[nistala]

I've booked Ertiga VDi today. My initial choice was Innova VX 8 seater, but my leasing Co refused that booking, as they do not allow 8 seaters. They suggested me to change the booking to 7 seater version of Innova and I felt that if I don't get a proper middle bench after spending 16.7L OTR, I better switch to Ertiga and save 7L straight. (I need a flat middle bench, as I do not want my kids to be seated in captain seats without my wife sitting next to them. Other option is to let them sit in the 3rd row, but that row will not be as comfortable).

So, coming to the booking part, first I went to Sai Service (with a cheque book), but the guys there refused to take a booking for diesel versions. They were trying to convince me (again) to book either a petrol variant or SX4 diesel. Anyway, I told them that I was not interested in any of those, so walked out and went to Varun Motors. The booking experience is nice and it finished in 15 minutes. The quoted wait time is 2 to 3 months. I tried one last time to see whether there is any possibility to book ZDi, but they outright refused, saying that they can not give any commitment on the delivery dates. Any way, I also can not wait that long. White color is my first choice, followed by Silver.

[Venkytalks]

Thanks team BHP for this excellent review. I had read this review and entire thread over a month ago and just now re-read the review and latest comments after taking a test drive of Ertiga yesterday.

I test drove the diesel Ertiga top Z version. People have already commented on this car's chameleon like nature - sometimes it seems big from outside, sometimes small, like a small hatch back. I find that it continues to have this strange nature - but I always felt let down by the plain and dull looks of this car right from launch. It still doesnt look exciting - matching the plainness of Innova in this respect.

The insides of this car also felt very plain and dull indeed. It looks exactly like the dezire on steroids and feels a decade out of place. The music system doesnt give a harmonious sense with the interiors and the whole dash seeming generic and old fashioned. The ORVM have electronic controls similar to the Fiesta - a good system which I liked. I did not feel that the stalk of the switch was flimsy or would break as the original review suggested. The main rear view mirror is a bit small.

The seat upholstery is quite simply horrible - the design, colour and shade are all unpleasant. The carpet and plastic colour are also quite ugly. The test drive vehicle which must be constantly cleaned was looking faded and lifeless. So I agree with the original review that the beige interiors are a let down. But I also feel that unless the whole dash is redesigned, simply jacking in the dark colour plastic of the Dezire wont work either - the design itself is out dated and belongs to a previous generation of cars.

So both exterior and interior were not exciting or attractive.

I disagree that space is a problem - on the contrary, space is in abundance. The third row of seats was extremely comfortable, much better than XUV. One can easily travel long distance in the third row. Entry and exit were easier than in Innova and not an issue. Second row was very spacious and I think the whole idea of this car is that it is so much more spacious than usual sedans of this length and width like Honda City etc.

Only problem with the floor of the second row is that it is very uneven with carpet joints and fabric of different types joined together in a mish mash. Added to the easy attraction for dirt due to beige colour, this car looked grimy and unkempt already.

The space in the dicky was quite acceptable - better than XUV. Quite well designed for third row upright. But if you fold the third row down, there is an uneven disheveled look unlike XUV where folded seats fit neatly like a floor. Since the back of the third row is also made of beige material and the plastics also - this dicky will always look dirty. Keeping luggage on top of a beige carpet seat back - strict no-no.

On driving, the car was extremely sluggish. It started sluggish and remained so for the whole short drive. Perhaps because it was a diesel - but the XUV felt much more powerful than this. Maybe it is the turbo lag which people here keep talking about - whatever the reason, the driving sense and feed back from the car were very poor.

View of road (I kept set on maximum up position) was great. Braking was good. Reversing was also good - better than first gear forward! Turning radius was excellent - I did not feel like I was driving a big car at all. But compared to my Santro, which jumps around like a frog, this was like a slow and ponderous toad, well into senility. The horn was too far from right thumb which I use all the time in Santro. Only music control is on steering - there is no cruise control. Steering is tilt, but I have no idea if this has any real utility - I kept it on max up position only and am likely to use only the up position in this or any other car. The instrumentation cluster is also very old fashioned and there is no TFT screen.

Felt very let down by what had seemed quite interesting on paper.

I asked them to give me a test drive on the petrol Ertiga. I am hoping that petrol version will be much better to drive. But I am not hopeful - car wasnt exciting enough.

In my view, this is a very good car for people who want a practical multiseater car with a driver. So a family of 4 or five plus a driver will have a good ride in this car – much better than a Honda City like sedan with a driver in terms of passenger travelling comfort. With the diesel the monthly cost will be less.

