Team-BHP > Team-BHP Reviews > Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports


Reply
  Search this Thread
8,849 views
Old 20th September 2008, 11:23   #1
BHPian
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Pune
Posts: 336
Thanked: 163 Times
Got Estilo - replaced M800 5 speed

We had a 2000 model M800 5 speed mainly used by my wife. Recently I was planning to fully refurbish the same and had prepared the detailed schedule and budget, which was around 45 to 50K. As I was about to start the work one weekend of August, the A.C. compressor failed beyond repair. Cost of new with labour was estimated 12K. This was the first major failure in the lifetime of this car.

To be short, we had a discussion in family on various points and decided to replace the car instead of spending 60K+ and keeping 8 years old car (without powered anything) which might start giving surprises like the A.C. compressor in future.

Chioces were Alto, Estilo and Wagon R since it was basically a city runabout and highway trips if any, less than 250Kms . (We wanted Maruti only and comparing with Tata, Hyundai or Chevy was out of question, and which is not intention of this thread also). Initially I was thinking of Alto but my parents ruled it out as a ‘classier 800 with power steering’ We had a Wagon R earlier for good 1 lac+ Kms and didn’t want to repeat the same model.

Checked the Estilo, seemed perfect for my wife’s use. Has a proven engine from Wagon R which I know for 1 lac+ Kms. Gearshift has improved over earlier Wagon R. Booked the Lxi version with power steering, HVAC, central locking, front power windows which is, for us, adequate list for city use. Gave M800 in exchange. Got the estilo in 5 days. Did PDI with help of TBHP articles beforehand.

Accessories taken were :

Free by dealer – 1)Mats 2)Mudflaps 3)Coating 4)Sony CD MP3 USB 5)Vxi full wheelcaps 6)Side moldiong on doors.

Paid – 1)Fog lamps from Vxi 2)Filming

Had to run it for 350 kms in first two days since other car was not with me. Overall good and satisfactory experience. Will post more pics and views soon.
Attached Thumbnails
Got Estilo - replaced M800 5 speed-dsc00007.jpg  

Got Estilo - replaced M800 5 speed-dsc00006.jpg  


Last edited by Bouncer : 20th September 2008 at 11:25. Reason: Spelling mistake
Bouncer is offline  
Old 20th September 2008, 12:40   #2
BHPian
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 529
Thanked: 136 Times

Congratulations on your purchase. How much did you pay for the fog lamps?
kalpeshc is offline  
Old 20th September 2008, 13:50   #3
Senior - BHPian
 
undead's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Bhavani - Komarapalayam
Posts: 1,193
Thanked: 179 Times

Congrats. What is the OTR price and for how much you exchanged your M800 ??
undead is offline  
Old 20th September 2008, 14:46   #4
Senior - BHPian
 
snaronikar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Bengaluru
Posts: 2,845
Thanked: 29 Times

Congrats on you new buy. Estilo is meant to be driven by Ladies. Has a faminine look. Its my opinion and depends on person to person.
snaronikar is offline  
Old 20th September 2008, 19:50   #5
Senior - BHPian
 
DCEite's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: NCR
Posts: 3,408
Thanked: 2,458 Times

Estilo is a good city car with proven and reliable engine + Maruti after sales service. Which translates to peace of mind.

Congrats!
DCEite is offline  
Old 20th September 2008, 20:33   #6
BHPian
 
simonkayar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 163
Thanked: 91 Times

Congrats on the purchase. Nice to see another estilo owner here.
simonkayar is offline  
Old 20th September 2008, 21:43   #7
BHPian
 
HIGHNOON's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Navi MUMBAI
Posts: 491
Thanked: 69 Times
Query about estilo !

Quote:
Originally Posted by DCEite View Post
Estilo is a good city car with proven and reliable engine + Maruti after sales service. Which translates to peace of mind.

