and the fog lamp was broken along with a broken mud flap. As we knew the dealership members they did the job well and we did not claim the insurance as the bill was 10k. Claiming insurance meant no NCB and 2K for the file charges and somehow dad did not wanted to claim it. Dealership took 5 days to source the bumper. Another incident happened when our car was parked in our apartment and the next morning what I saw was a broken RHS ORVM and sadly there was no CCTV near my parking either. A quick call to dealership and they have to order the part from Bangalore and will take 5 days. I was completely upset because of the incident and went to my relatives garage and he did some welding, glued it added some things to strengthen it up and the ORVM came back to normal life with some scratches on it and he did not charge me a single rupee. Saved 6.5K here. But my point is whenever my car required some parts none of the parts were available and people say parts are quickly available for Suzuki cars. Maybe my bad luck but my SA said me that sourcing parts for S cross and Ciaz takes some time and they have to order it from Bangalore. Overall the car till date is reliable. FUEL EFFICIENCY A Suzuki owner and no mention of FE is not possible  . Honestly the first time me and my dad heard about the milage figures we were laughing as we thought the SA was just bluffing but this was true indeed. In Hospet due to the complete lack of traffic sense dad was managing somewhere around 15kmpl. As I started driving(In 2018) I turned 18 and the car was primarily driven by me and the FE figures in Mangalore city traffic are close to 16-17kmpl and on the highways I get upwards of 22kmpl. The max FE we have got till now is during the Goa trip(24.5KMPL). This is a perfect car for those who want Fuel efficiency from their cars. Though the fuel tank capacity is not high it manages by it's high fuel efficiency figures.SHVS There's nothing smart or hybrid in this vehicle. Its just an irritating idle start/Stop system which does not work that seamlessly. Does it really save fuel, I don't know. There is a blue badge in the rear above the variant nomenclature which states SHVS and the other change from the regular car is the blue outline in the speedometer and the tachometer. The battery costs 10k and now it's due for a replacement as the SHVS has stopped working now. MODIFICATIONS AND ACCESSORIES INSTALLED  It's a long list consisting of many useful and unwanted accessories. MGA=Maruti Genuine Accessory. •4D Mats from MGA •Honeycomb design seat covers from MGA •Window line chrome from MGA •Chrome door handles from Car stream Mangalore •Bumper protecter and door protector from MGA •Front Samurai lip from Car decor,Mangalore •Alloy wheels •Reverse parking camera with monitor from Car decor,Mangalore •Shark fin antenna •Rain visors from MGA •Rear sunshade from MGA •Boot lip spoiler from Drive2,Mangalore •body line vinyl wrap from Drive2,Mangalore •Illuminated scuff plates from Car decor,Mangalore •Steering wheel cover from Car decor,Mangalore •Smoked rear taillamps from Drive2,Mangalore TRIPS DONE WITH THE CIAZ  A collage of some Instagram story We have taken this car multiple times to Hampi(450kms),Goa(365kms),borders of Maharashtra(950kms), Mantralayam(580kms),Gol Gumbaz(560kms),Bekal fort(85kms),Ooty(380kms),Mysore(280kms),Bengaluru( 375kms),multiple times to Sakleshpur and Madikeri. All the kilometers mentioned are one side kilometers from Mangaluru. Overall the car has gone to seven different states and the car performed well by giving good fuel efficiency and comfort. QUICK COMPARISON WITH THE FACELIFTED CIAZ My friend bought a Ciaz Alpha Automatic last year and I did a quick comparison between the two. As we all know that the 1.3DDIS is discontinued and not available anymore and the 1.5DDIS isn't BS6 compliant either so sadly 1.5VVT is the only option left for the potential Ciaz buyers.  From the front the facelifted Ciaz gets a different grill,bumper,Led fog lamps and an all new headlamp with DRL.  Nothing much is changed from the sides except the diamond cut alloys wheels. Earlier zdi plus used to get gunmetal finished alloy wheels.  From the rear the new LED taillamps are the new highlight and looks striking and the new bumpers get chrome finish above the reflectors. Also noticable change is the positioning of the nomenclature badge and no mention of the variant.   On the inside the most noticeable change are the new lighter shade faux wood,Cruise control switches and a new 4.2inch TFT display for the MID cluster. SOME RANDOM SHOTS  Me posing with our Baleno and Ecosport  Ciaz posing with neighbour's Porsche Macan and Gi10  Our next car??maybe SIGNING OFF Last edited by Sahilrai166 : 13th May 2020 at 22:15. |
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14th May 2020, 08:40
| #3 |
| Team-BHP Support   | Re: 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Long-Term Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing! Your car is going straight to our homepage  |
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14th May 2020, 09:59
| #4 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Cochin/Bangalore
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14th May 2020, 13:12
| #5 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Mumbai
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14th May 2020, 13:46
| #6 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | Re: 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus Nice thread Ciaz is a no nonsense car. In my experience, I don't want anything more in a car that the ciaz diesel offers, except for the questionable build quality and crash worthiness. I have been using mine over all kinds of roads and totally love the comfort and practicality it offers (mine runs on 195/65 R15 which has increased the GC by a bit). The additional bonus is the bombproof reliability and terrific fuel efficiency. That's why ciaz is my preferred choice of transport inspite of having 3 more cars at my disposal. Mine will be 5 years and 1.2 lakhs km old by August this year. I don't even have any intention of changing the car though.  Last edited by PrasannaDhana : 14th May 2020 at 13:49. |
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14th May 2020, 14:33
| #7 | |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Bangalore
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| Re: 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus Very nicely written review Quote:
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14th May 2020, 14:47
| #8 | |||||
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Mangalore
Posts: 130
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| Re: 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus Quote:
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14th May 2020, 20:04
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| BHPian  | Re: 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus Well-written review. Can see you have put great effort into this thread. Also, nice comparison with the newer Ciaz. A neighbor's Ciaz is driven by 3 generations - the grandfather, son and grandson. I see all 3 taking turns to enjoy the car for their daily chores or work. Quote:
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14th May 2020, 20:50
| #10 | ||
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Mangalore
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| Re: 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus Quote:
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15th May 2020, 18:09
| #11 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: Mumbai
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| Re: 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus Crisp and detailed review Ciaz is a car which still retains that authentic sedan or Lambi gaadi feel! It's BIG, comfortable, very practical, easy to drive, has a clean uncluttered design and is quite close to my heart! I strongly suggest you to go for 195 or 205 section rubber which will increase the grip levels, GC and make the car look better. Wish you lacs of joyful miles with the caaaaaaaar! (Do you remember that tvc?) |
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16th May 2020, 11:01
| #12 | |
| Team-BHP Support  | Re: 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus Quote:
Ciaz looks nice, low and long in the side profile. The design has aged quite gracefully and still looks good on the road, especially with the NEXA blue shade it recently comes with! Congrats on completing 4 years with the year and wish you many more miles of happy ownership ahead. | |
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16th May 2020, 18:05
| #13 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Mangalore
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| Re: 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus Quote:
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16th May 2020, 18:26
| #14 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus Quote:
 16 inch diamond cut alloys and the elegant grey , bright blue shades of the updated Ciaz look especially cool. | |
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17th May 2020, 20:34
| #15 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Mangalore
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| Re: 4-years with a Maruti Ciaz 1.3L Diesel VDi Plus Quote:
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