[tj123]

Originally Posted by Small Bot

If you're going to cruise peacefully at 80-100 kmph only, then the Grand Vitara mild hybrid is actually very apt for your use case. It gives excellent fuel economy at that speed, the AT keeps the RPMs at just less than 2K, you have enough power to complete overtakes if you plan a few seconds in advance.

I completely agree with the perspective that the GV Automatic delivers outstanding fuel efficiency when driven in a relaxed manner (at speeds between 80 and 100 kmph). During my recent trip to Sri Rangapatnam, I achieved a mileage of 25 kmpl (As per trip App), despite having four passengers, a full boot, and the air conditioning running. This was with 80% highway driving and 20% moderate traffic in Bengaluru.

[volkman10]

Grand Vitara SUV likely to be Maruti Suzuki’s first model to be equipped with ADAS.

To be pricier by Rs 50,000-Rs 75,000 than the top-end trims of Smart Hybrid and Strong Hybrid variants of the midsize SUV, it will be will be having Level 2 technology of the ADAS

Vehicles with level 2 ADAS can take over steering, acceleration, and braking in certain situations, and offers autonomous obstacle avoidance, autonomous parking, etc.

TKM will also roll out an ADAS-loaded Hyryder, although the company has not officially revealed this.


Link

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by tj123

During my recent trip to Sri Rangapatnam, I achieved a mileage of 25 kmpl (As per trip App), despite having four passengers, a full boot, and the air conditioning running. This was with 80% highway driving and 20% moderate traffic in Bengaluru.

How does the App calculate the mileage ?

[tj123]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

How does the App calculate the mileage ?

Suzuki connect app is just the extension of the vehicle MID and additionally keeps trip history, driving analysis data and other regular connectivity features etc.

[sndpks]

Cars have become more of a necessity than a luxury in India over the past few years. The competition in the automobile industry has intensified to such an extent that even the top-selling companies must stay on their toes to understand the needs and sentiments of the people all the time.

I found myself at crossroads when I had to decide whether to replace my existing Ford Ecosport due to its scarce availability of service. I wasn't willing to take any chances by continuing to drive it. So, I embarked on a quest to find a car that could comfortably accommodate my family of four, which includes my wife and two toddlers. While my in-laws occasionally travel with us, it wasn't a constant requirement, but I still considered 6-7 seaters.

My first big decision was to determine the type of car I wanted: SUV or Sedan. Following that, I had to decide on the segment, which included compact SUV or Sedan, mid-size SUV or Sedan, and full-size SUV or Sedan. The choices were plentiful, leading to considerable confusion. The challenge was to prioritize various factors like aesthetics, safety, features, ease of use, and service, among others.

Ultimately, I settled on fixing a budget as it would significantly narrow down my list of options. I considered the intended usage, whether it would be for occasional office commutes, vacation trips, daily peak traffic drives, or just for the sheer joy of driving. Having enjoyed my Ford, which performed splendidly both in traffic and on highways, I aimed to replicate that experience. My budget for a replacement fell between 12-15 lakhs on-road price in Bengaluru. With this budget, I shortlisted all the compact SUVs available: Kia Sonnet, Hyundai Venue, Maruti Brezza, and Tata Nexon. These cars could all be purchased with top specifications for around 15 lakhs, and I took them for a test drive to evaluate their performance.

Hyundai Venue felt classy and drove well, but I noticed limited headroom, which wasn't ideal for my 6-foot frame. Moreover, it was approaching the end of its facelift cycle, and its compact nature seemed to not justify its price.

Kia Sonnet offered a similar feel, with posh interiors, but it felt smaller than what I was looking for, particularly coming from a Ford Ecosport. Despite the subtle differences in dimensions, it somehow seemed smaller. However, the turbo engine offered an excellent driving experience.

Maruti Brezza, on the other hand, seemed like the silent achiever, meeting expectations without much fanfare. It was competent in many aspects, boasting a sporty facelift, a good engine, excellent service, and more space compared to its Kia and Hyundai counterparts. However, it lacked that special feeling in terms of interiors and drivability.

Tata Nexon suffered from a frustrating dealership experience, with overcrowded showrooms and a lack of attention to customers. Although I anticipated minimal interaction with sales and service personnel, the car's robustness was counteracted by poor fit and finish, limited headroom, and uncomfortable rear seat for taller individuals. It was an instant rejection after the test drive.

Despite rejecting all the initial options, I decided to extend my budget to 20 lakhs. After all, I intended to keep the car for at least seven years. This opened up the next segment, including Kia Seltos, Toyota Hyryder, Maruti Grand Vitara, Hyundai Creta, and Honda Elevate.

