[SlowDough]

I have booked Alpha AT 3 days back.

The dealer had asked for 1 lakh payment over the booking amount, which I refused, stating that I had made it clear months ago in the initial conversation itself that payment will be done after PDI.

Since then, they've been calling to ask for 1 lakh more. It went to the state that they changed delivery timeline to 3 months from 15 days. They were happy to refund the entire booking amount without cancellation charges. I blasted at them, albeit controllably, because we had the terms in written and this was just a really bad game to play with a customer.

Thankfully they came around, requiring me to just reply to their email that I am serious about purchasing the car and will not cancel my booking unless there is a technical issue seen during the PDI. The showroom folks will also add their commitment regarding the delivery timeline to the same email.

Phew. My happiness is already a bit bruised.

UPDATE: 15 minutes later, same dealership offered the Zeta AT variant at 20k discount with ready stock.

[SlowDough]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Recently I took a test drive of a Fronx 1.0 and my impressions matched you have shared here. The low down throttle response is disappointingly sluggish. Though I didnt drive the 1.2 Fronx, we do own a new gen Baleno 1.2 which has the same shared engine .

For most Indian users, a lower priced 1.2 Fronx in the Zeta (or even Alpha) variant should suffice but Maruti smartly hasnt offered such options as customer would immediately compare it with the lower priced Baleno, and get the latter instead.

I think the opposite is happening. I called up a showroom to enquire about any readily available Fronxs, and he told me that many Baleno bookings are getting trasferred to Fronx. It is quite likely that those looking at Baleno top models go for middle Fronx models as the powertrain is exactly the same, and the rest of the features can be installed aftermarket (except for the airbags, ofcourse). Perhaps Maruti expected this behavior, amd hence didn't think of making a top variant with 1.2 engine.

Seems very similar to how many end up purchasing the lower variant if Creta rather than the top model of Venue.

[sumeethaldankar]

When I used to start my old 800 (sold, carb model) and sometimes left the driver's door open (I did this with the handbrake engaged to charge the parked car's battery), the door would shake noticeably, indicating a jiggling motion caused by the three-cylinder engine. However, this phenomenon does not appear to occur with my Swift. I would like to ask owners of the turbo version to share whether they have experienced a similar occurrence with their cars. Personally, I consider this a somewhat crude method to assess potential idling vibrations, especially when the engine is cold.

The most pronounced effect of the three-cylinder engine's vibration is noticeable when waiting at traffic signals. This constant rumbling can become somewhat tiresome as it leads to passengers feeling the shaking motion while the car is stationary, and, in my opinion, contributes to fatigue. I have encountered this issue with Uber Wagon R vehicles as they tend to vibrate significantly when idling in traffic.

[SlowDough]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

I would like to ask owners of the turbo version to share whether they have experienced a similar occurrence with their cars. Personally, I consider this a somewhat crude method to assess potential idling vibrations, especially when the engine is cold.

My extended family and myself have test driven Fronx more than 10 times, alongside Venue and Sonet. We did not notice such crudeness. There is some vibration for sure, but not crudeness. We've had Indica V2 and 800 in the family.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

When I used to start my old 800 (sold, carb model) and sometimes left the driver's door open (I did this with the handbrake engaged to charge the parked car's battery), the door would shake noticeably, indicating a jiggling motion caused by the three-cylinder engine. However, this phenomenon does not appear to occur with my Swift. I would like to ask owners of the turbo version to share whether they have experienced a similar occurrence with their cars....The most pronounced effect of the three-cylinder engine's vibration is noticeable when waiting at traffic signals..

Haven't experienced the 1.0l turbo so far, but don't ever worry that vibrations would be like your 800. It was the carb version, and even a slight difference in the carb tuning would lead to the engine running lean and vibrations to go up. A 3 cylinder of today will run smoother than a carb 4 cylinder of your 800's era. Three cylinder will never be as smooth as a similar 4 cylinder, but rest assured the NVH of most modern 3 cylinders won't bother you much unless you keenly notice it.

[curiousbolt]

Recently, I bought the Maruti Suzuki Fronx with the 1.2L engine. I upgraded from Honda Brio and thought I would share about my purchase and ownership experience.

