Maruti Suzuki Esteem 'Revisited' | Review

I know I am reviewing a car which has been discontinued by Maruti Suzuki, but I am doing it because of my love & passion for cars right from my childhood & may be because I am one of the proud owners of Esteem Vxi.

In July 2004 the Esteem (Deacde Old Power Horse of Maruti Suzuki) was Re-Launched with caption ‘Fall in Love Again”.It received a second facelift in which the redesigning exercise introduced clear lens headlamps incorporating orange indicator bulbs within the single assembly, a new prominent Mercedes-Benz shaped compact chrome-bordered radiator grille, rounded fog lamp inserts on the bumpers, an all-new bumper, jewel effect redesigned tail lamps (only the brake lights and the indicators) and new boot lid with a spoiler with integrated stop light.The rear-end now looks much like the 1997 Honda City.

The clear reversing lights however are incorporated in a parallel and slanting manner in relation to the tail lamps. However,I feel the Mercedes shaped grille with stylish Suzuki logo looks good..
The car:

It is essentially a proper subcompact four-door front wheel driven hatchback with a well integrated boot that makes it a small sedan, whose length is 4075mm,breadth 1575mm and height 1395mm.

This car is a light lower midsize budget luxury car. The kerb weight is 875Kg. The wheelbase is 2365mm while the ground clearance is 160mm.

In It’s last times there were 5 variants the LX(base model), LXI(LX+power steering),VXI(Power windows, Kenwood Music Player, Power Staring, Rear Spoiler & every other feature found in top luxury cars).

Engine and performance:

The engine is very smooth.The car is powered aluminum E MPFI (Electronic Multi Point Fuel Injection) petrol engine which drives the front wheels. The VXI has a 1298cc unit with 4 valves per cylinder whose output is 85bhp and 10.6 kgm (at 6000rpm).

Performance is very good. The VXI takes around 5 seconds to hit the 60kph mark from standstill while the same with the 100kph mark comes up in 12 seconds.Top speed is a decent 165kph.Fuel efficiency is okay:10kpl in the city and 16kpl in the highway without AC.. with AC average & pickup decreases slightly.

In all till the time it was present in the market it was Maruti Suzuki’s Ace in the Mid-Size Luxury Sedans Segment.
It proved tough competition for Tata’s Indigo, Ford Ikon, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Accent etc. making them stand far below in the market share list due to all the above featured stuff & Maruti’s Brand name which counts for value for money & service facility at most places.
Though it is discontinued by Maruti Suzuki & has been replaced by Swift Dezire , it still has that elegance & features which can put the latest mid-sized segment cars in the market at shame even today!!