Kia Seltos, with its 1.5-liter naturally aspirated engine, offered a good driving experience, but the top model's price of almost 25 lakhs was beyond my budget. The only variant I could afford was the 1.5L HTX IVT naturally aspirated engine, which came with an automatic transmission and almost all the features I desired. I booked it with a 6-week waiting period.

Hyundai Creta always impressed me with its classy interiors and practical features. It drove well too, but with the imminent facelift, I decided to rule it out.

Toyota Hyryder proved to be a disappointment with its showroom experiences, long waiting periods for automatic variants, and a lack of enthusiasm from sales reps.

Honda Elevate seats are incredibly comfortable. The car exudes a sense of spaciousness in terms of length. However, the width left something to be desired. The ride was exceptionally smooth, and for the price, it even came equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). At this point, I seriously considered making it my next car. Yet, taking into account Honda's current situation and sales figures in India, I hesitated, not wanting to find myself in a similar predicament as I did with the Ford Ecosport. Additionally, the lower mileage and potential challenges in service accessibility gave me pause.

Maruti Grand Vitara offered a pleasant showroom experience, complete with attentive staff, refreshments, and thorough explanations. Despite the base variant only offering manual transmission, it included many features, compelling me to book it. I had to cancel the Kia Seltos booking due to the significant price difference.

In the midst of all this, I briefly considered some sedans, including the Skoda Slavia and the 5th generation Honda City.

Honda City exuded a sense of poshness, offering outstanding ride quality and a smooth engine along with the safety net of ADAS. It provided almost all the features found in top models of SUVs for a relatively lower price, making it an appealing option. The spaciousness added to its charm.

Skoda Slavia impressed with its driving experience, offering a 1.0 turbo engine automatic variant for 20 lakhs. The interiors were spacious and felt high-quality. However, concerns about service and the company's long-term reliability deterred me from pursuing this option, as did my worries about sedan ingress and egress.

My car-buying journey didn't end here. I initially decided on the base variant, Sigma, of the Grand Vitara, but I grew dissatisfied with the prospect of spending more money to add accessories and the potential warranty issues. The Delta variant also didn't seem to make sense. The top model, Alpha plus, didn't meet my expectations, with its paper-like sunroof covering, horrible 360 degree camera and less effective ventilated seats. As a result, I changed my booking to the Zeta manual variant, which offered most top model features.

However, my decision wasn't final. I once again pondered whether I was willing to spend a little more to get an automatic car, adding 1.5 lakhs to my budget. The on-road price of the Zeta 6AT variant was 18.5 lakhs in Bengaluru, falling between my original and updated budgets while meeting my expectations and ticking most of the boxes.

Fortunately, I found a dealer close to my house with the car I wanted, and I promptly booked it. Now, I'm eagerly awaiting the delivery of my new car.

I will be writing a separate post on my delivery experience and PDI done through Zekardo.

[tj123]

Got my car serviced (3rd Free service) 10k /1year whichever earlier one. During this service, the engine oil, oil filter, and cabin filter were replaced. Additionally, the brake pads were cleaned, fluids were topped up and latches and doors were greased.

The service experience was fine and there was no push by the service advisor for additional coating or other bill inflating addons. The total cost for these services came to approximately Rs 2,850. Tyre rotation and balancing will get it done externally. Thus far there are no issues to be reported and the car is running well.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by tj123

Got my car serviced (3rd Free service) 10k /1year - the engine oil, oil filter, and cabin filter were replaced. Additionally, the brake pads were cleaned, fluids were topped up and latches and doors were greased. ... .The total cost for these services came to approximately Rs 2,850.

That's very reasonable for a paid oil-change service. Is 0W16 the oil recommended for the Grand Vitara 6AT ?

Is it 0W16 the recommended oil for the StrongHybrid Vitara also ?

[outdoorlover]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Is 0W16 the oil recommended for the Grand Vitara 6AT ?

Is it 0W16 the recommended oil for the StrongHybrid Vitara also ?

I suspect that the engine oil for the standard ICE vehicle and Hybrid could be different as the Strong Hybrid has an Atkinson cycle engine which is very different from the Otto cycle engine.

[tj123]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

That's very reasonable for a paid oil-change service. Is 0W16 the oil recommended for the Grand Vitara 6AT ?

Is it 0W16 the recommended oil for the StrongHybrid Vitara also ?

Well as per the manual I understand that both engine can uses the 0W16 oil plus other grades like 0W-20, 5W-30 depending on condition. However it is strange that the K15C engine for India is restricted to use only 0W16, may be due to efficiency reasons.

