After a year planning, taking test drives of many cars.I finally took swift Lxi Petrol. Let me tell you how the journey started.after a month’s driving swift.
I was new for car driving so initially I planed to take the high end model of Alto ie Lxi M. Two reasons for Alto 1. I was new for car driving 2. Budget of 3 Lacs. It was costing me around 3.17 Lacs. I even had my car training in the same car. After a months training, I found many drawbacks in Alto Lxi(M). Like leg space, pick up, AC etc.Now this was my choice as I was new for car driving. But then I decided, once I will be perfect then I will start looking for a high end car.so why not now. Then started my research on cars.increased my budget to 4 lacs.
Now the options left for me were in
1. Maruti Alto, Estilo, Wagonr 2. Hyundai Santro, i10 3. Chevrolet Spark 4. Tata’s Indica.
Alto: Rejected as already mentioned above. Estilo: Mainly shape and avail colors, space. Wagonr: mainly looks
Santro: Existing owners suggested to go for i10 and also old model.
i10: Era was costing 4.2 lacs. Seats were not that appealing. Space was almost like Alto. Interms of height more comapred to Alto. Gear location was good. Felt i10 to very light.
Chevrolet Spark: Maintainance, Look and space was not appealing.
Indica: Reason we all know.
Hence dropped all above cars.
Owners of santro and wagonr started suggesting swift.So finally concluded swift.
I saw swift which was of 50K difference from i10 Era with better engine spec, space, looks many more.thats it . Had test drive and finalised for swift.
Now wether to go for petrol version or diesel.
Reasons I concluded for petrol compared to diesel:
Swift Lxi was costing 4.7 Lacs on road in Hyd and Ldi was costing 5.5 Lacs. A difference of 80K approx. Like paying 2k for next 4 years in EMIs. Which is extra petrol consumption per month.
Shortage of diesel. 3. Non availability of Ldi model. 4. Pick up, Long gap in using the car may create issues.
Reasons I concluded for Lxi than Vxi, Zxi;
- Mainly budget 2. Questions I raised for myself , Do I need 1. rear seat head rest 2. fog lamps in Hyd 3. ABS if I go at a less than 80Km/hr.so on. 4. Climate control etc
For me driving alone most of the times.felt Lxi is enough.So finalized
Finally for SWIFT LXI [Petrol]. Costing 4.7 Lacs on road in Hyd.
After visiting many dealers in Hyd, I concluded Varun was offering better customer service, offers, Loan facility as compared to others. Many dealers offered a car interest rate of 13 to 14%. Finally after heavy bargaining Varun Banjara Hills offered me an interest of 11.75% from Axis Bank.
Car was delivered on time and its been a month driving swift. I found no issues as of now.
Initially the gear was slightly tough to change but then after first service its became smooth.
I had driven the car for 1202 Kms filled 92 litres of petrol , gives me mileage of 13.1 Km/l on avg under city conditions. Again it depends on your traffic conditions.sometimes I got even minimum 10 Km/l. what I felt is wether it serves my purpose and meets my petrol exp expectations. Yes it do.
I can suggest it to be excellent car in that segment. Hope for new learner this review helps.
Its been almost 3.1/2 months.my car has reached to 3200 Kms run. As far as the mileage is concerned, it is giving me 13.5 to 14.5(ACoff to ACon)km/l.
I even had a small dent fixed on the front left near headlight of my car. It cost me around Rs3000. Maruthi costs you just 200 to X for fixing dents. what costs more is repainting the portion. I went for insurance but then many of my friends suggested to avoid insurance for repairs less than Rs 5K. Reason they said is the number of claims in year can be not more than 3-4.
More in next.