[SlowRider]

My beige Santro (March 2002 - May 2013)
I'll always miss my Santro. It's the car I learnt to drive on. It was a 2002 model with a 1.0 litre engine. No gizmos except the power steering and AC (yeah this was a 'feature' back in 2002). Back in the days, it was pretty quick. If you floor the throttle in third gear, you could hear the exhaust note turning sporty and an evil grin would spread across your face. Then you were set to smoke any wheels on the highway (I mostly stuck to Indica V2s cuz they were easy target at traffic lights).
Fast forward 11 years; the car had done 116000kms. Still running the second set of tyres, first clutch plate, second alternator and second battery. Of couse, due to a peculiar problem with our batch of cars, third tailpipe + muffler combo (I dunno what the technical terms for these are), but the last one lasted the life of the car. The brakes had lost bite. The acceleration was so-so. With 1 or 2 passengers with no A/C, it still had some spring in its steps. But with the full family and air conditioning, I was being bullied at traffic signal launches by Piaggio Apes! How I hated those diesel gensets on wheels! We still loved the car. In its lifetime, it had failed to start only once (dead battery) and broke down on the road only once (alternator failure; we were too stupid to understand the warning signs that preceded it). But more and more things began to wear out. The service guys mentioned that there was 'play' in the crankshaft (I don't know what it means, only that there is a rhythmic noise when the car is in motion) and would require 18k to fix. The FE was now in SUV territory. We could sense that the car would go many more years, but not without steady attention and investment. That's when we decided we needed a new car.

Another unexpected side-effect of driving 11 year old car is that your driving style changes. It becomes more laid back; more apologetic; more at peace with the bullying on roads. You lose the urge to down-shift and floor it when the car behind you bothers you too much. It's a sense of resignation. I'm worried my reflexes have lost their edge. I find myself aborting overtaking manouvres 70% of the time. I wait for 300m gaps before I attempt to pass (often end up stuck behind a slow moving truck when a queue of vehicles behind me pass both my car and the truck with ease). Yeah, my car could still do 80 with ease, which was my cruising speed even ten years back. I could still feel its old eagerness on the rare occassions that I'm the lone passenger, but it was always the underdog.

Purchase criteria:
Dad and I listed our priorities for the new car.
1. Tall boy (it had to be easy to get in and get out of). Parents didn't like low slung cars at all. When you're outside, you couldn't be bothered to get in. When you're in it, it's an even bigger hassle to get out.
2. Hatchback. We didn't need a sedan. Dad tends to scratch the rear bumpers when parking. He figured a boot would make it worse. I agreed we didn't need a sedan either. I'm a big beleiver in hatchbacks. If the boot can pack the luggage you need for the longest trip you're ever gonna make in that car, that's sufficient. And I don't mind packing a bit light.
3. It had to be Petrol. Diesel just didn't make financial sense to us. Right now, the commute is 60kms a day. But that would change when dad retires. Besides, he doesn't like the clatter. And 'diesel' means old Ambys to him.
4. We wanted ABS.
5. I'm 6 feet tall. I shouldn't have to squeeze into the back or front seat.

The contenders:
1. Hyundai i10 kappa2
ABS only in Asta version and that was way too expensive compared to Ritz Vxi ABS. Of course it comes with more gizmos, but we didn't need them. Besides, i10 has a reputation for low FE. I thought Maruti would be significantly cheaper to maintain (not so sure about this any more). I loved the acceleration of kappa2, though.

2. Hyundai i20
Great boot, good features, space. Asta variant with height adjust and armrest offered the best driving position ever! But anaemic petrol engine. I found myself aborting too many overtaking manouvres during TD. Dad thought the same when going up a hillock. Our old car felt decidedly better. Bad FE reports.

3. Swift / Swift dZire
My shin hit the dashboard. Come on! Disqualified!

4. Ritz K-series
As spacious as i10. Boot appeared smaller (numbers lie). Better VFM than i10 for Vxi ABS. Driving impression: demure engine (In city TD. I didn't rev it.). Head wanted this. Heart wanted i10.

