Team-BHP - My Ritz Zxi Glides through the clouds! 8000 kms till now.

Hi,

I bought my Ritz Zxi (Silver colour) in October 2009 after a lot of discussion and after reading through the suggestions and advice on this site. I have not regretted the decision. I opted for the silver colour as I wanted the shape to stand out. Darker colours mask the shape completely.

The car is excellent VFM. Though the price sounds more, it really deserve the price. I use it everyday to commute to work and drive it myself. Its travelled more than 8000 kms in the last 7 months and am looking forward to more kms of happiness.

The interiors are roomy and excellent for a family of 4-5. Three passegers can be accomodated comfortably in the back seat. The suspension is good however one still needs to slow down the speed to reduce the feel of the bumps on a bad road. But thats true for all cars I guess. The space for baggage in the rear is sufficient to accomodate 2 small suitcases or one large one. As its being exclusively used for inner city travel, thats not much of a problem for me. The reardoor (hatch) does open towards your face and so one needs to stay at a arms length while opening the hatch. The seating position for the driver is good. One needs to be careful while taking a turn to see though the side windows as the A pillars significantly mask your side vision. The Drivers seat height is adjustable only in Zxi. Being a tall boy car, the level of the passenger seating is almost at the same level as passengers in Honda CRv or Innova.

The Best part of the car is the Engine. Its a beauty! Its super silent. In fact I have had to frequently look at the tachyometer to see if its really ON. Imagine my shock when I realised that I was starting the engine when it was already ON! It glides smoothly at top speed (60-80 kms for me), extremely smooth (I enjoy the drive on the empty western express highway especially in the afternoons). In fact one does not hear any engine noise. Its the tyre and the AC fan noise which is audible. I did not go for change of tyres as suggested on the site.There is evident body roll which can be scary at times for a new passenger but one does get used to it eventually.
Its travelled 8000 kms without any problems. The mileage I get on the highway is around 12.5-13 km/L (sometimes higher) and 11 kms/L in bumper to bumper traffic. I think the mileage would be even better as I get better in driving. The pick up is great except that one needs to go in gear 3 to have faster picks on ascents.

The only bad point of the car is that the body of the car around the tyres bulges out and so is prone for grazing with other cars especially on crowded roads. I have had bumps on bodt sided of my rear bumper which I got removed during servicing. The service guys are good and the cost looks reasonable. The tyre size in Zxi is different so the air pressure recommended is 29 psi. IF one fills it to 30 psi (whic is recommeded for tyres on Lxi and Vxi), one does feel more vibrations while driving. I did not realise that a change of 1 psi could significantly change the drive quality? may be the summer heat expands the air in the typres? Is it recommended to fill less psi in summer months?

I am satisfied with my purchase and I am pleased to see the number of Rtiz increasing on the road day by day.
Ameya