[swiftnfurious]

Good review S2 & Rehaan. The pictures are great & makes the S-Cross look better.

Guess we finally have a sensible upgrade to the first gen Swift. The mad turbo thrust is what made the first gen Swift lusty. What I wanted in an upgrade was an ACC, Cruise control & a good NVH,(along with a better engine / quality). Most of it is granted except one major concern - NVH levels. A good choice of shoes will take care of tyre noise to great levels I know. Two questions if you could answer:

1. How would you rate the in cabin noise levels (wind & engine) with first / second gen swift?
2. What's the best NVH product you have experienced under 15L (just for me to compare)?

For me, the BIGGEST let down is that power window button (even in the Ciaz). It's out of place in a 6L Swift & Maruti has carried it over to a product twice as expensive. The steering is still ok as it looks & feels good. I was happy with the new design gear lever in Ciaz & would prefer that over this.

Too early to comment, but I think the next gen would be a tamed version of the 1.6L with linear power delivery (for the betterment of FE), so for those who want, grab this gen for all the fun. I also feel the the localisation levels of the 1.6L will get better as time goes by and may not be expensive to repair / replace.

[execve]

Great review, thank you! Rated 5 stars!

In my opinion, Maruti has always tried to maintain fairly neutral designs and the front of the car atleast is so neutral -- the blue is clearly the best looker of the lot.

Not having the AT is going to be a big miss, and I wonder why no rear air-cons?? It really should be standard as per the segment/positioning.

[volkman10]

All cars will be get the Nexa label on the rear hatch.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by prashanthyr

Great review which covers everything one would need to know about the product.
a. Maruti will really have to position this carefully as the brand simply does not have the aspirational value that a Honda or even a Hyundai badge has.

The warning label had me in splits. 'Alwayas attatch met to fastners'?! Inconsequential and may not matter, but this is clearly unacceptable, especially on a supposedly 'premium product'

Where in world does Hyundai have aspirational value?
What's wrong with the warning label? Critical analysis is one thing but why nitpicking unnecessarily?

[rangarx]

Originally Posted by sourabhzen

Where in world does Hyundai have aspirational value?
What's wrong with the warning label? Critical analysis is one thing but why nitpicking unnecessarily?

I am afraid few things happen only in this part of the world and the 'aspirational value' bug has bitten the customers of slanted H. We are fancy people who like to show off and love to be pampered and Hyundai understood it well.

The pricing of Elantra and Verna and recent Creta would explain this.

[babsmatter]

Fantastic review guys. All the points covered in a realistic and practical parameters.Now as Maruti is known for its pulse of the market as said in review,hope they get the pricing pulse right and dont mess up with the NEXA concept for marketing and pricing.

[adimicra]

The S-cross in blue color was displayed today at the Inorbit mall.
So, had a chance to check it up.

Considering the car is yet to be launched and being a Sunday evening, the crowd was not huge. Seems like the buzz/awareness of the S-Cross is not so strong!

First things first, the car is not a looker. The only redeeming aspect of the looks is the nice projector headlamps and good detailing of the headlight. The side profile is bland and the tail is okayish. And lot has been said about those alloys - I guess the less said the better. Owners who buy the car will need to explain to the other people why the car is so costly ( I have lot of experience about this being a previous gen Jazz owner )

Things are much better on the inside. The car displayed was most probably the top end trim with leather package. I didn't find soft touch plastics and all but the quality of the plastics seemed pretty good. Some things which I liked -

• The front armrest slides forward and backward. Me being short found it useful after sliding it forward. Also, cushioning on the front armrest is good.
• The armrests on the door has a pretty nice cushioning with leather cover. Feels good resting your elbow there. I think they should be a touch wider though to make those more useful.
• Both driver and front passenger visors have vanity mirror with illumination . Nice!
• The glovebox doesn't fall off - it has a nice damping motion. Cool!

Some things which I did not like -

• The steering wheel feels cheap to hold inspite of having a leather cover. The power window switch gear looks and feels cheap.

