[ajay_satpute]

Teaser:



Disclaimer: All views mentioned in this thread are purely my personal views and mean no offense to any existing owners of any car.

Frankly, there was no plan as such to upgrade my Vista which was doing its job pretty well. The odo reading was about 71,000 KMs, when the itch to upgrade started.

My Vista - my first car:

Dedicated thread: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...edit-sold.html

The Vista served me really well from day one, except one incident where the clutch gave up. But even at that time, I got fabulous service from Tata RSA team. So all in all no regrets of owning the Vista.

My 7 year old daughter cried a lot when I told her that I have to go and drop the Vista at the showroom because we are exchanging Vista with another car. For her and my nephew, Vista was the only car in the house until they both like 4 year old or so. So everyone in the house was emotionally attached to the car to an extent being the first car in the house.

Now there are 3 more cars in the house, but first car is first car.

And thus started an arduous research on ' What car? '

The budget was initially decided to be around 9 lakhs OTR, after calculating EMIs, old car valuation, etc.

The manufacturers which were not even considered were Tata, Chevrolet and Toyota.

Tata: Not considered because I was exchanging my Tata Vista and wanted to try a different company this time.

Chevrolet:
There is already one Chevy car at home and there was nothing exciting in my price range.

Toyota:
Only two options in my budget category were Liva and Etios, and both these have possibly the most boring interiors in their segment. I wish I had the budget to buy the Corolla. That car is a gem and a benchmark for reliability as many would swear by its bullet proof reliability and long term life. But, next time may be.

So after ruling out the above manufacturers, it was time to get serious about the contenders:

1) Ford
2) Renault
3) Nissan
4) VW
5) Hyundai
6) Mahindra
7) Maruti (last choice).

The cars in contention:

[ajay_satpute]

My observations on the choices. (Choices in bold were serious contenders)

1) Renault Duster:

Duster is a fine car! Period. Two things that made me look elsewhere were the below average interiors and every 5th car on the road is a Duster. Even though I could have lived with the 2nd observation, the interiors are seriously disappointing for a car having excellent exteriors, ride and engine. The top-end 85 PS RXL Option was coming out to be 13.5 lakhs on-road Pune. I kept the Duster on the back burner.

I also was a bit interested in the Duster Explore edition, due to its nice exterior and interior modifications, but the Explore edition had no ABS and only driver-side airbag for the 85 PS variant.

2) Renault Lodgy:
I personally feel that all those who are looking to buy the Ertiga, purely for the purpose of an MUV, MUST have a look at the Lodgy. The Lodgy has much more space compared to Ertiga, the boot is slightly better than Ertiga and overall package is for sure better. Only problem could be the service network of Renault no where near to that of Maruti, but I don't see that as a deal breaker. I did not considered because I did not feel it as a premium offering.

One thing to add about the Renault experience. The SA, Mr. Prashant, at Roharsh Motors, Baner, Pune is a gem of an SA. I got two really long test drives on the same day without any questions asked or being told to stop anytime during the test drive. He really followed up extremely sincerely until the very end, when I told him that I am not buying the Duster. He was never rude, and genuinely wanted to sell the car to me and was ready to go to any extent regarding offers and everything. He is THE BEST SA I dealt with during my entire research of all cars from all companies.

I sent an appreciation email to Roharsh Motors owners about Mr. Prashant for his dedication towards his duty. He may have got some targets to achieve for the festive season, but he never behaved unprofessional. If anyone is buying a Renault vehicle in Pune, do let me know. I can give you contact details of Mr. Prashant and I am sure you will have a good buying experience.

3) Honda Jazz:
The new Honda Jazz is a good package overall, but I did not feel that I am upgrading from my Vista. Even though, everything was better than Vista, to an extent, in the new Jazz, I thought why replace hatch with hatch. Also, the diesel clatter in the Jazz is too evident and the refinement is not very Honda like ( iVtec ).

4) Honda City:
My father loves the City, but I found the build quality a little bit of low quality for this price range. For instance, when I poked my finger on the door, I was able to make a small dent. But, otherwise, City is one heck of a car. What I did not like was again the audible diesel clatter and little too loud display with too many colors.

I did not even glance at Brio, Amaza and Mobilio because of the really sub-par quality of interiors. When you are in the Honda showroom, you can really feel the two category of cars.

Also, there was not much follow up from the Honda guys and I felt that they are not too interested in selling any car. May be, it was just this particular dealer, but nonetheless.

5) Nissan Terrano:
A sister/brother of Duster in every possible way, except the brilliant exteriors. I loved the Terrano only for thing, the really good looking exteriors. The colors, the alloys and overall finish is better on Terrano IMO. The problem with Terrano is that it is about 30-40k more expensive than the Duster, variant to variant. The top-end 85 PS variant was about 14.2 on-road Pune. And even at higher price, some features like reverse parking camera, full touch screen system and few more were missing.

Recently, I had read an article on the Terrano thread that Nissan sales are down significantly and one of the main reason was their poor A.S.S. So it was good bye Nissan!

6) Hyundai Creta:
For everyone who is considering a compact SUV right now, Creta seems to be the OBVIOUS choice. I also thought Creta is a good product and let's check it out.

The Hyundai showroom I visited, was deserted and it wore a look of a Government office like the PF office. All SAs were behaving like they are almost dead and least interested in customers. I somehow got brochure and price list for Creta. The reason I cancelled Creta was because the atrociously long waiting period of 8-10 months. I am not that big fan of any car to wait for 8-10 months. Even the custom made Rolls Royce is delivered much earlier and that is worth the wait.

