Finally We got our Ertiga Delivered on 23/8/2012 after a long waiting period.
Why Ertiga?
We are a small family of 4 and the Renault Logan we had was more than sufficient to transport us in good comfort. But whenever our parents/ brother's family visit us we had problems in travelling together and in many occasions we had to use 2 cars in the same route. Considering this occasional requirement of 7 seats, Ertiga is the right choice and we have decided on Ertiga even before it was launched.
The flexibility it offers is superb- a 4/5 seater with enough luggage space or an occasional 7 seater if all the passengers are ready to adjust slightly. Being in the sedan platform its ride and handling characteristics is more cars like and is easy to use in town.
Buying process
Paid advance to Hercules motors Trivandrum (Biggest mistake I made- they haven’t provided any freebies- not even floor mats or perfumes, and the delivery was delayed) before the launch itself to get priority in delivery.
We wanted ZDi variant only and were not ready for any compromises on variant. But the delay in ZDi deliveries was worrying us and renault Duster was launched in between and had a look at that. The riding comfort was simply superb in that and the 1.5 engine was very familiar for me, BUT its again a 5 seater, even after the optional jump seat its only a 6 seater and top of that waiting period was again too much.
On contacting Maruti’s area sales manager, somehow we were allotted ZDi Ecru beige without alloys in the month of August.
Insurance business
We got a quote from the dealer for insurance at 24K and bumper to bumper (0 depreciation) at 29K for maruti insurance from National Insurance or Royal sundaram. The online quote for 0 dep from Royal Sundaram was only 22K for the same IDV and another nationalised company was ready to give at 21K, so we informed the dealer that we are getting insurance from outside. As expected, lot of pressure from them to get it done from their end, but I flatly refused all that and got insurance at less than 21K from United India Insurance Ltd , where I had some contacts.
On raod Cost
Including Insurance and 3rd & 4th year extended warranty: 970600.0
Without Alloy and accessories.
Accessories from dealer
Rear spoiler painted : 5500
Vinyl flooring and black floor mats: 3500 (Approx)
Side molding, bumper protector and Door sill guards: 2500 (Approx)
Accessories from outside
Cabin airfilter : 650.0
A simple cabin air filter is not provided by Maruti (TOO BAD a move for cutting cost?- BUT a slot for the same is there behind the glovebox) and one was bought from Bosch showroom and Installed as DIY.
Seat covers( Art leather) and steering wheel ( Genuine leather) : 9000.0
Bought from Car Parlour, Nanthencode, trivandrum. Initially we thought of using the original seats itself - they look cool and were comfortable. However a small trip for 300 KMs with 2 kids made our mind for seat covers as the fabric saet started getting dirty very fast.
Reverse Parking camera and sensors: 13000.0
Installed on the IVRM and has display of reverse camera view and distance in meters and audible alarm, and USB/SD card MP4 player too (which may not be of much use). This system has Bluetooth hands free function also, but speaker has to be tuned through car FM player.
Bought from Popular ( Maruti dealer near our place) and the other options available were MGA and Caska make OE fitment type DVD player with reverse camera.
Caska make will look cool in the dash with touch screen, Mapmyindia navigation etc and costs 42K + 6K for camera and sensors. No one was ready to give a decent price for the stock music system and I had to decide against Caska due to the higher cost.
MGA parking assist system mounted at the LHS dash board was not considered as the display I saw on a new car was terribly bad with glare from windscreen in day time.
Car body graphics: 2250.0
Tyres from EXON Tyres at Kottayam, Kotimatha.
Upgraded to Bridgestone MY01 - 195/65 R15 for improved Ground clearance at : 29000.0
For a set of 5 paid only Rs. 15500 as we got Rs 2700.0 each for the old tyres (used for 300KMs).
Alloys: haven’t found a suitable one yet
Tried to fit Tierra brand Alloy available at Bridgestone dealer and found that the tyre was protruding out of the car by and inch or so ( please refer the picture) and I was not confident to use that.
Original Alloy for ertiga in 5.5J ( 5.5inch rim width) and this one I tried was 6.5J. All alloys available at other few dealers were all 6.5J at R15, so I am waiting to find a suitable alloy.
