[advaitlele]

So, here goes my first review on the forum.

But, a bit of background.

Jan’ 2014 – I was thinking of replacing the almost eight year old Indica Xeta for some time now. It had served me so well, and without any problems so far. But the age was showing up, and I thought as days would pass it will not be light on pocket any more. After around 60k KMs, issues with AC, tire replacement and other expenses were on the cards. I posted it on my office bulletin board and the same day someone did a TD and gave me cheque for immediate delivery.

That was a shocker for me. I didn’t expect her to be gone same day. That was even big a shock for my wife and son. It was absolutely unplanned for that way. But anyways, my hunt started immediately.

[advaitlele]

I had listed down following parameters for the new car –

Must Have – no compromise
1. Safety – at a minimum two airbags and ABS
2. Space – comfortable for three in the second row, as on most travels, we have four adults and kid in the car on highways
3. Easy to maintain – should not give me jolts while paying for the maintenance bills, and overall cost of ownership should be easy.

Good to Have – can be compromised if compensated by some other parameters
1. Rear AC / Auto Climate Control
2. Keyless entry / Button start
3. Cruise control

Something about how I drive -- I am a sedate driver, and even on open express highway hardly cross three digit speeds. I am the one who is never first in the “race” when signal turns green from red. I wanted a comfortable (for driver and passenger) no-nonsense car that is good on highways as well as city.

With these in mind, I started visiting showrooms – almost every one of them from Safari to WagonR was on my radar, and started eliminating the cars to arrive at final 5.

Since I had not zeroed in on the segment, final list also came as a mixed bag.

I didn’t even TD a Skoda Rapid thanks to the halo effect created around Skoda brand, dealership experiences and A.S.S.

I must mention the experience at the DSK Toyota showroom. I walked into the showroom and saw no one at the reception; checked out all the cars from Fortuner to Liva and spent about 30 minutes exploring all the models there, seating in driver seat, rear seat and opening the bonnet and boot. I found Etios to be an overall good VFM package except for that hideous dashboard design and single wiper. Probably all the SAs were too busy with other customers, or could not see me. I checked on my wrist if I was wearing any band given to me by Mr. India, but there was none. Anyways, I dropped Etios in first 10 mins at the showroom even without a TD. BTW, Etios is my first choice as a taxi. It is a comfortable car for the rear passengers.

The Final Five --

1. VW Vento –
+ Felt solid built
+ First car to bring a wide grin on my face after a longish test drive including highway and city driving
+ Occupants echoed me about feeling safe inside the car
– Unreliable A.S.S. though I have not heard of cases from the Pune dealer, I don’t want to be the “chosen one” after spending a million bucks
– Not a true five seater with that Mt Everest size hump in the middle, but could have overlooked if only above point was somehow taken care of.

Thanks VW for making such a wonderful car, but I will book it when horror stories of VW A.S.S. stop coming in.


2. Honda City
+ Good on space
+ Reliable A.S.S.
+ Notional value that the logo “H” brings
+ Refined petrol engine
- Price to features don’t justify the premium for H brand
- Beige everywhere
- Absolutely no discounts, even on 2015 models being bought in 2016. He was ready to throw in floor mats after much of bargaining. Closed the discussion at that.

Didn’t make a VFM appeal for me. Honda – pls stop being greedy, this is 2016 not 2006.


3. Honda Jazz –
+ My heart set on this one
+ The practicality it offers with seating configuration
+ Smooth 1.2 liter engine, not a quick fire one but appeals to my kind of driving
– Price to features is not VFM. It comes about 8.65L on road in Pune.
– Wife didn’t like it. You know what happens in arguments like this, only one person is right, and the other is a husband.

It is a big-small practical hatch, but I dare not go against home ministry order.


4. Mahindra TUV 300 –
+ Loads of space
+ High seating position, so no issues with the high-beam blinding the driver
+ Front two seats are supremely comfortable with individual arm rests and adjustable lumber support
+ Absolute VFM for the price-features for T8
– No, I wouldn’t buy that as a seven seater no matter what Mahindra says
– After experiencing the comfort of front seat, I wanted to try the middle row while the SA drove. The seat is completely devoid of any support – no under thigh support and a seat base and back as flat a sliced bread means I have to have three passengers at the back so that they don’t get thrown around
– 3-pot engine didn’t seem as refined
– And dancing gear lever while idling in Neutral sealed the fate in my buying decision

Extremely competent and practical vehicle marred by second row seat as far as I am concerned.