Congrats!
Congrats bouncer for your new acquisition!
@ DCEite,

We were looking at a second car and the options were Alto/wagon R /Estilo LXI and the Santro GL.
On visiting the SAI service MUL dealership , the Alto appeared quite underpowered , the engine kind of course / gravelly after driving my Accent.
Estilo which was never an option , looked neat and compact , more VFM feature wise and shade more upmarket interiors than the others.
The engine felt nice and smooth , good pickup , gears dont fall into slot like my accent and felt a little too much play but honestly didnt feel any worse than our old zen 2004 model.
And my wife liked it over wagon R. So we kind of narrowed down to Estilo.
Now i read a lot of bad press about zen. I mean i honestly I do not read too much into things when people are comparing and condemning the estilo over the old zen.
But i read stuff like the car being unstable at higher speeds , susceptible to cross winds and having a flimsy build.......
It seems more aerodynamic than the wagon R which i believe is reasonable stable at good speeds inspite of the unnecessary headroom and a little square on front facade.
Does Estilo have higher center of gravity than its more successful cousin.?
I have not really read anything bad about the car from actual users.... But can Maruti at this day and age actually regress in terms of build and engineering ?
Is the car actually unsafe on highway ? I dont expect build of Palio , but is it worse than the alto? or more unstable than the Wagon R ?
I understand that any car with that amount of height is apt to feel less planted than something which is low and squat in form.
But dont the manufacturers take into account all these things when the form, weight and suspension are designed?
We were looking at the LXI which has even narrower tyresthan the stock on VXI.
We are confused and need help here.
Wagon R we dont like much.Alto is a little low, cramped and underpowered ,,, Estilo would have been nice with the discounts and feature AND MORE IMPORTANTLY drivabilty in traffic.... but only if its well engineered........
Sorry if its off topic... pls move it if necessary!
awaiting some enlightenment !!!!

Thanks,
kedar
HIGHNOON is offline  
Old 20th September 2008, 23:28   #8
Distinguished - BHPian
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: --
Posts: 3,549
Thanked: 7,233 Times

Congratulations on your new vehicle Bouncer!!
A great city car. The best part about Estilo, I guess, is its interiors. With some good seat covers it looks very neat. The dash is quite good to look at.

@Highnoon
First of all, I am no car-guru, so these are just MY honest opinions.
If its going to be a family car and 3 people are going to sit at the rear, WagonR is the way to go.
If its going to be strictly for your wife and city roads, Estilo wins. About the aerodynamic thing, the WagonR was designed as a tall boy and hence I guess, everything was developed from scratch to suit it and keep it well balanced. Great piece of engineering. With the Estilo, it is not so(read borrowed engine, borrowed platform, suspensions etc etc), flesh has been cut here and there and that could be the reason for its relative instability at higher speeds.

About the built quality, I suppose, there is not much of a difference in the sheets used for the body of the cars be it Alto, 800, WagonR, Swift or Estilo, superficially atleast. I might be wrong though.

If you want the Estilo, you can go ahead without much fear, considering
- Good road manners, easy to drive around and comfortable to be in
- Interiors not as bland as the competition(in your case)
- Fuel efficient and peppy
- From the Maruti stable, so good A.S.S

Plus its not as bad as you might be thinking, hell ya it can go on highways, I mean why not?? Even bullock carts can!! But be sure not to put it out of its comfort zone, meaning not beyond 120-130 and you'll be fine.
Dry Ice is offline  
Old 21st September 2008, 10:55   #9
Senior - BHPian
 
DCEite's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: NCR
Posts: 3,408
Thanked: 2,458 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by HIGHNOON View Post

We were looking at a second car and the options were Alto/wagon R /Estilo LXI and the Santro GL.
...
I think Dry Ice has summed it up pretty well in the above post.

See the tall boys like WagonR/Santro/Estilo are designed primarily to be city cars. These are highly practical cars in congested cities, owing to tall seating, ease of ingress and egress, good visibility. space,fuel efficiency and low end performance.
Alto is a segment below the other three, so there is no point comparing it to the tall boys. However, since you asked, the build quality of Alto is no better than the WagonR and Estilo. The only point where it scores, however, is slightly better handling (and i think you know the reason why), and fuel efficiency. The tall boys are much more easy to drive, spacious, more practical, powerful and can take on occasional highway trips with relative comfort.

If you are looking for a purely highway car, look ahead towards the likes of Swift/Getz/Vista. These cars have much better highway manners when compared to the Santros and WagonRs etc.

People condemn the Zen here, because of its feminist looks , which IMO is subjective. The older Zen was without a shadow of doubt more aerodynamic, but then one would argue the current Zen is more suited for today's city traffic and is a more practical car.

Do also consider Chevrolet Spark, which has a lot going for it. Decent build, more stable than the tall boys, and now, priced very well too.

Search around the forums in the What Car section, and you will get to learn more.

Last edited by DCEite : 21st September 2008 at 10:57.
DCEite is offline  
Old 26th September 2008, 11:50   #10
BHPian
 
HIGHNOON's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Navi MUMBAI
Posts: 491
Thanked: 69 Times
Thanks !

