AOA Guys,
After reading through this thread , doing a lot of research and weighing my options. Alhamdulillah , got the new CIAZ. in brown color. To help out others out . I will post an unbaised honest review of the car with pros and cons. These are my personal observations and of course you guys can decide to totally not agree with any or some part of this.
Advantages
Car is spacious: Lots of leg room in the back. Loads of room in the trunk. Comparable to that of Corolla (trunk space). I have a family (3 kids) . So the car needed to be spacious. This is what it is. The car has more space then City , but lesser then corolla and civic in the back.
Engine response: Engine is responsive. I have not tested it to its limits since the car is running in. But you can feel that its responsive.
Fuel efficient: Getting approx 12.5-13.5 km/litre with AC in city. I have been told that it will improve.
Cabin Noise: A key feature is how quiet it is. Most of the time when using a light foot you feel like driving a hybrid car that is running in battery mode. Seriously it is that quiet. Sound proofing over all makes the overall driving experience very good.
Looks: I like the looks of the car. But I feel that the interior needed two colors. Like how they have it in India. The use of chrome in many places and overall design is good, but the lack of beige and black combination is a big turn off. So my personal preference would be 1.City , 2. Ciaz 3. Corolla in terms of interior. The interior however is not bad looking by any means. But its not something to be excited about either. The exterior on the other hand looks stylish. Something that you can be like 7/10. Better then City for me , but not as good as the corolla. The new corollas exterior is much better.
Disadvantages
So... I had Vitz 2013 before this. Which was a 4 grade genuine auction sheet verified extremely clean ride. Before that I had a mistsubishi lancer 2007. Before that I had a 2006 , 1.3 2szfe Vitz.
Recently when I was switching over I , was hunting for a 4 grade Toyota aqua or a Honda FIT. Both of these cars are a pleasure to drive. Just like how most JDMs are. However, the prices for a non accidental 1500CC or above JDM are sky high now. Even if you get a graded clean ride. It will still be atleast 35k or more driven (usually).
During the hunting process had a lot of potential FRAUDS , with many people lieing on the auction sheets. Alhamdulillah , thanks to Pakwheels auction sheet verification system , I escaped on two occasions. After weeks of searching I finally decided to go for this as I could not wait for booking, did not want to pay ON/AUN (whatever) and could not find a JDM that fit my budget and had an authentic 4 grade or above sheet. Everyone is different but I don't care about resale so that was not a big concern. I am more of a car enthusiast.
So I decided to go for CIAZ. However, I had wrong expectations. So that is why this section is very important.
Please note:
DO NOT compare Thailand assembled with JDMs. Yes , the quality is much better then recent pakistan manufactured cars BUT. JDMs..... are still gems. Basically when we have the wrong expectations set , we are turned off by the vehicle not meeting them. So just because its imported (and this is for JDM lovers) , this cannot be compared to a JDM. So this was one disadvantege for me. I got this wrong , (my expectations). I hope you guys who are looking to buy this. Make up your mind before going through with the purchase.
Secondly. The suspension is stiff. I personally drive my cars very gently. I am a careful driver. Therefore I expect smooth/soft driving experience in return. The ride of CIAZ on broken roads is not comfortable, you can feel a lot of bumps and it does not do a good job absorbing those irregularities so that you do not absorb them 
. The handling is good , pretty good actually, because of the stiff suspension cornering is very stable. But the suspension is as stiff as city. So , for me . Not good in this department.
Build quality: As mentioned above , its not as good as JDMs. So please dont expect it to be like that. This includes all plastic fabric etc. Does not feel as solid as a JDM.
Auto centring of the steering wheel: YEAH.... those articles on google . (please google it) Are not wrong BUT they are exaggerated to some extent as well. So, in some cars (cars in general from different makers) when you make a turn at very low speeds or at normal speeds , the sterring returns to almost exactly in the middle. Most hondas work that way. Some cars will return with like 20-30 degrees difference , the remaining you would have to pull slightly with a little flick and it centres.
ON CIAZ. this difference is more then 25-30 degrees. So on low speeds the steering will only slightly come back . If you slightly accelerate once the turn is complete , the steering will come back quickly but not ENTIRELY. You will have a good 20-30 degree difference that you will have to do manually. This however is not bad to the extent that you feel like the entire rack and pinion system is faulty. After a few days you get used to it and do not notice it. So some of the articles stating that its dangerous and you can get into an accident is an exaggeration. But to completely deny that there is any issue with this (Like how salesmen did when I called them up to ask them) , is also false. Suzuki in India have called up a good number of vehicles to get this resolved.
So what I did was , I drove a ciaz from a friend of mine , it was manual transmission and had 32000 on the odometer. I saw the problem but concluded that I can live with it. I will say that this issue in my car is more then it was in his. But maybe after an alignment or overtime the system may become better. Anyways. I had to write this so that if you come across an article on the internet. You would know what the real picture is. Again its best to drive it before you buy it and pay attention to this particularly.
Overall
Given the price a little under 1999000 ( I got a discount of 25k). I am happy with the purchase Alhamdulillah. However, If I was able to find a less then 35k driven Honda Fit 4 grade or above Or an aqua S (or above) in this range. I would have gone for them. JDMs (the graded clean ones not the accidental crap) unfortunately have spoiled me 
. Set the standards very high for others to compete. But you can counter argue that a brand new car with so much space for a growing family is a better choice. At the end every decision will have its pros and cons. It depends on the factors that you consider most important to you.
I have tried my best to help buyers get a true picture of the car from an owners point of view. I feel that corolla city and all cars are good. So any comparisons made are from my personal observations which can be totally wrong from your perspective and I would certainly respect that .
