Throwback to 25

Just over five years ago, we had written a story on the 25th anniversary of the Maruti Suzuki Zen’s journey in India. In it, we detailed the history, its various iterations and how it became the symbol of vehicular ownership ambitions for a whole generation that grew up in the 1990s and early 2000s. At 13 years from launch to discontinuation, it had one of the shortest life spans of any Maruti model but had left an impact far greater than anything one could imagine (on me at least). This meant I had to get behind the wheel and find out what made it such a 90s Indian motoring icon.

My first time

My own personal experience of falling in love with the Zen came along in 1995 when my mom and dad placed a copy of the Daily Express World Car Guide in my hands. The magazine was unlike anything else I had seen before and blew my little eight-year-old mind. While going through the pages, I was shocked to see the Maruti Suzuki Zen listed as a model. It felt very relatable simply because the magazine had so many cars I had never seen before but also featured a hatch that I could easily spot four to five of if I looked out of the window.

Finding the cars

Surprisingly, finding good examples was not hard at all, thanks to Nikhil Wagle and Tarun Rohra from the Classic Maruti Car Enthusiasts network. They very graciously lent us their customised yet pristine examples of a 1995 model and limited production two-door Steel from 2002 respectively.

A Jellybean shape

In a sea of square shapes that dominated our roads in the early 90s, the Zen stood out for its curves and diminutive size. It was 110mm longer than the SB308 M800 but looked so much more compact and sportier than the former. This too was a two-box shape but sat lower, and had flared wheel arches and wrap-around tail lamps, all elements we had only ever seen in books like the Daily Express World Car Guide.

The much rarer Zen steel of which only 300 were made, looks even sportier and more so thanks to the 15-inch aftermarket wheels that Tarun had fitted. Two major takeaways I found was that the Zen tilted ever so slightly forward and this is especially noticeable in the stock 1995 version. The other was that the initial lot of cars didn't have badging and instead, the text was painted onto the bonnet. It was almost as if Maruti knew that people would start putting their own touches on the car and it would be best to provide a blank slate of sorts for the 'art' work.

The Zen at its core was an Alto for the European market and that meant it was a bit understated and leaned on functionality rather than flash, a taste prevalent in the old continent even today. There's an understated elegance to the layout of the dashboard, fonts on the clocks and even the green AC button that also doubled up as the NOS switch (More of that in the driving section). As M800 introduced us to the concept of Japanese ergonomics, this one opened the door to standardised interiors that looked and felt familiar.

Be it the font on the gear lever, the shape of the steering wheel or, of course, the style of the stalks. They were elements that were carried onto other Maruti models well over a decade into the future and created that instant sense of familiarity. With a wheelbase of 2.35-metres the Zen was never to going win awards for its cabin space but what you got inside was a surprising amount of headroom and very easy ingress/egress thanks to the relatively wide opening of the doors. Four people were acceptable but putting five was a bit of a stretch unless one of the humans involved was of less than average size.

The interior of the Zen Steel/Carbon was no different from the “first” gen car save for a different clock, seat covers and front power windows. However, the doors of the Steel/Carbon are much longer making the ingress/egress even better for the front passengers. Finally, even though you sat low, the view was quite good all around thanks to the thin pillars and large glass house.

Classic Drive experience

I’ll begin with roughly the same words I used in my M800 Classic drive experience. Slot the key in, crank the engine with a bit of throttle and the 1.0-litre engine comes alive in throaty burble. With no BS standard, the engine note is unfiltered and washes over you like a warm beverage on a cold day. Though not needed, we let the car warm up and then set off for our drive experience. On the go, even with just 50bhp the Zen felt lively thanks to its 765-kg kerb weight and a power-to-weight ratio of 65.36bhp per tonne which for a car of that era and size was more than sufficient. The Fi models that came towards the end of the Zen's life were producing 60bhp. It is fast even with a carburettor and picks up speed pretty quickly if you keep your foot buried on the throttle, easily climbing to three-digit speeds with little fanfare.

However, if you needed a quick boost, then switching off the AC (NOS button) gave you a boost as these units were from a time when the compressor didn’t have a cut-off mechanism. Like almost all Marutis from this era, the gearbox was a close-ratio one, not as close as the four-speed unit but spaced out enough to take advantage of a fifth gear that had been thrown into the mix for the first time. This five-speed has continued in one form or another to date and powers the MT versions of the Grand Vitara SUV and has become a staple of Maruti’s three-pedal offerings. What makes the Zen particularly fun to drive is a combination of its small size, extra light steering and surprisingly punchy engine. While it may not have felt out of place among the traffic in its heyday, in today’s times the Zen felt really small. A lot of large SUVs failed to take notice of us and we had to honk a fair bit to get their attention especially while switching lanes.

From the original SS80 and SB308, there is a perceivable difference in terms of ride quality mostly down to the fact that the M800 ran leaf springs at the rear while the Zen adapted to the now-accepted combination of a multi-link rear and independent front. By today's standards, the ride is on the softer side but is pliant and lets you glide along in a wave of relative suppleness. For its time, the Zen had very good NVH insulation tying into a popular nickname, Zero Engine Noise. What you get is a nice combination of sensations and sounds be it the engine, body vibrations and wind noise.

Smiling faces

In the end, as I exited both the original Zen and the Steel, I came away smiling and happy simply because the Zen had been everything I had expected it to be. Making the right sounds, and sensations and invoking a nostalgia that the younger me could have never dreamed of experiencing.

How do I make this more relatable to a newer generation that's never driven a Zen?

Think of this as the precursor to the Maruti Swift. As blasphemous as it sounds, hear me out. Compact proportions- check, funky design- check, rev-happy motor- check, five-speed manual- check, a propensity to make you do handbrake turns- check. You can attach this statement to either car verbatim and it would work.

Pictures by Sagar Bhanushali

25 years of the Maruti Suzuki Zen- the bean that sprouted fun budget motoring

1986 Maruti Suzuki 800 Classic Drive Experience