Mod Note: Team-BHP's Official Celerio Review has been uploaded at this link. What car to buy?
Buying a new car, given the myriad options available today, is a proper nightmare. Try as you might to establish a budget or a list of desired features, the sheer amount of options, and price points a tad over your budget can get you swimming in figures of all sorts, getting nowhere at all.
When I bought my Swift, a good two years ago, my needs from the car were pretty straightforward. Hoon round corners, in relative comfort. I managed to do that in the Figo, which seduced with the incredibly loquacious steering wheel and taut chassis, even though the petrol engine was a bit of a whiner. The Liva put up a decent case at sub 60kmph speeds, but beyond that, refused to engage the hands guiding it over the stretches of tar. The Polo refused to be pushed, unless you subjected the three pots in the front to a bit of abuse. The Ritz appealed to the head, even though is skipped over potholes with a rather bouncy posterior. The Brio and the wallet had a rather violent disagreement. The Jazz was sobbing into a kerchief in the corner. And then I got behind the wheel of the Swift. And boy, O boy, did it put a huge grin on my face! Plonked dough down and three weeks later, I was nipping round the twisty bits of Tiger Valley on my way home, from Pune. Two years and 29000 kms later, I still look forward to my daily crawl/run to get to work and back. The grin is very much in place.
Now it is my wife’s turn. And she drives a 2005 MPFi Zen, a veritable go-kart. Which she both agrees to and treats as much. Sadly, even after much moolah changing hands, the dear girl is starting to show her age. It was with a heavy heart and many months of deliberation later that we agreed to buy a new set of wheels. My wife’s requirements from the car, like mine, were pretty simple. Just one, in fact. Must bring about a huge grin, like the Zen did for her.
The decision.
Having driven the entire crop of hatchbacks again, we finally had the Celerio at our disposal to scoot about in. My impressions about the car were a mixed bag. I found that it behaves, for the most part, as much as a go-kart as did the Zen. Even the build quality is not much different either. The doors do not close with a reassuring thud. But more about these later. What the car did, was put a grin, a very wide one, on my wife’s face. And thus, yesterday, we put down our names on the long list of people who have signed up for the Celerio.
Now, the car. If looks could kill and you wanted your car to do the job for you, then the Celerio is not the machine for you. In flesh, it doesn’t offend, but it doesn’t excite either. Personally, I found the curve-in-curve-out poppycock from Maruti laughable. That said, this is the only tallish-boy that doesn’t pick up a spat with your sense of proportions. The wide grill and grin in the front is eerily mated to a bit of frown south of the number plate. I never cared much for chrome, but I do agree that it sits well on that smile. The head lamps are of a conservative design and reminded me of the hooded lids of a wicked viper. Could I observe then, that the car reminds me of a smiling viper, who frowns when you don’t look it in the eye?
Hooded lids
Turn indicators on the ORVM. Nice!
Round at the back, it is indeed an Alto 800 with a wash-wipe setup and thin, red lines running the distance on the rear windscreen. The wing mirrors with their integrated turn indicators look contemporary. The wheels, even on the ZXi at 14 in, 165mm cross section, look puny, though the swept spokes of the alloys (which seem to a standard Maruti design cue nowadays) do look nice. The slim tyres are an obvious choice to cater to fuel economy, even though they make the car look under-shod.
Alto 800 from the back. Thankfully, the bumper juts out a bit. Hatch will have some amount of protection.
Tug on the pull-type door handles, the doors open wide, both in the front and the rear. The sills are not too high, nor too low, which made ingress/egress quite smooth for me (measuring in at a tad more than 6ft). In the rear, even though the opening is not as wide as the front, the wide-opening doors are more than adequate. No need to crawl into the car or lower yourself. At least not noticeably bothersome.
Wide opening doors in the front. Plenty of leg room in the front
Wide opening doors at the back
The seats, after the Swift, are reminiscent of planks laid out in a town-bus in Calcutta from the 90s. But wiggle your bum around for a bit and the seats seem to be not all that bad. The compound is a little hard, compared to the regular sponge that Maruti dishes out, but then I prefer the harder compounds, especially when one has to spend endless hours crawling in Bombay traffic. Lateral support is rubbish, if you are as generously endowed with adipose as I am and the head restraints are way too low. For me, they gleefully caress my upper back and a smattering of my spiky hair around the neck (for the taller Indian, resting your head on a longish drive will have to wait till you get to your destination and make your acquaintance with a bed and pillow). Under thigh support, surprisingly, was more than decent, as was the lumbar support for my wife. Move to the rear and the first thing that will surprise you is the ample leg room. Even with the front seat pushed all the way back (my driving position), I could comfortably slip into and be, well, comfortable behind the driver. Under thigh support is sufficient for short hops, but not all welcome for longer stints in the rear. The back rest incline is near perfect, if you ask me. The head restraints in the rear are pimples really. You wouldn’t want anything to do with them. Not that they would be up to the job either.