5. Ritz DDIS
All the above, but went like shtink during the TD. Instant like! The only minus was that diesel didn't make sense to us.

Other cars:
Brio: My first choice, but I wanted a proper boot and more rear space. Plus rear head-rests!
Jazz: My second choice, but pricey and has low GC. By the time we were fully decided, it was no longer in production.
Figo: Low slung. No power windows in the rear. Thought Ford service is costly (I was probably wrong).
Punto: Cousin has it. Poor rear legroom. Poor visibility. Low slung. Fiat maintenance isn't hassle-free.
Liva: Down-market interiors. As per reports, lethargic petrol engine. We wanted a proper upgrade in all respects.
Micra: Nissan service network was an unknown.

In the end, we decided on a Ritz, Vxi ABS. Yup, now is the point where you re-read the title of this thread.

The wait and the upset
We made a booking at Sai Service, Edappalli, Kochi in mid December 2012 for a Red Vxi ABS. The information available at that time was that petrol orders take time, so it could be a month before the car arrives. I was wide-eyed in anticipation the whole of December and January. Concerned in February. Agitated in March. And by April, the general sentiment was quiet resignation; I distracted myself researching accessories for the new car. Repeated follow-up with the dealer produced no results.

Even through all this turmoil, I was dead sure we wanted the petrol car. The dealer had offered us Vdi ABS models for quick delivery every now and then when one became available. Then there was the odd white petrol and a silver petrol with red interiors, both rejected. Frankly, by May, I would have taken any colour as long as it was petrol. Dad's patience wore thin and one morning, he woke up with the determination that, shoot petrol/diesel, he just wanted a damn car!

So that was it. A brown Ritz VDi ABS was allotted to us. Car was delivered in slightly over a week. I wasn't home to haggle over the details of the deal and dad doesn't have the patience nor temperament to negotiate. So got stuck with some not-so-wise accessories. More on this later.

The deal
The sweetest part was the resale value we got for our Santro (11 years, 116000km): Rs. 80000
Exchange bonus: Rs. 25000

Now even our Hyundai dealer wouldn't offer a better price for our car. Coupled with the exchange bonus, Sai Service had us hooked.

Consumer discount: Rs. 20000
Corporate discount: Rs. 2000 (I know, some haggling would have produced results but no point talking about that now).

Accessories:
- Nippon security system
- Vinyl flooring (I totally hate this one. I prefer natural fabric when I take my shoes off).
- Anonymous reverse sensor with a graphic LCD display (no video). I don't think this one is MGA. They strapped the display-cum-mirror over the VDi day-and-night rear view mirror. Now the day-and-night feature is pretty much unavailable. What a stupid thing to do! But the reverse sensor is working quite satisfactorily.
-JVC 1-DIN HU plus anonymous speaker (probably Nippon or JVC). HU has iPod connectivity, parametric EQ, CD, USB support. Quite nice feature-wise. But the sound is muddy when playing poor quality MP3s. It's way better with good quality tracks though. Bass is a little boomy, but there is some thump with right songs. And the door panel vibrates with strong beats. Good thing it gets buried in diesel clatter.
- Floor mats and mud flaps. Floor mat is some synthetic material. Not sure whether we paid for these.

I'll add the price details of accessories soon.

Ritz VDi ABS: initial impressions
If the rest of my post looks rushed, it is because I was rushing to get here.
+ Great front seats. Side bolstering is nice.
+ Tilt adjustable steering in the mid variant. Yay!
+ Comes with MID. I was obsessed with fuel consumption display when I drove my cousin's Punto... so much that he was exasperated at my pace.
+ Yet to really push the engine, but I could sense the potential. There is a surge just below 2000prm. Surge is more like a whack in second gear.
+ The car appears well put together (gotta add, I'm not the type to notice panel gaps either). Although robustness is not in the same league as my Santro (which, even in its last days with us, wouldn't make a sound unless we crashed through some potholes), it's tight. Interiors have a good feel.
+ The horn is loud. And a bit shrill. I prefer the subdued signature of my Santro. This one can be a nuisance, so to be frank, this one is a minus for me. But many would call it a good thing.

