[amit]

Originally Posted by volkman10

To encash on the festive season, Honda City delayed deliveries and learning from the past Maruti Suzuki builds up stock of 6000+ Ciaz's prior to launch.

We should bookmark this piece of information to cross check how soon dealer's will start quoting 6 months waiting period for the cars .

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Projector set up for low beam IMO is not as important as having projector in high beam.

Exactly the opposite.

Less glare for oncoming drivers is with a projector setup not without one as you mention. This is because a projector setup has much better optics and you can cut off the beam more precisely and reduce scatter.

Whereas in reflector setup there will be more scatter.

Having the highbeams as projectors is not at all good. It's going to be blinding.

Cars which have bi xenon i.e. both low and high projectors are completely blinding when the high beam is on.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Exactly the opposite.

Less glare for oncoming drivers is with a projector setup not without one as you mention. This is because a projector setup has much better optics and you can cut off the beam more precisely and reduce scatter.

Whereas in reflector setup there will be more scatter.

Having the highbeams as projectors is not at all good. It's going to be blinding.

Cars which have bi xenon i.e. both low and high projectors are completely blinding when the high beam is on.

Vid,

From what I understand, projector is a set up, and can have Halogen or HID bulbs as source of light. IIRC, fortuner is having Halogen light and not HID. Indians have habit of adjusting light on higher side, most probably to counter the sealed beam from HCV's.
Projector set up with even halogens have more focused throw which is also longer and brighter than reflector set up. (Correct me if I am wrong)
Reflector beam in low beam can be designed to have a broader throw with not that long reach. Projectors, which can achieve longer throw can be beneficial on high beams.

Kindly note that my views are completely out of my experience I gained while wandering to get better lights in my car. For me, I understand, focus, throw, spread and intensity.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Vid,

From what I understand, projector is a set up, and can have Halogen or HID bulbs as source of light. IIRC, fortuner is having Halogen light and not HID. Indians have habit of adjusting light on higher side, most probably to counter the sealed beam from HCV's.
Projector set up with even halogens have more focused throw which is also longer and brighter than reflector set up. (Correct me if I am wrong)
Reflector beam in low beam can be designed to have a broader throw with not that long reach. Projectors, which can achieve longer throw can be beneficial on high beams.

Kindly note that my views are completely out of my experience I gained while wandering to get better lights in my car. For me, I understand, focus, throw, spread and intensity.

Yup. The source of light whether halogens or HID/xenon does not matter. What matters is the optics. Optics design as in reflector vs projector.

In a projector you can get wide spread short throw as well as long focussed, same in reflector. Cars like the Jetta, Superb, Passat have this setup using Xenon/HID bulbs. Basically a single projector setup with a motorised cover. In low beam the cover blocks light whereas in high beam the cover moves out of the way allowing full light.

Now in any car you are ideally using low beam 90% of the time and very rarely high beam. In which case why would you want a reflective setup to be for low beam whereas the expensive more superior projector high beam only for occasional use. It's counter intuitive.

The better optics should be for low beam since they are used the most and the reflective ones should be high beam since seldom used.

PS: Fortuner has HID bulb on low beam using projectors and halogen high beam using normal reflector. The low beam light leveling is electronically controlled with no leveling knob. The older Fortuner was halogen in projectors for low beam and halogen in reflector for high beam.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

IIRC, fortuner is having Halogen light and not HID.

The Fortuner has HID projectors for low beam. Mentioned under Exterior Features - Fortuner - Specifications

The XUV 5OO has a similar setup but uses a halogen H15 - 15/55W bulb for the low beam.

[zenren]

An interesting thing to note here is the number of lower variants that we are seeing in the stock yard. Almost all of them come with steel wheels instead of alloys. So their projections regarding the variant distribution is just like in Swift - much more mid-variants and much lesser top variant. That is sad to see, especially if airbags are being restricted to just the elusive top variant.

May be its just me but I have a feeling that Maruti is going to try a different tactic instead of attacking City head on. Knowing Maruti, they might try to carve out a segment below City, just like Ertiga did with Innova.

[mukeshgoel]

Ciaz advertisement in today's HT.

[RSR]

I agree that the projector set up is more required for the low beam, as it provides a more focused light spread. In cars with an excellent low beam, there is hardly any need to use the high beam in city conditions. With a rather poorly focused low beam, in some conditions (such as nasty road surface, light rain etc.), people are often forced to switch on their high beams in city conditions, even if they do not intend to do so (to avoid blinding oncoming traffic). So an excellent low beam is very useful indeed!

Also, in the picture from the Gujarati newspaper posted by aaggoswami, it isn't clear from the angle of the shot whether the car is actually using the high beam. The picture isn't clear enough, there are too many light sources in the surroundings etc. Also, since projectors provide a very focused beam and very little scatter, it may not show up as being in use from this angle and distance.

