Despite being in the top five passenger car markets in the world, India has been a predominantly manual transmission market. But, with the explosion in car sales, and the disproportionately poor growth in road infrastructure, traffic snarls are an everyday reality in cities. No wonder then that automatic transmissions are fast becoming the choice amongst city dwellers. And, not just passenger car leaders like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, but utility vehicle makers like Mahindra & Mahindra are also joining in with their own AMT options.

Maruti’s Vitara Brezza is the latest SUV to get an AMT. Maruti is late to the party, others like Ford EcoSport and the Mahindra TUV300 have been available with AMT gearboxes. But, the car market leader has often caught up and raced ahead of competition in the past. So, does Maruti have a winner on its hands? We drove the new Vitara Brezza AGS (Auto Gear Shift) to get a first hand experience of how comfortable it is.

First impression

The Vitara Brezza gets a makeover first, inside and out; focussed on enhancing its bold and sporty character. New alloy wheels in glossy black finish, a front chrome grille and back door chrome garnish add a dash of sport and a premium look. The chrome parts have been made standard across all variants now, which were available only in the ZDi+ (top variant) earlier. Stepping inside the Brezza, you are welcomed with the ‘all-black’ theme — black fabric seats, the dashboard and all other interior elements are now black (grey shade in the earlier versions). The new attraction in the cabin, of course, is the AMT gear-stick poking out of the centre console.

The refreshed Vitara Brezza comes with new safety features like ISOFIX child restraints, high-speed warning alert, dual airbags, ABS with EBD, reverse parking sensors and front seat belt pre-tensioners and force limiters. These have now been made standard across all variants, so the company has discontinued the ‘optional’ variant (VDi+) that used to offer dual airbags, ABS and EBD at an extra cost to the customer. The Vitara Brezza AMT also complies with all other safety regulations, including pedestrian safety, ahead of regulation timelines. It is already certified for offset and side impact crash tests since launch.

Driveability

Just like its manual transmission counterpart, the Vitara Brezza AGS continues to be offered with only one engine option. A petrol engine is still not on offer. In the AGS version, the 1,248 cc multi-jet diesel engine continues to generate the same 90 PS of power and 200 Nm of torque. One of the first things that comes through after driving the Vitara Brezza AGS is the smoother shift from this AMT gearbox. Compared to the automated manuals in some of the other Maruti models like the Celerio, Ertiga or the latest Swift (diesel AMT), there is no lag in the new Brezza. A little sluggishness is still felt when going from low range to higher range — the typical lull below 2,000 rpm felt in many of the Maruti cars — but once it crosses the 2,000 rpm mark, the strong surge in power goes all the way up to 5,000 rpm. So, while the delayed response may be an issue during in-city driving, on the highway and with the engine on a boil, this is unlikely to be a dampener. And, once you hit speeds of 80 kmph-plus, the new safety feature ‘high-speed warning alert’ acknowledges it with a beep, which warns you to ‘be more careful’ if you are driving beyond the speed limit.

Bottomline

The Brezza’s AMT version is expected to lead the segment, although it is a bit late. Built on the Suzuki C platform, this vehicle has already seen cumulative sales of around 2.75 lakh units since its launch in 2016 and is selling over 12,300 units a month, which is one of the highest in its segment. The price for the AGS version, at a premium of about ₹40,000 to ₹50,000 over the manual, is still attractive and ranges between ₹8.54 lakh and ₹10.49 lakh (ex-showroom). With the new EcoSport and Tata Nexon also offering AMT versions in the same segment, the market is going to be as hot as the summer.

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