My first review here.
Had been using a 1992 model of Maruti 800 for last 6 years. An excellent car, amazingly smooth and convinient in traffic and easy to park. And then I saw the Swift and fell in love with it. I booked it on 30th December 2006 and got it on 5th January 2007 from Sai Service(Andheri). I think Sai Service provides excellent sales and after sales service. You just love it when you are there, the sales guys are very polite, patient and attend you immediately. You need to haggle a lot for the freebies though and if you are good at negotiating, you can pull a lot out of them.
Its been an amazing experience driving my Black Swift VXi(the Swift looks a devil out for a kill in black). Ample room in the front and decent space behind. 6 of us went to Murud in my Swift and it was quiet comfortable. Infact I was surprised at the performance of the car. Even with 6 people I managed to touch 140 KmPH with full AC on and no one ever realised we that we were going that fast. It was amazingly smooth even on the ghats with the AC on. I got an average of about 14 KmPL which I think is quiet amazing considering we were 6 of us and had quiet a bit of luggage as well(Yes we managed to get everyone’s luggage for 3 days trip in the boot).
Maruti has provided value accessories like tachometer / seat belt warning / headlight buzzer / key warning buzzer/ remote fuel lid opener and 5th door opener. I dunno why they missed out on the digital clock and rear wiper though.
Parking, specially in reverse can be a bit of a problem due to the bulkier frame(but I think thats just my perception after using the 800 for so long). The frame of the windshield is a little too broader than need be, it can initially be a problem but you get used to it after some time.
Its been 6 months and 6000 Kms till now and I have consistently been getting an average of about 11.5 KmPL in the city with AC on all the time and I travel in bad traffic from Powai to Bandra west atleast 5 days a week. On highways I get around 15 KmPL again with AC on all time. The trick to good mileage is to shift into the 5th gear by 40 KmPH as
soon as possible, never change the fuel(I always prefer Speed),
regularly check the tyre pressure and avoid excessive speeding.
Drive ON!