[Keynote]

This review was long time in the making and finally out now!! *Standard disclaimer applies.

What we like:

• Powerful 1.6 L diesel engine with the combination of 6 speed gearbox.
• Torque, torque and torque - 320 NM torque is just too much fun to be honest.
• Ride quality, handling and driving dynamics.
• Dual Airbags, Very good stopping power (4-wheel disc brakes) and superior build quality for a Maruti product.
• Good visibility, Comfortable & Spacious cabin, especially love the front seats ergonomics with adjustable arm rest.
• Stock 7” touch screen ICE just for playing our favorite music with good quality audio output for a non-audiophile, Apple car play, Voice Command & Bluetooth.
• Chilling Automatic Climate Control even in harsh summer afternoons.
• 180 mm ground clearance is MORE than sufficient to tackle anything in and around Bangalore.
• Above all, for the kind of fun I've experienced so far this car has made me feel younger.

What could have been better:

• Availability of 1.6 L Zeta variant.
• Cabin noise insulation and overall NVH levels.
• Better illumination from stock Bi-Xenon Projector head lamps especially for the late evenings / night highway drives.
• Rear seat recline angle even though two different recline angles are provided.
• Auto up/down function for all the passenger side switches with illumination at night. (Come on MSIL, how much would have you saved??)
• Shared parts bin for certain plastic components.
• Front door pads flex, Sun-glass holder & Parcel tray rattles.

[Keynote]

Flashback between October 2015 to April 2016 :
An additional new car was needed and thus began the extensive research followed by many sleepless nights -> literally yeah !

Priorities :
1. Diesel Engine.
2. Dual Air Bags & ABS as minimum requirement.
3. Hatchback or a FULL fledged sedan within a budget of 12L.
4. Vehicle with a better ground clearance to tackle the craters, unscientific speed-breakers etc. that the Bangalore roads throw at us.
5. Other than H & H as we already have them in our garage.(Just for this reason we were able to eliminate many of the contenders including the much sought after Creta)

Our Mindset : (Don't know if it was good or bad at that time, but it is what it is)
Since we bought the Jazz, we have had many amazing, memorable, trouble-free journeys and have thoroughly enjoyed the drive each time we had gone out. Though its not a perfect car when one looks at the low end torque and the unfriendly ground clearance, for most part we've felt good about owning this beauty. Its a very normal human tendency to compare what one has currently to what one is intending to buy, be it a upgrade or addition of another possession. So each time we went to check out the cars that we had shortlisted, we were reminded of what is that we're getting compared to our Jazz both in terms of overall build quality, safety features and how much poorer we would become buying it. Most of us would agree that apart from the build quality the other two main USPs of the previous generation Jazz are the abundance of space inside and the brilliant & reliable I-VTEC engine. In 2012 October, the base variant cost us 7.65L on road Bangalore which has dual Airbags, ABS, EBD as standard feature.


Initial Contenders - On Road Price - Test drive experience :

Maruti Suzuki Swift ZDI - ~9.10 L - Easy to drive both in City and Highway with a fun factor. But typical Maruti quality, lack of rear and boot space, just too many on the road, coupled with 2 months waiting period and the fact that current model is already more than four years old was a downer.




Ford Figo TDCI Titanium - ~8.50 L - Powerful & Superb diesel mill, facelift came with the Aston Martinish front, looked upmarket & premium at first glance. Value for money compared to the Swift. But the poor build quality, ordinary handling and the disappointment of existing (old gen) Figo owners about missing the usual Ford DNA and the fact that it was built to a cost posed a serious question of owning this vehicle and eventually got eliminated from the list. The last coffin in the nail came from the Ford SA himself as he was known to one of my closest friend and advised us to go for Ecosport instead.



VW Polo TDI Comfortline / Highline - ~9.30 L / 10.20 L - One of the most good looking and solid built hatchback. What we like about Polo was that its a global product and NOT an Indiaspecific version. The downside of it being part of the recent Diesel-gate scandal, very poor rear space, scary after sales service and the unfriendly ground clearance for our Bangalore roads. If this wasn't enough, I had to make atleast 5 to 6 calls to VW Palace Cross for a test drive. They responded after a week having taken their own sweet time only to ask if they can get the vehicle after two days for the test drive. The initial experience left a bitter taste and after the test drive experience we were not very keen in buying one as compared to our initial inclination towards this German beauty.