- Front headrests don't really make contact with the head while I'm driving. Probably one of those bow-tie shaped pillows would help.
- Boot is certainly smaller than my 2002 model Santro; at least the floor area is. Maybe the volume isn't that bad. I think the new Xings come with lesser boot space.
- As mentioned in other reviews, pedals are placed a bit high. Yet to get used to them. This has more to do with my driving style. I usually potter around in the city in the lower rpms for any gear (FE fixation). That means the slightest braking demands a downshift; implies both my legs will be heading for the pedals at the same time and it takes some effort to keep both your legs dangling in the air like that. In my Santro, I could keep the heel of my right foot planted on the floor during normal braking.
- Headlights are inadequate. Low beam falls too close and high beam, though goes much farther, irritates more than it illuminates.
- Diesel engines are noisy! I can't drive this car without the stereo. With the Santro, I routinely roll down the windows. It's music when I floor the pedal (at least in the first 6-7 years of ownership). It's so exhilirating I turn off the stereo! And the car feels like it's going much faster that it actually is. Now that's is a win-win for me as well as every other person sharing the road.

Fuel efficiency
I have only MID figures. I have A/C on all the time, though I set the temperature regulator to about 50-60% cold.
In the city, it's around 15.4 - 16.x. Would have been better if dad didn't idle it so much at lengthy traffic stops. This is with 3 passengers.
After a pretty smooth 400km highway trip (not much traffic, speeds in 65-80 region), it was 18.x kmpl with 5 passengers and around ten kilos of baggage.

I drive the car only on weekends, so this thread will be updated slowly as my experience grows. Looking forward to some back-n-forth with all you auto-enthusiasts out there.

Cheers!
SlowRider.

[SlowRider]

Driving experience
The engine starts with a good deal of clatter. I'm sure everybody is familiar with the DDIS now. Refinement is much better when the car is moving but in my garage, this one makes a racket. NVH is good. Couldn't feel any vibrations (compared to my old Santro. When petrol cars are new, it's near impossible to tell whether they're on without looking at the console).

The gearshifter is sweet! I'm used to good quality gear shifts on my Santro. Though Ritz's needs a bit more effort (and it's not in the hot-knife-through-butter league), it's short throw and that's just brilliant! I love shifting gears on that one. It's position on the console too is very convenient.

Shift to 1st gear and release the clutch, there is a healthy pace forward. Should you have to stop and go while going up a decent incline (say a bridge), the car will still move forward without throttle input. Not much point in revving in this gear. You can upshift almost immediately. The idle pace in 2nd gear can be too much in peak city traffic. Downshifting to 1st gear is necessary to recover from speed breakers.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[CARDEEP]

Hi @SlowRider

Congrats for the new car. IMO it is the best package from MS at the moment (but for the rear design). I too have a Santro ('03 Xing & have not problems, whatsoever, with the car that's nearing 80K kms).

I have driven a relative's Ritz Diesel some time back, & have the same observations as you have for the engine... it is noisy & agricultural. Maybe this is where the Synthetic oils (now being recommended by MS) score over minerals.

I also remember you post in other thread where you mentioned struggling in the Ghats in run-in period, but, I am sure once you have put up miles the diesel torque will help your drives like Santro's 3rd gear.

I wish you blissful ownership experience of the car .

[SlowRider]

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

Hi @SlowRider

Congrats for the new car. IMO it is the best package from MS at the moment (but for the rear design). I too have a Santro ('03 Xing & have not problems, whatsoever, with the car that's nearing 80K kms).

I have driven a relative's Ritz Diesel some time back, & have the same observations as you have for the engine... it is noisy & agricultural. Maybe this is where the Synthetic oils (now being recommended by MS) score over minerals.

