Swift Diesel ddis-First Drive
*(Scale of 1-5, 1 being lowest and 5 highest)
1-Lowest, 2-Usable, 3-Meduim, 4-Good, 5-Excellent*
01-Feb-07 First Test Drive
In this introductory drive of the Swift Diesel, vdi version, I would concentrate on attributes specific to the diesel engined swift.
VEHICLE LOOK and FEEL [5]
The shape looks all too familiar, and I did not find anything different, now that the diesel engine has been slotted in. The paint scheme was great, shutlines were good, and within tolerable limits, and the doors had none of the flimsy build inherent in this class. The expanse of cabin plastics in grey / dark was not the right mood initiator for starting the test drive.
COMFORT, both front and rear. [3.5]
I drove the vehicle on smooth surfaced roads, and comfort was not an issue.the front seat was just about enough and accomodative, however the leg space for the driver and front passenger was good. Rear is where the action gets high, it does feel slightly cramped vis a vis the front, and this cramped feeling is not only about leg space, but in general can give you a feel of sitting in a coop. Not sure, if this is something that can go off with time. We were 4 folks in the test car, and we did take the swift diesel on to some very bad roads, and I dont have any reason to complain regarding the ride quality and ground clearance.which seemed more than adequate. Yes, there was a tendency of feeling firm n crisp rather than small and silent fluid shocks as compared to cars like indigo and fiesta.
ENGINE [4]
The engine pulled rather smoothly, with a great sense of urgency showcasing 19kgm of torque. The gear shifts were precisely gated, and had a smooth and clear and direct, if rather short action. On starting, the cranking of the engine was muted, and bearable.once we changed to higher gears and started driving, we did feel that we had a diesel engine up front, however to be honest, the sound was pretty low and vibrations to a great extent are completely damped, the steering boss and stalk had no tell tale signs of any vibrations filtering through. The gear handle was completely free of vibrations or rocking.which is the signature of many a diesel engine. In some diesel cars, I am sure you can feel / count the engine RPM by placing your palm on the gear lever:-)
STABILITY [4]
Had no issues with this, as we did take the vehicle above 90 and did some quick lane changes(with the indicator on and on a road without traffic). The only problem is the slightly outsize rear view mirrors, which is a touch too large and have a click folding action. Compared to other cars, some of which have a smooth action that enables the mirror to just fold on impact without shattering, this is something anyone driving the swift have to bear in mind.
SPACE [3]
Can we redo the boot space adding another 100 litres? well then, the swift diesel would have been prefect. Else, for a family of 2, this car should not be lacking in space. However, placing the speakers on the door does not appear to be inthe best interest of acoustics.
A note on acoustics: Speaker placement and audio directional acoustics are certainly not amongst the best in swift. The front door has no provision for 4X4 speakers, the rear door does have provision for 16cm speakers, and anything bigger, u need to have the 9X6 size speakers configured on the rear parcel tray.which it turns out to as not the best angled place to have speakers! Well, I cant, nether can we do anything to mitigate this I suppose.
MILEAGE [5] a guess at this point in time.watch this space.
Being a multijet common rail turbo and with all the tech things thrown in for good measure, I dont think mileage would be really an issue with the Swift Diesel. The sales team that accompanied the test car were mentioning 18-20 KMPL as the least. However, given the abundance of tech on hand and the jewel of an engine, I would not be surprised if the Diesel Swift went as far as 17-19KMPL in city and 22-24 on highways. The lower quadrant for mileage I believe would be about 15KMPL in city and 20KMPL on highways.
*VFM-VALUE FOR MONEY [4]
*With the onroad price of ldi-530000 and vdi-562000 in Bangalore, I feel that the swift diesel has been overpriced by about 10-15000 Rupees if not more. However, if 22-24KMPL is the mileage that we are talking about in real life, then your money is well spent.
Well, this test drive was the outcome of many such test drives to find a replacement for our tata indigo, and am really not completely decided on the swift diesel yet.maybe another test drive, or the Renault Logan can help me out.
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16-feb-07: further to this review, i have taken delivery of my swift vdi., and here are some observations.
The vehicle pulls strongly in almost all gears.however, seems like the clutch is a little over sensitive.and have to be careful when depressing.
mileage or kmpl: am not sure abt this, just filled in the tank with shell diesel.lemme give you some idea on this when the next visit to the pump is due.
first 100 kms drive: nothing that I can remember, no shakes n rattles, though the EPS(electronic power steering) feels a little over assistive during slow drives.
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09-apr-07: **Just completed the first service at 1000kms, then went for a 1000km long drive!
first service at 1k was nothing much to worry, oil change, filter cleanup and the normal tightening of doors and fixing some rattles.that had me spending about 600 rupees.Neat
Mileage: First observation after 1k service, my first reading was 19.66kmpl.and by the next observation, the mileage was 20.54kmpl.done with a fair level of accuracy.now this mileage is GREAT!.having driven on highways over the course of 2 days.
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12-Jun-07: **Completed the second free service at 5300km, had the ECU module tuned, wheel balancing, and the normal routine inspection with topup of fluids. Had a chance to talk to a manager from Maruti Udyog, and told him about concerns regarding high speed stability, skittly ride and others.got a patient hearing.not sure if anything can be done regarding this. Have the CRDI rail system checked as a precaution for possible leaks from diesel backflow.
Mileage in City with AC was 15. Also been for another drive of 800 kms.which included very steep inclines.am not saying that the VDi does not have torque to climb, but had a certain delay.which I hope should be mitigated post the ECU tune up.
Got HID(High Intensity Discharge) Bi Xenon lights fixed, with a light output of 8000K. Advantage is a wider spread of coverage with pure whitelight/daylight which would aid in night driving.