First of all, excellent thread started by LeoShashi!
This post is about my experience of buying XL6 -
Decision of upgrading:
We had White Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 Base Variant bought on 13th October 2013 in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. We’ve been highly satisfied with the Alto 800 and never had even a bit of regret. But in 2013, when we bought Alto 800, my Dad wanted a bigger car, but he saved his money for my education and got this small but lovely car. Even Alto 800 was an upgrade from our second-hand Maruti 800. Till now, everyone urged my Dad to get a bigger vehicle because of his seniority in the company he works for. So, in August 2021, we finally thought of upgrading and then eventually ended up buying an Arctic White Maruti Suzuki XL6 Zeta Manual.
Yes, this is the journey of starting with Maruti Suzuki’s lowest-end car (as per 2013) to its highest-end car (at present)!
Which car to upgrade to?:
One of our relatives works at Škoda and he offered us with 10% of employee discount on the base price (ex-showroom price) of the car. So, we ended up visiting the Škoda showroom first. There we saw Rapid and Kushaq. However, Kushaq felt out of our budget, leaving Rapid to get a test drive. Coming from Alto 800, Rapid 1.0 TSi Turbo-Petrol easily became a pleasant option because of its build quality, space, power, and overall superiority over Alto 800. From Škoda, Rapid Ambition Variant was our pick, costing Rs.11.80 lakhs on-road. But considering the employee discount we were getting on Rs.10 lakhs ex-showroom price, we were getting a discount of Rs.1 lakh, costing us a net Rs.10.80 lakhs on-road.
Just beside the Škoda showroom, we have a Tata Motors showroom in Aurangabad. I personally wanted Nexon, so for checking up on my choice, we stepped inside. The moment we entered, we felt highly uncomfortable because of the temperature inside. Air conditioners were off, fans were off and even ventilation seemed to be not capable to let the heat out. The Sales Person there also wasn’t much professional and overall felt like not trained properly. My Parents liked the Nexon on space, height, build quality but they felt it was small in length (below 4 m) after looking at its price of Rs.11.75 lakhs (2nd top variant) at which Škoda gave a car longer than 4 meters. At Tata, we also then saw Tigor whose doors felt lighter and weaker than other cars in that showroom. And we left disappointed from Tata Motors even after the test drive of Nexon. To Dad, Rapid felt like a driver’s paradise and Nexon didn’t feel anywhere near. But the honorable mention at Tata is Safari. If we ever had twice the budget we had, Safari was coming home beating Innova Crysta, which Dad loves since its launch and in which he travels every day to his workplace.
The third showroom for the day was Nexa. We went to Pagariya Auto in Aurangabad to see if we could find an option suitable for our upgrade. The Sales Person here pushed a lot on Baleno, but we wanted to discuss Ciaz. Baleno is a good car, but coming from a hatchback, we wanted to upgrade to a sedan, SUV, or MPV. And somehow, out of nowhere, the name “XL6” came out of my mouth. We weren’t much interested in XL6 as it has middle-row captain seats and not a bench seat where, as per the Indian requirements, we can adjust as many people as we want. They didn’t have any Ciaz for the test drive and on display that day, so we asked for a test drive of XL6. The test drive XL6 they have is Alpha Manual in Nexa Blue color, which wasn’t clean at all and was steaming hot inside because of standing in open sunlight all time. The first few minutes were unpleasant, but the AC cooled everything down just in few minutes and the superior comfort kicked in. Now, we were on a smooth highway and there was no noise from the engine and wind outside. It was peacefully silent and when slowed down, the car didn’t even felt like moving. It was at this moment, I and Mom fell in love with this vehicle. Then while returning, we stopped at a traffic signal and I felt like the car was turned off, but the AC and the music system were working completely fine. And then, the Sales Person with us explained about the Idle Start/Stop. This was the first car in our budget I felt like buying that day. After the test drive, the Sales Person asked us which car would we like to go for finally? And XL6 was our answer! However, the Sales Person kept suggesting that we should go for Baleno as it was a more suitable option for our 3-members family and we would get it delivered within 20 days as compared to 1.5 months for XL6. Although he explained every feature of both Baleno and XL6, we felt he was a little biased on selling a Baleno as that could complete his targets faster (Our opinion).
As Ciaz was left to be checked upon in Nexa brand cars by us, we went to our last showroom for that day, Automotive Manufacturers Nexa. On our way, we fastly dropped by Automotive Manufacturers Arena to just get a look at Ertiga CNG. But to our surprise, the waiting time for Ertiga CNG here was over 14 months. So, discarding Ertiga, we visited Automotive Nexa and asked for only Ciaz here. We got to test drive Ciaz Alpha Automatic, and this car felt more luxurious than the Škoda Rapid we were leaned on towards in the Sedan segment. Ciaz not only was longer, wider, and higher, but also more spacious and refined (at low to mid gears). The boot space capacity, ground clearance, and fuel efficiency felt highest in the segment. And this is how we found the perfect match as per our needs!
