Maruti Suzuki Ciaz vs Honda City, Verna, Fiesta, Vento, Rapid, Linea and Sunny

Maruti Suzuki Ciaz is here! India's largest automaker has launched it's premium offering with a starting of Rs. 6.99 lakh for the base petrol while the diesel starts at Rs. 8.04 lakh. The company has kept the prices competitive and seems to have targeted towards the segment leader Honda City. We have pitted Ciaz against almost every mid-size sedan present in the market today, lets dig deep to find out what Ciaz offers against its competitors.

Exteriors:

Maruti Suzuki Ciaz is one of the longest sedans in its segment, second to only Fiat Linea. When compared to the segment queen City, Ciaz is longer and wider which in turns impart better interior space. Adding more to it, Ciaz has the longest wheelbase – 2650mm amongst the sedans in this comparison, making it roomier inside. Moreover, Ciaz features a European design, which makes it look more elegant and premium compared to its competitors. Projector headlamps come standard in Ciaz, except for the Verna and Rapid (only in top trim) no other car in the segment features projector headlamps. Ciaz also rides on 16-inch multi-spoke alloys compared to most of its competitors riding on 15-inch rubber.

Interiors

As mentioned before, Ciaz features the longest wheelbase in its category, so there’s no compromise on space inside, in Maruti. Top-spec Ciaz also comes with leather upholstery which is missing in most of its rivals. Unique to the Ciaz, no other car in the space offers a touchscreen infotainment system. Adding to it, Ciaz comes with a large 7-inch infotainment screen with built-in Sat-Nav, it’s larger than the City’s 5-inch and Sunny's 5.1-inch non-touch units; Maruti calls it ‘SmartPlay’. Furthermore, Ciaz also comes with fully automatic AC with rear air-con vents which are missing in Ford Fiesta and Hyundai Verna (only rear AC vents in Verna); rest of the cars offer the same.Ciaz sports a voice guidance system in the infotainment unit; the same was introduced later in the Vento facelift. However, Fiat Linea was the first car to introduce this feature in this segment. Among its rivals, Ford Fiesta has the most advance voice navigation unit.

Maruti Suzuki Ciaz Diesel Spec Comparison

Maruti Suzuki Ciaz Petrol Spec Comparison

Engine: Performance and Efficiency 

Ciaz took the crown from City, as the most fuel efficient vehicle in the county with a tag on diesel of 26.21km/l. When we compare Ciaz with City’s diesel motor, from which it took the crown- Ciaz only comes shot of nearly 9bhp which in real world doesn’t matter a lot, torque is same on both the vehicle. On the petrol front, Ciaz comes shot of both power and torque compared to City and Verna – its major rivals but excels in terms of fuel efficiency, and with a tag of 20. 73km/l it is the most fuel efficient petrol mid-size sedan in the country! Verna on the other hand is the most power sedan here on paper with two engine option in both petrol and diesel. Moreover, Vento and Rapid just got a diesel engine upgrade; the new engine is more refined and efficient and is more powerful than the Ciaz.  Speaking of the Vento, the 1.2 TSI is the second most powerful petrol engine sedan in the lot, after the Fiat Linea T-JET. And indeed these are the only two turbo charged petrol motors among the lot. Sadly, Fiesta only comes with a diesel heart.   

Safety

Speaking of the safety features, except the base 'V' trim, Ciaz packs ABS and EBD along with driver airbags. In addition to these, Z trims add co-passenger airbags making dual-front airbags. City offers standard driver airbags, ABS with EBD while top variants come with dual-airbags. Verna offers no standard safety add-ons; except for the base model Verna features all-around disc braking, driver airbag and ABS with EBD. While the top-trim in Verna gets 6-airbags. Fiesta offers ABS with EBD and driver's airbag as standard across all the variants, while it offers dual front airbags in top two variants.

2014 Fiat Linea comes with standard ABS while all-around disc braking and dual front airbags add on in the top-trims. 2014 Nissan Sunny sports driver-side airbag with ABS and EBD with BA (Brake Assist) as standard across. Moreover, top-end variant of Nissan Sunny, XV Premium Safety, also has side airbags making it a total of four. Now, the recently updated VW group siblings - Vento and Rapid; Vento comes with standard dual-front airbags while the ABS starts from second trim and Rapid gets driver's airbags from second trim onwards while ABS is offered in top trims. ESC – Electronic Stability Control comes only with new Vento and Rapid 7-Speed DSG automatic gearbox.

Pricing

Maruti has priced Ciaz well under the segment sales topper Honda City; Ciaz has defiantly undercut the City entirely in pricing. Starting with the diesel, Ciaz is almost over a lakh cheaper than two of its arch rivals – City and Verna. While in petrol its neck-to-neck between the trios but City is again a lakh costlier than both Verna and Ciaz. Moreover, Ford Fiesta is still the most economical diesel mid-size sedan in the country and it also comes standard with driver airbag and ABS – undercutting Ciaz diesel prices. In a nutshell, Ciaz seems to be a modestly packed car in an economical price tag, just like every other Maruti!

Read More on : Maruti Ciaz review