Bought Ritz - My Initial Impression. Review on Maruti Suzuki RitZ

I bought Ritz Zxi (top variant – petrol) last week and haven’t driven much yet. So, this review doesn’t contain much of actual usage feedback.

I was looking for a safe, easy to drive & maintain car within 5.5 lac budget. I was neutral toward petrol vs diesel option but would have preferred later due to low running cost.

My first choice was Vista diesel for its solid looks, ample space, economically priced spare parts and VFM package. I almost went forit despite Tata’s poor quality image and pathetic marketing (e.g., look at vista’s website that ‘loads’ something for ages or look at the name confusion between Aqua/Aura). But the single reason I dropped out was lack ofABS/Airbags. Even the top variant doesn’t contain ABS! Perhaps Tata Motors lacks the technology.

On a related note, I wonder why people give so less importance to safety features in a country which has the dubious distinction of maximum number of deaths in road accidents - ~ 1 lac people per year. Even customers willing to spend over 6 lac ask about 'average' rather than safety features.

I also liked i20 but it was beyond my budget. Moreover, its definitely overpriced even for its marvelous feature-set. Only Maruti and Honda can afford to overcharge in India, not Hyundai!

A star ruled out due to 'too less' space. While I was not looking for large space, but it shouldn’t have been as less as in A-star.

I ruled out swift because I don’t like its looks – beyond my tolerance limit. Surprisingly, I liked Ritz’s look, great at the front and tolerable at the back! An idiosyncrasy! Ritz designers should be happy to find in me a sole admirer for Ritz's looks in this whole world.

Between i10and Ritz, it was a tough choice. I don’t need to run down i10 to justify my choice of Ritz. Both are good cars. In fact, i10 has much more features than Ritz. But I went for Ritz finally as

i) It’s a ‘newer’ car in the market.

ii. Sturdy build. Ritz looks solid as compared to i10. Ritz Zxi (1030 kg) weighs a full170 kg more than i10 (860 kg).

iii. Better engine in Ritz. It pulls a heavier machine and still deliver better mileage.

iv. Easy to drive with a turning radius of just 4.7 m. I guess (but not sure) its 4.9 mfor i10.

However, few things are disappointing. There is no USB inlet in the music system. There is one Aux port but I don’t know how to use it. Can anyone tell me what’s the purpose of it? The sales guy said its for ipod but I don’t know how to connect my ipod to it.

I am not sure if the tyres are tubeless or not. The sales guy said that its tubeless but the spec doesn’t say so. How can I find it?