We didn’t bother to go to Hyundai, as we weren’t interested in buying a high-maintenance car. Also, for everyone in Aurangabad, the services provided by Toyota here are the worst. Volkswagen Vento and Honda City felt too much old. We didn’t consider Kia Seltos just because it didn’t feel much appealing. My cousin has MG Hector*and*we loved the features, space, and sunroof, but weren’t willing to put that much amount on an SUV with a Sunroof. One car we wanted to see was Honda BR-V, but when we called the showroom, we got to know that it was discontinued.
Now it was time to final one out of the three: Rapid, Ciaz, XL6. Rapid, despite having a Turbo engine, felt old enough to discard, also the look of Rapid from the back looks almost the same as old-gen Rapid and much older-gen Laura. Ciaz being an oldie itself, felt newer. But the refinement of XL6 felt unmatched. So it was then between XL6 and Ciaz. Ciaz felt a better option for traveling to our villages with huge boot space, but when logically thought, even XL6 can carry 5 people and their luggage. The cost difference between both was about Rs.60,000/-, making it more difficult, as there was Exchange Bonus, Corporate Discount, and some additional discount on Ciaz but XL6 has nothing of it. Finally, it came to my Dad’s preference. Since its 1st-Gen, my Dad has loved the Innova, and since the launch of Crysta, he is fond of captain seats. And that’s how even though not a perfect match as per our tiny family, a lovable car (XL6), was booked on 14th August 2021 from the Automotive Manufacturers Nexa as we found the customer service here better than Pagariya Auto.
Transmission, Variant & Colour:
I and my Dad have always preferred Manual over Automatic as automatic is just not as fun as manual. Alpha variant being above Rs.10 lakhs had 2% more registration fees here, making it not a value for money upgrade. I personally loved Auburn Red, but the Sales Person explained that the Auburn Red was hard to mix up while repairing any damaged color part. My parents liked only 2 other colors: Arctic White and Magma Grey. The Magma Grey vehicle we saw in their parking lot had a little dust on it but looked too much dirty when not seeing from close. And so, we finalized the Arctic White XL6 Zeta Manual at Rs.12 lakhs.
Waiting Time:
During the waiting time, I went through all the accessories provided by Nexa for XL6 and shortlisted a few. I also went through various aftermarket shops to get more insights into the price and quality of accessories other than OEM. We thought of getting maximum accessories from Nexa. At the time of booking, we were informed that our car will be ready to be delivered by 14th September 2021. And as it was around the time of the Ganesh Festival, we were happy to get it in that time period. We finalized the vendor for 7D Mats, finalized which accessories to buy and get fitted from Nexa, and were eagerly waiting for the confirmation of our car from Maruti Suzuki.
“Semi-conductor shortage hits the globe and Maruti limits the vehicle production.” This delay wasn’t the only cause for our unhappiness. Maruti also announced the price hike for all their vehicles. But for the XL6 Zeta variant, the base amount didn’t exceed Rs.10 lakhs, and the final quoted amount was Rs.12.08 lakhs. Our car’s confirmation came on 21st September 2021. On 23rd, the car arrived at the Aurangabad stockyard and at Nexa showroom later that evening. We did our Pre-Registration Inspection on the 24th morning. The registration process started the same day and was completed by 30th, and the payable amount turned out to be Rs.11.95 lakhs. The time between Ganesh Festival and Navratri is considered a bad time to buy anything new, so we waited till 7th October to take the delivery. During this time period of waiting for delivery, we ordered the 7D mats and had talked with a vendor for ceramic coating. We had given a list of accessories we wanted from Nexa to the person in contact. After extra expenses on Ceramic Coating, 7D Mats & possible upcoming damping, the complete spend for the car is around Rs.12.25 lakhs.
When checking for some necessary modifications, I came through Team-BHP and eventually this thread. I read almost the complete thread and wanted to sign up and share my experience as well. Reading this thread was a highly informative, helpful, and superb experience. (I received the approval of my membership on 10th October)
The day of delivery:
On 7th, we completed the Pre-Delivery Inspection followed by delivery and paperwork by 12:30 pm and drove straight home. Not all accessories were available, but the
Door Sill Guard (Illuminated) &
Rear Spoiler were fitted and enhanced the look of the car from the back and when opened the door. After paperwork, we distributed sweets and left a box of sweets for the staff as a token of thanks. At home, we did Puja of the car and drove it to Perfect Automobiles & Car Care for the Ceramic Coating of our car, where we also distributed the sweets. The owner of the workshop is great and agreed to stay late at night to finish maximum work so that we could collect the car the next day by 2 pm.
Next day of delivery:
On the 8th, we received our car after the completion of Ceramic coating and also a Ganesh Idol for the dashboard as a gift from the workshop owner. Few of the remaining accessories had arrived and just after receiving the car, we went to the Workshop to get it fitted.
Reverse camera was connected in few minutes,
body cover was kept in the car, but the biggest thing, seat cover, was not
the one I demanded. So had to deny
the plain black which was available. Although, I settled for the available design of the steering cover as it can be changed later down the years at a low cost. After this, visited some relatives and a colleague, and the quality ride in our car made them speechless.
My apologies for keeping it this big, but I have seen no one from my city getting involved on such platforms. Also, most of my friends don’t do enough research enough before even buying vehicles. Also, it may take 3 weeks for me to post the pictures of my car's distinctive accessories.
Regards,
Niraj