Skoda Rapid TDI Ambition - ~12.50 L - One of my friend at work bought this variant in December 2015 for ~10.90L on road Bangalore. Hence, from a VFM factor we were tempted to give it a try. By now we were in early to mid March 2016, prices had shot up and similar discount was not on the cards. Solid built, you get this cocooned feel once you're inside the car. We could feel the heaviness of the metal / dampening used while we opened and shut the doors. SA was very knowledgeable and test drive experience for most part was good. The not so good things - position of indicators and wiper stalks were according to the European standards which resulted in both Wife and myself activating the windscreen wipers at turns instead of the indicators. Even after multiple attempts we didn't feel comfortable at all. Also, Rapid being a full fledged sedan, cabin didn't feel spacious at the rear. Not sure if it was due to the tall rear floor hump which could be a real issue for a 5th occupant or due to the headroom being very low as we brushed against the roof a few times during the test drive. Besides these things, their after sales service, diesel-gate scandal and Skoda deciding to stop the sale of manual transmission made it a bit easier to look elsewhere.

[Keynote]

Some interesting facts :
Just when we were feeling disappointed of not being able to decide on any of the vehicles we had test driven so far, here comes a nice BIG surprise from Ford about slashing price of Ecosport and the subsequent t-bhp thread . Reading through that thread, it was evident that Ecosport is any day a better engineered product than Brezza and the price cut has just made it the most VFM compact SUV in its segment. We were also reminded about the Ford SA advising us to consider Ecosport instead at the time of Figo test drive experience. Also S-Cross 1.3 Zeta was always in my mind and got added as a serious contender at ~11.50 L on road (after price cuts announced in January 2016) and by this time we have had many detailed ownership threads of this crossover on the forum by sandygordon, volkman10, sudeepg, pannags, ajay_satpute, and Mi10.

A bit of history :
I was in my early years of corporate world when SX4 was launched in India a decade ago. From those years I remember the conversation and a little piece of advice my Boss gave to one of my senior colleague who was looking to buy a sedan. My manager was the one who asked him to consider SX4 but clearly told him if he ever starts liking it then he should wait for atleast 8 to 10 months as Maruti would fix the niggles and complaints from the initial batch of vehicles. He seemed to have fair amount of knowledge about Maruti vehicles atleast in India and how it works. Who knows he may have been a team-bhpian too since then!

And some reality :
And there it came as my Ex-Boss had mentioned to us,
(1) Price cuts in January'16 meant MSIL acknowledging the fact that the initial pricing of 1.6 engines especially was itself a major niggle. It is this very MISSING trait of value for money proposition from Maruti stable that failed to set the sales charts on fire for S-Cross and its a shame.
(2) Then we saw "Maruti Suzuki recalls 20,427 units of S-Cross over faulty brakes" - recall to replace the rear brake calipers which is explained in detail by volkman10 in his ownership review.
(3) Some members / S-Cross owners reporting “ Faulty Rear Axle Tube” issue in the official review section.(got to know only after I had taken the delivery of my vehicle but touch-wood haven't experienced it till date)

True to the saying that goes "Boss is ALWAYS correct", I realized what a fantastic and brilliant piece of advise he gave and I've never felt the same so strongly before. Being a May 2016 manufactured vehicle, none of these niggles are in my S-Cross (knock-wood)

[Keynote]

Final Contenders - Test drive experience

Ford Ecosport TDCI - Titanium - ~11.40 L

Test drive experience 1 : Near my workplace, Embassy Golf Links, Domlur and it was around 5:00 PM. First impressions - Solid built, butch looks, amazing road presence, superb steering, driving position and ergonomics. Bonnet was clearly visible and was very easy to drive in B2B traffic. Linear power delivery, almost felt like a Petrol vehicle, smart interiors and a fantastic chiller aircon. Ford, no doubt is a driver's car. Even though the bonnet was visible, the A-Pillars were very thick and created severe blind spots while parking / pulling over by the side of the road. If not for the timely warning by fellow bhpian abhinav.s who accompanied me during the test drive I would have most probably brushed against the Dzire Taxi that was parked on the left side of the road. Similar case with the thick D-Pillars and felt uncomfortable with the rear view visibility through the IRVM. abhinav.s was seated at the back and felt he was thrown around at corners due to the body roll nature of the SUVs or compact SUVs.


