It is indeed bizarre that an automobile maker of the calibre of Maruti could not come up with a sedan that had the quality to take on the Indian motor world like the 800 and the Zen. The Maruti Esteem, inspite the initial euphoria, had many shortcomings. People had started to notice how dated it was when rival sedans came in. The Baleno was nothing short of a debacle; it was highly overpriced for its size and monotonous. But since the launch of the SX4 in mid 2007, Maruti Suzuki seems to have found a saviour in it to continue as a serious contender in the sedan segment and shake off its image as a pure small car manufacturer.
Design
To say that the SX4 does not look anything like a sedan is not by any means an exaggeration. It looks more like the end result of mating the Grand Vitara with the Swift. The well-defined wheel arches lend the car a 'masculine' look similar to that of an SUV. The European design influence is clearly evident in the Maruti Suzuki SX4, a deliberate shift from the staid and straight lines, traditionally seen in Suzuki cars. Suzuki had called in the services of Guigario’s Italdesign Studio for designing the SX4, and the move seems to be paying dividends.
What is most impressive about the SX4’s design is the aggressiveness it portrays; it resembles to an extent a crouching Royal Bengal Tiger on the hunt. The swept-back headlamps are a delight and rather unique. They are neatly integrated into the front fender and the bumper. The radiator grille with a smart Suzuki logo is very prominent and coupled with a gaping air dam, lends the SX4 a sporty look. Kudos to the Italian designing studio for helping Maruti Suzuki break away from its stereotypical designs.
Exterior
The SX4 completely stands apart from its contemporaries when it comes to looks and can teach other cars a thing or two about road presence. It’s big and chunky; It is the tallest, widest and longest car in its class. Its tyres too are the biggest and widest in its category. The wheels are a mammoth 250/60 with 16inch rims in case of the top two versions. The SX4 therefore, holds the ground superbly and is a stable customer around corners inspite of its tall design.
The best thing about the car one would say is the staggering ground clearance of 190mm, a few more inches and a truck could have passed under it unnoticed. Owing to its impressive ground clearance the SX4 can be driven over our rural country roads with ease, Honda City try beat that. Another impressive aspect of the SX4 is the cavernous 505-litre boot, which is again the biggest in its segment.
Interior
The interior of the SX4 is not as refined and luxurious as the Honda City, but is still very decent when you take the price tag into consideration. Although the car is big, the shoulder room is a bit cramped and so is the rear headroom. Otherwise, the car is quite comfortable, the seats are soft and cushy and the top end version comes with fine leather upholstery option. The SX4 can accommodate five adults with ease but the rear seat armrest compromises the comfort of the fifth person to a certain extent.
It must be mentioned that sitting inside the SX4 gives one that glasshouse feeling at times owing to the large windscreen, side windows and the rear windscreen. This also creates a lot of air noise when traveling at high speeds, which is annoying. The SX4 has a high seat position for the driver; the rear seats are even higher than the front and the passengers get a commanding view of the road too. The high ground clearance of the car means that the passengers can actually walk in instead of having to crouch to enter the car.
When it comes to gadgets and electronics, the SX4 is pretty well equipped. Besides the standard air conditioning, adjustable steering column, power windows and engine immobilizer, the SX4 comes with single zone automatic climate control, multi-function steering wheel and in-dash CD player. The centre console is neatly organized and looks a lot like that of the Swift. Infact, SX4 has borrowed quite a bit of components from the Swift, including the 5-speed manual gearshift.
Comfort & Ride Quality
When it comes to ride quality, the SX4 is an all out winner. The passengers need to really thank the McPherson strut suspension system because it performs a brilliant job. The large wheels, the massive ground clearance and the suspensions are ideal for our notorious rural roads. On city roads, it is needless to say that ride is beautiful, as smooth as any of its contemporaries. The SX4 is a very good car to drive as well; the power steering is responsive although it is not adjustable for reach. The manual gearshift is also smooth and cooperative. Because of the high seat position the driver gets a great view of the road and that is always helpful while cornering.
Engine, Transmission and Performance
The SX4 belongs to the new generation of Maruti cars. It is not in the least bit like any of its predecessors in terms of performance. Maruti has always been a company that catered primarily to a single segment of theindustry-hatchbacks. Powerful cars were never thought to be their forte. But with the SX4, it is quite apparent that times are fast changing. The SX4 comes with the new M series engine, which replaces the old G series. SX4 is available with a petrol 1586cc engine using drive by wire technology. It is a relatively fast car and churns out a notable 102bhp with a torque of 145 Nm @ 4200rpm.
Unlike the Baleno, you don’t need to work the SX4 hard to get the best out of it. It is quite nippy and brisk and reaches 0-100 in 12.1 seconds, only a few seconds slower than the Skoda Laura Ambiente. The acceleration is very mellow and transition of power cannot be felt by any means. The engine is generally very quiet and can only be heard upon attaining high speeds and an rpm of over 5000.
One has to be a diehard sceptic to find fault with the SX4’s performance and engine capacity, although it can be said that the fuel economy could have been a bit better. At 10.5km to a litre in the city and 14.5kmpl on highways, the SX4 is definitely not as economical as some of its contemporaries like the Honda City and the Ford Fiesta. But then again, the SX4 is much cheaper than the City and the Fiesta, but still can match them when it comes to speed and performance.
Safety
Like most good sedans, the SX4 is very safe with driver and passenger airbags, ABS with EBD, front adjustable seat belt pretensioners with force limiters, child locks on rear doors and anti-theft alarm. But, a lot can’t be written about the safety features in the VXI version because it has no safety features whatsoever. It is very basic when it comes to that and a prudent person ought to go for the ZXI version, which costs Rupees 7,00,000 (ex showroom Delhi).
Maruti has come a long way since the time of its earlier sedans; the SX4 is a far cry from the Esteem and the Baleno. I feel that we might be seeing a lot of it oin our city streets and very rightly so because that is exactly where this good car belongs.