10.31Maruti-800 AC India, Maruti-800 AC Review
Many cars come and gone, but the car that put this nation on wheels is always around, in one form or another.
There’s little doubt that the Maruti 800 is the most manoeuvrable car around. It’s compact, nimble and the easiest thing to drive. The 800 is best in urban surroundings, it can squeeze into parking slots where others can’t, or make a quick U-turn where others would have do a three-point one. With the new engine the 800 quite a delight to nip around town. The controls are obviously light and driving stress down to a minimum. The 800’s direct steering has always been a strong point and it complements the nimble behaviour of the ear.
The chassis, suspension and small wheels find it difficult to cope with the increase in power. At speed, the 800 feels unsafe on any surface that is less than smooth. On a typical country road it feels nervous, pitching all over the place. This just does not allow you to enjoy the full performance potential of the car. It’s down to the small 12-inch wheels - the main culprit for the choppy ride. The lack of servo- operated brakes are obvious, especially when from a good clip you suddenly have to stomp the centre pedal to avoid that cow that’s decided to cross the highway. Thankfully, 145/70 R12 tyres, standard on the Deluxe-MPFI and EX-MPFI versions, do their job quite well.
The exterior has been freshened up a bit, and looks quite appealing. There are clear-lens headlamps with striped indicators and a fake ‘projector’ for the driving lights; the grille opening is now a simple trapezoid, more modern and cleaner looking. The bigger concern however is construction. The sheet-metal dies are very old now, which means fit and finish isn’t what it used to be and the panel gaps are much wider. Inside the cabin the functional brightened up slightly with new dials and new-look fabric. There are cubby-holes abundantly, even a dash-top box, and the front passenger gets a little slot instead of an air-con vent. There are complaints of course, of flimsy plastics, useless door-pockets and a dull look. The cheap seat material and deleted ashtray don’t exactly make the car any better. Plus, there’s no trip meter or left-side wing mirror. The seats too are different, thinner and narrower, with bolstering, and look distinctly cut-price. Space has never been at a premium in the 800 but it will still allow a family of four to wiggle inside.
On to the engine (F8B) which was brought back down to two-valves-cylinder spec to make the 800 as cheap as possible and differentiate it from the Alto which runs the same engine but with six more valves (F8D). Start it up and there’s a thrummy, noisy idle — plus, the car isn’t as solid as an Alto, so you tend to feel the vibrations more. The more modern five-speed gearbox has been pushed out by the original four-speeder, which has a rubbery throw and lacks a precise feel. Long distance driving in the 800 is certainly not recommended, which apart from being tiring is also relatively unsafe.
This new variant has seen an overall decline in performance. The earlier car used to do the 0-60kph in a very respectable 6.7 seconds; the new one takes 8.09. Response at the bottom end has definitely been blunted, and we really miss the old, strong lower rev-band. There isn’t much at the top end either as overtaking is not the 800’s forte, especially on the highway where the little 796cc engine runs out of breath very quickly.
The 800 was always the most fuel efficient petrol car around. The five-speed gearbox makes more efficient use of the engine’s power and torque characteristics, which means better fuel economy. This was most evident on the highway it gave run of 21.9kpl. In the city it managed 13.9kpl, which is marginally better than the carbureted car.