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Ride quality, space and ease of use
Outright lack of horsepower
Time really does fly when you're enjoying what you do. After four to five months of near-daily duty in Mumbai, our long-term stint with the Maruti Suzuki Victorious has finally come to an end. It has been a constant companion, through office commutes, late-night drives, and everything in between, quietly settling into the rhythm of the city. We would have loved to put its all-wheel-drive system through a proper test on muddy trails or broken terrain, but Mumbai’s dry winter months didn’t quite cooperate. Still, even without that, the Victorious has delivered exactly what it promised, and then some.
What stands out most is just how faultless the experience has been. Not a single glitch, no software hiccups, no laggy screens, no random Apple CarPlay tantrums, nothing. It’s the kind of bulletproof reliability you expect from a well-engineered Japanese machine, and the Victorious absolutely lives up to that reputation. Even now, months after its launch, it continues to look fresh and well proportioned. In a segment crowded with 4.3 metre SUVs trying a little too hard to stand out, the Victorious strikes a rare balance, it has presence without being loud, style without being over designed. It’s the kind of design that will age gracefully, and that, in turn, gives it the potential for a long, uninterrupted run in the market.
Of course, it isn’t perfect. Performance enthusiasts might find it lacking the punch of something like the Volkswagen Taigun, but what it gives you instead is a far more comfortable and easy-going experience. The ride quality remains one of the benchmarks in the segment, only recently challenged by the new Duster, and even then, long-term durability remains a question the Victorious seems better equipped to answer. It’s also noticeably more feature-rich, making it a well rounded daily driver. Sales, too, seem to be catching up after a slightly slow start, helped in part by its availability through Maruti’s wider Arena network, opening it up to a broader audience. And then there’s the big one, our 2026 Car of the Year. Despite strong competition from cars like the Sierra, the Victorious won us over with its blend of reliability, practicality, and sheer sensibility.
As it leaves our garage, it leaves behind a very high benchmark, and perhaps, just perhaps, another Maruti Suzuki might be next in line to fill that space.
