Hello all,
I have been following up on some of the discussions on possible turbo lag in the 1.6 and thought I will give my two cents on this and a few other observations
A brief background first. I suppose you can call me a ‘diesel head’. Over the years, I have owned and tinkered with a variety of cars and jeeps, from the days of the early OPEC driven fuel price hike , which drove many to retrofit the OM616 ‘Matador tempo’ engine or the Isuzu in their Ambassadors, and later owning Mahindra CJ series, MM540, a Willys 1948 with a diesel engine mated to a three speed gearbox to later diesel engine cars such as the Swift, Innova, Scorpio 4x4, a Laura and many others . Each of these cars had their own signature quirks and one had to learn a few tricks to coax the best out of it. For example, in the OM616 Amby, instead of having your pedal to the floor, if you just ease off the gas the gas bit one could extract the last ounce of power from the engine. On the other side, because of gearing, you had jeeps such as my three speed gear box plus diesel combo where the first gear was practically unusable for normal road use. Over time, when you learnt these idiosyncrasies, it would lead to a relationship where man and machine happily drove off into the sunset. Turbo lag was unheard of those days because of the one obvious reason. Only trucks had big whistling turbo chargers.
So anyways, sometime last year, the itch to buy another car began. And yet again I was in the market for a comfortable tourer with a diesel motor. A 4x4 also seemed useful as I keep running around the western ghats with highway runs between Chennai, Bangalore, Coimbatore. Had shortlisted the Duster 4x4, and a used Fortuner. At one point had even looked at an automatic Vento as my aching left knee sorely missed the Laura L&K I once owned. Had almost finalized on the Duster 4x4 as it was easy to drive in traffic in Bangalore and Chennai and would take me to Coorg and Masinagudi in decent comfort. Just before booking the car, came confirmed news of the new Duster which made me back off. Sometime later the 1.6 Scross was launched and on a lark went for a test drive last year.
I found the interior of the car to be better a bit more spacious compared to the Duster, and after a highway sprint found it to be a decent handling car, feeling more sure footed than any typical Maruti. For the revised discounted price Nexa was asking , it seemed value for money. I was planning to buy it in Bangalore, but found that the Nexa chaps in Madurai could get me a Grey Alpha 1.6 in two weeks and so I went for it.
The day I bought the car, I was quite underwhelmed after driving around. The steering felt light and disconnected and there was some turbo lag. Felt like a typical Suzuki with a more powerful motor. Had major buyer’s remorse! Next day as planned went and swapped the tyres and wheels, and a day later left for Coorg from Madurai via Coimbatore to ride up the ghats enroute. Now the Michelins made a lot of difference with the steering weighing up more, with better feel. The cabin was quiet devoid of tyre and wind noise (unlike the duster). I would recommend all Scross owners to go ahead and swap tyres after purchase. Crossing Bhavani Dam and going up the Ghat section to Mysore, there was heavy truck traffic. On many occasions had to stop midway on an incline and start off. I found the combination of tallish gearing with turbo lag painful with frequent gear changes. FYI, mine is a late 2016 edition which some users say probably has an improved ECU map.
After driving around in Coorg for a few days, left to Bangalore. The road leading out of my friend’s house in Coorg has a steep incline, followed by a rut near the gate followed by a sharp left which leads to another gradient. This was a stress test for the car. And I stalled near the gate! My friends son (who just learnt to drive) who was with me asked ‘Uncle shall I fix an L sign in the rear window’? Just the day before, he was with me, when I was driving my friends BMW X1, and I was having fun throwing it into corners, and he was looking green and sea sick when we got back. Well he got even and we all had a good laugh.
On the way back, couldn’t shake the thought that I had probably made a bad decision. Onwards to Bangalore and then on to Chennai, opened her up a bit more and it was quite an enjoyable ride on the highway with plenty of power, a silent cabin , a good ride, decent handling and good ergonomics. By the time I had reached Madurai with a scenic detour to Kodaikanal, the car had run more than 2000 Kms.
I then noticed a change in the car. For the better.
I found myself pottering about town in third gear, occasionally to second to go over a speed bump, just coasting along with minimal throttle inputs. The car felt very different and suddenly the lag seemed to be very minimal. I called my service advisor and asked him if he as updated the ECU and he hadn’t. One possible reason for this could be that this is a self-learning ECU and now things were more set to my driving cycle. I don’t know if that Ghat and highway run, followed by bumper to bumper city traffic and one more highway run ‘taught’ the ECU a few things.
One important thing to do in cars with turbo lag is to change your style of driving accordingly. Instead of stomping the gas when it is off turbo zone, getting a turbo kick and whooshing off in every gear, I am quite gentle in acceleration till the turbo kicks in. Then onwards, my inputs are progressive rather than pedal to metal. This way, it is more pleasant as well for occupants who travel with you. So today I am a lot happier than the first week I bought the car.