7) Hyundai i20 Active:
I was a bit interested in this car, but I felt that it was just another hatch with a very good ground clearance and some nifty features. My old Vista had more rear seat space than the Active. Also, the Active diesel top-end was 10 lakhs+ which I thought was way too expensive.

I did not consider the Elite i20 nor the Verna from the Hyundai stable for purely personal reasons.

8) Ford Figo Aspire:
Aspire was a very serious contender for my next car. Its a wonderful product in all aspects, except the build quality is very unlike Ford. Especially, when you compare Aspire with EcoSport, you can easily see that EcoSport is really well built and feels much sturdy in comparison. There is a hint of cost cutting with the Aspire, when compared EcoSport, Fiesta and other previous Ford products. Whether the build quality is better than Aspire's rivals, is something we can discuss in other threads.

Aspire is loaded to brim with great features, and it trumps all its rivals with safety features on the top-end Titanium Plus variant. The driveability is very good both in city and highways with those 100 horses under the hood. Noise insulation, brakes, interior fit and finish and most things are much better than rivals IMO. The only major omission is a full touch screen, which is like a norm these days. At 9.8 lakhs on-road Pune, Aspire is superb choice. I highly recommend it to everyone who have <= 10 lakhs budget. Good job Ford !

9) VW Polo GT TDI and Vento TDI Highline:
I made one visit to the VW showroom just to check out these beauties. But I was not entirely confident about the company's health, at least for the next 6-8 months. There might be multiple recalls, price reductions and product revamps due to the scandal. So thought of staying away from VW for now.

10) Mahindra Scorpio:
I really wanted to check out the Scorpio before finalizing. But extremely disappointing response from the Mahindra dealer made me walk away. I reached the showroom at 3:50 PM on Sunday and I was told by the security guard that the showroom closes at 4 PM and that I should not enter now, since there will be no one. I did not get any further calls from Mahindra, so Scorpio was out of contention. I could have easily checked out some other dealer, but things changed dramatically in the next one week or so.

Few cars which I would have bought, if I could have stretched my budget a bit:
1) Mahindra XUV: Love it!
2) Toyota Corolla Altis: For bullet-proof reliability and long-life.
3) Duster AWD
4) Mercedes A-class (Am I nuts or what?)


11) Maruti Ertiga:
Finally, I entered the Maruti world. The first obvious choice was the Ertiga, given that I live in a joint family of 8. Ertiga is a decent people mover with good features on offer and Maruti's service network advantage. The diesel Ertiga is a bit sluggish, especially with full load. I think the Ertiga petrol with that 1.4 engine is really good and has great pulling power compared to the diesel 1.3 MJD. Those who don't need a diesel, must check out the Ertiga petrol. The petrol Ertiga is also very fuel efficient. My BIL gets around 15-16 in city and about 18 kmpl on highways with his Ertiga ZXi, which in my opinion is very good.

Now it was time to venture into the Nexa world. On paper, the entire Nexa concept sounds very good, but the reality is different.

12) Maruti Suzuki Nexa Baleno:
Why such a big name? Well thats how it is on paper, but you will see that the RM's at Nexa showrooms don't want to say Maruti or may be they are trained that way. Baleno is a fantastic product and the sales numbers are just proving that. People are going bonkers over the Baleno and the Nexa showrooms are flooded all the time. S-Cross is clearly overshadowed and Maruti has also cut production of S-Cross to meet the overwhelming demand for Baleno.

All said and done, Baleno's build quality is really questionable IMHO. When you compare it with the S-Cross, in the same showroom, you can feel it. Of course, S-Cross is in a different segment and class, but still the price difference between Baleno diesel top-end (~ 10 lakhs) and S-Cross 1.3 diesel Zeta variant (~11 lakhs), is not much. With a stretch of 1 lakh INR, you get a much better product.

And the winner is...

[ajay_satpute]

13) Maruti Suzuki S-Cross 1.3:

It had slipped out of my mind that Maruti has something called as Nexa. So I decided to visit the Nexa showroom with a lot of skepticism in my mind. When I first visited the Nexa showroom, Baleno was not even launched. So the showroom had very few people and S-Cross was getting all the attention.

I entered the showroom after doing all my homework, on variants, approximate prices, accessories, etc. When I was confronted by the RM, I said I want to check out S-Cross DDiS 200 Zeta. The RM was speechless for a few seconds. "Sir, you know exactly what you want, already?". So he started explaining the features from the brochure. I told him that I am aware of most the features and let us first go for a test drive.

He immediately arranged one 1.3 Zeta in blue color. Usually, customers who visit this showroom are given a very tiny TD, but may be it was my lucky day that day. I took a longish TD and the RM did not stop me anywhere. I checked brakes, almost top speeds, u-turns, bumps, pits, reverse and what not. As soon as returned from the TD, I pulled out my checkbook and paid the booking amount of 11,000/- INR. This came as a surprise to everyone, including my wife and the RM. He was elated to accept the booking and sprinted inside the showroom office to get receipt and complete all other formalities. I got a proper receipt and the wait began.

Initially I had booked the Caffine Brown color, since that was the first color I saw on S-Cross in the showroom. Me and my wife both liked the color a lot and decided to go with it.