5. Maruti Ertiga –
+ Absolute VFM
+ Ticked every box for ZXi version
– Needs passengers to be athletes if occupying third row seat. Not sure what the designers were thinking in not designing fully foldable middle seats for easy ingress / egress for third row.
– Not too significant, but overdose of beige is not to my liking
Nothing else wrong as such, just that Ciaz TD immediately after Ertiga made us opt out of this.

So that was a final short list, Ciaz was not in the list at all, till the SA offered me a TD, a long one as I desired.


Maruti Ciaz –
+ Comfortable for five passengers
+ Ticked all the boxes in the list
+ Value for money as a package
+ Peace of mind for total cost of ownership, this is a fifth (out of seven) Maruti car in the family in last 17 years
– Beige overdose, not to my liking. I would have opted for RS version with black interiors if it was in my budget
– No cruise control
– Fixed type rear head rests, even her smaller sibling Swift Dzire gets adjustable head rest. Not that this is a showstopper, as for me the folks seating on the back seat with existing setup are comfortable. It’s just that if Dzire has it, why can’t Ciaz?


Now, for the buying experience in the next post -

[advaitlele]

Buying Experience –

I was in a quandary between Ertiga and City and wanted to do one final test drive before making the decision. With booking date fixed at end of Feb, so that I can get delivery on 8th April that is Gudhi Padwa – new year day.
I reached Sai Service late in the evening on Sunday on 31st Jan. Did a longish TD of the Ciaz and decided to book it same day. That being last day of the month, the SA was more than keen to discuss even at 830pm, with only me and him along with the security guard at the showroom. With such an “opportune” moment came in additional discounts.

Then another trick in the sleeve from the SA. He said, there are a few 2015 cars with him and he can give additional discounts if I am ok with that. While that was a tempting offer, I said I can confirm only after I see the car.
Next day, he got the car to the showroom from the stockyard and I promptly rejected it seeing the chassis no, and getting to know it was a July 2015 car.

Next day, the manager of the SA called me to ask for the reason and given even more discounts. Something fishy? Why should the showroom have a seven month old car, that too second best selling sedan in the country?
With the delivery date changed from 8th April to 27th Feb, though I was keen on getting Jan manufactured car, I didn’t have problem getting a couple of months old car if early delivery can be arranged with discounts.
Next day, he offered to show me another car, I saw it, and okayed it. I didn’t have issue in getting a two month old car, just because of year change, if it’s compensated by hefty discounts ?

Next couple of days were spent in making arrangements for rest of the payment. Now comes the insurance part.
In the price list, the dealer had quoted around 31k for insurance. When I compared similar insurance coming at 24k and told him about it. He immediately said, final price would be approximately the same, we just take "extra" upfront so that you dont hvae to sign another cheque. And he promptly adjusted that with the accessories (bulbs, floor mats etc.). I thought it would be tough for me to haggle on that, but it turned out to be smooth.

The SA meanwhile, kept calling and was very keen on selling me some accessories anyhow. It’s a margin game after all. I opted for scuff plates only. With additional discount on the accessories, I opted for high range bulb (standard is H4 Philips, I opted for H7 12v 55w that has long throw), and floor lamination.


Delivery Experience

We were promised delivery on 14th Feb. I had already made required payments and finalized on accessories. Did a thorough check a day prior to see if all is ok. Gave thumbs up and went back home.

That was a sleepless night. Probably, I was not as anxious even on the eve of my marriage. I slept past midnight after checking all the documents again. It was around 4 in the morning I woke up and that was it, thinking about delivery schedule, what all pre-delivery checks I would do and what not.

Got ready early and bought Pedhas, flowers and other stuff for the Puja to be performed after delivery. Booked Ola cab in the morning for a 1130am pickup. My son, who usually takes 10 mins to even move out of bed on normal school days, got ready within 15 mins.