Test drive experience 2 : In our Apartment parking which is located at the basement level and has a ramp for entry / exit. We started by parking the vehicle first and made it without any fuss. SA was the team lead sales at one of the dealers and has been with them since the vehicle was launched. Contrary to the usual SA's we ended up meeting with this gentlemen who had every knowledge about the vehicle. He explained most of the features and benefits including the many programmable and safety options of the keyless entry. Ok now after his initial introduction about the car was over, it was time for us to take it for a short spin. After a few kilometers running through potholes and speed breakers at bare minimum speed, see Wife's angry face through the IRVM at the rear seat . After covering some more distance, we switched our seats. She drove for almost 10 kms and I see a BIG smile on her face. After that we thanked the SA, promised him that we would get back within a weeks time.

Me : So what do you think about Ecosport?
Wife : Its got this butch look and it is huge at first glance.
Me: Okay, I think you like this vehicle. Was it easy to drive?
Wife : I never thought it would be so easy to drive being such BIG vehicle. It is a good place to be holding the steering, however I'm NOT completely convinced.
Me : Okay, fair enough. What is that you didn't like?
Wife : I did NOT like the stiff ride quality and it is uncomfortable especially at the rear. Each time we crossed over a speed breaker/encountered bad roads, the suspension felt very hard. But one I thing I must say that it is a Bachelor's car or drivers car as it is so much engaging sitting at the front and NOT meant for a family to sit at the rear with exactly opposite experience. Felt a bit claustrophobic at the rear, and found it to be a bit difficult to park by the side of the pavement and while reversing as the rear view visibility is just so poor and not to my liking at all.
Me : Came to terms that this one also had to be eliminated from the list.

Tata Tiago Revotorque XZ - ~6.95 L - The most unlikely contender of our list. Why Tiago? Well, was blown away after reading the official review about various efforts TML has put into the overall quality and the absence of cost cutting anywhere. So there was some genuine interest in this cute little car. During the Zica -> Tiago naming fiasco and until the official launch (we all know how LONG it took finally), went through almost every post in the thread and the various opinions shared by the existing owners who have either had very bad or mixed experience during the after sales and service. Many of my friends and acquaintances too had warned me to NOT even think of getting a car from TATA stable. Inspite of all this, went ahead and took multiple test drives on different occasions. Lots of vibration inside the cabin, cumbersome 1st gear, tall 2nd gear which does not allow one to roll through B2B traffic, unpleasant noise and harshness felt inside post 2500 rpm and the absolutely ineffective AC unit was just more than enough to drop this car from the list immediately.Detailed test drive review by abhinav.s & Myself can be found here : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...review-39.html


Suzuki S-Cross 1.3 Zeta - ~11.50 L - Undoubtedly the most VFM Car / Crossover of our list. This time for a change I let my wife take the plunge first and see her reaction after the test drive. I was keenly observing her driving and could clearly make out she was very comfortable with it. In no time she had covered more than 10 kms through some moderate traffic, bad roads etc. and we switched our seats for another spin through the same route. The SA who accompanied us was a nice chap, never interfered unnecessarily and neither pushed us towards booking the vehicle. After the test drive we thanked the SA, promised him that we would get back within a weeks time.

Me : So what do you think about S-Cross?
Wife : Immediate answer -> Its kind of a BIGGER Jazz and I like it. It was very easy to drive and felt comfortable than any other cars that we have test driven so far. Also looks very spacious inside for a family of 4 but the boot is similar to our current Jazz. Thanks to better ground clearance, we did not scrape over any of the humps and bad roads Yay . Moreover, I like the touchscreen system and the rear view camera for ease of reversing & parking.
Me: Okay, What is that you didn't like?
Wife : Rear seat comfort is not great as I thought it would be, but guess we can manage. There is a bit of body roll while turning, felt sort of a bumpiness at few places but guess we can take a chance as the positives of this car supersedes some of the negative things.
Me : I think she is right. Go back, refer to the official and ownership reviews you are reassured of the same. Solid build, spacious cabin, decent exteriors & interiors, dual Airbags & ABS, 4 wheel disc brakes, proven national engine(1.3), mature ride & handling and above all Maruti's excellent after-sales support network definitely supersedes some of the negatives this car has. "A good manager would always appreciate and encourage an employee based on his/her strengths rather than criticizing one's weakness". There could be some minor flaws / niggles in the initial batches, but as a overall package its a good car. Moreover it met all our requirement listed in the "Priorities" section above. That's it, with this thought process in mind, we decided to book S-Cross 1.3 Zeta by following week as informed to the SA.

