Reader Rides- Nilesh Sawant's Zen Estilo

Nilesh Sawant, an avid reader of IAB has emailed us a comprehensive review of his Zen Estilo. He has owned it for over a year now, and some of his observations and feedback, we believe, will help a lot of potential buyers.

I have been using the Zen Estilo Vxi for over a year know. Already clocked 15,000 kms on the board so I thought know is the right time to write a review of the vehicle. And like all others do, let me share Pro's of the car first with you all and then the Con's

• Electric Mirrors are a blessings in disguise, You really can change the position of the mirror with a touch of the button.
• Getting in and out of the car is simply trouble free. Due to its tall boy design, getting in and out is easy. A boon for those who suffer from Arthritis and other muscle related problems and of course how can I forget senior citizens.
• Drivability in and out of the city is silk smooth. One Just can zip in and out of traffic without any real hassle or bothering for the traffic.
• The carries 4 people with ease and is really smooth to drive. Infact the car behaves better on road when it is fully loaded.
• AC cooling is fantastic and one gets feeling chilly within minutes of switching on the AC
• Know comes the best feature, Self central locking of the car, which locks the car automatically after the car attends the speed of 20kms/hr. How cool is that, this feature is restricted to only some luxury cars.

Cons:

• The tall boy design makes the car misbehave on the road when you are driving alone. Specifically on curves, the car tends to leave the track.
• The phone charger in the car is located behind the steering wheel, making it cubersome to charge the phone.
• Gearbox though well meshed with the engine does not arouse you to push the car to its limits.
• Engine is sluggish compared to the other cars in the market in the same segment.
• The car feels space cramped for the third person in the rear.
• Like all other Maruti cars, the headlight is not good enough for the night mode, so the first thing that you need to do post you buy this car is change the headlight to much more powerful bulbs.
• And last but not the least tire size of the car should have been bigger which would have added to the stability of the car on high speeds.

All and all it has been a fantastic one year of owing this car. Trust me I have only spent Rs.5000 in the whole year for servicing this car, and in return the car has taken me to places such as Jawahar which is 7000 ft above the sea level with full on A.C and 5 people on the board and through out the journey keeping the mighty Verna and the Getz in distant view of my rear view mirror.

Jawahar was only one such destination that I mentioned but there are many more places that I have traveled in this small wonder. And before I end this review, how can I forget to mention the Mileage figures!

City commutes, I get close to 12kms/ltr and on highway run, anything in the range of 15kms/ltr to 18kms/ltr depending on the road and traffic condition.