Leg room in plenty in the back
What stands out, from every corner of the cabin, however, is the huge amount of light streaming in. The glass area is generous and visibility, excellent. The light colours in the cabin help with the airy interiors as well.The plastics are cheap (like in the Swift, really). There is no other way of describing them. I was sorely reminded of the hard ploy which shod the cabin surfaces in our old 800. The stalks are hard to touch, but as with the Swift, seem to promise years without shedding bits.
Airy cabin
Decent view out of the rear
Equipment levels are generous, if you discount the price that you are paying for an engine from the K10 and overall build of a WagonR. The steering wheel is nice to hold and bears the responsibility of housing buttons to control the audio output, the Bluetooth interface which turns the car into a giant phone with wheels, a Swift/Ertiga style horn pad and an airbag. The power window console for the driver is a straight lift from the standard-parts bin for Maruti, as is the joystick to adjust the ORVMs. This joystick is flimsy. Very flimsy (the pod was replaced under warranty for my Swift, after just 7 months of use). The driver gets a one-touch down function for his/her window. Neat!
Steering mounted controls. Bluetooth a first for Maruti
ORVMs and power windows. Tacky switch gear.
The console sports a large clock for speed, which overshadows the tachometer to the left, as well as the tiny cluster of read-outs that make up the fuel gauge and the MID. No temperature gauge here, sadly. Further breaking with tradition, the digital fuel-gauge is large (not a smudge of ink that masquerades as the fuel gauge in the Ritz) and easy to read. The MID reads out the current fuel consumption, average fuel consumption and distance to empty. Prod the antennae-like stalk on the left and it will spit out two odometers/tripmeters. Oh, the right antenna can be twirled to adjust the brightness of the console’s back light.
The clocks
Move on to the central console and the lay out is very reminiscent of the Swift. The double-din audio unit looks nifty and the control dials for the air conditioner feel sturdy. Climate control is manual across the range and the air conditioner more than measures up for the job at hand. The vents in the central console do not shut and a tad frustrating to adjust. What you see, is not what you get as far as the vents are concerned. Try pointing them to the left and they send the breeze along to the l-e-e-e-f-f-f-f-f-f-t-t-t-t. Ditto for the other way round. The vents in the corners are circular, easy to adjust and can be shut, even though they put up a fight and let a little air bleed through.
Central console. Nicely rimmed with silver.
The gear lever falls to hand easily and is pleasant to hold. The hand brake casing is flimsy, keeping the rest of the plastics company. As do the levers that allow for driver seat height adjustment and seat back angle.The steering wheel is tilt adjustable and I found my driving position quite easily. The view from the driver’s seat is very good. You can pretty much see all the corners of the car, which lets you scoot into miniscule gaps while bowling along at a decent turn of speed or park the car with ease in a tight spot. The view out of the rear is above average and the mirrors, though not large, do just nicely.
Storage spaces are not generous, nor has Maruti skimped on much, having promised “15 smart storage spaces”. The salesman’s count of 15 was nothing sort of a Wodehousian farce, though. The bloke counted out the recesses in the door, which you use to pull the door shut as 4 of the 15. The glove box is average in size, as is the slot in the central console. There is a cubby hole over the switch gear for the front fog lamp, for the driver. The map pockets are slim and will not be of much practical use. There are two cup holders ahead of the parking brake, which will allow two half litre bottles of Bisleri (or purified water of your choice) to nestle into them. Right behind the parking brake is a clever arrangement of a flimsy plastic flap, which opens into a generous cubby hole for a 1litre bottle of water. The rear passengers get generous pockets, each capable of swallowing 1 litre bottles of the drinking stuff.
Map pockets from the runways of Milan
Rotary vent and storage space
Rear pocket. Holds a 1litre bottle with ease.
