[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by itsashishsharma

The Zest has the very same engine in VGT guise, at 6.5L ex-shoroom, you get the XMS with ABS, airbags, a nice HK music system. That is what you call VFM. Ciaz, with same engine, if could get better suspension and steering, would have been much better a proposition at 9L.

What Ciaz is good at is space, fuel economy and yes, it will sell, making money for Maruti, but it won't make me happy.

I love the Zest myself but the Ciaz is miles ahead of it. First of all it is a much larger sedan and thus looks more regal. It also has many features that the Zest lacks such as the smart entry/ start, auto folding mirrors, navigation, reverse camera, rear ac vents, phenomenal mileage and a beautiful design that resembles some Lexus cars. Only things lacking are curtain and side airbags and ESP. If we simply go by the engine and price then the Bolt when launched could be called much better value as it would have the same engine as the Zest and is likely to be far cheaper.

[gopa99]

Nice review. I feel the tagging price point is what Maruti concentrated here, rather than a TDI or a 1.6 Petrol powerhouse to drive it. And ARAI figures back it decision well.

[itsashishsharma]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

I love the Zest myself but the Ciaz is miles ahead of it. First of all it is a much larger sedan and thus looks more regal. It also has many features that the Zest lacks such as the smart entry/ start, auto folding mirrors, navigation, reverse camera, rear ac vents, phenomenal mileage and a beautiful design that resembles some Lexus cars. Only things lacking are curtain and side airbags and ESP. If we simply go by the engine and price then the Bolt when launched could be called much better value as it would have the same engine as the Zest and is likely to be far cheaper.

That is what I said, the two cars are from different classes. Ciaz doesn't have something that it is not supposed to have.

My point is, why does it not have a more powerful engine? Also, the driving dynamics are a disappointment. Let alone a Linea or a Fiesta, even the City has better dynamics and more powerful engines!! As somebody earlier said very truely, Maruti once had the Zen, the 1.1 Alto, the Baleno in its lineup. They have more options now, but just look at them, let the Swift alone, every other car is plain boring to drive.

[puchoo]

Excellent review as always! Thank you!

First things first , in terms of taking shot at this segment i believe Maruti has done a decent enough job with the ciaz to genuinely stand a chance and while they might not have ticked all the boxes (read engines for example) what they have done is ticked enough boxes to give the Ciaz a stage to launch itself from hopefully into the numbers that Maruti is expecting

But lets be clear that this is not a segment changer , i do not find anything in the car which is going to have an effect on that - what this could be is a game changer for Maruti itself and i think it is critical for them to be able to achieve this.

The phrase "your first car" and Maruti go very well with each other and they are sitting on the throne high and mighty.......... but till a point and beyond that there is no Maruti - while the smaller cars and the hatchback segment is where the numbers are in terms of "mass" - in order to grow they need to expand not only their offering but also their appeal in the higher segment - and the need to crack this segment if they want to have a stepping stone to really play with the bigger boys in the 12+ segment. If luxury cannot to some degree be associated with a Maruti there is little hope in my opinion for them to ever be able to succeed with a Kizashi type of offering in this market again.

And to reiterate , while we may not find the same numbers in this segment as lower down - there are still decent numbers to try and chew into.

They have a fairly agressive sales target set for themselves for 2015 - 60,000 to 80,000 units of the car i.e about 5000-6600 every month.

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report...yundai-2024030

To put that into perspective what they are aiming to do is roughly sell about double the number of Verna's being sold in the country today - or to reflect on it differently - almost the same number of cars which GM has sold in total in India between Aug 2013 to Aug 2014

(refer TBHP August Sales thread)

Sounds pretty agressive to me , thats only about 20% less sales than the Honda City every month , even lesser depending on the month.

And if i read into what the media says about bookings so far for the car which are in the region of 10,000 , and i assume that they have a similar monthly target for what is left of 2014 then they have already done 10,000 out of a target in the region of 15,000-18,000. Further assuming that the initial post launch target might be higher than what they plan for next year and i bump it up by 25% to 19-23,000 - they have met 50% of that more or less before the car was even out. So from this context a good start and yes of-course launch euphoria will settle down but purely from the maths point of view they seem to be getting there already - add discounts, festive discounts, few minor upgrades next year and they might just end up doing what they set out to do.

