Maruti Suzuki Celerio Ownership Review

harishankar · Aug 2, 2017

My silky silver workhorse has now done around 12500+ kms. So far, everything feels smooth and good. I am not sure of the next service schedule, as the last free service was done in around 7500-8000 kms.
I keep getting a call from ABT Maruti almost every week for their "Rs. 450/- only + tax" car wash and check up camp on Sundays. This week it was "Rs. 200/- only + tax". I have so far declined this, as I feel it is only a money-making exercise by the dealer and might be worthwhile only for older cars with more than 50k on the Odo.

Razor · Aug 2, 2017

TheGoldenshark19 said:

Stock headlamps are not very good , but I found them just about adequate for night time use in fair weather in highways. They are definitely better than swift's, which I feel are unsafe for highway use.Try it out on a few occasions and then u can change if you feel the need for it.
You can fit Xtreme vision anytime you want or maybe during any service.They are available at almost all service points.

Razor · Aug 9, 2017

Last week been to the service center a few times. Problem -
sometimes the car would not start. I can hear the self going whirr , but there is no ignition. All other electricals were fine. This occurred a couple of times while I had parked the car for a few minutes and gone into a shop or taking petrol at a pump.Also magically the car started again after 4-5 minutes. Took the car to service. They checked everything but could not find anything. OBD threw up an error code. But the people werent sure. Also during the test drive there was bad vibration in lower gears and in idle. So a throttle body reset was done to reduce the knocking. The car was fine for about 60 - 70 kms , then it again returned. It became so bad that there was frequent stalling while driving in busy traffic. Also problem was more with ac on , and less if I applied more accelerator input. Maybe a fuel line issue , i thought.
Again took the car to service. This time OBD was normal. They tried to justify it as a clutch problem and even offered me a few "tips" on how to drive and release clutch! [frustration]

But I was adamant. Therefore they started checking the old fashioned way - replacing few items and test driving. And finally it was discovered that throttle body sensor was not working properly!. Throttle body was replaced . Thankfully I had extended warranty , so did not have to cough out anything from my pocket!Also they threw in an interior cleaning job with that for free. So I felt my earlier irritation lessen a bit!

Now my car has again become very smooth old self again. [glasses]

Hacky · Aug 14, 2017

Can anyone let me know the wiring diagram of FOG lamp for Celerio as the Zxi variant didn't came up with company fitted fog lamp(Height of Cost cutting) i inquired about aftermarket FOG lamps through local automotive shops but none of those have the original wiring harness and i am not willing to for the custom un-trusty wiring made by those chaps. So please help me to source it , i will be highly obliged.

Regards

Harshit Sukhija

srpsinu · Aug 15, 2017

Razor said:

This is Maruti Suzuki Celerio ownership review. Covering buying, ownership and maintenance experiences.

Background

It all started in March 2014 when me and my wife decided that its time to have a new car. I was driving my dads Maruti 800 STD of 2002 at that time. The car in those 12 years had done around 60 k kms and was in pretty decent shape overall still showing a fuel economy of 15-17 km in the city. But 12 years is a long time for any car. It had developed some rattles and creaks , the perennial bumps and potholes of Kolkata roads had taken a toll on the shock absorbers. It also needed a few trips to the service center of late , one of which was for the broken ECU which was replaced for Rs 15k! Plus during the summer even a 10 km drive in the afternoon in Kolkata without ac made me consider putting myself on intravenous drip after each journey. So the time for a new car was as good as any.

The Requirement

Our budget was around 5-5.5 L and after having had the very reliable service of a Maruti-Suzuki car for last 12 years the choice of manufacturer was unanimous. We wanted a petrol car for city use mainly with very occasional trip to the highways. I wanted a tallboy after literally having to fold in my 5’10” frame to crawl in and out of the M-800 all these years . Therefore there were two choices mainly the Wagon R , Stingray and the Ritz .The trim had to be VXI atleast as I have had a lifetime experience of manually rolling windows up and down and requesting rear passengers to do the same when I parked and wanted no more of it. The Celerio was still new and so hadn’t given any thought to it initially. I was eyeing the Wagon R for a long time as I am totally taken by its looks. It is a thoroughly reliable and practical car with excellent features and good fuel economy. And with this aim we visited 3 different dealers – Suzuki One Auto , Auto Hitech and Bhandari Automobiles, Gariahat .

