Jan 22, 2009 01:28 PM
19534 Views
(Updated Feb 17, 2009 01:36 PM)
Been owning a Maruti 800 Duo for the past 6 months and thought I'd pen a few words about it.
*Why M800Duo?
*Well, we were looking for a 2nd car in the house, for my daily work commute. Taking the public transport, or rickshaws was becoming difficult and was ruining my day, especially during the monsoons. The option of a 2-wheeler was ruled out, seeing the number of accidents in the city. My original budget was 1 lakh. Didn't want to buy a used car, as the probablity of problems that I might face, would increase if it were a used car. Badly wanted a new car, and Nano was my only option, considering my budget. But no historical data available on the perfomance of Nano. Just the projected expectations of Nano were out in the websites. Moreover, Nano is still not available for sale.
So my next option was M800, the time tested, Indian car. And when the Duo version of this was out, well, bingo! Suits my purse.
*About M800Duo
*There is a switching system, which helps you toggle between LPG and Petrol. I always keep the LPG turned on. When I start the vehicle, it starts on petrol, and when the adequate pressure is built, it switches to LPG.
There is a 20 litre capacity, factory built cyclinder in the boot space, literally eating all the boot space, leaving no room for any luggage(unless you may want to dump a few light weight items on top of the cylinder with a small seperator inbetween, but wouldn't advise this from the safety perspective). But this factory fitted cyclinder is smaller in size than the huge LPG conversion kits that you get in the market. In short, this still looks like a decent cute car, and not like a truck carrying some cargo in the boot space!
The mileage is about 10-12kmpl on LPG(with A/C on and with my not so good gear changing).
With LPG turned on, the pickup and engine power is not that good. I don't find a problem, however, whenever my husband drives this vehicle, he complains. The maximum speed that I have driven on this is 80kms and my husband drives 100km on the mumbai-pune freeway. Beyond this, if you attempt to race, u might notice a heavy strain in the engine.
The one other problem that I started to notice quite recently, is that, early morning when I switch on the vehicle, and when the vehicle switches from Petrol to LPG, the engine switches off for a moment(probably some block in the gas supply). I will have to run on Petrol for a while and then turn on the LPG. Though I mentioned this to the dealer during the 2nd free service, he didn't seem to bother about this and said this was quite normal. This doesn't happen regularly, but occurs quite rarely though.
Having said enough about the "LPG" part of the vehicle, let me tell you something about the overall car as such.
Itz a great car, well suited for my requirement(I didn't buy this to go on a F1 race!). The amazing short turning radius of this car, makes driving so easy in the busy crowded Indian streets. Easy to park in markets, narrow lanes to do the daily household chores, which otherwise you might end up using a rickshaw. The AC is great. I would say being small and compact, it has the advantages of a 2-wheeler, yet the comfort of a car.
If your expectations of the car is just for neccessity, then go for this. And if this is going to be your only family car, then I would suggest you to go for the normal M800 instead, as absence of boot space is surely a negative thing about this car.
On the aesthetic side, the colours available for selection is very few. There are hardly many metallic shades. Wish M800 produces more prettier shades(like wine red, burgundy, californian gold etc). I had to settle for the Carribean Blue.
