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Old 8th May 2007, 19:29   #61
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No, it will work just as well without a display. The display is for your convenience, esp when you don't have rotary knobs, only MODE or AUTO buttons. Here you can set the mode with a knob, the temperature with one, and the blower speed or AUTO with another knob. No need for a display.
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Old 8th May 2007, 19:35   #62
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Sat in the SX4 at Bimal Auto in Indiranagar today and the first thing I noticed is that the driver legroom is abysmal compared to the Baleno.
I'm used to sitting (in all cars I have driven) with my feet almost fully stretched but the SX4 did not allow me this luxury. I'm not overly tall (5'10") so this was a bit of a surprise to me.
Otherwise, it looks like the SX4 has been copying the Fiesta and the Swift in its interiors. Loved the wheels but not too sure about the rear. Would have to see it in motion to judge the total effect.

Is it just me or are there others ruing the replacement of low slung cars?
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Old 8th May 2007, 19:52   #63
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Does the inbuilt + non removable music system mean death of ICE for SX4? I dont see anyway of customizing the music system. In other words, the system better be good....otherwise??

Car looks good from the front.
Nice pics!
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Old 8th May 2007, 20:00   #64
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mclaren1885 View Post
ECU is located in the engine compartment itself and not under the dash as other cars ..
Not sure about other cars but ECU is in engine bay for all fiats.
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Old 8th May 2007, 20:12   #65
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I visited the maruti dealer here in pune, but their TD vehicle was not yet registered, hence could not drive it, also they only had the Vxi on display. So here are my impressions about the car that i got after seeing it.

1. The quality of the interior plastics such as the dashboard and the door trim does not feel great. I'm comparing it to the optra though.

2. The car looks big, has a high roofline which is about 5-6 inches higher than the optra.

3. The A-Pillar seems to block vision to the right, the split in the pillar IMHO does not help, since the pillars themselves protrude so much that they leave very little glass visible to the driver. the rear view mirror also blocks the view to the right. The left A-pillar split does help.

4. The 15" wheels are nice, look proportional, shod with er-60 turanzas, i think 16" would look awesome.

5. The rear seat is big with support at all the right places. And the seat height is spot on. I mean, in most cars you have to bend your knees to sit in, while in most SUV's you climb up to the seats, but in the sx4 you just slide in and sit. Its just at the right height. I moved myself in and out of the rear seat 4-5 times, it was effortless. Legroom is okay, adequate space in front of the knees. All seats in the car seem to be big than the ones in other cars, making one feel that the car is not as spacious as it looks from the outside.

6.The gearbox needed some effort to shift also, shift action felt similar to the optra. ( This i checked with the car engine off, so it may give a completely different feel under normal driving conditions.)

7. The car suspension feels soft.

8. The boot is big, but the rear bumper is very high, making it difficult to load stuff in the boot.

9. GC is more than required IMO, the car feels too high. I wonder if the Zxi is still higher by 1/2" due to the 16" wheels.

All in all i'm impressed by the sx4 zxi, it comes with more goodies than what the competition calls their fully loaded variant, that makes the sx4 zxi overloaded, all this at a sweet price point.

Some pictures...

This photo i have taken with the phone in front of my face, from the drivers seat very little area of the quarter glass is visible. i.e. smaller than what is seen in the photo.


The left quarter glass helps.



The dash of the VXi.





Cheers!!!
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Old 8th May 2007, 20:29   #66
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mclaren

great pics. and the sunlight copper colour (if i am not wrong) is simply awesome, will make for a great road presence. i have now three colours to sort out - biege, silver or sunlight copper. i m dropping black - its very difficult to maintain honestly. the guy who washes my car daily just went on a holiday and on day 2 my 800 stinks

might take a TD tomorrow and start the works. i sat in the car at bimal today for a more closer look. since i do not own a swift in the eyes of a layman, the controls are really pleasing. amber lighting is a good touch. tilt steering and seat height adjuster work perfectly for me, for a 5'11 incher. clutch is not too hard like the palio kinds, and i expect it to soften more after 1000km drive. brakes are really hard (all new cars are like this). much has been said about the wheels, but they are of a different league. i m quite pleased with the wheels.

i asked the guy to demo the stereo system and it wasnt exactly mind blowing, but for a guy listening to 2 spkrs at the back this long on a pioneer + jbl combo, this was a welcome change, no distortion on listening to tuner. the steering stereo controls are a useful addition.

