[Zero Cool]

Originally Posted by Fornax

Curious, would you rate the following as a weakness or strength?
1. Braking
2. Seats
3. Engine sound insulation

1. Well in my humble opinion, all of today's cars are supposed to have good braking so i dont classify it as a strengt, its a necessity. if a car has less than average braking then it may not inspire confidence from the driver and may push the driver to brake harder or prematurely. IMO sx4 has normal brakes i.e the ones which do its job fine enough. cars like accent crdi or polo for instance have below average brakes.

2. seats in sx4 are comfortable and infact pretty good when compared to the rest of the cars in its segment. they are wide enough and decently inclined i.e not to upright ,The high placed seats give good thigh support and the extra legroom sure makes it a comfortable ride for the passengers. so yes ill say the seats are a strength in sx4.

3. I have not sat in other cars of the same segment long enough to be able to correctly judge the engine sound insulation, generally the other cars where i have been driven in were driven pretty sedately by their drivers i.e not revved too much so going by that ill pass this one. but yeah maruti have done a decent job od sound insulation it is better than my accent and definitely way better than my viva crdi.

[anantnehru]

Hey

For all those who might be interested - was leaving my gym at Qutab hotel the other day and in the parking near the service apartment was a very normal looking Sx4, except it didnt have the Maruti Suzuki badge. Walked around, saw it wasnt the Indian one; had a few stickers in what I'm assuming to be Japanese; and get this - the 'to die for' OEM projector headlights! They looked phenonmenal, and had half a mind to unscrew them and take them home!! Next time will ask around and see who the owner is.

Exterior wasnt very different from the Indian Sx4, except the headlights. Interior had a different sound system; but thats all I could see since I was staring the headlights.

[gavinimurthy]

Was it a hatch back ?

Murthy

[james]

Wow! Did you take pics of the lights! The lights could be an after market DIY job as well..

Cheers!

[maglev]

@ Anant Nehru

Was it this car by any chance?

[Fornax]

I was in Jalgaon over the weekend, and had the opportunity to drive back on NH-3 from Dhule to Mumbai. Over the last 3 years, my poor 'ol Indica had battled this road during its' development phase, and had suffered two bent rims (soft suspension), numerous flat tyres and damaged wheel caps.

Driving back in my SX4, I was apprehensive of the road conditions this time around, however I was told the road is almost complete and I should not worry. What I discovered was pure driving nirvana - atleast as much as can be had in our part of the world. The road is about 95% complete except for ~50kms when it passes through Nasik city. We completed the 400 Kms trip in 8 hours flat, including an hour long lunch break.

My car was probably the main reason this longish drive ended up being more of a pleasure-trip. Some aspects of the car were quite obvious but others were quite a revelation. Here is a summary:

1. 205/60 R16 + Stiff Suspension: A true discovery during this drive was the ease with which the occasional potholes / pothole-fills were gobbled up. Lesser vehicles were going zig-zag to avoid potholes, but within a few kms I'd discovered what my car can do, and I was happy to take a straight line - potholes or not.
2. Overtaking: This was my car's first long drive on a highway with the first 60 kms + Nasik city being a single lane. Although it sounds mundane, but for an ex-Indica driver, the overtaking capability offered by SX4 is a boon. Overtaking was simple and precise, no down-shifting unless its' an equal spec'ed car being overtaken.
3. FE: I haven't measured it yet, but the odo shows ~470 with two ticks to go, and I'll update once I do a full tank tomm. (I have a good feeling about it).
4. Drive: I did most of the two-lane sections of the highway at ~100 with occasional bursts to about 130. The drive did become a bit wobbly above 120, but given the rainy season, that was expected. The total number of cars overtaking me was 0! But then, this road isn't exactly brimming with powerful cars, its' mostly hatches, ricks and trucks. Loved the acceleration and the power at hand, which nicely complements the road stability on curvy sections especially Kasara-downhill. Let me repeat - you choose a line, and the car stays on it even at 2x the prescribed speed limits. (...and before you jump to any conclusions, my 18m daughter slept through the entire journey with me being aware of her every second).
5. Other obvious bits:
a. The ACC knob was set to 24 and forgotten except for the circulation mode as we neared Malegoan)
b. Love the steering controls to the extent of having vowed never to own another car w/o them.
c. Large boot helps immensely to carry absolutely unwanted articles on long journeys.

Overall, its' a big thumbs up for the car and a beautiful road (even though its not 100% complete).

[Fornax]

The Nippon central locking has stopped working.

To rectify, I called up Maruti helpline, which redirected me to On-Road Service (MS-ORS). After three calls, MS-ORS then gave me Nippon-Mumbai service number 39898920, which is either defunct or unreacheable.