Who cares if the driver finds the diesel car sluggish - as long as the car is spacious and the second row gets a good AC, the owner should feel happier than a Honda City driven by a driver.

People seem to have missed this aspect I think - a sedan with driver is quite cramped for a family. And if another person also comes and 4 have to sit in the back seat, it is impossible. Ertiga is a better alternative for this situation.

So in this situation - cheaper than Innova and better than Sedan.

Cheers,

[coolclouds]

Our dealer finally succeeded in convincing us and converting our booking to VDi. We received the performa invoice as below:

Ertiga VDi - Rs. 825344
Maruti Insurance - Rs. 23137
Maruti Extended Warranty , 3rd and 4th year - Rs. 11202
Road Tax - Rs. 66028
Regn - Rs. 450
Handling charges - Rs. 3900

Total on road - Rs. 930061

Is all above charges normal? please advise

[manojas]

You can save some money if you go for an external insurance. Usually maruti dealers have no problem with that

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

...Maruti Extended Warranty , 3rd and 4th year - Rs. 11202...

Is the EW now 11,xxx/- ? I had bought it for Swift at 4500/- 4 years back! Anyone knows how much do they charge it for Swift / Dzire / SX4 ? I find it a bit too much!

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by Venkytalks

On driving, the car was extremely sluggish. It started sluggish and remained so for the whole short drive. Perhaps because it was a diesel - but the XUV felt much more powerful than this. Maybe it is the turbo lag which people here keep talking about - whatever the reason, the driving sense and feed back from the car were very poor.

I disagree. the diesel variant is not sluggish. Just came back from a 2 day trip to coorg. the engine responded very nicely. Never felt lack of power. 80-120 on highway with 4+ adults and their luggage, was not an issue at all.
But my initial impression of this car, on first few days, was not like this. as days went by, I just to learnt to drive this diesel engine. took about a week or 2 to get over it.
On a signal to signal drag, may be those santros will have a upper hand for about 2 secs or so. that's about it.
for a normal city drive, you don't even have to maintain turbo range. just make sure that the rpm doesn't drop below 1500rpm and you should quick to go!

[Venkytalks]

Originally Posted by gkrishn

I disagree. the diesel variant is not sluggish. Just came back from a 2 day trip to coorg. the engine responded very nicely. Never felt lack of power. 80-120 on highway with 4+ adults and their luggage, was not an issue at all.
But my initial impression of this car, on first few days, was not like this. as days went by, I just to learnt to drive this diesel engine. took about a week or 2 to get over it.
On a signal to signal drag, may be those santros will have a upper hand for about 2 secs or so. that's about it.
for a normal city drive, you don't even have to maintain turbo range. just make sure that the rpm doesn't drop below 1500rpm and you should quick to go!

This might have been because I am unused to diesel cars and did not press enough on the accelerator. With proper revving Ertiga might be fine. I however drove it like my Santro and felt the difference. More so in lower gears than in higher gears.

Strangely, XUV which I also recently tested, drove in a more powerful way despite being a diesel, even at low gears. Ertiga diesel is no match for XUV diesel is all I can say since I have limited driving experience in general and especially with diesel cars.

Anyway, I am happy to hear that you are happy with it. I am actually interested in the petrol version and will TD it soon (it wasnt there in the showroom when I went).

It is still on my radar due to excellent value for money and the 7 seater functionality.

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by Venkytalks

This might have been because I am unused to diesel cars and did not press enough on the accelerator. With proper revving Ertiga might be fine. I however drove it like my Santro and felt the difference. More so in lower gears than in higher gears.

It is not all about pressing accelerator. in fact, thus far, never pressed the acc more than half way thru.
you might have to avoid shifting the gear early. Let the rpm climb to 2.5k in the first 3 gears, before up-shifting. this will do good for city traffic.
And on highway make sue you go all the way up to 80kmph before moving into 5th.
End of the day, the MJD is just an 1.25 ltr Diesel engine hauling a 7 seater van.

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by gkrishn

I disagree. the diesel variant is not sluggish. Just came back from a 2 day trip to coorg. the engine responded very nicely. Never felt lack of power. 80-120 on highway with 4+ adults and their luggage, was not an issue at all.
But my initial impression of this car, on first few days, was not like this. as days went by, I just to learnt to drive this diesel engine. took about a week or 2 to get over it.
On a signal to signal drag, may be those santros will have a upper hand for about 2 secs or so. that's about it.
for a normal city drive, you don't even have to maintain turbo range. just make sure that the rpm doesn't drop below 1500rpm and you should quick to go!