Average glove box
Storage space around the parking brake. Flimsy flap closed
Storage space around the parking brake. Flimsy flap open. The flappy cubby hole will take a 1litre bottle, where as the pokey little cup holders 500ml at the most.
The driver gets seat height adjustment
The boot capacity (at 235 litres) is above average, well laid out and easily accessible. It will gobble up a small family’s luggage and their Chinese take-out, hung on the hook for shopping bags. The rear seats are split 60:40, which is a boon for airport runs. The ZXi boot is locked/unlocked along with the doors. To open the hatch, however, you need to yank the large flap in the middle. Mall security will not hammer on your boot lid like they do for my Swift.
Spacious boot. Atleast when compared to my Swift
60:40 Split
Shopping bag hook
Hatch has handy recess to help yank it down
Crank the engine and the first thing that you will notice is the Aspen like shivering that creeps into every surface of the car. You can hear the engine too, as the three excited pots thrum alongside each other. Stab the accelerator a bit and as the revs climb, the vibrations smooth out. Trod on the clutch (by the by, the pedals are well spaced out. No dead pedal, but come on, a dead pedal from a budget Maruti?), which is delightfully light, slot in the 1st gear and you will be well on your way to stalling the car. Under 1500 rpm or thereabouts, the engine is a slouch. There is no power at the bottom end at all! Feather the throttle some, enough to get the engine to spin past 1500 rpm and you will be rewarded with a smooth spike in power almost all the way to the redline (6200 rpm). Around the 5000 rpm though, the unit seems a tad out of breath (peak torque of 90 NM is done with at 3500 rpm) but remains rev-happy to the limit. The mid-range, especially, is quite punchy. Work through the gears quickly enough and 100 will come up in a jiffy. No sweat at all, even with four on board. What surprised me was the utter lack of any torque steer, even with my hands off the wheel. The gear box is a little notchy, yes, but still a very amiable unit. The throws are acceptably short and the gates well defined (even with frenetic gear changes, I never missed a slot). The steering is fantastically light! And the car, under 80kmph, as responsive as a house-fly. Chuck it whatever way you please, it darts eagerly. Threading through traffic and ruminating bovines is a breeze. Pushed hard, the steering weighs up, but nowhere as well as say, the Swift. What you will appreciate is that it is not nervously light, even at 100 kmph. Light, but not lily-livered light. Chucking it about on the Lalbaug flyover at over a 100 hardly caused any hearts to flutter. There is not much feedback from the wheel. You vaguely know what the front shoes are up to and much of this knowledge comes from the excellent visibility of the tarmac ahead.
Well spaced out pedals.
The suspension is pliant enough not to throw the car off balance on the numerous potholes that Lalbaug, Elphinstone and Worli are riddled with. At higher speeds, the car loses a little of its composure when thudding through a gap in the tarmac, but nothing that will leave you feeling disappointed. Upwards of 80kmph, the rear bobs a little, but I was not able to judge how much of a bother it might be if you took it out on to the highway. Body roll, round corners taken at 60-70 kmph, was progressive and never scary. What was scary were the 165mm tyres giving up at the slightest hint of any requirement for friction under hard driving. Hand brake turns were a hoot though! Much to the consternation of the sales chap.
The brakes are adequate. After the Zen, my wife thought they bit really hard, but after 5 minutes, was more than at home with them. They are progressive, but nothing to rave about. I did come to halt from 90kmph without much drama or the Alto 800 rear stepping out of line. At 90kmph, if you stab the brake pedal, you can feel the ABS kick in and nibble away at the pads.
What you will not like at all is the harsh thrum of the engine when you cane it. As the tachometer needle climbs, so does the screech of the engine. NVH levels are high, perhaps because of the decision to keep the car as light as possible. The windows are thin (as in the Swift), as are the body panels. Cost cutting is evident throughout the car from the integrated hear restraints to the exposed elements which channel power for the defogger for the rear windscreen are an example.
Unclad wheel well
Exposed lead-in wiring for the defogger
Having run about in the ZXi Optional, we took the VXi AMT for a spin. Personally, I found the D (auto) mode to be best left alone. The upshifts are rapid, in the interests of fuel economy and the gap between gear changes is long enough for you to wrap up an episode of your favourite sit-com. As a result, inertia chucks you around every time the box decides to climb a rung. Hill starts and climbs in D are not going to be much fun. The M (manual) mode was a revelation though! Gear shifts were quick! Much quicker than what I managed in the manual and of course, much smoother. Racing through the gears from standstill was a ton of fun! You can rev the engine until the valves come out and dance on the hood before deciding to upshift. And then shoot off in a straight line. Surprisingly, in the M mode, the weak bottom of the engine is hardly noticeable. For both the modes, the box downshifts automatically when you lose steam.
Clocks for the AMT. This gets to show off the temperature outside the car
At the reds, you need to shift to neutral unless you want to wear the clutch out. M or D, the box will pull the car along if you engage them when standing still. I am not sure if the brake disengages the e-clutch if you are standing still, but neutral is recommended. The irritating bit is, from neutral, in order to weigh anchor, you will need to jab the brake after engaging the gearbox. It was terribly confusing the first time round the box decided to run this stunt past me. Managed to get drivers on the Worli sea face curse my ancestors for breeding me into this world.
Waiting periods!
At the end of the multiple test drives in the Celerio, my wife declared to the world that she was in love with the manual, going so far as to properly lighting up every time she clapped her eyes on the car. And then came the waiting period. Even for the little sold ZXi (O), the waiting period is 5 months! If you want to get your hands on an LXi AMT, it is an eye-watering 18 months! Last week, the waiting period for the ZXi was 2 months. The sales chap told us that Maruti has been booking around 1400 vehicles daily! The bean counters at Maruti must be a busy lot.
Then came the price. It did not take long to realise that the ZXI (O) variant of the Celerio at 5.76 lakhs (on-road, Bombay), is only 50k away from the ZXi Ritz. The Ritz is of course, a much better built car. It has more leg room, head room, larger seats, which are more comfortable, better storage space, a gem of a 1.2 engine, refined gear box and much, much better NVH levels. In terms of kit, the only place the Celerio had an advantage was the ability to morph into a phone. More importantly, the sales chap promised to deliver a Ritz, in the colour of our choice, in 2 weeks flat. They even have an exchange bonus of 25k for the Ritz, apart from a corporate discount. Was tempting, and so the wife hopped in behind the wheel of the Ritz. 20 minutes later, having pulled over at the showroom, she let it be known quite vehemently that she had nothing good to say about the Ritz. No smile on face. The car, for her, refused to emulate a fly. Was darker inside and less hairy to drive. And so, we booked the Celerio in the ZXi Optional trim.
What rankles terribly is the fact that the car is far more expensive than the value it brings to the garage. For what essentially is an amalgamation of all that is good in the WagonR and the K10 Alto (at least in the manual ZXi Optional avatar), it is ridiculously priced. And people don’t seem to care. For once, the average Indian car buyer is open to the idea of shelling out moolah rather than turn their noses up at the lack of kit. The Celerio seems to have managed to plaster a huge grin on all their faces.
Truth be told, I had a hoot driving it around the crowded streets of Bombay and the car drummed up proper thrills when pushing it over the more empty stretches that the flyovers and sea faces had to offer on a lazy weekend afternoon. I grinned plenty too!
What we loved about the Celerio: - Airy interiors!
- Dual tone dash looks fresh
- Compact dimensions on the outside, yet plenty of head room/leg room (a good inch or more above my head)
- Light, responsive steering (changes direction eagerly)
- Bluetooth on the ZXi O
- Audio system output above average
- Use of chrome on the door levers on the inside
- Easy to find your desired driving position
- Sensitive microphones for the Bluetooth unit picked up speech from the rear seats with ease
Bluetooth mics
- Spacious foot well for the driver
- Extremely rev happy engine!
- Practical boot and split seats
- Generous ground clearance (at 165 mm, never scrapped the bottom over humps with 4 aboard and speeds in excess of 80kmph. Brilliant suspension!)
- One touch lane change indicator (this is a blessing when pushing the car)
- Pliant suspension finds the right balance between tackling bumps/humps and going round corners
- Wheels are literally at each corner of the car, lending stability to the car
- USB and Aux-in are factory fitted
- Ribbed roof doesn’t flex easily
- Maintenance and upkeep promises to be a breeze
- In the third gear and the engine turning over at ~2000rpm, I happily pootled about without bothering about gear changes. Demonstrates the fantastic drivability of the engine
- Air con chills very effectively
- Wide opening doors make for easy ingress/egress
- Soft springs in the grab handles. The handles fold away elegantly
- 60:40 split rear seats
What we did not like: - Cheap plastics have become a norm for Maruti
- The switch gear for the power windows are tacky
- The glove box should have been a little more accommodating
- Anorexic map pockets
- Spare wheel is not an alloy! Looks horrid.
- All plastic fitments, the cubby holes around the parking brake for example, are terribly flimsy
- Integrated head restraints
- Lack of a ZXi option for the AMT (sorely missed)
- Key fob indistinguishable from the Swift/Eritga/WagonR
- Rubbery buttons on the key fob carried over
- Overpriced for the ZXi (O) model
- Start/stop traffic a pain in all variants of the car. The manual has no power under 1500 rpm and D upshifts too quickly with long intervals between gear changes
- No temperature gauge
- Digital fuel gauge
- No coat hooks
- Waiting period!
Outstanding review and superbly detailed there clap: For a minute, I thought I'm reading an official write-up. You have an enviably witty style of writing man.
Maruti has hit the bull's eye with the AMT. Without this gearbox, the Celerio would have sank and no one would have noticed. It's styled like a conventional Maruti hatchback, has the same 3-cylinder 1.0L engine and no diesel. The AMT however gave it a strong differentiator. This is perhaps the only sub-15 lakh car whose automatic bookings are higher than that for the MT.
Superb review and with your style of writing, I reckon that you could soon be drafted into Team-BHP service in the near future for official car reviews.
Like others have said earlier, the Ritz ZXI is surely and obviously a better option, especially since it is only Rs 50k more than the Celerio ZXI. My brother-in-law has a Ritz and it is a lovely car to drive. In comparison with the Celerio, the Ritz offers a bigger and better engine, bigger cabin space and better fit and finish.
But since your wife does not apparently like the Ritz, why don't you consider this alternative: Buy the Ritz ZXI for yourself and give your wife your beloved Swift car. I don't think your wife will be unhappy with the Swift. With the Swift, I trust it will "bring about a huge grin" on her face. What say?
Excellent review mate! clap: Unbiased, yet not mundane. Good job there! Rating it a well deserved 5 stars.
Congratulations to your wife on the car! Knowing it's a Maruti means, we don't have to pray that she gets several miles of trouble free drives. :D
Cheers!
Nice review. One of the best first-posts that I have ever read on this forum! Welcome to Team-Bhp!
Could'nt understand though,why your wife found Celerio manual to be more appealing than Ritz.
May be that Ritz test car was not a properly maintained one? (just my assumption.)
Why don't you take another test drive of Ritz from another dealer?
With a better-build and a better engine,there is no reason why a well-maintained Ritz should fail to put that grin on the driver's face, when an over-priced Celerio could do that easily.
I think maruti bookings are transferable between models.So there is still time for you to do a re-thinking. :D
Having said that, there may be some particular reason why a person likes a car in-spite of better options available. Everybody has his/her own tastes and preferences.That's why all car's have buyers too!
It is a fact that Celerio clicked only because of AMT. I feel that the waiting period cited for manual transmission is not because of its demand, but because they are too busy churning out AMT models to meet the huge demand that they may be unable to supply even those few manuals demanded.
I feel this high demand for Celerio will remain just as long as Maruti keeps AMT exclusive to Celerio. The day they introduce AMT in Altok10 or WagonR, we will see the real USP of Celerio (or rather, the lack of it).
Had a chance to drive the Celerio MT while visiting the local Maruti Dealer for getting some accessories for my Dzire, I must agree with thedragonreborn that the car really puts a smile on your face.
The things that I liked most about the car.
1. Great Driving position: Gives an excellent view of the road and good supportive seats.
2. Airy and roomy inside but compact dimensions outside.
3. But the most I loved was how well it drove, really reminded me how I felt when I first drove the Zen back in 1996. Nice responsive engine, sharp steering and Excellent ride. This should be the best use of the K10B engine by Maruti.
A superb review indeed. Your witty style of writing keeps the reader's interest in a review of what is essentially another boring (no offense meant) car from Maruti - saved by the masterstroke called the AMT.
I too agree that the Ritz would have been a much more "sensible" option, but for most of us on this forum I guess the "grin" matters more. Cheers :)
Really liked the way you have put across a first hand experience of the car.
very witty.
Celerio is the ideal replacement for the jellybean zen for its sheer go-kart like drive.
The Estilo/Astar never really filled the gap.
With safety features added, it is a much much better place to be in.
Congratulations in advance :)
