[Altocumulus]

For the last few years my trusted steed was a 2007 Esteem Vxi. I was very happy with the car and it was a hoot to drive. Never let me down and always managed to put a smile on my face be it in city or while stretching it out on the highways. Redlining her in second was a different feeling all together. Come March 2014 , while having tea below my office a young chap came up to me and asked if I was willing to sell the car.

Fast forward to July the individual kept following up in the meantime and the price was negotiated to 1.15L. It wasn't that I was thinking of buying a brand new car. My idea was to replace my car with another Esteem which belonged to tbhpian Blackpearl. The reason was my esteem was already 90k on the odo and I will have a few long drives coming up periodically. I am very paranoid when it comes to cars and which made me think about letting her go. Also I had bought her nearly 3 years back at 60k on the odo for 1.25L. So the price I was getting was also pretty good. Blackpearl’s esteem was < 50k driven so adding a little more would get me a newer and less driven car.

All this while I was also thinking about using the lease option with my company. I was paying more than 70k every year as tax and that was biting me. By taking a lease I could save at least 60 k from it which was tempting. Plus I had push from ‘stronger forces’ to buy a first-hand car this time. So began the process of taking multiple TDs. My requirements were pretty less. Performance equal or better than the esteem. I never used the boot in the esteem and its 90% just 2 of us in the car so space wasn't the issue. I wanted to have safety features but budget was pretty constrained. Decided and booked the Alto K10 in Glistening Grey color from Machino Techno, Kolkata. The day I went for the booking I saw a Silver Ritz Vxi Elate version on display. I loved the Ritz during the earlier test drive and it ticked all the boxes. All other cars had some shortfall or the other. The ‘stronger force’ was with me as well and she said the magic words ‘Let’s buy the Ritz. We’ll manage’. I negated it and booked the Alto and asked for the Proforma Invoice so that I can submit the same in office for the lease processing. The legal documents were done when suddenly I realized I had declared a couple of thousands less with payroll for the rental payments. Which means the entire process requires to be redone and I need to put in a fresh declaration. Now I started thinking seriously about the Ritz. Some quick calculations and discussions and I decided to take the plunge. The model chosen was the Zxi in white color because if I am spending more than the initial budget its better I have all the safety kits.

Options considered

I guess I test drove every single hatch in the market with the 3.5 to 6.5L range.

Honda Brio: If I didn't get delivery of the Ritz, this is what I would have gone for. Gem of an engine and a real go-kart and the world is your track. I didn't mind the lack of boot space nor the lag in low rpm. The ground clearance was what I was skeptical of and compared to the Ritz it was a little bare bones. Also when i inquired about the cost of fitting fog lamps to a SMT they quoted a whopping 11k. however it was still there in contention till the end.

Grand i10: Liked the car a lot. Filled with features and a sweet engine. However things that put me off was the super light steering and the dependence on electronics. Everything was so driven by electronics. Also the cost of replacement of these parts in the event of minor dings didn't help in assuring me either.

Ford Figo: Brilliant ride and handling however dud of an engine. If I had to buy a diesel, I would have gone for it maybe. Excellent offers were available.

Fiat Punto 1.2: Again very good ride and handling and awesome stability. Clings like a leach to the road. However dismal engine. I was literally standing on the accelerator and car just won't move. You need to really push the engine to gain speed.

Maruti Swift: Somehow the response in 2nd gear in slow speed was not great. I expected better. The test drive car was a brand new one with 80 kms on the odo. I would have still gone for it if not for the price difference with the Ritz which has the same engine and built on the same platform. 1L + for automatic climate control and ORVM with indicators did not seem justified. The cost of Swift Vxi OTR and that of Ritz Zxi was exactly the same. Also at that time Swift Vxi did not come equipped with music system so that would have been an extra cost apart from the less space and boot size.

Maruti Alto K10 (old version): Pocket rocket. Blast to drive however very basic even when coming from the Esteem. Due to financial constraints I had even booked one before shifting to the Ritz.

