[Crazy4.Cars]

About the Car
Model: Ritz Vdi
Colour : Metallic Bakers Chocolate

Prices : 593000 from the MSIL Showroom
9000 (Royal Sundaram Full Cashless insurance cover, purchased on my own)
7500 (Tyres- Changed to Yokoama 185/70 R14 on day one)
1700 (Under chassis Coating from 3M Car Care)
1400 (LLUMAR Silver Series purchased from the company distributor directly)
5000 (Pioneer HU 3250 UB- without bill, 3 RCA HU, Picked up brand new sealed)
3000 (JBL 948 6*9 Rear speakers, without bill again)
2300 (JBL S366 6inch front speakers for doors, again without bill)
600 (MDF high quality Wood Parcel tray)
Total Cost : 6,23,500
Freebies Given by the Dealer Total 13400:
4900 ( Nippon Remote Locking – MGA exclusive fit only for RITZ )
1800 ( MGA Body Side Moldings and rear and front molding strips)
3000 (Corporate Discount)
3000 (Autocard Bonus amount recharge)
700 (Charges for fitting the aftermarket music system free of cost)
Stuff still on the to do List:
3200 (Art leather seat covers and steering grip cover- will get it done from a friend who owns a art leather seat cover manufacturing factory)
600 (100/90 headlight Relay and cut out wiring kit)

Now the fairy tale
• From about a year the car usage was increasing day by day, paying for petrol tank full’s was getting on my nerves. I made up my mind to buy a good diesel car which I can keep for atleast 8-10 years at home and cherish it.
• Requirements were good FE, Good space considering it will be at home for a long time, Good Resale Value incase I change my mind 3 years down the lane, Cheap to maintain (I buy cars to save money and not to waste money by maintaining them).
• I had plenty of options in my mind. Indian Consumer is put into a major confusion when he/she has to buy a car in 2011. Below were my options and the reasons why is rejected them.
1. FORD FIESTA CLASSIC TDCI: Loved everything about the car, way out of my budget, not easy to drive within the city considering 85% of my car’s life is in the congested city roads. Dropped the car.
2. Indigo Manza: Again Cost and Size was too huge. Plus I didn’t like the looks of this car.
3. Indica Vista : Everything seemed to be okay with this car but Indica name?? noways I was able to convince myself to put my hard earned money on a indica taxi badge name. Plus my cousin uses this car, he says the gear box on the q-jet isn’t as good as others thus this cars struggles to produce 19-20 kmpl on the highways, forget city it doesn’t talk above 15kmpl.
4. VW Polo, FIAT Punto, i20 Crdi : All rejected for the price. I didn’t want a tank like car considering it will be used inside the city for more than 85% of its life. Plus the polo had a 3 cylinder and the i20 had the awesome steering issues.
5. Ford FIGO 1.4 : Almost booked this car but when I found out a few facts about it, completely lost interest in this car.
• Looks, I was okay to compromise with the 19th century looks, NDTV described the looks of the car as if it has come from a generation ago, but anyways I was kind off okay to compromise here considering it’s a very common car on road now.
• No rear power windows? I was unable to convince myself to pay 6 lakhs for a car and not have power windows behind for my family.
• No USB in the audio system? I have songs only on my I POD, gone are MP3 or CD carrying days. Ford has some horrible cable to fix the USB issue, but heck its not a Digital USB input for the HU.
• 1.4 diesel – Agreed it’s a little better to drive this in city in bumper to bumper traffic, but the fact is this is a 1997 Common rail Diesel engine. It produces only 68 BHP and 160NM torque and just 8V SOHC?? Checked out so many 2 to 3 year old fiesta’s with same engine, was bowled out with the amount of noise this engine makes and the smoke emissions. This engine is only BS3 complaint, they have put some add-ons to make it BS4 complaint and it survived. God knows what happens when BS5 norms kick in.
• No rear seat spilt? What happens when we do airport trips within the city? Where will I keep the 2 huge bags weighing atleast 25kg each with atleast 3 people on board in the car.
• Good bits of the car are that it handles well and build a little strong than others in this segment. How often will I get a chance to be at high speeds of 100 plus and test handling skills of my city car? I also found my ritz build quality way more superior to other maruti’s in the stable more on than later.
6. Chevy Beat Diesel: Another car that came closed to be almost booked and rejected last minute
• Pricing was horrible, just saving 30-40k over the Figo? And 50k over the RITZ DDIS?
• 3 Cylinder motor vibrating under the hood, all sorts of things used to control vibrations, engine cradle, rubber bushes and thick insulation..!!! This was cause of worry to maintain for 8-10 years if we decide to stick on to the car.
• Rear set under thigh support? Rear seat passengers rejected the car in just a 5km Test Drive.
• Boot space as much as Alto or just a little more than Alto boot? 60:40 helps but again 3 people in the back seat was close to impossible anytime.
• The negatives of the car were more than the positives for my requirements, thus thumps down and it got rejected.
7. Suzuki Swift 1.3ddis : Liked the car the day it was launched in india, people hated its looks but I had a feeling in my mind this car will rock the hatchback segment in india. I picked up my ritz just a week before the prices of the new swift were announced.
• I knew MSIL will price this car atleast 20k more than the previous one, I got confirmed information there is 60:40 on the rear seat and the leg room isn’t as good as its brother Ritz.
• The Car has become too common in our city, I wanted something different.
• Low seating position was something I just didn’t want in a new car, because I’m 6.2 and I prefer keeping my legs straight rather than legs sleeping in the low seating cars.
Okay it’s time for some pictures now before I jump into the facts as to why I choose the Baby Elephant and my 2 Cents about the Ritz.


