[ank.nsit]

My 1st Car : Glistening Grey Dzire Zdi

Buying an 8 Lakh Maruti is something I would have never even thought of. But now I understand that Maruti has a 50% market share not just because its desi, but the products it offers are really worth it.
Christmas of 2013 was very special to me, as that was the day I gifted myself my new Dzire.



1. Reason for a New Car

My itch to upgrade from the Santro given to me by my dad, finally had a logical reason. I got married & my wife too needed a car.

Also, I wanted a safe & stable car to satiate my longing for roadtrips.

2. Requirements

• Diesel: Plans for long drives + 65KM/day drive warranted a diesel car.
• Fun to Drive: Drives for me are never tiring or boring & a FTD car will just compliment my nature.
• Good GC: Long drives in India involves sudden potholes/weird & high speed breakers appearing out of nowhere on good road stretches & the last thing I wanted is being stranded with my wife on some lonely road with a damaged sump/underbelly.
• Airbags+ABS: One thing that Team-bhp taught me is to value the safety features more than the Gizmos/features etc.
• WOW Car: My all the above requirements could have been met with my Dad's Ritz ZXi + CNG santro, but I just wanted my very own first car, so I just had to have that WOW feeling in the new car I purchase. I did not care if the car was a hatchback, sedan or an SUV.

3. Budget
My dad wanted me to keep the max budget to 8 lakhs, but I had kept the limit of 12 lacs in my mind, with the task of convincing my dad deferred till the time of purchase.

4. Initial Contenders

• Amaze:
  Likes: Honda Badge reliability, Good Power + FE combo, Interior + Boot space.
  Dislikes: Bad interiors, Noisy diesel, Bad ICE.
• Rapid:
  Likes: AWESOME Drive, WOW handling, Refinement, FE
  Dislikes: Bad SKODA After sales support reviews on team-bhp.
• Etios/Liva:
  Likes: Out Of India dealership experience, Toyota badge, Spacious
  Dislikes: Sluggish/Noisy engine, Poor interiors
• XUV500:
  Likes: Good GC, Features, SUV Road presence.
  Dislikes: XUV niggles thread on team-bhp, Big size for daily in-city commute.
• Duster/Terrano:
  Likes: Appropriate Size, Good GC, Different looks, Decent dynamics
  Dislikes: lack of WOW factor & bad interiors for a 12 lakh car.
• Punto:
  Likes: Solid build quality, 90HP option.
  Dislikes: Bad dealer experience during TD, dull interiors.
• Swift:
  Likes: FTD, refinement, proven reliability, good interiors.
  Dislikes: Maruti Badge, high numbers on road, poor boot space, rattle reports.
• Dzire:
  Likes: FTD, good re-sale, decent boot space.
  Dislikes: Maruti badge, too common, rattle reports, poor back seat space, non fold-able rear seats.

5. Cars not considered

• i20: Pretty bad turbo lag.
• Sail: A market dud, so might have an issue in sourcing spare parts.
• Linea: Punto 90HP was considered.
• Polo/Vento: Rapid was considered.
• New Honda City: Low GC.
• Verna: Unsettling ride.
• Figo/Classic: Too bland.
• Ecosport: Long waiting period, Ford's attitude towards the prospective Ecosport buyers.

6. Final Contenders

• Amaze: No point paying 70K more than Dzire & that too without ACC.
• Rapid: My heart is still set onto it, but the SKODA horror stories on the forum are too many, that I just couldn't ignore them.
• Swift: Never wanted a swift because everyone owns a swift, but its interiors & driveability changed my strong hate into strong love. My folks told me to go for Dzire because of Swift's minuscule boot space that would have been inadequate for our occasional family long trips.
• Dzire: Finalized it because of its almost similar driveability to Swift plus a boot.

7. After thoughts
Though the fact that my car is pretty common on road does bother me a little, but I just love my car. The interiors are nice, the GC is useful, the drive is engaging & the music system is decent. All this without any worries of after sales support, reliability issues & resale value gives a peace of mind.
Moreover the price of 8.0 Lakhs OTR made my dad happy as well.

[ank.nsit]

Buying Experience

Visited a few dealers in NCR & got a December 2013 model in stock of Rohan Motors, Gurgaon.

