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-   -   My tryst with the Maruti Ritz (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-term-ownership-reviews/239402-my-tryst-maruti-ritz.html)

Introduction

This story, again, is going back in time, to early 2015, when I met the first Maruti Ritz that I’d ever seen in detail. My next encounter with a Ritz was in 2018 when I was holding a known septuagenarian’s Ritz for a month until my car reached me. The Maruti Ritz was a practical alternative to the Swift in its time, and these posts are my small way of acknowledging the many virtues of this unsung hero.

Sample image of a red Ritz facelift

Enter the Ritz

A friend was looking at a potential replacement for his 2009 Tata Vista Terra diesel. The Vista was doing fine, but a petrol was the need of the day. Friend’s better half’s colleague was selling their 2013 Maruti Ritz VXi facelift that had done a mere 13,000km as they were relocating. He asked if I could help him check the car out, which I gladly said yes to. Off we went to a place called Anakaputhur, a few kms from Chennai Bypass, where this car, the Little Red Riding Hood was under cover.

When the covers were off, I just stood there, stunned. This was the most pristine used example that I’d seen after a 6,400km done Maruti Versa DX2 in Surat back in 2004. The added oomph was the shade – Mystique Red. There was no evaluation required for this car – it was as original as one could imagine when the ribbons were on. Although the car was approx. 1.5 years old, the new car smell was there, the interior and outside were pristine, with the paint finish stock and not even a gash on the surface.

I gave the go ahead, and the seller let go of the car for a mere INR 3.6 lacs because my friend and his family were close friends of the seller.

Initial impressions on the facelifted Ritz

The Ritz came across as a practical alternative to the more successful Swift.

Likes

• Refined engine with VVT
• Upright seating -you walk into the car and don’t bend into the car
• 60:40 split folding seats – a big bonus in a hatch
• Dash mounted tacho – the first hatch to sport this sporty feature
• Fantastic AC
• Great view of the road, although the high dash could be bothersome for shorter drivers
• Large ORVM
• Stereo and AC controls were easy to reach, hence minimum inconvenience to the driver
• Fog lamps (not sure if this was standard on the facelift VXi but this car had ‘em)
• Rounded hood and a pointed nose unlike the flat front of the earlier Ritz

What could have been better

• Gear throws didn’t seem as short as the Swift’s – when shifting into second, one would feel that the throw is too long
• Rear looks are subjective – most didn’t like this while I felt it was quite satisfactory

This particular car , a red facelifted Ritz VXi came with foglamps, spoiler, and coloured door handles and ORVMs. The coloured ORVMs and door handles was a dealer job (based on the paint finish)

ORVM


The 60:40 split folding rear seat


Boot


Dash mounted tacho


Front of the old Ritz - note the sloping hood


Front of the Ritz facelift - note the rounded hood


Rear view of the Ritz facelift with a spoiler


Rear view of the stock Ritz

Unprecedented floods in Chennai

Unprecedented rains and the subsequent floods in Dec-2015 caused large scale destruction. Most of the Chennai City core areas falling under TN-02, TN-07, TN-09 and parts of TN-06 bore the brunt of natural fury. Cars were the biggest casualties, and this Ritz was also a victim, flooded till the glove box. I wasn’t around there until early 2016, so all that I could do was to advise my friend on how to go about restoring the car back. Our FNG arranged to tow the car away.

Water in the glove box


Seats developed mold over a few days since the floor carpet was damp





Flood restoration – Round#1

Jobs that were immediately performed were

• replacement of engine oil and transmission oil (engine oil was fortunately in order, but replaced nevertheless)
• basic de-watering, dry out of the interiors
• starter and alternator service (if water had indeed risen to that point)
• start up of the car

While all the jobs got done with some delay due to the unprecedented number of cars at garages, the start up revealed one issue – EPS error on the console. This was because the EPS Controller, located on the floor beneath the lower console, had seen water.

EPS Error


Rectification of EPS

As a first step, the EPS controller was replaced and the EPS motor was serviced. Post service of the EPS motor, the servo mechanism would kick in but the steering would move wildly to the left or the right if the steering was moved either way by just 30 degrees. The car was eventually dropped off at my friend’s place in Jan-2016 with this fault unresolved.

EPS Controller - old and new alongside

Flood restoration – Round#2

After I returned to base in Feb-2016, I’d gone to see how the vehicle was. Inspection and a TD revealed the following:

1.although the interiors were clean and dried out, some of the foul smell remained
2. I also checked the behaviour of the EPS and understood the wild behaviour it was exhibiting
3. a new issue had surfaced – that the car wouldn’t slot into gears 1,2,5,R but would shift fine between gears 3,4.

Issue #3 was because one of the gear shifter cables had gotten jammed since it was submerged in the flood. The issue didn’t crop up when the car was under maintenance and hence it was left As-Is with just some WD40 applied at the moving ends. Now, this warranted a replacement.

