[Gangsta]

I had a test ride of A-star zxi at DD motors, mayapuri , new delhi

Engine:
Not at all quick. I couldnt believe that it was a 3 pot DOHC engine. Seriously, It was nothing special about it.


Brakes: Not at all Good i will give single star out of 5 for its ABS + EBD thingy..
while i was driving the car (ZXi) , i had emergency brakes at exactly 60 KMPH (ODO). Car skids like anything
Then again i tried the same at 70 kmph (ODO). Again the car skids. I seriously doubt if Maruti Suzuki is really fooling around or what?

In the 2nd skid, the car was over a small pothole and very loud sound of "THUUUDDD". I thought i ripped off the suspension or something related to it. lol

A car with ABS + EBD wont ever skid around like this at just 60-70 kmph.

Boot Space:
Very Very little.

Space Inside:
Cramped. My friend was sitting next to me (5.10 height) and he has to open his legs to open the dashboard. lol. When i was in the showroom, 2 guys were there in the rear seat and they asked me to pull the seat back just to check the space and i was not able to fully pull the seat back. they were around 6 footer. their head was touching the roof and also they were cramped in the rear.

I was shocked to see a car with ABS + EBD skidding around.

Originally Posted by emkay456

Think we need to see some TV Channel Experts giving their review in the light of contradictory opinions coming in here - the two TDs oscillated from "disastrous" to "awesome" !!

lol tutu dhawan is well prepared for telling everyone about his superb points on A-Star over Hyundai i10. So, Ahem Ahem..!! TUTU DHAWAN show = A-Star is a clear winner.

Originally Posted by enter

I did a TD today.
These are my comments

1. The handling of the car is awesome.
2. The front leg room is good and better than other cars(i10, santro) and dont even compare it with Alto pls.
3. The back seat is as crampy as in Alto or an i10(slightly better)..
4. The back seat can be folded easily to give way to more luggage and boot.
5. I dont know how can people compare Alto and A*. Alto is a much smaller and less refined engine than this, and yes they both have same mileage. For the little less leg room and little more mileage, you are paying 30k less for a* than i10.

2. It's not better than i10. After all they call it as Alto A-Star and an alto replacement, so we can compare it with alto, just like we have a lot of conversation bet. Zen and Zen Estilo. lol

5. Dude, Hyundai i10 is much superior than A-Star, performance (i10), brakes (no doubt i10), Space (i10), GearBox (i10) and Mileage (No Comments because we can't predict anything about the mileage unless we have an ownership review but A-Star will be ahead of i10 according to me).

[vijayk]

Engine:
Not at all quick. I couldnt believe that it was a 3 pot DOHC engine. Seriously, It was nothing special about it.


Brakes: Not at all Good i will give single star out of 5 for its ABS + EBD thingy..
while i was driving the car (ZXi) , i had emergency brakes at exactly 60 KMPH (ODO). Car skids like anything
Then again i tried the same at 70 kmph (ODO). Again the car skids. I seriously doubt if Maruti Suzuki is really fooling around or what?

If it is so, what else we can expect from A* to buy it? Only for FE and gear system? I hope A* will not disappoint us atleast in FE.

[sukrit7]

zigwheels seems to love the car but then nothing beats team-bhp's reviews. Essentially we have another 'bad' car

[aseem]

When I read forummers comparing i-10 with A Star I cant help but remember exactly 3 years back when I had joined this forum, there was a huge debate going on to compare Swift and Getz. The hyundai lovers in this forum had gone overboard to claim that Swift had an old engine (nobody used to discuss the old engine was better than Hyundai's new engine in both FE and power), poor finish, poor handling, poor brakes etc. etc. We all know what happened to Getz, dont we.
Similarly those who claim that leg space in A Star is less, exhagerate it so much that for the uninitiated to Indian auto market and strictly reading posts in this thread, he would probably feel i-10 leg space is that of a Limo (lol) and A Star's that of a 2 door car. As far as power goes, if thats your driver, buy a Swift Lxi. If you want a City runabout with a mix of features and enough power, buy an i-10, if you watn a City runabout with features and mileage than buy an A-Star. Each car is positioned differently. Those who exhaggerate i-10 beneifts should compare it with Swift, since the Kappa is quite close to its price (they have similar price difference as that of A Star and i-10). But you dont see that comparison here, as its more turning out to be a Hyundai lovers bashing Maruti thread.