Fresh from the owen

Watch out for the tachometer and gear Lever position








Putting together a Combination review below as to why I picked up the Ritz and also my review of the car.

1. DDIS Engine – Each and every Nut and Bolt under the Hood is the same as the Swift, Why spend 75000 more for the Swift?
Talking about my driving experience of the DDIS for 1000km’s, It’s a GEM of a engine.
It’s worth to let go the FIGO 1.4 engine for this one. There was a lot of turbo lag in the test drive cars but this brand new car has very less or nil turbo lag til now, I guess if you keep your air filter clean and follow a few precautionary measures, yes this engine is awesome. Still playing like a kid with turbo which kicks post 2000RPM
2. Design : Who ever feels the rear is horrible looking, guys please take a holiday vacation to the Europe once soon. I’ve stayed in the UK for 2 years, such shapes are considered upmarket there, Splash is doing very well among the youth there, so many families own the Renault megane. Other manufactures also have the different shapes which are fresh off the block and way ahead of the old generation looks. End of the day looks are of a personal choice, I totally liked it, the front reminds me of a Innova kind of MPV and Side and rear profile are fresh and great looking/Unique. After owning it I agree when you reverse the thick C pillar is a bit of an issue, but I find it a good challenge for myself.
3. Tachometer and Gear Stick position: This is one the main reasons I love this car. So many unique features which I didn’t find in other cars. Exterior design is new, the interior bits like putting a tachometer on the front dashboard and Waterfall center console design is simply brilliant.
4. Interiors : Feels like a huge car from the inside. Just look at the Dash Board length.
Plastics are just not like any other MSIL car for sure. Dual tone plastics on the dash is just such a good idea, Classy looking unlike the beige option which requires too much of maintenance.
5. Build Quality : Like GTO’s review says it’s a step up from the old Swift atleast, to my surprise I found the Build quality to be much better than expected. Just strip and door rubber gaskets the metal quality is solid. Saw an accident car at the dealership, I could gauge the metal quality quite clearly, this is a solid build car for sure, today’s market is so competitive, if your paying 6lakhs you will the build quality worth that much money, gone are the days when build quality was determined by Just the brand name.
6. Suspension, Ride and Handling : Here comes the not so good points about the baby elephant. It’s a tall boy, can not expect it to handle like a sedan. But after doing all my research I found people happy with the handling after a tyre upgrade. So I changed to Yoko 185 profile on day one. The result is shocking. I didn’t expect the car to handle like this, 120plus and it turns into corners confidently thanks to big 14 inch wheels and wider tyres. My suggestion is please upgrade tyre’s on the RITZ asap.
Ride : Its not as stiff as the swift, its not as comfortable as the Figo. After the tyre change the Ride quality will change too. According to me the ride quality in the front seats gets a 9/10 and the ride quality on the rear seat gets a 7/10.
Suspension: Very good suspension, it has a Coil spring that is extra on both the front and rear suspension arms when compared to a swift suspension which is the same.
Not as brilliant a suspension like the FIGO, but if you get the FIGO suspension replaced you’ll hear the cost and realize why FIGO’s suspension is so good and there are other area’s where ford has saved costs. But end of the day RITZ suspension is okay to travel upto 80000 to 1 lakh km without an issue.