The background -
I had bought a 2012 Honda Brio from Spinny in Oct 2022 and had used the car for around 15k km. The car was straight forward, no major issues but I started to feel that the components were slowly entering their wear out phase. The engine used to make a peculiar squealing noise in idle and low revs and the pickup was not as great as before. And yes, the vehicle was serviced at a Honda authorized dealer every 5000km. One more issue I was facing was that none of the spare parts for the Brio were easily available. The only option was to order them from Boodmo or ask the dealership to order and pay them an advance. For instance, the front suspension bush was damaged, so the car would make a metal grinding noise when the steering was turned in standstill. Had asked around in 3 dealerships and the part was not there and no one was readily willing to order it for me, and the part I got from Boodmo as well would not fit in this car. So I thought it was time for an upgrade before the car begins to rust in my garage waiting for parts.

Selection -
I was open to buying any configuration - Sedans, SUVs, crossovers, hatchbacks, etc. The budget I had kept for myself was between 6-7 Lacs, I had thought I would consider the brands that would provide me with good exchange price for my Brio and considering my daily commute of around 70km the car must be fuel efficient. Considering the fuel efficiency need, the first option was Maruti, so we visited Nexa to look at options. Ignis and Baleno were what we were exploring but as we entered the showroom, there it was, a beautiful Red Fronx! An immediate eye catcher. I had only read about the Fronx in review articles, but I did not expect it to be such an eye catcher when it stands among other hatchbacks. We checked out the Fronx and the showroom quoted around 9.4Lacs for the base model. It seemed a bit far-fetched, and we went back to enquiring about the Ignis. An automatic fully loaded Ignis was locked in because the showroom was offering close to 70k worth of cash discounts and much more stuff in terms of accessories. Ignis was shortlisted and we next headed to Tata and Hyundai showrooms. Compared to Nexa, Tata and Hyundai we felt were a bit condescending in terms of the sales pitch. The sales executives did not know much about the features and the test drive was not that impressive. We did get impressed by the Hyundai Exter in terms of how it looked, the build quality, fit & finish and the interiors but the 6-7month waiting period was a turn off. But would definitely recommend people to consider Exter if you can afford to wait for 6-7months.

Somehow, even though we locked in the Ignis, we kept going back to thinking about the Fronx. Considering we did not want to change cars for the next 6-7 years; we thought that might as well choose Fronx over Ignis or the Baleno. Baleno even though was a great car, I felt that in the next 3-4 years I would feel like changing it. For the roads that I take to my office, I needed a car with good clearance.

Pratham Nexa, Sarjapur road was the showroom we went to. The sales experience was amazing - the sales executive knew the car and most importantly, there was no overselling. She perfectly recommended the Delta variant as the most value for money variant, she explained in detail what features were available and needed for us and what was not.

A test ride of the Delta+ variant with 1.2L engine was given and we were impressed right from the start - unlike other test drive cars, this car was responsive, well maintained and it actually felt like a new car even though it had run around 4500km. We ended up choosing the Delta variant, 1 variant below the Delta+.

The on-road price was 10.6Lacs, we got rid of all the accessories and the final price was 10.02Lacs. They offered a decent 2.4 Lacs for my 62k run 2012 Brio. As Fronx was a new and in demand model, there was no cash discount. Slight bargains here and there and the reverse camera, number plate brackets, floor & boot mats and the mud flaps were offered for free.

Owning the Fronx -
I have covered close to 1200km with the car now mainly commuting to and from the office and a 300km long drive in an expressway. Completed the first service last week.







Pros (There are many but I'm just mentioning the top ones) -
1. Car is butter smooth in low rpms - Engine is refined and with the AC on, the cabin is peaceful and quiet till around 4000rpm. After that you tend to hear some noise creep into the cabin - its not annoying, its manageable.
2. Head turner for sure, it looks commanding and bulky in a good way, and you will have at least one person every day coming and asking you which car this is.
3. I have managed to get around 19-20kpl in my commute to office that has a mix of highways, slow moving Bangalore traffic and bad roads. My old brio had an FE of around 14-16kpl in the same route. So I'm mighty happy with the fuel economy. As long as you don't rev the engine above 4k rpm and quickly reach higher gears, the engine is happy to return you FE figures of around 20-22kpl.

4. The engine is very well tuned. Even though I shift gears quickly before 4k rpm, I never felt the engine was underpowered or I had to change gears to overtake. The engine is very comfortable to quickly pick up speed when you throttle up. The engine does not struggle at all even if you are in 4th gear and you are crawling at 30kph, the state of tune is wonderful.
5. Ride comfort - The point I like the most. The roads I drive are really messed up in some locations and the slow moving traffic is quite noisy as well. The cabin insulation is on point, if your windows are up and AC is on, you are fully disconnected from the outer world. Couple this with the ground clearance and the perfectly tuned suspension, the ride comfort is amazing. There is absolutely no driver fatigue even after you have driven 150-200km at a stretch. The engine, suspension, cabin quality, everything comes together really well to enhance ride comfort.
6. Rich feature set from the base model itself. There is climate control and power windows right from the base model. So pretty good value for money.