I also remember you post in other thread where you mentioned struggling in the Ghats in run-in period, but, I am sure once you have put up miles the diesel torque will help your drives like Santro's 3rd gear.

I wish you blissful ownership experience of the car .

Thanks CARDEEP. It's possible the car is filled with synthetic oil from the factory. Even if it's not, I expect the engine to be only marginally quieter with synth. But there's no questioning the overall advantages of going with sythetic oil.
As for my ghat troubles, I'm hoping for a more confident drive once I'm in a position to take the engine through its entire rpm range. Last time, the car had done less than 1000km and I was handling it with kid gloves.


Driving experience (contd.)
I've covered the first and second gears earlier. The gist of the story is that the car does move decently before the turbo kicks in. But just don't expect it to run away from traffic lights. The power begins to show at 1900+RPM in second gear. If I keep my right foot planted then, there's a mean shove. It doesn't feel like the old Swift. I believe the newer models have been retuned and tamed down. Still, you will keep up with the general traffic without the turbo, with the exception of 150cc bikers and petrols cars from Alto upwards.

One thing I noticed in the Ritz is the limited throttle travel compared to my old car. Of course, I've noticed this in a friend's Wagon R as well, so this could be a Suzuki trait. When I find the cars in front of me running away, I instinctively apply more throttle to keep up. But when my mind's thinking 'increase throttle from 20% to 45%', my foot is actually doing 'increase throttle from 35% to 70%'. Considering my fuel efficiency fixation, throttle at 70% during normal driving gives me sleepless nights when I see the instantaneous consumption soaring to 6-9kmpl. Sometimes I wonder whether I'll be better off without the MID!

That sums up the city driving experience. I couldn't really shift into third gear in traffic. But the car doesn't complain if it finds itself doing 40kmph in 4th gear. No, I do not bury the pedal and push the car to haul itself faster in these situations (I believe this is 'lugging' and generally frowned upon by BHPians). It's just convenient in slow moving traffic to keep moving in a higher gear.

Slotting into third gear effortlessly takes you to highway speeds in this car. That's when I appreciate Ritz for what it is. My Santro didn't really like highways. You lose confidence when the needle edges upwards of 90kmph. The fastest I've done in that car is 110 (for maybe 2 seconds) on straight stretch with zero traffic in either direction. But Ritz is totally at home. I haven't pushed this car, but the ease with which it picks up pace puts a wide grin on my face. That's when you fully understand why there are so many Ritz owners on team-bhp totally sold on the DDIS. It's a breeze to overtake trucks on the highway (it was a chore in the Santro. Took minutes of planning and waiting). Look for a break in incoming traffic, press the pedal and done. You may now watch him in your rear view mirror.

4th and 5th gears, I have only cruised in these. Two reasons: 1) the car is still being run-in, 2) plenty of unannounced speed cameras in the section where I drive and way too many opportunities to say 'CHEESE'. One thing I'll say straight away is don't try overtaking in 5th gear when you're doing 50-60kmph. It doesn't work that way. In 5th gear, a speed of 80kmph corresponds to ~2000RPM. Your power delivery worsens, the farther you are from this speed/rpm. So for a 50-70kmph dash, try a lower gear. 5th will still get you there, but in sweet time. Once doing 70+, most typical highway overtaking scenarios are dismissed with disdain. It's frankly too easy to find yourself going faster than you expected.

I've not gone faster than 80kmph in this car. Those speeds didn't worry my Santro and doesn't seem to bother Ritz at all. It feels heavier (which it actually is). Steering is lighter than the Santro (I believe mine is one of the older hydraulic units), but I don't miss anything yet. With the Santro, keeping the car straight on bobbing roads at speed was an issue (is this called a vague center or something?). I haven't gone fast enough in Ritz to gauge this yet.