I was going to exchange my 6 year 72k KMs old Vista with the dealer. The initial deal was decided as follows:

Model: S-Cross 1.3 Zeta
Total On-road price: 11,30,000/- INR
Old car value: 1,10,000/- INR

I was not at all happy with the offer, but I still made the booking because I knew I can negotiate later on. I checked out other Nexa dealers in Pune and they were not offering anything spectacular. But still for the purpose of negotiation, I had called up my RM and had told him that I am going to visit the other two Nexa dealers and find out their offers. This happened post 6 pm on that day. I got a frantic call from the RM at 8 PM telling me that they had 'a high level' meeting with the all managers and seniors just to discuss my case. What crap is this and who was he trying to fool? He said that they have reconsidered my request and this is what they can offer now:

Final OTR Pune: 11,30, 000/-
Old car value; 1,40,000/-
Loyalty bonus (for a Tata car): 20,000/-

I accepted the upgraded offer and made the remaining down payment immediately, before they change their mind in some silly 'high level' meeting. I made sure to get all this in written.
A week after the booking, I changed the color to White. For this I had to go to the showroom, write an application and submit it with the RM. The color change confirmation came after 24 hours.

I was going to go with SBI car loan, as SBI is currently offering the lowest ROI at 9.75%. I collected all required documents in a day and called up the RM. The few subtle and positive differences between regular dealership and Nexa started to make their presence felt. The RM called me up and told me that he will come to my office at any time suitable to me to collect the documents. I gave him a time and he was there in my office on the dot. He was accompanied with the person who is in-charge of used car department. I filled up all the forms and handed over the documents to the RM.

PDI:
All formalities were completed and the car was allotted to me. So as is the norm with us BHPians, I told the RM that I will be doing my own PDI before the car is sent for registration. Rm was not sure about this, so he connected me with the RM Manager. Manager told me that they do some 36 point PDI from their side and hence there is no need for me doing the PDI. I told him that I will not accept the car unless and until I am satisfied with my own PDI. He was kind of reluctant and started giving some lame excuses. I told him if you cannot let me do PDI, I will tell the bank to stop the payment and will cancel my booking. He immediately obliged and got my car to the stockyard near the showroom.

I did my PDI and found everything in place. The odo reading was around ~47 kms which I was ok with. During the PDI, I taught few things to the RM. I told him how to find out the manufacturing date of any car, by referring to our brilliant VIN decoding thread. I also taught him how to check tyre manufacturing dates. I explained him regarding ODO readings and how dealers can cheat. Overall, the PDI went well and the RM was also happy to learn a few things from me. I gave a go ahead to the dealership and even the bank on the same day.

Some photos from the PDI:

[ajay_satpute]

After the PDI, the wait for the delivery started and did not realize that time, that the wait is going to be agonizing. Due to color change, and unplanned customer PDI and other stupid excuses, the car did not go to RTO for registration. The entire Diwali week was a complete wash out as both RTO and the bank were shut for 5-6 days. This meant that the it was going to take additional week or two from the date of PDI.

Finally, I got a call that the file has been sent for registration and I got an SMS from RTO that they have received my file. Exactly, 3 days from receiving the SMS, I got a call from the RM that the car is completely ready and I can take delivery. It was already post 5 PM on the day I got the call, hence I told him that I will take delivery on the next day at 12 noon in broad day light.

The d-day (29-November-2015):
I reached the showroom one hour before my family, so that they don't get bored with my 1000 questions to the RM for this document and that receipt and all that jazz. To my surprise, I did not get a chance to find any fault. All documents, manuals, receipts, insurance, extended warranty note were ready. All accessories were fitted as instructed and there was nothing left to do. So I called my family and told them to reach showroom. The car was then pulled into the delivery bay and was cleaned well. By the time the car was being cleaned, all the family members received water, coffee, juices, chocolates and what not, to kill the time. So basically, the showroom staff made sure everyone was happy and refreshed until the flag off.

Finally, after an hour and half, all was done and the car was waiting for its owner in all its glory.



The nice little touch of Nexa showing the name of the customer on the nicely embedded LED display at the time of delivery.



All happy faces



After driving out of the showroom, I headed straight to petrol pump. All the other cars are at home are all petrol. So this is the first time I was on a petrol pump to fill diesel. Looking at the difference of about ~15 Rs per liter, the feeling was nice, really nice ! Full tank of 48 liters costed around 2,000 INR. I used to spend same amount on filling 30 liters of petrol in my Vista 2.5 times in a month. So the difference was significant enough, if you do the calculations.

After filling diesel, we all had a nice sumptuous lunch at one of our favorite places and went back home riding the new beauty with a wide grin on my face. We had planned to go to temple in the evening as most temples are closed during 1 to 4 pm everyday. So as planned, we headed to the temple at 5 pm. This temple is our favorite one due to its peaceful surroundings, sufficient parking space and very good staff. I spoke with the temple manager and told him that I want to do pooja for the new car. He had fixed rates for "vahan pooja" at 551/- INR. I paid the money, the pujari came out with all the material needed for pooja and performed an exhaustive pooja my new car.




NEXA experience:

A lot has already been said about the Nexa experience on the S-Cross, Baleno and Nexa threads. For me the experience was not really premium as it is claimed by Maruti. The product, S-Cross, is surely premium, but Maruti has a long way to go to make Nexa standout in the market. I don't have first hand experience, but most people have had premium experience with Toyota dealers across the country. So instead of desperately trying out something different, Maruti needs to do a lot of homework and market analysis to make Nexa truly premium.

