I am closing into 5,100 kms for my Ertiga ZDI Silver (Aug 2012). The second service is yet to be done. Here is an overall experience of buying and owning a Maruti Suzuki Ertiga ZDI. I presently own a Corsa Sail 2003, it’s been a long warhorse and now out of production. I don’t change a car very often so ownership over several years was a criterion. It was time to get another long termer.
1. Choice –
Why Ertiga and what else was in contention. The following criteria was important to me – diesel, reliable, long range, spacious, well sorted/well engineered/well settled product, practical, offering flexibility of seating and luggage options, sturdy, easy to maintain/own, easily serviceable in small towns, resale.
XUV 500 – I was ready to book XUV 500 W8 and the dealer (Sirish, Bangalore) actually did several follow ups as well. Their test vehicle had some issues - two sensors did not work, strangely even with a 2400 kms on the odo the vehicle had a significant left pull, not so impressive brakes and for some reason I just struggled slotting the 2nd gear. I was very keen but the initial bugs took this potential customer away. The niggles reported by various owners left me thinking that I don’t want to be a guinea pig. I must say I really liked the vehicle and it is something to be proud of coming from an Indian manufacturer but I was not keen to spend more than 1 day at workshop per year. It was on the highest end of my budget.
Vento TDI – was another vehicle in contention for a short while but somewhat sad workshop experience during service and part availability (the music system) by 2 friends of mine took my interest away. As I said ownership and serviceability in small town is a factor for me. Plus we also added the need of flexible seating thus ruling Vento out.
Second hand T Fort or a new Innova – A second hand T Fort was in contention. A T Fort is built to last, take it anywhere and has the space I was looking for. I did see a U trust second hand 30 K driven T fort. It had climbed up on a median and the owner decided to sell it. Although the U trust folks were very kind, generous with their time and honest to walk me through all of this something did not click in me and I decided against it. Innova was the other Toyota vehicle that was in the fray but I ruled it out. Nothing at all against the product. It is an outstanding vehicle. Just that I have used it at office, interiors and overall design is now somewhat dated and it does have a little bit of taxi image. But I will recommend Innova. It is a well finished product with a Toyota reliability. Also, on the highest end of my budget.
Duster – A Renault Duster came a very close second before I made my mind for Ertiga. Duster had that good fresh feel, great engine and long distance comfort. What worked against Duster was no option for last row seating and a still somewhat untested product. Plus the service centres are still increasing. I will say when the 4x4 version comes it will be a product hard to match. I am also assuming by the time that happens 30-40 more service centres will have opened.
Ertiga – Pratham HSR Layout, Bangalore is pretty close to our house. In the initial rush in April 2012 the sales reps were running around trying to meet every customer and do the sales pitch but I will commend the efforts of 2 of them, Nandini and Vivek. A test drive was quickly organised on that day. I subsequently went back for a couple more drives and a slightly longer one - more than 25 kms across the elevated electronic city flyover. I wanted to check the high speed stability and at Silk Board the ease of traffic navigation/low speed turbo. I was impressed and booked. The ZDI version had the features I was looking for - Airbags, ABS with EBD, space, cabin layout and more important an impressive refined engine. The overall dealer experience was positive though my wife who had taken a delivery of A Star AT had a not so pleasant experience as one smart alec thinking he knew what he was talking about nearly crashed the car right outside the dealership (pressed brake thinking it was clutch trying to change a gear). A Honda City right behind us barely managed to brake in time and saved the rear ending. Sorry OT.
The Xylo, Tavera, Yeti and Safari were not in contention. And on the second hand side Endeavour was in contention briefly. A new Scorpio was in also in contention again very briefly. We did test both Auto and manual Scorpio but ruled it out on the same day as the test.
2. Booking and Delivery –
We booked Ertiga ZDI, on April 12, 2012. It did take its own time coming but the wait was worth. It’s a good UV. The delivery came in Aug after several follow ups. Nothing against the dealer Pratham, HSR Layout Bangalore. The vehicle had (still has) a long waiting time. The staff was overall courteous and paperwork was swift. Once the vehicle was in transit we were informed to get the paperwork ready. Loan approval took all of 2 days and we ready. Including road tax, registration and insurance it is roughly 10.4 L. Across the country I think owning a vehicle in the state of KA is the most expensive thing. Road Tax is really high.