[Keynote]

And the twist in the tale :
If you have read this report until now and if not for the title/sub-title of this thread or my signature below, I'm sure we all thought (including myself) that it was S-Cross 1.3 Zeta finally. And like every other good movie there was the twist to the entire episode. Just when I had the liberty of having slept well for couple of days, having mentally prepared to book the 1.3 Zeta variant, one fine morning after dropping my Child at the school I end up bumping on to some NEXA SA's at 8:30 AM next to a park which is a stone's throw away from my house. Many of the folks I see entering/exiting the park were somewhat happy to just collect their share of brouchers. A little closer look and it is the top of the line 1.6 Alpha variant in blue color. Wary of the fact that we had already decided on the S-Cross 1.3, thought there is no harm in trying the 1.6 for a spin if at all I'm offered one.

So took some courage, proceeded towards the car and greeted the SA's. They showed lot of enthusiasm and were kind enough to explain the features of the car they are aware of from their sales training's. With good intent, did not wanted to tamper their enthusiasm as I kept quiet about the test drive experience we had in 1.3 variant and the decision to book the same. Just then one of the SA's offered the test drive and I accepted it casually not completely knowing the capability of this torque monster.

And now if you are still eager to know my test drive experience of this 1.6 L engine straight from the heart, be warned you will see some madness, childishness and you may think I'm indeed not living in reality. I do not know how else to express, but please refer to the S-Cross official review section after this one for a more realistic opinion.

When you see
* Pele, Maradona, Roberto Carlos, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi converting a near impossible goal - Its Addictive
* Jonhty Rhodes, Ricky Ponting, Yuvraj Singh diving to take a catch or stop the ball and throw at the stumps at the blink of an eye - Its Addictive
* Straight drive by Sachin Tendulkar, cover drive by Rahul Dravid, Saurav dada dancing down the line and hitting a Six over the mid-off boundary - Its Addictive

When you listen to
* Songs by Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, P Susila, Chitra, Hariharan, SPB - Its Addictive
* Music compositions of RD Burman, Illayaraja , A.R Rahman - Its addictive
* BGM score and there are plenty composed by the ones mentioned above (background music during screenplay) - Its addictive.
* A.R Rahman for songs from movies like Roja, Swades, Thiruda Thiruda, Dil Se, Minsarakanvu / Sapnay, Bombay, Delhi 6, RockStar, Guru, "Vande Mataram", any LIVE concerts like the Berklee Indian Ensemble at Symphony Hall, Boston - Its Addictive.

When you watch
* 1st day 1st show movie of Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Hassan - Its addictive
* Movies directed by Shankar, Mani Ratnam - Its Addictive

When you get a chance
* For being one among thousands of audience and listen to a Barack Obama speech - Its Addictive

When you witness
* Prabhu Deva effortlessly doing a Urvashi Urvashi take it easy Urvashi - Its Addictive
* Michael Jackson performing a live concert for example -> Billie Jean - Its Addictive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAiw2SXPS-4

Now that you've gone through some of my addictive list above -> You would agree that most of these personalities and celebrities are still the Living Legends in their own endeavors . Each of these folks might have gone through a lot of hardship before being successful, they may not appear to be good looking to everyone's eyes but all of them did unleash their potential and will be remembered for many years to come. After all, Legends can be born overnight but cannot be proved as Legends overnight.
And with the similar thought process, someday S-Cross 1.6 will be called The Living Legend.

