[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by bkbkr1212

Ahhhhhh, that's insulting man.
Sorry to say,but this remark nullifies such an excellent review.

Honda City Exclusive (whatever that means )costs 9.53.
By reducing 4 lakhs Kizashi will be in 12 lakh range.
Even after reducing 4 lakhs, this will be in the 16lakhs bracket and not 12lakh

Does it mean Kizashi should be positioned between , say a City and a Civic? That's crazy, to say the least

Do you have solid technical reasons for this price "reduce" or just because it is coming from Suzuki stable, it cannot be called hep or snob and hence you would like to have it in 12-13 lakh range?
Not just becuase this is from Maruti, just as an example,
1. the plastic quality in some places is nowhere near premium
2. Bluetooth not available-Its a joke
3. Non-illuminated buttons-at 20 lakhs, this is unacceptable for anyone.

Do we give price suggestions to other hep brands? I don't think so. Maruthi & Suzuki are our (Indians) favourite punching bags :-)

Your initial review doesn't seem to have too many complaints about the car.
So where did this price reduction stuff came from?
Lets take the example of swift.
Swift is a wonderful car.
If it is priced at 10 lakhs, we will call it overpriced won't we???

Anyway you guys drive a lot, know about cars a lot.

Do we give price suggestions to other brands? Anyway for us Indians, Maruthi and Suzuki are favourite punching bags :-)
Suppose I give you kizashi after removing name and the maruti suzuki badge(Only suzuki for this), and a laura without the name or the skoda badge and ask which one demands 20 lakhs and which one demands 16lakhs, you'll most probably select Laura and Kizashi repectively

@bkbkr1212,
I have put forth my opinions above. give it a thought...nothing personal dude.

[vb-saan]

Excellent review Sid, garnished with some good photos.

Originally Posted by sidindica

The car is simply overpriced by approx 4 lakh rupees.

Completely agree. It is indeed a good looking car. It could have made a big impact if the pricing was around the lines of Civic / Corolla / Laura category. And I feel that is quite possible if the car comes in as a CKD instead of the CBU route.

If competing against the likes of Accord, Camry, Teana or Superb, the Kizashi has one factor against it - the size or the lack of it, in a class where size does really matter.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Great review Sid.

The car does look nice from the front 3/4th view. The looks are well mixed (Sporty + Elegant).

The pricing is where it might be a deal breaker IMO. I agree that is slightly overpriced. AND YES because it is a Maruti Suzuki. MS have been the most preferred cars in the lower segments till date, but do they honestly contribute to the snob value that say - a Skoda Superb or even a Honda Accord offer? I doubt.

But all in all Maruti Suzuki have a winner in this, given their stellar A.S.S and the image they hold, this car would see some decent sales figures.

(These are my opinions only, not meant to harm anyones sentiments).

EDIT: I am slightly confused. Does this car fit into the Superb/Accord range or the Laura/Passat/Cruz range? OR is it somewhere in between those?

[vivprasad]

Compliments on a very nice review Sid.

I personally like Suzuki for various reasons (currently own a SX4 VVT ZXi), and was hence really looking forward to the Kizashi. Seems a good car on many fronts, except of course, issues like the absence of bluetooth. This is something that I just cant digest, its close to shocking. A little cheap plastic here and there is, frankly, standard from Suzuki, I would never expect a very sophisticated interior look from them. The exterior for me is extremely nice and imposing. I would also have preferred a more sporty ICE. Certainly the price is a big deterrent here.

The boot looked strangely narrowed at the rear, would it hamper the organization of luggage. The SX4 has a 500 ltr boot and straighter. Also, what is the ground clearance.

I would like to TD the Kizashi, but the local dealers here have the vehicle in the showroom, though not yet a dedicated TD vehicle.

Any idea regarding the maintenance, would it as low as for the other Suzuki cars?

[layndrivr]

great review sid, very nicely done !! enjoyed reading it till the end ...

i think this could be a great coming out for maruti suzuki post the vitara fiasco. I think they have a possible winner on their hands, great looks, greater engine and greatest A.S.S. could totally seal the deal for them. pricing also seems strategic; above the civics and altis's and before the accords and superb's.

really excited to see how the sales fare and reading ownership reviews...

