Jan 13, 2010 02:19 PM
6982 Views
I have been driving a Santro for the last 4 years and thought it was about time that I changed my car. Actually, the Ritz was not even an option until my friends told me about it. So hearing all the good things that they told me, I decided to take the car out for a spin and here are my penny's worth of thoughts!
First impression: The car looks compact from the outside with the "love to hate" tall boy rear. But when you go in, you will be amazed at the amount of space in the car. Suzuki has done a great job for once on the interiors with the two tone fabric and dashboard colors that are usually found only in premium cars. There are a lot of useful features like the coin holder tray, bottle holder on the co-driver door, parcel tray under the front seat etc. These are really nifty features. If you have been driving for some time, you know their value. I always had to store the bottle of drinking water on the rear seat for lack of a slot in my Santro.
Coming to the drivability, the Ritz K12 engine is a dream and once you drive this baby, you want want to drive other cars. I have driven the i10 kappa too but it is my personal opinion that this aluminium engine beats all competition by miles in this segment. The engine is peppy and rev happy and you will especially love to drive this car on the highway. Pleasantly surprising was that revs were not required at lower gears to keep the car going like in the Swift which was hard to use in high traffic conditions due to it ultra rev happy engine.
For people with good height, this car is easy to move in and out of and Suzuki has finally created a car which suits the Indian environment. Driving over potholes and speed breakers was a breeze and the Ritz absorbed most of the rough conditions with ease. One good feature is that even while seating in the rear, you do not get a jumpy feel on the road. The luggage store was decently sized and not huge but overall OK.
The mileage I believe is going to be like 15 kmpl with AC in city driving conditions. Suzuki claims 17.7 kmpl under ARAI conditions but I guess 15 is a safe bet if you want to ascertain a close value. Overall verdict: a great car to go for if you can excuse the looks which does not appeal to some. This is a great car to hit the Indian markets and it has been poorly publicized.