Toyota Liva: Loads of space however very basic interiors and an engine like the figo. I feel its overpriced based on what it has to offer.

Volkswagen Polo: I don't think anyone even comes close with the quality of this car. Very classy interiors and fit and finish. If not for the 3 cylinder engine I would have bought it. It gives you a completely different feeling sitting inside one. Very usable features and they did not waste money by putting in a Start/Stop button but rather have windows being rolled up with the remote. I do hope to own a 1.5 TDI or a GT someday soon.

Ford Classic: : Not a hatch but I really wished I had bought this car and I am sure I do not need to mention the reasons why. However the dealers were very unwilling to sell the car and were pushing the Figo which pissed me off. Also the Titanium variant was way over budget and I did not try to convince myself further.

Points which went in favor of the Ritz:

a. Absolute VFM. At 5.7L OTR in Kolkata for the Zxi trim including 4th year extended warranty, it was a steal.
b. Lots of Space in the front and that's where the seats will be occupied 90% of the time.
c. Excellent drivability thanks to the K12M engine.
d. Safety and other usable features.
f. Better build quality than the other Marutis.
f. Maruti ownership experience and customer service.

I was promised a delivery in 4 weeks during Durga Pujas. In the meantime the esteem was sold off and I started using the Alto which was at that time was solely doing duty for my mom. 4 weeks passed and the car was still not dispatched from Gurgaon. Revised delivery date was that for Diwali. In the meantime my mom was getting pretty angry since she had no access to the car for a month and I had to give back the car to her. Started using the bike unwillingly to office every day. At this time my landlord was in the US and he called me to ask if my new car had come. When I sadly said no, he immediately asked me to use his 4 year old Wagon R Vxi (7000 kms on the odo) till the new car came. I accepted the offer however was getting really angry in the meantime with the dealer. I started calling up all the dealers in the city and no one had a Ritz Zxi in stock. I was contemplating going for a Swift Vxi or Honda Brio SMT however none came with safety features. Swift Zxi was around a lakh more and I didn't think it was justified considering I would get only climate control as extra and indicators in the ORVM as extra.

At last I found one dealer who had Granite Grey Zxi however that was a showroom display car. The only thing that made me a bit hesitant was that Granite Grey Ritz’s came with the Red and Grey interiors only. I went to check it along with a friend and did an on spot PDI. The car was a May’15 manufactured car however was spotlessly clean since it was in the showroom itself. Everything seemed okay and I finalized the car.
I got delivery of the car within a week. No extras taken from the dealer except MGA seat covers apart from the kit they give. Wanted black and red, got black and beige. Grrrrrrrrrrr!!! Within a couple of days got the below fitted.

a) Changed the tyres immediately to Michelin XM2s. OEM was horrible JK Tyres
b) Minda dual trumpet horns replaced the OEM ones
c) iPop mini steering knob and adjustable blind spot mirrors
d) 3M Clear Door Handle Paint Protective film
e) Autographix bumper and door guards
f) Ring Automotive headlamp bulbs sourced from UK , recommended by n_aditya

The car is now around 6500 kms on the odo. I am enjoying each and every moment spent with it.

Exterior

The shape of the car is disliked by many. For me I loved the design from day one. It’s absolutely unconventional and distinctive. Looks like an arrow from the side. Post the face lift in 2012 I love the front even more than before and the addition of the rear spoiler has made the rear even more appealing to me. The gaps are consistent and the flared wheel arches are nice, though I need to be careful in traffic. The doors are pretty heavy with a two stage movements and feels solid unlike other Marutis. Excellent ground clearance with easy ingress and egress.

Interior
The interiors of the car are very well designed and the ergonomics are spot on. The dash mounted tacho adds to the sporty look and all the buttons and knobs are well within reach. The gear lever integrated into the water fall center console falls in your hand easily. The tacho placement is ideal since thats where I would be looking mostly when changing gears and not in the speedo. I can operate the AC buttons and knobs without even taking my hands of the 'short' shifter.