[v&v]

Nice review sid.
Couple of queries,
a. The mileage shown was around 14. Was this consistent. What is the ARAI claim.
b. How has the reversing. How is the rear visibility , Does it have a video assist.
c. You did the 0 to 100 test, did it clock hundred in 2nd gear or 3rd .

[bkbkr1212]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

@bkbkr1212,
I have put forth my opinions above. give it a thought...nothing personal dude.

Hi Hemanth,
All the members opinions are valuable. Some agreeable, some not-so.

Even after reducing 4 lakhs, this will be in the 16lakhs bracket and not 12lakh

How did you conclude that it will come in 16 lakhs bracket?
Maruti Kizashi MT - New Maruti Kizashi MT Overview | CarDekho.com - India says Ex-showroom Price (Delhi Rs.) 16,50,000. So reducing it by 4 lacs comes to 12.5.



Does it mean Kizashi should be positioned between , say a City and a Civic? That's crazy, to say the least

Do you have solid technical reasons for this price "reduce" or just because it is coming from Suzuki stable, it cannot be called hep or snob and hence you would like to have it in 12-13 lakh range?
Not just becuase this is from Maruti, just as an example,
1. the plastic quality in some places is nowhere near premium
First of all this is not a technical reason. Anyway,check out the ANHC plastics and we are willing to pay 2 lacs extra for that compared to cars of the same segment. No one never had any complaints on that. Please don't bring V-Tec engine. We are not comparing engines. :-). If engine and technology comes into picture, H city is two notches above all others

2. Bluetooth not available-Its a joke
Again, not a technical reason, still agree on this. But I am not very sure how much useful this is. Maybe I cannot understand this since I don't get calls every minute.

3. Non-illuminated buttons-at 20 lakhs, this is unacceptable for anyone.
You are mentioning about all bells and whistles
How did the price go up to 20 lakhs now? :-)

Do we give price suggestions to other hep brands? I don't think so. Maruthi & Suzuki are our (Indians) favourite punching bags :-)

Your initial review doesn't seem to have too many complaints about the car.
So where did this price reduction stuff came from?
Lets take the example of swift.
Swift is a wonderful car.
If it is priced at 10 lakhs, we will call it overpriced won't we???

Looks like for you Kizashi is a bigger Swift. Someone here mentioned Kizashi = SX4 + Swift Dzire.
We don't want to give Suzuki even a chance. We are jacking them up nice and proper. And sites like ours are visited by lots and people take it very seriously.

Anyway you guys drive a lot, know about cars a lot.

Do we give price suggestions to other brands? Anyway for us Indians, Maruthi and Suzuki are favourite punching bags :-)
Suppose I give you kizashi after removing name and the maruti suzuki badge(Only suzuki for this), and a laura without the name or the skoda badge and ask which one demands 20 lakhs and which one demands 16lakhs, you'll most probably select Laura and Kizashi repectively

I think Kizashi won't sport Maruti Suzuki badge anyway. Like GV, it will have just Suzuki and going by the remarks here, Kizashi will go its graves sooner than GV.
Very very unlikely, but I would love to see what happens if Maruti-Honda or a Maruti-Toyota comes into effect one day. Quite sure Honda and Toyota will also become "aam aadmi" car even after having the best of the engines and all other required accessories to become a "snob" car.
Quite hilarious how we Indians think about brands and especially if it has Indian names in it.

Or is it that since Maruti is the largest selling brand, we would like to bring it down from it's position?

No one likes toppers. It's easier to bring someone/something down than climb and reach there. Destruction is much easier than construction. So if tomorrow Honda or Toyota or Hyundai or anyone else reaches the top, we all will do the same thing. It's the herd mentality of human beings.
(As an extreme case, think about the time taken to bring down NY twin-towers and time taken to construct that ).

[mdsaab]

Probably one of the reasons why maruti has not been able to price the kizashi more agressively is due to the fact that its a cbu import. Had it been a ckd they would have saved on taxes, and passed this benefit onto customers making it more affordable. I think the kizashi would have been better fighting it out with the civic, altis and cruze. Maybe if not priced equally with them but slightly higher would have done the trick. I dont think cars like the civic or altis have bluetooth so why would the kizashi? Neither does the accord or superb. As far as i remember the superb needs a special kit to be ordered for bluetooth connectivity which would cost extra. Maybe if the response to the kizashi is good, maruti might think of ckd operations for it, and be able to price it more agressively sometime in the future.