After this mad-drive (test drive) and with lot of enthusiasm, I go back home and passionately try to explain to my wife about how I felt. She immediately realized that I've gone nuts in other words keeedaa/bug (very rare, but when it happens there isn't any solution to it) with this 1.6 monster and would be very difficult to convince me to settle for 1.3 Zeta even if we become poorer by couple of lakhs more. Also due to the fact that we had already made up our mind to book S-Cross, my better-half left the decision of the engine choice to me as long as I'm able to manage Vitamin M factor and will not ever crib about the extra dough we would have invested on the vehicle. It sounded easy in a way now that the final decision was solely on me however it also added a little bit of pressure to make a wise choice after all the ground work that has been done over the last ~8 months. Took multiple test drives along with abhinav.s and one other colleague of mine who was planning to buy an XUV 500. Dealer was kind enough to provide test drives atleast 3 times during the same week and realizing that we are serious buyers left the vehicle with us on a weekend from Saturday evening until Monday morning. Yes for almost 36 hours we had the 1.6 Alpha at our disposal and decided if it has to be S-Cross it has to be the 1.6 engine period. It was a unanimous opinion from all 3 of us.

Whenever there is a question about S-Cross engine options and its performance will remind you of GTO's famous sayings " If it is S-Cross, it has to be a 1.6 engine. Each time you take out the 1.6 engine and floor it, you will have this wide GRIN on your face", "That's what makes the car special...that's what makes the S-Cross enjoyable", "There'll be countless memories". I was very much able to relate & cherish some of my past memories when I had too much fun with my the Hero Ranger Cycle during the school days and the Yamaha RX-100 bike during the college ones. And that's why this 1.6 engine made me feel younger too.

Now for the awesome test drive experience the SA & Dealership were rewarded with not just My booking but also My colleague's booking of the 1.6 who had XUV 500 in mind. Yeah and that's called the addictiveness of this 1.6L beast.

[Keynote]

Booking, Dealership & Delivery Experience :
It was through Pratham NEXA and the experience from the time of enquiry of the vehicle and until the delivery was superb & fantastic. SA checked the inventory and confirmed they have got two 1.6 Alpha variants in stock. A pearl white & a Granite Grey manufactured in April'16 & May'16 respectively. My colleague always wanted his next vehicle to be in White and I wanted anything other than White. Both of our criteria's were met and I was happy to pick my Granite Grey Tusker which had reached the stockyard on the 21st May'16.

Took the team-bhp PDI check list and followed it religiously by visiting the dealer stockyard prior to confirmation and registration. Odometer reading was 13 kms and there were absolutely no visible scratches that I could spot. Had a good look at the Alloys and decided to stick with stock ones as it came with new gun-metal finish. When viewed from the side profile they blend very nicely with the overall color of the vehicle including the roof rails, door sill guards and skid plates. Granite Grey and Caffeine Brown are my favorite colors for S-Cross. We decided to buy the vehicle through company lease option and hence just an email confirmation on 25th May 2016 was all that required to do the booking.

Informed SA that we would like to take the delivery of the vehicle on 9th June 2016 preferably due to auspicious conventions and the same was obliged without any issues. Undoubtedly those were the LONGEST 15 days of my life (from 25th may to 9th June) till the penultimate day arrived.

Also this was the first time we were visiting the much talked about NEXA showroom and their Premium experience to their customers. The whole atmosphere surrounding me was nothing less than going to seek marriage proposal and waiting to see the prospective bride.

After a good 30 minute wait, there it arrived in all its glory and I was awestruck.


This was the first time my wife and my Son - Junior Bhpian were seeing the car in flesh in this color, though Wife was very happy with the choice of the color our Son wanted the Blue one in the garage rather than the grey.




After giving a good look from all possible angles, took some courage to open the driver side door and checked the odometer which was at 51 kms mark.

Odo reading - At stockyard during PDI vs At the time of delivery inside Pratham Nexa


Once all the paperwork formalities were over, presented a gift voucher worth 2K INR to the SA as a token of appreciation. In return we were given a nice surprise in the form of lunch / dinner vouchers of European Cuisine - Smoke House Deli worth 3.2K INR in addition to the customary White Flowers Bouquet and Ferrero Rocher. Out of curiosity, i inquire to SA about food vouchers gift if it is a new freebie to NEXA customers? And his immediate answer was, "Sir it is a special Thank You gesture from our side for giving us an opportunity to serve you and your colleague without any demand or expectation". We were pleasantly surprised and drove out of the showroom after collecting the fuel voucher worth 500 INR.