Buying Process

After having taken test drive (at Suzuki One Auto) and been to all the dealers I booked a Wagon R VXI at Bhandari Automobiles Gariahat. (There was a 3 month waiting period for Wagon R VXI ABS so it wasn’t considered) Choosing Bhandari Automobiles was a decision I still regret . Bhandari Automobiles Gariahat is an unholy nexus of people whose burgeoning business due to prime location has apparently given them a free hand to treat their customers with neglect , incompetence and deception (Dealership review coming later) .Anyhow not to detract from the story of the Celerio , after having worshipped the Wagon R for such a long time and having booked it , I still had a few doubts about my purchase..
1. Really small boot
2. Bumpy ride for rear seat passengers
3. I was not sure about highway driving manners
4. Quality of interior plastics
All these thoughts were going in my mind when ultimately the payment day arrived. It was then when I took a second look at the Celerio VXI parked in one corner of the showroom all decked out and looking like a star. Having neglected it for so long In my car buying process I finally gave it some serious thought.
The things which ticked the right boxes were –
1. 235 L boot much better than 180 L boot of Wagon R , even better than 205L boot of the Swift.
2. Spacious interiors (comparable with the Wagon R)
3. Better proportioned car with proportionate tyres translating into better ride quality and highway manners
4. Quality of plastics was better than the Waggy
5. Nice looks from the front
6. Nice dash with small sporty steering wheel

What I was letting go with the Waggy were
1. Electronically controlled ORVMs
2. Inbuilt music system
3. Rear wiper , defogger
4. Adjustable head rests
5. I really liked the mature rear looks of the waggy

Anyway in a much confused state I converted my booking into a Cerulean Blue Celerio VXI Manual . Did not consider AMT and ZXI manual had a waiting period of minimum 2 months. Again after some delay and another round of deception (from the dealer) did a PDI and finally came to own a Cerulean Blue Celerio VXI in the second week of July. At this stage I was feeling that Bhandari automobiles Gariahat was doing me a huge favour by allowing me to buy a car from them.

The price breakdown

Ex Show room – INR 430025/-
Insurance (Zero Depreciation ), 1 yr – 14513/-
4th Year Extended Warranty - 1275/-
Road Tax Registration - 26569/-
Handling Charge - 3500/-
Incidental Charge 2350/-
Total – INR 478232/-

Discounts – None (Including corporate discount)

Dealer Negotiable – Car Cover (given) , Teflon coating (not sure whether done)

Add Ons :

MGA Speakers on 4 doors – INR 3056.76/-
Body side Moulding - 1048.03
Rear Spoiler 2873.36
Painting charge for spoiler 1000/-
Fog Lamps front 3048.03
Bumper protector 393
Pioneer 2 DIN Audio with BT 9598/-
VAT @ 14.5 % 2902.53/-
Total - INR 23920/-

Therefore Total Cost - 502152

Art leather seat covers from Status car accessories – 4700/-

Initial Ownership Experience

Its been almost 5 months since I bought it. 1st free service done , second free service coming up!
Driven mainly in the city and a few times on the highway as well.
Reading on the Odo – 3335 km
Average Fuel Consumption – MID shows 17.9 kmpl at present but last two times I calculated by thankful method were 17.02kmpl and 16.56 kmpl .Driven with a/c on about 50 % of the time during this last two calculations.

Some points to note

1. Drivability – Most of the flat spots of the K 10 engine at low RPM in 2nd gear is gone though not totally. Handles pretty well in the city and can be thrown around the corners quite easily . Taken it out on the highway 4-5 times .Car easily reaches 80-90 km in no time .Handling is very assured at 100 kmph. However there is lack of power at 4th gear. Have to shift down to third for most overtakings
2. Suspension is just about perfect. Neither too hard nor too soft. Regular bumps and holes can be negotiated easily but sudden drops are accompanied by a loud thud from the wheel well.
3. The front disc brakes are very good with strong bite. Almost too good. I have had to suddenly brake twice or thrice from 40 kmph and the front wheel locks up easily and causes the car to skid. Having second thoughts that I should have waited a while to buy the ABS version.

Now for some pictures!