Thanks DCEite & Dry Ice!
You have put it across well.
But meanwhile , i had a couple of TDs of the Chevy spark !
Felt a little better in ride and refinement. The gears felt a little better too. Getting a higher variant LS mumbai registered for a lower variant of competitors octroiless. So very good VFM.
I have 2 concerns.
1) while at the Showroom , i happened to press the fr. bumper of the PS model ( black bumper ). the thing can be poked back by almost an inch or more by index finger .
Too soft is not the word. The manuf. claims that they are 2.5mph bumpers. but i felt they would transfer the entire energy to whatever cross thing behind them instead of absorbing it and getting back to position.
The same coloured one is a little stiffer.
But scary ..i tell you. As a layman it would take much convincing to accept that the bumper serves the purpose well.
I mean i have not seen any bumper of any car this flexible. No tension no resistance . SIMPLY YIELDS TO PRESSURE !
2) Apart from this ingress for rear passengers is tight.
No car is perfect i guess and this one seems a little better at the cost than the rest.
But any thoughts on the bumper ?
regrds.
Kedar
---------------------------------------------------------
IndicaV2 Dls 2004 - 2007, Hyundai Accent 2003 - LPG....
HIGHNOON is offline  
Old 26th September 2008, 23:48   #11
Senior - BHPian
 
TheARUN's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,373
Thanked: 953 Times

The ESTILO is a nice car, very stylish and very well proportioned. Practical too. But it lacks the cheekiness of the old ZEN. Its more like a SANTRO, pleasing all the people all the time
TheARUN is offline  
Old 27th September 2008, 07:42   #12
BHPian
 
jazzy_2cool's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 277
Thanked: 0 Times

Congrats, may god bless you with lots and lots of kilometers .
Be nice to her in the run-in periodcheers:
jazzy_2cool is offline  
Old 27th September 2008, 10:02   #13
Senior - BHPian
 
ashthedivx's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Delhi
Posts: 1,356
Thanked: 24 Times

Congrats for the new purchase. Somehow i feel Estilo's sale hasn't picked up so much in northern India particularly, discount provided by northern India dealer are evidence for the same. Old Zen still rules the second hand car market. Last month while i was in chandigarh, while being at frined's shop who is second -hand car dealer, i saw many customers specifically asking for pre-2004/03 models rather then the later ones. May be the older shape was the liking one.

However, it seems picture is entirely different in south india where-in estilo rules in small car segment !!
ashthedivx is offline  
Old 1st October 2008, 13:22   #14
BHPian
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 38
Thanked: 3 Times
Zen Estilo

Congrats, Bouncer!

I too, went in for a Zen Estilo about six months back, even after reading a lot of bad reviews about it, and I am certainly not repenting. Reviews have a lot of subjectivity and I feel the best way to select a car is list your own needs and take test drives of shortlisted models.

A lot of people have written about bad gear shifting in Estilo. I have never faced this problem. I find the gear ratios to my liking and find that I can quickly (and accurately) shift through gears. I don't have to find a highway in order to shift into the fifth gear - I can do it on most roads at 40 kph. the car is great for city driving.

People also talk about the flimsy build quality of this car. My eperience says otherwise. I have done more than 6000 km so far, mostly on pothole-lined roads of Mumbai), without any problem. The car is tougher than people give it credit for. About three months back, my car was involves in a "serial" accident in which seven cars were involved. Mine happened to be the sixth. Although I could stop before my car touched the one in front (brakes are good), an Indica which was behind me could not, and hit my car from behind. The damage suffered was much less in comparison with the magnitude of impact. Probably the imapct was absorbed nicely. the car was quickly repaired and is back in action.

None of my various pasengers have complained about lack of space - in fact most feel that there is a lot of space.

The AC is quite powerful and cools the interiors fast. I always drive with theAC on, and get a mileage of 11.4 kpl in city. There is also a decent amount of luggage space.

The car is very manoeuvrable. I do not think it is unstable at all. On my only drive outside the city, I took it upto 115 kph without any problem. Traffic prevented me from going any further. That trip gave me a mileage of 18.4 kpl.

All in all, it's a pretty good car. It's a city car and you should treat it as such. Also, it's not the old Zen - it's a different car. In my opinion, Maruti Suzuki made a mistake in naming it "Zen" Estilo. You could say it's a Wagon R with a different shape.

I am quite happy with it.
rrs1951 is offline  
Old 1st October 2008, 15:37   #15
Senior - BHPian
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 2,769
Thanked: 1,266 Times

Congrats on your new buy Bouncer.. Wishing you many happy miles with the car. Waiting to hear your views on the driving experience.

@rrs, I second your view when you say that Maruti should not have badged it "Zen" Estilo and instead if it was say New Wagon-R "Estilo" or something else, then the views might have been favorable saying that the gearshift is improved over the wagon-r etc etc.
abhinav.s is offline  
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks