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-   -   Black SX4 Zxi booked. Update: delivery taken, and car being put through its paces. (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/61397-black-sx4-zxi-booked-update-delivery-taken-car-being-put-through-its-paces.html)

Last year I had planned to go for a Grand VItara, but had to shelve the plans due to the economic downturn. This month we finally decided to go for a new car – an SX4. The car will be driven mostly by my wife in the next few months (she has a longer commute), but I don't think SX4's positioning would get affected much - my wife is an ex-naval officer.

I booked the SX4 Zxi yesterday at Pratham Motors, Bangalore. 2.4L Vitara is planned...someday!

Reason for choosing SX4
Wanted a car that can handle the city + highway + rough roads - hence a crossover sedan. We often drive to places (e.g. in the jungle or in the hills) that have dirt tracks. Could have looked at the Linea, the ANHC, Verna and the Scorpio SLE (within my current budget). Didn’t even TD the other sedans because they won’t be able to handle the rough roads I am planning to throw at the car. And I didn’t want to settle for a Scorpio when I have plans to buy the GV someday.

Wanted to mention that I was impressed by the SX4’s Raid de Himalayas participation and travelogues (especially Leh trips) – those threads helped me make up my mind.

Dealer
Was talking to Mandovi and Bimal, but Pratham was the closest to my place (I stay on Sarjapur Road), and they matched the other offers.

Test Drive
Test drive experience was good with all the dealers. Took the cars till Sarjapur. Loved the brakes, the surefootedness and the presence. The sound system wasn’t that impressive though. Neither were the sound of the car boot slamming down, and the ‘give’ when I pressed the car body to check toughness.

Colour
My favourite colour was black, but my wife loved the copper colour. We know who won. I did tell the dealer that black was our second choice – but that we strongly preferred Sunlight Copper.

Discounts/Freebies

• 15000 consumer discount
• 25000 loyalty discount (my dad had a Maruti)
• No corporate discount (not eligible)
• Complementary sunfilm: Nanolux Nano 50. Apparently they only keep Garware and Nanolux. Had asked for the Lux variant, but they said that it was too expensive to give as a freebie.
• Rear parking sensor: Red Soul C4, with 4 body coloured sensors
• Mats, flaps, perfume, idol etc. (standard)

The salesguy refused to write on the letterhead that he was going to give me the free accessories. I got him to write things down on a white piece of paper, but he refused to sign it, saying that it was against Maruti policy. He requested me to trust him :-). Is this normal?

Planned extras

• Plan to upgrade tyres at the earliest. Have been thinking of Michelin Pilot Primacy 225/55/16. Wanted to know (can someone help?) whether going for wider tyres would affect any insurance or warranty clause. If so, will go for Michelin but as per stock specs.
• Plan to go for 3rd & 4th year warranty.

Booking
Paid 25K to book the car. Expected waiting time 4 weeks. Plan to use the Team BHP PDI checklist (didn’t have much of a clue about this earlier). I was originally dealing with a sales rep, but the booking was done by the team leader who initially tried to negotiate on the sunfilm (asking me to pay 50%).

Want to ask whether anyone has senior level contacts at Pratham Motors (ORR), Bangalore – in case issues crop up.

Financing
Haven’t closed this yet, but have a pre-approved 100% ex-showroom offer from HDFC. Last month end they were offering me 10.25% for a 5 year loan. Beginning of this month they are offering 11.25% (I am sure they will offer 10.25% close to the month end), but I hope to push them down – especially with the new SBI offer (8/10/10 for first 3 years), and Axis Bank rates. Hoping that interest rates don’t go up due to the government fiscal deficit.

Next Steps
Sales guy will get back in a couple of weeks and let me know about the expected delivery date and colour availability. Will keep the forum posted as I go through the important car buying milestones.

P.S.: Had a few interesting driving trips in the last 6 months – Masinagudi X 4 (am a regular at Wild Haven), Ooty, Wellington, Coorg, Karwar/Palolem. Plan to post the travelogues when I have time. One interesting incident – a wild elephant pushed my car for 5 feet, and gently kicked it (I was not inside the car then). Posting a couple of pictures of that incident below.

Nilanjan, congrats on booking the car.

Coming to the financing bit, we had a similar situation a few months back while buying our Bolero in my wife's name. My wife had a pre-approved loan on 100% Ex-Showroom price of the car from HDFC. But when tshe applied for the loan, they said they can only do 80% its a woman who is buying a jeep and all such crap. We decided to not go with HDFC and filed papers with SBI. even though the processing times were a bit longer, but one thing is there are no hidden clauses with SBI and you get what you see.

