My SX4 VXI experience. Review on Maruti Suzuki SX4

I purchased my SX4 VXi model during last week of Dec 2009 and got the delivery of vehicle in Jan 2010.

Before I made a purchase decision, I test drove TATA Manza, FORD fiesta, FIAT Linea and have also driven old Honda city ZX model few times previously (belonging to my relatives).

I had a not-so-good experience with TATA / FIAT dealer in terms of his response and follow-ups which put me off considering these two cars. Ford Fiesta is a decent looking model and overall a good car in my opinion but I had my own doubts about after sales service/ maintenance costs of Ford in India. Honda City is a really class leading vehicle in this category of mid range sedans (and in the price band of below Rs 10 Lacs on-road price) which I can say with my own driving experience and I had almost decided for it. But later settled for SX4 due to discounts offered during December which made it attractive by nearly Rs 1.8 Lacs (onroad) compared to Honda City.

So far I have driven SX4 for last five and half months. My average travel has been 12 -15 KM / day mostly in the city. Here is the summary of my experience / opinion:

Performance has been quite ok. Handling / Suspension / Driving Experience are all just fine but not the best in this segment of mid size sedans. Driving in the Bangalore city traffic requires frequent change of gear towards 1st gear especially if you slow down near a pothole or a hump but is not a problem if you are driving on a high way. Surprisingly, I do not have to change to 1st gear so often on my existing Maruti 800 and on the good old Santro which seems to have better spread of torque in low speeds. On paper, of course, SX4 has far higher torque ratings but can not experience in slow moving city traffic.

Suspension is a bit hard and makes my driving experience in city traffic not smooth, with all those potholes and humps. If you have driven a Fiat Linea and Honda City, you will understand what I mean, all belonging to mid range category of Sedans. If you are driving on good road, especially a long drive on high way, you may not notice all these problems and the car simply glides.

Mileage has been average 7.5 – 8 KMs / Litre in City, with AC on all the time. I have tested mileage several times full tank-to-full tank, from the same petrol bunk but it is giving same mileage even after the first service, which is quite low. I visited the Maruti dealer but he says he can not do much as everything is pre-set and pre-tuned electronically and advised me to wait till 2nd service. This is how most of the dealers escape.

My neighbor in my flat and a colleague also confirmed that they are getting mileage of around 8.5 - 9 KM after they tested full tank-to-full tank.

Ground clearance is quite good.

One of the problems I faced is the limited right view for the driver due to combination of pillars on right side and is a nuisance. This makes driving in city traffic even more challenging, especially while making right turn. The dealer acknowledged about this problem and said many other customers have already complained about this and Maruti already knows. I could not notice this issue during my short test drive.

Another thing I noticed.. SX4 shows a fuel lamp indicator on the dash board when you are starting the ignition but the lamp is just dummy and does not provide low fuel indication. You have to completely rely on the mechanical fuel indicator. Even the smallest hatches of today provide this basic indicator but not in SX4. My dealer also confirmed this.The dealer gave free Reverse Sensor which has been quite useful to me. This a a really worthy fitting on any car.

Overall SX4 is a good car but if you want the best mid level Sedan, with better performance, mileage and driving experience i.e. ride quality, then go for Honda City (my personal opinion) paying additional lac and a half, if you don’t want to compromise.

Those who can wait for few more months will have more choices with upcoming models in this category (mid size sedan): FIAT Linea turbo petrol version (also called Linea T-JET) with 106 BHP expected around June / July, 2010. FIAT may also bring in Linea with Dualogic Transmission model option which allows user to switch between automatic and manual model. I think this is very interesting… Volkswagen Polo Sedan is expected around Oct / Nov 2010, TOYOTA Etios sedan expected early 2011, newer FORD Fiesta model expected around early 2011