I had a Zen in 1995-96 and that was really my last interaction with Maruti. In between I have a Corsa Sail which I have driven extensively across majority north, west and south Indian states. I was looking for a diesel (as you can imagine why) and a slightly easier ownership experience. After Corsa stopped production the parts (only 4 parts replaced in all these years) had to be ordered (1 recently) but otherwise it has been an excellent car to own. Back to the Ertiga, there are a large number of pictures on the team-bhp website as well as enough vehicles one can see on the roads so I am not uploading too many pictures. I am happy to click any specific requirements and upload them if there are any requests.
The following accessories were added in the last few months - Seats - Karlsson leather; Race Dynamics Dieseltronic; JBL 4 channel amp, component, tweeters and co-ax speakers plus sound dampening; tyre upgrade – Yokohama A drive 205/60/ R-15; Aux light - Light Force 140 Lance (moved from my previous car, original cost 16,000); 3M underbody protection; 3M mats and engine protection; GPS Sat Nav (moved from my previous car) smaller items like door sill, bumper corner protection; perfume and idol. I plan to transfer Thule Roof Top Box (model Ocean 200) from my previous car as well. I’ll come to all of this later from a cost and user experience point of view.
3. What you will like - The Engine – Refined, rev happy diesel plus very impressive mileage. The real sweet spot is 1800 rpm onwards. It has wonderful highway behaviour. You will be hard pressed to make out that this is a diesel engine given the peppiness. There is hardly any noise and the only time you realise there is a diesel is the slight shudder when switching it off.
The cabin space – it is an amazing use of space. 5 stars to the space utilisation. All seats have good knee room, shoulder space and outside visibility. The flexibility of 60:40 (nothing new though even my 2003 Corsa Sail has it), the full flat feature is good noteworthy. The AC unit works well and effectively cools the cabin across. In Tamil Nadu at temperatures of 37-38 the AC was effective.
The weight – Having driven a heavier car before I can say weight is a consideration – both ways in most cases. A heavier vehicle does have its advantages on ride quality and high speed stability. In my mind the engine of the Ertiga nicely compliments the weight. The following stats will bear out the argument in favour of light weight. The weight of various comparable vehicles
Vehicle Weight (kgs) NM/Ton
Ertiga 1265 162
Innova 1660 120
Xylo 1830 153
Tavera 1585 167
Quanto 1640 146
Although a T fort, XUV, Endeavour and Scorpio were in the fray as we were going through our decision but I won’t compare the weight or NM/Ton here simply because of a much higher engine capacity and 4x4 options. They are a different segment.
Driveability – It is an easy drive, the drive sits at a high driving position, good visibility, good responsive steering, light clutch and good acceleration. At a speed of 100 press the acceleration and feel the engine summon all 90 horses in a second. With Dieseltronic it’s even better.
Gearshift – This is smooth. Short throw and slots well. The clutch is light. The third gear is able to take speeds from as low as 20 to 80 plus. In a sense its similar to using auto transmission.
Brakes – This is the really nice part. ABS with EBD makes a significant difference to braking. The good part is ABS is now standard in all variants. The braking is assured, no fuss, effective and tension free.
Fuel economy – A full tank gives me about 620-625 kms in city – Bangalore traffic and 730-750 kms on the highway. Both of these have improved over a period of time. The warning light comes on when there is still about 8-10 ltrs fuel remaining. So there is easily 90-100 kms of fuel remaining comfortably before you should get worried. The tank capacity is 45 ltrs though my first tankfill actually consumed 47! Probably the dealer had left only droplets and fumes! On our Pondicherry visit we had run 430 kms and on a tankful method the UV took 23 ltrs to top up. Amazing how many times one gets the - ‘kitna deti hai’ question.
Sound System – With 6 speaker the OEM sound system (in ZDI) is pretty impressive. The lightweight Nippon speakers do a good job. The USB and aux work very well. Sony, HP and Transend USB sticks did not work – for some reason unknown only Sandisk works. No complaint of reading MP 3. And CD also works well. The remote even works with ipod which is pretty neat. I actually did upgrade to JBL being somewhat finicky with some music notes. My Corsa Sail has 9 speakers so you can understand. But I will say the OEM system is also impressive though there will be some vibrations since the doors don’t have dampers. I eventually added noise dampers in the 4 doors that have speakers.