Ola came on time and we reached the dealer sharp at noon as discussed with the SA. Being a Sunday, only the workshop had some customers, not in the sales area. The SA had made the car ready, and told me he would bring the car in 10 mins – “dulhan saj rahi hai” he said (the bride is getting ready). Meanwhile I impatiently waited at the front lobby, then moved to the service station which is just behind the sales area and spoke with a couple of Ciaz owners on their feedback, service experience at Sai Service and so on. Not that if they had any other feedback about the vehicle I would have (or could have) changed my decision, it was a good way to see what other fellow Ciaz owners think.

In about 15 minutes, the SA drove my white beauty towards the front lobby, all decked up with ribbons and nice big garland.

We performed Puja and customary breaking the coconut followed by photo shoot and handing over of the keys. My family sat in the car exploring various features along with the assistant of my SA while I completed the formalities of signing the papers, followed by the SA explaining me various features.

He and his colleague were very thorough in the knowledge. The standard routine explanation of the features, ACC, how to pair phone using BT etc. followed. He explained to me what to do if remote fails due to battery draining out or any other reason. I can still open the car with the key at the back of the keyfob but I cannot start the car. Why Maruti? If you could provide for the fallback option for me to enter the car, why didn’t you think of alternative for the user to start the car?
I am still thinking if it is a safety feature or a product design bug.

My 10 year old had a “farmaish” of me putting the song “Aashayen” from Iqbal movie to play in the music system as soon as I start driving. That is his favorite movie and his favorite song. And I obliged. As soon as I started the car and started driving, his favorite song started playing and he started crooning along with it. The smile on his face and that hug he gave me, was enough “paisa vasool” for me. What else do I yearn for except for those satisfying smiles on the face of my family.

After delivery, we immediately proceeded to the fuel station and did a tankful - about 43 liters of petrol. I am yet to read the user manual and find out what is the capacity of the fuel tank and what is the “reserve” capacity.
It was an uneventful ride of about 10 KMs back home from the dealer. Had a hearty late lunch and then again started the photo shoot with family in my parking. In the process, I learnt a couple of features from my son – I didn’t know how to unlock all four doors, I didn’t know how to set desired temperature on the ACC. Learning this from a 10 year old was a great experience.

Here are quick numbers on day 1
Odo reading while taking delivery – 42
Odo reading at the end of the day – 90
Fuel taken – INR 2800, approx. 43 liters
Overall fuel efficiency - 7.1 kmpl

I wanted to take her for a long drive, but could not do so, with a TC number plate. Had to restrict myself for a short drive every morning of dropping my son to his school bus stop for a few more days.

That’s all folks.
Will share the driving experience, servicing etc. as it comes.

[advaitlele]

First Service --

As per Maruti Service Schedule, first free service is due at 1000 KMs or one month whichever is first.
So, I booked the service for 12th March, Saturday.
This being the first service, nothing much to "service", it was rather an inspection.
The Service guy just checked vitals - oil, lights and other mandatory stuff, car was washed from outside and cleaned from inside.
I was asked if I was facing any issues, to which I said no; and it was done.

By 10, I was out. While taking delivery post service, I just asked a random question if its normal for Ciaz not to open all doors after engine shut? That was rather annoying for me to manually open all the doors after pressing "engine off" button every time. The Service manager said, that was not usual and it can be changed in 10 mins. He opened the OBD port and changed the settings. Now, all the four doors open as soon as I switch off the engine. That was quick.

And by 1030 I was back home. Quite happy with the service experience.

On a side note, the SA keenly showed me the water jet machine for automatic wash that they have installed, and my car happened to be the first car in service to go thru the carwash in that. I am impressed, all the water sprayed on the car is stored in the reservoir and recycled to be used on other car wash. In the desperate summers that we are going thru, any means of saving water wastage is welcome.

Photos of the first car service follow --

[advaitlele]

Car ownership experience in first four months --

This car in first 120 days has served me very well. There is no reason to complain so far.

I was careful as advised by the SA in first 1000 KMs not to rev high and not to go at high speeds (more than 120 as per him) for the proper running in. Not that I would rev high unnecessarily or go to that speed in lifetime, looking at my driving style.