The view from the driver seat is great of the road in front of you since you are sitting pretty high up. All seats have adjustable head restraints. Space is more than enough inside and rear seat passengers do not feel claustrophobic due to a pretty airy cabin. Being a tall boy head space is not an issue at all and due to the high placement of seats you just walk in and out of the car without crouching. The boot space is pretty decent for a hatch and bigger than that of Swift. It also has shopping hooks on either side for hanging your bags. Other storage spaces available are below the rear bench seat and the drawer below the front passenger seat.

Engine, Performance & Braking

The highlight of the car is the fantastic 1.2L K series engine which does its duty in the Swift as well. The acceleration of the car in 2nd and 3rd gears pushes you back to the seats. The engine is super silent when idle and the exhaust has a meaty growl when revved. Except for comparatively shorter gearing than the esteem, the fun factor is much more. I regularly take it past 120 kmph with ease sometimes not even realising I have gone past 100 kmph till I looked into the speedo. Body roll is present during cornering however pretty decent for a hatchback. The steering is direct, and heavy compared to Hyundais. FE in city is about 14-15 with air con on and 18+ on the highways.

The ride is a little bumpy since the car has a stiff suspension however the wider and softer Michelins does help in cushioning and reducing tyre noise. The car feels solid and well planted even at high speeds. The weight of the cars contributes to the same I guess. Even though the Ritz is smaller than the Swift in length and breadth, its heavier than the latter. Sound insulation is decent with the firewall padding helping to ensure sound and heat does not seep into the cabin. The Air con is spot on and I never had to go beyond ‘2’ to keep the cabin cool.

The brakes are pretty good and has a good bite. I haven't yet got a chance to test the ABS (not that I am complaining) except when I purposely slammed the brakes to reassure myself that the ABS works.

Standard Features

The Ritz Zxi comes with pretty decent usable features though not as rich as the Hyundais.
a. Dual SRS airbags
b. ABS with EBD
c. All 5 alloys
d. In dash Nippon music system and 4 door mounted speakers and steering mounted audio controls. USB and Aux in added. The music system is pretty decent for OEM standards however upgrade to components in the pipeline
e. All 5 power door locks which get locked when the car crosses 20kmph. The boot doesn't have a lever or keyhole to be opened from outside. Just press the Door Lock/Unlock button and the boot is unlocked. Gone are days of bending down and feeling for the handle at mall entries
f. Rear wiper and defogger. Was pleasantly surprised to find the wiper blade to be among the few parts which are ‘Made in Japan’ SGP parts
g. Height adjustable front seat belts and steering wheel
h. Height adjustable driver seats
i. Electrically adjustable ORVMs (not fold able)
j. Security Alarm system with shock sensor

Dislikes, issues and pain areas

a. The car already has little rattles specially when travelling over Mastic Asphalt roads. Maruti !!!!
b. No reverse parking sensor
c. The alarm triggers at the slightest noise. Sensitivity cannot be adjusted, just the volume can be decreased.
d. Pedal positions are bit on the higher side, needs getting used to.
e. Driver seat noise during turns. Either needs adjustment or replacement
f. Horrible fog lamps. No light at all, my mobile flash would give more light
g. The reverse gear sometimes refuses to slot in place. You need to shift to first de-clutch a bit and then slot into reverse.
h. The air con when switched on first time in the morning or during starts makes horrible hollow thud. Will get it checked during 3rd service.

The car has already gone through 2 services and engine oil changed during both. I am going with mineral for the time being and then moving to synthetic at 10k. He has also gone through a pampering session of car detailing courtesy bhpian NosPower who has done a brilliant job as always.

A few pics below. Apologies for the quality since they are all clicked on the phone.


Bidding farewell to the mighty Esteem


The other workhorse


The Ritz at the showroom

Pampering in Progress



Interior Shots


View from the back seat

The red interiors blend well and not as bad I had thought it would be . I like the carbon fiber look on the dash.