[luky_13]

Do we have any figures on i10 Kappa Fuel efficiency... i'm sure a lot of owners might have broken-in by now. Will help compare the cars better.

[nbr]

Originally Posted by aseem

When I read forummers comparing i-10 with A Star I cant help but remember exactly 3 years back when I had joined this forum, there was a huge debate going on to compare Swift and Getz. The hyundai lovers in this forum had gone overboard to claim that Swift had an old engine (nobody used to discuss the old engine was better than Hyundai's new engine in both FE and power), poor finish, poor handling, poor brakes etc. etc. We all know what happened to Getz, dont we.
Similarly those who claim that leg space in A Star is less, exhagerate it so much that for the uninitiated to Indian auto market and strictly reading posts in this thread, he would probably feel i-10 leg space is that of a Limo (lol) and A Star's that of a 2 door car. As far as power goes, if thats your driver, buy a Swift Lxi. If you want a City runabout with a mix of features and enough power, buy an i-10, if you watn a City runabout with features and mileage than buy an A-Star. Each car is positioned differently. Those who exhaggerate i-10 beneifts should compare it with Swift, since the Kappa is quite close to its price (they have similar price difference as that of A Star and i-10). But you dont see that comparison here, as its more turning out to be a Hyundai lovers bashing Maruti thread.

I remember how Hyundai fans were exagerating every Hyundai car launched in India.The CRDI Getz bombed bigtime. I guess Fiat Multijet sells more then the Getz. Everybody is complaining about the looks of the A*.Even the i10 looks crap when it was initially launched,it looked like a Bajaj auto with body built on it ,especially the rear wheel arches.
Even international media has infact welcomed the new Alto .So just wait and watch instead of spoiling teh image of the car even before its fully test driven.

[emkay456]

Originally Posted by nbr

I remember how Hyundai fans were exagerating every Hyundai car launched in India.The CRDI Getz bombed bigtime. I guess Fiat Multijet sells more then the Getz. Everybody is complaining about the looks of the A*.Even the i10 looks crap when it was initially launched,it looked like a Bajaj auto with body built on it ,especially the rear wheel arches.
Even international media has infact welcomed the new Alto .So just wait and watch instead of spoiling teh image of the car even before its fully test driven.

You have hit the nail. In my previous posts I too had a suspicion regarding a bit of bias in a review. Seasoned T-Bhpians should be avoiding superlatives in review and give it in a matter of fact manner, which I dont see in the reviews for A-Star. Therefore suggested for a third party review for a proper assessment.

[sudev]

@Gangsta: If it was ABS+EBD fitted there should have been no skids on an ordinary road. The ABS usints on Swift and SX4 work brilliantly and one would definitely expect the same in A*
Hmm waiting for other reviews as well.

@all: It does seem that the car is not being reviewed vis the position/segment it is slotted for. You can not review a M800 Maruti vis the E230 Merc segment. Let us see how many find it positive or negative. Perhaps a poll should be added to the thread?

[enter]

I am a newbie and have not driven cars much. Say around 1000 kms in total.
I am not sure how can people test the brakes of a new car and be so sure that they are superb or disastrous.
I am not sure how can you compare the power of two cars who are both 67 bhp. Unless ofcourse if you drive them back to back and on the same roads.

I think i10 is an amazing car. But if you compare the price of i10 Magna and a*, there is a difference of 50 K Rs.

Regarding back space, I think all the cars of maruti have less back seat space. There is no doubt about it.

I am sure the pricing of A* makes is suitable for young couples or single people.