Following is the cost break up:

• Ex-showroom Gurgaon: Rs. 7,57,900
• Road Tax Haryana: Rs. 48,774
• Handling Charges: Rs. 6,000
• 0 Dep Insurance: Rs. 20,400 (Done outside Maruti.)
• Discount: Rs. 25,000 (10K Cash + 10K Loyalty + 1.5K Corporate + 3.5K Buffer)
• Total OTR: Rs. 8,08,074

After a thorough PDI, I made the complete payment & scheduled the pick up of car on 26 December. The beige carpet & driver side door fabric trims had some stains, which I had pointed out during PDI. But to my surprise they weren't taken care of on the date of delivery. I guess these are the added perks of buying a Maruti.

Had to argue with the SA to get it dry cleaned before delivery.

Accessories

1. Seat Covers



My niece feels nauseated in PU/Art leather, so bucket fit seat covers were not an option. Among all fabric seat covers, I previously had a good experience with Elegant one's. So, got Elegant's all fabric seat cover, which had a proper cover for back seat arm rest as well.



2. Noodle Mats

1 week after taking the car, performed a DIY to create 3M-nomad style noodle mats for my car. I did not cut an exact size of Mats, but left some extra margin on all sides. Aesthetically they are not that great, but act like 3D mats on the side & do the job of protecting my beige carpet from dirt very well.



3. Blind spot removal mirrors

I found the outside rear view mirrors of Dzire to be leaving a big blind spot, no matter how I set them. There were quite a few instances when I unexpectedly came close to other vehicles on my side. I never faced any such problem with my santro, maybe due to small size or maybe its viewing angle was somewhat better.
So, got my car a pair of Blind spot removals, & I must say they work simply great. Initially I was cautious of their usage, whether two views would get confusing or something, but after putting them I find them really useful w/o any issues whatsoever. Along with removing blind spots, they help in wide viewing angle when entering expressways from side roads. Really helpful.



4. Accessories at showroom

• Body side moulding: Gives a contrast to boring sides of the car.
• Bumper corner protector: Some stray dog near my house didn't like them I guess, so within 1 week the dog removed all 4 of them & even left some deep scratches near them.
• Carpet Mats: Needed them to take the delivery of the car from showroom, now have put the noodle mats over them.
• Gear Lock

5. Cushions
Though not an accessory, but I like to mention them here as I feel they are really underrated. The small all feather cushions are just so useful in providing lower back support. Even after 10-12 hours drive, a 6 feet creature like me is able to stand comfortably.

6. Car Care

Gave my car a thorough wash, followed by 2 coats of Collinite 845 with a gap of 12 hours. The water beading effect was great, but was not impressed by its shine.

So, then got myself Meguiar's ultimate polish, a nanoskin scrub, Meguiar's quick detailer, Amway car shampoo, Meguiar's quick wax along with applicator pads & MF towels.
Did a complete detailing session, and now I like the sheen.
Also, have got a Jopasu duster, which I must say is great in removing dry dust.

IMPORTANT REVIEW POINTS

1. Performance: The mid-range torque & power delivery beyond 2K RPM is amazing. I guess that's the USP of turbo charged engines. The turbo lag exists but is manageable for in-city driving, but quick overtaking ain't possible below 2K RPM. The lag is lesser than the previous generation Swift/Ritz, but still is fathomable. You have to wait for the engine to cross 2K RPM/downshift for quick overtakes.
   The power feels great in plains with two people on board. But a fully loaded car on uphill really struggles to move forward. You have to keep the car beyond 2K RPM, else the car will take forever to move forward. This was a revelation, as during my TD & initial observation I always felt the car to be having enormous power.
   Amaze I guess beats Dzire completely on sheer power terms.
   
   An ECU re-map should help me overcome my DZire's disappointment with the performance. I want my car to be zippy right from the 1K RPM.
   
   
2. Handling: This is where the car lives upto my expectations. Car maneuvering is spot on, and I feel super confident even at 3 digits speeds. I have tried some hard cornering many times, but have never felt the car loosing its composure. Though I feel my car definitely needs a better set of tyres. To vroom past the slow moving traffic, I keep the engine in 2k-3k rpm range & keep on steering the car left right & centre.
   The steering is absolutely delightful. Low speed lightness as well as the high speed plantedness is great.
   