Cons -
1. There is a considerable horn intensity fade when I press it continuously. Complained about it during my service and they did check couplers and the connections, but still it persists. Had a mechanic come home yesterday to check this, he could not diagnose and asked me to get the car back to workshop once. Have asked them to give me a call when they have a replacement part ready just in case it's a part issue.
2. After the first service, they messed up something in the boot. The car turned into a metal match box and there was a loud rattling sound coming from the boot area - Took around 1 hour and multiple trials to diagnose where it was coming from and then did some jugaad to take care of it. The noise was still there after this. Turns out the number plate was rattling. The technician then used some 3M tape behind the number plate to arrest this. The showroom specifically sold me number plate brackets to avoid this noise and those brackets were the reason this noise was being caused. .


3. The cost cutting is very evident. If you open the bonnet or boot, the car body is exposed. The spare Tyre is just mounted directly on the chassis in the boot, there is no rubber damper below it so if it's even slightly loose, you can expect to hear it rattling. There are multiple areas in the car where the metal to plastic contact has not been well engineered - for instance, the boot parcel tray plastic was missing one rivet after service. The technician tried putting the rivet back yesterday and it kept coming out because the fit was not good, so I'm worried that such panels will start rattling after 1-2 years. The rear pillion seat even though is comfortable, if you just bang it hard once, it makes kind of a metal hitting noise. So, there are many places in the car where you feel Maruti has cut costs and its very evident. It won't bother you till you notice it, but once you notice these, it's going to bother you.
4. The infotainment in glitchy - Android auto randomly gets disconnected. They did reset the software during the previous service but it's still the same. Could be an issue with my mobile as well, there is nothing that informative in the user manual, so will have to screw around and find out. One thing that's common with all OEMs, none of the service staffs know stuff about the infotainment. They only know to reset it I guess.
5. The idle start stop is difficult to get used to. Sometimes it switches off and sometimes it does not. The user manual says you need to complete one drive cycle every time idle start stop functions, but have tried it and its not consistent. Been one month now and still getting used to it. Similarly, the hill hold assist as well, in slow moving traffic sometimes when you let go off the clutch slowly the vehicle switches off. You feel some resistance on the engine, i'm assuming its the hill hold assist. Told about this during service and was told it was normal . So yeah, figuring the idle start stop and the hill hold assist still.

Overall -
I'm quite happy with the car. The cons that I mentioned are not that bothersome except the rattling issues. The 1.2L engine option is good value for money. I read reviews of the 1L turbo variant and most of them mentioned it was not that good value for money, but I can assure you that 1.2L engine option is a purchase that you will not regret. Will keep the thread updated as I build up more miles on the car.

[gauravdgr8]

Congratulations on the new buy! The Fronx looks good in Red

As a matter of fact, this is the 1st Red Fronx am seeing, all others have been in Nexa Blue or white.

[bobbyblr]

Hi curiousbolt,

Congrats on your Opulent Red Fronx.

I think you should have gone for Delta+ instead of Delta as the LED DRLs will give Fronx a very distinct look.

Regarding the hill-hold assist, I am also observing that if I have parked the car in the incline and later when I start the car, I hear the clicking sound of the ABS module by the ESP system. I checked the owners manual and that the clicking sound from the ABS module is normal. Also the brake pedal is hard until I put the gear in 1st or Reverse, raise the accelerator and slowly release the clutch.

The engine off when clutch is released might be due to ISS. Press the ENG A-STOP OFF switch for 1 second after you start the engine, the ENG A-STOP OFF Indicator Light on the Instrument cluster will glow Orange. This will confirm that the ISS is off, but you may not get the mileage that you got earlier.

[SlowDough]

I've finally got my Alpha AT in White! Took delivery on the 9th of this month. PDI was done by myself and Zekardo. I will write the full report soon, but until then:

1. Do not buy the showroom's number plate holder. Get a good rubber one yourself.

2. My over sensitive ears are already hearing something off on the left side of the interior. Extremely low intensity rattle, but well, I had already decided to call this car as the RattleSnake even before I had made up my mind to buy it :P

3. I still really like this car. After having driven everything, it does have its own niche, in terms of looks, good handling + good ground clearance, and fuel efficiency. Only 250 kms done, 50-50 in city plus highways (<80kmph), and I am getting 16.x kmpl as per the dash.

