Have you ever had that feeling where you wish you had a smaller car just so that you could fit into that narrow street or squeeze into that tight parking space? The combination of narrow roads and high number of automobiles plying in the streets is a deadly combo leading to more traffic jam. The urge to be traveling in a small compact car is very strong at times like these. The small hatchback class is actually in a very good spot right now. It currently has two markets in its sight, the first one are the people looking to shop for their first small budget car and the other being the second car buyers for their everyday commuting. This trend is catching up very fast and people are understanding the benefits of having a small hatch at their garage. This is really helping in boosting the sales of these small hatches. The Celerio X is looking to take the market by storm with new updates, focusing mainly on the styling front to attract buyers who want a dash of style in the everyday hatchback.

With the market already filled to the brim with a lot of competition from other brands, can the Celerio X make the cut? We find out in this review.

EXTERIOR

Visually the only notable changes to the front of the Celerio X is the black highlights under the headlights and around the fog lamps, it gets a slightly different looking front grille than the normal Celerio. Moving to the sides, this is where there are some notable changes like the black cladding on the wheel arches and the door panels. The Outer Rear View Mirror (ORVM) has been finished in black unlike the body color finish on the Celerio. The 14 inch alloy rims are also finished in black to give it a much sportier look. On the roof, a black roof rail is added to give it a little bigger feeling. Looking at it from the rear portion we can see that the rear bumper is different.

The Celerio had a one piece bumper color matched to the body while the Celerio X has kind of a split two piece bumper, the upper portion is matched to the body color while the lower portion is blacked out. There is also the addition of rear light reflectors on the new bumper along with a silver skid plate like effect. These are the main exterior changes on the Celerio X, it is however available in 5 different yet attractive colors. The design looks like it was mainly focused towards attracting the younger crowd with its bold design.

INTERIOR

The interior is mostly untouched and carried over from the Celerio. The main difference being the orange highlights on the seats and a triangular patterns on all the seats. Other than the seats, the Celerio X has an all-black interior to give it more of a sporty appeal. If you expect it to have luxurious amounts of space than you are wrong. The Celerio X is a small vehicle and it is pretty evident while you sit inside the car.

The dash is made out of hard plastic and there is no soft touch materials used in the dash. This has been done to keep the manufacturing costs of the Celerio X down and price it aggressively. The space available in the cabin is pretty tight but considering the size of the vehicle I must say it is pretty good. The seats are decent and provide adequate support, however they are a little thinly padded so if you have a tall passenger sitting behind you then you will feel their leg rubbing against your back rest. Like mentioned earlier, taller passengers sitting in the back might have a little issue with the leg room available and the car being quite narrow, three at the back will be a tight squeeze. The boot space is pretty decent though with 235 liters of space available. Interior space is an important part when buying a car but when buying a Compact crossover hatch you have to keep in mind that you will be compromising on the space, the car is designed to be small and very practical so it offers what it was set to do. The Celerio X comes equipped with Bluetooth feature so playing songs and taking calls will be easier on the move. The steering wheel also has the audio controls mounted on them to make it more efficient. It has manual A/C and it does its job very well, the A/C kept us cool from the increasing heat of Kathmandu city.

PERFOMANCE

Powering the Celerio X is a three cylinder 1L K10B petrol engine putting out 67 Bhp @ 6000 RPM and 90 Nm of torque @ 3500 rpm, these figures might not look like a lot but when you look at the kerb weight being only 850 Kgs it has a pretty decent power to weight ratio. The 3 Cylinder petrol engine feels very lively and is happy to rev but is a tad bit on the nosier side and that noise does make into the cabin too. This noise only gets prominent when you are in the higher rev ranges otherwise it is not very loud. There are two gear box options that you can choose from, the 5 speed manual gearbox and the AMT automatic gearbox. The vehicle we reviewed was the manual car and the gearbox was pretty impressive. It was very light and smooth to operate, making shifting very easy even when you have to constantly change gears. The clutch pedal was pretty light to making life in stop and go traffic a little more bearable. However if you want to commute in a more relaxed way then you should opt for the automatic version of the car with Suzuki’s Auto Gear Shift (AGS) technology.

Again coming back to the point of this vehicle, it is not a hardcore performance machine rather a practical everyday commuter. The claimed mileage for both the manual and the automatic variants is a very respectable 23.1 KM/PL (Kilometer Per Liter.). We couldn’t do a real life test of the mileage it was returning but checking at the kilometers driven and the amount of fuel that had been used we know for a fact that this is a very efficient car.

VERDICT

The Celerio X is focused to those who want a little style while commuting in possibly the most efficient way. The Celerio X is only available in its top spec variant the ZXI (O) and it is priced at Rs. 26,99,000/- Even at this price point the Celerio X comes with ABS (Anti Brake- Lock System) and two airbags for the front. The Celerio X is a very good option for the people who are looking to buy a small compact hatchback and want a bit of style with it. With good mileage and decent driving experience the Celerio X should be definitely on your list of cars to look at in this segment.