Maruti Ciaz Review

Hello Everyone, I’m Siddharth Lal here with a post on the review of the fantastic C+ segment sedan “Maruti-Suzuki Ciaz”. Maruti-Suzuki has always failed to capture high sales volume in the C+ segment, earlier with the Baleno sedan and then with the SX4. Both Baleno and SX4 were superb cars with exhilarating performance but returned poor milage. Moreover the interiors and the overall quality were not upto the mark as compared to the rivals and both these cars used to feel dated. Now finally Maruti-Suzuki progressed and has set new benchmark with the launch of Ciaz. The car has conquered many hearts and has been able to gather excellent sale numbers. Even Maruti-Suzuki is trying it’s best to keep the Ciaz updated with frequent upgradations to keep it alive and refreshed. Ciaz is really competent with elegant looks and interiors and is a car thats class apart. My review is based on my last week’s test drive at the Maruti-Suzuki Rohan Motors showroom (Sector 3, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India). The Sales representative Mr. Alok Pahuja supported me in reviewing the Ciaz and encouraged me in testing it closely and his support was priceless. I’ll start off with reviewing the exterior,

Exterior Styling:

The Ciaz has a Bold stance, confident appearance and sophisticated style, while it’s exceptionally classy sharp projector headlamps, chrome plated bold radiator grill, it’s lean yet expansive body with bold and sharp race lines contrasts a distinct impression.

The long 2650mm wheelbase and 4490mm length is clearly visible from the side view and is actually the longest sedan in it’s segment.

The multi-spoke grey alloy wheels with 195/55 R16 tyres accentuates sportiness.

The rear looks bold and distinctive too with sharp elongated tail lights and sculpted rear bumper with aggressive looking reflector housings.

with all the bold curves and slashes the Ciaz feels more aerodynamically crafted, the Ciaz is a complete blend of sturdiness, sportiness, aggression and sophistication.

Interiors:

Nothing gets in the way of indulgence, with a premium looking exteriors comes premium interiors in the Ciaz. The Ciaz gets a dual tone black-beige interiors with wood garnish, chrome inserts and a bit of silver accents. The cars has excellent interior fit and finish with good quality plastics and upholstery fabrics. The top-end variant ZXI+/ZDI+ even gets leather seat upholstery.

The dashboard has a integrated touchscreen smartplay music system with 4 speakers and 2 tweeters and AUX, USB/iPOD, navigation system, reverse camera, voice command, bluetooth connectivity and Apple’s carplay.

The leather-wrapped steering wheel looks premium too with chrome inserts and mounted audio controls and the speedometer has clear visibility and the chrome surrounded speedo-dials feels upmarket.

Engine and Gearbox:

With impressive looks and interiors comes a excellent heart, The Ciaz has a new smart hybrid 1248cc DDIS diesel engine with VGT turbocharger (Variable Geometry), idle start-stop and torque assist under it’s hood, returning a superb 28.09 km/l milage (Claimed). The engine produces 90ps power at 4000RPM and 200Nm torque at 1750RPM.

The petrol variant gets a 1373cc K14B VVT engine which generates 90ps power at 6000RPM and 130Nm torque at 4000RPM returning excellent milage of 20.73 km/l (claimed).

Both the mills are refined and silent with controlled vibrations.

The car has a 5-speed manual transmission in the diesel variant and a 5-speed manual transmission and 4-speed automatic transmission in the petrol variant. The auto transmission petrol variant returns a milage of 19.12 km/l (claimed). I will be adding a separate post on the performance of the automatic transmission model. The gear shift is smooth with light clutch.

Performance and Handling:

Ignore the on-paper figures of the power, the Ciaz might look underpowered on-paper as compared to all of it’s rivals but practically has a different story to tell.

I have already driven and tested the Ciaz’s competitors Honda City, Volkswagen Vento, Skoda Rapid and the Hyundai Verna before testing the Ciaz. I was pretty much impressed with the performance of the Vento until the drove the Ciaz, The Ciaz is superb and is the best overall in terms of performance, be it acceleration, controlling/handling or stability, the Ciaz leaves behind it’s alternatives.

Both the Petrol and the Diesel variant are impressive with superb pickup, toque delivery and the car will rev your heart and will leave you smiling every time you drive one.

With linear torque delivery, the Ciaz pulls up in higher gears on low speeds with ease. It can pick up from a speed of 20 km/hr in 3rd gear, 30 km/hr in 4th and 45 km/hr in 5th gear and the car doesn't feel stressed near redlines (max RPM levels). The Ciaz petrol reaches a speed of 100 km/hr from 0 in 12 secs and 11.2 secs diesel.

The Ciaz controls superbly on sharp curves and is very stable too even at speeds above 150 Km/hr. The vibrations, wind noise and engine noise, bumps and body-roll are very less at high speeds.

The car has a sturdy suspension and feels solid on worst bumps and unnoticeably passes through small bumps. In my opinion, the Ciaz is a complete package and is best overall in terms of performance.

Comfort and Convenience

The Maruti-Suzuki Ciaz also has best-in-class cabin space with excellent rear leg-room and shoulder room. This car feels a segment above when you’re behind the wheels. The driving position is really comfortable with good steering, gear lever and driver arm rest positioning. The front seats offer excellent back and thigh support and the rear seat back and thigh support is excellent too.

The cabin has 1 litre bottle holder space in all four door pockets and A4 size document holder in front door pockets and A5 size document holder in the rear door pockets. The concealed centre console box with illumination has twin cup holders and the rear arm rest also has twin cup holders. The Ciaz also comes with a stylish overhead console to hold sunglasses. The cabin has rear A/C vents too with a 12V power outlet.

Ciaz provides luggage capacity of 510 litres with boot light.

Braking and Safety:

The body of the Ciaz is built on Suzuki’s Total Effective Control Technology (TECT) concept to offer fortress-like protection to those inside the car, plus features like dual front airbags, ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) with EBD (Electronic Brake-force Distribution) adds more to safety.

The brakes are effective both at low and 3-digit speeds and no skids experienced on sudden braking.

Verdict

The Maruti-Suzuki Ciaz is a winner, the Ciaz blends elegance and a bold stance with premium feature-loaded interiors and a heart that’s powerful and efficient at the same time backed by safety features.

The Ciaz has best-in-class cabin space, best-in-class fuel economy, and is the cheapest C+ segment sedan and is almost 90K cheaper than the Honda City. In my opinion the Ciaz is the best buy and it won’t fade away like the Baleno and the SX4.