Common problems/complaints at all Nexa showrooms:
* Lack of parking at most showrooms
* Staff is not as knowledgeable as they should be
* Extreme chaos at most showrooms and customers are not attended on time
* Lack of TD vehicles
* Unnecessary and unexpected rush while making deliveries, where some members and customers have complained about not getting good demos of the car
* Some dealers denying PDIs to customers. This never happened with normal Maruti dealers, as far as I know.
* I personally saw two vehicles, one S-Cross and one Baleno being delivered with a dent. I had caught the Baleno and had notified the owners as they were unaware of the dent. The excuse I got was lame "Sir, the dent happened while unloading the car from the delivery truck". As if other cars just fall out of the sky at the showroom.
* Documentation mistakes

All these problems were/are already present at normal showrooms of most companies, leave aside Maruti, so where is the difference? The premium-ness is seriously lacking for now. Yes, the RMs and most of the staff are well dressed (grey suit and white shirt) and can speak English too, when there is a need. The Nexa showrooms are less cluttered compared to a typical Maruti showroom, at least as of now. When Maruti adds more products to the Nexa showrooms, God knows how they will manage and maintain the so-called premium quotient.

Issues which I faced personally at Nexa:
* RM is not at all knowledgeable enough about accessories and their prices. For instance, my RM told me that the Auto IRVM costs around 2k INR whereas the actual cost is around 6k INR.
* The bank representative made unacceptable mistakes while filling up the loan form. For instance, he had written 'Baleno' in place of S-cross on the form and had also made a mistake while writing my PAN and bank account number.
* While fitting the real spoiler, paint on the spoiler got chipped off at one corner. I said I will not accept this at any cost. So they finally fitted a brand new spoiler just before the delivery day.
* There were just two options for seat covers, just TWO! All the videos being played in the showrooms and their iPads were showing at least 8 different varieties of seat covers. But these all were just for show. Luckily, I got a good quality seat covers with S-Cross branding from Nexa.

I escalated all my issues to Nexa customer car and even Maruti with actual photographs of the way the bank forms were filled. It seems Nexa sent a strong email to the dealer. The next day on receiving the email, I got a call from my RM and he told me that he wants to meet me and explain regarding service for S-Cross. But he was actually coming to meet me to apologize for the problems I had reported. When I met him at my office reception, he had got the Loan department manager of Nexa with him. Both of them apologized profusely and offered me another box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates. I think this was a very good gesture on their part and this can be considered as part of their premium-ness mission. I am sure no other dealer would have done this. I have bought multiple cars from multiple dealers before and I never had such good experience and people apologizing personally for their mistakes. So all I can say that Maruti is on the right track, but still have a very long way to go.

[ajay_satpute]

About S-Cross:

Our official Team-BHP thread (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...al-review.html) already has covered all the bases, so nothing much too add from my side. I will just add some extra information here.

S-Cross has two engine variants for now, 1.3 and 1.6. 1.3 is called DDiS200 as it produces 200 NM of torque @ 1750 RPM and 1.6 is called DDiS320 is called so because it produces 320 NM of torque @ 1750 RPM.

Why is the MJD engine of Fiat called the national engine? Here's why. A whopping 18 cars in India are currently using this engine in fundamentally two tunes, 75 PS FGT and 90 PS VGT. All companies have tuned these engines as per their requirements and planning. Frankly, every other company than Fiat itself, has tuned Fiat's engines better and are extracting more fun and fuel efficiency, compared to Fiat's own Puntos and Lineas IMO.

List of All Current Cars Which Use Fiat’s 1.3L MultiJet Diesel Engine (Source- Motorbash)

1. Chevrolet Beat TCDi
2. Fiat Linea
3. Fiat Punto Evo
4. Fiat Linea Classic
5. Fiat Avventura
6. Maruti Suzuki Ritz
7. Maruti Suzuki Swift
8. Maruti Suzuki Dzire (also Dzire Tour)
9. Maruti Suzuki Ertiga
10. Maruti Suzuki Ciaz (Coming with a hybrid on this engine)
11. Maruti Suzuki S-Cross
12. Tata Zest
13. Tata Bolt
14. TATA Indigo Manza Quadrajet
15. Premier Rio 1.3 Multijet
16. Chevrolet Sail Hatch
17. Chevrolet Sail Sedan
18. Chevrolet Enjoy MPV

S-Cross model:

S-Cross as a model may be a new offering in India, but it is not new to the world. Suzuki SX4 was the first model launched internationally in 2006 with a joint venture between Suzuki and Fiat. Initially, it was launched as a hatchback and a sedan (Maruti Suzuki SX4 in India). Suzuki launched the min-SUV version called as Suzuki SX4 Cross internationally and stopped both the hatch and sedan versions in 2014. The same mini-SUV is launched as Maruti Suzuki S-Cross in India. So the S-Cross now sold in India, is the 2nd generation of this model line-up. Internationally, the Suzuki SX4 Cross is available with two engines, both 1.6 petrol and diesels. Due to price(debatable point) and fuel efficiency conscious customer base in India, Maruti must have decided to do away with the 1.6 petrol and instead brought the popular 1.3 MJD.
Trivia: S-Cross is not available in the US and Canada markets, as Suzuki has withdrawn from these countries.