[izzikio_rage]

Whew, just read through all the amazing posts on the Grand Vitara. A few questions from my end on the mild hybrid

1. What are the maintenance costs associated with the battery and motor? I'm guessing after some number of km or cycles it'll need to be replaced?

2. Considering how water-logged our streets are and the fact that water and electricity don't mix can the Grand Vitara manage?

3. Read a lot about the car not being good at speeds over 100. A bit amazed even the Swifts and Tiagos of the world can manage 130+ on the new highways. Is the Grand Vitara really that bad?

[Small Bot]

Originally Posted by izzikio_rage

A few questions from my end on the mild hybrid

1. I got the same engine in the Brezza. I have not really heard of or read about anybody that was required to replace the mild hybrid battery within the extended warranty period, so I assume it would last at least 5 years. Realistically, it might last twice as much or more, if taken proper care of. Would love to hear if anybody with slightly older Marutis could post about it.

2. The Grand Vitara is going to be as good (or as woeful) in floods as any other compact SUV in the market today. As in, if the water level is so high as to enter your cars when you open the door, you're definitely better off walking. None of these crossovers are made for water wading, so this is probably a pointless discussion.

3. All I can say is, are you sure you want to do 130+ kmph in any car on any Indian road? You need to check out the Accidents in India thread, I think that thread's running for a couple of decades now.
I'd rather stick to a safe and fast enough 90-100 kmph where you get good mileage, and not worry about anything higher. As to whether the Grand Vitara can do higher than 130 kmph, yes it will. But it will make you work for it and then swear at you in mechanical languages, so be prepared.

[izzikio_rage]

Thanks for this, I think it goes almost without saying that I'll be better than my swift in water wading and highway speeds.

Also, I've been lucky. A lot of my travel is on the delhi mumbai expressway so 120kmph driven legally on a fairly good bit of tarmac.

[Small Bot]

So, after a loooong discussion and a dozen test drives of multiple cars, we settled on the Grand Vitara Delta MT (Mild Hybrid) for the pater. In line with the red Brezza and the red Brio in the family, we opted for the red Grand Vitara as well. It turned out to be a great choice, though a bit darker a red than the eyecatching Brezza and Brio.

We went and inspected the car on Saturday, in a stockyard around 13 kms and 1 hour away from the showroom.

Following are some pics and observations:

Front of the car looks understated. Could have done without the chrome, but it is what it is. My Brezza has funny chrome eyebrows, so this is somewhat better.



Front with lights:



Rear of the car looks amazing. My personal opinion is that it looks better than the Hyryder's rear.



Rear with lights:



It has a spacious front cabin. The pater looked pleased with the space he had.




The rear of the cabin felt smaller and the seats set a little higher than in the Brezza. I found it relatively tougher to sit in. Thankfully, I'm not going to be using this car much.



The same engine as in the Brezza. It has healthy cladding underneath the bonnet cover.




The side looks okayish. Just like most other crossover hatches in the market, so nothing to set it apart.



The ICE is tiny compared to the Brezza ZXI+'s, but the pater doesn't really care. So all is well with the world.



The steering wheel is not flat-bottomed (I don't understand the need for a flat bottom anyway). The car also has run only for 6 kms, which is not bad. It is tilt and telescopic.



The tyres are a healthy 215/60 R17 Apollo Apterra Cross. It needs to be seen how this compares to my Brezza's 215/60 R16 MRF Wanderers. The wheel caps were kept separately in the boot. There is a full-sized spare wheel too.





The Nexa exec said that they keep not more than 1 litre of fuel in the tank at all times. We'll get the delivery mostly around Diwali.

I'll try to compile a Brezza vs Grand Vitara mild hybrid comparison post that, once I've had a chance to drive both over the same routes a couple of times.

[TrueSagittarian]

It’s been quite some time since my last post, been quite busy with life and to be exact till 2nd service I didn’t feel like I had driven the car much for a proper long-term experience, so I chose to wait till 3rd service.

Previous post link https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5508827 (Maruti Grand Vitara Review)



So here it goes. In my last update on 9th March 2023, the odo was at 1350 kms and today 8th Nov 2023 the odo reading marks 10238 kms. In between I had several short trips to other cities and one long trip to Himachal. As I have WFH so mostly I drive on weekends only and the round trip usually ends up being around 100 kms. After 1st service in March, it was mostly weekend city driving and I took one trip in April to Kotdwar for a friend’s wedding, I had five people in car including me and boot completely full of luggage. The route is same which I mentioned in my first post and the car performed well enough with full load I would say. There was no lack of power in terms of highway cruising and careful overtaking. Three passengers (medium build) sitting in the back were very happy with car and they had no issues whatsoever in terms of space and comfort. My next short trip was in June first week to The City Beautiful – Chandigarh, it is my maternal home, just a quick short weekend to meet up with my cousins and hang around. As expected, a smooth trip and no issues with car whatsoever.