[Gangsta]

Originally Posted by vijayk

If it is so, what else we can expect from A* to buy it? Only for FE and gear system? I hope A* will not disappoint us atleast in FE.

Mileage, Maruti Suzuki Label and good A.S.S

Originally Posted by sudev

@Gangsta: If it was ABS+EBD fitted there should have been no skids on an ordinary road. The ABS usints on Swift and SX4 work brilliantly and one would definitely expect the same in A*
Hmm waiting for other reviews as well.

@all: It does seem that the car is not being reviewed vis the position/segment it is slotted for. You can not review a M800 Maruti vis the E230 Merc segment. Let us see how many find it positive or negative. Perhaps a poll should be added to the thread?

lol i know. But the car skids Twice. That was shocking for me and my friend. haha

[enter]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...lace-alto.html




And the Indian Alto has far more aged fuel system.



That is rather subjective. Which variants are you comparing.

I am comparing i10 ERA and A*

[isodope]

I'm going to ignore this review, because it seems too biased.

1.You did four wheelspins in a 67bhp car. You're complaining about lack of power.
2.You did a braking test three times in a row and complained about brake fade.
3.You're complaining about no audio controls on the steering wheel, no height adjustment and no steering adjustment.
4.You're complaining about the lack of boot space.

One must understand that all cars are built for specific purposes. The Alto isn't built for drags, just as a Gallardo isn't built to be a taxi. People in cities will worry more about parking space than boot space. They'll worry more about price than seat adjustment, because they aren't going to spend more than a couple of hours in the seat at a time.

And I'm quite certain they're not going to worry about brake fade or wheelspin, because they won't be using their A-Stars to race anyone, not even the clock.

Have a little respect for car manufacturers, Sid - they know what they're doing. Else we wouldn't be buying their cars!

[king_julian]

I had a look at the A-Star at Sai Service, Pune, took a teeny-weeny test drive within the premises and these are my thoughts:

The car looks good to me in Red and not so good in White (these were the only colors they had) - I guess it will carry bright colors well. Overall, the design is a refresing change from the tall boy and monoform shapes.

The rear seats felt quite comfortable and more supportive than Alto/WagonR/Estilo.

Though the rear window looks small, the rear bench is positioned such that you get a good view out of the rear window - it is by NO means claustrophobhic. You don't get a "shut in" feeling.

The doors seem pretty strong when they are shut.

I liked the two tone grey interiors - they suit a car of this dimension better than beige - but that's just my opinion.

Plastics used seem to be good for a car in this price range - only gripe is with the switches used to open the boot and fuel door - but then I didn't like the corresponding switches in the SX4 either.

The boot space is rather small - nowadays almost all cars provide better boot space - it is surprising why Maruti could not engineer more boot space into the design. This is the biggest negative along with lack of rear wiper.

Engine is quite silent and you can start rolling just by slipping the clutch in - all other Marutis I drove till now needed some application of the accelerator also to start moving.

Thanks,
Amit.

[BurningHeart]

Sid,

Great report (as always, eh?).

I was driving by one of the MS showrooms in Bangalore Bannerghetto road(sounds alright for the condition of the road!) and there was this car on the window in (now trademark color of MS) Sunlight Copper.

It reminded me on a large frog sitting on a potty seat! An ugly one at an ugly act.

The rear window reminded me of porthole window of a rundown cargo ship carrying industrial waste to Cambodian shores. Even Koovam river of Chennai seen from it, will lighten up the spirits for the passengers.

And there is some one in the forum who hard braked from 70 kmph in a ZXI and guess what, it skidded big time. Happened the two times he tried it. Compromised ABS-EBD? I am happy that we bought a Spark recently.

19.xx kmpl? Well that should make the whole pitch credible for us Indians, eh? I have a feeling, it is going to sell like hot cakes, just like everyother Maruti.

BH.

[mxx]

Thanks for the review sid.

Can you please give a comparison with other cars in the segment? And I dont mean with i10 kappa.
i10 1.1, and other hyundai/maruti antiques(estillo, wagonr, santro)