On the smaller but significant points I’d say – the dead pedal, the soft seats (some may feel it a tad too soft), the rear AC vents, the overall visibility, good wiper front and rear (including washer), bottle holders in all doors, the can holder that pops out just below the ac vent, the storage compartment below the boot area, GC of 185, the auto locking of doors as soon as the UV goes beyond 20 kmph, a triple jet spray on screen washer, good OVRMs, and I will finally say the sedate design.
What I wish it can also have at some stage –
Automatic climate control – I have personally never used one in any of my previous vehicles but I believe it is a ‘good to have’ probably not a ‘must have’. I don’t really miss it expect that occasionally my mind reminds me that it is a 10.4 L vehicle (on road BLR) well it should have been there.
Charge points – I wish there was at least 1 more somewhere towards the rear.
Better headlamps- The 50/55W bulbs are not impressive at all. Barely light up a dark road. I upgraded to 90/100 Osram with relay and Light Force 140 (never used in city). But I wish the UV came with projector or bi-xenon.
Sump Guard – The engine is overall well protected but sump guard should be there. Most state highways, district roads or mountain roads are not as good as GQ and an occasional stone can get propelled from the tyres and hit the sump.
Different engine options – The SUV/MUV market is increasing and cutting into mid segment sedan. More folks are converting from sedans to SUV/MUV. I wish at some stage Maruti Suzuki sees this opportunity. Here is a suggestion – 1.6 ltr; 250 NM of torque at 12-13 L or an even higher 1.8 or 2.2 ltr engine; 300 NM of torque, 4x4 and cost anywhere between 16-18 L. See how well entrenched is XUV and T Fort.
On the smaller and still significant points – the beige interiors is a pain to maintain, the 3rd row seats are neither 40:60 nor 50:50 split – they are single unit, for all the good space utilisation the area around and above the hand brake could have been better designed (options – armrest/cooler/covered box), the horn pad requires one hand to move away from steering wheel (or stretch the thumb to honk-takes some time to get used to), cabin has only two lights – one up front and one at the end...middle row does not get lights, no reverse camera, the rear view mirror has a night flip/anti glare but somehow with the adjusted seat height I have been struggling to get the correct night anti glare. I have to manually adjust it.
Maybe GPS integrated in the dash, bluetooth, some more information in a central console, maybe 16” tyres, reverse camera, some other engine options...well then like the point above we move to another segment don’t we.
4. Overall ownership experience -
Maruti Suzuki has vastly improved its customer service, takes feedback really seriously (every single time I have got a call from a call centre), the workshops have a online computer where the customer experience has to be logged and ratings given, the dealerships are huge (at least Pratham is) neat and clean and the overall ease of ownership over a number of years is something I am looking forward to in terms of brand of the vehicle manufacturer. The quality of the product comes across as well assembled, looks built to last, good fit and finish with a fine engineering. It’s devoid of most bells and whistles (tyre pressure sensors/auto wipers/auto headlamps etc) but good product that will last a distance. There were some concerns soon after the launch on some aspects. I have covered these in another place - I will also refer fellow bhpians to my other posting on Ertiga just a couple of weeks after its official launch.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...review-13.html. At my first service which was really nothing more than a check up it was smooth and I was out of the workshop in about 2 hrs.
The vehicle per se is a lovely highway cruiser and equally comfortable within the city. At 100-110 kmph it holds great poise and stability. Press the accelerator at that speed and the engine is willing. One can feel the surge. We have folded down the 3rd row seats. I brought floor mat of Scorpio boot area and guess what it fits corner to corner thus giving you an idea that the floor space is exactly the same as in Scorpio. Once the middle row is also flattened there is a perfect 6 feet long flat bed - your own business class flat bed!
Having driven extensively across the length and breadth of the country and in a number of other cars I came back very impressed with Ertiga on a highway. The engine is far more impressive, responsive and fuel efficient than it seems on paper. The suspension is really well set up and it can take a fair amount of beating. The cornering is far more confident than say in a Xylo or Scorpio. The vehicle being only 1265 kgs and the 200 NM of torque (which I have increased to 230 by Dieseltronic) is very well sufficient for a car this weight and size. We have so far done 2 medium-long trips - Bangalore - Mysore-Mudumalai-Ooty-Conoor-Coimbatore-Bangalore and the second one was Bangalore-Kanchipuram-Mahabalipuram-Pondicherry and back the same route. Here is a short summary of these.