7. Seating Position : One of the big plus points of the car for me. You get a good view of the road ahead of you. Initially I felt the dash board is too long and a pain for bumper to bumper traffic, but I was wrong, the seating position is perfect for any condition. Rear seat passengers also are very happy with the high balcony seating position.
8. Space : Oh my god!! Got clean bowled with the space it offers. The Leg room and head room in the front or the rear is just too good. FIGO leg room is the same, but headroom is nowhere near the RITZ. VISTA is the only car which defeats the Ritz with legroom but again not so much headroom. 3 medium sized people in the back seat will be happy for a long drive for sure.
Boot Space : Awesome Boot space, about 20-30 litres less than FIGO, but you have the 60:40 rear seat split option, Airport baggage is welcome, a very big requirement for me and my family.
9. NVH : Clatter is heard, vibrations and harness front big thumps up. The clatter is way lesser than the FIGO for sure, but end of the day it is a diesel, the clatter is heard upto 1700RPM after that the clatter is gone because the 1.3 DDiS is Ultra refined.
10. Gearbox : Sometimes doesn’t slot in correctly, 2 out of 100 times it doesn’t slot in correctly. Overall it’s a great gearbox, I didn’t expect maruti to give this kind of quality gear box, other cars have that rubbery gear change feeling unlike Ritz and Swift, they have button switch kind of feelings while upshifting.
11. Steering : I didn’t expect the steering to become so light after the 185 profile Yoko’s got fitted. I was thinking my steering will become stiff, but the yoko are not as wide as other 185 profile tyres, thus my steering is dead light and too good. The steering can not be compared the chevy beat’s EPS, Chevy has got it spot on with the Beat diesel’s steering for city traffic.
12. FE : I received 17.6 Kmpl in the first tank full. I hope it climbs upto 19kmpl, that’s all I expect from this baby elephant. 50 % AC on during high city traffic congestion drives.
13. Rattles or defects : Didn’t find any rattles till now. Just one thing, I’ve a slope near my home, the end of the slow is so steep downward that the lower part of the front bumper touched the road once. Once I had 4 heavy people in the car and me driving on a highway, the underbody of the car touched the large speed breaker. God save the Figo’s in such situations, Heck the Ritz has a ground clearance of 170MM and still it touched slightly.

More Pictures below, Cheers

Drive Safe Everyone!!!

[volkman10]

Congrats on your buy. Nice write up and a great diesel car to drive !

Cheers!

[bluevolt]

Congratulations for your Maruti Ritz.

The car looks cool in this shade.

Please do keep the thread updated

Wishing you happy and safe driving!

[sachinj12]

Congrats on your new acquisition! Wishing you many more happy miles with the oil burner. Drive Safe

[Crazy4.Cars]

Thank you bluevolt

Yes this was another reason for picking up this car, this colour wasnt available in anyother diesel hatch in the market.

[swiftnfurious]

Congrats on the new car ! And 17.6 kmpl for a city drive is quite delicious. I could never manage that in my Swift even in not-so-bumper-bumper traffic. So could you dish out the details of tyre exchange? How much did the old one go for and whats the cost of Yokohomas ?

Wish you miles of happy & safe motoring !

[SCORPION]

Congrats on the new car Crazy4cars. Thanks for posting those wonderful pictures. The car looks great in this colour. I too have booked a Ritz Vdi ABS in the same colour for my wife. Sometimes I get these bouts when my heart screams out for the Punto, but I think I will stick to the Ritz.
Same request as from swiftnfurious. Could you tell me how much the stock tyres fetched? I am planning to replace them with Michelin XM1s or Yokos.

