[omranga98]

Not too long ago, our prestigious founder, GTO had posted about law of diminishing marginal utility. He mentioned how after a certain amount of price, the satisfaction level has a downward slope. If my memory serves me right, he mentioned how a Rs. 50 L car offers similar level of satisfaction as a car priced much higher.

This Idea stuck to me. Changing the perspective to scale, Ignis turns out to be just that car (for me and probably for you). Hence the post title says, Ignis: the best a man can get. Now I bet you are wondering why/how? Hence here is this post.

My Maruti Suzuki Ignis 1.2 Delta in Grey.
It completes 2 years today and the ODO stands proudly at 13912 Km.


Time surely flies, been driving this beast for two years but never came around to post about it! But it is never too late.


Why and how i bought Ignis

I had a lovely VW Polo 1.5 TDI Highline that served me right for 7 years and 68000 Kms. Till one day, it did not anymore. About 5 ABS sensor change, a couple of clutches replaced, suspension overhaul, steering rack changed, the Polo finally had an injector failure on the 7th year mark.

The timing could not be worse, it happened during a week when i really needed my car. So i pick up my phone and start dialing Hyundai, Honda, Tata and Maruti showroom asking them which car was available immediately. Hyundai had i10 Nios, Tata had something else, but when Maruti said they had an Ignis Delta in Grey that could be picked up next morning, I was hooked.

I took the Polo to the showroom, they gave me a fantastic exchange value plus I got really good discounts on Ignis. Right there, in about 30 mins, the deal was done. No test drive, no anything.

Next morning the car was delivered to my house and i was in LOVE!
The fact that this buying experience was at par as buying a fridge from a store, it was perfect.

Pros

• Looks great
• Lightweight car means it is easy to drive and live with.
• Very fuel efficient.
• Bulging fenders make it look like it means business.
• Spacious interior. Far better than Polo.
• Great headroom and bootspace.
• Quick enough for city use.
• Cheap to live with.
• Good ground clearance means it can travel over bad roads with ease and wade through 1.5 foot of water with ease.
• Comfortable car.

Cons

• Rear seats do not recline.
• Headlights are good but not great.
• Tyre is not good. Needs A/T tyre to make the best use of the capability of the car.
• Does not have leather seats.
• Does not have sunroof.
• Not turbocharged.
• Only 2 Airbags, at this price, we should get at least 6.

The cons were difficult to write but there are so few of them.

Driving Feel

The car is fast enough for city use. Gears have good throw, the suspension is soft and supple for bad roads, body roll is limited for a tall car like this. Steering is light, brakes are responsive and good enough, clutch is light and linear. Much better than Polo.

Fuel Economy

It takes skill to actually get below 12 kmpl. The car is so fuel effecient that it does 1/3 of the petrol pump visits compared to my other car.
Drive with a light foot and you will be doing upwards to 16-18 kmpl with ease.

Is it SUV?

People joke about how Ignis is not an SUV and a hatchback. But if you remember, Maruti Suzuki had their first AD stating that Ignis was an SUV.
So what is it? it is complicated.
SUVs stands for Sports Utility Vehicle, Ignis has the sportyness, has a utilitarian touch to it, and it is a vehicle.

Just that it is does not have 4x4 or is not big in size.

Ignis also has good suspension travel. You will never find a situation where any wheel is in the air. Be it mall parkings or tall speed breakers.

Some interesting findings of the car.

If you open any door, the screen near the speedometer shows a top down view of IGNIS!
The attention to detail here is great. You can notice that it shows exactly which door is open and also the Adidas (3 strip) lines.



The car has good silver skid plates



Here it is in rear: Notice how it gets 4 parking sensors compared to 3 offered in VW Taigun. A car priced at 4x of this.


No rear wiper, no problem.

The rear windshield has a slanting design and the overall design is very nice. Water rolls off and rear wiper is never missed. Shape is very practical for carrying things in car.


Notice the Adidas like logo embossed on the car.

I think it is for aero, maybe a secret design that helps the car become so fuel effecient.


Same strips are inside the car for some reason. I do not mind.



Notice how the fenders buldge out. Giving it a squatting stance. Love it!