My personal list of pros and cons:

Pros:
* Superb build quality in comparison to all Maruti Suzuki cars sold in India till date (except Kizashi and probably the original Grand Vitarra). This is exactly how Apple advertises their iPhones, "best iPhone till date". They don't comment on whether it is the smart phone in the market. Similarly, there are many cars which have better build quality than S-Cross, but at least it is the best from Maruti stable.
* Great fuel efficiency even with the ~ 1700 GVW of the car. I am already getting 18 kmpl in horrible Pune traffic. Some members have reported crazy FE readings like 28, 29.8 kmpl on highways.
* Exceptional ride quality !!! I cannot write enough about the brilliant ride quality of S-Cross. Of all the cars I test drove, I think only Duster came close to the ride quality of S-Cross.
* Spacious. The car is very spacious with lots of usable space for bottles, cup holders, sun glass holder and what not.
* Excellent visibility due to large glass areas.
* 180 mm of ground clearance is perfect for Indian roads. Duster, Ecosport and few others have 200mm and more, but 180 is good enough.
* Fantastic entertainment system. The touch screen system is responsive and covers all basic needs, like bluetooth telephony, navigation, audio/video playback.
* Service network. Since S-Cross will be serviced by the same Maruti dealers, there is no problem of finding a service station in the vicinity.
* Feature list is very good even on the Zeta variant and really stands out as the most VFM variant of the 4 available variants. (1.6 has only 3 variants)
* Turbo lag is minimal. I had test driven the Ertiga and have driven the Linea MJD extensively. I felt that the leg lesser than both these vehicles on the S-Cross.
* Auto AC or ACC is just superb! One day I had parked my car in harsh sunlight in the afternoon on the side of a road for more than 2 hours. The cabin got cooled in less than 15-20 seconds after I switched ON the car after 2 hours. ACC is truly ACC.
* Voice commands work well to an extent. The speech recognition is tuned to Indian accent quite well. The voice quality on the car system is fabulous.

Cons:
* Every time you have to use the unlock function twice to unlock all other doors besides the Driver's door. Even though it is safety feature as they claim, it can a bit irritating at times.
* Horrible JK Elanzo tyres. I think every Team-BHP member,including me, who bought S-Cross has changed the stock tyres to something better.
* The boot space could have been a little more, but this is only in comparison to other vehicles in the same segment.
* Price. Almost everyone has this complain that the price is higher than expected and should have been at least 30-40k cheaper for each variant. However, when I compared this with the Duster/Terrano pricing, S-Cross is almost 2 lakhs cheaper, considering the feature list of S-Cross.
* The touch screen system is a little finicky. Once you get used to its nature, there should not be any problem. Its not such a critical problem.
* The 4th quadrant of the touch screen system is a little tricky. First of all, not all handsets are supported, as the handsets need to have the MirrorLink feature. Secondly, there are only certain apps which are supported as part of this feature. I am yet to use this feature properly. Nexa RMs have no clue at all regarding this.
* In-built maps cannot be updated that easily.
* Voice commands should support more commands like AC temperature, blower speeds, doors lock/unlock, etc...
* What do I do with all the original audio CDs I have bought over the years??? No provision to play an audio CD in the S-Cross. I understand that USB/Aux/Bluetooth are the modern ways of streaming music. However, I still am very sure that the recording quality on an original audio CD is THE best.

Accessories procured from Nexa:
* S-Cross branded seat covers: 7450/-
* Mud flaps: 490/-
* Designer S-Cross branded mats: 1,390/-
* Steering wheel cover: 890/-
* Illuminated door sill guards: 3,790/-
* Rear spoiler: 5005/-
* Key fob cover: 199/- (from Amazon)

Modifications:
* Replaced the JK Elanzos with Michelin Primacy 3ST.
Final deal:
Buy back for JK Elanzo: 4,000/- per tyre
Michelin Primacy 3ST: 6,900/- per tyre
Total cost for 4 tyres: 11,600/-

Future modifications:
None planned so far. The car has everything that I wanted plus a few more. The only thing I might change later on are the alloys. I could not find any tyre dealer in Pune who was ready to buy back the Suzuki branded alloys, so decided to stick to stock ones for now.

Current odo reading: 700kms
Average FE based on full tank to full tank method: 17.3 kmpl (Don't go with the FE shown on MID in one of the photos below. That was was too early and the FE has now gone up and is going up day by day).

Apologies for the longish thread, but thought of putting out every minor detail as far as possible, so as to help prospective buyers (hopefully) and readers.

I would like to thank Team-BHP for the wonderful review and also the following S-Cross owners' threads. All these threads helped me a lot in making the final decision.

* http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...50-cometh.html by pannags
* http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...200-alpha.html by sandygordon
* http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...i-s-cross.html by volkman10
* http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ross-1-3l.html by sudeepg

Last but not the least, I would like to thank my wife for supporting me throughout the research and helping in making the final decision. I would have finalized the Figo Aspire for sure, but she was of the opinion that if we are anyway spending close to 10 lakhs, why not stretch the budget more and get something better. And lastly, the smile on her face during the TD of S-Cross, sealed the deal for me. I cannot forget the expression on her face which I saw in the IRVM during the TD.

Now its time for some eye candy. There is no specific theme, purpose or order for the photographs. Just enjoy!









































Keep smiling ! Cheers !!!

[ajay_satpute]

Odo reading ~ 2200 KMs.

I am attempting to provide more details now based on the driving experience so far and the team-bhp format, which might help readers. The 2000 kms included two highway trips.

• Extended warranties & service packages: I have got 2+2 warranty as default, which is good enough to keep the car running fine for next 4 years at least.
  
