[espraveen]

Originally Posted by New.Novice

.. Surprisingly some of your observations are exactly tangential to the ones that I have..
1. I somehow never get very confident driving my wife's Celerio.. I think the steering is very light and requires constant attention.
2. I find the car a little too jumpy for my liking. While I understand you find the car to be well grounded, I find it well...absolutely otherwise.
4 What is troubling the most is that I am getting a ~11 KMPL from this car.
EDIT: I must add that we drive it on "D" (automatic) mode for 100% of the time, if that is a factor in FE discussion.

Originally Posted by audioholic

1. You can never compare the handling of a C segment sedan with an Upper A segment small car.
2. I am running a slightly lower tyre pressure, of 33 front and 30 rear. The recommended pressure is 36 front and 33 rear. I did feel the same as you....
4. Currently I am managing an average of 13.5 with 80% AC and 50% of D mode.

>Steering /Handling : My father's Celerio ZXI(O) AMT has crossed 5000KM. Steering, like audioholic has mentioned, isn't light. In fact, it's considerably heavier than the New Figo that I drive. Handling-wise I find the Celerio to be quite good. We had upgraded to 185/65/R14 Michelins on the delivery day itself(probably that has contributed to better handling). But I am sure the Celerio's handling would be decent even on stock tyres.
And yes! we can't compare Celerio's handling with a Fiesta or an SX4!!

>FE :Our Celerio's FE average is hovering around 17-18(AC on 100%of the time). Of course, the roads it is driven around are inter-town /town roads with moderate traffic. And we are almost always in the D-mode (I just tested the Manual mode couple of times just for the sake of it!).
We maintain 33psi for all the tyres.

@New.Novice : I think the low FE you are getting is probably because of the traffic conditions!

[qr20de]

@audioholic: Congrats on the Celerio! Talk about coincidence that my inlaws also traded in their 5 year old Wagon R for the Celerio ZXi AMT for their in-city commutes. Got the car like 5 days ago.

The car is an absolute breeze to drive! Smooth-ish shifts, ho hassles of a clutch in traffic and compact dimensions; what more can you want for urban India? And considering that the car has a great music system with bluetooth phone controls, power windows etc, it's really a match winner.

Wish you many successful years and kilometers of driving ahead! Please do keep this post up to date with any issues that you face. I can also compare and support wherever needed.

Cheers!

[paragsachania]

Superb review Audioholic and yours seems to be the first one for Celerio AMT Zxi (O) and stands out mainly for the attention to detail that focuses clearly on how Celerio wins hands down over Quality and equipment list in comparison to your erstwhile WagonR.

I was also the lucky one not only to get a glimpse of your Celerio but also drive around few kilometers to experience the AMT .

Your observations on what is better in Celerio against WagonR are spot on! My uncle aged more than 70 didn't think twice before buying the WagonR VXi (O) after evaluating the Celerio mainly because he is taller and the fact that he was already used to WagonR's taller seating that he sold to pick this up. Else the Celerio would have been an obvious choice otherwise.

Regarding the AMT Experience, all I can say is that it is "convenient" and I am loving the way how market is now inclined towards AMT or Automatics to beat the traffic stress out of them in their daily commute.

I loved the way the steering weighed too - It is indeed not on the lighter side when I compare that to WagonR or the competition. Felt as if the tires were under inflated but a few kms ahead and I know the steering set-up was indeed right.

And lastly, the ICE - As I rolled up and listened to the ICE, It indeed surprised me like it did to you. It is more than just Good. Needs no upgrade except may be damping to reduce the vibration out of those door pads and some good spacer rings. Else for stock ICE, this is indeed a huge leap for me. My Ertiga's ICE was was not close to this and neither was the SX4's that I have often heard in Alok's car. However, this makes me listen to the ICE in the WagonR AMT that we have in our family now .

And the lug nuts - Well, I noticed them when we meet too and somehow it totally slipped out of my mind during our conversations later that you should go for the closed ones. I have suffered once due to rusting of the open type nuts and settled for these later in the WagonR. Any good alloy wheel shop will be able to give you a good quality set of these. Pick them up soon.

Wishing you all the best and happy mile munching.......Bade araaam se!

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by adneeraj

Are you going to get the paint protection film done from 3M? Do post details.

Missed this, nope, I really cant afford the 3M prices when I am planning to do up lot of stuff with PPF. Its going to be a DIY. The mirrors are already done as of now since they were top priority. Next is the bumper corners.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Superb review Audioholic and yours seems to be the first one for Celerio AMT Zxi (O) and stands out mainly for the attention to detail that focuses clearly on how Celerio wins hands down over Quality and equipment list in comparison to your erstwhile WagonR.

