I own a Swift VDi and have been using it for the past 1 yr (from Dec end 2007) I must say the car is an excellent one. I got the car in Chennai and at present live in Bangalore. I usually drive from Bang. to Chennai once a month and it goes to 140 with ease and I have touched the max of 160 KMPH. the handling is fine and gives no trouble at those speeds.
For the last 1 month I had to use a Swfit VXi Petrol model because I had to leave my car at the service centre in chennai and could not get it back in time for my return. I feel the diesel version is far better than the pertol version. The VXi just drags past 100KMPH and reaches 130 KMPH after much effort, and the best part is while refuelling... 1 almost fill up the VDi for 1000 bucks where as with the VXi its only half tank. I use fuel worth 500 bucks for 2+ weeks while using the VDi and for 500 bucks of petrol its just about 7 - 9 days of travel to the office.
The acceleration is slow in the diesel version (but diesel vehicles are that way) and once it starts accelerating you can feel the power unlike the petrol version.
A couple of months back a trailer guy nicked my right rear view mirror of my parked car and outer cover of the mirror broke off, though the mirror and the mechanism wasn’t damaged the service guys told me I have to change the entire set. it cost me 1500/- for the mirror set and outer shell painting. Earlier I had to change the front and rear bumpers and that cost the insurance co around 5-6K each.. The paint job was well done and there was no colour mismatch.
I brought my vehicle back last week and 1 thing that I noticed is the steering. In the petrol version the steering was very easy (moved effortlessly) but the in VDi its a bit hard, I have to use a little bit of strength to turn it completely. I don’t know if its a new problem, anyway I am taking it to the service centre this weekend and see what they say.
Regards,
Suj242