The fuel consumption slowly is getting better. On recent highway drives, it touched 19.4 while coming back from Kolhapur. Then came Konkan trip, and back to Hinjewadi bumper to bumper traffic. Thanks to the curves in Konkan and high summers, and b2b traffic in last month or so, it has come down to 16.2kmpl now. But I am not complaining. I have driven this car wtih AC for >95% of the time and with five passengers, and luggage in Konkan trip the AC chilled us in hot May weather, and engine was still silent with decent fuel efficiency.

The RC has finally been delivered - after almost 14 weeks after taking delivery. The PCMC it seems didn't have papers, then printer had some fault and apperantly, there are folks who had to wait for RC for six months. Should I get angry on the RTO folks or consider myself lucky to get the RC in "only" three and half months.

There are many good things, and a few not so good things I am getting to know as I drove in last few days.

Few quick observations and initial impressions. At the time of writing this, I am close to 4000 KMs on the odo.

City Driving
1. The car is not fast to accelerate. I don't care, as I was never in the 0-100 race.
2. I had to be cautious initial few days, especially with the width and additional length and weight that the boot adds. Coming from Indica and Alto driving, I had to be extra vigilant while reversing or in tight city traffic.
3. Fuel efficiency I am getting in bumper to bumper traffic is close to 16. This is thanks to the fantastic road conditions that doesn't allow you to drive more than 20 kmph in morning and evening traffic, doesn't matter if you are in Nano to RR. I am happy with the fuel consumption figure, especially when I compare that to Indica which always was in the region of 12-13 kmpl.
4. Driving position is comfortable. No, it doesn't give you "king of the road" feel; for that I had to think about SUVs. But it has its presence felt.
5. It has always given me the feeling of driving a luxury car with well appointed quality interiors, within my budget.

Highway Driving
1. I had taken Ciaz to Mumbai thrice, Kolhapur once and Dapoli in Konkan once in four months. This car is easy for the driver on the highways.
2. Mumbai express way and flat roads towards Kolhapur, especially Karad-Satara-Kolhapur section, was a breeze. I had to be conscious of the speeds, as it so easily touched three digits on the speedo. Psychologically, I am not comfortable beyond 80-85 kmph so had to be watchful, but car was cheerful in high speeds.
3. Khopoli section of e-way, which is steepest and has highest number of bends, the car never complained and cruised ahead in fourth or fifth gear. Occasionally, for overtaking when I reduced the speeds, thanks to large trucks occupying all three lanes and traffic was at crawling speeds was only the downshift required.
4. During Dapoli trip in Konkan with four adults and kid, still the car seemed to go on effortlessly. With full load in boot and cabin, I felt the torque was less than required. I had to downshift to first gear so many times on tight steep bends. I expected it to sail thru on second.
5. Fuel efficiency I got on flat highways towards Mumbai and Kolhapur and back was >19 kmpl, and I am astounded. Never expected the car of this size and with full load to return such figure. On Konkan trip, it dropped down considerably to 15.8 kmpl. I am not complaining though for the conditions it went thru in that trip.
6. Cruise control is badly missed on Ciaz. It would have been a boon during highway drives. City offers it on SV model onwards. This is not available in Ciaz even on top end model.
7. Overall handling is to my acceptable limit. I have never tried (and probably never do) to drive on highway curves at 70 or 80 kmph, so cannot comment on that. At my driving speeds on such curves and ghats (40-50 kmph), this car ticks boxes in terms of handling.