Ride quality
The small bumps filter right in, like imperfections on the roads and stuff. More so than the Santro. It could be a case of over-inflated tyres. But then, these are small ones so there isn't much movement to complain about. They just happen to be sharp movements of small displacement. But everything else feels better. The expansion joints on bridges feel much nicer now. Back seat doesn't throw people up in the air when you hit a mild bumps at speed (like the ones where you transition from bad roads to recently resurfaced ones). Overall, it's a much more comfortable place to be in. As for handling, it's all safe and predictable. I don't normally do hard cornering. Besides, my safety envelope was set by the Santro, so I don't think I'll find the Ritz wanting.

More to follow.

Cheers!
Slowrider.

[abhi3284]

Hey, Many Congratulations and Welcome to the Ritzy Club. I am sure you will enjoy every bit of owning the Ritz DDIS, as i am. Off late, i have seen a lot of new Ritz Ownership Reviews in Team-Bhp which is great.

I would suggest you to up size your Tires to 185/70 R14 from the stock size. Makes a world of difference at high speeds and stability, trust me.

Here's my Review of my Ritz VDI : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...-inside-1.html

And, Pictures please.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by SlowRider

The small bumps filter right in, like imperfections on the roads and stuff. More so than the Santro. It could be a case of over-inflated tyres. But then, these are small ones so there isn't much movement to complain about.

I think that is because the suspensions of Ritz are tighter than Santro. I felt the same when I switch between i10 and Ritz at home. And that is what makes the Ritz that much better to drive.

Good to see a happy Ritz owner. To me its one of the best cars in Maruti stable with the utility and value.

[Reinhard]

Hey, congratulations on the Ritz. I agree with your views about the Santro. My father in law had one till he replaced it with i10 some months back. We all used the Santro and took it to all terrains! Never did she let us down and it was really easy to drive - especially for my wife (then girlfriend ). We have identical feelings towards that Santro too. Thankfully its now with relatives and we do get to meet the car once in a while.

Good that you opted for the ABS. Could you please post some pictures as well please? Especially of the IRVM with the strapped reversing display. I'm curious of how that is done. I hope its not affecting visibility.

Wish you unlimited safe & happy miles with the new tall boy!

[SlowRider]

Originally Posted by abhi3284

Hey, Many Congratulations and Welcome to the Ritzy Club. I am sure you will enjoy every bit of owning the Ritz DDIS, as i am. Off late, i have seen a lot of new Ritz Ownership Reviews in Team-Bhp which is great.

I would suggest you to up size your Tires to 185/70 R14 from the stock size. Makes a world of difference at high speeds and stability, trust me.

Here's my Review of my Ritz VDI : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...-inside-1.html

And, Pictures please.

Thanks abhi. Yeah I agree that ownership reviews are aplenty. Helped me a lot when I was deciding on my purchase. As for the upsizing, I'm gonna stick with stock tyres (Apollo) for a while. Right now, the car is an city-cum-suburban cat with hardly any hard driving. I may upsize when I feel the car needs better tyres or when they're worn out.

Originally Posted by ampere

I think that is because the suspensions of Ritz are tighter than Santro. I felt the same when I switch between i10 and Ritz at home. And that is what makes the Ritz that much better to drive.

Good to see a happy Ritz owner. To me its one of the best cars in Maruti stable with the utility and value.

I totally agree that Ritz feels better to drive. I don't have to slow down at bad patches as much as I used to in the Santro. And I think it rides flatter at speed. Haven't really driven it fast enough to know.

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Hey, congratulations on the Ritz. I agree with your views about the Santro. My father in law had one till he replaced it with i10 some months back. We all used the Santro and took it to all terrains! Never did she let us down and it was really easy to drive - especially for my wife (then girlfriend ). We have identical feelings towards that Santro too. Thankfully its now with relatives and we do get to meet the car once in a while.

Good that you opted for the ABS. Could you please post some pictures as well please? Especially of the IRVM with the strapped reversing display. I'm curious of how that is done. I hope its not affecting visibility.

Wish you unlimited safe & happy miles with the new tall boy!