Few other things. I’m just being a bit fussy and nit-picking here.
I find the longish nose a bit awkward. Urban jeepers who have long intellectual conversations in coffee shops on approach / departure angles will be disappointed and should look elsewhere to satisfy their offroad cravings.
My version, the Alpha came with LED parking lights (thought they were DRL’s) with automatic headlights and what not. Here on the light stalk, I find the first turn forwards turns on the automatic mode; another turn and it goes to park with the LED lights on / headlights off and one more turn again turns on the lights to manual headlights mode. Many a time, I want to just switch on parking lights on without firing up those HID’s. I wish Maruti would have reworked the headlight stalk where a anticlockwise turn would switch the lights to auto mode and all forward turns would do what any conventional light does.
On the driver’s side arm rest there are the usual set of switches for door lock, windows up/down, mirror adjust etc. Now only one of the switches –the AUTO window down gets illuminated at night. And it’s not like each switch has some tactile difference for you to help you operate this at night, especially when you don’t want to look at the switch. It is too much to ask for all the switches to have a small pilot light for all switches and controls?
The OVRM’s don’t fold when you shut off the engine. And when you realize after turning off the engine, you need a few presses of the stop-start button to get this done. Just a simple reprogram from Maruti should do this I guess.
My 15 year old niece who says K-Pop is the greatest genre of music ever known to mankind has declared the audio system to be ‘Awesome’. As her Hipster audiophile uncle who grew up on vinyl records, McIntosh valve amplifiers and a heavy dose of Deep Purple, Doors and Santana I roll up my eyes and sigh in quiet desperation, lamenting what the world has come to. The head unit is also moody occasionally with the navigation having a clunky interface. I also have the habit of driving in the highway with my headlights on. This dims the head unit and with my driving glasses, the screen loses legibility.
The color temperature of the HID lamp could have been a bit warmer and the beam it throws imparts a cheapish after-market look. In a Skoda or BMW, when you are on low beam the projector lens cleanly cuts off light like almost a line is drawn in front. Here it bleeds a bit which gives it the aftermarket look. Wish it was a bit brighter too, as I have antiglare film in my windshield.
So finally, what and who is this car meant for? I would say this is a fast diesel Grand Tourer, for a smallish family who doesn’t need an innova for their weekend getaways. And one who would pack their luggage sensibly - not like they are migrating all the time with 7 suitcases for every weekend trip. I say this as the Duster seems to have better boot space at the expense of interior space for the rear passenger comparatively. Rear seat passengers have also have been happy with the ride of the S Cross.
This car is in its elements coasting along the highways at about 120 to 140 with fatigue free intercity travel with good fuel economy thrown in. If your drive only involves frequent stop-start in narrow crowded city streets, this might not be the car for you.
I can see this car popular in the UK where you drive in sparse traffic, turn in sweeping roundabouts and head on to motorways where you would need to drive at a fairly fast clip. Here, im sure the car will not disappoint.
For India, my recommendation to Maruti for the Scross 1.6 would be a small tweak in the gearing. I would find a shorter first and second gear more useful. Something like what Renault has done to their Duster AWD. I think Maruti has imported the drivetrain straight from their plant in Hungary and bolted it on and despatched them to the NEXA showrooms. An automatic transmission is sorely missed in this car. This would have been the car of choice for Vento/Rapid DSG customers. In the 1.6, Maruti should have a stability management system as the car goes to 180 kmph without too much fuss and the speed is well masked. Good job however that they have all wheel disc brakes. Even the more expensive Innova doesn’t have them. I would also recommend that Maruti signs a quick divorce with JK Tyres and looks at Bridgestone which seems to be a popular OEM vendor. For those who have already bought the S Cross, I strongly recommend you upgrade your tyres. As for me, I found the alloy wheel design very staid and off it went. I changed mine to the Brezza’s design and it has a nice ‘german’ look to it. I didn’t go for the retrofit option that Nexa was offering which had an aftermarket look.
A strong positive as always is Maruti’s service network. I have had consistent good experience over the years. I have noticed that whether you drive in an 800 or an Omni or this SCross, the service advisors ensure they keep you happy and always worry that you may give a negative feedback on your remarks. Compare this to my friend who bought a Duster in Bangalore which has issues that Whitefield Renault still haven’t been able to address. His complaint of a peculiar whining noise from the steering rack on full lock was attributed to auditory hallucinations by the service advisor, and a distinct shudder from the clutch after having run just 3000 kms was replied with a ‘It’s very common in the 85 BHP saar’!
Now, I am keenly watching for news on possibility of a Remap via OBD; that is, without taking the ECU to the ICU and opening it up!
Overall with other similarly priced options around 15 Lacs, I would give the S Cross 1.6 Alpha, a 7/10 ranking with an Indian ownership perspective.
Last edited by GTO : 4th March 2017 at 11:13.
Reason: Moving out :)
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