In between these two trips a lot of city driving was done, In June itself I sent the car for 2nd service and as always it was quick and no fuss, Maruti’s service track has always been great and will remain great that’s why they sell the most cars in almost every segment. In these 5k Kms I had no major issues with the car it ran smoothly, I faced issue with android auto in which my voice on calls was not audible to the other person and I checked this with multiple people they were not able not hear anything from my end, but it was fine with Bluetooth only mode, I got the software updated from service centre and it has been working fine since, other than this issue the head unit and android auto works flawlessly even switching between the devices is also very smooth, there are modes also for phone connectivity that if you want android auto or just a bluetooth connection, yes there are times when it fails to auto connect or identify phone but that is very rare, and it resolves after ignition off and on but in that case also your Bluetooth connectivity will be there. Auto start stop also works perfectly I think as I have come to understand it. It always keeps some battery power in reserve for ignition on and off, I have never seen the battery level drop less than two or three bars, for e.g. : if you stop at lights and the ignition turns off the first thing it’ll do is that it’ll turn off the AC and yes in summers it is irritating because you won’t notice that only blowers are working until they throw hot air on your face. However, if you turn ac back on manually it’ll start the engine or if your head unit is playing music at a higher volume, basically if your car is drawing more power than it can be run on battery, or if it’ll make the battery go to reserve levels it’ll use engine power that’s it. This viewpoint is just from my observation only I have not researched or have any technical data to prove this I could be wrong also, any folks with more knowledge to this feature are welcome to enlighten me. I have found this feature useful only.



After second service, I did a couple of trips to Chandigarh and majorly city driving in Delhi NCR, and recently did a long trip to Tirthan valley, Himachal in October. It was exactly 1k Kms round trip, The car performed well on climbs, and is easily manoeuvrable on sharp turns. I didn’t take the car to Jalori pass which could have been a real test for the car and for me also as I was the only driver and I have less experience on driving such steep height and slopes as I didn’t want any mishap to happen maybe next time when there is someone more experienced is with me.

The car went for 3rd service on 31st October, it was just usual experience this time also.

Cons and design issues which I have found in the 10k kms of driving and I think are major are listed below:

• Zero visibility from A pillar, it can hide an elephant behind it, and you won’t notice until you’re about to hit it. It is too thick, and it absolutely becomes a blind spot in corners or right turns, several times I got lucky that just in last moment I saw a biker or a person whom I was about to hit, and they were not a bit visible, you must lean towards the driver side window to look. I think it’s because of the side mirrors being to close to pillars and if you have rain visors installed then it is adding up to the problem only.

• Foot AC vents throwing more air on legs than the face vents. Yes, this is an issue in GV and it is a design error, a lot of people won’t be able to understand this but If you have tried to find a sweet spot in balancing the AC flow by turning on both the face and foot vents then you’ll get my point. In GV when you turn the foot vents on, the air flow drastically reduces from face vents as if there is no air flow from them and in couple of minutes or so your feet will start freezing up and you will turn off the foot vents. I got this checked in service centre in other GV’s also, same thing. I asked this question to one of the Powerdrift YouTube channel presenter as they recently got the hybrid version, he confirmed the same.

• Door pockets bottle holder section could have bigger to hold one ltr flasks and on back doors why just a bottle holder, could have easily accommodated the complete door bin.

• 360-degree camera should have been provided, considering the blind spots I feel like this

• Remote AC option is only available in automatic.

Well to GV it is a great car to drive and live with, till now the car has been consistent in terms of ride quality and comfort. In terms of performance yes the power is a little less and it doesn’t matches with how rest of the car has been set up, I felt this especially after this long trip to Himachal, as on my way back, I was so used to the power output that it started feeling dull to me, or may be it is just me or when you drive to such long routes. For overtaking you can always drop a gear and get the power down as the engine can rev to quite higher rpms easily. No rattling or squeaking sounds yet, and I have driven the car in rough patches quite hard I would say, it just handles them fine. I'll end the post here with a picture from inside the car.

Thank you!

[INDIAFIRST]

Friends please suggest between Honda City eHEV V trim OTR 22.2 L & Grand Vitara Alpha OTR 22.30

Use case: Strong hybrid. Monthly driving 4000 km including 50% on well surfaced highways. Features not too important. Safety ride, handling & refinement are crucial. Thus I don’t need ventilated seats /sunroof & gizmos like extra speakers