RitZ AT is a product of very high standard marred by some poor design choices including horrible ergonomics.
Why Automatic?
I was fixed on automatic. Had already owned a manual wagon-r(with a damaged gear box) for more than 10 years and before that had driven automatics in US for more than a year. So I knew what I wanted and was well aware of the convenience of the automatics.
Difference between various auto options such as AMT/CVT/DC etc
Ritz uses proper AT(as opposed to AMT or CVT) - with four gear ratios internally. Based on test drive of Dzire AT and reviews I was happy with choice of 4-gear ratio rather than 5-gear ratio, which is required only if you are travelling on highways at close to triple-digit speeds
I had driven CVT based two-wheelers and my feedback is very negative on them because at the crucial moments when you need more power, the CVT is not able to provide that. I was thinking it could be unsafe to overtake in highways using a CVT AT
also test-driven AMT in Celerio & Zest
there is a minor noticeable jerk in AMT based vehices especially while changing into 1st/2nd gears. You are supposed to get used to it as you drive, but I wanted my  first AT to be a proper auto & not pseudo-auto like AMT
another disadvantage of 1st gen AMT(in celerio) is it doesn't have creep feature which means, in slow traffic, you need to have leg on accelerometer  continuously.  Later versions of AMT in Zest/WagonR/Alto are supposed to provide a small creep speed but not as useful as a proper auto. This is probably a minor nuisance, major issue could be climbing ramps is not that easy in AMT based vehicles compared to full AT vehicles. For ex, in my Ritz I am able to negotiate steep ramps of multi-level parking lots absolutely without any issues
And finally we have the dual-clutch autos used by Ford/Skoda/VW. From my personal test-drive of Skoda Superb & based on other reviews I knew that Dual Clutch was very smooth and though there were a few scary quality related issues reported on skoda Laura, Ford provides a 10 yr guarantee on its dual-cputch auto in fiesta which is also used in EcoSport & new Figo/Aspire. If my budget could afford it, I would always go for dual-clutch auto especially on diesel vehicles, because it makes the driving experience so buttery smooth
Other options considered
I looked at all other ATs in budget below 10L including second-hand. All the below models were not just AT, but also tall enough to accommodate my height(6.5 feet)
new
Ford EcoSport AT:- pricey & sedate engine performance but feature rich such as 6-airbags, TCS, ESP, pull-drift assist, light but rigid frame, Tilt/Rake adjustable steering etc.
Maruti Celerio AMT:- India's first AMT but a class lower than Swift/Ritz
Tata Zest XTA:- A capable car & India's first diesel automatic below 10 lacs but a relatively new model with unknown long-term ownership experience
Hyundai i10 AT:- Hyundai first to popularize automatics in India but in general relatively pricier compared to equivalent Maruti cars
Tata Nano AMT:- The Moped of 4-wheelers cheapest automatic & well suited for beginners but strictly within city only. not for highway use.
Second-hand
Honda CR-V:- car like smooth driving experience with SUV like(poor) mileage
Skoda Superb 2.0 TDI AT:- drives like A chariot, but also an white elephant
https://mouthshut.com/review/Skoda-Superb-review-uquutumlum
https://mouthshut.com/review/Skoda-Superb-review-toonsrnrmn
https://mouthshut.com/cars-suvs/skoda-superb-reviews-925047943
https://mouthshut.com/review/Skoda-Superb-review-oplpmuoosm
Toyota Corolla AT:- reliability of T-badge but the 4-gear auto box insufficient for the powerful engine of the car
Honda Civic AT - fun to drive Auto with extreme fast pick-up but not for those with back problems due to low-floor & suspension not built for "Indian standards"
Chevy Cruze AT - Fantastic performance, driver comfort & ergonomics. An excellent TD experience, reminded me of first time I drove an automatic scooter. As simple as that. point the steering in the direction you want to go & car will go there without any deviation. it stops when you ask it to stop & goes when you accelerate.
Could have easily bought the Cruze if not for the fact that a relatively less-used Cruze still costs more than a brand new EcoSport!