[mayankjha1806]

Congratulations on the sensible buy. Ritz is a lovely car, a perfect hatchback for the city runarounds and occasional highway trips.

In 60K difference (With Swift) you get a more dynamic and better highway mannered (and better looking backside ) Swift which Maruti has positioned as premium although in Diesel the engine is exactly the same.

Good choice of colour, it looks neat. The ICE, did you get it as an after market fitment or it came with the car, I can see the JBL speakers have been changed.

[Crazy4.Cars]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Congrats on the new car ! And 17.6 kmpl for a city drive is quite delicious. I could never manage that in my Swift even in not-so-bumper-bumper traffic. So could you dish out the details of tyre exchange? How much did the old one go for and whats the cost of Yokohomas ?

Wish you miles of happy & safe motoring !

Originally Posted by SCORPION

Congrats on the new car Crazy4cars. Thanks for posting those wonderful pictures. The car looks great in this colour. I too have booked a Ritz Vdi ABS in the same colour for my wife. Sometimes I get these bouts when my heart screams out for the Punto, but I think I will stick to the Ritz.
Same request as from swiftnfurious. Could you tell me how much the stock tyres fetched? I am planning to replace them with Michelin XM1s or Yokos.

Thanks Swiftnfurious and Scorpion.

Okie here are the details of the tyres, i got them changed at a tyre shop called Shankar tyres on NEW BEL Road Bangalore. They owner of the shop has become a good friend after i've done a couple of tyre changes at his shop, he is very sweet and gives me perfect deals. I go to him after i have found out the rates across all shops in the town and end of the day i ask him to defeat those rates.

The car came with JK tyres 165/80 R14, Buy Back Value which i bargained for was 2200 per tyre.

I purchased Yoko's 185/70 R14 at 3700 per tyre. Brand new tyres manufactured in June 2011, had to order them 1 day prior so that the distributor delivered them next day at the tyre shop.

Difference per tyre was 1500 per tyre, thus for 5 tyres i paid Rs 7500 in total.
Free nitrogen filled for all tyres and alignment and balancing also done.

I would recommend this tyre shop for Michelin, Yoko's, Goodyear & hangkong Brands. he buy's these brands directly from the company and he is not a reselller like many tyre shops in the city.

The cost of Michelin XM1+, the last best price what he could offer me 4450 per tyre, the difference between yoko and michelin was 950 per tyre, i felt this was too much, i have used michelin before, i took a calculated decision of sticking with yoko's and very happy, steering has become very light.

Tyre pressure i maintain:
Front - 35 Psi (MSIL recommends 36 PSI for the RITZ)
Rear - 33PSI ( MSIL recommends 34 PSI for the RITZ)

Cheers

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Congratulations on the sensible buy. Ritz is a lovely car, a perfect hatchback for the city runarounds and occasional highway trips.

In 60K difference (With Swift) you get a more dynamic and better highway mannered (and better looking backside ) Swift which Maruti has positioned as premium although in Diesel the engine is exactly the same.

Good choice of colour, it looks neat. The ICE, did you get it as an after market fitment or it came with the car, I can see the JBL speakers have been changed.

Thanks
60-65k is a lot of money to pay more for the same suspension and the same engine. end of the day heck loads of space inside the ritz when compared to the swift. Open the boot and check out the ritz, only figo defeats its boot space by about 20-30 litres, but the ritz makes up with a 60:40 rear seat spilt option.

Looks are a personal choice i wont comment on that, i've written in my review about the cars in europe.

Yes ICE is all aftermarket, purchased all the parts in the grey market and got them fixed at M-A-S-S before car delivery.
They effect is perfect, good bass and no need of a sub woofer. This is effect i wanted .
The prices of the ICE is written in the first section of my review.

Cheers

[silverado]

Originally Posted by Crazy4.Cars

Thanks
60-65k is a lot of money to pay more for the same suspension and the same engine. end of the day heck loads of space inside the ritz when compared to the swift. Open the boot and check out the ritz, only figo defeats its boot space by about 20-30 litres, but the ritz makes up with a 60:40 rear seat spilt option.