Planning the drive to the FNG

Since only gears 3,4 were usable, there were two options to take the car to the FNG – on a flatbed or drive with care and with some planning. For those of us who know Chennai, the friend was at Velachery while the FNG was near Hotel Taj Coromandel, Nungambakkam. I decided to take the car to the FNG and planned the drive in low traffic, sans traffic signals, bypassing any inclines (flyovers). More than the availability of only gears 3,4, the challenge was to keep the steering in one’s control and not allow it to move wildly left or right.

I chose a time of the day when I could take the car there without fuss, and the plan worked like clockwork. Only once, a cyclist swerved suddenly and that necessitated emergency braking, but the car was able to move off from standstill in no.3 gear, although with some difficulty.

Replacement of the gear shifter cables and the EPS assembly

The steering rack assembly had to be replaced since servicing the EPS motor hadn't helped. Maybe the steering angle sensor had gone kaput. This steering rack assembly came as one unit - rack, pinion, EPS motor, sensor, boots, tie rods, tie rod ends.

Gear shifter cables (image courtesy boodmo.com)


Drawing of the Steering rack assembly


The new steering rack assembly in position


Post this, the car drove like new, and all that remained to be done was some detailing of the interiors.

Finishing touches

In one of the posts above, I'd mentioned that only a basic dry out of the inside had been done, and some smell remained. It was now time for some interior detailing, and by then I’d located a good place called CarCares on OMR. The owner, Jeremiah, or Jerry, came across as a quality focused young professional. He asked for 7 days to get the interiors cleaned, disinfected and done up, and quoted INR 5,000 plus tax.

The end result was just outstanding – never ever imagined that the car would look so stock. Yes, the art leather seat covers had to be discarded since it wasn’t worth cleaning them, but that was a small loss for the huge gain w.r.t seeing the car back in its old glory.











The car after all jobs were done (before front right wheel cap was re-installed)


Flood restoration expenses

I can’t remember the break up since most of the jobs were done before I returned to Chennai, but here is a rough break up anyways.

A: Flood damage restoration – Mechanical and electrical

1. Engine Oil, Transmission Oil INR 3,000
2. Brake fluid INR 300
3. EPS controller module INR 9,000
4. Steering rack assembly INR 29,000
5. Gear shifter cables INR 1,900
6. FNG Labour INR 7,000

Sub Total A : INR 50,200

B: Interior detailing INR 5,700

Total expenses A+B INR 55,900

Bills for the complete job were submitted to the insurance company, but I really didn't ask how much of the claim was passed.

Tryst with more Ritz

Come mid-2018, I made a move back to Gujarat in a new role. I needed a car for use until my own came, and that is when a known septuagenarian offered that I take his Surat resistered 2009 Maruti Ritz VXi. This car was from the first lot of Ritz, in brilliant condition for a 9 year old, had done just 35,000km and was still on stock JKs. The car would drive like new, and left no room for complaints.


Three months ago, another friend examined a pre-owned MH registered Ritz VXi as his second car. This was a May-2012 model that had a mere 38,000km on the odo. Two wheel caps were missing and therefore a set of 4 after market caps was installed. Otherwise, the car was in great shape.







Closing comments

The Ritz is a very competent car, that ticks all boxes; the ZXi, especially. I think this product got cannibalised by its own sibling – the Swift. In the year of its lauch viz.2009, people would look at the 1.1L F10 Wagon-R as 90% of a Ritz at a lower investment, and thus, from the word go, the Ritz wasn’t everybody’s darling. However, it has been one of my favourite cars, and even till date, I recommend the Ritz AT as my first choice to anyone who is looking for an automatic hatch. Good competent cars like the Ritz aren’t chart busters, but do touch hearts and heads of those who look for a practical choice.:)

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Reviews section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage today :thumbs up

Thanks for sharing @Vigsom, I too belong to the same category who have a liking for the Ritz. My exposure to the car has been mostly limited to a VDi trim that is owned by my cousin in Haridwar - a very well maintained copy I must say. The car has completed 1.7 lac kms and is still running on factory clutch, yes - factory clutch!

A few observations of mine regarding Ritz are:

• Front is acceptable, side is also good, rear is polarizing
• Seat height is decent, not actually high set, but better than the likes of Swift. Higher roof has given the Ritz a good advantage, but the console position still doesn't make it a tall driver friendly car.
• Front seats are good, rear ones also have fine space, but the rear seat backrest isn't much comfy, seems oddly shaped and sized too!
• Boot is deep and poorly shaped, but so is the Swift. Still, Ritz is worse :D
• Feels very un-Maruti in terms of build. It was around 70-80 kilo heavier than the Swift back then, and after 1.7 lac kms of usage, we know where that weight has gone in. There are still very few rattles. But the performance vis-a-vis the Swift was slower, maybe due to added weight. Who would have expected that a Maruti diesel will weigh just 40 kilo less than Polo diesel?
• Sheet metal matters to me, nuts and bolts hold things better with thicker metal, make it thinner and I feel like the long term stress shows the effect, so I assume this only to be the reason that the heavier cars are more rattle free than the newer ones. Same applies to Ritz IMO, Swift has been a rattle bucket in the hands of uncaring owners, Ritz still fares better in long term. Better sheet metal shows its effect after a few years of ownership after all.
• Ride is pliant, handling is good and so is straight line stability. The additional 70-80 kilo does make the difference when it's only 1 or two occupants in the car
• Ergonomically the Ritz is among the best, no two ways about it. Everything is placed right where its supposed to be
• A pillars are thick and built like elephant trunks! In very first year of ownership itself, my cousin had a motorcycle fell on his front left A pillar in a freak accident at a motorcycle dealership, just a dent with cracked windshield - nothing else, we were scared that it will bend, but it didn't, even after having a 170 kilo bike fell on it from first floor