   
3. Brakes: Can any car in market be perfect..!! There has to have an issue with each & every car in the market that makes it not a very good buy.
   DZire's brakes definitely make me doubt my decision. The brakes of any car need to be capable to handle the max engine torque & not the average torque/the torque which most people will be driving on. The brakes feel normal below 2K RPM, but a slight hard braking at around 2.5K is definitely not confidence inspiring.
   I do not know why are the brakes of ZDi variant considered to be better as I have felt ABS to be kicking in only on total JAM braking, but many a times you would want to control the speed (say from 70km/hr to 30-40 km/hr) of your car without the need of completing stopping it. In such scenarios I feel the brakes are really really poor.
   It gives me a shudder to think how people with LDi/VDi variants & skinnier 165mm tires manage to drive their car & that too at good speeds with such poor braking. After a scary experience with my friend's Ritz VDi, I have been asking my friend to upgrade at least the tires, but he is waiting for the current set to wear off.
   
   But I have never felt the brakes to be inadequate/poor in our Ritz ZXi, so I can safely conclude that it's the peak torque in Diesel that the brakes don't handle smoothly.
   
   
4. Tyres: The 185mm GY are just about average in all aspects. I found them to be really noisy. Everytime I accelerate quickly to take a quick start, I can feel a wheelspin. The tires loose the traction especially in initial gears. The car definitely deserves a minimum of 195mm good quality better grip rubber. Better tires I feel will be greatly helpful in those adventurous times when you feel like opening up your engine & have that adrenalin rush.
   Only if you drop the air pressure by 2PSi below the recommended level of 32PSi front & 29 PSi rear, that you find the tires to be in acceptable limits of Grip + Ride comfort.

[ank.nsit]

JOURNEY SO FAR

After 6 months & 12K Kms of ownership (including two long drives of 1500KMs each), following are my observations about the car.

Features I like

1. Automatic Climate Control: Now that I am using it, I realize its true value. Gone are the days of altering blower speeds & manual AC on/off because of sudden changes in car's temperature.
2. Front Defogger: A part of ACC, I feel the single button control for front defogging is useful. No more manual setting of Air flow + Fresh Air mode + AC.
3. Music System: Not being an audiophile, I love the car's system. The soft music which I usually play in my car sounds amazing.
4. Electrically adjustable ORVM: Really useful for adjusting left side mirror.
5. Lane Change Indicator: Never realized that I was using this feature so extensively until I drove a car without this feature.
6. Rear Center Armrest: My mom really loves the support her both arms now get in the rear seat.
7. Cup Holder: My wife just loves the cup holder that pops out of Dashboard below the Passenger side AC vent.

Features I miss

1. Electrically folding ORVM: I have found people messing with the ORVMs, I guess more so after the installation of blind spot removals. So, I make a point to fold my mirrors manually before leaving the car. Going all the way to the left of the car for folding the mirror is a bit boring.
2. AVN unit: I would have loved an AVN unit inbuilt in the car's dash. But now, I have to rely on my tablet/phone for video & navigation requirements. I do not want to change the HU of my car, as I like its appearance.
3. Bluetooth: I hate talking on phone while driving, but at times when you have to co-ordinate a pickup/meeting with someone, you don't have an option. Planning to go in for a MGA bluetooth kit now.
4. Fold-able key: Would have looked & felt better in my pocket than the current key.
5. Rear wash & wiper: If a swift can have one, why not Dzire.
   

High Points

1. Good GC: Valued it all the more when I had to cross the center divider of the road after 40 minutes of standstill traffic situation on GT Road.
   
2. High Speed Stability: The car feels sufficiently stable & confidence inspiring even at 3 digit speeds.
   
3. Fuel Efficient: My daily sedate city commute with almost always avoiding peak rush hour traffic gives me a mileage of 20+km/l.
   
4. Turbo Kick: Torque wave with engine crossing the 2000RPM mark is amazing.
   
5. FTD: Keep the car within 2K-3K RPMs & just steer her left, right & center and I know my decision to buy DZire is not wrong. The handling is spot on.
   