Looks are a personal choice i wont comment on that, i've written in my review about the cars in europe.

Yes ICE is all aftermarket, purchased all the parts in the grey market and got them fixed at M-A-S-S before car delivery.
They effect is perfect, good bass and no need of a sub woofer. This is effect i wanted .
The prices of the ICE is written in the first section of my review.

Cheers

Totally agree, SWIFT is cramped at front and road dynamics only become a factor during high speed drives on highways which a normal hatch will only do 20% of time in its lifespan ( thats a average, there will be exceptions ).

Hence ingrees/egrees and space is a paramount factor which is why i feel RITZ wins against Swift.

[SCORPION]

One question. I dont see a temperature guage. Doesnt it have a temperature gauge? I forgot to check during the test drive.
I dont see one in the dashboard pictures. I mean I would sure like to know if the engine is heating up before the high temperature warning light goes on.

[Crazy4.Cars]

Originally Posted by SCORPION

One question. I dont see a temperature guage. Doesnt it have a temperature gauge? I forgot to check during the test drive.
I dont see one in the dashboard pictures. I mean I would sure like to know if the engine is heating up before the high temperature warning light goes on.

Hi your right. Its not there in modern day cars. very few latest launches in the hatch segment have a temperature gauge

It has an engine over heating light in the mini cooper inspired speedometer console.

[livyodream]

How did you manage to get 593000 on road for VDi?10 days back it was quoted 615000 and 4 days back it was increased to 625000.The only discount or offer was corporate discount of 3000 Rs.

[Crazy4.Cars]

Originally Posted by livyodream

How did you manage to get 593000 on road for VDi?10 days back it was quoted 615000 and 4 days back it was increased to 625000.The only discount or offer was corporate discount of 3000 Rs.

Yup below are the details.

I had booked the car in July. Got the delivery about a week ago. I wanted the latest stock, secondly none of the dealers had stock, all were asking for a 30 to 45 day waiting period.

Exshowroom price -510508
Road tax- 79333
Auto card -331
RTO charges- 5500 (which i didnt want to pay, but i bargained to freebies from the dealer to offset this cost)

Minus 3000 Corporate discount

Total - 592672 is what i paid the dealer.

I did the royal sundaram cashless insurance myself for 10500 and produced my old cars royal sundaram maruti cashless insurance policy for getting a NCB. Thus i got Rs1500 return cheque for the insurance company, so end of the day insurance costed me 9000 only. Horrible MSIL dealers will ask for 14800 for the same insurance (No catches, no Voluntary excess, nothing at all in the insurance that i brought.)

More details on how much the car costed me in total are put up in the first section of my review

You have shocked me by saying prices have increased in the last 4 days? are you saying the ex showroom price of the ritz has gone up by 10000??

[livyodream]

Originally Posted by Crazy4.Cars

Yup below are the details.

I had booked the car in July. Got the delivery about a week ago. I wanted the latest stock, secondly none of the dealers had stock, all were asking for a 30 to 45 day waiting period.

Exshowroom price -510508
Road tax- 79333
Auto card -331
RTO charges- 5500 (which i didnt want to pay, but i bargained to freebies from the dealer to offset this cost)

Minus 3000 Corporate discount

Total - 592672 is what i paid the dealer.

I did the royal sundaram cashless insurance myself for 10500 and produced my old cars royal sundaram maruti cashless insurance policy for getting a NCB. Thus i got Rs1500 return cheque for the insurance company, so end of the day insurance costed me 9000 only. Horrible MSIL dealers will ask for 14800 for the same insurance (No catches, no Voluntary excess, nothing at all in the insurance that i brought.)

More details on how much the car costed me in total are put up in the first section of my review

You have shocked me by saying prices have increased in the last 4 days? are you saying the ex showroom price of the ritz has gone up by 10000??

Thanks for the clarification.

Yes, the prices have gone up 4 days back. 10000 Rs for VDi and 7000Rs for LDi .
I was thinking of buying Ritz some days back. now Ritz Vdi is 625000 and New Swift VDi is 681000. Saving 55000Rs is really not worth it.