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Repeat customer: Sold my Maruti S-Cross 1.3 & bought an S-cross 1.6

20th August 2022, 09:04 by Ananth Iyer

I considered cars like the Jeep Compass, Kia Seltos & MG Astor, but the S-Cross 1.6 felt like the right upgrade in every way.

BHPian sudeepg recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I've owned an S-Cross DDiS 200 for almost 7 years. My ownership thread is here (Journey from a Honda City to the Maruti S-Cross 1.3L). I had been considering changing my car for a few months now with a budget of ~18-20 Lakhs.

I recently sold this car. Here's a parting shot after ~7 years

.... and bought a used S-Cross 1.6 in White colour!

So you'd ask why S-Cross again?

Likes

Torquey 1.6 diesel engine with great mileage and mod potential.
Excellent gear ratios which are great for highway drives. 6 gears are absolute must for this car.
Mature ride & handling package. High speed behaviours are great!
Spacious well laid out cabin and supportive seats and lots of legroom. I am very comfortable in this car over long journeys
Maruti's excellent after-sales support network. Always got a 4-5 star experience in 7 years of ownership.
Safety equipment - 4 wheel disc brakes, ABS & dual airbags.
Features which are practical to use like sliding armrest, day-night rear view mirrors, rake & reach adjustment for steering, voice control for calling.
ICE is good enough, although the latest Android auto has irritating bugs with this unit.
Perfect size for city and highway use.

Dislikes

Noise insulation could have been far better.
Very weak headlamps and fog lamps. Upgrade is a must.
Rear head rests dig into the back of your neck and isn't comfortable for long journeys.
Maruti means rattles after few years or if you tinker around with your car, damping is a must.
Uneven panel gaps.
Ugly looking alloys on a premium car.
Part quality is typical Maruti grade (e.g. Wipers, Gear Knobs, Steering leather etc.). Some parts take time to source. For instance engine mounts.

A bit of history

I wanted to get the S-Cross DDiS 320 when it was launched back in 2015, but the price at which it entered the market was way above my budget back then and I didn't want to get any other variant other than the Alpha. Nevertheless, the S-Cross package was wonderful in my mind. The car was spacious with very high build quality, unlike any Maruti I had seen so far. It was comfortable, wasn't too big nor too small, handled bad roads pretty well, had very good high highway manners and to boot it all, gave an excellent mileage. In my opinion, the single biggest disadvantage it had was the poor tune it came with. It was not at all practical for overtakes on highways. Power band was between ~2000 RPM to ~2800 RPM with no progress after that and only noise. The solution I adopted back then was to get a Code 6 remap. That really changed the behaviour of the car and Sajan (Bay6 Engineering) delivered an excellent tune. I eventually moved on to Wolf Moto maps including switchable maps. I primarily used map #2 and the car was excellent to drive in the city and highways. It could cruise all day long comfortably ~120 KMPH and keep its occupants comfortable while delivering a strong mileage with full-time air conditioning.

The DDiS 200 was serviced at Bimal Maruti and the experience has been top-notch compared to my Honda & Hyundai experiences. In the 7 years of ownership Maruti was willing to look at the issues and ensured customer-reported problems are addressed, although sometimes I did feel a lack of competency with some mechanics on trivial problems. The mechanic who serviced my car at Bimal, Jeevan, is top notch and the service advisor Hemaprasad always listened and helped with all issues, concerns and queries. My current service advisor Harish and technician Vijayakumar are pretty good as well!

This car was also my project car. I ventured into the world of DIYs with this car and has some great experiences, all of which are documented on this forum. Since there is enough and more discussion about S-Cross on our forums, I'll share how I ended up picking up the DDiS 320. My observations are pretty much the same as these ownership reports.

Other Cars Considered

Jeep Compass Diesel Sport

I went through the Official Review and Ownership report of Crazy Driver. I really liked this car and was somewhat of a natural choice in my head after using the S-Cross. The initial budget was ~20 Lakhs and this variant would take it beyond that in Bangalore.

The Kia Seltos

Loved the styling and the package except for the poor safety rating. I am not a Kia/Hyundai fan post owning two Hyundai cars (A Santro Xing & an i10 Kappa2). So although I considered taking a test drive, I never really took the time out to do a test drive. During that time, my best buddy took a test drive of Kia Carens in consideration for his family trips and the experience at the dealership was underwhelming. It ended at that.

The MG Astor

The initial impression was excellent and the showroom experience was great except that I was looking for test drives of the CVT or the TC versions and they had none available. They did offer to bring the car for test drive when available but never received a callback. I left it at that.

...... and then an event unfolded which changed my decision to the DDiS 320

Back in May this year, we embarked upon our usual holiday travel for summer vacations. We loaded up our car for the Kerala trip. The trip started at noon and it was hot. I wanted to get to the highway soon. Me & family were on the Sarjapur road heading towards Attibele toll booth when a truck ahead of us dropped several stones, one of which came flying at us and hit the windshield at the leftmost edge. A couple of minutes later, I noticed a nice crack forming up and it progressed well towards the center of the windshield in the next 15 minutes. I wanted to call off the trip and get the windshield replaced before proceeding. The crack progressed quickly due to the hot air outside and cold air inside. We saw a Maruti service center on the way and asked a service advisor for advice. He mentioned that I could continue the journey without the risk of windshield falling off but recommended getting the replacement if I could before continuing the journey. I called my trusted service advisor who quickly put me through the windshield expert at Bimal. He advised replacement and also that we could continue without the windshield breaking up, but preferred replacement if possible.

The decision was made to halt the journey and get the windshield replaced. I called my best bud (who is also a member of this forum) with whom I did the Morimoto project on our cars. He came along to inspect the car and offered his car for continuing the journey while he got my car in for repairs. I was reluctant taking his car for a long drive, but he insisted I take his car and continue. We transferred the luggage and went our ways. Thank you bud for lending me your car and tripping me over to DDiS 320.

This, was the turning point for me & my family. I had not driven the DDiS 320 on highways much, but this opportunity revealed how good this car is on the highways. My family fell in love with the car and to sweeten the experience even further, my friend had installed a 3 way speaker system. The journey started by ~3 PM from attibele and we were home just about by 10 PM. We arrived fresh and well under the normal time it takes for a trip to Palakkad. The car munched miles without breaking a sweat. It got to cruising speed quickly and would be at the beginning of the power band at ~120 KMPH. The average speed was higher than what we were usually accustomed to. Overtaking was a breeze! My wife and kid was pleasantly surprised at how quickly we covered the distance and how comfortably the car is on the highways. 120 feels more like 80's.

This incident also gave me a chance to appreciate the DDiS 320 even more and experience as well as understand the gear ratios compared to the DDiS 200.

Sharing a picture of his very well-maintained car

Bitten by the DDiS 320 Bug

After I came back to Bangalore, I couldn't think of an upgrade to a new car from a higher segment as this car satisfied all of my requirements. It made sense in every way, familiar cabin, a comfortable cabin, the mod potential, the power on tap and the great service. This was also a time when we had bought a new apartment, so financially also it made a lot of sense to get a used, well maintained DDiS 320 if available. A decision was made to look out for a used DDiS 320.

I came across several used DDiS 320s, most of them in bad shape or very high mileage, or DDiS 200's masquerading as DDiS 320s. The handful of good ones were already committed. Some of the options were also from other states and getting it re-registered in KA was another headache that I didn't want to deal with.

A few weeks later, a friend drops a note on WhatApp about an immaculately maintained white DDiS 320 in Bangalore with ~60K on the ODO. My car had completed 1.08 Lakh KMs by then. It was a weekday and I didn't want to waste time in closing the deal provided the car felt great after in-person inspection. I went to see the car and it was indeed in top shape but with an asking price that was high. Still, the deal was worth it because it has swanky Momo alloys, XP fog maps, a great ICE and a Wolf Remap. I gave in and agreed to the deal and asked the seller to share his bank details so that I can wire the money to him to start the Hypothecation closure.

The big mistake!

I honestly felt I had a deal and the seller was sweet to interact with. I drove back home to get back to work and an hour later, I got no messages from the seller. He eventually called me and said he had someone else offering 10K more over my price. I felt terrible. It wasn't something that I couldn't match. I told the seller that once I commit to a deal, I would not back out of my word regardless of how better the deal got. I also added that it was his car and therefore it was entirely his decision. My big mistake was not exchanging a token amount.

I lost the deal to someone else for a mere 10K more!

A new opportunity

I had given up hope of finding a well-maintained S-Cross DDiS 320 when I saw a used S-Cross ad show up on one of the websites (due to my search behaviours on various search engines). I clicked on the ad and it took me straight to Olx.in. From the looks of it the car was in good shape. It was a 2016 June build with ~62,000 KMS on the ODO. I messaged the seller and there was no response for a few hours. When the seller responded, he indicated he already had a buyer for the car, much to my dismay. Sensing my excitement and willingness, he also added that if the deal didn't go through the following day, I had a chance.

Thankfully, the potential buyer didn't turn up and I had my chance at buying the car. I wasted no time in going to see the car. At very first sight, it was evident that the car was in top shape, except for a couple of snags on the body here and there. The seller offered to test drive the car. It drove very well but it was evident it needed a service. I completed a thorough examination and was satisfied. I wasted no time in making an offer. The seller was very good and we eventually settled on a price that was acceptable to both parties. The car was bone stock except for a wolf remap.

The seller and I agreed on a date and time to complete the transaction. I wired the amount in full, filled out the paperwork, took signatures, handed over the delivery note, and picked up the car on June 1st, 2022.

So here she is, parked in my parking spot in the basement.