Another point to note is that the low beams are usually (but not always) placed towards the outside on the headlamp cluster, and the high beams on the inside. This makes sense, as (unlike the high beams) the low beams have to provide good horizontal spread of light, which can be achieved more easily when placed on the outside.

So in all probability, the car in the picture is probably using high beam, with both the reflector high beam and projector low beam switched on. If this is the case, it is yet another testimony to the sheer focus, efficiency and lack of light scatter with a projector set up, as opposed to a normal reflector.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Sunroof in India, is a nice to have feature, but certainly not necessary. Projector lamps on the other hand, offer better functionality in the way of more even light spread and less glare to oncoming traffic and cannot simply be dismissed like that.

Please note that projectors are available only for low beam. Even reflectors in the low beam doesn't create glare to the oncoming traffic. It is the high beam that causes glares and that is still halogen reflectors in all these cases.

Regarding the more even light spread, the shadow area that is not lit properly with my low beam is lit up properly by my fog lamps. So I've never really faced an issue with light spread with my low+fog combination. Neither of them is blinding to the oncoming traffic either.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Projector set up for low beam IMO is not as important as having projector in high beam.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Having the highbeams as projectors is not at all good. It's going to be blinding.

In that case, what is the real benefit to have projector headlights for low beam in a car?

Majority of the drivers on our roads use high beam while driving and if it is still the same halogen reflectors for high beam, it is unlikely to help the fellow road users in any way whether the oncoming car has projectors instead of reflectors.

What is the benefit to the driver if you have a halogen projector for low beam? I've felt the low beam + fog lamps combination is more or less satisfactory for city speed limits. Anything more would need a high beam anyway which is reflector in all these options.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by zenren

What is the benefit to the driver if you have a halogen projector for low beam? I've felt the low beam + fog lamps combination is more or less satisfactory for city speed limits. Anything more would need a high beam anyway which is reflector in all these options.

You might find halogens+reflectors+fog lamps a satisfactory setup, however I for one, believe that the projectors make a world of difference to the light spread. Secondly, you can always upgrade the setup to an HIDs and milk the use of projectors. Also you don't have to worry about the idiots who upgrade to HID without any knowledge about all this stuff because they are using projectors had it been their regular reflector setup, they would be blinding everyone even on low-beam.
Simply put: Projectors even if only for the low-beam (which is what is used most of the time) are a very functional piece of kit

On a side note: it would be nice to see those chrome details on the front and rear bumper from the Chinese version, atleast come as accessories. Those complete that car and are certainly better uses of chrome than outlining the head and tail lamps etc.

[devil_klm]

Originally Posted by mukeshgoel

Ciaz advertisement in today's HT.

And the site is coming up.
http://www.marutisuzuki.com/Ciaz.aspx

Originally Posted by volkman10

The 7 colors of Ciaz.

Maruti should give some better wiper handles and blades to their cars. These old ones from era of M800 are not matching to their new cars

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Vitara will not come to the Indian market.

OT. A pic of the new gen Vitara

[Vitalstatistiks]

The choice of poor man's Ranbir (aka Ranveer) for ad tells you that it is going to be priced at a good discount to City.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by Vitalstatistiks

The choice of poor man's Ranbir (aka Ranveer) for ad tells you that it is going to be priced at a good discount to City.

Great analysis. However, I feel that advertisements with regular joes are more effective than one featuring a celebrity. I may be wrong but Maruti's 'Kitna deti hai' series never featured any celebrity but remains an iconic ad.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by saket77

Great analysis. However, I feel that advertisements with regular joes are more effective than one featuring a celebrity. I may be wrong but Maruti's 'Kitna deti hai' series never featured any celebrity but remains an iconic ad.

True. Same with 'Everyone comes home in a Maruti Suzuki' ad as well. Connects with the common man.

However, I think in this case, they want to be seen as more upmarket, hence routing for a celebrity. I believe the last time they resorted to this tactic was for the Versa, but that product was positioned to fail no matter which star was to vouch for it!

[harry10]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

True. Same with 'Everyone comes home in a Maruti Suzuki' ad as well. Connects with the common man.

However, I think in this case, they want to be seen as more upmarket, hence routing for a celebrity. I believe the last time they resorted to this tactic was for the Versa, but that product was positioned to fail no matter which star was to vouch for it!

Only if they would have taken Ranbir instead of Abhishek, Versa might have sold some more

I agree. Kitna deti hai ads were fabulous and I serious font understand this phenomenon of hiring actors/actresses to sell products. I think people now are so educated to know which product to buy Inspite of who is trying to sell them.

Anyways, coming back to Ciaz. Do we have a confirmed launch date?