Experience so far
Used it for 300 KMs Highway ( MC road in Kerala – a 2 lane decent road) and 150 in City and the experience is good. Trip was comfortable and we enjoyed every moment in the ‘LUV’.
How to use as a 4-5 seater?
Just remove both the head rests from the rear most seats and keep them safe in the storage tray at the rear, fold the last row and push the middle row all the way back and recline the seat back, if needed. There is enough space at the front and middle row for a people of my height ( 5’ 11” +) and ample luggage space at the back row.
As a seven seater people at the middle row has to adjust the seat travel to allow passengers at the 3rd row to sit comfortably. Six adults (3 of my height and 3 of average height) + 2 kids could travel comfortably for shorter distance and we hope the same hols true for long drives as well, we are yet to verify that.
Middle seat in the second row is only for kids as it doesn’t have a headrest.
Ride: Is decent comparing with other 7 seaters, however not a match for our Logan in this matter.
Turbolag: Evident below 2K mark (We have to get used to this as our previous ride was a Logan which has near zero turbo lag). I haven’t tried above 2500 rpm in this running in period, so yet to enjoy the turbo kick at higher rpms.
AC performance: Couldn’t check as its raining here.
AC vents are placed too high for comfort, ie: when I try to adjust the height of AC throw from the side vent, the passage is getting restricted and air flow reduced.
Engine Noise: Is evident at start, but not audible at lower speeds. Yet to check this at high RPMs.
All round visibility: Not so good as dash is placed too high and A pillars block the view to some extend.
Gear shift: short throw gear has some difficulty in slotting ( Don’t know how to explain, but I really like the Ford’s gear shift), scope for improvement is evident.
Whats the average?
MID shows: 14.7 kmpl now. ( 300 Km highmay + 200 Km city)
When we received it as 9 kmpl and climbed to 15.4 after the highway trip of 300 kms. Now after 100 of city driving it came down to 14.7 kmpl.
A tank full – tank full for highway trip of 300 km showed 17.8 kmpl.
Why Ertiga?
We are a small family of 4 and the Renault Logan we had was more than sufficient to transport us in good comfort. But whenever our parents/ brother's family visit us we had problems in travelling together and in many occasions we had to use 2 cars in the same route. Considering this occasional requirement of 7 seats, Ertiga is the right choice and we have decided on Ertiga even before it was launched.
The flexibility it offers is superb- a 4/5 seater with enough luggage space or an occasional 7 seater if all the passengers are ready to adjust slightly. Being in the sedan platform its ride and handling characteristics is more cars like and is easy to use in town.
Buying process
Paid advance to Hercules motors Trivandrum (Biggest mistake I made- they haven’t provided any freebies- not even floor mats or perfumes, and the delivery was delayed) before the launch itself to get priority in delivery.
We wanted ZDi variant only and were not ready for any compromises on variant. But the delay in ZDi deliveries was worrying us and renault Duster was launched in between and had a look at that. The riding comfort was simply superb in that and the 1.5 engine was very familiar for me, BUT its again a 5 seater, even after the optional jump seat its only a 6 seater and top of that waiting period was again too much.
On contacting Maruti’s area sales manager, somehow we were allotted ZDi Ecru beige without alloys in the month of August.
Insurance business
We got a quote from the dealer for insurance at 24K and bumper to bumper (0 depreciation) at 29K for maruti insurance from National Insurance or Royal sundaram. The online quote for 0 dep from Royal Sundaram was only 22K for the same IDV and another nationalised company was ready to give at 21K, so we informed the dealer that we are getting insurance from outside. As expected, lot of pressure from them to get it done from their end, but I flatly refused all that and got insurance at less than 21K from United India Insurance Ltd , where I had some contacts.
On raod Cost
Including Insurance and 3rd & 4th year extended warranty: 970600.0
Without Alloy and accessories.
