Maruti Suzuki XL6 Pros & Cons

Check out pros and cons about the Maruti Suzuki XL6 that are worth highlighting for a potential buyer. Here are some of the highlights of the benefits of buying the Maruti Suzuki XL6. We'll also list out the XL6 drawbacks to help you make an informed buying decision.

XL6 Advantanges

• Captain Seats On A Budget

  The XL6 is the most affordable car with captain seats in the second row. While having separate seats in the second row takes away the space for one passenger, it instead offers tremendous comfort for second-row occupants. A bench seat can’t match the support and contours a captain chair offers. If you intend to frequently use the 2nd-row seats and don’t mind giving up the space for one passenger, then a car with captain seats is most suitable for you. Consider trying it out at a dealership near you and we’re sure you’ll agree with us.

• Balanced Features For Zeta

  While the Alpha trim offers a few extra features and justifies the incremental cost over the lower variants, it’s the Zeta that catches our attention. The mid-spec Zeta trim not only offers a good number of features, it also has a far better balance of must-have and good-to-have features. So, you don’t have to spend for the Alpha trim without ever feeling like you missed any critical feature.

• Reliability & Service Network

  Maruti Suzuki have the widest sales and service network in India. This means that as an XL6 buyer, you won't have a problem finding one within a short driving distance away. Moreover, you are also likely to easily find experienced mechanics at 3rd party service centres who have worked at a Maruti Suzuki service centre before. Given the popularity of Maruti Suzuki cars in India, the spares are also easy to come by. When shopping for spares, you will not only have the choice of getting original MGA spares, but you can also find 3rd party OEM-spec parts, from reputable auto ancillary manufacturers.

• Good Mileage Even With Automatic

  The new XL6 has a 10% higher mileage than the pre-facelift model. This is remarkable considering that the older car was already pretty fuel-efficient, to begin with. What’s astonishing is that even with the power-sapping torque converter automatic, the XL6 manages to deliver a 20kmpl+ mileage figure.

• New 6-speed Automatic

  We’ve complained about Maruti Suzuki’s old-school 4-speed torque converter automatics, which they normally offer with their 1.5L petrol engine in the S-Cross, Brezza, XL6 and Ertiga. With the 2022 update, the XL6 gets a new 6-speed torque converter automatic. With 2 extra ratios, it’s more likely to keep you in a suitable gear regardless of your speed and driving style. With the older 4-speed gearbox, you sometimes ended up in a gear too short or too tall for the driving situation at hand.

• 180mm Ground Clearance

  While 180mm may not sound like much, you would be glad to know that this is the psychological threshold to enter the SUV territory. The Mahindra XUV300 also has a 180mm ground clearance. Do note that typically, the manufacturer-published ground clearance figures are without any load. With a full load, it’ll drop a little but you should still end up with enough clearance to make you doubt the car’s ability to go over most speed breakers.

• Top-Notch Safety Survivability Score

  In the GNCAP crash tests, the Ertiga/XL6 didn’t impress us with the 3-star score. However, once we dug deeper into the crash test report card, we found that the Ertiga protects critical parts of our body like the head, neck and chest just as well as 5-star cars like the Nexon and XUV300. It beats many 4-star cars in the survivability points. So, we can happily say that based on the GNCAP crash test results, the XL6 is just as good at saving lives as a typical 5-star rated car like the Nexon or XUV300.

XL6 Disadvantanges

• Efficiency With Automatic

  In ARAI’s mileage tests, the XL6 automatic is about as efficient as the manual. But we buy automatics because we don’t want to deal with the frequent gear changes in stop-and-go traffic. Unfortunately, its fluid coupling saps efficiency even when you’re stuck in traffic with the transmission in the D mode. This is because moving fluids consumes a lot of energy and doing so without moving an inch is just inefficient. Once you get moving, though, you can expect the XL6 automatic to deliver good mileage figures but in stop-and-go traffic, you should expect lower real-world mileage. Newer automatics like dual-clutch, CVT and AMT don’t have this efficiency problem.

• No Turbo Petrol, Diesel Engine

  Hauling 6 adults requires torque, especially at lower RPMs. While the hybrid petrol engine of the XL6 has decent torque output, it doesn’t have the torque output to match that of a turbo-petrol or turbo diesel. The Carens has both of these engines besides a 1.5L normal petrol engine. A turbocharged engine is more suitable for hauling 6 occupants because of its low-end torque.

• Nexa Exclusive

  Being a Nexa-only model limits the reach of the XL6 and therefore its sales prospects. A wider sales network would bring it within reach for people who might buy the XL6 if they get to experience it but don’t have a Nexa dealership in their area.

• Non-Removable 3rd Row Seats

  While removable 3rd-row seats are not a feature we thought we needed, the Triber increased our expectations. After seeing the practicality and boot space improvements this feature offers in 2-row mode, we were impressed. Because of the removable 3rd-row seats, the smaller Triber manages to beat the significantly larger XL6 in 2-row boot space. The XL6 has a 550-litre boot space with the 3rd-row seats folded down. Meanwhile, the Triber has 625 litres of storage with the 3rd row out of the way.

• 3-star GNCAP Safety

  With respect to the critical body parts like the head, neck and chest, the XL6 performs just as well as 5-star-rated cars like the XUV300 and Nexon. However, the 3-star sticker might still turn some safety-conscious buyers away from the XL6.

• Rs. 10L+ Starting Price

  For a good while, the base variant of the pre-facelift XL6 used to cost less than Rs. 10.0 lakh. This price made it quite the deal for people who live in states where the taxes are considerably higher for cars costing over Rs. 10.0 lakh (ex-showroom). Moreover, it offered almost all the features. Now, though, the XL6 facelift’s prices are well over the psychological barrier of Rs. 10.0 lakh making it completely out of reach for a lot of buyers who intend to stay within this limit.

• Top Trims Offer Poor VFM

  The Alpha and Alpha Plus trims still offer poor value for money and don’t justify the incremental cost over the lower variants. Just like before, the Zeta variant remains our top recommendation.