[Udp_wanderer]

I also own a Ritz Zxi Petrol December 2010 make. It has run 103000 Kms. without any trouble. My wife is driving it for past 6 years and she doesn't know how to open its bonnet as she never had to. I am planning a 10 days trip from Udaipur to Bangalore mrom coming Monday. I will share details of trip on the Forum.

[sureshkumar]

The Ritz was a great car to drive both in the city as well as the highways. A friend of mine used to rent out his Ritz VDi and I was his number one customer. I had driven it on many trips from Kochi to Kollam, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram, each was equally pleasurable. The diesel engine was quite peppy and the car gave me a special confident feel. It felt very sporty to me, with the engine's growl at certain speeds. Boot space was a problem, though.

[hdman]

Thank you for sharing this. Very informative and well written post.

[GTO]

This practical car with an ugly butt will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the first Official Review / media event Team-BHP went to. Even in the area of calling an online publication, Maruti was the first to do so. Trivia = Maruti didn't even have my phone number or email address then, so they kept on searching online until they got the landline number of my then-education business. My receptionist called me and said its Maruti on the line; I would've thought its a sales call from a dealer or something.

[swiftvxi06]

I personally really liked the Ritz. It had a very unique look and felt like a solid car. It was very spacious and was a worthy alternative to Swift. The driving position was very good thanks to its tall boy design. The same car was rebadged and sold as Opel Agila in European markets and as Vauxhall Agila in UK.

Off topic- Neither Suzuki nor MSIL now a days design cars which makes them stand out from the rest and make people notice them like their erstwhile product offerings - Original Zen, Esteem, Swift, A-Star, Ritz, SX4.

[RaceHorse]

This was the first car which I booked as a Taxi, to ferry me from Pune to Mumbai and back, I was surprised that Ritz was immediately available for taxi folks along with regular families at launch itself.

It was raining heavily through out the express way and the guy at the wheel was driving it madly in a pot pouring rain, were I couldn't see what is in front of me.
But the car was stable at speeds above 100kmph. Though scary it was one of the joyful ride I had in life.
While waiting at the gas station I realized it is a diesel variant and instantly felt it is much more planted and stable than Swift which has the same engine.

Immediately after returning to my home town, first thing we did was to exchange our old Santro and book Ritz Vdi. It served us for 10years without any issue.

Later wanted to buy Ritz AT, but when enquired they said it is made on order basis and will take 3-4 months for delivery. We bought Micra CVT instead.

[amitayu]

This thread makes me nostalgic.

Ritz was my first car, as in the first I bought. I zero-ed in on the Ritz after extensive research. It was incidentally this research process that got me hooked to Team-BHP as well, and I have been a member ever since.

I had a Ritz VXI from 2012-2019. It is a gem of a car, that never gave me any major headaches. I used it for daily office drives, long drives to Uttarakhand/Rajasthan, for hauling stuff when we shifted homes, ferrying passengers and luggage for airport pick/drops. The car was truly multi-purpose in nature.

Even now, while I drive a freestyle, I miss the butter smooth engine and the easy gear shifts of the Ritz.
My only complain was the body-roll in high speeds, and the lack of rear wipers and defogger, given I was driving in Delhi.

I parted with my Ritz as with age it was starting to develop problems with the rubber beads and the left front suspension, and I was eager to try the new generation cars that came with much more features.

I got a decent amount for the exchange, given I meticulously maintained servicing schedules, and only from Authorized Maruti SC.

[shrinz.vivek]

Oh my dear Ritz. This post is highly nostalgic for me. A Ritz VDI was my 2nd car after a bare bones Santro (Non A/C manual steering). It was handed over to me by my dad after using it for around 80k kms. Both of us used it extensively. Made me fall in love with diesels.
He used to shuttle between Bangalore and Belgaum (500km) every weekend and it ran like a gem. I have taken it all over south India with family and friends .
I don't completely agree with the lack of boot space. We were able to accommodate 5 big bags with 10days luggage for 5 adults on our south India trip. Some skillful packing and compact military supply bags did the trick perhaps.
Never ever did it breakdown. Apart from regular maintenance, we changed one wheel bearing which started whistling at around 90k.
It ran on factory clutch till 120k kms when we sold it as i had to move abroad. A decision which i regret today. Because when i came back to India, the streets were filled with gizmo cars, Ritz was discontinued, DDIS had retired, diesel engines consumed more urea than diesel, used car prices had soared and no other car interested me; till Mahindra came to the rescue.

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by VKumar

The car has completed 1.7 lac kms and is still running on factory clutch, yes - factory clutch!

- Feels very un-Maruti in terms of build.
- Sheet metal matters to me, nuts and bolts hold things better with thicker metal
- A pillars are thick and built like elephant trunks, just a dent with cracked windshield even after having a 170 kilo bike fell on it from first floor

Thank You, @VKumar. Your post says it all - that the Ritz belonged to that league of strong Marutis (aka SX4, old Baleno, F10 WagonR, and the strongman CBU Suzuki Grand Vitara). Clutch @1,70,000km - this is a record of sorts !