Thanks Reinhard. Yeah, the Santro was kind of an all-terrain cat to us too. It took us to remote hill stations, reserve forests, bad roads, no roads... And it was so confident doing that that I never once doubted its capability to get the family to and back from really tough places. Tough and rugged!
As for the reverse-display, it doesn't obstruct vision. It's like a slightly wider rear-view mirror strapped over the standard rear-view mirror.


The pictures are coming soon. I spend my weekdays elsewhere so I'd request your patience.

A question to other fellow Ritz owners: does the front of the car dive a bit in the final stages of braking? I'm still getting used to the brake (driving an older car means you are used to putting your foot firmly on the brake pedal and applying firm pressure) and there is a good deal of pitching in stop-and-go traffic.

Cheers!
Slowrider.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by SlowRider

...
A question to other fellow Ritz owners: does the front of the car dive a bit in the final stages of braking? I'm still getting used to the brake (driving an older car means you are used to putting your foot firmly on the brake pedal and applying firm pressure) and there is a good deal of pitching in stop-and-go traffic.

Cheers!
Slowrider.

Hey, that's quite probably because of the front disc brakes. You had drum brakes in the santro I presume? Simply apply less pressure to the booster assisted pedal and you'll be fine. You'll get the caliberation right in no time.

[BoneCollector]

Congrats on your practical buy. We have a 3+ yr old Ritz Vxi and love it for its practicality and drive. As you said, the headlights are not adequate. I changed mine to Hella 100/90 W with Hella relay. No issues post then. Our car returns FE of 15.5-16.5 kmpl in city with AC( in Gurgaon) and has returned 20+ kmpl on many highway drives.
Regarding the build quality, I agree with you that its much better than most of MSIL offerings but will disagree with its comparison to current Santro (I know you are talking about old one). Just like you, we also had a Santro 2005 model which we sold last year and replaced it with another Santro. Now the point is that our old Santro had a better build quality than this new one we have.
Wishing you happy mile munching.

[SlowRider]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Hey, that's quite probably because of the front disc brakes. You had drum brakes in the santro I presume? Simply apply less pressure to the booster assisted pedal and you'll be fine. You'll get the caliberation right in no time.

Santro had disc brakes in the front. But yeah, this one is probably about getting hang of the brake pedal. I find it a bit vague now. Press some, nothing happens; press a little more and you're seriously shedding speed. Something more progressive would have been better.

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Congrats on your practical buy. We have a 3+ yr old Ritz Vxi and love it for its practicality and drive. As you said, the headlights are not adequate. I changed mine to Hella 100/90 W with Hella relay. No issues post then. Our car returns FE of 15.5-16.5 kmpl in city with AC( in Gurgaon) and has returned 20+ kmpl on many highway drives.
Regarding the build quality, I agree with you that its much better than most of MSIL offerings but will disagree with its comparison to current Santro (I know you are talking about old one). Just like you, we also had a Santro 2005 model which we sold last year and replaced it with another Santro. Now the point is that our old Santro had a better build quality than this new one we have.
Wishing you happy mile munching.

Thanks BoneCollector. I'm planning to upgrade the bulbs too. Perhaps NB+ or Phillips Xtreme Vision of stock rating. Not quite decided yet. And your FE figures are heartening. We wanted a petrol too. They're just too hard to come by.
I have no experience driving the new Santro. I parked a Xing once and discovered that the steering was very light (probably EPS) and the brakes are feather-touch. The old one had more boot space and proper head-rests in the back. The headrests were indispensable. Half my family falls asleep in the backseat when the vehicle gets rolling.

[n_aditya]

Congrats on your new car and wishing you many years of happy and safe drives.

Originally Posted by SlowRider

I'm planning to upgrade the bulbs too. Perhaps NB+ or Phillips Xtreme Vision of stock rating. Not quite decided yet.