Accessories from dealer
Rear spoiler painted : 5500
Vinyl flooring and black floor mats: 3500 (Approx)
Side molding, bumper protector and Door sill guards: 2500 (Approx)
Accessories from outside
Cabin airfilter : 650.0
A simple cabin air filter is not provided by Maruti (TOO BAD a move for cutting cost?- BUT a slot for the same is there behind the glovebox) and one was bought from Bosch showroom and Installed as DIY.
Seat covers( Art leather) and steering wheel ( Genuine leather) : 9000.0
Bought from Car Parlour, Nanthencode, trivandrum. Initially we thought of using the original seats itself - they look cool and were comfortable. However a small trip for 300 KMs with 2 kids made our mind for seat covers as the fabric saet started getting dirty very fast.
Reverse Parking camera and sensors: 13000.0
Installed on the IVRM and has display of reverse camera view and distance in meters and audible alarm, and USB/SD card MP4 player too (which may not be of much use). This system has Bluetooth hands free function also, but speaker has to be tuned through car FM player.
Bought from Popular ( Maruti dealer near our place) and the other options available were MGA and Caska make OE fitment type DVD player with reverse camera.
Caska make will look cool in the dash with touch screen, Mapmyindia navigation etc and costs 42K + 6K for camera and sensors. No one was ready to give a decent price for the stock music system and I had to decide against Caska due to the higher cost.
MGA parking assist system mounted at the LHS dash board was not considered as the display I saw on a new car was terribly bad with glare from windscreen in day time.
Car body graphics: 2250.0
Tyres from EXON Tyres at Kottayam, Kotimatha.
Upgraded to Bridgestone MY01 - 195/65 R15 for improved Ground clearance at : 29000.0
For a set of 5 paid only Rs. 15500 as we got Rs 2700.0 each for the old tyres (used for 300KMs).
Alloys: haven’t found a suitable one yet
Tried to fit Tierra brand Alloy available at Bridgestone dealer and found that the tyre was protruding out of the car by and inch or so ( please refer the picture) and I was not confident to use that.
Original Alloy for ertiga in 5.5J ( 5.5inch rim width) and this one I tried was 6.5J. All alloys available at other few dealers were all 6.5J at R15, so I am waiting to find a suitable alloy.
Experience so far
Used it for 300 KMs Highway ( MC road in Kerala – a 2 lane decent road) and 150 in City and the experience is good. Trip was comfortable and we enjoyed every moment in the ‘LUV’.
How to use as a 4-5 seater?
Just remove both the head rests from the rear most seats and keep them safe in the storage tray at the rear, fold the last row and push the middle row all the way back and recline the seat back, if needed. There is enough space at the front and middle row for a people of my height ( 5’ 11” +) and ample luggage space at the back row.
As a seven seater people at the middle row has to adjust the seat travel to allow passengers at the 3rd row to sit comfortably. Six adults (3 of my height and 3 of average height) + 2 kids could travel comfortably for shorter distance and we hope the same hols true for long drives as well, we are yet to verify that.
Middle seat in the second row is only for kids as it doesn’t have a headrest.
Ride: Is decent comparing with other 7 seaters, however not a match for our Logan in this matter.
Turbolag: Evident below 2K mark (We have to get used to this as our previous ride was a Logan which has near zero turbo lag). I haven’t tried above 2500 rpm in this running in period, so yet to enjoy the turbo kick at higher rpms.
AC performance: Couldn’t check as its raining here.
AC vents are placed too high for comfort, ie: when I try to adjust the height of AC throw from the side vent, the passage is getting restricted and air flow reduced.
Engine Noise: Is evident at start, but not audible at lower speeds. Yet to check this at high RPMs.
All round visibility: Not so good as dash is placed too high and A pillars block the view to some extend.
Gear shift: short throw gear has some difficulty in slotting ( Don’t know how to explain, but I really like the Ford’s gear shift), scope for improvement is evident.
Whats the average?
MID shows: 14.7 kmpl now. ( 300 Km highmay + 200 Km city)
When we received it as 9 kmpl and climbed to 15.4 after the highway trip of 300 kms. Now after 100 of city driving it came down to 14.7 kmpl.
A tank full – tank full for highway trip of 300 km showed 17.8 kmpl.
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