Celerio diesel: An affordable car with good mileage

The Celerio diesel has a versatile character and won’t disappoint in most of the driving situations.

Maruti Suzuki has done big experiments on the Celerio since its launch.

The hatchback made its debut with the AMT (automated manual transmission) gearbox that was seen in India for the first time.

Now AMT is extremely popular in India since people find it convenient and affordable while maintaining the same fuel efficiency. 

Later, Maruti Suzuki introduced their first home grown 2-cylinder diesel engine with the Celerio.

It is currently the smallest diesel engine available in the country.

After taking a test drive, we were quite curious to know how does the tiny 800cc diesel engine fares on a daily basis.

We at MotorBeam.com have been living with the car since a few months now.

There are no visual changes on the diesel powered Maruti Celerio apart from the badging.

However, our long term car has an optional chrome pack, which along with the tasteful 6-spoke alloys make the rather simple design a bit more presentable.

The size is very practical for city usage along with the tight turning radius and high ground clearance that doesn’t bother you while parking it in tight spots or over high kerbs.

The Maruti Celerio has a very practical cabin layout with the best part being easy ingress and egress.

You simply walk inside the cabin thanks to the seat height and massive headroom, it is a boon for elderly people having knee problems.

The steering wheel gets integrated controls for the audio system as well as Bluetooth telephony but the latter is positioned behind the wheel and it’s low so you have to check which button you are pressing before receiving or denying a call.

The audio system offers a plethora of connectivity options including CD, AUX, USB and Bluetooth.

The four speakers have average sound quality but the user interface is easy and quick to pair your phone. It doesn’t have the phonebook feature so it doesn’t display the name of your contact.

The quality across the cabin is consistent and feels long lasting. There are no signs of squeaks and rattles in the cabin at all.

The Celerio feels quite roomy and airy since there are large windows and seats are spaced out quite well. 

We have driven the Celerio on the crowded streets of Chandni Chowk as well as some open highways.

The car has a versatile character and won’t disappoint in most of the driving situations.

In terms of NVH, there is this typical 2-cylinder vibration once you crank the engine and it sounds funny too getting some curious expressions from your neighbours.

However, the noise and vibrations settles down to a great extent when the engine temperature rises. Still you can feel some vibrations at idle but the noise is well controlled inside the cabin thanks to the strong insulation.

It offers good amount of torque at the low-end and mid-range but it is a very short band of torque so you need to shift quickly to keep accelerating strongly.

There is minimal turbo lag and it starts pulling from 1800 RPM till around 3500 RPM and then the power tapers off sharply.

Because of the strong low-end grunt, the Celerio gives better mileage in the city than on the highway.

Since you are doing 3000 RPM at 100 km/hr in the top gear, the fuel consumption gets higher but still you get an impressive 19 km/l of real world efficiency.

In the city with a light foot, changing gears early, you will get 21 km/l of mileage. 

The ride of the Celerio diesel has been stiffened up at the front compared to its petrol counterpart.

At low speeds you might find the front being stiff on rough roads but the ride smoothens up with higher speed.

The rear tends to bounce a bit on undulations but it doesn’t hamper the strong high speed stability of the Celerio. Even at its top speed of 140 km/hr, the Celerio doesn't make you feel nervous.

The steering is responsive and the hatch is quite chuckable around corners with very less body roll. 

The USP of the Maruti Celerio diesel is its super low running costs thanks to the excellent mileage.

It now comes with ABS and airbags as an option across all the variants while being standard on the top variant.

The Celerio is priced quite aggressively and offers a well rounded package making it a very sensible and easy-to- own car for first time buyers. 

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