[qfpbfa]

I had booked the car on 6th December and in less than three weeks my BBB-Bulbous Bluegreen Beauty is home!

After all the haggling about year end discounts the dealer stood his ground and offered no discounts and not even floor mats and mud flaps free! Okay, they apparently had reasons for the same: there is the long waiting list for Ritz petrol which was even confirmed by Maruti officials. Come on! you give 12k on the Ritz DDis and 30K on the WagonR! But no, they simply won't do it with the Ritz petrol. My only consolation: it is brand new. I checked the manufacture date (thanks to tips from Wildon, the VIN Guru) and it was indeed December 2009 and I got it before the Jan'10 price rise too.
See, my BBB is for keeps and I am not much into reselling the car any soon so 2009/2010 model did not matter. More than that the looming price rise on the other side of the new year hastened me to go for it this year itself.

Thing is we already have an i10 kappa Sportz home for the last one year and now with my BBB parked next to it, the family (of Tall Girls) is complete.

Now for an initial comparison between the two siblings:
(Okay, I am just a neophyte in this forum of auto Gurus who have extensively compared these two, so let me keep it succinct and just about save myself from sounding like Kindly correct me when I go overboard with my observations)

The i10 interior has the richness and quality feel to it and when tapped the Ritz plastics sounds literally hollow!
I liked the dark hues of the Ritz dash compared to the reflective beige of the i10 dash. The Ritz is really a mini MPV and offers Innova like road presence and a commanding view and the height adjusting seats only accentuate the feeling. When compared the i10's just cozy and keeps the family close! The 60:40 rear split of the BBB really opens up acres of boot space while the i10 appears to have more usable boot space.
The i10 also has a one finger- light steering and a one finger light gear change while the Ritz needs a firm push through a short and sweet gear shift and I reckon the 185 profile tyres requisite a good grip on the wheel too.
BBB is new, so I'll have to run it in but I am no ripper anyway so top line performance does not matter much between the two cars. One thing i know, the BBB will be for highways with its Airbags and ABS when the i10 will be for city use with its light controls. i10 though required frequent gear shifts in the b2b traffic in Mumbai - the damage: Fuel Efficiency. I don't know if it's me or the FE of my i10 is abysmally low in b2b traffic. I'll have to check that out with the BBB now.
Enough for now. More of my pondering will follow later.
Fortunately when I checked the tyre pressure this cold morning in my new BBB it was a bursting 43 psi! Got it down to the recommended 29psi.
Expect to hit the highway this week and get back with more on my BBB!

[nandans2005]

qfpbfa > Quite difficult name :-)

Congrats on your car !

Where are the pictures of your car ? Its incomplete without the pictures, so please go ahead with a photoshoot and come back.

[funnyguru]

Dude, I think the recommended is 33 psi for the petrol version

[qfpbfa]

Originally Posted by funnyguru

Dude, I think the recommended is 33 psi for the petrol version

Even i thought so initially but it has been mentioned at the drivers door that for 185/70 profile tyres (stock tyres in Zxi) it is 29 psi only. It was also confirmed at the service center at delivery.

And oops! I thought I uploaded a picture but must have bungled up somewhere. I am that new here in posting. I know, i know there is a thread elaborating how upload pictures. Let me try now.


Enough for now. I think there are enough pictures of the Ritz in the forum.

[gaddiwale]

Congratulations qfpbfa. You cann't expect a better X'mas gift than this. Ritz is indeed a fantastic car. Update us about your experience once you hit highway.

[Sheel]

Finally santa had to relent!!
Congrats on your purchase and good name for the car BBB lol!

[Caramelo]

congratulations on your ritz ,

btw, why do these new cars have very high tyre pressures! any particular reason?

[navan49]

Hi gfpfa,

First of all Congratulations on your Tall boy.You are right Ritz is a car fit for Highway with good stability. The 185 tyre reduce the vibration in 100plus. The Tyre pressure you had was terrible. Make all the four tyres to 33 psi for rear as well as front for petrol.

[qfpbfa]

Originally Posted by navan49

Hi gfpfa,

First of all Congratulations on your Tall boy.You are right Ritz is a car fit for Highway with good stability. The 185 tyre reduce the vibration in 100plus. The Tyre pressure you had was terrible. Make all the four tyres to 33 psi for rear as well as front for petrol.