6. Gear Shifts: The gear shifts are really smooth, and I can slot in the gears with just 1 finger.
   
7. Ride Quality: Dzire takes on bad potholes surprisingly well, even with the stock GY tires.
   
8. Cheap Servicing costs: My 10K KM service costed me 4.5K including the 2000 bucks I paid for Under-body protection coating.
   
9. Interiors at night: The interiors with Lights on at night feel really upmarket, esp the central console stock HU & ACC unit.

Low Points

1. Bad service centres: Everytime my car goes for a service, I have some new stains on my Beige seat cover to deal with.
2. Turbo Kick & FE: The two much loved high points of my car are mutually exclusive. Up shifting beyond 2K RPM seriously affects the car FE. But then all the fun begins only after 2K RPM.
3. Multicolored cabin: As if silver outlines (on central AC vents & steeringwheel), wooden inserts (on doors & dashboard) & double colored (black & beige) dashboard was not enough, Maruti has also put in some Chrome bits (on door open levers & AC vent direction adjusters.)
4. Poor brakes: Hard brakes during the turbo wave when the car is in immense inertia of motion makes the car loose its composure. Once a little hard braking (not an emergency braking) at the speed of only 60km/hr made the car (& me) uncomfortable as I was driving the car between 2K-3K RPM.
5. Reverse Gear slotting: More often that not, the reverse gear doesn't slot in the first time. I have to re-press the clutch & then slot in again for reverse to work. Maruti ASS say that this is the normal behavior.

Other Points

1. Exterior Styling: The large headlights look good, but the small boot extension feels unnecessary.
2. Interior plastic quality: I like the plastic quality & do not feel them to be cheap like most reviews mention.
3. Rear Ingress: Many a times me and my other tall friends & family members have banged their head while getting into the car's rear seat.
4. Lack of 6th Gear: Mechanical feasibility aside, I would have loved if my car had a 6th gear. More often than not on Highways, I cruise at around 100 km/hr. I feel it to be a waste of fuel & power to keep the turbo spooled up & engine running at 2.2K RPM, when I am just in a cruising mood.
5. Just adequate power: The enormous power of my car for in-city commutes turns out to be just adequate out on highway & hills with 5 people & full luggage.
6. Boot contours: The clippings of the boot contours have started to come out already.
   
   
   
   
7. ORVM Joystick adjuster: Feels too fragile, hopefully will break while the car is still under warranty or won't break at all.
8. Beige cloth inserts in door: Driver's arm rests on the door exactly over the beige insert on the door, making it a hell of a dirt magnet.
   
   
   
   
9. Angled rear tray: You just cannot keep anything on the rear parcel tray which I guess is good considering its beige color, and bad considering sometimes you feel like putting in the extra cushions there.
10. Dashboard layout: Just 6 months of usage has caused the plastic near the footwell to wear off as my left leg rests on it.
    
    
    
    
11. Small boot: Buying DZire over Swift just for a boot, I would have appreciated a more practically bigger boot.

[ank.nsit]

From NA PETROL to TURBO CHARGED DIESEL

Moving on to a Turbocharged Diesel car after 7 years of driving a NA petrol one, following are my observations:

1. Frequent Gear Changes: A very small RPM range (1500-1900) with good FE & torque combination causes frequent gear shifts.
2. Jerky Down Shifts: A downshift many a times causes a huge sudden change in torque delivery, causing jerks.
3. Loud engine noise beyond 3K RPM: High revving engine note is sweet in petrol engine, but too loud in Diesel ones.
4. Long Clutch Play: Diesels have a noticeably longer clutch play than petrols.
5. Hill Climb Struggle: Not even once with petrol car did I face any issue in Hill/Flyover climb. However steep climb it maybe, a little clutch slipping always did the trick.
I have had two instances with Diesel engine struggling hill climb:

• Cold Start Climb: A fully loaded car on cold start struggled a lot in climbing hill from stand still. Clutch slipping was not much helpful either.
• Ritz VDi: My friend's VDi once got stuck in a little steep hill climb. Engine could not climb up in lower RPM range, & depressing the accelerator beyond 2K RPM, caused skidding of tires.