A stage set for an interesting few months to follow!

Coming to the car itself , as i wrote i find it pleasing. I do wish they had done a different design on the front grill, looks outdated to me especially in contrast to the headlamps.

The rear does look like the one on the City , but the bigger question is perhaps if it looks out of place and i dont think that is the case.

Interiors nicely done , fresh , airy and bright with a reasonable contemporary feel to them. Love the MID back-lighting as well as the infotainment system - but mostly everyone is saying it is slow to respond which is not good, maybe they will fix it in future batches but if it does turn out to be really slow then no matter how good the design is the user experience is not and it is not going to stand out.

And having said what i have a big big questions on the plastics , lets see how solidly they are made and how they respond to wear and tear.

[vibbs]

Just read an autocar comparo of the Ciaz and City. It says there are some areas where the City is better than Ciaz and some areas where the Ciaz is better. But in areas where Ciaz does well, its just a small difference over the City, but where the City betters, it is by a bigger margin. They go on to say that City is defenitely the better car, but bring in the prices and Ciaz becomes the better package.

I guess its time that I check out the car myself. But going through all these discussions and reviews, I believe I can safely say that if I was in the market to buy a petrol car, it would be the TSI or the Tjet. And if I were to buy a diesel it would be Vento/Rapid.

Would the 1.6 petrol of the SX4 make me consider the Ciaz? With the reports on suspension set up and handling, I dont thinks so. But I seriously believe that as an option, it would have made Ciaz a bit more interesting. Atleast for me.

[malq]

Big question here is this - has anybody paid for and/or taken delivery of any version of the Ciaz as yet? There is absolutely no clarity on this issue as yet.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by malq

Big question here is this - has anybody paid for and/or taken delivery of any version of the Ciaz as yet? There is absolutely no clarity on this issue as yet.

Allotment based on bookings is done by Maruti. Maruti will allot the cars based on dealer allotments and the dealers are expected to get the same by this weekend.
Only then the dealer can intimate the prospective customers of the allotment. Those did pre bookings can expect early delivery based on the dealer allotment by Maruti.

Above information is as shared by a dealer here.

[shaikhmimran]

Hello,
Does anyone know why the Ciaz's Navigation function with smartfone connectivity was pulled down from the website, brochure & video? It was there until just 7-8th Oct. Now it is just CD with USB function.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Just read an autocar comparo of the Ciaz and City. It says there are some areas where the City is better than Ciaz and some areas where the Ciaz is better. But in areas where Ciaz does well, its just a small difference over the City, but where the City betters, it is by a bigger margin. They go on to say that City is defenitely the better car, but bring in the prices and Ciaz becomes the better package.

This final analysis in the Autocar review brought a smile to my face. Typically in all comparisons involving Honda, Autocar, in most sections gives the impression that the other car is better and then finally says Honda is the better package. Here looks like they could not decide whether to give preference to Maruti or to Honda and finally came with this wise conclusion to keep both camps happy

[aniketi]

Lots of people comparing City with Ciaz, rightly so as its a market leader. But i have seen new city very closely & let me tell you that its not a great car. Just close your eyes & think hard -

Interiors are strictly average quality. I find no where Honda brand in it. You have to accept it.
Looks. It is just a upgrade over last model, nothing much changed. Front looks really bad & cheap with thick chrome strip.
Rear space is good for legroom but lacks shoulder room when 3 average adults are there.
Build quality is like Maruti only. Nothing exceptional about it.
Basically that Honda feel, which is expected is no more available. In some areas actually it feels cheap.

When you buy Honda, you should get that feel is what i mean. Which is lost in all their recent cars. Take example of Brio, Amaze. Feels cheap when you seat inside one. Whereas Suzuki is improving every year. There car feels more premium than previous. I found Ciaz a very good attempt by them. It is going to get success for sure.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by aniketi

Interiors are strictly average quality. I find no where Honda brand in it.

Build quality is like Maruti only. Nothing exceptional about it.

Basically that Honda feel, which is expected is no more available. In some areas actually it feels cheap.

When you buy Honda, you should get that feel is what i mean. Which is lost in all their recent cars. Take example of Brio, Amaze. Feels cheap when you seat inside one.