In terms of driving experience, the ecosport drives like a Bajaj Chetak compared to Cruze's Yamaha RX100 but otherwise the EcoSport which comes loaded with so many features is a real value for money compared to the Cruze(new / used)
Cars that were ruled out due to height
all Honda cars(Jazz was not yet available at that time)
Nissan/Renault Sunny/Scala CVT - This is a very good all-rounder suitable for family with robust & comfortable ride quality.
Should you buy manual car?
Only if you are given it for free:)
I actually liked the manual Tata Zest XMS compared to Zest XMA/XTA. The gear change was so smooth and with Fiat's diesel engine tuned perfectly, it was one of the most fun manuals to do a test drive.(I never though I would praise a Tata car & I am looking forward to doing test drive of Tata Zica - which is supposed to be better)
Why Ritz
I am 6'5" and was looking for tall-boy models with AT. Ritz AT was almost the only model within my budget
Ideally many utility vehicles like Tata Safari, Mahindra Quanto, Chevy Enjoy, & Skoda Yeti(2nd hand) were suitable from height purpose but they never had option of automatic. I would have loved to be the owner of a Tata safari. you get a commanding view of the road & such a good road presence that all other road users show some respect to you and give way to it. A shame that Tata never considered AT for Safari.
Fiat Linea was 1 car, which I would have blindly purchased, if any form of AT was available in it. It is a big irony that other manufacturers like Tata/Suzuki use Fiat(AMT) technology in their cars & that too successfully, but Fiat itself is too shy to introduce them in their own models. That is the story of Fiat in India. They have largely neglected Indian market. A company like Royal Enfield is able to sell their niche 2-wheelers in India, but Fiat is hopeless at product positioning & research to sell their products in Indian market.
Toyota Etios/Liva, Mahindra Verito/Vibe, Chevy UVA/Beat were other models I fancied due to their rugged build(Verito/UVA) or easier maintenance(Liva) in addition to being tall enough to support my height.
Toyota & GM don't seem to care much for Automatics. Mahindra have learned fast & they are introducing a slew of new models with AT option, but too late for me now.
more importantly I ruled out the eco-sport AT because Ford never provided test-drive. at the time 1 year back(before more competition from likes of Creta) EcoSport was  still in demand and Ford never bothered to produce a single test-drive vehicle of AT for entire country. Sales people asked me to try Fiesta AT, but I waS not satisfied with that because(a) I got a back problem after test drive of Fiesta AT &(b) after a sudden brake, the pick-up was very poor. so I couldn't choose EcoSport based on doing a test drive of Fiesta AT.
much later after more than a year after purchase of Ritz AT, the EcoSport AT was available for test drive & I found it more ergo-nomic with more back-support & superior driving characteristics compared to Ritz. So I might have gone for EcoSport AT if test drive had been available earlier
Even Maruti doesn't provide test drive of Ritz AT(that is because Ritz doesn't sell well and AT is made on order with low inventory levels). But I was satisfied with test-drive of Dzire AT & manual versions of Ritz
speaking of Test Drives, I want to put it on record that Honda is the ONLY company yet to provide me a vehicle for test drive. All other manufactures have been happy to provide vehicles for test-drive(if they are available). It seems Honda don't care much for common people like us?
Showroom Experience
Mostly the sales-people never tried to push AT, rather for models which move slowly like the Ritz, I had to inform the low-level salesmen that Maruti sells AT in these models. The lower level salespersons had to check with higher level managers to confirm AT was available
Purchase Experience
After the end-of summer vacations, I had to drop my kid at school every morning and I was desperate to ditch my old-car and buy a new one. Ritz automatics usually take some time, because it is a rare and slow-moving vehicle.
I checked with 2 dealers, and once they got scent that I was a serious customer both made all efforts to secure the deal
At first a popular dealer, near my house, gave me a time of 45-90 days depending on color, but even after more than a hour long discussion, could never properly explain, why if a vehicle had already been dispatched from Gurgaon factory to Bangalore warehouse, it will still take up-to 45 days despite only 10 days for transport by lorry from Delhi to Bangalore.
So disappointed that my wait, for an automatic, will not end soon, I decided to check a Honda showroom further away, but ended up missing it(because it was situated under a dental clinic!) I ended up at the second dealer's place, which looked more like a garage/workshop rather than a show-room, but it was actually an all-in-one showroom/service/workshop/seconds etc.
