Ownership report on Maruti Swift DDis

This is also a copy of my earlier post on www.dogstail.wordpress.com

Its been some time since I have been active on the site, given my extremely lazy and laidback attitude to life and everything else. Some time back I wrote a piece on comparison between Fiat Palio mjd and Maruti Swift Ldi/ Vdi, which has been very popular. After the analysis I then went and purchased a Maruti Swift Ldi in late Mar, 2008 based on the reasons that you can read here.

I wanted to write something about owning a Swift Diesel. Now whenever one experiences anything it is coloured by the persons previous experiences. My motoring experience is coloured by the fact that I owned an Esteem for some time, then I went for a Wagan R, then drove Fiat palio for 4 long years and then have now bought a Swift LDi. In between I had an opportunity to lay my hands on a Santro, Indica, Alto and even a Maruti Omni. Since most of life on wheels has been spent behind steering wheel of a Fiat palio 1.2 ELPS, naturally I will tend to compare my experiences with the very superior performance of the Fiat in almost all departments.

I purchased Swift Diesel, because I wanted more mileage and Fiat was sleeping on its Palio MJD and Grande Punto Launches and also I have had some very bitter experiences with the Fiat Service. I was a bit apprehensive about Swift as Most Maruti Cars tend to be flimsily build with very little tolerance for bad roads and rough driving.

Now that I have driven more than 6000 Kms since 25th March, 2008. I have had some good surprises and some of the prejudices about Maruti have remained.
The looks are pretty unconventional and the reactions also are on extreme side. You can either love it or hate it, there is no middle path for this car. Some people like me even though they do not like the looks, have bought the vehicle, only goes to show the superior characteristics of the vehicle compared to others in same class. By same class I mean similar size, engine and seating capacity. Pricewise this vehicle is much more expensive than the competition, with almost Rs. 20000.00 lead over the Palio multijet and more than Rs. 1 lakh on the Indica. The looks are further spoiled by the thin 165 size tyres on the otherwise very chunky profile. It looks like a Sumo wrestler suffering from Rickets. Maruti has tried to squeeze maximum out of this vehicle. Thats why you get see such cheap cost cutting measures. I wonder how much more does it cost to put a 185 size tyres than 165, when bought directly from OEM. Some basic equipment like Tachometer and Prismatic rear view mirror are not available on the LDi model.

Swift like all Maruti's is delicately built with lot of plastic staples holding the inside door panels and the carpeting. The plastic staples invariable start coming out after some time, especially if your door panels have been opened for fitting the remote locking and power windows. This reults in very annoying door rattles, while driving on rough roads and when careless co-passengers slam in the doors. The bumpers have started to come loose after driving on some rough Kerala roads.

Leg room is adequate for medium sized passengers, but reduces significantly if the driver is above 6 ft and uses all the available back slide. The drivers seating position was difficult to get used to, as the seat itself is flat and the lumbar support is not exactly where the lumbar vertebrae are, and is located slightly higher up, which results in very awkward seating positions for the driver, which has actually caused some back-aches during slightly long drives. Now after much experimenting I have arrived at a relatively comfortable driving position. In this postion the AC & Stereo controls are too far off and I have to bend forward to reach them. Of course in Fiat the seat encloses you in its embrace and no position is bad for your comfort.

The switches and knobs are high quality and have soft luxurious action. Gear throw is short and crisp and makes this vehicle a delight to handle on quick overtakes.

The engine is the same 1248 CC Multijet that the Fiat uses albiet Maruti uses a different gear box, which allows it to have Overdrive ratios in 4th and 5th Gears. For the mechanically challenged Overdrives are gears which allow the drive shaft to rotate faster then the engine, therefore theoretically being more fuel efficient. Maruti Swft also has larger wheels, which means that it covers more distance for same number of rotations, which also makes it more fuel efficient. I am normally a very placid driver and therefore get more than average mileage out of any vehicle that I drive. In my first tankfull I got 20 kmpl, and after that the figure has been progressively on the rise and the car is now consistently delivering around 24 Kmpl. The driving is a mixture of town, open highways, winding roads. AC is on during day time. You can read further on getting more mileage out of your vehicles here.

