When you think of Maruti, you think of reliable, low-maintenance, and good value. What you don’t think of is excitement, fun and style. However, that’s exactly the image the carmaker is adamant on creating with the stylish and quirky Ignis.
The Ignis is styled like a mini crossover with a strong upright stance, square dimensions and flared wheel arches. It’s a catchy design up front, with neat LED DRLs bracketing the headlamps, and a massive bumper housing the round fog lights and number plate.
Measuring just 3.7 metres long, the Ignis is quite compact. It gets black cladding all along the beefy wheel arches, 15-inch alloy wheels with a squarish design for the spokes, and the massive C-pillar has three shark gill-like design elements, all of which lend the hatch a sporty air.
Viewed from the rear, the Ignis has a squat, but rather oddly-proportioned stance, with its sharply-sloping windscreen, squarish tail-lights and wide haunches. This is probably the only bad angle to view the Ignis from.
Step inside and the Ignis will surely impress. It’s got a nice two-tone dash with plenty of cool elements like the free-standing touchscreen infotainment screen, the cylindrical auto-climate control unit with nifty toggle switches, and the sporty instrument cluster. The front doors even get door-handles that are neat-looking bars painted the same colour as the exterior. There’s even an upmarket multifunction steering wheel that’s new for Maruti.
Top variants of the Ignis come with Maruti’s SmartPlay infotainment system that’s now loaded with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, along with connectivity features like Bluetooth, USB and Aux-in. The unit acts as the rear-view camera display and navigation system too. The equipment list also includes keyless-go and electrically foldable ORVMs. What’s also nice is that all variants come with dual front airbags, ABS with EBD, and ISOFIX child-seat mounts as standard. Plus, the Ignis already meets the new Indian crash norms that will come into effect later this year.
Despite its compact dimensions, the Ignis packs in quite a spacious interior. The front seats are comfortable and well-bolstered, with the driver getting adjustments for height and a tilt-adjustable steering. It isn’t a very wide car, so seating three at the rear will be a bit tight. However, the rear seat is quite comfortable, and legroom and headroom are more than generous. It’s quite practical too — there’s a 260-litre boot, and the rear seat also gets a 60:40 split-fold function, which allows you to load more luggage.
The Ignis comes with 1.2-litre petrol and 1.3-litre diesel engines, both of which get the choice of a five-speed manual or a five-speed automated manual gearbox.
Starting with the petrol manual, the engine is peppy and the slick gear-shifts make driving this lightweight hatch even more pleasurable. Power is available from low revs and the motor feels quite strong when you push it. It’s even got a nice sporty note when you spin it hard. The only fly in the ointment is the super-light steering. While it’s a boon when driving through city traffic, it offers little feel at speed and it doesn’t centre itself automatically.
The ride is another highlight of the Ignis. It drives like a bigger car and doesn’t get tossed around a lot on bumps and potholes. The diesel variants feel a bit stiffer, but in all, the Ignis has a composed ride.
The diesel manual has a slightly heavier clutch, but also a heavier steering that offers better feel. The engine is responsive even at low revs, and even feels strong once past 2,000rpm. However, it isn’t the most refined motor around and gets quite noisy when spun hard.
As for the diesel AMT, it’s quite hassle-free when pottering around in slow-moving traffic, but then, the pause between shifts becomes apparent when you want to, say, make a quick overtake on highways. You can, however, work around this by using the manual mode. The petrol AMT is even better to drive, with the shifts being smoother overall. However, if you are looking for a fun-to-drive little hatch, the petrol manual will serve you best.
All in all, the Ignis offers you quirky styling, a funky, spacious and practical cabin, and a host of powertrain options.
It isn’t expensive, but it isn’t cheap either. That said, today’s car buyers are willing to spend more for something unique and feature-loaded, so the pricing may not be much of a problem.