the legroom for all those doubtful folks is more than adequate. it definitely wont be say as much as the accord or octi, but just perfect in my opinion. the boot is huge, and pretty practical and usable, though for larger suitcases you have to make them sleep into the boot, they cant stand tall! - if you understand what i mean. gearshift is a copy of the swift so i can expect it to be good.

the brochure mentions in bold - great fuel efficiency while all other points are in non bold, which only means maruti is stressing on this fact. the showroom guy said 11 with ac, and i know they underquote for all cars generally. with or without ac i would expect about 11-12 for sure out of this car.

could not test the ac though, but the knobs did look cool. the hand rest on the windows is just perfectly done up. and the electrically controlled side view mirror switch is more like a joystick of a mini kind, really cute work maruti. its not a bland switch for doing that! but i doubt how long it will work if you have pesky kids inside your car who test each and everything!

the engine bay is perhaps the most neatly arranged among all mul cars. well done again.

well this almost became a pseudo review again. so until the test drive! bye!
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Old 8th May 2007, 20:29   #67
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Akshay , maybe the temperature gauge next to the clock serves as the gauge for the climatic control too .. Not sure about this though ..

Quote:
Originally Posted by xezas
Is it just me or are there others ruing the replacement of low slung cars?
Its the age of tall boys , it seems .. Bye bye to that feeling of sitting low , the beautiful handling and scraping on speedbumps ..

Quote:
Originally Posted by kvish
Does the inbuilt + non removable music system mean death of ICE for SX4? I dont see anyway of customizing the music system. In other words, the system better be good..
Well you could scrap the system and get a custom fibre one made .. Speakers dont sound that great .. But the doors have tweeter placement and the fronts can hold 6.5'' i guess .. Didnt quite notice the rear .. Boot is large enough to hold huge 15'' easily and still have plenty of room for a couple of shopping bags and a golf kit ..
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Old 8th May 2007, 21:07   #68
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Quote:
Originally Posted by v1p3r View Post
Evidently you have a lot to learn about fluid dynamics and engine design. How do you call the Honda Vtec engine the 'best'? It's far slower than its 10 year older brother, and gives less mileage than the Baleno. If my Baleno can give 15.8 and Mclaren's can give close to 17 in BLR traffic, I see no reason why the SX4 cannot break into double digits. If it doesn't, I will be disappointed.
I agree with you on the best engine part.

However, I think you are generalizing on Baleno FE. There are people, who can claim to extract 36kmpl from Verna and all, but point is that how many people can do that in everyday commute. So, 15 and 17 kmpl is fine for you and McLaren, but for others, FE figures will be somewhere between 11-13.

Baleno has excellent flat torque curve and low weight on its side, which helps in achieving good numbers. With new engine for SX4, I am not sure of torque curve. With additional weight to lug around, SX4 can end up giving < 10 mileage, which is decent enough for car of that size and weight.

McLaren, nice pics. For a change, interior of a Maruti car really looks nice.
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Old 8th May 2007, 21:14   #69
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kvish View Post
Does the inbuilt + non removable music system mean death of ICE for SX4? I dont see anyway of customizing the music system. In other words, the system better be good....otherwise??
No, you can customise. You just need to remove the panel holding the system. How do you think they sell the VXI?

Quote:
Originally Posted by greatDrive View Post
Not sure about other cars but ECU is in engine bay for all fiats.
AFAIK, the Palio 1.6 has the ECU inside the cabin. The 1.2, however, I'm certain has the ECU in the engine bay, proudly saying Magneti Marelli.

Quote:
Originally Posted by RX135 View Post
However, I think you are generalizing on Baleno FE. There are people, who can claim to extract 36kmpl from Verna and all, but point is that how many people can do that in everyday commute. So, 15 and 17 kmpl is fine for you and McLaren, but for others, FE figures will be somewhere between 11-13.

Baleno has excellent flat torque curve and low weight on its side, which helps in achieving good numbers. With new engine for SX4, I am not sure of torque curve. With additional weight to lug around, SX4 can end up giving < 10 mileage, which is decent enough for car of that size and weight.
Well, I have friends who get 13 from their Corollas with climate control set to auto. Agreed, they get a 1 km clear stretch each way, to cruise at 60 kmph, but that's still 12 kmpl possible from a 1.2 tonner with a 1.8 litre engine. Do you still think, if you put your mind to it, you won't get 10+ from an SX4.

