I am driving this Swift Vxi for more than a year. My overall experience with this car is very much satisfactory.
Looks:
This is the only car in the segment that makes me turn my head whenever it passes by. The looks & style are very best in its class in India.
Performance:
The performance is very good. Swift is very stable even at high speed @around 140 kmph. The engine is silent & responsive, Initially I had to look at the tachometer to ensure the engine is on. Very good pick up. Only drawback I find is the gears: Maruti cars have inherent problems of stiff gears especially the reverse one. Handling is very good. The power steering is amazing & you can easily drive throw busy streets. With the slight help of few fingers you can take complex turns. The PS becomes firm once you are on highways which gives complete balance of the car.
Mileage:
Before my first service I was getting an avg of around 9-10kmpl. That was my biggest concern after buying it. On speaking with the dealer they told that your mileage will gradually increase & that too after your first service is done. The engine got fine tuned after the first servce it started giving me 13kmpl in city & 15 kmpl on highways with Ac on. Now my second & third free service is also over & my average has been improved to around 14.5kmpl in cities & around 16 to 17kmpl on highways. Last weekend I was off to Kolhapur from Pune. I got the tank full(tank capacity is around 42 litres) and then I reset the Trip meter to 0.0km. The route was Pune--Satara-Karad-Kolhapur via NH4. The highway was absolutely fantastic. There was no traffic jams & the road condition was perfectly what any car demands for. Overall driving I did was 630 kms(@ average speed of 100kmph). After returning I was also driving in pune till the fuel gauge almost dripped to Empty. I did not took chance to drive more & got it re-filled. At that time the odometer was reading 695km. So if you calculate the mileage, then it comes to (695/42 litres)16.54 kmpl which I feel is far decent.
So I believe mileage is very much dependent on how you drive your car. During your initial purchase the engine also needs some time to get set & smooth according to your driving habit.
Mileage Tips :
1>Dont drag the car on lower gears. Shift to higher gear on reaching appropriate speed (0-20 1st gear, 20-35 2nd gear, 35-45 3rd gear, 45-55 4th gear & above 55 shift to top gear ie. 5th gear).
Make use of lower gears such as 2nd or 3rd as per your speed to overtake.
2>Avoid rash driving this will hamper your mileage.
3>Dont accelerate & apply brakes frequently. Shift to nuetral gear if you feel the car speed is enough to reach the signal or toll both. This will add to your mileage & save the fuel.
3>Drive gracefully especially till the 2nd service is reached. This beast will definately satisy your thrill for speed & power.
Interiors:
Interiors are decent but could be more contemporary. I find the quality of plastics used for doors & dashboard to be low in quality. Maruti should focus on quality of interiors too. The dashboard comes with an empty block for clock which I feel the same should be a part of accessories. The block for music system is also double din. There should be an option for company fitted music system to occupy that double din block. You have to opt for double din music system if you dont like the half occupied panel.
Overall:
Its a very good car with stylish looks & decent performance. I have also test driven swift diesel which has an amazing engine & the pick up is awesome. It has more compression ratio than Petrol versions. Hope Maruti will keep on ehancing the Petrol variants & should bring Direct Injection in Petrol version too.