First thanks Navan49, Caramelo, Sheel, Gaddiwale and nandans2005 for the congratulations. Navan, you almost got me confused but again 33 psi is for 165/80 tyres and 29 psi for 185/70 ones and I am not about to overinflate above just what the doctor presrcibed for the BBB
And yes, when I first saw the colour of the car, it struck me- hey that's not exactly a Blue, it's more like a Blue-green. And look at what someone aptly named "Fat Bottom" it sure looked bulbous and so the name BBB.
To go back a little on my selection of the Ritz as our second car, I was satisfied overall with my i10 but did not want a second i10. I considered the i20 magna but the Ritz Zxi offered real VFM with all the features it had + safety too which was paramount to me. I read about the rattles in the Ritz and will observe the BBB closely as I am just off to take her out for a spin.

[qfpbfa]

This morning I hit the highways with my BBB (okay, not exactly highways but deserted sunday morning streets and flyovers) and came back with a stupid grin on my face. BBB felt amazingly solid and planted and took the bite off from almost all of the bumps and holes on our famed Indian roads. Cornering at reasonable speeds was confidence inspiring and now I rue not upgrading the thin stock tyres on my i10 yet. In the early morning quiet I did not hear much wind noise or tyre noise from the BBB but of course I did not go beyond 60 kmph. The i10 is also very responsive from 3rd gear and the light steering + its under tyred nature makes it feel very nimble footed in the city. As I already said one finger is enough to manage the wheels in the i10 while the Ritz needs a firm hold. The Ritz though gives good feedback and handles well.
BBB has not rattled for the first 100 kms and so i keep my fingers crossed and expect her to keep free of rattles and niggles.
A word here on my i10 though: i10 never has given any rattles and almost no niggles - almost because I had to get the OEM HU in the i10 replaced (under warranty) since playback was getting stopped and restarted for no particular reason and I had the whole gear assembly also replaced under warranty because the gear lever got stuck around the reverse gear side disallowing reverse gear engagement. I understood these are common niggles with the car and did not get really mad. Further the service of Hyundai was also responsive and I was satisfied.
Going ahead, IMO the OEM ICE in my BBB sounds better than that in my i10. May be I am partial to the newcomer here. I am also yet to get used to the steering mounted controls in the BBB and in bringing the left hand across it to hit the horn.
Overall, the Ritz definitely feels a segment higher than the i10 despite having similar engine displacement. Of course, these days engines and individual models straddle segments with aplomb making buyers spoilt for choice.

I have few queries on running in the car which I will post in the appropriate thread.

I am still yet to hit the highway proper and will come back after that.

[thamban]

"Fortunately when I checked the tyre pressure this cold morning in my new BBB it was a bursting 43 psi! Got it down to the recommended 29psi."

This is to prevent deformation of tyres during prolonged stay in stockyards and transport. This is my guess since cars if going to be kept unused for long periods is recommended to have higher tyre pressure..

[vijaythacker]

[quote=thamban;1652842
This is to prevent deformation of tyres during prolonged stay in stockyards and transport. This is my guess since cars if going to be kept unused for long periods is recommended to have higher tyre pressure..[/quote]

Yes thats the reason for car manufacturer keeping tyre pressure on higher side.
Congratulations qfpbfa on your ritz zxi, best selling model for this car with all features one looks.good engine with good FE as well.Enjoy your ride and keep updating.

[funnyguru]

Hey, is the reverse gear slotting difficult in the Ritz, I tried it more than once but did not slot the right way, any similar experiences??

[qfpbfa]

Originally Posted by funnyguru

Hey, is the reverse gear slotting difficult in the Ritz, I tried it more than once but did not slot the right way, any similar experiences??

Yes, in fact when I tried slotting the reverse gear my BBB the first time , I realised to my consternation that I had in fact slotted it to the 4th!

After that I have been more careful and so have got used to it now. Gear shift in Ritz by itself is hard (and appears to reverse slot in two mini-stages) but otherwise it has not mis-slotted for me after that. If you stop at the first minislot the car won't move! Try again patiently, go with the flow and slot it without applying too much force. Also let a friend try it too. If that is a persistent problem get it checked and serviced.

I'd already posted about the gear problems with my i10. Fortunately I got the assembly replaced under warranty.

[thamban]

Originally Posted by funnyguru

Hey, is the reverse gear slotting difficult in the Ritz, I tried it more than once but did not slot the right way, any similar experiences??

yes i too have the same problem. Reason may be
1. Reverse is not synchromesh
2. Service engineer told it will smoothen/ease with use.