On-Road Cost : Final OTR price including the extended warranty was INR ~ 15.35L. Freebies included - Corporate discount of 10K, Standard / Basic accessories worth 10K such as S-Cross signature rubber floor mats, Tyvek Car cover, Illuminated Scuff plates, mud flaps and got a MGA Premium Car Cleaning Kit worth 1.3k as complimentary.

Although there was no dearth of excitement while taking the vehicle out of the showroom, it still reminded me how much effort was taken in the last 8 months to enjoy this moment.



After the customary Pooja at the temple, went directly to Madhu's and did the alignment and Road Force balancing. Since one of my cousin is a Michelin dealer from the neighboring state, got the P3STs as a gift (ofcourse return gift was the stock JK's to him ) and changed the tyres while doing the balancing. Needless to say, folks at Madhu's were very professional and completed the work in less than 45 minutes. Got the t-bhp member discount too. Within couple of days checked into near by 3M store and did the PPF for (a) ORVMs, (b) Door Handles and (c) Door Edges. Surprisingly S-Cross comes with a pretty good underbody protection which no other car in Maruti stable has currently in India and hence does not need a 3M treatment for the same.

205/60 R16 Michelin P3STs

[Keynote]

Introducing Tusker.

The I, Me & Myself Carfies (like Selfies):

Since Official Review covers every miNUTE details along with corresponding pictures, we have only tried to capture the moments from some of our vacations where the car looks at its best. Hope you all like it.

The much talked about two-slat front chrome grill


Bi-Xenon projector headlamps with LED DRLs


Gun Metal finish Stock Alloys


Tail Lamps


Leather wrapped steering wheel. Also notice how well the pedals are placed, the dead pedal gets a padding too.


From wide angle


ORVMs has a healthy range of view on both sides with integrated LED indicators and fold electrically.


ICE with four quadrants


A look at the front interiors, definitely a notch above when compared with other Maruti vehicles


Candid shot of the interior with frontal visibility


Soft touch dashboard


Comfortable leather seats for the front passengers with contrasting stitching


Spacious leather seat at the rear with 60:40 split. Ingress & Egress are convenient for the elderly passengers too with enough leg room.


3 adults can be seated comfortably, has decent under-thigh support too. Also notice the useful rear quarter glass!



Random side view shot from the rear seat


A rear view from inside


A view with a open boot.


Boot space is 353 (375* liters with the rear seat in its upright position as per official review / brochure), I didn't measure it though


Who am I


Any guesses


The Rough?


And the Tough!


Along with the toughest


Still I worship my Tusker faithfully and bow to him everyday


Conquer the wild...


and enjoy the nature


Me or the Mountains


To be or not to be



Got bhp'd...




and got addicted too

[Keynote]

Driving Experience :

The crossover has covered 9000+ kms so far. Its been a pleasant and trouble-free journey over a period of eight months with a 70:30 split between City:Highway.

City Drive :