[pjbiju]

Even I do not understand this thing about bluetooth - many people are upset that it is not there.

Is this for taking calls? If so, I would not consider it as an omission at all. Bluetooth or not, one is not supposed to take calls while driving. And if you stop to answer a call, bluetooth does not matter. So by providing bluetooth support in cars, the manufacturers are actually encouraging people to take calls while driving which is bad IMO.

Just my two cents.

[NetfreakBombay]

If you receive a call, bluetooth will show it on car's display. So you can decide if you want to park the car to answer this call or not.

Moreover, it can be used to play music stored on phone on car's ICE.

[abhinav.s]

Awesome review Sid! Dare i say, it was at par with the official T-Bhp reviews

The car looks amazing and I love the short over hangs and the massive wheels. The interiors though a bit bland is pleasant. Lets hope Maruti manages to crack the D-Segment code with the Kizashi.

EDIT: 5 Star rating added!!

[Ricky_63]

First things first - a well written comprehensive review.

The one thing I did not like is the design of the tailpipes. Great to have twin pipes but the shape is kind of weird. Anyway, over all a well put together car, but as most of us agree it is quite overpriced.

@ Sid
What is the difference in the Grand Vitara 2.4 & this engine ? You said the difference is like chalk & cheese, in what sense - power output, NVH levels, fuel consumption, gearbox ?? Was curious to know why they are so radically different. Agreed one is a sedan & the other an SUV with a 4WD etc etc.


Cheers

[supremeBaleno]

Is EPS really an issue ? Asking because I remember reading here that one of the recent BMWs comes with EPS. Or is it that we are just ignoring this in certain brands and love to raise the red flag for other brands ?

I like the Accord's looks, though dated now. But the current Superb from any view is plain dull. That sure ain't hampering sales.

As far as prices go, the Civic costs as below in Delhi.
Civic 1.8V MT : 1,308,500
Civic 1.8V AT : 1,382,500

Given that the K-MT and K-AT are priced at 16.5 and 17.5 lakhs respectively, if it is overpriced by 4lakhs as some members say, are you suggesting that MSIL offer a CBU car which is not only bigger & better equipped than the Civic, but will also whack it in performance, to be available at 12.5 and 13.5 lakhs respectively ie cheaper than Civic ?

Why stop at the Civic then ? Let us clamour for the Kizashi to be priced alongside the City.

If not for the CBU route, the K would have been cheaper by a couple of lakhs, which would have been a good thing - a price of 15lakhs and 16lakhs for the MT & AT respectively would definitely have been good. But to say that it should have been priced at Civic (or worse lower) levels does not make sense.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Given that the K-MT and K-AT are priced at 16.5 and 17.5 lakhs respectively, if it is overpriced by 4lakhs as some members say, are you suggesting that MSIL offer a CBU car which is not only bigger & better equipped than the Civic, but will also whack it in performance, to be available at 12.5 and 13.5 lakhs respectively ie cheaper than Civic ?

Why stop at the Civic then ? Let us clamour for the Kizashi to be priced alongside the City.

Good argument! For the current spec, features and size, Kizashi's pricing is OK for me (but only when compared to the competition). But it should have come with a smaller 1.8 / 2.0 L engine, rip off some features and price it around 12L. That would have been a good entry point for Maruti into the luxury sedan segment.

Now with Kizashi out in the showroom and SX4 Diesel also unveiled, I expect the sales of SX4 surge drastically!


BTW, a very good and much awaited test drive report, Sid! Thanks. This should be moved to the 'Official Test drive report' section.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

If not for the CBU route, the K would have been cheaper by a couple of lakhs, which would have been a good thing - a price of 15lakhs and 16lakhs for the MT & AT respectively would definitely have been good.

SB: I was saying the same thing in Kizashi thread for which you won't agree, I didn't get reply from you afterwards. It seems finally we agree on some thing in common for kizashi