Other observation -

• The touch screen ICE is decent.. the touch response is fine but the responsiveness of the system is somewhat slow. I guess after getting used to such hi-powered smartphones, this kind of system do feel a bit archaic.
• The dashboard looks elegant enough without any WOW factor.
• The boot is deep enough (more than the Jazz) but height is less than the Jazz. Overall, boot space is similar.
• The rear seat is spacious - good legroom (little more than the new Jazz) and wide enough to sit 3 people. The rear arm-rest looks a bit cheap though. Also, though the leg space is good, the under-thigh support is okay but in terms of comfort, it can't match sedans like the Honda City which give a sofa like feeling.
• Also, the rear headroom seems just okay. I am short, so I didn't have any problem but I am not sure if tall people will find the headroom in the rear good enough.
• Together with the above facts, I don't think this car makes a good case for people who will be chauffeur driven.
  Also, it needs to be seen how the lower trims will look without the leather and other stuff.

I spoke to the executive there about the tentative prices.
He said that the 1.3 will be priced 50-75K more than the Ciaz while the 1.6 will be 1.5L costlier than the 1.3.

I didn't do the calculation but my feel is in most cities, the top end 1.6 will cross 15L.


Also, thought the Nexa executive was well mannered he was not at all knowledgeable ..he didn't even know that the Ertiga, Ciaz and S-cross 1.3 are basically the same engines.

As I see it, the S-cross will be a niche product and not a mass market hit. It will appeal to car enthusiasts who will fall for the lovely 1.6 DDIS or some people who know what they want - a no nonsense, highly practical, well loaded, spacious vehicle with a slightly better GC than typical sedans - and who do not care about snob value.

Overall, a good effort from Maruti. I hope Honda gets the Vezel and other manufacturers follow suit. The 12-18L crossover/compact SUV space is going to be red hot in the future.

[sandygordon]

Maruti should have given the lower variants as well for the media drive. Would love to see the zeta and delta cabins, the manual ac, the regular music system and of course the steels wheels which would be better looking anyway.

Preparing for these lights as these are standard in all models except the top spec alpha. These large headlights could be a 'carbuncle on kyphosis' or an eyesore. Maybe aftermarket options would come later.

[swiftdiesel]

Originally Posted by sourabhzen

What's wrong with the warning label? Critical analysis is one thing but why nitpicking unnecessarily?

Nothing wrong with the label per se, except that it's got some glaring spelling mistakes that's not quite expected in a supposed premium offering.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

Nothing wrong with the label per se, except that it's got some glaring spelling mistakes that's not quite expected in a supposed premium offering.

Sorry, I thought the comment was on content. This is a clear oversight by QC department of MSIL.

[shinuak]

Going by the torque figures, power rating and turbo lag(i love it) this seems to be the perfect car for me. I just love that take off feeling in my optra magnum and was looking to change to something which is equally powerful but smaller in size with better GC. Eagerly waiting to hear the prices. By the way, a brilliant review and great pictures too !

[RavSam]

Originally Posted by sandygordon

Maruti should .... 'carbuncle on kyphosis' or an eyesore. Maybe aftermarket options would come later.

Those headlamps do look okay to me.
At-least there is "some" form of detailing there.
Had they put a name branding on the inner panels of the headlamp cluster, that would have been a neat touch.

(BTW I googled this word "carbuncle" and got to know the name of the disease that affected me 7 years back! And boy I was afraid to shave around my neck! Thanks man! )

[thenomad]

Great unbiased review. Rated 5 stars.

S-Cross made less buzz compared to the Creta but seems to be a practical and sensible hatch. 1.6 is a stonker of the engine and the specs are amazing. Wonder why did Fiat hesitate to get it this long to India?

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by adimicra

I didn't find soft touch plastics and all but the quality of the plastics seemed pretty good.

If you see our review and check the specs, all variants have soft touch plastics on the dash. It's only in the dashboard top which has the weaved pattern. Top and below is still hard but the centre area is soft touch.

Was surprised to see soft touch dash in a car of this segment. Even the Creta doesn't have it and nowadays no car below D segment 20 lakhs has soft plastics.

[amritpal2489]

I just checked out Creta today. Engine is too coarse. And moreover, it didn't feel VFM. Most people present at the agency to see Creta had same views and in the end all of them cancelled their bookings. S-Cross would be a seller if they price it right.