Here I was lucky that, by happy coincidence, there was a manager from main office sitting there at that time, and he tried his level best to ensure I dont leave the show-room without booking the car! he told me lots of stories like test-drive car is 45 km away, you start filling forms now, by then car will come. Later he said that there is break-down of test drive car. you book now and tomorrow I will send test-drive car to your house. Eventually what convinced me was he said that could guarantee that in 10 days he could ensure delivery of car. According to him there was exactly only a single piece of single color(silver) available and in transit from Gurgaon & he called somebody on phone to make sure that was blocked for me and also showed some SMS he received on his phone as proof that the car was booked for me.
So eventually, I left the place having booked the Ritz AT, despite an empty wallet, on my credit card for 10K Rs. It was a purchase that seemed to happen totally by accident, but an accident that was waiting to happen and an accident I was wishing for fervently:) And the car did arrive in 10 days as he promised, although I took a further week to take delivery of vehicle as I didnt want to rush the loan process as the SBI car loan office situated 30km away from my home
Price & features
The Ritz AT(Vxi) costs more than 1 lakh+ above the manual. Including accessories and everything the on-road price came close to 7-lakhs.
Main issue was that Maruti didn't offer AT on the highest model(Zxi), because of the huge price difference. the chief advantage of Zxi over Vxi was tyre size and adjustable seat height.
ABS is standard in the automatic:), but Airbags are not provided as this Vxi model only and not Zxi:(
The missing bigger tyres is a big disappointment for me because they give more stability to the vehicle and Ritz being a tall-boy model needs as much help as it can in this area. There was also no option to "upgrade" the tyres. I was forced to buy the Vxi with the smaller tyres and planning to upgrade tyre after 40, 000 km
Automatic driving experience
Ironically you tend to notice NOT having an AT rather than using it.
anybody who drives often in 1st-2nd gear in peak hour traffic can easily be driven mad in manual models. once you switch to AT this becomes painless but it just feels like how it should always be. you don't feel any special pleasure.
one more thing I noticed is, when I am driving manual, if I take my foot of the accelerator the vehicle starts to slow down automatically due to engine breaking. this is very convenient(in relatively free suburban roads where I usually drive in 3rd gear) because I use only foot, either on accl / brake / floor(engine breaking). But in an automatic vehicle, it has a tendency to coast(or switch to neutral) when you take your foot of the acclerator(unless you have exceeded the gear ratio of box by travelling at a high speed like 100kmph). because of this you need to use the brake more in an AT compared to using it rarely(in 3rd gear atleast) in manual.
There are a few work-arounds for this, for ex. Fiesta AT has a hill-hold mode(to be used when driving downhill) that automatically applies engine braking when you take your foor of the accl, instead of coasting to neutral.
In my Ritz AT I have 3/2/1 modes(in addition to normal "D" mode) which determine max gear ratio that can be used(meant for driving-up or down ramps or heavy load etc). If I set mode to 3 then I get better engine braking as vehicle is in 3rd gear only and not coasting at 4th gear but this may have an impact of mileage.
Other models, like Honda's ATs, have manual gear, paddle shift to control driving experience, but I dont have much knowledge/experience of those modes.
Ride Quality
The Ritz is a tall-boy model. This has advantage of increased head room but comes at a price which you can observe in the ride quality. Car seems to sway slightly from left to right, (like an elephant ride). It is not as bad as in WagonR, but causes discomfort and affects Ergonomics(see below - next section)
Maruti has done a lot of work to improve the ride-quality of Ritz over the Wagon-R and where the older car would bob up-and-down over even a slightly undulating patch of an otherwise smooth road, the Ritz displays amazing composure in not going up-and-down even at high speeds.
Straight on ride quality is acceptable and not much pitch(front-to-back jerk) when you hit a speed bump straight on.
but never try to hit a speed-bump at angle or while turning else your elephant will Rock violently from side-to-side:)
The ride itself is super smooth. The K12 petro engine in Ritz/swift is comparable to Honda jazz engine in terms of smoothness & pick-up quality.