Congrats on booking your new ride. Yeah, SX4 is quite a sturdy vehicle and will take the rough roads and also some pushing by wild elephants. JK.

Have fun and drive safe.

Congrats on your new purchase.. I am also looking for a car and not sure of SX4 meeting my requirements, need to test drive it. Any contact numbers for TD? Also if you don't mind, can you PM me the OTR price?

I think sx4 is apt to your kind of drive due to high gc. keep it up and keep the revs low initially

Wow! Your car gets pushed by elephants. That surely talks well of the build of Indica!! Was there any damage to the car?

they are used to jeeps and boxy suvs may be. they didnt like the odd ball curvy black indica :eek: in the wild


congratulations sir, interesting choice,

the way i see it. the sunlight copper colored sx4 will stand out from the rest of the crowd.:D

Congrats and welcome to the club. SX4 is a fantastic package and a real vfm in its segment. Offroading is an attribute you will really enjoy to the core not to forget the great cruising ability on highways.

Hope to see the pictures soon

[


Planned extras

• Plan to upgrade tyres at the earliest. Have been thinking of Michelin Pilot Primacy 225/55/16. Wanted to know (can someone help?) whether going for wider tyres would affect any insurance or warranty clause. If so, will go for Michelin but as per stock specs.
• Plan to go for 3rd & 4th year warranty.

Nilanjanraj,

1)As an Ex Navy officer your wife should be eligible to buy the car from the CSD . Please check that out. I bought my SX4 thru CSD and saved approx 85 K last year.

2) There is a 4 week waiting period on the SX4. That is very surprising. Please check with other dealers as well.

Please check with MSIL regarding thir stand on the tyre upgrade. BTW do you really want to go in for 225/55/16 tyres. I believe 205 are good enough and you can well switch to a better quality tyre without changing the size. That will prevent any warranty issues

Welcome to the SX4 club. It is a really neat package and can tackle rough roads much better than any other sedan.

Congrats and welcome to SX4 club. I agree with Rajneesh, 4 weeks waiting is rubbish. You should get it in 1 week max.

Contact numbers for TD:

• Pratham Motors: Kushal (9880322411)
• Bimal Motors: Vijay (9945235283)
• Mandovi: Sandeep (9740012855)

OTR price: just subtract my discounts from the ex-showroom price.

I checked with 4 dealers. They had Vxi in stock, but very few Zxi (and that too, only silver and beige). All of them needed to order from the Gurgaon factory. I was rather surprised at the low inventory of Zxi in Bangalore. Perhaps due to low sales, they don't want to stock up on diferent colours. The dealers also said something about earlier factory unrest at Maruti (SX4 production getting impacted), and the factory closing for annual maintenance - and thus the delay.

By the way, I like the roof rails on the SX4 hatch. Any inputs on whether they will look good on the sedan? I was thinking that with roof rails and wider tyres, the car would have a more sporty look.

No unrest at all, I pass by the Gurgaon Factory every day to office :). But I think logic of color may be right.

Dealer is good. I also took from him as I also stay at Sarjapur ORR. You got more freebies than me. :) I only got 12K corporate discount(some how) + mudflaps etc. It was year ago. Good car and VFM

Congrats on booking your new ride my friend. Well actually, the stock size of 205-60-R16 is sufficient. You can upgrade to Michelins/Yokos in the same size. But if you do wish to upsize then 215-55-R16 would be the logical upsize. But in this case the sidewall height would be slightly lesser than stock and therefore the gap between the tyre and the fender would increase marginally (which in my opinion would then look a little ugly).

Your plan of upsizing to 225-55-R16 is a great idea coz in this case that gap between the fender and the tyre would be lesser than stock (according to tyrebibles) and therefore would lend a nice sporty stance to the car. FYI, even i have upsized to 225-55-R16 and i am very happy with the choice. The tyre i chose was the Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3. I have always been a fan of V-Threaded tyres and i got what i wanted. The car handles and rides much better than stock. Only downside is that the steering is a bit heavier than what it was in stock shape. And relax, Maruti will honour warranty even after this change of rubber. Soo go right ahead and slap on those Michelin Pilot Primacy tyres (which you want to) on your car without any worries:)

Cheers