Ertiga was conceived at a time when Toyota Innova was ruling the Indian MUV market and Maruti Suzuki was desperate to have a slice of this widely-popular segment. The Ertiga was poised to take on Innova( supposedly) and had critics wondering if the car had what it takes to beat its hugely popular competitor.
I believe though that in a hurry to release the Ertiga Maruti Suzuki messed up things.
The good bits.
A genuine compact 7-seater. Since Ertiga is a front-wheel drive car, the transmission tunnel is almost invisible ( actually it does rise for 5 to 7 cms) and hence the centre second row seat completely usable. Anyone upto 5'9" could manage in the third row for moderate distances.
Car-like handling dynamics. Since it's built on Ritz platform it rides and feels like a car. Plenty of steering feel, minimal body roll ( can be attributed to monocoque setup) and city friendly ride. Suspension is slightly on the harder side but it's not a tractor either !
Value for money. I guess one would have guessed it : -)
Right body proportions. Not Innova.ish that navigating narrow spaces will be a nightmare but it isn't a Ritz either that you will be able to plough between bikers in a clogged up Bangalore-like traffic situation.
And the bad bits.
The turbo-lag is hysterical specially when the car is loaded with passengers. The boost will only kick-in at 2000rpm.
Cabin noise can at times be unbearable.
I don't know if it is a problem with my car or Ertiga in general but the engine ( diesel only) runs out of juice at 130kph! In fact at 130kph some kind of beast takes over the engine and the whole cabin is filled with a rather peculiar noise. It makes me feel that the engine doesn't want to be revved harder beyond that. But here's one interesting thing about this engine. The same motor is fitted in a Fiat Punto. And that car doesn't break a sweat even when cruising at 160kph. What I have come to know from some sources is that though Fiat supplies it's engines to Maruti Suzuki they don't share its Engine ECUs. So tuning and performance wise Fiat cars are far superior than those who use the same engine.
On long rides the seats can seem uncomfortable.
AND THE BIGGEST PROBLEM OF ALL IS THE GEARBOX. Or rather the Synchroniser. It is the thing that comes into play while changing gears. After some kilometers of usage a diesel Ertiga owner will experience that he/she is NOT ABLE TO ENGAGE 2nd GEAR when coming down from higher gears. ( Actually speaking I have seen that at times one cannot engage 2nd gear even when shifting up from lower gears) . This is because the synchroniser wears out rather astonishingly quickly. For me it was 80, 000 kms. Some owners reported it at 25, 000 kms. Whatever be the case if you own a diesel Ertiga you are bound to experience this lest Maruti Suzuki announce a massive recall to fix this issue which unfortunately it hasn't at the time of me writing this review) . A not-so-novel fix is to linger around the surrounding gears and manipulating the clutch to cope in the instances where using 2nd gear becomes redundant. In that case the clutch will wear out which it did in my case. I ended up shelling out ? 12, 000 for clutch and synchroniser : -(
Well these are all minor problems and one should not get bogged down by such petty issues. If you like the car just buy it.
Ughghhmm.not really. Do a market research about any car you plan to buy because once you put your life's earnings into buying a car there's no going back.
