I had a budget of around 5 lacs when I went to purchase a car. I was driving a WagonR before, and I was very happy with the car and Maruti's service. So obviously at the back of my mind I had this thought that if I bought a Maruti again, I couldn't go wrong and that it would be a safe bet, but I still wanted to try out and see all the other cars from other manufacturers, before I made up my mind.
I went about it by making a list. I zeroed down on Fiat's Grand Punto (Diesel), Tata's Indica Vista (Diesel), Maruti Suzuki's Swift (Petrol) & Ritz (Petrol) and Hyundai's i10 & i20 (Diesel), Honda's Jazz & Skoda's Fabia (Diesel).
Now, I have this habit of always going for the best...by which I mean, going for the top-of-the-line. I therefore soon realised that the top-of-the-line Punto, Jazz, Fabia & i20 were over my budget (next time I guess;)). Now I had to decide between the i10, Swift, Ritz, and the Indica Vista.
One of my acquaintances recently bought an i10 Magna (with the Kappa engine) so I "test drove" his car. I was left impressed with the car's overall design, build quality, engine refinement and the space it offered.
Next I test drove the Swift and the Ritz. Here I liked the Ritz more because of its "huge" cheerful cabin, overall design of the car (was never a big fan of Swift's design) and the K-series engine's refinement and performance. I have to make a special mention here of the Ritz's crisp gearbox, which bowled me over with its small, slick and precise throws!
Finally it was Tata's turn, but alas, my uncle being an owner of a Tata Indica V2 - was very disappointed with his car and its quality and he never lost an opportunity to tell everyone about it, made me change my mind about buying a Tata car at the last moment.
After weighing all the pros and cons of all the contestants in my mind I finally went in for a Ritz ZXI. I chose the Ritz over the i10 because of its bigger size, more features and because it came across as better value for money. I never considered the diesel versions of the Swift and Ritz because: a) my running is not enough to pay a premium for a diesel engine, over and above a petrol and b) the diesel variants were missing a lot of features, especially safety features like airbags (which I wanted).
Now I am a proud owner of a Blue (Blaze) Ritz ZXI and I am very happy with my purchase. The Ritz delivers all that I thought it would and I recommend it to all, who can live with its looks (rear, which I like!!!), because it has no other flaws! :P
