[designersf]

I doubt if the news on an A-Star sedan is legitimate. Come on, the A* has very less space to justify a sedan version unless the wheelbase is extended which will take it closer to the Dzire (in terms of price and size).

Maruti Suzuki is getting enough by selling the A* in Europe under the Suzuki brand name and as the Nissan Pixo. So they wouldn't be that bothered with its Indian sales figures. IMO, the A* should have been named the 'Zen' as it closely mirrors the original Zen's character.

[Daewood]

Just saw an ad for refreshed A-star in a regional newspaper.
It says new interiors, driver seat height adjust, EBD in addition to the already present ABS in top variant as new features. However the A-Star website isn't updated yet.

[motorworks]

I wouldnt call it over priced but when you have cars like the new Wagon R / Zen estilo priced below the A-star, which by the way are far more spacious, then people tend to go in for those. And the younger audience whom the A star is actually targetted at, are spending that little extra and going in for the i10 / Ritz and even the Swift. Actually, Maruti made a strategical error here. They should have named the A-star the 'NEW ZEN" and priced it at about 4 lakhs OTR. You would have had the old zen's fans lined up!

[shridhar.s.i]

Here is my take on the A-STAR
The engine is good and apt for a car this size but let us see, as many stated it is priced equal to Waggy / Zen and the other two have earned some name in market so people will stick to them
Also A* has a love it-hate it design, not everyone feels it is beautiful, when a car refuses to blend-in with crowd-it is not always because it is goodlooking but maybe because it is not that good as well
I personally dont like the design and as per what i heard from the sales reps at Maruti, it does not support much mods as well,
The interiors are not the best in class and neither is the interior spacing,
Now in a cut throat hatchback market,how can a car with so many shortcoming survive?

It does have one thing going for itself though, the Automatic variant which is useful for folks who hate shifting gears on congested roads (I mean come on nobody loves frequent gear changes) and it is also cheaper than Hyundai i10 AT but lets not forget now-a -days people dont mind spending that extra buck to get a more refined and upmarket-finish car
When i went to the showroom, i did not even bother looking at the A* and when we say it is appealing to the youth, i guess nothings beats a Punto / Swift in design IMHO

No offense intended to any A* user, this is just a take of a customer (myself) who wanted to buy a car and ignored this offering

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by shridhar.s.i

it is also cheaper than Hyundai i10 AT but lets not forget now-a -days people dont mind spending that extra buck to get a more refined and upmarket-finish car

I find A-Star one of the cutest and sportiest looking hatches in India. You may disagree. That's ok. It's your opinion. But saying it is not a refined car is something I do not agree with. You say, pay extra and get i10. I would say, pay a little more and get i20. Or, wait, a little more and get Verna. Or, how about Accord, BMW,..... This way you would end up at 16 crore Bugatti Veyron or 20 crore Aston Martin one-77...or may get a 100 crore custom-made car. There is no limit. I think a modern car which is a complete car starts at Alto. I wouldn't include Nano only because it has no power-steering. Otherwise, it meets almost all requirements of a baisc car. You may be a big fan of i10. You may say i10 is the best hatch there is. That's your wish. But do not say A-Star is unrefined.

[shridhar.s.i]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

You may be a big fan of i10. You may say i10 is the best hatch there is. That's your wish. But do not say A-Star is unrefined.

Hold on pgsagar, i need to correct your assumption right away, I am NOT a big fan of the i10, if i was then last week when i booked my car i would have gone for i10 but instead i went for Maruti WagonR
But i say i10 is anytime a better car than Maruti WagonR/Estilo/A-STAR and you can ask anyone here, even though i booked Wagon-R i know the gearing / engine are little crude as compared to the hyundai counterparts but WagonR fit my budget and space was my priority so i went for it, but just because of that i cant go all guns prasing for the WagonR
This is a general problem with us and i dont blame you for that, we are never good at an honest comparison
i10 has a better engine, better interiors,better handling (though not so good on bumpy roads) and better featurelist than Maruti right now and i believe A-STAR shares the same engine as Wagon-R and we all know a 998cc engine is in no league against a 1.2Litre VVT
But if you still think A-STAR is better that it is purely an emotional choice but above facts will make me tend to differ from that
And again the definition of a complete car is a long debate in itself, you call alto a complete car, we call alto / nano a step-thru (As my father says "Sar pe chappar char pahiyon par")
Cheers

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by motorworks

Actually, Maruti made a strategical error here. They should have named the A-star the 'NEW ZEN" and priced it at about 4 lakhs OTR. You would have had the old zen's fans lined up!

Yeah, the A-Star would have been a suitable car to carry on the Zen legacy, instead of the Estilo, which MSIL chose as the successor in their infinite wisdom.

Originally Posted by shridhar.s.i

i10 has a better engine, better interiors,better handling (though not so good on bumpy roads) and better featurelist than Maruti right now

A more powerful engine yes, compared to the 1,0l in A*, but compare it to the 1,2l K series (a fair comparo) and you see the deficiencies. Also with the rising fuel prices, I would be more concerned about frugality of the engine than some extra hp, and here the K-series engine is better. And you might need to recheck about the handling - the A* is better there. Both are good cars in their own way, and each come with their own pros and cons. The choice is made depending on what factor appeals more to the buyer.

BTW, I guess MSIL is not too concerned about low sales of the A*, as the car is doing good in exports. Which explains why the A*-AT deliveries take months. If this car were not being exported, I am sure MSIL would have marketed it more and made changes to the package to make it sell more, like they do for the low-selling Estilo.