Front View
View attachment 169172

The rear is not very good looking . The looks are somewhat improved by addition of the spoiler !
View attachment 169188

Looks okay from the sides though!
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Headlight cluster. I found the high beam inadequate during night drive on the high way. Plan to upgrade soon!
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165/70 R 14 tyres with good braking and handling!
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Tail lamp cluster - again not to my liking. I prefer the turn indicators on the outer side Protrudes out somewhat - a constant danger from bikers in city traffic!
View attachment 169193

My attempt to improve the rear looks!
View attachment 169189

Good functional dash with acceptable plastic quality. Steering wheel small and sporty carried over from the swift. Quite a few storage spaces for kicknacks but glove compartment is really small. Wiper and turn indicator stalks feel durable.
View attachment 169177

No tachometer on manual version is totally unfair from MSIL! MID stalks are too protruding! Shows Odo , two tripmeters (Left stalk) , Average fuel consumption , Instantaenous fuel consumption and distance to empty (right stalk). The two stalks can be used to set various unlocking patters of the doors and alarms (when equipped with central locking)
View attachment 169184

Water fall central column. Looks much better with OEM Audio system in the ZXI variant.
View attachment 169176

A/C controls are standard . !2V socket provided in VXI. Option for another socket provided.
View attachment 169173

Driver window only auto down , not up. All doors lock automatically at 15 kmph .The door lock/unlock key is quite helpful in absence of remote boot lid opener. Helps unlock bootlid for checking while entering malls without coming down from the car.
View attachment 169178

Thick A pillars hamper visibility in acute turns.Have to be careful on bendy hilly roads.
View attachment 169191

View attachment 169182

Doors open wide with good ingress and egress.
View attachment 169195

Front seats very comfortable with decent back and thigh support . Good height provides proper visibility even for shorter drivers.
View attachment 169181

Rear seat thigh support not upto the mark. May be a problem for taller persons on long journeys. Setas are firm to seat and comfortable though. Seats are pretty lightweight made of high density foam (looks something like thermocol [shock]

View attachment 169186

Quite big parcel tray.
View attachment 169174

Very large boot with option for folding rear seat 60/40. Swallows up luggage without any problem.
View attachment 169175

Thick C pillars hampers visibility while parking.Lack of adjustable head rests in rear seats are particularly irritating in case of taller persons on long journeys. Cannot sleep [frustration]

View attachment 169196

Planned upgrades -
1. Remote lock - RD , Xenos , Autocop? Will fitting it from aftermarket invalidate warranty?
2. Headlamp upgrade- Osram Nightbreaker or Nightbreaker plus ?

Mods :

Plan to blacken the window frame and the b pillar ..but not sure which car detailer to approach? Help!

Ok..so much for now! Thanks for reading. [sleep]

Hey Razor,

Mine is a red celerio vxi mt Dec 2015 model 18k run. I am experiencing notchiness in gear shifting particularly when the lever moves to left to engage 1st or 2nd, the movement of the gear lever to left side has a metallic rubbing effect. Have you observed any such issue..

Razor said:

Cost cutting by Maruti....Celerio cabin air filter costs 499...replaced recently.

srpsinu · Aug 15, 2017

Hacky said:

Remove the glovebox first. Behind that you will see a rectangular black plate the size of a 6 inch ruler. Press the plastic lock on the right side of & remove it. Maruti does not provide cabin air filter from factory...ridiculous cost cutting. You can put one from mgp for 499 INR.

Razor said:

My Celerio went for some service today. The clutch had become somewhat hard at 30k km and I was then advised that I would have to change it quite soon. However it held out till the 40k service. Now odo is at 42971 and the clutch had become quite hard and I was afraid it might fail during my highway runs. So went for it at Starburst Maruti dealer service at Kalyani.

Well they said the entire clutch needed overhaul and it took the best part of the day to get the job done. Still they could not replace the clutch cable as they didnt have one in stock for Celerio. The entire job cost Rs 3799 which I thought is on the higher side.

Old clutch assembly and plate
View attachment 227905

Bill
View attachment 227906

This year I have spent Rs 10k on maintainence of my not yet 3 yr old Celerio. Brake inspection + clean in Jan (cost ~2k) , 40k service in May (cost 4.5k) and now clutch overhaul for 3.8k.
Whoever said maintaining a maruti was cheap![thinking].

Met another Celerio owner whose car was in for 40k service and he too had problems with the clutch and was advised replacement. Something to look out for other Celerio owners.

Anyway , clutch has become much softer now. Lets see if fuel economy improves. In summer with a/c on all the time with city: highway travel around 40:60 ratio , the average fuel econ is showing a steady 17.9 kmpl (meaning actual f.e. is around 1 kmpl less) , which is good enough for me.