I was also the lucky one not only to get a glimpse of your Celerio but also drive around few kilometers to experience the AMT .

Thanks for the wishes and your observations Parag

Lug nuts are coming up, and so is the maal from Aliexpress

[AkMar]

Audioholic, what a fantastic trip report! Your observations are very detailed & to the point. I enjoyed reading it. Rating a well deserved 5 stars.

Before reading your review, WagonR was my choice in Maruti's AMT cars. After reading your review it has changed to Celerio The comparisons with WagonR & difference in engine is brought out very well. Thanks for the review!

[Swarit19]

Just came back from a Celerio then Swift & Ciaz then Celerio test drive because of your thread and the praise for it. I think I'm a convert.


Best part I would say is one of the dealers has zxi abs automatic in white in stock right now while the other has quoted a less than one month waiting period for any color I would like. Very happy and slightly weirded out by myself as I instantly liked the cheap celerio more than the "luxury" top of the line manual variant of ciaz.

I can imagine swift being a blast outside of delhi but right here the amt is miles ahead. I felt very calm after the celerio test drive each time compared to a rather tiresome / stressed experience of ciaz & swift in slight bumper to bumper traffic.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Swarit19

I can imagine swift being a blast outside of delhi but right here the amt is miles ahead. I felt very calm after the celerio test drive each time compared to a rather tiresome / stressed experience of ciaz & swift in slight bumper to bumper traffic.

Thanks! Highlighted line explains one main reason I gave away my WagonR though it was in excellent condition. With the manual, my endurance in city traffic was 1.5Hrs. Anything more than that I used to get frustrated, too lazy to change gears, lesser attention on the road and so on. But now, with my average commute time becoming nearly 2hrs, I still arrive home fresh. A friend of mine commutes with me she travels a little farther than my home. Now I no longer mind dropping her and spending an extra 10 mins on the road which I used to crib about before.

I feel automatics are the way to go for city traffic. Currently all smiles with the car, except that I want the transmission software to be tweaked. I dont think the TCM will last for the so called 10yrs 1.6L kms with this kind of a workload. Just too many shifts.

[Torino]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I feel automatics are the way to go for city traffic. Currently all smiles with the car, except that I want the transmission software to be tweaked. I dont think the TCM will last for the so called 10yrs 1.6L kms with this kind of a workload. Just too many shifts.

Hi audioholic, congrats on your Celerio and excellent review. Your observations on transmission behaviour is spot on. With my Alto K10 AMT, I got used to the Drive mode so much that I almost never use M mode in the city or the highways, may be because this is my first automatic car and I am lazy and compared to driving a manual car in city traffic the AMT is a bliss. The M mode though is absolute fun and engaging when driving in the ghat sections. Few months back I got a chance to test drive both Celerio and WagonR, the Celerio definitely felt more nicer (better NHV and interior layout) inside and had smoother ride over bad roads. Drive safe.

[audioholic]

I had forgotten to update this, but the Celerio underwent some badge engineering I hated the big Maruti Suzuki logo taking up real estate on the small hatch door. Moreover it's very difficult to clean in between so many crevices. This accumulates hard water marks. Out it went and in came a much compact Suzuki logo.



Had ordered it some time back from Ali express. There's something else coming from Ali as well in a week or two

[audioholic]

Last weekend the car had done 800kms on the odo, and I wanted the engine to open up since these 800kms were a mix of city and early morning roads. Hence, me and my father took it to our village 75kms away from Bangalore to see how it performs on the highway.

Just this - Its really fun

No more downshifting and revv matching, just stomp the pedal and it zips forward within no time. The shift time is quite less between 3-4-5 and that makes highway overtaking and accelerating fun. Only the 1-2-3 shifts are slow and annoying, especially if it happens out of the blue. My father too felt very confident about the car and it effortlessly cruises compared to the wagonR where we felt nervous as the speed increased. Hence, it was limited to the city.

Both me and dad gunned the throttle and put the engine through all states and speeds. It has actually made the engine response better. Not sure if the throttle calibrated itself or the engine became free compared to before. Here is what we got after a really hard right foot:



Owning a petrol sedan, I can safely confess that we arent mileage freaks in any way. I would call this acceptable. Sometimes I get more during my morning run to office, but yes inside the city its driven really sedately. Hitting the 1000 mark tomorrow mostly, after which a report will follow. This is the only car we have had crossing 1000kms within the first three weeks of ownership.

[ashishk29]

Congratulations! Nice review.

I really like just how much Maruti has improved in terms of interiors over it's past mid-range cars!
The interiors are much better put together, and overall look really good.
Glad that Maruti has taken some steps to improve that.