The waterfall console and integrated 'short' shifter

Storage box on the dashboard. Very useful for toll tickets and parking cards at malls.

Both front doors have spaces for storing 1L bottles

Roof light. Replaced the OEM bulb with LEDs.

Storage below the handbrake. Barely big enough for an iPhone 6 however larger phones may get damaged. Cup holder being used for perfume.

12V socket , but the space beside it is not big enough for a phone.

Driver seat height adjust. Levers feel a bit flimsy.

The buttons on the driver door panels. The 'Lock' button unlocks the boot as well and is the only way of doing so.

The Steering mounted controls and iPop Mini.

The rear boot. The rear struts can be accessed by removing the covers on either side.Also do notice the anti rattle rubber inserts.


The K12M engine

The color of these lights are awesome and has a great high beam. The low beams are better than OEM. My nearest stockist is 8000 kms away.

The Michelins

The ORVMs have great visibility and adjustable blind spot mirrors helping even further.

Exterior pics


Attachment 1358721



The infamous rear

[Turbo_asd]

Congrats on the purchase sir! You seem to have found quite an able successor to the Esteem. I too just love the Ritz's unconventional looks. The other hatches in its segment are passé in terms of unique identity and styling, I feel

Interior shots are eagerly awaited.

Wishing you many (s)miles on your latest acquisition!

[arnabchak]

Dear Alto
One of the most under rated cars in the country and one the the rare laggards from the Maruti stable is this capable workhorse.

The only major grouse and the reason Ritz does not sell the way it should is the "boomerang" rear.
Maruti should look at rectifying this to some extent and see the Ritz soar into the Top 10 list.
The color chosen looks beautiful and congrats on a worthy replacement.

Wish you many happy and trouble free miles ahead.

[petrolhead_neel]

Congrats sir on acquiring a great car. The Ritz is a beautiful car from the stable of Maruti. Great choice of colour too. A nice upgrade from the erstwhile Esteem--considering FTD factor, reliabilty and practicality. If I were asked to chose between Swift and Ritz, i would definitely choose Ritz over the Swift only because of the exclusivity factor. Wish you many happy and safe miles on your car. Also, glad that you went a step further and paid the premium for safety.

The Tallboy definitely deserves more pics, especially of the interior.

Please keep this thread updated.

[GTO]

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

[biju1971]

I have observed the thud noise while starting the ac right from the time I bought the RITZ VXI car. I think it is the sound of the a.c clutch engaging. I pointed out to the service guys during the first service and they said it is normal, although I have not heard such a noise with any other car. I am sure there must be some adjustment to provide smoother engagement for the ac clutch drive. I use the car mainly for highway drives with the ac on maybe 30% of the time with the thermostat position at 10 o clock. I have driven about 6500 km,average 70kmph, rpm around 2.5k and the average fuel consumption indicator shows about 22km/litre.

[Altocumulus]

Originally Posted by biju1971

I have observed the thud noise while starting the ac right from the time I bought the RITZ VXI car. I think it is the sound of the a.c clutch engaging. I pointed out to the service guys during the first service and they said it is normal, although I have not heard such a noise with any other car. I am sure there must be some adjustment to provide smoother engagement for the ac clutch drive. I use the car mainly for highway drives with the ac on maybe 30% of the time with the thermostat position at 10 o clock. I have driven about 6500 km,average 70kmph, rpm around 2.5k and the average fuel consumption indicator shows about 22km/litre.

You reminded me of another issue I face. The MID shows 19 kmpl while when calculated tankful to tankful it is actually 15kmpl or so. So there is significant difference.

[sanjeev_67]

Congrats ! Its a nice car. I am picking up a RITZ VXI Automatic soon. The only thing I miss is the seat height adjuster. Any idea if this can be fitted to the VXI trim ? I need varied answers from different people.