Ergonomics
various / serious problems in ergonomics that I actually dont recommend the Ritz to any tall persons
-1) car length is short, even shorter than swift. because of this fron-seat cant be pushed back beyond a point and those in back-seats will suffer heavily if front seat is pushed back or tilted
-2) horribly angled head-rests that jut into the neck. I would rather have preferred non-detachable flat head-rests attached to seats. That would have been preferrable to this.
-3) driving seats are extremely curvy on sides and back that till date even after 1.5 years I am yet to find a comfortable seating position with this car
-4) brake pedal position is too much to the left, you almost feel like you have to use left leg to operate the brake. This is because the Ritz is a very narrow car and footwell is narrow. so instead of keeping the brake to the right of centre(which makes it closer to acceleration pedal) maruti decide to push it to the LEFT of centre, creating one of the most uncomfortable riding positions ever, I have experienced in a car
+1) on the plus side, the sole redeeming ergonomical feature of the Ritz is the height adjustable steering wheel. Thank god for small mercies and this gesture by Maruti will be highly appreciated by all the long suffering Wagon-R owners:)
Mileage
one surprising aspect of driving automatic is I learnt that you don't have to compromise fuel efficiency to own an AT model. I easily get more than 14 km/l in my 2015 Ritz Vxi AT which is clearly better than my 2003 WagonR Lxi
the secret is you have to avoid braking as much as possible and acclerate as smoothly as possible. With a little bit more planning & patience it is very easy to accomplish both and also in our own road safety it is advisable to develop such driving habits
Features and Design
Ritz Vxi AT comes with following features
1) power windows for all windows and adjustable from driver side
2) internally(manually) adjustable side-rear-view mirrors
3) adequate a/c(no climate control) but may not hold for peak of Indian summer. advisable not to run fan at full-speed to avoid overload of a/c
and some of the key interior design elements of Ritz Vxi AT are
1) sleek gray & black design
2) pleasing & curvy design with a cute stand-alone tachometer on top of the dashboard
3) abundance of storage spaces include cubby holes that can comfortable hold 500ml plastic bottles
Accessories
I just ordered for the essential accessories, that required factory fitting as I was concerned that if a third party made changes like drilling holes or changing wiring it might void the warranty. Details of the accessories available for Ritz were available in Maruti's website
https://marutimga.com/Mgahome.aspx
and you can choose from them to fitted before delivery.
1) Reversing camera & reverse Parking sensors
fitted by drilling holes into the bumper, I would absolutely recommend these to anyone buying any UVs because of tall boy model and thick rear pillars that obscure visibility. The adjustable display is stuck using glue on dashboard & now I don't have to twist my neck at all when gear is shifted to "R":) The sensors give out audio warning depending on how close the obstacles are and extremely useful for parking in our cramped city spaces
2) Audio & blue-tooth
I am not an expert in audio & chose a basic Pioneer 4-speaker system combined with a single deck JFC tuner with FM/AM/SW/USB/Aux. The bass effect is missing but treble is OK & JFC allows to configure various settings like mode, equalizer & individual speaker volumes
For blue-tooth I went with an external blue-tooth mic-set from amazon, https://amazon.in/gp/product/B00KRR6140
, that could be plugged into charger and sent output to speaker using customized fm channel!
3) Floor mats & seat cover
went for a opaque black, polythene waterproof floor mat to cover entire floor, but probably should have gone for transparent grey/white sheets to avoid heating in summer
yet to choose seat covers, but would like to replace the front seat completely with a more ergonomic seat that can also be pushed back further(if no one is sitting behind driver)
Verdict
The RitZ Vxi AT has lots of good things going for it, it being a Maruti, so you can enjoy the entire Maruti experience, service, choice, comfort & quality etc.
But the combination of unsettled ride quality with thoughtless ergonomics means that you will struggle to find a comfortable driving position for any length of time.
Of course if you are OK with AMT there are lot of models being launched recently from Mahindra/Tata but you need to test the ride quality and in the long term the maintenance & wear&tear of these AMT boxes are unknown.
Another option is CVT based Nissan/Renault sunny/scala which is very robust and with very good ride quality, but may not be suitable for tall passengers.
If you are tall like me, I recommend you to seriously double your budget & consider the Ford Ecosport. It is a very good value for money compared to all other cars currently in the market
