[BoneCollector]

Maruti Suzuki India Limited has multiple models on sale in India and boasts of a healthy market share. It also offers 3 different types of automatic transmissions in India viz eCVT in Grand Vitara Strong Hybrid and Invicto, a 6 speed Torque Converter in Grand Vitara Smart Hybrid, Ertiga, XL6, Fronx, and Brezza, a 4 speed Torque Converter in the Jimny and Ciaz, and AMT in a host of cars from its Arena and Nexa portfolios. It used to offer a CVT in Baleno but that's long gone.

I had a chance of driving all the 3 different transmissions offered by Maruti this June and that too in quick succession. I'll pen down how it felt driving them.


1. eCVT of Grand Vitara Alpha+ Strong Hybrid -

This is a 1 and half year old car owned by my sister in law. I drove it on city roads and highways, even during peak NCR summer.

The car is super silent when in EV mode. Seriously speaking, I never felt the engine turning on with audible sound or vibration. When the car is moving, I couldn't make out if it was running on EV or engine. One hears the engine sound only if you press the accelerator hard enough. Now coming to the gearing part, the lever needs to be shifted after pressing the button. It easily slots into the respective gears. There is a sequence suggested by Maruti as per the image attached here. I feel that everyone should read the owner's manual to understand the operating systems of the car. I also drove it in B mode, where little bit of braking takes place when you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal. It is mainly to be used while driving downhill so as to get assist from engine braking. The D or Drive mode does what you expect it to do. If you accelerate suddenly, the car does make noise but speed builds up quickly after a very short pause. It's like seeing the lightening before hearing the thunder wherein the noise the car makes is the lightening and the speed it builds is thunder. But overall, a very beautiful transmission to drive around. It misses the manual mode or the pedal shifters and their presence would have been an icing on the cake.










2. 6 speed AT in Ertiga -

We had gone to Goa for the Golden Jubilee anniversary of my parents. Since we were 6 adults, 2 kids (7 & 10 years old) and an infant, we needed a bigger car with a bench seat. Innova Crysta and Hycross were available only with captain seats in middle row. So we had to settle for an Ertiga VXi 6 speed AT. It was a tight fit will all the luggage from Dabolim airport to our hotel. But after that, it was an easy task. On many occasions, I was the one sitting in the last row over quite some distances.

Now coming to the drive, I drove it, in and around north Goa. I also drove it to Panjim once. The engine is not powerful and that can be felt. Since this was a rental car, the speed was limited to 80kmph and it did not cross it even when tried. The gearshifts are seamless. What I liked most were the paddle shifters. For overtakes and on the few ghat sections encountered, the paddle shifters were used and it was good to have them. Once the gears were downshifted or upshifted using them, the car would stay in that gear for some time and then again move to D mode. With full load, one feels that the car is struggling to climb upslope as it does make noise but if you negate that, the car does eventually climb. There was no single place wherein it failed us. The car returned a decent mileage of around 10kmpl with full load in city and about 15+ kmpl on the highway. The start-stop system is tuned very aggressively, so much so that the car would switch off even when dead slow. We mostly used it with the system switched off.




3. AMT in Baleno Alpha -

This was my first time driving an AMT under normal conditions. The car belongs to my sister in law's brother. I was amazed at the way the car drove. It is an year old car, well maintained.

When you move from a true automatic to an AMT, the gearshifts change and it was evident with me actually looking at the gear lever and making sure how to go about it. The car started without any issues. The automatic mode drives like an automatic and there was literally no head nodding that everyone speaks about. The gear changes are seamless and I could barely notice anything. What I liked the most was that when I was in 5th gear and I wanted to overtake another vehicle, I pressed the accelerator pedal and the car dropped down to 3rd gear and overtook without any drama. This was the only point when I noticed head nod. This was not the case in Ertiga, it would make noise but overtake slowly.Then I started driving it in manual mode and it was also great. But the car performs very well in automatic mode so if I pick up an AMT, I'll prefer driving in automatic mode only.

Now comes the major question of selecting a car based on these 3 transmissions, my preference would be a car with 6 speed Torque Converter. But I couldn't find much flaws in any of them during the period of time I drove them. So the ownership would depend on the amount to be spent.