Don't wait for memo's car to give those figures though. It will be an achievement if he keeps it below 4000 rpm even for the first 1000 km.
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Old 8th May 2007, 21:45   #70
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaggu View Post
Sorry to offend City owners BUT i felt this car is much better off in looks department.

I'm sure NHC owners wont take an offense since it is very true.
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Old 8th May 2007, 21:46   #71
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kvish View Post
Does the inbuilt + non removable music system mean death of ICE for SX4? I dont see anyway of customizing the music system. In other words, the system better be good....otherwise??

Car looks good from the front.
Nice pics!
I saw a pdf download file at their website which lists all acessories available for SX4. It also included quite a lot of options for ICE. I think they can be installed by the dealers
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Old 8th May 2007, 21:53   #72
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Just got back from a Test Drive in the sx4...Sorry to say but i really didnt quite like it that much...felf the seating position on the zxi was good since its got all the adjustments..but what happens to the vxi...without all those goodies...Gears felf like they were just picked up from the swift and plonked onto the sx4..Steering way to small for such a big car...again seems like straight out of the swift..Dash looks impressive only because of the INdash music system and silver garnish...vxi will look terrible without all those..specially without the a/c knobs....Dials very plain and simple..could have been spruced up...HATE HATE...the A-pillar..looks awful from inside and out...Seating at the rear pretty ok..but they could have done better....Dont quite like the high seating though...Felt the suspension to be a bit on the hard side..Not quite impressed with ride quality.8kpl is what the person behind the desk claimed it to be giving..
On the whole 4.5 on 10.
Better option Honda City zx.
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Old 8th May 2007, 21:58   #73
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TD report

I just did TD this evening.

- While I saw it in road (when previous guy did TD), it looked amazing like Innova (I know few may agree, few disagree). That too it was red colored one, looked very gigantic
- few days before, i just sat inside the vehicle (before launch itself). [Refer my post: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...tml#post429982] That time itself, driver seat height & view was clearly evident like SUV. Now, while driving, i experienced it . I FELT LIKE DRIVING SUV (scorpio, my dream car).
- Power is excellent, I kept pressing accelerator on and on to keep going in high speeds (BLR traffic didn't allow me to go at higher speeds, I couldn't take it for long drive since many people were waiting for TD)
- I drove in roads where I already TD'd fiesta and NHC. Obviously, sx4 handles bad roads, potholes very well - suspension was amazing
- steering control is good, i would say
- AC seemed to be not good since my parents in rear seats didn't feel it much or it took sometime for AC to cool (compared to fiesta/NHC)
- rear leg room was more than sufficient for them (equal to NHC)
- driver leg/head room was also good (i am 5'9")
- engine noise is ok, but NHC is best in this parameter (almost noise-less)
- breaking is very good, it just stopped when i pressed, thanks to ABS/EBD, this is sure a killer difference from fiesta/NHC (this is one of key reasons i decided to buy sx4)
- gear shift was little hard i would say. I drove swift whichi felt very smooth. but TD vehicle of swift is older, sx4 is just born baby - so this is not right comparison
- turning radius sucks, especially for BLR city driving (fiesta/NHC better), but for big/tall boy, this shd b compromised
- overall, I liked it very much [I felt as though I am driving SUV, not sedan, Thanks MUL!!!!]

I, in fact, booked it yesterday itself before TD, that too before it was launched - damn confident on MUL and reviews by BHPians!!

Now, most important thing that sucks me is: dealer (Pratham, marathahalli ring road, BLR) says that it may take 3 months to deliver (grey, i opted for) ........

I can't wait for 3 months, damn!

Last edited by aah78 : 8th May 2007 at 23:04. Reason: please limit smileys to 2 per post!
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Old 8th May 2007, 22:08   #74
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Quote:
Originally Posted by appuchan View Post
I saw a pdf download file at their website which lists all acessories available for SX4. It also included quite a lot of options for ICE. I think they can be installed by the dealers
but those are all kenwood and low end sony. and i dont think those are meant for the zxi. only for the vxi which dosent have any ice.
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Old 8th May 2007, 22:09   #75
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lol why u sorrying you are entitled to your opinion and very refreshing one at that, and it just made me go get a test drive... soon

even without driving the car and going by only feel, looks and price i say this car is better than honda city, very bluntly put city overall feels a generation behind ... there i said it.
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