[shridhar.s.i]

@SupremeBaleno- I am not being a devils advocate for Hyundai here, all i am saying (Since you brought up the point) if we are comparing apples to apples then yes i10 should be compared with K12 engine in swift / ritz but again the NVH levels are better for hyundai than maruti (in fact i just drove the K series swift today so can be very sure when i say this)
If you read carefully, i was only comparing i10 AT to A* AT, and as regards to engine frugality, Hyundai too has given its fair share of reliable 1.0L engines and not that Maruti never had an issue (Even as i future maruti car owner, i am not afraid to say this because it is the truth)

[StrangeWizard]

A-star is a really nice car. The k-10 engine would feel underpowered when compared to the i10 1.2 VTVT. But the A-star should actually be compared to the spark and santro which fall in its segment. Then the astar is a wayyyy better choice. The engine and gearbox both are good.
The rear looks sexy but the front is purely subjective. I like it though.
What maruti should have done was name the Zen Estilo as only Estilo and name the a-star as the all new Zen.
The boot space is quite low but the rear seat is not quite as cramped as people say. Sure it isn't spacious enough but it can seat 2 comfortably. Taller people may face the problem of their heads touching the roof though.
Visibility is also a problem with thick A and C pillars. The dashboard is also set quite high.
It is also a bit overpriced. ZXI costs approx 4,90,000(OTR without discounts) in mumbai for which one would surely consider the Beat LT, i10 Magna 1.2, Swift Lxi, Ritz lxi/vxi, Figo Zxi...all of which are much bigger and better options.

So what MSIL should do now is give the car a minor facelift, reduce the price and offer AT gearbox in all the variants. Then the sales may rise because it would be quite cheaper than the i10 AT.

[slicvic]

I myself own an A-Star which is now two years old (I should have wriiten an ownership review by now, but have been putting it off for later). before buying the car, i checked out the i10 too, but i didn't like the fact that the beige fascia casts a reflection on the front glass, and i liked the looks of the A-Star better.

The A-Star serves my needs perfectly, its now covered 27,000 Kms. Out of the 27,000 Kms i'm sure 23,000 have been with me alone, 2,000 Kms with two people in the car, and another 2,000 Kms with three or more in the car. So i've never experienced a lack of space in the car.

The boot space i admit is a little too small, but again, i've never really needed it.

Coming to the performance of the car, its real good, and at times on the highway i've overtaken other diesel sedans with ease, and is a lot of fun to drive. I was a bit apprehensive initially since all reviews i read commented that this is a three cylinder car and will have lot of vibrations and be jerky, but then i never got troubled by it.

So why isn't the A-Star selling well? Purely because of the price, especially when there's so many options in MSIL's own stable. For a little lesser you have the Alto, and for a little more you have the Ritz.
I were to go to a MSIL showroom now, i'd buy a Ritz just for the two inches of extra space, even though i wouldn't really use it.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I would be more concerned about frugality of the engine than some extra hp,

Well said S'Baleno! With petrol prices galloping towards century mark, most would look at KMPL than BHP. And on this front, A-star absolutely shines. A-Star auto is reported to be returning nearly twice as many KMPLs as i10 auto.

And yes, MUL is unable to meet overseas demand for A-Star. Hence, they just do not appear bothered about doemstic market. Whcih is not right though but well, that is how things are.

[Saanil]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Well said S'Baleno! With petrol prices galloping towards century mark, most would look at KMPL than BHP. And on this front, A-star absolutely shines. A-Star auto is reported to be returning nearly twice as many KMPLs as i10 auto.

And yes, MUL is unable to meet overseas demand for A-Star. Hence, they just do not appear bothered about doemstic market. Whcih is not right though but well, that is how things are.

Well that can be a reason. But what is the proof that A-star is selling well overseas? I mean do you have any source which could confirm that? If that is case Maruti is probably happy with the 3000 odd numbers this car is doing.

[supremeBaleno]

^^^
Good question. I sort of assumed that the A-Star was a hit in the export market, given the way it is built and based on what EU expects of small cars. After you posted your query, I googled for info and came across this from MSIL. They exported ~1.5lakh units in 2009-10, with the star performer being A-Star.


@shridhar.s.i, I was mentioning about frugality aka FE, not reliability. Not that Hyundai is any better at the latter.

[deetjohn]

A-star is a lovely car to drive. It has got a very stiff chassis, a nice direct steering which is not overly assisted and a peppy engine which delivers great FE.

My main problem is with the shape. No, I love the very different front end but hate the rear. The car just doesn't look proportionate. My main gripe is over the design of the tail gate. It looks just like a lid when compared to other hatch doors, even the ones from the MSIL stable. Most tail gates are wraparound frames which adds atleast 2 to 3 inches of length to the car when viewed side on. But in A-star it looks like a tin sheet made to cover the hole at the rear. Simply put, the A-star hatch door doesn't add anything to the size of the C pillar, which is a crime for a car with overall length of only 3500mm!

The main problems with this narrow lid in place of proper beefy tail gate are:
1) The rear looks truncated and car looks smaller from the side profile.
2) It cut down the effective boot volume.
3) The car doesn't look as wide from the rear in flesh.

Take a look at the pictures below to see the difference with respect to the K10.

pics courtesy: Cars Bikes India | New Cars 2011 | New Motorcycles 2011 | Indian Auto Reviews, :: AUTOCAR INDIA - CAR AND BIKE MAGAZINE ::

[jinojohnt]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

3) The car doesn't look as wide from the rear in flesh.

To me, the car actually looks very wide from the rear. I can also 'feel' the extra width when I reverse my A-star out of my gate (compared to my Alto 800 cc).