Changing Lanes

Maruti Suzuki puts a brand new 1.5-litre engine in the latest Ciaz, and that’s not it. 

- Tushar Burman

MARUTI LAUNCHED THE Ciaz in 2014 and later put it under their ‘NEXA’ brand, meant to be an umbrella for their premium, forward looking products. At the time, I found the concept of Maruti calling out to the rich kids meme-worthy. Four years on, there have been other premium-ish offerings under the banner, which is sort of becoming a thing, and the Ciaz is back with an interesting facelift. Much like other carmakers recently — Ford comes to mind — Maruti has gone for a refresh and thrown a brand-new petrol motor into the mix. Let me repeat that for you: Maruti has a new motor. 

Compose yourself. For the uninitiated, Maruti generally makes do with a 1.0/1.2-litre petrol and a 1.3-litre diesel for most of their prodigious selection cars, and uses them until it is legally impossible to do so. This new 1.5-litre (1,463cc) naturally-aspirated petrol motor is a departure. The paper figures, however, aren’t. The brochure said 138Nm and 103bhp. This is a lot of sleep-deprivation for a hundred-horsepower uncle sedan, I thought. Six phone calls from a hassled public relations rep, and I was ready to ride, only 30 minutes late.