  
• Engine type & variant: DDiS200 aka 1.3 90 PS Fiat MJD engine. Variant: Zeta
  
  
• The good and bad about its features
  Good bits:
  * The music system is fantastic ! I love the sound output and I don't think any prospective buyer needs to worry about changing the stock system. I would rate the music system at 8.5/10.
  * Ground clearance at 180mm is perfect. You can stop worrying about those dreadful potholes or bumps on roads and your car bottoming out. I have driven through some really bad roads during my Nasik trip and never had any anxious moment. The car literally glides over such surfaces.
  * The auto-folding mirrors came into real good use in one situation where I was kind of squeezed between two trucks. The only way out was to fold the mirrors and crawl out. So I folded both the ORVMs and successfully escaped the sandwich. How I got into this situation is a different topic of discussion.
  * More good bits already mentioned above.
  
  Bad bits:
  * The touch screen system is finicky !!! The Bass and Treble settings get reset if you turn off BT on your phone and re-add it. You need to reset those settings as per your preferences.
  * The Clock displayed on the touch screen started lagging like anything. Thankfully there are two options to set time - 1) Manual 2) GPS based. So I changed to GPS mode and selected India timezone and now the time is displayed correctly. Quite a thoughtful addition to the system I must say.
  * The Android Mirror / 4th quadrant is not easy to use. I have still not been able to connect to it and mirror my phone's screen. Unfortunately, none of the staff members at Nexa have any idea. Hopefully, the service center guys know something.
  * Engine noise beyond 100 kmph. During my two highway trips, I got a chance to stretch the legs of the S-Cross a bit. But the severe engine noise pulled me back and I continued driving at 80-90 kmps. Its not a deal breaker, but should have been handled well in a premium product.
  * Doors don't unlock automatically on shutting down the engine. Though this is not a bad bit per say, it is a bit irritating to co-passengers to wait for me to unlock all the doors. I hope there is some override for this feature.
  
  
• Safety & related equipment
  Kudos to Maruti for providing ABS and 2 airbags as standard across the range. The additional all 4 disc brakes really make the car a solid case among its competitors.
  
  
• Number of kms at the time of writing review: ~2200 kms.
  
  
• My usage pattern : About 20 kms in dense city traffic daily and a highway trip once in 2-3 months. Believe me that the 1.3 is very much driveable in B2B dense traffic. I have never felt the lag in all my daily office commutes.
  
  
• Comments on the exterior styling & design
  This is an area of debate or very subjective. All my friends and relatives who have seen my car in flesh have absolutely loved the exterior styling and the overall design of the car. Almost everyone said that the exteriors are clean and probably the best ever from Maruti, except the Swift and now the Baleno.
  I personally love the rear 3/4th view of the car. The side profile is little bland IMO. Otherwise the S-Cross looks quite nice. Yes, its not a looker like the Terrano or the Creta, but its not bad at all.
  
  
• Overall build quality, fit & finish, paint quality and panel gaps
  Superb! Paint quality, fit & finish on outside and inside and overall build quality is outstanding for a Maruti product. There are few panel gaps which could have been shorter, but if you look closely, they are most likely by design. For instance, the panel gap on top of the rear lights is probably needed to accommodate the large and heavy boot lid.
  
  
• Wheels & tyres
  As has been the norm, I swapped the stock JKs with Michelin Primacy P3STs. The JKs were bought back fro 4k INR per tyre and the Michelins costed 6,900 INR. The tyre is almost gone with the Michelins.
  
  The only sore point in the S-Cross design is the design pattern of the stock alloys. However, I did not go for alloy change as couple of respected tyre dealers in Pune told me that the stock Suzuki alloys are of superb quality and I should not spend unnecessarily on the alloys right away.
  
  
• Interior design & quality
  * Plastics: All the plastic bits in the S-Cross are of very good quality, leave aside the power window switches brought over from the Swift. I personally love every bit of the interior.
  * Upholstery: I got art leather S-Cross branded seat covers from Nexa as an MGA at 6500 INR. I think that the quality of the seat covers is excellent for an MGA product.
  * Overall fit and finish of the interiors is something we have never seen in a Maruti product and IMHO, it is even better than the fit & finish of Duster/Terrano.
  
  
• Interior space & comfort:
  * Both Front and rear seats are really good. Its pretty easy to find your suitable seating position in S-Cross.
  * The space available on both front and rear seats is outstanding. The rear seats especially are very comfortable. The rear passengers love the seating position as it is higher than conventional rear seat height and every rear passengers gets a good view in all directions.
  * The legroom is fabulous and the rear seat can very easily accommodate 3 passengers.
  * The only missing part is the lumbar support adjustment. Even my 3.9 lakhs Tata Vista had it.
  
  
• Driving position, ergonomics, controls & MID:
  * Ergonomics are near perfect in S-Cross. The design of the door armrest is accurate because when you place your hand on the armrest, you get perfect cushion for the elbow and the power window switch(es) fall perfectly at your finger tips.
  * All controls are easy to reach and easy to operate. You never have to stretch or bend to operate any of the controls. The controls are also of high quality. I like the intuitive design of the head light/indicator stalk. It has a small pit like depression in which you can rest your thumb and operate the stalk very naturally.
  * MID: MID shows a lot of info such as open door warning, handbrake warning, time, outside temperature, Instance FE and Average FE, trip meters and many more.
  
  
• Visibility & size of mirrors
  The visibility and size of the ORVMs is very good. They have a good coverage and are wide enough for all situations. The electric adjustment only adds to the usability factor.
  