6. Pointless High Revving: There simply is no point in High revving the Diesel engine, maximum power can be experienced by upshifting at around 3K RPM.
7. Turbo Kick: Most fun part in a turbo charged engine is the sudden adrenalin rush at 2K RPM. When I drive my petrol car, many a times I keep waiting for that kick.
8. Engine Idling Rule for Turbo Cool down: It's easy to remember this rule in routine office-home travel. I had a tough time remembering to keep the engine idle before shutting down on Highway breaks, when the Turbo was being worked the most. But now I am in a habit to never turn off the engine immediately after reaching the destination.

FUTURE PLANS

Till now my car is completely stock but I have planned a few mod, which I will keep on doing as the car ages, so that I do not loose any interest anytime soon in my car.

1. Better tires: I wanted to change the tires right out of the showroom, but because of the following confusion, just couldn't make up mind as to which tire to go for.

• 185/65/R15: Stock size, only other good option is Michelin XM2, but they get punctured easily.
• 195/60/R15: Logical upgrade with many options, but do not want to decrease the GC.
• 195/65/R15: Afraid that it might touch the fender under full load conditions.
• 205/60/R15: Good upgrade with almost stock diameter size, but not sure if 205 on stock 5.5J alloys would be a good fit and if this tire would have an adverse effect on my suspension setup.

2. Remapping: Having read a lot about remapping experience, I feel it would make the fun quotient of my car comparable to a higher segment car. It will solve my Turbo Kick vs FE problem as well. None of the tuners that I came across on TBhp belong to NCR. Most of them would travel to Delhi for remaps, but I would have preferred a tuner close to my place just in case I need him again.

3. Better Brakes: In case better tires do not improve my braking & I feel them to be inadequate after Remapping, I would think of going in for better brakes.

4. Projectors: I love the projector setup with smoked headlamps, but will wait for the warranty to get over before I get them installed, or maybe with the new facelift Swift, Maruti might provide them as after market fitment. Planning to get Philips Xtreme Vision installed for now, to improve the night driving experience.

5. Interior Modifications:

• Leather Work: I would love a proper leather wrapped steering cover. Also, will soon have to replace the fabric inserts in door with leather ones. Stanley store in Faridabad has been shut down, yet to try out the Gurgaon store.
• Front Center Armrest: My left hand is usually on the gear lever when I drive, so a center armrest would provide a much needed support to my left hand.
• LED Ambient Lighting: I think some good quality LED would give a premium feel.
• Dashboard Repainting/Replacement?: Though not cost feasible, but I would love to change the beige parts of Dashboard & Doors with Swift's black ones.
  Dashboard repainting would involve removing the dashboard, so I have ruled that out completely.

6. Exterior Modifications: I would love to have some nice add-ons to upgrade the exterior look of my car. Following are a few things in my mind:

• Better Grill: The stock grill is really boring, so I am on lookout for more better options.
• Cool Wraps: Will have to photoshop my car, to have a feel as to which area should be wrapped to give it a nice look.
• Body Cladding: I really wonder why the body cladding like that in Etios Cross & Polo Cross is not available as an accessory? I feel they look great, and act as a car protector as well.
• Alloy Painting: The quality, fit & finish of Stock alloys is good, but I would love to have them partially painted in a dark color, to get a Dual tone look.

[GTO]

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

[fusionbang]

ank.nsit, congratulations on your acquisition. Hope you are enjoying your drive to the fullest

How does it behave in bumper to bumper traffic? is the 2nd gear sufficient to maneuver in traffics or you should shift to first gear. Because I have seen people complaining that they have to shift to 1st gear even to cross a speed breaker.

[ank.nsit]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

ank.nsit, congratulations on your acquisition. Hope you are enjoying your drive to the fullest

How does it behave in bumper to bumper traffic? is the 2nd gear sufficient to maneuver in traffics or you should shift to first gear. Because I have seen people complaining that they have to shift to 1st gear even to cross a speed breaker.

Thanks fusionbang.

Even if the car is in a little motion, it can be pulled in 2nd gear without much fuss. But for stop start traffic you have to do frequent switching between 1 & 2 gear, as there is simply no point in dragging the car in 1st gear and exponentially reducing the FE.
Crossing a speed breaker can be done in 2nd gear as the car is already in a little motion.