Originally Posted by dhruvritzed

I used to get 16-17kmpl regularly on my 2010 model ZXI, the front chairs were accommodating and outstanding.

Thank You @dhruvritzed. The mileage is believable, given the K engine.

Originally Posted by NvrGivUp

It was in great condition even when I sold it, having clocked 126K. Never ever, we were left stranded during the entire period amidst many long drives

Thank You @NvRGivUp. Reliability on a Maruti is a given even today(AMTs excluded).

Originally Posted by aswin ajith

We also have a 2009 Ritz Vxi in the family. Absolutely bullet proof reliability. In the 12 years and 1,00,000 kms it's been with us, there has not been a single breakdown

Thank You, @aswin ajith, for your hot hatch. I've seen many a tastefully "alloyed" Ritz and can say they look really good with alloys. Barring the loud five spoke oversized ones, any aftermarket alloy would look good on the Ritz.

Originally Posted by Sherlocked

that tachometer placed right in front of your eyes and its needle going up and up was a joy itself

Thank You, @Sherlocked. The podded tacho was the only one in an Indian stock car, IIRC, and was the only "sporty" feature on a Ritz.

Originally Posted by satishv1987

My first car was a 2011 Ritz VDi. A very spacious car with ample headroom. The car was a hoot to drive in the city

Thank You, @satishv. Yes, space, performance and economy rolled into one. The ZDi came in quite late, actually.

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Was my first car and the fastest time that I had managed to clock 1,00,000 kms. Ergonomically brilliant, build was great too for that period and visibility was excellent. Just that the awkward shape put off many prospective buyer

Thank You, @a4anurag. Your car's colour was a hit or miss, but looked good when kept polished.

Originally Posted by Udp_wanderer

I also own a Ritz Zxi Petrol December 2010 make. It has run 103000 Kms. without any trouble

Thank You, @Udp_wanderer. Another 1,00,000km plus example is really encouraging to see.

Originally Posted by sureshkumar

Boot space was a problem, though.

Thank You @sureshkumar, but I still don't understand why the boot has been complained about by many owners.

Originally Posted by GTO

it was the first Official Review / media event Team-BHP went to.

Wow, GTO. I have been around for long, but never realised the Ritz review was tbhp's first; am happy the Little Red Riding Hood review has touched a few hearts.

[sureshkumar]

Originally Posted by vigsom

Thank You @sureshkumar, but I still don't understand why the boot has been complained about by many owners.

Lack of boot space is a problem common to all hatchbacks and it is just a matter of getting used to it. I usually travel light but it is when you visit friends or relatives and are offered some coconuts or a jackfruit to take back home that the challenge arises.

[asbshyam]

Ritz is a dear car and one of the trouble free ones that we wish to retain for good long time. I partly learnt driving on a Ritz and always assumed most cars would be this peppy, and then I drove a few other cars which was an education.

And the Polarizing rear, I guess Maruti never thought of this as a problem, the erstwhile DZire was a best seller. I'm not sure with what change this car would have sold better in India. I cannot even find an Used automatic Ritz in Chennai right now on large auto portals.

[kkunal.shah]

Well Ritz vxi was my first car, kept it for 12 years & 1.5Lac kms, it moved with me from Pune to Delhi to Mumbai to Bangalore. Finally sold it in March this year & was replaced with 2015 Jetta HL TDI AT

I do regret selling it but we did not have use of a 2nd car & hence let it go.

[ajay.singh.83]

I love the Ritz! I exchanged my 2007 Swift ZXi, after 1.23lac kms, with the last batch of Ritz ZXi manufactured in Jan 2016. They were only two colours available black n white, both of which are not my colours but took white with some mods in mind. I use it for city movement and drives to Lonavla night-outs and continues to serve me really well.

I literally had to hunt for this car, specific for the reasons already mentioned - tank like build quality combined with a free revving engine that can pull cleanly to the redline!

Sharing pics of the modded and more recently with the XL6 LED Fogs fitted and loosing the bonnet wrap coz of the issues with traffic police.

More miles to much with my dear Jolly - Joy of Life.

[headbanger]

The success of Ritz lies in finding the number of unsatisfied customers. I have found none till date of such folks.

It's like one of those wines which get better with time and owners get to know the various advantages of owning this bull. I have a 10 year old Vxi model that has run around 1.7L and when the time comes, our Swift Dzire will be the first to go even though she is a year younger and 40k less run.

The fact is that there is no alternative to Ritz in the yesteryears as well as the current market. I used to call my Ritz as Toyota Ritz years back not knowing that someday Maruti and Toyota will be the same coin. I have spent approx 50paisa per km for my Ritz till date for services, all done at Maruti workshops. That's cheaper even compared to my bike.

[landcruiser123]

Thanks for sharing, @vigsom.

I can't quantify it, but I feel like the Ritz was well put together compared to the Swift/Dzire and other cheaper Marutis. Two neighbors who owned the car - a diesel (with 1.3 lakhs km in 2017) and petrol (with 1.1 lakhs km in 2017) never had a single rattle despite driving on notorious Bangalore roads.

If I needed a cheap city runabout today, I'd snap up a Ritz with a jiffy - love the tall boy design and I'm one of the few who like the boot.