Maruti Suzuki A-Star

Sit down in the A-star and you are greeted by a modern-looking cabin, on which Suzuki designers seem to have spent much time. Blending fresh shapes with multiple colours, the cabin and especially the central console are like no other. The high- mounted vents might restrict vision and are in your face, but they allow for a high-mounted music system, an illuminated shelf and a large storage area at the base, perfect to stack your CDs.

The entire dash has an attractive ‘V’ shape and the use of three shades further embellishes it. There are a couple of cupholders and a second shelf over the glovebox but the front door pockets are really shallow. Settle into the driver’s seat and you soon notice that you are sitting quite low, but it’s comfortable enough.  There is plenty of legroom and travel on the large seats and back and thigh support is good. What you miss however is steering wheel or seat height adjust, especially as you are sitting low down. Swift and SX4 bits like the steering wheel, gear lever and vents abound which add to the overall ambience. However, lots of cheap plastic bits and ill-fitting panels seriously detract from the quality of the interior.  The A-star has poor visibility due to thick A-and C-pillars.

The A-star’s rear doors are tiny, which makes access difficult. What’s more, the roof is low and legroom is very tight. The seatback extends only till the middle of your back, and the large front headrest and upward sweeping kink in the rear door mean you feel hemmed in due to the dramatically reduced glass area.

The A-star ZXi offers a lot of equipment for your money. It comes with four power windows, ABS, airbags, a CD player and remote locking for only Rs 35,000 more than the top-end i10 1.1 (that does not offer these even as options).