BOX TICKER

The new Celerio does most things very well and the rest rather competently

Pablo Chaterji

There are few things in life that are certain. Death and taxes are the oft-repeated examples, but to these I'd like to add another candidate - the post media drive feedback form. As an automotive journalist attending a new car's first drive, if you think your job is done once you've finished driving and shooting said car, you're very much mistaken. Just when you sink into a chair in the hotel's lobby, catching your breath after a hectic few hours of work and steeling yourself for your flight home, a PR person will materialise out of thin air. You'll scan your surroundings, but there won't be any escape routes available; even if you're able to somehow make a break for it, you'll be found. “I hope you've filled out the feedback form?” the person will ask politely, managing to make the question sound like a gentle request as well as a direct order.

By this point, your only option will be to follow them to the designated form-filling area, where you'll likely be handed a tablet with a form running into several pages. The questions will be exhaustive, and if you're less-than-enthusiastic in your responses, you'll mournfully be asked why this is the case, both by the form and the human beings present. It is a slightly nerve-wracking experience, I can tell you, but I've decided go flip things around a bit by approaching this review like it's a feedback form. Two can play this game, so here we go.

1. What are your first impressions of the #allnewCelerio's exterior design? Rate it from 1 to 10.

I'd give it a 6 on 10.

You have a negative impression of the #allnewCelerio's design. Please elaborate on why this is so.

I wouldn't go as far as to call it 'negative'. However, I do feel that the Celerio looks... inoffensive. To me, it has the appearance of an Alto that has taken out a gym membership - and has successfully used that membership, since this is a bigger car than its predecessor. The connection between the older car and this one is established by the swept-back headlamps, but other than that element, the new Celerio looks totally different. This one has less of a tall-boy stance, but compensates by riding higher off the ground, on 14 and 15-inch wheels, depending on the variant (the black 15-inch alloys are very spiffy and fill out the arches nicely). A relatively restrained chrome strip runs down the middle of the grille, and the front end is visually balanced, with a set of fog lamps built in.

Bulges runs down the car's profile, on the bottom sections of the doors, presumably to enhance the car's sense of width; this is not immediately apparent, however. The Celerio does look its best in profile, I have to say, and its tapering roofline is a nod towards sportiness; I can see some aftermarket potential here in terms of making it look more snazzy. The wheelbase has also been increased and is the same as the Wagon R, which is also underpinned by Maruti's Heartect platform.