Review. Review on Maruti Suzuki Ertiga

One vehicle has managed to bring any form of challenge to the Toyota Innova’s dominance of the MUV market in India and that’s the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga. While the Ertiga isn’t quite as large or spacious, it counters by offering a more size appropriate package for large families living in a big city. The fact that it is considerably more affordable than the Innova is another advantage. Now, Maruti has upped the game further with the introduction of the its SHVS(Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki) technology. Along with SHVS, Maruti Suzuki has also given the Ertiga a routine facelift and mild upgrade. Let’s see what’s what.Design and style

The exterior changes are your typical facelift affair – a new grille and bumpers and a fresh alloy wheel design. Not much has changed on the outside and the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga SHVS ZDi still carries forward it’s unusual, Japanese themed design with large headlamps, a long body and a squared off rear end.The cabin sees fresh upholstery fabrics and and brand new and smart looking TFT touchscreen display unit. Like the Ciaz, this one supports MirrorLink which allows some of the features on a paired smartphone to be displayed on the screen. Audio connectivity options include USB, AUX and bluetooth connectivity. Steering mounted controls add to the usability quotient. Sound quality is quite alright but audiophilles will want to swap out the four speakers for something a little higher spec. The screen doubles up as a display for the reverse camera on our top ZDi model and also offers GPS navigation although experience shows that, like with most cars, you’d be better off just using Google maps on your phone. Maruti continues with a manual aircon in the 2016 Ertiga and in the strong heat we’re facing these days, I found that it takes at least fifteen minutes to cool the cabin. Perhaps this is down to the sheer size of the vehicle and I found that turning on the separate middle row aircon helps speed up the process.