The engine is enourmously torquey and allows me to take-off in first gear with full AC, without pressing the A pedial. Initially when the vehicle was new it was quite noisy but now it has mellowed down quite a bit. As the A pedal is pushed it is possible to make out the slight whine of the turbine as it spools up, when you leave the pedal the turbo whines down. It is much fun to push the pedal to varying degrees and hear the different sounds that the turbine makes. Just around 1500 rpm the turbocharger becomes effective and the results can be heard in sudden increase in engine clatter. In first and second gears the turbocharging does not result in back pushing acceleration, but as the driver pushes 1500 rpm in 3rd gear and beyond the acceleration is phenomenal. Enough to overtake anything blocking your view on the road. The torque with turbocharging is such that I can climb gradients in 5th gear, which in a similarly powered Petrol vehicle I would have struggled in 3rd. Of course a small momentum has to be built up before attempting any high speed climbing.

The engine noise does go up with turbocharging but at high speeds does not intrude much into the cabin. In 1st and 2 nd gears you know that its a diesel motor. 3rd gear onwards the sound & vibrations progressively reduce. in 5th between 60 and 80 kmph you wonder why people buy petrol vehicles. It is very easy to get addicted to the torque after 60 kmph. Just a tap of Acc pedal and the vehicle lunges forward. Sometimes absent mindedly I try to shift into the non-existent 6th gear. There is so much of torque. The top speed compared to the petrol variant I think is limited by the gear box and the fact that Diesel motors are low revving compared to Petrol ones.

It is possible to feel the high torque and the Engine Management System, if you try to stall the vehicle at low speeds say in 3rd gear. The computer tries to maintain a constant rpm of around 900 and pushes the vehicles and you can actualy feel the vehcle accelerating hard without pressing the A pedal. It is also possible to idle at 50 kmph in 5th gear. The combination of high torque and computers does not allow the engine to stall, though it should not be practiced as the vehicle vibrates a lot.

My complaint regarding poor road holding and stability when compared to Fiat remains. The vehicle bounces on rough patches, and is decidedly nervous when turning on a rough road. With full load of passengers it is Ok though.

The nice small cubby holes in the dash are good for storing knick-knacks, but a larger glove box is sorely missed. The dash itself is very chunky and when opening the glove box, you would expect a larger storage area but you are greeted by a small sliver of a drawer, which can hold your service booklets and very little of anything else. The boot is only 35 ltrs less than Fiat but feels smaller as the usable area decreases sharply due to tapering profile of the vehicle. It is difficult to put large suitcases in the boot, but more stuff can be forced in if packed in smaller and softer luggage.

AC is a delight and it chills immediately. Infact it is better to use it with thermostat slightly above the full cool setting to prevent freezing. Power steering is soft and razor sharp. The vehicle goes precisely where pointed to and does not need constant adjustment. the 4.7 mtr turning radius, a full 40 cms less than Fiat helps in tight parking lots. A 20 cm shorter length also aids in easy maneuverability.

The service at Kottayam Popular was professional and courteous. A far cry from Fiat service. A service supervisor comes and takes over the vehicle, asks and checks for problems. He himself delivers back the vehicle, washed and nicely cleaned, after confirming that the problems mentioned earlier have been corrected. Though they love to profer useless services and stuff such as underbody coating, fibre floor mats etc. Dont listen to them if you dont want to. Overall good service. Maruti recommends oil change every 10000 kms, which further reduces the cost of maintenance. Although they could have done better with finer oil filters, thereby increasing the oil change period to 30000 kms as they do in Europe.

Maruti has gone ahead and built what they have never done before. A Car that actually drives and feels like a European vehicle, though they still fall short on many parameters, but they have improved the model with each passing year. If you drive the first batch of Swifts and then drive the current models then the differences are immediately apparent. The body rattle is significantly reduced. Clutch action is much better and softer.

Verdict, Buy if you have spare cash and drive at least than 800 Kms per month otherwise the fuel economy of diesel is quickly eroded by interest costs of alomost Rs. 80000.00 that you pay extra for the diesel. Buy if you are a crazy drag racer.