Aug 28, 2013 08:21 PM
53684 Views
I was looking to buy my first car and had very tight budget constraints. I am 6 feet tall, so I was looking for a tall boy model with enough space in the rear seat. So I did what everybody else does: I registered at a driving school and started taking driving lessons.I learned driving in a Santro.
After a month of driving lessons, it was time to check out the models. I did try out my friend's Hyundai i10 and another friend's Skoda Fabia. The Fabia was very stylish but was not very comfortable[for me, my knee hit the driving column] and also more expensive. The i10 was good but I needed something a little more taller. Everyone said Santro was a very old model, so I did not look at that car.
I was looking for something that I personally would be comfortable in and would fit into my budget. After looking at internet reviews, I decided to take a look at the wagon r Vxi model. None of my friends had a wagon r, so the only way to look at one was to do a test drive.
I did 2-3 test drives of the wagon R vxi and found it adequate to my needs. I had not looked at other models at this time, I did not need to. It fit my needs and my budget perfectly. So I booked a wagon R and waited for delivery. The dealership said that they will deliver in a month time.
One month passed, but they never delivered. After a few angry phone calls and calling up the anytime Maruti number as well, I realized that they needed one more month to deliver the car. I was extremely angry and irritated and decided to look for other dealerships in the city.
There were three other dealers in town and none of them had a wagon-R ready for delivery. The last dealership I contacted said that they could deliver a Maruti Ritz LXI in a weeks time if I was interested. This was almost 30 to 40k over my budget. I was really not interested but the dealership sales person insisted on giving a test ride. I told him that I would probably not buy, but that was not a problem for him at all.
So, the main reason I even test drove the Ritz was because the other Maruti dealer failed to deliver the wagon R that I had ordered.
During the test drive I was completely blown away with the difference in driving the wagon R and the Ritz. The Ritz had a very sporty kind of gear lever, almost like a video game. Plus it had a much bigger engine, acceleration is much better, the overall car feels more like a car. The feeling that you get while driving was much better than a wagon-R and there is whole lot more shoulder space. It is wider than wagon R. There were no power windows, no rear window defogger, no rear window wiper, no fog lamps, no adjustable tilt steering, and it was priced 30k higher than Wagon-R vxi !! but I didn't care.
I went ahead and ordered the Ritz and got it within the week. So I have the LXI, it does not have power windows, no body colored handles, no rear wiper with wash, no rear defogger, no fog lamps, but I still absolutely love this car because of the excellent handling and the big car feel. Your shoulders do not rub with the co passenger in the front seat.
Features missing in the LXI and why they do not matter to me:
Fog lamps: don't need it in Bangalore.
Body colored handles: when you are driving, you really don't care about what color handles you car has. Nobody does.
Rear defogger: I have driven in heavy rain, there is no need of a defogger in Bangalore, if your front windshield is not fogged up, the back window will also be fog-free. It takes some learning to make sure that windshield is fog-free. The internet helps so does the owner manual.
Rear wiper: Again, I do not see the utility, as long rear glass is clean, it wont be an issue.
Seat belt height adjustment: The default setting works great for me.
Seat height adjustment: The default works fine. It is exceedingly comfortable, don't miss it.
Tachometer: I hardly look at anything inside the car while driving, there is too much traffic. Plus you can hear the engine humming, you will know when it is time to change gears.
Alloy wheels: I want sturdy wheels that will survive Bangalore potholes. Plus there is the money factor.