1. This is our first diesel car and going through various feedback & advice in the forum it was imperative to spend some time in understanding the gear ratios better.
2. As long as one heeds to that advice, the turbo lag below ~1700 RPMs is definitely manageable.
3. Though there was lot of excitement at the time of delivery of the vehicle and the feeling was just sinking deep within, i was constantly reminded about all the valuable inputs that I had been going through in the official and respective ownership reviews. Also thankful to the various test drives we had, I felt at home and there wasn't any nervous moment in bringing the new vehicle home.
4. In bumper to bumper traffic have managed in 1st and 2nd gears with very minimum accelerator input. However, the clutch is slightly on the heavier side and might take a toll on your left knee if you do a lot of B2B driving.
5. Make no mistake there is sufficient torque available at lower RPMs to keep the vehicle moving and there is absolutely no need to be enthusiastic while driving through the city traffic.
6. I usually prefer to work between 2 pm to 10 pm and have managed to avoid bumper to bumper traffic on most occasions.
7. Hence for most part during the weekday office commute, vehicle is driven in the range (above 1500 RPMs) closer to the turbo zone and it is easier to drive through moderate traffic.
8. Slot it in the 3rd, 4th gears and it almost feels like an automatic car as the 320 NM of torque just pulls any load within no time.
9. With more power, comes more responsibility. So one has to be very careful while in the 3rd and 4th gears as there is a sudden surge of rush from the engine.
10. During moderate traffic this results in lesser gear shifts and a slight tap on the accelerator can quickly get you past the many adjacent vehicles .
11. I doubt there is any other vehicle in this price range (Scorpion Sting is an exception) that can give you so much fun in the city limits with moderate traffic.
12. Many a times have managed to climb the shopping mall ramps with minimal accelerator input, went over bigger humps in 2nd gear with little help from clutch, medium to smaller humps in 3rd and 4th gears without reducing the speed as long as there were no leading vehicles.
13. One of the many reasons for liking the ICE is with just minimal volume, the engine noise that you hear completely disappears. The design and placement of stock 7" touch screen adds a bit of glamour to the thoughtful dashboard layout and looks excellent in contrasting and vibrant colors with the black interior theme. No complaints with the touch response so far as I'm yet to find any lag. Reversing parking camera works just fine with color-coded distance demarcations. The crossover comes equipped with speakers on all 4 doors and gets additional pair of tweeters at the front. The sound quality is pretty decent and has impressive features too.
14. 180 mm of ground clearance is a boon for the unscientific humps and speed-breakers we encounter in and around Bangalore.
15. The moment you floor the vehicle above 1800 RPMs, this car is in a different league altogether and will remind you of the GTO's famous saying mentioned above.
16. The kitna deti hai question? There has been a gradual improvement in mileage after each service and details are in the pictures below.
17. After having tried few combinations of tyre pressure, have maintained 36 ps for all the tyres even with varied number of passengers. With boot luggage its 40 ps for the rear tyres.

FE during first 500 KMs within city


FE towards ~5000 and ~8000 KMs


Highway Drive :
Highway drives undertaken so far :

• Bangalore-Yercaud-Bangalore
• Bangalore-Sakhleshpur-Bangalore
• Bangalore-Kolar-Bangalore
• Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ooty-Coimbatore-Bangalore
• Bangalore-Chennai-Bangalore

1. Go past 1800 RPMs gently and the co-passengers would NOT even realize the triple digit speeds till 2500 RPMs. And in that manner it is indeed a "calm highway cruiser".
2. The crossover is very composed at triple digit speeds on the highway. Thanks to the excellent dynamics and the suspension set-up, you would hardly feel any fatigue over long distances.
3. The way it picks up speed is proportional to the RPM at which you change gears. If you change gears too early then the massive turbo lag will catch you off guard and gets scary. Change gears at around 2500-2700 RPMs and you will be rewarded with impressive acceleration and you can ride the torque wave to unmentionable speeds.
4. Car does not feel jittery or scary even at these speeds and you will feel in complete control of the vehicle.
5. The only places where you will be caught off guard is when down shifting while slowing down for approaching traffic or speed breakers or intersections. During these times you have to ensure you are in the proper gear/rpm. Else you will drop speeds like you have hit a brick wall and chances of getting rear-ended are very high. I had to slow down from triple digit speeds to around 60 Kmph. Shifting from 6th to 4th put me in the dead zone with the turbo lag and the vehicle almost felt like it has come to a standstill. Once you understand the speeds and gears to downshift to, it becomes second nature and you will not have these scary moments of getting caught off guard.
6. Be it in City or Highways, majority of the time ACC is set between 23 to 24 degrees and cools the cabin in no time. During a recent visit to Chennai (2nd week of March), felt the harsh summer afternoon and had to adjust it to 21.5 degrees which was an exception.
7. Night driving on the highways with stock projectors is a strict NO NO!! The projectors are useless and the throw in high beam is a mere 2 feet in front of the low beam throw. The animals, people, vehicles without tail lamps on the left hand side of the road are pretty easy to miss and can cause fatal accidents. Not sure if i have to allow the projectors to run in more in high beam but the throw for now is pathetic to say the least. This robs you of the confidence that the engine and chassis provide during night drives. Thankfully 95% of our highway drives are during the day and generally avoid driving during nights.
8. Hill climb ability of the vehicle is impressive. The much touted turbo lag isn't an issue as long as you get used to driving at the appropriate gear for the hills. During the hill ascent in Yercaud, was able to climb the ghat sections with ease in just 3rd and 4th gears without having to frequently use the first two gears. The same in Ooty, did experience a bit of body roll while managing to climb the hairpin bends in the 2nd gear. However when going in and around Ooty and in Kothagiri route I was able to manage in 3rd gear and above.
9. When driven between 80-100 kmph with 3-4 passengers and luggage on-board,highway fuel efficiency has always been consistent around ~18.5 kms. Unfortunately do not have the pictures to share at the moment, however will do so once am able to find them. Cruise control is a nice to have feature, have used it on few instances just to check the functionality.
10. During a recent highway trip did some spirited driving and still got an impressive 15.6 kms. Well we don't take the 1.6L on the highway to extract mileage, do we?
11. The best feeling is not only limited to driving the 1.6L on the highway but every time we reach the desired destination, the instant response from the co-passengers is
    (a) Have we reached already?
    (b) Didn't even realize we traveled ~400 kms non-stop!
    (c) Is tomorrow a holiday...? Can we take a U-Turn and go meet Grandpa & Grandma again for one more day?
    (d) Highway ride quality is really very good in this vehicle.
12. Above all it masks its size very well both in the city/highways and is a hoot to drive with its brutal acceleration abilities and handling dynamics which is truly addictive.

