Test Drive of Maruti A-Star !

Here is a TD report of A-Star from ACI... :D

Glance at the A-Star and what’s immediately obvious is the departure from the existing Alto’s basic boxy shape. This car oozes style and attitude. Much more than just a box with a nose, the A-Star’s profile is fundamentally different from the Alto’s and the details are bold and confident. There’s no traditional grille. The inlet to the radiator is placed really low down and the headlights are mounted really high up. And then the turning lights pop out like machine gun pods. The basic shape harks of its Swift sibling; a compact cabin area with wide haunches. The sole reminder of the Alto are the taillights, possibly a concession to the car’s identity. The A-Star looks spunky and fresh but what about its driving manners? Time to have a go. :bball:

Like the exterior, the cabin is a step forward too for a small Maruti. The driver’s seat is really quite comfortable, there’s no seat height adjustment or adjustable steering sadly, but there is plenty of travel on the front seats. You can really slide the seat back and stretch your legs out and that’s a refreshing change. There’s a lot of the Swift in the interior, things like the steering wheel, gear lever and knobs and buttons but more on that later.

On firing up the motor, there is a hint of shudder and vibration at idle and though it’s not obtrusive or jarring like a diesel, it’s something you would rather not have. This slight roughness is down to the fact that the motor is a three-cylinder unit, and it is the three’s natural vibrations that are difficult to get rid of. And that’s despite the fact that this is a brand-new all-aluminum, twin-cam motor. However, tap the throttle and the mild rocking or vibration disappears immediately. The motor is now honey smooth and hugely responsive, even just off idle; this means the A-Star feels alert and ready to skip forward. You can short-shift and the motor will still yank you forward in traffic, even with just an inch of throttle travel. It feels as or more responsive than even a Santro and that’s pretty unreal.

The steering is light and pretty direct, the brakes are well weighted and work well, and the gearbox is actually better than that on the Swift. It’s somewhat lighter to use and doesn’t baulk like the Swift’s unit. :D

With its stiff new chassis, Swift- like front suspension and tall springs, this new Maruti small car rips ups yet another well earned Maruti stereotype. Light footed through rough patches, well composed over even large bumps and giving an impression that it has been robustly engineered, the A-Star skips very happily over the broken stretches of tarmac. There is an underlying layer of stiffness for sure and you do feel some bumps at times, but this also means body control over bumps is very good. :D

According to the company, the rear seats in this car segment are used very rarely in and as a result space and comfort is only just about enough in the new car. Headroom is tight, the rear seat is narrow and then the back rest short. The high sides of the car and the large headrests up front also make the rear seat pretty claustrophobic. However, underthigh support isn’t too bad. What is horrendously insufficient is the boot. Barely large enough for a couple of soft bags, this boot doesn't hold much even if you fold the rear seat. The A-Star is well specified on the safety front with two airbags and ABS.

Ideally suited to urban conditions, with its very responsive engine, slick gearbox and light steering, the A-Star is anything but a chore to drive in town. It covers ground rapidly with minimum effort, it looks funky, the front seats are comfortable and it is well specified too. Added to all this is the fact that Maruti claims this is its new fuel efficiency champion, not something to be taken lightly. Okay it isn’t perfect with its cramped rear seats and some iffy interior plastic. But there’s no doubting the A-Star is very good where it matters. Priced competitively, the A-Star should be the next big small car. :yup:

I hope this is not a Test Drive, Rather it could be First Drive

I couldnt even find a single TD report till now... :(
Almost 3 weeks from the launch of A-star & this is too bad

i dint like the car's styling.

Thanks for ur Opinion... I too join ur club....

They have come up with an idea of Getting the place of Old santro & New i10 in Market :)

If u look at the front lights you can find the very first Santro & new i10 :lol!:

raj_5004 wrote:i dint like the car's styling.

I saw this vehicle on display in Cochin last week. It impressed me with its front styling, when viewed head-on. The frontal styling from side angles looks bad though.