[tiger_stripes]

Congratulations on your ride! The seat covers look neat. Did you order them first and get them fixed separately? And are they stitched on top of the original fabric or just the slip-on types?

[ank.nsit]

Originally Posted by tiger_stripes

Congratulations on your ride! The seat covers look neat. Did you order them first and get them fixed separately? And are they stitched on top of the original fabric or just the slip-on types?

Thanks.
The seat covers are standard Dzire slip-on type covers manufactured by Elegant. They are available at car Accessories shop having Elegant covers. But these days Fabric+PU bucket fit covers are in demand, so all fabric covers can be a little hard to find. I found them with an Elegant distributor in Noida, and got them fit there itself.

[swiftdiesel]

Congrats on a good buy! This is a no-nonsense car in every sense of the word. Being a petrolhead, I suppose you're going through a learning curve on this one. Having owned 2 cars with the same engine (Swift and Ertiga), I can tell you this 1.3 DDiS is notorious for turbo lag below the boost range. This is even more pronounced when you're in the hills negotiating a steep climb. The key is to keep the engine on the boil in the 1800-2400 RPM range and you're good to go without much clutch slipping. If you're starting off from a complete stop and there's a steep incline staring at you, don't slip the clutch; instead turn the steering to the left or right and this will offset the steep angle of the gradient. That's what I did with my Ertiga when I'm caught outside the turbo range with a full load during a steep climb. That said, diesels are more adept at hauling huge loads through steep gradients due to their amazing torque delivery. Turbodiesels without a flat torque curve like the 1.3 DDiS are exceptions. And hey, have fun!

[Sommos]

Congratulations Ank.nsit for the Dzire, the grey colour looks nice.
Wish you many happy miles with the car and drive safe.

You can cover the beige door inserts with art leather or carbon vinyl.

[ank.nsit]

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

If you're starting off from a complete stop and there's a steep incline staring at you, don't slip the clutch; instead turn the steering to the left or right and this will offset the steep angle of the gradient.

Thanks swiftdiesel. Will surely try this on my next hill drive.

Originally Posted by Sommos

Congratulations Ank.nsit for the Dzire, the grey colour looks nice.
Wish you many happy miles with the car and drive safe.

You can cover the beige door inserts with art leather or carbon vinyl.

Thanks Sommos.

Actually the point is, which color to replace the beige fabric inserts with. If I replace it with the beige leather only, then that too will start looking ugly in few months as this insert comes in direct contact with my arm. Maybe, I should replace it with a color similar to the dark color of the wooden lining on the door.

[CountMe91]

Congrats on your new acquisition. The Dzire Zdi looks great and is a very good buy. It will prove VFM in the long run. I have driven Swift Diesel for over long distances and can vouch for the reliability of the 1.3 MJD engine. Service and maintenance is also handy and will not cost you a fortune. I feel that this car is a very sensible buy if you are having a tight budget with diesel engine on mind and a compact sedan to suit your needs.

[ank.nsit]

Originally Posted by CountMe91

Congrats on your new acquisition. The Dzire Zdi looks great and is a very good buy. It will prove VFM in the long run. I have driven Swift Diesel for over long distances and can vouch for the reliability of the 1.3 MJD engine. Service and maintenance is also handy and will not cost you a fortune. I feel that this car is a very sensible buy if you are having a tight budget with diesel engine on mind and a compact sedan to suit your needs.

Thanks CountMe91. 1.3MJD is definitely one of the best diesel engines in indian market.
A very big plus point about Maruti is its easy spare parts availability outside the service centres. As I plan to modify my car & if at all things go awry, I will not have to spend a fortune at Maruti Service Centres. I can go to my local mechanic & considering his hands-on experience on so many Maruti cars I know he will fix any issue at nominal costs.

[ank.nsit]

A sad update: yesterday night my all the 4 wheels along with the nuts got stolen when my car was parked near my residence in Faridabad, Sector 16. As of now the car is standing on bricks planted by thieves. Waiting for police & insurance surveyor before putting in new shoes in the car.

As such I was not happy with the tyres, so planning to get good alloys along with some grippy rubber.

A shocking revelation was made to me today, then even in 0-dep insurance, 50% depreciation is applied to the tyres.
Hopefully should get full compensation for the alloys at least.