Another SX4 joins the road - update after 24000kms. Review on Maruti Suzuki SX4

Hello Everyone, I am writing this update after owning SX4 for 2 years & driving 24000KM. First of all the good bits, the drive is still good. I have taken it for long drives of 1000+ KM's in the hills and highways of north India. also tested the max speed and the car comfortably touched a high speed of 150 KM/hour. The car is good and stable. The ride is comfortable and you don't feel tired. High ground clearance helps. Average hovers between 11 KM/l in city to 13-14 KM/l on highway. The max servicing cost came at Rs 4000.

Now the bad bits, the car is quiet on the smooth tarmac except the tyre noise creeping ion. However, on bad or the typical Indian roads the car shows its Maruti nature. It starts rattling in different places. For this the Maruti engineer have no answer. In my car the dashboard rattles at cold start and sometime when abruptly something comes on the road then it rattles. There was a creaking noise from the suspension bit which I got repaired but which has started again after a couple of months. Also the bumpers are too soft, even if some bike its it they bend in and do not offer any resistance.

So all in all, a good car if you could put up with the Maruti way of servicing(which I will elaborate in another review) and the creaking. If you are a stickler & love cars then probably you will miss the Honda, Toyota or the near one Hyundai.

Hi guys, first of all thanks to all the people who have written reviews. One night I read almost all the reviews before making a decision.

Well, now the review. I will not post any technical stuff or the engine power etc. I am writing this from a point of view of an average buyer an Indian buyer who looks for value for money.

Ok, I was driving a Santro and my budget was 7.5 lakhs max. for a new car. I shortlisted the Hyundai Verna, SX4 & Honda City. Didn't go for Ford Fiesta because of heavy maintenance costs. After comparing the features and prices only I threw Honda city out of my list as the City Vtec which matches the engine power comes @ Rs 8.5 lakhs with some reduced features. Another thing which helped was the shootout between SX4 and City in Autocar India which gave 8 points to City & 9 points to SX4. The choice narrowed down to Verna & SX4, I test drove a Verna diesel and the engine blows you by its power. But you compare the features and the price the diesel Verna SX comes for Rs 8.5 lakhs without the allow wheels. The FX Hyundai in Faridabad didn't have a petrol Verna as more people are buying the diesel model.

I was tempted by diesel but then I did a cost benefit analysis which showed that I will pay about 1.5 lakhs more for the diesel including the alloy wheels fitting. I burn about Rs 3000 petrol in a month and by that basis even with diesel average the 1.5 lakh will be recovered after 2.5 years which as per me is a long period. Add to that the Verna seats are not comfortable and it is a shame that a car like Verna has seats which don't give good comfort.

Anyhow, so the choice left was SX4 only. But I was afraid of the Maruti's government attitude. With some courage I approached the Maruti dealers Vipul & Batra in Faridabad. Vipul motors behaver typically like a govt. attitude with no follow ups and delayed responses. Batra auto initially dilly dallied but after they sensed I was going to buy they just heled me and gave the car in 1 day.

Its been the 6 days SX4 is with me and I have driven 680 KM's with 350 KM on the highway. The power is great, its a smooth linear curve. The pedals are soft although the gear shifting is a bit hard. Moreover, the front doors of my car shut with force they remain open if shut softly, which is a bit of an issue. Overall, I like the car a lot 1) great ground clearance, 2) comfortable seats, 3) smooth engine power, 4) good highway presence & control 5) good break control, 6) audio system is nice although not too great but for me it serves fine 7) safety features like ABS, airbags 8) gizmos - alloy wheels, and other technical features like EBD.

One negative is that the tyre noice filters in the car on highway which shouldn't happen but we Indians will live with that. The average for the highway & local running came out to be 13 kmpl which is decent for a 1.6l, 103 bhp car. My santro used to give 11 kmpl in local & 15 on the highway.

I read in a research that the in bumper to bumper traffic the petrol engines lose their average while it doesn't affect the diesel engines. I wonder why but I am not an automobile engineer so leave it.

In a nutshell, SX4 is a value for money which gives you a fully loaded car @ lesser price. Therefore, I can say that it is a formidable competitor to Honda City and Verna petrol. It is just a matter of personal choice. After 4 days my friend also bought another SX4.

I will update after first and second service. Cheers!

Hi Guys, sorry for the late update but nonetheless. The first service has been done and costed Rs1000. No other issues till date apart from the fan belt noise comes when the vehicle starts. Also one door has to be slammed hard to close. I got it checked but those guys said that its the way the car is and I shouldn't fiddle with it. So like a true Indian I accepted the fault and moved on.

I have driven about 2000 KM in 3 months. Twice I have driven on highways about 600 KM journeys and thats when u love the car. Great visibility & pick up. The city average is coming at 10.5 KMPL & on highway my car gave 12.5KMPL. Overall till date satisfied. so anjoy the drive.

Update after 13500 KM's:It's been more than a year of ownership.The vehicle has undergone three services with an average service charges of Rs 1500. In addition to this, my car suffered an accident wherein it was hit twice by ppl on the back bumper. Blame it on the Delhi drivers. Anyhow the good part is Batra automobiles did a satisfactory job of repairing and also I didn't have to pay much only 5k from my pocket and rest was covered by insurance. So to say low cost of maintenance the hallmark of Maruti. The average is in city bumper to bumper driving 10-11 KMPL & on highway around 13 kmpl with climate control on all the time.

Now the bad bits, the dashboard has been rattling at cold start which started after 3 months still not rectified. Also the fan belt starts giving noises after driving a couple of thousand KM's. And the alloy wheel's quality is not up to the mark as they get scratched very easily. The good part is Maruti is pressurising the dealerships to get these rectified and so I receive regular phone calls from CS. To sum it a fun driving car and Maruti has thrown in lots of goodies the bad bits are the niggling quality issues which sometimes troubles you.

Happy driving.