Glad to see that you like the performance of the vehicle. I am very impressed with the space utilization in the vehicle.

How is the ride and handling compared to Innova and sedans? I like the ride and handling combination in Innova.

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by PatienceWins

How is the ride and handling compared to Innova and sedans? I like the ride and handling combination in Innova.

Handling is fine. It is a tall boy model. so body roll is present. But I am not going to complain about that.

Ride is pretty good for the 1st and 2nd row passengers. 3rd row gets bumpy, esp when you hit the road irregularities at high speed.

We did hit some nasty patches, on blr-mysore stretch, which caused the 3rd row passenger to hit the roof!

But on the mysore-madikeri road, there was no such issues. that road was in very good condition. about 100km of this stretch(from our home stay) was done in about 80mins, on the return journey, that, with no discomfort to the passengers.

Driving on a 195/60 c-drive, with 32psi all around.

[xotiq]

Though i had taken delivery of my Ertiga ZDI 2 months back, never had a chance to test the Ertiga's climbing (or the lack of it) abilities. So finally after covering 4.5k kms, got a chance to drive via to Kerala via Virajpet/Iritty and back to BLR.

The 'ghat' section comprises of around 20kms, couple of them steep enough with terrain varying from 100-890mts above MSL.To put things in perspective, a ddis swift does the same in 3rd gear, dropping to 2nd on some switchbacks. Ertiga was equally at home, replicating the same. (4 adults + a load of luggage with the last row dropped.)

In a nutshell- Absolutely no worries, the Ertiga rocks...ahem.... climbs

[Viswam]

Originally Posted by xotiq

Though i had taken delivery of my Ertiga ZDI 2 months back, never had a chance to test the Ertiga's climbing (or the lack of it) abilities. So finally after covering 4.5k kms, got a chance to drive via to Kerala via Virajpet/Iritty and back to BLR.

The 'ghat' section comprises of around 20kms, couple of them steep enough with terrain varying from 100-890mts above MSL.To put things in perspective, a ddis swift does the same in 3rd gear, dropping to 2nd on some switchbacks. Ertiga was equally at home, replicating the same. (4 adults + a load of luggage with the last row dropped.)

In a nutshell- Absolutely no worries, the Ertiga rocks...ahem.... climbs

Glad to see this.

Having done TD Ertiga on 3 different roads and traffic conditions, I was always confident that there wouldn't be any nasty surprises on the pulling/picking up, in spit of the 1.3 ltr engine.

@venkytalks
As rightly pointed out by gkrishn and conceded by you, the "uninspiring" performance of Ertiga is only due to the Diesel enigne whereas you are used to Petrol engine of the small car Santro. There is no way Ertiga can be compared to the petrol small cars for initial pick up. But, once the RPM of 1800-2000 is reached in Ertiga, then there is absolutely no looking back.

After logging about 50kms in Innova yesterday at Gurgaon NH, and compared to my earlier TDs of Ertiga, i am convinced that Ertiga is better in many respects. While i am doubtful whether the sheer engineering and longivity of Innova can be matched, Ertiga was peppier, highly maneuverable and touched higher speeds effortlessly in plains. The huge initial and ongoing savings is all bonus. At the end of my drive of innova yesterday, I was a happy man. This is not in any way to demean Innova and I hope I have not offended the huge Innova following in the forum, that's not the intention.

My only bother is the indefinite delay in delivery, with the dealer refusing yet to commit any date. Says will push if booking is changed to VDI

Has anyone in the Team from Chennai who has booked ZDI in Apr 12 got their delivery ? Please confirm. I want to take to know whether the dealer is playing some mischief.

Viswa

[SujAce]

Excellent & very detailed review.
Great Job!!!

[swiftdiesel]

Originally Posted by Viswam

Has anyone in the Team from Chennai who has booked ZDI in Apr 12 got their delivery ? Pl confirm. I want to take to know whether the dealer is playing some mischief.

Viswa

Booked my Zdi on April 12 and got mine on May 14. Of course gave my service advisor sleepless nights until I got mine allotted!

[Viswam]

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

Booked my Zdi on April 12 and got mine on May 14. Of course gave my service advisor sleepless nights until I got mine allotted!

Thank you swiftdiesel for the response. I booked my ZDI with CARS India on 24 apr 12, and apparently missed the first bus. Agreed, there would have been a flurry of bookings between your 12th and my 24th, but should this be a reason enough for 3 months difference in delivery ?

Thanks for the tip, and now I know how this can be handled. Will take it up with the SA appropriately during this week.

Viswa