Whereas Suzuki is improving every year. There car feels more premium than previous. I found Ciaz a very good attempt by them. It is going to get success for sure.

Typical of what can happen when a premium brand moves down the segments. Honda is one of the best examples. On the other hand, a budget brand (in India), Suzuki is trying to get into the C segment and hence is improving and the progress is good.

Just think of it this way that way back a decade, Honda City was the cheapest offering by Honda in its Indian portfolio with the Civic in the middle and Accord placed as the top most offering in the D segment. Today, there is no Accord, No Civic, and if fact, the City is the most expensive car that can be driven out of a Honda showroom and Brio being the cheapest, right there competing with B segment hatches of budget manufacturers like MSIL & Hyundai. So, the change in Honda's policy towards India is very much intentional. Though, down somewhere it hurts to see companies moving down segments and finally resorting to evident cost cutting in terms of quality.

[Kumar R]

Mods, please move to appropriate forum if this is Offtopic.

I'm sure many of us have read this news report which states that the Government of India is considering action against Maruti Suzuki for accepting Ciaz bookings without displaying the car or making specifications public.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/44730326.cms

Legalities aside, I was curious to understand why anyone would book a car without having seen it, gone for a TD, or having any idea of the technical stuff. I daresay most of us would not order a product worth >Rs 5-10k without having seen it (at least on the internet and read a dossier / reviews, etc.) Speaking for myself there is no way I would order a car without a test drive or some feedback from others. What then, makes people willing to book it before the car is publicly unveiled?

[Aga_sahab]

Originally Posted by Kumar R

Speaking for myself there is no way I would order a car without a test drive or some feedback from others. What then, makes people willing to book it before the car is publicly unveiled?

The market was buzzing with the late delivery due to over booking etc. And the dealership said that if you book right now then we can give you a test drive earlier or else, with the response, it won't be possible to give early test drive and early delivery.
The booking amount can be refunded at test drive is what the dealership is telling people.

That said it makes more sense to have one friend give booking amount and 4 friends going for test drive, like I did. He is going to proceed to order while I am planning on the Honda city petrol.
He has been told that just before diwali he might get the car.

[blacksport]

Originally Posted by Kumar R

Mods, please move to appropriate forum if this is Offtopic.

I'm sure many of us have read this news report which states that the Government of India is considering action against Maruti Suzuki for accepting Ciaz bookings without displaying the car or making specifications public.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/44730326.cms

Legalities aside, I was curious to understand why anyone would book a car without having seen it, gone for a TD, or having any idea of the technical stuff. I daresay most of us would not order a product worth >Rs 5-10k without having seen it (at least on the internet and read a dossier / reviews, etc.) Speaking for myself there is no way I would order a car without a test drive or some feedback from others. What then, makes people willing to book it before the car is publicly unveiled?

There are two kinds of people in the world. One who would book a car without seeing, and one who would never book a car without seeing first. I belong to the first. Some belong to the latter. I think we can co-exist.

I booked my last car by only looking at the pictures. I knew that there was going to be a long waiting period, so didn't want to be left in the queue. I am sure there are people waiting for the Ciaz ever since it was announced. So no harm in pre-booking.

i do not understand why the govt is meddling in a free market, as I have come to understand, they have better things to do. Anybody seen the "acche din" that was promised?

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by Kumar R

Mods, please move to appropriate forum if this is Offtopic.

I'm sure many of us have read this news report which states that the Government of India is considering action against Maruti Suzuki for accepting Ciaz bookings without displaying the car or making specifications public.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/44730326.cms

Legalities aside, I was curious to understand why anyone would book a car without having seen it, gone for a TD, or having any idea of the technical stuff. I daresay most of us would not order a product worth >Rs 5-10k without having seen it (at least on the internet and read a dossier / reviews, etc.) Speaking for myself there is no way I would order a car without a test drive or some feedback from others. What then, makes people willing to book it before the car is publicly unveiled?

That is confidence these manufacturers induced into the customer with their earlier models, IMO. And none is pressuring anyone to book the car without seeing it. The customer can either book it or not. If some one wants to own a brand new car as the first takers, then it is not the problem with the manufacturer.