These are just my personal views on them and would like people to share their views on these 3 transmissions offered by Maruti.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[sharmanova]

Thanks for sharing!
How would you rate all the 3 transmissions out of 10?
We have a S-Presso AMT, and since this is our first Automatic Car, we haven't faced any jerkyness as such *touch wood*.

[kadanaJ]

I've driven a 2019 Swift AMT when looking for a pre-owned vehicle.

I am a slightly enthusiastic driver, and I do like accelerating quickly if I'm the first car at a signal.

For me, the AMT was terrible. It's perfectly fine for smooth relaxed driving, but if you want to move quickly, the gears takes too long to shift, and the head bobbing is very evident when it shifts at higher RPMs.

It is as others have pointed out. Perfectly adequate for relaxed driving, but not at all meant for enthusiasts.

[ByKaizen]

Coming to the AMT part, I can rate it as Tata < Maruti < Hyundai
Smoothness wise Hyundai's AMT is the best, but not up to the outright performance that K12 offers.
So if performance/efficiency is the key Maruti will be a better choice, smoothness is the key Hyundai will be a better choice.
If build quality matters most than smoothness/performance/efficiency Tata can be preferred.

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

2. 6 speed AT in Ertiga -

The one on Grand Vitara Smart Hybrid is the same. As also the Brezza AT.

My only grouse with this gearbox is that the Manual (M) more is right at the bottom. Someone who is new to the car (or for example valet parking driver or even the service center mechanic), would inadvertently go directly to M, because generally AT cars have Drive mode right at the bottom.

The issue is in M mode the car is purely in manual mode, so it won't upshift unless you do so by the paddle shifters. But an unknown driver would keep driving it in M , and might (??) damage somewhat the engine/gearbox unknowingly.

[Shrek8421]

Originally Posted by DCEite

The one on Grand Vitara Smart Hybrid is the same. As also the Brezza AT.

My only grouse with this gearbox is that the Manual (M) more is right at the bottom. Someone who is new to the car (or for example valet parking driver or even the service center mechanic), would inadvertently go directly to M, because generally AT cars have Drive mode right at the bottom.

The issue is in M mode the car is purely in manual mode, so it won't upshift unless you do so by the paddle shifters. But an unknown driver would keep driving it in M , and might (??) damage somewhat the engine/gearbox unknowingly.

This wont happen if the gear shifter and the button is used correctly.
This is how it would look:
1. Press button shift from P -> N
2. Disengage hand brake
3. Without pressing button move to D (it wont slide to M or L/2)
4. Only if button is pressed it will slide to M

This way you will not accidentally move to M even if you are a beginner.

Japanese engg from Aisin.

[RGK]

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Your comparison will definitelly assist in selecting the appropriate transmission from the range available in Maruti's lineup. Sometime back, drove Celerio AMT and did not like at all.

OT here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠I am not used to driving automatic vehicles regularly but out of all the cars, I discovered that the gear shifting in the Jetta was consistently seamless and precise.

[sushanthys]

We are looking for a new car and test drove both the Fronx & Grand Vitara.
Fronx - 1.0 L turbo petrol engine mated to a Torque Convertor. The power was decent. Adequate.Not enthusiastic but enough for everyday usage. You can use the paddle shifters to downshift while overtaking, which gives you enough power. All in all, we were satisfied.
Grand Vitara - 1.5 L petrol engine with an e- CVT transmission. Power is adequate. Not for enthusiasts.Rubber band effect is there but there is enough power on tap to overcome it.
Paddle shifters can be used to downshift & hold the gear.

Cons
- The gear mode buttons are backlit but the selected , specific gear mode is not backlit on the gear console.
Not cool! On the instrument console, the gear mode is prominently displayed, though.
- You end up selecting the M mode while shifting to D mode.Happened multiple times.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by sharmanova

Thanks for sharing!
How would you rate all the 3 transmissions out of 10?
We have a S-Presso AMT, and since this is our first Automatic Car, we haven't faced any jerkyness as such *touch wood*.

I had posted my feedback in opening post, quoting it here.

Now comes the major question of selecting a car based on these 3 transmissions, my preference would be a car with 6 speed Torque Converter. But I couldn't find much flaws in any of them during the period of time I drove them. So the ownership would depend on the amount to be spent.