Secret Menu

If you hold the INFO button placed on either the steering wheel or on the dash (Yes, the same button with same function is placed twice, about 6 inches apart). It opens a secret menu where you can toggle various hidden features. Meanwhile for VW you need an OBD port and computer with software to unlock these.


A/c vent with honeycomb

Good design, easy to operate. The vent inside has additional honeycomb grill. Looks very good. Reminds me of Lamborghini Aventador.



In a world full of screens, be a button

Practical central control stack.


Fighter plane like switch

They add a bit of flare to use and feels tactile. Built to last.



Interior leather print

Ignis has mutiple leather print on the plastics in the inside.
The Dashboard top side which is black in colour has a regular animal leather emboss. Which we see in most cars.



While the lower side of dash and door panels which are white in colour have a stingray skin pattern embossed.



Great attention to detail. Make the cabin feel better.

Bad design bits

Not everything is perfect. Ignis has bad design also.

Like this hole in the dash, i cannot keep anything here.


or this door handle which is never alligned with the lock switch.

Never alligned when it is locked:


or when it is unlocked:


For some reason the interior door handle in body coloured. Makes no sense.


I hope the pictures justify the points. The car is trouble free, easy on the pocket. 2 years have been a breeze. No issues, no headache. I simply love it.

I plan to mod the engine in the future, maybe add a turbocharger to it. The car comes with provision for heat escape vent on the side, which is currently fixed with a blank grill. It could be useful when i mod the engine.
Here is the.vent.



I would love to talk about the car in this thread. If you have any question, please feel free to ask here. As GTO says, a PM helps 1 person, a post will help thousands.

Regards.

[DDIS_RE650]

It is one of my favorite hatch back. I am looking for an used one so that Chevy Spark can be retired. This could be ideal for congested city roads while Ertiga can be used for Highways.

[supremeBaleno]

My favourite small car today (after Swift) as a city runabout which can also be used for highway runs, with it's key attributes being high seating, comfortable ingress/egress, tallboy stance, good FE etc. If I could change anything about it, it would just be the rear looks.

Six months ago, I bought a Grand Vitara Alpha+ fullHybrid for Rs24L. Inspite of loving manuals, I had opted for AT with the expectation that it would be easy for wifey to drive. While after 8K kms of driving it, I love the Hybrid's ease of city driving and the non-nonsense nature while on long trips, with a stupendous 25+kmpl FE from a 1300kg petrol car, I sometimes think I could have instead for the same money got a Vitara Sigma/Delta manual for me and an Ignis AMT for wife (she hasn't driven it even once saying it's a big car - she used to drive an AStar_AT for years).

[Fuldagap]

Ignis is a pretty fun to drive car and can take on even bad roads with ease. Wish it also came with some simple 4x4 mechanism.

[Maverick Avi]

One of the reasons you are in love with Ignis is the reliability coming from not so good experience of Polo. This is primary reason people still buy a Maruti in India despite of its bashing due to flimsy build. All it takes is a yearly service to keep these cars running for years.

When I was out shopping for a car to replace my Alto I TDed Wagon R and Ignis back to back. Felt Wagon R to be very roomy and cushy compared to Ignis and went for the former. People who have driven sportier cars would prefer Ignis due to better driving dynamics and a stiffer suspension setup. How is the steering. Is it still the lifeless, non self centring unit that used to come in Ignis and Wagon R?

[chiekennugget]

I love cars like the Ignis, Santro, 2009 i10, Exter. Something about them pulls me towards them. I find them to be incredibly adorable. They make me feel the same way a small baby or a dog puppy do.

The Ignis is a very cool car, we test drove it around 2017-18 and liked it a lot. We probably would have considered it last year as a secondary car if it had 6 airbags/more safety in general.

This segment has a lot of quirky cars in other countries too and my all time favourite has to be the 1993 Renault twingo.

[shebin]

My experience with ignis from the past 6 years has been fantastic. Changed the tyres and its doing highway runs comfortably. K series is really fun to drive provided you rev it up. Mileage is hovering around 15 to 16 avg. Also changed the ICE to a bigger one and the dashboard looks premium. Was considering upgrading to Fronx but the price of turbo AT was above budget.