FE during recent highway trip


Thanksgiving:

• My heartfelt gratitude to GTO, a4anurag, IshaanIan, swiftnfurious, shankar.balan, kpzen, vb-san, abhinav.s for their expert opinions.
• S2 & Rehaan for the official review; sandygordon, volkman10, sudeepg, pannags, ajay_satpute, and Mi10 for their respective ownership reviews.
• All of these immensely helped me in choosing my Tusker.
• a4anurag for rubbing-in the initial thought and other team-bhp members for the inspiration to come up with an ownership review.
• Initial and Final contenders pictures taken from respective team-bhp official review threads.
• Fellow bhpian abhinav.s for his valuable inputs and constantly pushing me to complete this review.
• Moderators who take lot of effort in ensuring every information posted in the threads are relevant and meaningful.
• Last but not least, my wife for the S-Cross 1.6 pictures (except for the Odo & FE ones which were taken on cellphone camera) without which this review wouldn't have been so vivid and lively - Picture Credits : Kavitha Nagaraj Photography

Two Parting Shots :

Let him sleep...


for when he wakes, he will move mountains.

[Aditya]

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

[dailydriver]

Congrats on your old-new car! 'Tusker' is an appropriate name for this modest behemoth.

Though a little late in seeing the light of the day, the review is well written and the photographs (witty titles too) do justice to S Cross' subtle beauty. However, at a few places, the car appears to be of a different colour than Granite Gray. While appreciating the good qualities of your car, you don't hesitate to give credit to others where it is due.

OT: Was surprised to read your better half's comments during the test drives. She might be a Bhpian in the making even before the Jr!

[Keynote]

Originally Posted by Aditya

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

Thanks a ton Aditya and GTO for approving the review. Really appreciate it!

[Rajeevraj]

Congratulations Keynote. Great review. A very well balanced report that will be immensely useful to all prospective buyers. In lot of cases we tend to overlook some of the shortcomings of our new car. Nice to see that you have objectively listed out the things that could have been better and also elaborated more on these items during the course of the review. The projectors being average was news to me, that is unfortunate for a 15L car.

Please convey thanks to your wife also for shooting all the pictures for the review. A set of nice pictures always takes a review to another level.

Wish you all the best.

[sawnilrules]

Congratulation Keynote, you have got yourself a proper monster. And a brilliant one too. IMO, S Cross is the only well built Maruti in their entire line-up of their cars. Congratulations once again, and here's wishing you a very safe miles.

A very well written review too. I loved your version of Addiction. I completely echo with your sentiments, as I feel the same, whenever I am behind the wheel of my mental monster. The Octavia 1.8 Tsi.

[kkkkkaran]

Congratulations on the beast. This is an extremely well written review from your ( and your better half's) perspective.
Please do keep updating us with any and all developments over the hopefully long term ownership.

Wishing you a million miles. Keep revving :-)

[abhinav.s]

Congratulations buddy! Finally the review is up. I still remember the amount of time spent on different test drives before zeroing in on the S-Cross 1.6L ! Review has come out really well and special mention about the superb clicks to your wife.

Now that the effort of putting up this well written review is out now, please keep this updated at periodic intervals!