Ritz, for the family. Review on Maruti Suzuki RitZ

Ritz, by dict say "ostentatious display of elegance". Its true in many different perspectives that the automobile shows elegance, however there are few niches where the glance fails to acknowledge in terms exquisiteness.I ought to say, MUL has done a good job in terms of offering flexibility to consumers by giving another competitor in the premium hatch segment. For sport you have Swift and for family you got Ritz.

SWIFT& RITZ differ in design, petrol engine(diesel is multijet from FIAT), and few other minor variations including the price where Ritz is priced slightly less than swift.

My test drive was on Ritz zxi petrol version which comes with MUL's homemade K12 engine. Being good in most of the aspects, it is BS-IV ready and also the E10, making it easier to run on the fuel with 10% ethanol.

Building blocks(Petrol):

K12 engine 1197 or 1.2 lts engine

85 Ps, 113 Nm max torque

4 cylinders with 4 valves each

Building blocks(Diesel):

Multijet Engine 1248 or 1.3 lts engine

75 Ps, 190 Nm max torque

4 cylinders with 4 valves each

Common Features:

Front wheel drive5 speed manual

Brake: front - disk and rear - drum

ABS in Zxi(with EBD)

236 lts boot space

decent quality interiors(average), funky look

Bimal from Airport rd, Bengaluru, had got the car for me.well just for a test drive. I got the keys from the showroom person, got seated and turned the key. Pressed the clutch, felt it is was smooth and light. Next, shifted the gear to 1st position, thought it could have been much better. The gear shift in Ritz is not all that smooth, perhaps giving the reason it was still new. May be few 100 Kms, and it should become smooth. A slight press on accelerator pedal moves the vehicle with easy and of course you do get the sense of power. When we mention power, I would not like to compare it with Swift. Though both are on a similar platform, Ritz is not sporty as it elder counterpart.

Ritz has a tall body, this in fact induces significant body roll. At airport road, I tried take taking a sharp U-turn, which made me feel the roll significantly. So my advise, Ritz only for a smooth drive and a strict no, no for races, drags etc for those with high adrenaline.

Cruising on the Highway, I am sure you will glide on this machine. In city, well it does the job. Mileage wise it is pretty good, giving around 18-20easily. I am sure on highways add 2-4 more.

Seating w.r.t front are good and in fact acceptable looking at the companies history. The rear seat, hmmm!, I gotta mention Wagon R, is like a bench. Leg space, when seated at the back are OK for a person with average Indian height, 5'8-5'11. Ritz is tall, so you have ample space between you and the roof.

The top end model comes with in-built music system with the rear speakers embedded in the doors. So for a music enthu, you would prefer to go for a customization!.

The rest of the drive was smooth and silent(well petrol!).

For people looking for the diesel variant, I would ask you compare the machine with Vista, Swift, etc.