Bangalore - Coonoor - Bangalore - The hair pin bends on the Mudumalai - Ooty were taken easily. There were 4 pax and bags. For the benefit of those who may have driven in HP/UA/J&K...The Mudumalai-Ooty section is somewhat similar and as steep as the Zoji La pass or the straight climb from the market to Hadimba temple in Manali. The Ertiga climbed up very well with 4 pax and a few bags for the weekend. I mostly keep at a steady 100-110kmph and run full time with AC. The ABS is a boon, the cornering is car like and the turbo builds up really well. Including local driving - 736 kms fuel consumed 40.3 ltrs - kitna diya – well an impressive 18.2 kmpl. Includes all steep climbs and straight line highways.
Bangalore – Kanchipuram – Mahabalipuram – Pondicherry - Bangalore – Plain vanilla driving. Keep paying tolls, keep listening music and keep driving. On the way back there was a small traffic pile up at a village between Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram. We had to pass through interior village roads for 7-8 kms but otherwise plain straight line driving. Kept a steady 100-110 kmph. On our way back we flattened the middle and last row and there was a perfect flat bed for the home ministry...whose one phrase said it all – paisa vasool! (money well spent). The suspension is good, the braking is impressive but what is even more impressive is the way the engine behaves at RPM on the north of 1800. Total distance 868 kms, fuel consumed 46.4 – average 18.7 kmpl.
5. Accessories added –
Please do bear in mind that Maruti Suzuki warranty may get void when some of this work, eg extra lights (I moved Light Force from my existing car), is done but I am fine with it. The thing that I kept in mind is any extra electrical work has a relay and direct connection into the battery therefore not touching engine or original electricals. Just a few lines on the choice of accessories and an unbiased customer experience at the places I got the work done from –
Karlsson Leather – Seat covers, door trims, steering cover and hand brake. Outstanding fit and finish, looks OEM, really nice feel, soft, easy to manage, looks rich, very good customer service at the Indranagar, Bangalore shop. The owner has a direct and personal supervision and he is very knowledgeable about the work. Cost 30,000
Sound System JBL upgrade – Pratham Motors ORR. Upgraded speakers and added amp. MGA folks don’t really have a clue about good sound. Normally they just know how to fit it and move on and cannot even tune the amp properly. The accessories guys don’t have the authorisation to do sound damping! Well warranty issues. After I got over my warranty concerns I just had Car Fancy Koramangla re do the sound and added the damping. JBL 2 comps, 2 co-ax, 2 tweeters, 4 channel amp, Scosche wiring, 18,500 system plus 6,000 for Focal sound kill. An absolute world of difference. A big thank you to Car Fancy.
Race Dynamics Dieseltronic – Having always driven petrol cars I had only known of this product but had never used it. Yes the UV did have a small somewhat insignificant turbo lag pottering around the city with 1-3 people but add some more people and there is a continuous need to downshift. Dieseltronic adds 20 NM to power and increases fuel efficiency by 20% (give or take a 1-2 percent) in SX 4. The engine of Ertiga being the same as SX 4 diesel the output can be safely assumed to be the same. In my long visits it has been an absolute boon. There is extra power to tap (different setting) and there is the regular P 1 setting – more power more fuel efficiency. Great product and fitted in half an hour! Cost 19,990 from Car Fancy, Koramangla, Bangalore.
Tyre Upgrade – Was done at Reliance Autozone opposite HSR Layout. I tried the 195/60 R 15 Michellen and finally settled for 205/60 R – 15 Yokohama A drives. The tread is good, there is no noise and they have a good grip. And no they don’t bulge out. Original tyres were GoodYear DuraPlus (also a good tyre) and the exchange was at 2,500 per piece.
3M Engine protection and underbody – Was done at HSR Layout. The staff was courteous and work was done well on time. The underbody work was also done on my Corsa Sail in 2003 and still is good and so I was keen to go for it. I also got a thin plastic film on the head light. Now just wipe with a cloth and the glass shines. Cost roughly underbody protection (3,500); 3M mats (3,200) and engine protection (2,800)
Hope you found this review and user experience useful.
6th December 2012, 11:33
(14)
Thanks
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