2012 Maruti Ertiga ZXI road test

This story had a very unlikely beginning. Usually all our stories are born in the conference room during an edit meet. This particular story started when one of our readers wrote to us and asked us why we hadn't tested a petrol Ertiga yet. The answer was simple. We couldn't get our hands on one. Maybe it's because the demand for Maruti's LUV is so high. Maybe there are some other reasons that we are not aware of. Whatever the case reader Sushrut Dongargaonkar was ready to lend us his Ertiga ZXi to drive around. Visually and ergonomically the car is identical to the ZDi we tested in July, so I will not bore you with these details again. The main highlight of the ZXi is the motor and that is what I'm going to focus on.

The petrol Ertiga uses a new 1373cc 4-cylinder K-series engine making 95PS at 6000rpm and 130Nm at 4000rpm. The engine is super refined and very rev happy.  The performance is good despite the Ertiga being a heavy car. There is a certain degree of familiarity to the engine characteristics and it feels a lot like a grown up Swift powerplant. The engine is mated to a five speed gearbox with reworked ratios that are closer in the first few gears to make up for the slight drop in torque. This does translate into a few more gearshifts while driving but it's not something to complain about. Stomping the right foot and keeping it held will take the Ertiga to 100kmph in 13.1 seconds. We couldn't do a top speed test thanks to the weather gods, but the car feels good enough on the highway. The diesel however still remains the real highway star.

It is very happy at highway speeds (the petrol is not unhappy, but the diesel is definitely happier) and you'll save a ton of money on fuel for the long drives. Sushrut gets an overall mileage of 12.25kmpl but that's with his style of driving and our test figures would vary. But if you want a car to shuffle around the city with your kids in tow then the petrol is a really, really good buy. And what makes it better is that if you opt for the petrol, you'll get yours sooner than the chap who booked his diesel Ertiga on the same day as you.