My New Companion - Ritzy Ritz

Finally all planets aligned on Friday, 3rd July and I found myself in the driver seat of my Ritz, driving it out of Sagar Automobiles on Bannerghatta Road!!!

Yes!! I have found myself a companion!! Ritzy Ritz.

After a lot of study and comparisons, exploring the new world of 4 wheel automobiles... I finally zeroed in on the Maruti Suzuki Ritz, ZXi. Have a look at it, how ritzy it is, after a 1.5 hour back breaking washing!!

But rain gods made sure that my Ritzy stays out of 'dhrishty' by showering some drops of rain after I took this picture!! But I am not moved, I will wash it again tomorrow!!

Background: When I decided to upgrade myself with couple of extra wheels, I started exploring all new 4 wheeler automobile world. Its a world of its own. The decision making was very complex.
Petrol or Diesel? The price difference for a diesel engine, takes about 50000+ kms to break even. That is almost half the life of the engine, though the FIAT 1.3L internation engine of the year seem to defy the diesel engine philosophy. So after my own study and consulting friends, I decided to go for Petrol.

There is hardly any choice in this category. My preference was a hatchback, small car. Swift tops the list. I10, I20(though a bit expensive), Inidca Vista Saffire, and then newly announced Ritz. My mind was thinking of waiting till Jazz and Grande Punto too. But I knew they would be out of my budget.
Then Test drove Ritz and I20 and liked both. Vista was ruled because of Tata's poor after sales service(read in reviews). Swift was ruled out as it has become ubiquitous on roads and also average performance of petrol engine.
The K12 series 1.2l engine of Ritz seemed to be impressive(source www.team-bhp.com). Also the design, especially rear design is, I should say different!! And it is built on Swift platform, looks almost like Swift from front. I20 is on the expensive side, though I was impressed very much by the features it boasts.

So Ritzy and I were destined to be companions. I decided to opt of ZXi, fully loaded. It is packed with ABS with EBD, MP3 player with FM, stearing mounted audio controls, company fitted security system, alloy wheels with wider tyres(185/70) to name a few features.

First drive impression - Awesome. It is almost impossible to tell if the engine is on without looking at the RPM meter. So life is going to be more fun and exciting!!!