As someone whose first car was a ritz and subsequently my handle name says so, I've always believed the car didn't get its due in the Indian market, I used to get 16-17kmpl regularly on my 2010 model ZXI, very good for a student in those times mind you.
The car handled very well till say 120kmph, acceleration was fine and the steering, dare I say it was more feelsome than the one on my next car the GT TSI. It was easy to maintain and I still miss the tacho of that car alongwith the instrument cluster.
Cons were the very bad boot space and a really upright rear bench.
Mind you, I used to commute 75km a day in those times, the front chairs were accomodating and outstanding.

Absolutely agree with you, having owned a diesel version for 9 years. Though I hated the rear look, I just loved everything else. It was in great condition even when I sold it, having clocked 126K. Bought it for 6.3lakhs and was surprised to get back 2.5 lakhs after 9 years. Never ever, we were left stranded during the entire period amidst many long drives. Wonderful car and amazing experience!!

Happy to see a thread on this car considering the fact that it's been long gone !!! Kudos to the effort you have put in to restore it back to its glory. Cars like these which stick to the basics are gold especially considering the fact that today, it's all about bling !!

We also have a 2009 Ritz Vxi in the family. Just like how you mentioned, even I remember the time we bought this car and a lot of people asked us whether we really liked the back design.

What's special about this car ? 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 and the K Series only gets more refined every day. I started driving this car at 8000 kms in 2011 when I turned 18 and from then, it's been an amazing journey of over 90,000 kms. We have covered a good part of KL, TN and KA on this car. Been an amazing road trip companion.

The only problem is that maintenance costs have been on the rise in the last 3 to 4 years on account of part replacements. Everything from, AC plumbing, to F and R suspension components, ignition coils which got shot on all cylinders, all wheel bearings, entire clutch set, gearbox synchros and some more were replaced along with regular services every 10,000 kms. 1 lakh kms service is now due and the steering rack needs replacement along with it. Other than that it's been a gem. Car is currently on the third set of tyres (Michelin Enery XM2 in 195 section on 14 inch aftermarket alloys) and the third battery.

However, it's been recently absolved of its highway duties which has been taken over by my Tata Altroz diesel, considering the fact that it's ageing, albeit very well. It's now the beater of the house and we plan to retain it for some more time. Have tons of memories with this car. :)

Attaching a pic of our steed.

I remember driving the first gen Ritz (Non VVT) while we were looking for a new car. The engine in that car left me spellbound! It purred like a kitten, that tachometer placed right in front of your eyes and its needle going up and up was a joy itself. I liked the gear lever placement as well.

It was a great car for sure and I never felt that it looked bad from the rear side. In fact, I would have never rejected this car based on the looks. There were so many positives.

This post brought back some fond memories.

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. The turbo kick of the 1.3 MJD after 2000 rpm was so addictive. On the highway, it had punch till 100-110 km/h. Beyond that, the engine ran out of breath . The noise insulation was quite poor. The tall boy design also made the car feel a little nervous during quick lane changes and on fast corners. The non existent boot space was an issue. Once my daughter was born, I had to let go of it with a heavy heart. Mechanically, it was doing just fine. The car just did not have enough space to hold all the luggage that a baby brings in and I replaced it with the XUV.

IMO the car did not get its due in the Indian market. Maybe it was the polarizing rear design. It could also be that Maruti did not market it as well as the Swift. Suzuki sold it as "Splash" in Europe and I've seen quite a few of them in Western Europe.

You my friend, just brought back those memories which I had with the Ritz. Was my first car and the fastest time that I had managed to clock 1,00,000 kms - Ownership review. What an under-rated car from Maruti that didn't get the success it was worthy of!



In 2010 when I bought the Ritz, it was kept as an alternative to the Swift since the Swift commanded a 6-7 month waiting period whereas the Ritz was begging to be bought by someone. Only sad part then was, the diesel variant had VDi as top end that missed out on features like rear wash/wipe, electronic ORVM adjustment.

Ergonomically brilliant, build was great too for that period and visibility was excellent. Just that the awkward shape put off many prospective buyer from the Ritz as a family car.