That colour looks really good on the Celerio. A unique colour I'd say in the current white-silver-gold-black era.

[audioholic]

So as estimated I hit the 1000km mark while coming home yesterday. It was a quick one due to excessive use. Its not any custom to wait for exact 1000 km to post an update, but just a milestone I would consider. Hence, at 1000km, here is what I feel about the car:

Engine: As expected, it has not disappointed me either inside the city or on the highway. As obviously once the speed crosses three digits progress gets slow, but that is not what the car is meant for. I havent calculated FE precisely, but the FE display shows 15.1Kmpl for 900kms of city traffic and 150kms of hard driving on the highway fully with AC. Today filled the tank and the range showed as 390kms which estimates to 13kmpl from the current history of driving. Thats marginally better than my wagonR.

Transmission: Either the transmission has got used to me, or vice versa. Have stopped using M mode and did not find need for it this entire week. However, I make it a point to switch to M while climbing up office basement since I do not want a shift to 2. Apart from this, its D all the way. However, I still hate the clutch slipping in 2nd gear and I hope this should be tweakable. Else it will unnecessarily burn the clutch and eat up its life. Like I mentioned before, its only the initial shifts that take time. This is mainly due to revv matching and not a transmission feature. Basically the TCM waits for ECM to get the engine speed to the desired rate and then shifts to the required gear. Maybe it can be tweaked with a little compromise on smoothness. Being an automotive software developer, I pray so much that I get a hold on this software for the TCM and modify it as I like

Brakes, ride and handling no changes. Had a couple of hard braking events and it stops where I expect it to. Every car has its own way of going fast and slowing down. In this regard, I like the way the car both picks speed and comes down - Making me drive it hard.

Equipment I miss is mainly the fog lamps since I use them as DRL in my early morning drive. Have planned for a really nice thing I found on Aliexpress. Preparations are underway for the same. The stock headlights are excellent and have good spread and intensity for a stock lights. Hence will leave it as it is.

Replaced the lug nuts with the closed ended ones and will post a few pictures after the first service or wash. These costed a meager 15 bucks a piece and the stupid dealership guy couldnt do that much to help looks. He will get a deserving feedback from my end for the entire experience with MGA.

One thing I forgot to mention before is, I find the seating position to be a little lower which hinders all round visibility. The higher door line and thick A pillar also does no good and I usually end up maintaining a lot of distance from the left and also while turning. Compared to this I used to inch my WagonR in the smallest possible spaces with fantastic all round visibility. Not the same with this car. The added width also makes it a lot different while taking turns.

Will take it to the workshop this weekend for the first inspection. Hopefully I should be able to get the transmission tweaked along with the BCM. I want more indicator flashes when the lane change indicators are triggered.

Until next update, Cya!

[abhinav.s]

Congrats on the acquisition audioholic. One of the very detailed reviews with timely updates. Well documented. Wishing you many happy miles with the car.

[audioholic]

First service:

Got the first service/inspection done today at 1230kms on the odo. Nothing much apart from an inspection of the engine bay, top up of consumables and wash. The job was done in 2.5hrs and I was present throughout.

Thanks to the guys there, I got the horn swapped to twin tone horns. Carried the horns with me and they got it mounted and wired. Though wiring is not upto the mark, I will design my own harness and replace it in the future. Also investigated the Suzuki Scan tool in detail. There are no options to tweak the transmission however it can be initialized to forget all driving history and start learning fresh.

The BCM had some configuration options and I increased the lane change flashes to 4 which I always wanted to do since the three flashes was a little less IMO. Now it flashes four times and that was the max value I could write into the BCM. Since I went early in the morning I could get the service done on priority and come out by lunch time.

[audioholic]

Installed paint protection film for the rear bumper corners this weekend after realising that its a friendly gesture for bikers to bump into cars everywhere. Hence did this on priority. Here are the pictures after installation. No WIP pics since I do solo jobs and aim into a quick finish in the limited time I get.



Highlight shows the area I have covered.









With the amount of film I had with me, I could have probably covered the entire bumper, but it would be overdoing things and if this wasnt done in pieces, the whole bumper film had to be removed in the event of a small scratch. When done in pieces, if there is a scratch, you just rip out that area neatly.

Sometime back, I had a nice experience with the film on my Dio. I had installed it on the side panels. While I had stopped in a signal, an elderly man tried to pass my vehicle, but ended up misjudging the footrest of his activa. With a temperament, I yelled at him looking at the scratch and he stopped, looking at the damage. Then I realised there was a film and removed it, which had taken the brunt of the scratch and the paint was untouched. The man had a on his face and I had a on my face.