  
• Air conditioner cooling & effectiveness
  * AC is a chiller even in harsh broad-day sunlight. The ACC cools the cabin in no time (< 10 seconds) and most of co-passengers have often complained that the AC cooling is too much and I am forced to keep temperatures like 25, 25.5 degrees and above.
  * The major omission from the S-Cross which has been highlighted in all official reviews are the rear AC vents. But believe me, you really don't need those. Not only the AC is extremely effective it also has a good reach. None of rear passengers have complained about not getting the AC cooling.
  
  
• Audio system & sound quality
  I would rate the audio system and the sound quality at about 8.5-9/10. I am quite impressed by the stock system. I think 90% of the owners will not find a need to upgrade the setup. Unless, you are a serious audiophile, the stock system is awesome !
  
  
• Interior storage, practicality & boot space
  S-Cross has a lot of storage places like bottle holders, cup holders, rear-seat arm rest and what not. The bottle holders are of perfect size, shape and depth.
  
  Boot space could have been a bit more, but only compared to the competition. I find the 350 liters space to be very usable. The loading lip is not too high and not too low. The locl-unlock button on the boot lid is quite useful.
  
• Any other unique or noteworthy points about the interiors
  * The blue light in the footwell on opening the driver and passenger doors is a neat thing. It adds to the premiumness of the product.
  
  
• Engine performance & driveability in the city
  * The S-Cross 1.3 is very much driveable in the city traffic. I have never felt the lag to be a problem in the B2B traffic.
  * Even in horrible city traffic, the FE is oustanding. I am currently getting 18+ kmpl in Pune traffic consistently.
  * The only problem in driving in city traffic is you cannot enjoy the car. You never get to test that addictive torque.
  
  
• Engine performance & driveability on the highway
  * Simply outstanding ! The extremely composed and comfortable ride quality makes highway cruising all the more enticing.
  * You can easily build up the speeds on any gear from 3 and above. The engine keeps pulling even in 5th gear.
  * Only slight irritant is the engine noise above 100 kmpl. Engine sounds a little harsh above sane speeds, which might make you withdraw from spirited driving.
  * The FE on highways goes out of the roof, per say. I got around 26 kmpl for a car which in its run-in period. I can't imagine what will happen post first oil change. S-Cross is really fuel efficient, irrespective of city or highway driving. Maruti has made sure their USP (FE) remains the same even on a premium product like S-Cross.
  * Overtaking is a piece of cake, if you are moving along at 1800 RPM and above. In all my ~800 kms highway trip, I had to downshift 3-4 times very few times. Going up the ghats was a special feeling. No more downshifting to 1st or 2nd gears and crawl behind heavy vehicles.
  * The car gets good respect from other vehicles because of its road presence. But I cannot say the same if the same car is being viewed from rear. From rear, S-Cross looks deceptively smaller.
  
  
• Overall opinion on the engine
  * I think the 1.3 is a great engine and no wonder its the national engine. And Maruti has tuned it really well, compared to the one on the Linea. You cannot get the monstrous throw-back-in-the-seat torque on the 1.6 engine. But overall, 1.3 engine is no sacrifice at all.
  
  
• Gearshift & clutch:
  * Gear shift is pretty good compared to my previous car and most of the cars I test drove. But it seems it is not as good as the Swift. I have no first hand experience of driving a Swift, so cannot comment.
  * The 2nd gear is too short for my liking. Rest of the gears are perfect.
  
  
• Overall NVH levels (including engine, wind & road noise)
  * NVH levels are quite subdued overall. The insulation is good enough, if not the best.
  * The engine does get noisy above 100 kmpl as mentioned already. However, its not as audible as the Vento or the Rapid.
  
  
• Fuel efficiency: City and Highway
  * City: ~17-18 kmpl
  * Highway: ~23-25 kmpl
  
  
• Handling, on-road behavior, grip levels, stability, body roll & turning radius
  * Handling is pretty good. I never got that nervous feeling even once, which was abundant while driving the Vista. Even at triple digit speeds, the car behaves very well, in terms of handling. There was one situation on the highway where I was driving at above 100 kmph speed on an empty stretch and a Swift suddenly popped up on the road from an adjoining village at 10 kmph speed. I had to brake suddenly and the car stopped immediately without any jerks, nose dives or lateral shakes. ABS+EBD+all 4 disc brakes really help the cause.
  * Body roll is almost negligible IMO. My wife told me after reaching our destination that she did not feel like we drove for 250 kms, through 3 ghats and all.
  * Turning radius at 5.2 m is quite easy to manage. I have done most of the U-turns in one attempt on busy roads.
  
  
• Steering
  * Steering is of high quality. Its one pretty steering and feels rich and premium.
  * The steering mounted controls are of great quality and overall fit & finish is top class.
  * The steering even though light at lower speeds and parking speeds, weighs up quite well as the speed goes up.
  
  
• Braking
  * Excellent brakes. Period.
  
  
• Ground clearance
  * Ground clearance at 180mm is perfect enough for Indian conditions. It is impossible to bottom the car in any situation, unless you are doing some serious off-roading with the S-Cross.
  
  
• Any niggles, problems or part replacements:
  None so far and looking at other S-Cross owners' reports, nothing in the near future.
  