Other Quick bits
1. I knew the boot space is quite good, but never thought it to swallow so much luggage. In recent trip, we had three big bags, a laptop bag, another small bag with eatables, a carry bag for extra shoes and dirty beach sandals, and in return a full crate of mangoes - about five dozen. And everything fit well with some more space which could have accommodated for 2 small bags.
2. With such a load in the boot, four adults and a kid on Konkan road, it did scrape underbelly a couple of times on on speed breakers near ghat road villages. Never happened otherwise.
3. AC - I always use the "Auto" mode with temperature set to 22 or 23 degrees. And it delivers noiseless performance in normal conditions. Cools the cabin very fast, rear blower helps the cause too. However, the torturous conditions in Konkan hot summer, with outside temperature close to 40, and internal temperature set at 22, the auto mode set the fan speed at highest. That turned out to be quite noisy in the cabin. Reducing it at 2 or 3 notches less than highest, it was back to noise free cabin.
4. It takes small road humps and potholes and doesn't transfer it in the cabin. The suspension does its job effectively.
6. Insulation below the bonnet, makes the cabin really noise free. It doesn't pass on the outside noise into the cabin. I didn't hear wind noise on highway speeds.
7. Music feels good to ear, and I am happy with the quality of instruments - player and speakers - to be much better than other OEMs. I have always played music thru radio and USB drive, so cannot comment on CD or Aux-in part of it. For even better quality of music, I would prefer to listen to it on my home theater system rather than while driving.
8. I have not missed the maps on ZXi+ model so far. I always have google maps, and now that comes with offline feature which becomes very useful. In interiors, we always have live GPS map system aka friendly villagers.
9. I am not able to connect more than one phone on the system. Not sure if it is normal for this model. I remember the SA telling for ZXi+, you can connect multiple phones. Any ways, I don't like to talk on phone while driving even if it is thru car speakers. So am not missing that feature much.
10. Now to the often repeated (even in this review) point - Beige interiors. This gives the car an airy open feeling, but is a headache to maintain. Beige seats already started to accumulate dust and I need to get aftermarket seat covers ASAP.

Photos with description follow --

(I must confess, I wrote first three posts of ownership review in a month but was too lazy to take time out and click photographs and write more on my ownership experience all this while. Finally clicked a few photos on my cell phone camera and attached description to the same. Bear with me for photo quality and late review).

[advaitlele]

Some more photos for interiors.

[advaitlele]

Some more interior photos --

[advaitlele]

And now some problems, some points that I didn't like about Ciaz.

[Aditya]

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

[landcruiser123]

Congrats on your ciaz advaitlele.
Can you update us with the current mileage, FE etc?

The Ciaz is a wonderful car from Maruti, I guess the second best after the S-Cross.

Two things:
1. Don't allow your 10 year old son to sit on the front seat. I'm sure there are a lot of warning stickers indicating that you shouldn't.
2. Regarding your spare: Fill it to about 2 PSI more than the rated pressure and just refill every 3 months. That'll do.

Any reason you didn't buy an automatic?

[blackwasp]

Congratulation on the awesome vehicle ! Exceptionally detailed pics and comments. The detachable part in the front bumper accommodates the towing hook.

[advaitlele]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Congrats on your ciaz advaitlele.

Thanks landcruiser123.

Current mileage showing on the MID is 16.2. This is after Konkan trip that saw winding roads for almost 400 KMs out of 600KMs of and office commute with AC on full time.

Thanks for the caution on not to allow kid in front seat.

Old habits die hard. This comes from my first car days - M-800 which required me to refuel once a month, and I used to check tire pressure for all 5 tires every time. That habit continues. Yes, I always fill 2-3 PSI more in the spare.

Automatic was under consideration, but out out of budget. And with estimated usage of 60-40 on highway and city, I dropped it. Usually I prefer to commute to office by bus these days.

[ghodlur]

Congrats on the Ciaz Advait.

I just could not believe it when you mentioned that the Xeta was sold in a snap of a finger. You are very lucky and must have maintained the car really well for it to be sold instantly.

I completely agree with all the pain points you have mentioned esp the MID stalks. They really look ugly. What is the function of the Mist on the wiper stalk?

I would suggest to get the underbody anti rust coating, they will prove useful in the longer run.

Happy mile crunching and drive safely.

[centaur]

Congrats on your new ride Advait. Some of the problems you mention are pretty much there in some other cars too. For E.g. the spare wheel nozzle being on the rear side is something which I have have a problem with in my i gen i20. I too need to unscrew the wheel to get the air pressure checked. Fortunately the mechanism to free the spare is very basic like in the ciaz else it would have been a pain. Ditto for the wipers too.

EDIT - the underbelly too is exposed in the i20 like in the ciaz. While we can argue that the i20 is cheaper than the ciaz but then like you said these are basic necessities

[arvind71181]

Congrats on the car. With respect to the phone connectivity, you can probably pair upto 10 phones (or whatever is the limit), but you will be able to connect only one phone at a given point of time. I guess this is how it works in all cars.

I was also choosing between the Ciaz and the S-Cross and have finally booked the S-Cross. Congrats once again!!