Maruti Udyog’s latest introduction into the small car segment is Zen Estilo. The new car is actually called Suzuki MR Wagon in Japan and few other countries. Zen Estilo is new version of Maruti Zen – Maruti’s premium compact car. The Estilo which means “style” in Spanish provides both Japanese simplicity and European sophistication.

Maruti Zen Estilo borrows heavily from the original Suzuki MR Wagon and has been redesigned to suit Indian conditions. Zen Estilo is now taller and offers more boot space and better air conditioning. It delivers 64 bhp of power and its low torque make it ideal for Indian city conditions. Zen Estilo has looks like a miniaturized family van because of its smooth flowing, simple and monoform design. Since it’s built on the same wheelbase and uses the same seats, legroom and space offered are identical to that of the new WagonR.

Zen Estilo comes with premium, good-looking interiors. It’s two-tone colour theme and redesigned seats provide better support and sport fresh new upholstery to match the dual tone colour theme of the interior. The rear seats are comfortable and under thigh support is also decent but it is nowhere near the cars in the same class like the Indica, Palio or even the Santro. Zen Estilo has a 5 speed manual transmission, fed to a 1061cc 4-cylinder in-line engine. The engine is capable of providing 64bhp of power at 6200rpm and a torque of 8.56kgm at 3500rpm. With a fuel tank of 30 liters, the Estilo is perfect for a long day on the highway.

The Zen Estilo uses a McPherson strut with torsion type control system for its front suspension. The rear suspension uses Coil Spring, gas filled shock absorbers with three-link rigid trailing arm. These ensure that the Estilo swallows up the potholed Indian roads with ease, making it perfect for city driving.The Zen Estilo uses ventilated discs for its front suspension and drum brakes for the rear suspension. With a wheelbase of 2360mm the Estilo is a bit smaller than the old Zen. This provides better handling and makes the car nippy, which provides that extra edge required to drive in Indian City conditions.

The new Zen Estilo comes with a choice of 145 or 155mm tires, which varies with the model. Learning from its mistake with the Suzuki swift Maruti is offering normal spare tires instead of the space saver tires.Overall the New Maruti Suzuki Zen Estilo priced at Rs.3.26 lakh(ex-mumbai), provides very good value for money, and to satisfy that wild side a nippy car.