  
• Quality of after-sales service
  * This is where Maruti has to prove its mettle and premium-ness.
  * I did not have a pleasant experience during my 1st Free service. I was told by the SA that the bill would be around 200-300 Rs, IF there are consumables. So when I actually got the car back, the bill was 150 Rs. I checked the bill and it had two absolutely useless items. 1) Windshield cleaning shampoo 2) Some downright cheap door guards. I had to tell the SA to not do such things in future. He kept on arguing that he had informed that the bill would be around 200 Rs. I told him that it was going to be 200 Rs only if there are any essential consumables. How on earth are windshield shampoo and pathetic quality door guards consumables? After an hour or so, I got a call from the SA manager and he apologized to me and promised that this will not happen again in the future. I told him to talk to his sub-ordinates and explain to them the real meaning of essential consumables.
  Worst part was that I got a call from the dealer customer car executive after a week from servicing, requesting me to give 10/10 rating, when I get a call from Maruti's customer care. I simply denied and told the cc executive that if don't give average rating, how will you guys improve the service? She reluctantly agreed.
  
  
• Cost of upkeep & maintenance
  * No idea yet, but should be average, if not the cheapest.
  
  

[LoneWolf9]

The more I see of s-cross, more I like it. I don't think 1.3 is overpriced especially the zeta variant.

Congratulations for your car. Enjoy your ride.

[FINTAIL]

Congrats on the car!

But, ahem- congrats on the number plate as well.

If the pics are genuine- and not photoshopped- Mind telling how much did you have to pay for the number?

Thanks!

[Chillout]

Congrats Ajay on your new ride, wish you many more happy miles with this great car.

Not sure if its a coincidence but I have checked out the same exact cars that you have tested and had the same experience with Nexa dealer.

On the illuminated door sills, were you there when they did this work. It looks good, but I am against any cutting of existing wires.

[Aniruthan]

Congrats Ajay for your new S Cross. Looks like Team Bhp is raining with S Cross 1.3 Diesel variants. Guess the 90 bhp is more than enough to haul this Cross over. Beautiful pics and a crisply written review up there man. Wishing you loads of happy miles and waiting for more updates and pics. Congrats buddy .

[volkman10]

Congratulations and Wishing you a great ownership with updates to this thread.

Originally Posted by Chillout

On the illuminated door sills, were you there when they did this work. It looks good, but I am against any cutting of existing wires.

There is absolutely no cutting. The entire panel is removed and fixed with a new panel housing the illuminated sill. The existing panel is given back to the owner.

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by noopster

Congratulations on the new car, Ajay! I think Maruti is finally getting its aethetics right- the S-Cross looks awesome. Wish you many happy miles.

Thanks a lot Anoop! I agree, I think Maruti has got almost everything right with the S-Cross as a product.

Originally Posted by LoneWolf9

The more I see of s-cross, more I like it. I don't think 1.3 is overpriced especially the zeta variant.

Congratulations for your car. Enjoy your ride.

Thanks man. Zeta is indeed a VMF variant considering the plethora of features it offers at almost 1.5 lakhs lesser than the Alpha variant.

Originally Posted by FINTAIL

Congrats on the car!

But, ahem- congrats on the number plate as well.

If the pics are genuine- and not photoshopped- Mind telling how much did you have to pay for the number?

Thanks!

Thanks. LOL! The number plate was photoshopped for an undisclosed amount.

Originally Posted by Chillout

Congrats Ajay on your new ride, wish you many more happy miles with this great car.

Not sure if its a coincidence but I have checked out the same exact cars that you have tested and had the same experience with Nexa dealer.

On the illuminated door sills, were you there when they did this work. It looks good, but I am against any cutting of existing wires.

Thanks Chillout. Volkman has already answered the question for illuminated door sill guards.

Originally Posted by Aniruthan

Congrats Ajay for your new S Cross. Looks like Team Bhp is raining with S Cross 1.3 Diesel variants. Guess the 90 bhp is more than enough to haul this Cross over. Beautiful pics and a crisply written review up there man. Wishing you loads of happy miles and waiting for more updates and pics. Congrats buddy .

Thanks a lot Aniruthan.

Originally Posted by volkman10

Congratulations and Wishing you a great ownership with updates to this thread.

There is absolutely no cutting. The entire panel is removed and fixed with a new panel housing the illuminated sill. The existing panel is given back to the owner.

Thanks a lot. And thanks again for answering the question. I will try and keep the thread updated as much as possible.

[GTO]

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

[farooq817]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

About S-Cross:
Cons:
* Every time you have to use the unlock function twice to unlock all other doors besides the Driver's door. Even though it is safety feature as they claim, it can a bit irritating at times.

I had exactly the same issue when I took delivery of my Baleno few days back. I found it irritating to press the unlock button twice to make sure that the other doors/boot was unlocked. On a lazy Sunday, when I was going through the user manual, I found that there are a lot of settings which can be customized from the MID. I was able to revert back to one click unlock function. Do check the same for the S-Cross. I'm sure its the same here as well.

[RavenAvi]

Congratulations on a wonderful and sound choice, Ajay.

For the urban dweller who has to tackle B2B traffic daily, the S-Cross makes the best case for itself. It's got most things right - the "S" badge, fantastic and spacious interiors, loaded to the brim with contemporary features, and above all a no-fuss, proven engine which promises plenty of peaceful and fuss-free kilometers ahead.

Remember to keep the RPMs down before the first 2,000 kms, just to be safe. Once the engine opens up completely, you can be sure of superb fuel efficiency and great open-road performances.

Once again, congratulations to you and your family. Wish you all plenty of happy miles ahead.

Revv' 'er hard, but drive safe. Rated your crisp review a well-deserving 5-stars!