Becomes the second car to get the new, in-house developed diesel engine after the Ciaz
Soon after announcing its plans to discontinue diesel engines from April 2020, Maruti Suzuki has plonked the new 1.5-litre diesel engine on the Ertiga. It is available in three variants – VDi, ZDi and ZDi+ – and is priced from Rs 9.86 lakh to Rs 11.20 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). It attracts a premium of Rs 30,00 over corresponding variants powered by the 1.3-litre diesel engine with the Smart Hybrid system. It must be noted that Maruti Suzuki is not offering the 1.5-litre diesel engine on the base-spec LDi variant of the MPV.
*All prices ex-showroom Delhi
Meanwhile, the company will offer the 1.3-litre diesel version of the Ertiga until stocks last. Post that, the diesel-powered Eritga will only be available with the 1.5-litre diesel unit, which does not come equipped with Suzuki’s Smart Hybrid system.
The Ertiga is the second car from the homegrown carmaker to receive the new 1.5-litre diesel engine. The Ciaz was the first car to get it back in March 2019. The new engine makes 95PS of power and 225Nm of torque, which is 5PS and 25Nm more than what the 1.3-litre unit dishes out. The new engine is available with a new 6-speed manual. The older 1.3-litre engine, on the other hand, was only available with a 5-speed unit. As far as fuel economy is concerned, the 1.5-litre unit manages 24.20kmpl, which is 1.27kmpl less than the claimed figure of the 1.3-litre unit.
Other than the engine, nothing else has changed on the Ertiga diesel. It shares its feature list with the 1.3-litre diesel variants and offers dual front airbags, ABS with EBD, ISOFIX child seat anchors, rear parking sensors and high speed alert system as far as safety is concerned. Other features on offer include projector headlamps, 15-inch alloy wheels, a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, automatic climate control and push button start.
It is interesting to note that the Eritga powered by the new 1.5-litre diesel will be available for a limited period only. That’s because the carmaker has decided to pull the plug on all diesel-powered cars from 1 April 2020. This step has been taken keeping in mind the high-cost of upgrading its current engines to meet BS 6 emission norms, which could result in them being economically less feasible. Maruti Suzuki believes the price difference between petrol and diesel variants of a car will go up to Rs 2.5 lakh, thus weakening the case for diesel cars post April 2020. However, the carmaker is open to relaunching the 1.5-litre diesel engine in a BS 6 avatar if there’s a strong demand for it in the future.
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