Originally Posted by sushanthys

Grand Vitara - 1.5 L petrol engine with an e- CVT transmission. Power is adequate. Not for enthusiasts.Rubber band effect is there but there is enough power on tap to overcome it.
Paddle shifters can be used to downshift & hold the gear.

- You end up selecting the M mode while shifting to D mode.Happened multiple times.

Which variant of Grand Vitara did you drive? The eCVT comes mated to the strong hybrid and that hasn't got the paddle shifters nor manual mode in its transmission. On the other hand, the 1.5L K series engine is mated to a 6 speed Torque Converter in smart hybrid variants of Grand Vitara, Brezza, XL6 and Ertiga. And it gets the paddle shifters as well as manual mode.

[govigov]

Maruti currently has two different types of traditional AT gearboxes on sale. The 6 speed AT and the ancient 4speed AT still on sale in the jimny and I the ciaz still has the 4 speed AT, it has not yet been updated to the 6 speed gearbox.

Just wanted to call out that 2 different AT gear boxes are offered at the same time.

[vredesbyrd]

Great write-up!

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

3. AMT in Baleno Alpha -

This was my first time driving an AMT under normal conditions. I was amazed at the way the car drove. It is an year old car, well maintained.

The only automatic Maruti that I have ever driven was a Celerio AMT.

I have mostly owned and driven DSGs (and now a TC in my Scorpio N) so far but let me tell you, the Maruti AMT is nowhere as bad as people say it is.
Back in Apr 2023, I was on my annual trip to Udupi/Manipal (with friends this time). The coolant pipe on our rental XUV500 exploded, so the rental guy replaced it with a Celerio AMT (as I did not want to bother with an MT).

The XUV500 abandoned near Marvanthe Beach:


The lil' chonk in question:


I was a little apprehensive at first but after an hour of driving, the doubts dissolved.
Yes, there is head nod but I do not mind it. Yes, it does roll back sometimes on slopes but I can manage.

Shift times are pretty decent and the manual mode is really fun. Held gears properly when flying through ghat sections.
My friend and I had a ton of fun with it on twisty roads, especially on the Agumbe climb.

All in all, I would say that this AMT box is tuned better than the ZF9 on the Compass.

Before the climb, somewhere near Hebri:


Meeting a Velar at Agumbe Sunset Point:

[sushanthys]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

I had posted my feedback in opening post, quoting it here.




Which variant of Grand Vitara did you drive? The eCVT comes mated to the strong hybrid and that hasn't got the paddle shifters nor manual mode in its transmission. On the other hand, the 1.5L K series engine is mated to a 6 speed Torque Converter in smart hybrid variants of Grand Vitara, Brezza, XL6 and Ertiga. And it gets the paddle shifters as well as manual mode.

Sorry.My mistake.
I drove the top variant.
Must have got it confused with the Fronx

[NiInJa]

Originally Posted by vredesbyrd

Great write-up!

The only automatic Maruti that I have ever driven was a Celerio AMT.

I have mostly owned and driven DSGs (and now a TC in my Scorpio N) so far but let me tell you, the Maruti AMT is nowhere as bad as people say it is.

This is very true!

I've never owned an AMT or a DSG car myself but extensively driven both, a Swift Dzire AMT and a Skoda Rapid diesel DSG.

Although the speed of DSG shifting cannot be compared with AMT, the AMT does really well for its intended purpose. If one hates the 'head nod', just don't put the car and yourself in a position that will give you one! Be calm and give the mechatronics some time to do its job. And I think the new AMT equipped cars come with Hill hold assist, so the issue of car rolling back is also taken care of.

Also, my personal take is one should not use any automatic gearbox and call oneself an 'enthusiastic driver'. I drove the Rapid DSG from Satara to Goa last year and while I appreciated how fast the shifts were, it still did not give the feel of me being in complete control of the car, nor was it much fun using the manual mode. There is simply no fun with left leg sitting idle

[Neelanjan]

I happen to own a 2018 Swift AMT from the 1st lot.The gear box behaves decently when driven in automatic mode.If you want to avoid the head nod then it's best you lift off your foot of the gas pedal before the shift time and the gear transition is much smoother.If you are in enthusiastic mood then its best you shift it to Manual mode and take control of the gear shifts by your self.The car does behave quite quickly to the manual commands.End of the day it's an AMT so it's better when not compared with a DSG or a ZF TC gearbox which costs a considerable Premium over it's manual counterpart.