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S. Muralidhar

A NOSE job costs less in the world of cars than in the real world for humans. No, this is not going to be about Rhinoplasty, Botox and anti-wrinkle creams, but the Esteem and its newly acquired looks.

What is so intriguing is that despite the cosmetic surgery that Maruti recently performed on the Esteem, the company surprised customers and others in the passenger car industry with a price cut for the upgraded, refreshed, new version.

And so it was, that after a nose job and a bit of a nip and tuck, the Esteem's new packaging has enhanced its appeal, and it is showing in its sales numbers.

Maruti's ageing entry-level mid-size passenger car, the Esteem (what used to be earlier called Suzuki Swift in some other markets), has been sorely in need of an upgrade for years now. Customers who bought the car did so for its performance, its attractive pricing in the mid-size segment (though its dimensions are really not comparable to several others in the same category) and the low cost of ownership that its fuel-efficient engine and parentage promised.

Of course, in the 1990s, the Esteem sold simply because there was no comparable, contemporary alternative available in the market. The Esteem was originally derived from the Maruti 1000. The underpowered one-litre engine in the Maruti 1000 was replaced by a 1.3 litre carburetted mill, and the Esteem was launched in a market bereft of competition. The steady rise in the number of new models starting with the Daewoo Cielo to the Ford Ikon, GM's Opel Corsa, Tata Indigo, Fiat Petra and the Hyundai Accent, meant that the Esteem faced competition from better looking cars.

Despite such strong competition and not being able to take a larger pie of the rapidly growing C-segment, Maruti had been putting off a serious upgrade for the Esteem. The only other time that the Esteem went back to the studio was when the 1.3 litre engine was upgraded to an all-aluminium, 16 valve, multi-point fuel injected one in 2000. The same engine, which generates 85 bhp at 6,000 rpm, has been retained for the new look Esteem.

So, the new Esteem has come due to some obvious imperatives and a few not so evident ones. Maruti did the re-styling of the Esteem completely in-house without any technical help from its parent — Suzuki. The new look was also based on customer feedback, which indicated that apart from the older Esteem's dated looks, there was nothing amiss. The new Esteem will have to work hard to regain market share in the mid-size segment and tackle emerging competition from the new cusp segment, between the B and the C categories.

Maruti's mandate for the Esteem's design team was clear. Make the car visually look bigger, wider and plusher, without altering any of its existing dimensions, which would have cost the company much more than what it has. The attributes could enable the Esteem tackle competition from the new B+ breed and those in the C-segment. What is even better, the new package comes Rs 40,000 cheaper than the previous version of the Esteem.

One look at the new Esteem and it is clear that despite its petite dimensions (compared to other C-segment cars), the changes to the exterior do make the car appear wider and bigger. The visually enlarged image for the Esteem has been achieved by raising the noseline, adding deeper, more muscular bonnet lines and by fitting a large chrome-finished grille, which seems uncannily like the one on the Baleno. The new front bumpers with integrated fog lamps that come as part of standard fitment with the VXi variant adds to the new Esteem's bigger looks.

Other exterior features include clear-lens type front headlamps and new rear combination lamps with clear lens finish with the reverse indicators being separately featured on the boot. The top-end VXi variant also comes with a rear spoiler and an integrated third stop lamp. All variants of the new Esteem now come with 13-inch tubeless tyres as standard fitment; another feature that will go on to improve the performance of the car compared to the radials that it came with earlier. The overall fit and finish quality of the exterior panels also seems to have been fine-tuned.

The interiors sport a classier and cosier look. With new fabric upholstery and matching inserts on the door panels, a new sporty, gearshift knob with brushed silver insert and pleasing to the eye, white back-lit dials lend more style to the interiors. Depending on the variant, the interiors also feature silver-finished dashboard centre console garnish and matching slap-on panels for the air-conditioner vents and sections housing the door opening lever and power window controls. The quality of the seats has been improved and the rear seat now has an integrated, foldable armrest for added comfort.

The 1.3-litre, MPFI engine, the same monocoque chassis, collapsible steering column and the smooth shifting five-speed gearbox also continue to be available with the new Esteem. Ditto with the vacuum booster assisted disc and drum brakes combo and the suspension setup that has been carried forward from the earlier version.

The new Esteem's delicious catch is the attractive pricing that Maruti has pulled off. Starting as low as Rs 4.05 lakh for the LX variant (ex-showroom Chennai), the Esteem will leave small car buyers wondering why they should not consider the upgrade into the sedan category. Despite the changes, the interior space in the Esteem will be only marginally more than in the Zen.

Tabulating the comparison

MOST buyers looking in the entry-level mid-size segment look for value-for-money.

This means the features at the time of buying the car; and running and maintenance costs subsequently.

Buyers of the mid-size car is more sensitive to the value-for-money issue compared to the top-end, premium sedan buyers.

These buyers were probably considering B-segment cars, but lured by a bigger, three-box car for a slightly higher price.

In the table above, we have taken the three cars considered to be the choices in the entry-level mid-size segment.

We have also chosen those variants, of the Esteem and the Indigo that closely match (in terms of price) the Ford Ikon LXi - the lowest priced variant of that car. So, though there is a less expensive LX variant of the Esteem, this has not been considered. By choosing variants of all three cars that are priced within Rs 15,000 of one another, we hope you will be able to make a meaningful value-for-money comparison.

For the higher priced variants of these models, the positives and negatives will be similar to those indicated for the three variants compared.

Read this week's Q&A for more details.

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