No significant difference between both these bulbs. The NB's are slightly whiter than the Xtreme Visions. Both bulbs offer excellent illumination and spread and should make your highway drives a lot more confidence inspiring, safe and comfortable.

I have the NB's in my Ritz and the XV's in my ninja and i'm fully satisfied.

Originally Posted by SlowRider

And your FE figures are heartening.

The Ritz is pretty economical on the fuel consumption area. I usually drive with a/c on in the city and rarely switch off at traffic stops since the red signal is for less than a min or so. I get around 16kmpl in city and on my highway drives i have got between 21 and 23 kmpl with a/c on.

Initially i used to get a bit overwhelmed with the boost when the turbo kicked in and when the car used to surge forward. Now that i am used to it, i am left wanting for more. The torque quickly tapers off just as i get to enjoy it. Might go in for a box sometime down the line, lets see

[SlowRider]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

No significant difference between both these bulbs. The NB's are slightly whiter than the Xtreme Visions. Both bulbs offer excellent illumination and spread and should make your highway drives a lot more confidence inspiring, safe and comfortable.

I have the NB's in my Ritz and the XV's in my ninja and i'm fully satisfied.

How much whiter is Nightbreaker? Does it catch the attention of cops?

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Initially i used to get a bit overwhelmed with the boost when the turbo kicked in and when the car used to surge forward. Now that i am used to it, i am left wanting for more. The torque quickly tapers off just as i get to enjoy it. Might go in for a box sometime down the line, lets see

Good thing that you mentioned this. I'd posed a related query in the Swift thread (by mistake) and nobody responded. What would be your recommended up-shift RPM for best acceleration, since you mention that the torque tails off after a point?

[SlowRider]

Phase 1 of run-in over and I get to rev it!

The car has done 1500km now. Couldn't wait to get behind the wheel and rev it this weekend when I got home. The first 4kms were inside the city and the turbo has no business there so I have nothing new to report. But traffic lightened up afterwards and I finally got the room to take it to turbo range in third gear. Sweet! The car just flies to close gaps at speeds above 60. And that's the best thing about it. You enjoy overtaking cars. I may have ended up passing 3 vehicles in a stroke. No desperate measures; I like to consider myself a responsible driver. Driving this car, I spot more passing opportunities; it's reassuring that you have a little reserve power to deal with exigencies.

The driving style has had to change a bit. In a petrol, for most hard overtaking manouvres, you shift to 3rd, floor the throttle and do nothing for the next 5 seconds. With the Ritz, owing to the narrow power band, there were situations (say you're overtaking a vehicle which decides to accelerate half-way through the manouvre and all of a sudden, your window of opportunity is much smaller) when I had to up-shift to 4th to keep the torque coming. But it did complete the manouvres with little drama. This kind of performance characteristic merits a hand-on-the-gearshift style of driving when you're doing a spirited run. I've followed that style of driving on my cousin's Punto; that car doesn't have the punch of the Ritz, but has a wider RPM range giving that power surge. My opinion is that Punto requires fewer shifts on the highway to overtake; usually a downshift is enough and you can put off the upshift till when you rejoin the lane. But in the city, I really had to work the gearshift in the FIAT.

So much for highway overtaking. There's more. I sat on the throttle (not 100%, but enough to keep revs climbing without hesitation) in 5th on a deserted stretch. I had no intention of hitting crazy speeds, just wanted to understand how far torque wave would take me. And the results were not that great. I hit 120 before I called it off. I must say, till about 110kmph, I could feel the torque, but it tailed off very soon after. By the time I reached 120, the car was beginning to look like it's a little out of depth. That confidence of having power in reserve had disappeared. To be honest, it's good enough for Indian highways. I perhaps need to be a bit careful if I need to pass Volvos. On the plus side, the car was dynamically very steady. Though it doesn't mask speed like a Punto, it didn't give me jitters at all.

I'm hoping there's more to this car and that it would display better capabilties after it has run a few thousand kilometers more. Make no mistake, I'm happy with this car.

Cheers,
SlowRider.