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Posted on: Jun 08 2007

Maruti-Omni

Transport doesn’t get any more basic or cheap than this — it’s basically a passenger cell on wheels. This is the poor man’s family car, with not much in the way of comfort, refinement or finesse, but plenty of utility and practicality for a very low price. Maruti’s been trying to make it as car-like as possible.

Design, Engineering and Interiors:
The Omni is nearly as old as the 800; in fact, it’s one of the oldest cars in Maruti’s stable — and it shows. The Omni last received a face-lift in 1997, and has stayed much the same since.
It’s a van through and through, from its mono-box shape to its flat, easy-to-make panels, and from its engine, mounted under the front seats, to the rear-wheel-drive set-up, sliding doors and crude leaf springs at the rear.
It uses 12-inch wheels, with cross-ply tyres and drums all round. There’s no pretence of sound-deadening apparatus or any real effort towards making it car-like.
Build quality is really flimsy, with tissue-thin sheet metal; with this and the fact that there’s only a few inches of metal and plastic between the front passengers and a head-on collision, safety is a real issue.
The interior, too, is van-like, resembling a hastily modified commercial vehicle — which it actually is. It is decidedly Spartan, with very few creature comforts, and absolutely basic seats and trim. The driving position is van-like, the driver sitting on top of the engine, the steering wheel at a flat, uncomfortable angle, his feet on awkwardly positioned pedals. One sits facing a bare-bones dashboard, with rudimentary dials, poor plastics and uncomfortable ergonomics.
However, the driver suffers, but there’s decent legroom in the rear, in the five-seater version. For a car this size, it can easily take five passengers and their luggage. This practicality is a major reason for its success, both as cheap rural transport and a tourist taxi, accentuated in the eight-seater.
Getting in and out through the sliding rear doors is easy, but once inside, you have to contend with flat, shapeless seats, vinyl upholstery and plenty of vibrations. There’s no air-con, and the sliding windows are a pain to use. The seatbelts are also the old static type, a safety concern.
The boot is fairly large, considering the Omni’s size, but the angle of the rear seats means luggage leans against the hatch; open it up and everything tumbles out. This space is best used for a CNG cylinder.

Performance, Fuel Economy and Handling:
The Omni uses the same engine as the 800, turned by 90 degrees to fit longitudinally, and drives the rear wheels instead of the front pair. This engine has MPFi and the same two-valve-per-cylinder head.
It also uses the same four-speed gearbox as its hatchback cousin, but with different ratios, to offer driveability instead of top-end performance, which is necessary in a van.
The tiny, 796cc, 37bhp engine works well enough in town, with good driveability through slow traffic. However, it feels woefully under-powered on the highway, especially with a full complement of passengers.
The breadbox-like aerodynamics don’t help and the large frontal area severely limits top speed — in fact, any speeds you manage over 100kph is a bonus.
Refinement is a real problem: the engine is noisy and harsh, and the gearbox is rubbery, and the shift is not as smooth as you would find in a car. Fuel efficiency is pretty good: it’s not as good as the super-frugal 800, but double-digits are possible in the city, which is pretty good.
The Omni is amazingly nimble: the unassisted steering is light and it has the smallest turning circle of all.
However, the good news ends there: the ride is really bouncy, the 12-inch wheels unsuitable for travel in the hinterland, where it will spend most of its time, and the steering has no feel, and is more vague than a politician asked to tell the truth. It’s a pain on the highway, top-heavy, with lots of body roll and poor brakes — it takes a brave man to drive an Omni quickly on the highway. High-speed stability is skateboard-like, and the car is susceptible to crosswinds.

Verdict:
There’s only a certain type of person who buys an Omni: someone who has no aspirations, and just wants cheap, practical transport. The Omni is honest and good value — if we had a cubic-metres-per-rupee category, it would win hands-down. It’s fairly reliable too, with low running costs and good service, but it lacks even the basic desirability to pass off as personal transport.
Source: autocarindia.com