[Amrit@wheels]

Recently drove a Fronx for around ~150kms. My daily drive is a Swift 1.2 MT. Here are my observations-
1 - Interior-wise, it's a typical Maruti. Cheap and plasticy.
2 - The build quality is surely better than my Swift or even a Baleno for that matter. Not as good as the Brezza, but still acceptable.
3 - It's a handsome-looking car and very spacious too.
4 - I feel like Maruti should have provided the 1.5L hybrid motor as they have done in other countries. This 1.2L motor isn't bad but don't expect it to be a highway cruiser. Go for the 1.0 turbo if you're looking for a highway cruiser.
5 - If you drive a swift/baleno, it's not worth upgrading to the Fronx. Go for Brezza instead.
5 - Overall, it's a decent hatchback and the Delta plus trims are vfm IMHO.

[SlowDough]

EUREKA!!

In AT models with the TC (I am not sure about AMT models), Auto Start-Stop is "not permitted" while the gearshifter is in M mode! ( As per user manual).

Bless the soul of whoever designed this. Now I can live with it peacefully.

I will confirm this the next time I drive.

[SlowDough]

Originally Posted by SlowDough

EUREKA!!

In AT models with the TC (I am not sure about AMT models), Auto Start-Stop is "not permitted" while the gearshifter is in M mode! ( As per user manual).

Bless the soul of whoever designed this. Now I can live with it peacefully.

I will confirm this the next time I drive.

Confirmed.

I drove in traffic today, both in D and M modes. Auto start-stop is not active in M mode. Hence, while driving in stop and go traffic, I just switch it to M.

It does affect the fuel economy a fair bit though. I can see the decimals drop off soon enough.

[Somil07]

Looking for a car with a budget ~13lac max, I'm confused between Brezza Vxi AT and Fronx delta+ AGS. The car would mostly be driven in city with occasional highway runs. I'm leaning towards Brezza after the limited TD of Fronx 1.0 AT and Brezza AT but I've heard it loses steam beyond 100 kph which I couldn't test. I know both cars would be able to manage well within city, my question is which one would perform better on highways?

[PaddleShifter]

Originally Posted by Somil07

Looking for a car with a budget ~13lac max, I'm confused between Brezza Vxi AT and Fronx delta+ AGS…my question is which one would perform better on highways?

Brezza with its 1.5 NA and TC gearbox is anyday a better engine and gearbox combo as compared to AGS of Fronx 1.2 NA. I rate Brezza as a safer car as well since it is built on the global C2 platform. Fronx will be better in terms of fuel efficiency though.

Regarding highway performance, between Suzuki K12 (1200cc NA engine) and K15 (1500cc NA engine), the K15 does not lose steam above 100kmph but rather it gets loud as compared to other cars in the segment. It is also tuned for fuel efficiency so while it returns around 19-20kmpl easily on the highways, it does not feel like a truly capable 1.5 owing to the way its tuned. I have not driven Fronx 1.2 so I am not commenting on it. But logic dictates that 1.2 shouldnt be better than 1.5 under any circumstances unless Fronx 1.2 AMT kerb weight (975Kg as per Maruti) is significantly lower than Brezza (kerb weight undisclosed by Maruti, 1150kg for previous model).

[Emvi]

Originally Posted by Somil07

Looking for a car with a budget ~13lac max, I'm confused between Brezza Vxi AT and Fronx delta+ AGS. The car would mostly be driven in city with occasional highway runs. I'm leaning towards Brezza after the limited TD of Fronx 1.0 AT and Brezza AT but I've heard it loses steam beyond 100 kph which I couldn't test. I know both cars would be able to manage well within city, my question is which one would perform better on highways?

Of all the cars you have listed, the Fronx 1.0 AT is undoubtedly the most enthusiastic. Despite boasting a ground clearance of 190mm, I found it to be a bit low-slung during my test drive. Additionally, when seated inside, the visibility all around isn't great. Make no mistake, the Fronx is a good car regardless of the engine-gearbox combo you choose. However, considering that the car will mostly be used within the city and your budget is fixed at INR 13 lakhs, the Brezza fits your bill perfectly IMO. While the Brezza may not be as quick as the Fronx 1.0, it isn't a slouch either, especially when compared to the Fronx 1.2 AGS.