Took a Maruti Grand Vitara Hybrid for a 10 km test drive: Pros & Cons

Planning to drive its rivals Creta, Seltos, and Elevate too btw.

BHPian sirius recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Today I have driven a 5-month-old Maruti Grand Vitara Alpha plus eCVT (strong hybrid topend) for 10 kms.

Following are some observations.

Good:

• Good space inside for average height and weight ppl except for boot space.
• Has comfortable front and back seats and the driving position is good.
• Has all of our required features i.e. 360 camera (must), ventilated seats, comfortable front and back seats, wireless Android/apple car play and wireless charger, auto-dimming irvm, auto-dimming headlights, etc. The music system is decent.

1. Corridor is very narrow in our parking area. even small hatch it is difficult to park in a single turn. here 360 degree camera for GV helped finally to park it after a few turns. It was very tight though and without a 360 camera it would be impossible to move in and out of our parking daily of this size car.
2. Ventilated seats are so good. best premium feature for half of the year for me when compared to music systems, ambient lights, wireless chargers carplay, etc.

• Heard about good mileage figures but couldn't verify the same in the short ride.

Okayish:

• Cabin experience is decent, our expectation was low after going through a lot of reviews, and never expected it to be in the league of Hyundai, Kia, or MG. So, not very disappointed.
• Breaks have some lag. It could've been better.

Bad:

• Too much engine sound and the noise is not at all good to hear. driven in a newly laid empty semi-gat kind of road. too much irritating engine sound even at 60 kmph speed to climb a low to moderate size up the road. Even worst than Nexon's 3 cylinder engine noise on the same road. Never heard such sounds from our grand i10 petrol manual and Jazz CVT petrol on the same road even when driven spiritedly with a full boot and 5 adults. Even my wife in the back seat could hear that and said the car looked like struggling to climb. Also, engine noise came up when idlying to recharge the depleted battery. Ruined the whole experience. Didn't feel like a 20+ lakh car experience. In contrast, many people were surprised by the near silence in my grand i10 which is ~7 lakhs almost 6 years back. Even jazz CVT petrol is decent in engine noise-wise.
• None of us felt comfortable in curves even at 30-40 speeds and felt a bit scared. laggy breaks and tall height could be a reason. I enjoy driving at those speeds on these empty curvy roads, so personally it is disappointing to me.

Overall it is a mixed experience, has all the practical features I needed but the noise and driving experience were the big disappointments (not expecting the VW/Skoda level, expected just theHyundai hatchback level). Planning to drive its rivals Creta, seltos, and Elevate too btw.

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