Drove an A Star of my friend yesterday. It has cost him Rs 4.61L on road in Maharashtra.Must say its a lovely car.Was metallic light green in colour with ABS,PW (front and rear),central locking and MP3/CD player.
The styling cues are quite radical and it may take time before we come to get used to it. As my friends zinam , Raj and CC have already commented on its styling.Similarly the Honda City that came in, in 2003 had many critics. The Xylo which I test drove very recently, also has a lot of gap areas in the styling department.
I too agree that the styling job of the A Star could have been better executed. The styling these days are given a backseat I believe.
Back to the topic, I saw the A Star bit by bit. The luggage space below the parcel tray is too miniscule to even carry two 24 inch VIP suitcases.Thats bad. And the hatch door opens at a height, meaning the rear bumper sits quite high on the body panel.The luggage floor is also perched at a height, with the stepney placed down below. So it will be natural that the luggage (lift off the parcel tray to accomodate the height of the suitcase) will hit the rear windscreen, crying for space in the small area.In Maruti 800's, the bigger suitcases hitting on the interior of the rear windscreen is common, but that is a 23 plus year old design.
The dash is quite well laid out and needs all the praise for getting each thing at its place.The CD/MP3 player inbuilt into the dash, with its four speakers is of a high quality and of Nippon make, though Nippon is nowhere mentioned on its front panel. Its a delight to listen to. The Xylo, Swift, DZire that I drove too have the same make music systems. The speedo console is large and accomodates warning lights and everything else. Its the only meter fitted to the dash.And my gosh, the dash designer must have forgotten about the tachometer, which sits up above the dash on the top right, with its back facing the inner side of the front windscreen.Thats a messed up job and an after-thought.
The power windows and the central locking are quite OK, much like any other Maruti. The interior plastics including PW control switches, leave a lot to room for improvement. Its below the Swift plastic quality. The inner door lining is all plasticky for the 4 doors.This is the variant that is placed second from the top.And there is no inner fabric lining on the doors-again a lapse on MSIL's part.The seat fabric is quite upto the mark for its class.
The steering is a bit smaller in diameter and the car has a double horn as OE. Thats a plus.The driver, for a medium height person like me (5'7"), has to peep raising his head with care from the front windscreen, to mind the traffic. The lower end of the front windscreen is quite high, from the drivers seat and this takes time to adjust to.From the Wagon R, Santro, Bolero , Scorpio or the Xylo you can look at the road from the drivers seat from a commading height. But here its a short car, we cannot expect the same.But at least MSIL could have given us the Alto or 800 kind of a view of the road. Thats missing.
Driving the car is a pleasure. The power steering is much too responsive and this car can be swayed through narrow lanes with great ease.The new 998 cc engine is a gem to drive and is extremely responsive and peppy. Engage the overdrive (5th) gear and is a breeze to drive with the very well executed gearbox, engine and steering matching their frequencies.The suspension is a bit on the tough side. It does not falter over potholes like other small Marutis, but gives a lot of protection to inner occupants with the ride quality.I drove the car at a maximum of 60kmph as its hardly done 95 kms on the odo, and is within its running in period. The car has an all new, three cylinder, 998 cc engine and never could I feel that I am driving a 3 cylinder engined car. The Japs have perfected the art of making 3 cylinder engines now.
The ABS brakes are life saving and again kudos to MSIL for the very well executed job on this small car with such a great option. The car has two airbags for the front occupants which is another great job done.
To get the feel as a passenger, I also occupied the backseat and prefered to be driven by my friend. The backseat can accomodate three adults, much better than many cars in its class and is quite wide (the Swift,Getz,i20 which are larger are excluded).I could feel that the car is a bit solid when it takes on the rough roads. The backseat ride should be the best in its class. We have come a long way from the Santro and Maruti 800 rear seats, which are only a bit better than a Bajaj autorickshaw.
So my overall impression of the car is that its a hot hatch with several minus points. But the plus points are also too many and MSIL claims that its USP, is its fuel consumption, with the 998 cc engine, thats at par with the Alto which has only a 3 cylinder 798cc engine.

That's really a nice TD Anjan !

I hope you liked this car 70:30 ??

Yes after seeing some cars on road, it now looks good for my eyes :)

Thanks zinam -yes the car is liked by me you can say 60:40!!

Nice report on A-star anjan. So planning to get one? ;)

Good report anjan!thanks for sharing your experience.

@Zinam: Same here, After seeing A-Satr on roads i've also started liking it :)

Now i could see more A-star on roads and the looks are good to me. It has some macho charm.

Crazy cat wrote:Nice report on A-star anjan. So planning to get one? ;)

No CC I have booked a DZire Zdi. But my family says let it be a Xylo. Will buy one of these next month.

anjan wrote:

Crazy cat wrote:Nice report on A-star anjan. So planning to get one? ;)

No CC I have booked a DZire Zdi. But my family says let it be a Xylo. Will buy one of these next month.

But anjan, you have already booked the dZire, So will you cancel the booking or will buy the Xylo also :?:

Oh! I forgot that you booked Dzire. Did you TD Xylo?

hey anjan, so cancelling dzire and going for xylo????

Crazy cat wrote:Oh! I forgot that you booked Dzire. Did you TD Xylo?

Yes, I think anjan has test driven the Xylo, he gave us a short report on it in Xylo thread. :)

vibhor and CC have booked the DZire and not yet decided about the Xylo.DZire may be deliveres by early April :D but Xylo people say there is waiting time of 7-8 weeks.
Very less chances of going for the Xylo, but if so will have to cancel the DZire booking.
Yes CC I test drove the Xylo. My findings are placed with pictures on the Xylo thread.

Oops i'm completely out of my mind :8P: .

anjan wrote: vibhor and CC have booked the DZire and not yet decided about the Xylo.DZire may be deliveres by early April :D but Xylo people say there is waiting time of 7-8 weeks.
Very less chances of going for the Xylo, but if so will have to cancel the DZire booking.
Yes CC I test drove the Xylo. My findings are placed with pictures on the Xylo thread.

Ok anjan, Both are very good cars in their segments, but one thing i would like to tell that if you buy Xylo base, It won't be feature loaded as the swift dZire top end which comes at same price tag, but yes, no doubt that no other car can beat Xylo in terms of space. :bball:

hey vibhor there is one car that can beat XYLO in space!
That is the INNOVA!

i wonder why a-star doesnt have alloys on the ZXI version

No alloys in A-star? :affraid: Not even as a option?

naah, not even an option, i guess you get tose aura's stupid looking alloys if you want, my cousin got an a-sttar zxi, it had everything but no alloys.
thats sick

i think atleast the top end version of such cars shud come with alloys..its not a cheap car or entry level....