Frustrated, I called up Spectra Motors, and they are more than happy to help. I've booked an appointment for Thursday for the issue + 2nd service.

[echo77]

This happened to me in my WagonR during warranty period. The main box that is under the dashboard was replaced under warranty. They then tune both keys to the new frequency using some button push/key-on-off steps that are not on the user manual. Carry your warranty booklet and both keys.

[anantnehru]

Originally Posted by maglev

@ Anant Nehru

Was it this car by any chance?

Wow my apologies for the ridiculously late response.

I cant really tell, the obvious sign would have been the headlights. Were you able to get a look at them?

Originally Posted by gavinimurthy

Was it a hatch back ?

Murthy

Originally Posted by james

Wow! Did you take pics of the lights! The lights could be an after market DIY job as well..

Cheers!

Again, apologies for the late response.

@gavinimurthy - no wasnt a hatchback, was the sedan
@james - they definitely werent after market, they were 110% the projectors from the Japanese models - which like I said, this one looked straight out of Japan. If i see it again shall take a few pictures and put them up.

[maglev]

I have seen this car on two occasions once back in September 2009. When I was not able to click pics and then again in 2010, when I finally managed to get the pics.

I had posted about it back September as well in the following thread:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...change-16.html


and yes it does have the following extra's:


(A copy of my post from the other thread)

Guys I spotted a white SX4 with a HR registration. Near ber-sarai, Delhi on friday (25-Sept-2009).

The car did not have the Maruti Suzuki badge instead just the Suzuki S logo and SX4 on the trunk lid. There were NO VVT or DDIS badges on the front fendors and the trunk did not have the key cylinder for opening the trunk.

It was shod with asymetrical tires on multi spoke alloys similar to the previous generation Accord V6.

The rear light was the same as the SX4 sold in the US. Only difference a tiny Reflector in the corner clearly visible in the rear quarter angle.

It had black / grey interiors and the same audio system as the American SX4 the one which comes with twin rotary knobs on either side.

The most shocking part is that it had the same grill as the current SX4 but infact a big BUT, it had projector headlamps the ones found on the Japanese Spec.


OT: Feeling a bit bad after spotting this one as I bought an SX4 in June 2009. I knew that an upgrade was in the pipeline but within 3 months of my purchase.


--
cheers

[Fornax]

Originally Posted by echo77

This happened to me in my WagonR during warranty period. The main box that is under the dashboard was replaced under warranty. They then tune both keys to the new frequency using some button push/key-on-off steps that are not on the user manual. Carry your warranty booklet and both keys.

By the time I went for the service, the problem disappeared. Then again happened a few days later for a day and again disappeared.

Looks like its' a sign of a failing component, that is not dead yet...and I'm willing to wait on it till it dies.

I've discovered another minor hassle - the radio stations reset themselves while "seeking". It has happened more than 3-4 times from the time I bought.

[gavinimurthy]

I assume you are talking about locking with the key. Did you try with the spare key?

Some times the batteries do play up and replacement of the cell in the key is all that may be required.

Resetting of the channels while seeking looks to be a common phenomena. I too faced it more than a couple of times.

Murthy

[Fornax]

The most unthinkable happened few days back, when the rains made a sudden appearance. I got a call from the office security, to inform me that something has happened to my car. I rushed downstairs to be greeted by the most gut wrenching sight a new car owner (worshipper?) can ever see. A spiked fence had fallen over the bonnet, leaving 5 ugly dents.

I made sure I clicked a photo before clearing the fence, and checking the damage. Thankfully the paint had not come off, but the dents - true to their purpose - gave my car a very ugly look. I endured it, for a few days due to my busy schedule, and then went to Spectra Motors - Malad West.

The whole process was very smooth, I was given an estimate of 5.5K with 1K from my own pocket, but the timeline given was 4-5 days, as I'd decided to go for insurance claim.

The next day, a guy from ICICI Lombard called me and offered me 5.5 K worth of no-claim for the next year, if I chose to not claim insurance for this incident. I declined.

I am not posting the after photo, as the work done was impeccable, and there is absolutely no trace of the dents or scratch.

[selfdrive]

@fornax, have you made any long trips recently on the SX4? do you get the same response/ drive quality as when new?

[sidms]

Fornax,

Great review and ownership experience mate. Even I have a SX4 vvt zxi march 2010 model (oyster blue). We went through a very similar thought process as yours while buying. Its nice to see majority of Indica owners upgrading to SX4 (me included ).

Thankfully I have not faced a single problem with the car even after 9000 odd kms and almost a year . I have read somewhere on the forum regarding the servicing cost of SX4 being lesser than even an Indica, and I completely agree. Indica is definitely more expensive to maintain than a SX4.

Cheers