[Dhillon]

Originally Posted by omranga98

Fuel Economy

It takes skill to actually get below 12 kmpl. The car is so fuel effecient that it does 1/3 of the petrol pump visits compared to my other car.
Drive with a light foot and you will be doing upwards to 16-18 kmpl with ease.

I have been driving Ignis Delta from last 4.5 years and I have exactly those skills that helps me in getting a fuel efficiency of 11.2 kmpl in summer with AC in city.
On highways, you can get 18-20 easily with AC on. In winters, the city mileage is about 14 kmpl.

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by omranga98

Notice the Adidas like logo embossed on the car.

I think it is for aero, maybe a secret design that helps the car become so fuel effecient.

It is neither an Adidas logo nor a secret design.

The 3 cuts have been carried forward from the 1980 Suzuki SS 20 Cervo.



The Ignis was Suzuki’s rally car and to continue with the original pedigree Suzuki has given it good handling and made it a fun car.

[silverado]

Originally Posted by omranga98

Ignis turns out to be just that car (for me and probably for you).

What is immediately evident when you read your thread is that you LOVE YOUR CAR very very much. This is what is the most important takeaway from your thread and for me this is what matters the most.

I had a similar sentiment when i started my Tata Nano thread 13 years ago
I myself love IGNIS very much and feel its a much better bet than buying Wagon R.

Looking forward to regular updates on this thread.

[pseudo_coder]

Ignis is a good car, but overpriced I think. Top variants overlap with micro SUVs like Punch and Exter, and even some 4m SUVs like the new 3XO.

[sgm]

When we were looking for a small city car to replace my wife's Celerio, Ignis was the first choice and I really loved it for its compact dimension and ground clearance. After checking both Ignis and Baleno top models, due to extra features in Baleno, wife opted for Baleno. Ignis is a really nice city car but Baleno AMT felt a lot smoother, may be due to its updated Dualjet engine and a little bit of extra power.

[samarthnarayan]

Originally Posted by omranga98

Ignis

Long but Great review. Appreciate.

Personally, I love everything about the Ignis except the skinny tyres and the AMT gearbox. I think if Maruti can fix those two, it will make Ignis the best city car without a shadow of doubt.

Also, Like in Australia the Suzuki offers a CVT on the Ignis, Maruti should seriously consider the same in India, especially since they are offering the CVT option with the Baleno.

And as both Baleno and Ignis are under the Nexa brand, it will further enhance the brand offering and also a clear differentiation. The AMT is frankly a down market offering for those wanting a cheap (and can live with a jerky) automatic.

Summary, Ignis is a wonderful car, and just needs to be positioned better with a little more muscle (tyres and CVT), and it will be the best for bumper to bumper urban commute.

[sanjeevs]

Great write up! It would be interesting to know about the car's highway manners, upper speed limits, body roll on a winding road etc. This information will help one make the buying decisions especially with reference to short and long highway runs since it is already well known for its city usage.

[SithDefender]

I am equally fascinated and dumbfounded by this writeup

Originally Posted by omranga98

Is it SUV?
But if you remember, Maruti Suzuki had their first AD stating that Ignis was an SUV.

Maruti can call the Ignis a space shuttle if they want, but that doesn't make the Ignis an SUV, right ?

Originally Posted by omranga98

If you open any door, the screen near the speedometer shows a top down view of IGNIS!

That's a nice touch! Appreciated !

Originally Posted by omranga98

No rear wiper, no problem.
The rear windshield has a slanting design and the overall design is very nice. Water rolls off and rear wiper is never missed.

Ok, but the rear wiper can be useful in specific situations. So if it is not provided, that is a miss.

Originally Posted by omranga98

Notice the Adidas like logo embossed on the car.
I think it is for aero, maybe a secret design that helps the car become so fuel effecient.

Haha yes appreciate the sarcasm !

Originally Posted by omranga98

Reminds me of Lamborghini Aventador.
Fighter plane like switch

Okay you are totally in love with your car!
Wishing you many more miles and smiles with the Ignis !