[sumitsinha0280]

Originally Posted by sanjeev_67

Congrats ! Its a nice car. I am picking up a RITZ VXI Automatic soon. The only thing I miss is the seat height adjuster. Any idea if this can be fitted to the VXI trim ? I need varied answers from different people.

People have fitted ZXi's height adjustable seats on their Swift VXis. So I would like to believe it can be done on Ritz as well.

Expect costs of new seats to be in range of 8k.

Regards,
Shashi

[sanjeev_67]

Thank You Shashi I shall check with the dealers in Bangalore. Any suggestions on where it was done for Swift ?

[Altocumulus]

1 year and 16000 kms completed in the first week of November. The car is fantastic ! The odo stands at 18.5k kms now. Engine oil was changed to Mobil fully synthetic during the 3rd service at 10k kms. In a recent trip I touched 160km/hr and the car was rock solid, no nervousness at all.

[Sherlocked]

Hello Altocumulus,
Congratulation on completing a year with this fabulous car!
Good to know that the car is munching miles and keeping you happy.
One query from my side, since you have moved to synthetic oil from mineral, would love to know your observations on the change in engine characteristics, NVH, if any.

We also have a Swift at home and thinking of moving to synthetic oil.
Thanks in Advance. :-)

[Altocumulus]

Thanks Sherlocked. The engine is much more smoother specially at higher revs.
Also after 8k kms, I still donot feel any roughness in the engine sound which is normally felt after driving for so long on mineral oil. More than anything its the 'no worries' feeling when you are going upto 6k rpm, knowing that your engine is protected.

[avinash_m]

Congratulations on completing a niggle free year with the Ritzy Sir! Very nice color choice; this is the most beautiful of all the ones currently available IMO.

I have a 5 yr old, 59K kms VXI (ABS) myself; never had any complaints apart from the usual door-pad rattles from time-to-time! Besides being a daily city driver I've also taken it to numerous outstation trips (Blore - Ooty - Coorg etc.) and have always admired it's capability to play both roles with aplomb! Still recall the wide grin I'd on my face during the Ooty and Coorg trips when I'd indulged in a bit of spirited driving on the mountain roads! Despite being a tall boy, the way it held it's line, both while getting into and exiting the corners, in addition to the rev-happy K12 (I am running synthetic oil as well), it really was fun driving on those twisties! Although, the handling can also be attributed to the 185 section tyres I'd switched over to, it indeed has one of the best e-steer (rightly weighted), suspension combo! The 165 section though understeers quite easily, Maruti should really standardize 185 section for all the lower versions. The only thing I sometimes feel lacking is an extra gear only for better cruising ability!

Despite it's odd ball shape (which BTW grew one me), I really feel Maruti didn't do justice in marketing the Ritz; they could've highlighted the positives much better which could've given them even better sales numbers than what they could manage.

Here's wishing you many thousands of niggle free kms with it; please take care of her by way of regular services and she'd just go on and on! Mine still feels as mechanically tight as when it was new, and I can attribute that only to the regular service schedules I adhered to.

All the best!

[BaluJ]

Originally Posted by Altocumulus

[left]
Dislikes, issues and pain areas

a. The car already has little rattles specially when travelling over Mastic Asphalt roads. Maruti !!!!
b. No reverse parking sensor
c. The alarm triggers at the slightest noise. Sensitivity cannot be adjusted, just the volume can be decreased.
d. Pedal positions are bit on the higher side, needs getting used to.
e. Driver seat noise during turns. Either needs adjustment or replacement
f. Horrible fog lamps. No light at all, my mobile flash would give more light
g. The reverse gear sometimes refuses to slot in place. You need to shift to first de-clutch a bit and then slot into reverse.
h. The air con when switched on first time in the morning or during starts makes horrible hollow thud. Will get it checked during 3rd service.

Congrats on your new ride and wish you many safe miles ahead
just a question about the alarm sensitivity - are you sure it can't be adjusted?

About the fog lamps your right - its good but can be better. Any idea about fog light upgrades?