Lately I have been driving around a lot in my newly bought swift vxi(o) , in the city and highway , but I gotta say this that when ever I take the Celerio on a highway run , it just brings a smile to my lips. It will raise a few eyebrows but let me tell you that it's acceleration till 80-90 km with only me as the sole occupant (which is mostly the case) is better than the swift. It rapidly attains 80 km ph speed and can cruise effortlessly the entire day like this. The swift is more powerful no doubt , but it requires more accelerator pedal input. The swift may be "lambi race ka ghoda" but the celerio is also a very agile pony [:)]

Also found another Celerio Vdi in the service center after a horrible accident on the highway. Came to know the occupants have survived though , but the car seems like a writeoff.
View attachment 227907
View attachment 227908

Since you own both swift and celerio, what is the difference in fuel economy in both cars under similar driving conditions. I am thinking of switching over to a swift petrol. Heard that swift vxi has inadequate brakes...how is it compared to celerio.

Razor · Aug 16, 2017

srpsinu said:

The gear is notchy for sure, but I havent noticed anything like metallic rubbing effect.

Well lately , i am finding no difference at all. Now I am getting 16.5 and 13.5-14 kmpl for the swift on highway and city, where as the celerio is giving 17 and 14.5 respectively.
Mine is Vxi-option with abs-ebd and the braking is far more reassuring than the celerio. After using the swift, I have decided never to buy another vehicle without abs again.So go for for the optional variant , buddy, you will be much more safe.
By the way , do you want to buy a swift now? the new swift can be available as early as this festive season or maybe early next year.

srpsinu · Aug 17, 2017

Razor said:

Thanks for the reply Razor, Are The fe figures MID indicated or otherwise as I heard swift mid is a little more optimistic.

Agree with you on the ABS part...I also heard that the brake booster on the abs variants is bigger than non abs variants in swift which results in lesser pedal force to be exerted..Can you confirm...

srpsinu · Aug 22, 2017

Hacky said:

You can install fog lamps from dealership..MGA .it does not involve wire cutting..comes in a kit form with switch & relay...only thing is the supply terminals will be fixed directly to the battery post.

Hacky · Aug 22, 2017

srpsinu said:

Can you upload photographs if you have installed the same in your car. I would be higly obliged.

Regards

Harshit Sukhija

ticken · Sep 1, 2017

Hacky said:

A detailed DIY installation guide from a BHPian. Give it a read

Courtesy : Team-BHP

Maruti Celerio DIY - Fog lights and DRL installation - Team-BHP

ticken · Sep 15, 2017

Fellow Celerio owners, has anyone faced any problem with there stock wipers? The stock wipers has started to leave streaks already, so i think i might need to get them replaced. Will it be ok to get MGA wipers or aftermarket wipers? Any suggestions?

Akash1886 · Sep 15, 2017

ticken said:

Go for a pair of Hella Dyna wipers. They are bit costly but very good in performance. I had been using them in my CITY Ivtec and they last long. As of now also, I am using Hella Wipers only in my car and they are working well.

Regards

Akash

Razor · Sep 19, 2017

I had to take my Celerio to the service for the fourth time in 4 months now. [roll]

The earlier problem had returned. After changing the throttle body sensor , the car was running fine but fuel economy had dropped drastically. Even in highway I could'nt manage more than 13.5 kmpl but otherwise car was fine. Finally last week I found the fuel economy increasing to previous levels , but the sometimes the car wouldnt start when switched off after running for sometime. I could hear the self rotating , but no ignition. But it would start if pushed.
I suspected a problem with the self.So took it to service. But I could not reproduce the problem at the service centre. It was so random. Anyway I managed to convince the SA to overhaul the self , under warranty. The problem hasnt recurred so far [fingers crossed].

ticken said:

Are you keeping the car under sun for prolonged periods? One of the wipers of my car too has become like that, but shouldnt happen in a new car.

ticken · Oct 26, 2017

Razor said:

Sorry for the late reply.
Unfortunately yes, have to park my car under the sun. Off late, now i cover my front windshield with a cloth (indian jugaad) when parking under sun. And since, monsoon is pretty intense in Northeast India, wipers don't late long. May be i would have to change them soon. If i get those Hella Dyna wiper blades i would use them.

Maruti Suzuki Celerio Ownership Review

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