Maruti Ciaz long term review first report

Sometimes, all it takes for an old acquaintance to become a close friend is a short holiday together. A few days of bonding are good enough to tell you what your buddy is really like. Good habits and bad, quirks and idiosyncrasies become pretty obvious when you’re with someone day in and day out. That’s just how it was with our long-term Maruti Ciaz, which I got to know quite intimately over the long, Good Friday weekend.

To be honest, I hadn’t at first taken much notice of Maruti’s new flagship, which quietly slipped into our long-term fleet over a month ago. Maybe it’s the bland styling or the fact that it’s a car designed to merely transport rather than thrill its owners that didn’t have me rushing for the keys. But, it’s a Maruti and on the strength of the badge alone, which sits on the nose of one out of every two cars sold in this country, the Ciaz did warrant a very close look.

For me, there’s no better way of getting to really know a car than a drive up to Mahabaleshwar. The mix of a fast expressway, single-lane roads and the steep, twisty bits that lead up to the hill station can give any car a solid work out. And, coming home, the wall of traffic that welcomes you to Mumbai city is a challenge in itself.

Leaving town in peak evening rush hour wasn’t a good idea. It meant bumper-to-bumper traffic until the roads opened out past Sion. Mumbai roads, of late, are permanently dug up, leaving everyone to fight for what’s left of the tarmac. The Ciaz’s gentle clutch, easy (but not very precise) gearshift takes some pain out of the crawl. Also a big help in traffic is the good all-round visibility (though you have to ratchet up the seat height adjuster to clear the high dashboard), which helps keep an eye on impatient bikers and even more impatient autorickshaw drivers. The driver’s seat could be more generous and within the first hour or two behind the wheel, your butt would welcome more cushioning.

The ride quality is really good, especially at low speeds and there’s a nice, mature way in which the Ciaz rounds off the multiple surfaces that make up Mumbai roads. Part-throttle response is fairly decent too, and the Ciaz is quickly making a case for itself as a good sedan for the city. But, after an hour and a half, I’ve left the city behind.

Climbing up the ramp of the Mumbai-Pune expressway, I floor the Ciaz’s throttle pedal hard for the first time. Now I wasn’t expecting the big Maruti to lunge forward with enthusiasm but I wasn’t expecting an engine which delivers 91bhp in a car that weighs a fairly light 1,025kg to feel so listless either. It’s not that the Ciaz isn’t quick — it can crack 100kph from rest in 12.02seconds. It’s the flat and almost apathetic way this 1.4-litre petrol engine delivers its power, regardless of how hard you try to goad it.