[CLIX]

Swift ZDi (June 2012) - Torque Blue.
1,750km on the odo
Yet to really rev the engine - waiting for my first Highway drive... sometime soon.

Quick overview.
>What I like about my car...
- My Torque Blue ZDi looks awesome from any side!
- The AC cools very well
- Interior panels - not premium quality but very good - love the color - dark panels and the Silver touches.
- The smooth ride as one gets faster !
- The power of the Diesel engine - nothing beats the seat pressing against your back telling you to GET MOVING!!
- The low cost of fuel (for now atleast!)
- The Music system is pretty good - had plans to get one fixed - plan scrapped after listening to the OEM ICE.

> Check out a few of the snaps! The customary visit to the have the car blessed was not missed!

>What I don't like...
- 2 months into my Swift ZDi ownership I am noticing some signs of possible rattles that might come up later. The door - if its slammed shut (like some people do!) there is a distinct "2nd noise" which I feel is the door panel. The front console - Instrument panel, ICE, A/c Panel, Glove compartment et al - over bad roads there is a distinct "mildly squeaky - plastic rubbing against plastic" noise. For now its not exactly rattling.
- From a Gear up-shift perspective: The 2nd Gear seems to "end" and 3rd Gear "starts" at a slightly awkward speed. I wish the 2nd took the car to a slightly higher speed at a slightly lower RPM. But once onto 3rd Gear - the fun starts - No looking back.
- Headlights - just OK - will surely need an upgrade.
- The car ROLLs!! The back suspension has a tough time keeping the car upright (only at very low speeds) Am wondering if anyone has tried something with a better anti-roll bar or something like that.
- The Driver's window open/close switch - "One touch" to open; NOT "One touch" to close! WHY?!!

Why the "Swift Decision"?
Some history first : Pedal powered scale model car with battery operated horn, head lamps & blinkers [Zero to 2 kmph in 3 seconds flat! ]; BSA Admiral (cycle ) - TVS-50 [... no offence to TVS or TVS-50 owners - but the top speed of this contraption in comparision to others on the road including pedestrians, forced me to repeatedly put my feet on the road thinking I have stopped OR am going backwards... ] - RX100 - Kinetic Honda - RX135 - Matiz - Honda City - Honda Civic - Alto - and finally Swift ZDi!! [ ...and the Honda City refuses to leave!]
I traded in my Alto for the new Swift. Loved the Alto – the basic LXi – had just one problem – wasn’t exactly what I wanted when on a highway/long distance ride for the obvious reasons.

Options considered – i20 & Swift Petrol.
i20 : Everything looked great. Classy interiors. Happy owners (had some very happy colleagues). Great feedback on highway “behavior”. Test drove my friend’s i20. Loved it.
Next – Called up Maruti – scheduled a TD. Swift ZXi. After owning a Honda City (the 2004 model) it takes some convincing about the engine being smooth; and the Swift ZXi was pretty smooth. The ride – the test Car surely had overinflated tyres – the ride was not one I enjoyed. Was almost bouncing around on the tarmac!

Then out of the blue the Petrol prices shot up (May2012) and I reluctantly decided that I’ll try the diesel – never my favorite. This time I mentioned to the sales rep about the rock hard tyres "last time"; the Swift ZDi arrived with a ride that felt very different from the ZXi. Then…. 15 mins of highway…. A few kicks of the turbo… ; Torque Blue Swift ZDi Booked! The dealer said they have a Torque Blue ZDi that can be delivered within 2 months.
I got the dealer to have Genius Seat covers / upholstery put in, a steering cover, Teflon coat for the body.
The ZDi arrived with MRF tyres. I exchanged the 5 for Yokohama C Drives. [exch Rs.2.5k per MRF; New C Drive Rs.4.8k @ BLR New BEL Rd. – I got a Yokohama Swiss Knife as gift for the purchase ]

I mostly drive in the City (BLR) - 60% Bumper to Bumper, stop & go; 40% cruising at 60kmph (average). Drive about 20Km per day on weekdays + 150km over the weekends.
Mileage calculated by the car has been more or less in line with what I calculated. Fuel efficiency in this driving pattern has been 16km/Litre. A/C ON all the time.

Bought the Swift purely based on the below 5 criteria.
- Technical brilliance of the Diesel engine.
- Handling on the highway.
- Maruti service coverage throughout the country.
- Economy - diesel vs petrol
- Team BHP Reviews!
Interestingly the Swift was low on my "Looks" scale; I like it now ... kinda grows with time !

Fit and finish - I'd give it 8/10. As I mentioned earlier - I've seen better interior fitment. But the interior design and layout are very good. Some have written about the driver's left knee banging on the centre console. A little adjustment of the seat height, reach and steering angle sorted this for me. Yes it was a little odd, the way the knee area could be a little cramped compared to some other cars. Tall drivers might want to check. I must be about 5'10"... 5'11".

The exterior is very well put together - I am not too sure about the thickness of the sheet metal though.
Leg space was not a problem till now. Folks at the back seemed to have some knee room to spare.

The rear view mirror is of little use, other than focussing the headlamps of vehicles behind you, on your eyes at night! If I need to reverse I turn my head and reverse, just am not able to trust that 15% of the total view!

I bought the car prepared for a tiny boot; but the boot was not all that small. It is not a sedan so I'm OK.
Maruti engineers inexplicably decided to design a boot that does not open out fully. You have to lift up and then out of the boot. Not the best design.

Behind the Wheel:
- My first Diesel motor as I mentioned – the post 1st gear lag took a couple of weeks to get over ! The diesel engine is very refined and NVH levels are managed well. The excellent performance once the car gets moving makes it all worth it !
- The seating position is good. The front/back , up/down driver seat movements combined with the steering tilt options make it easy to find your favorite seating / driving position.

Found myself shuffling between 2nd & 3rd gears in the city. The 35kmph zone gets me confused.. too fast for 2nd, too slow for 3rd (3rd knocks).
But on open stretch - its a dream - never out of breath, awesome handling, just waiting for your command ! The turbo ROCKS!
Gear shift is reasonably smooth, slight play in the gates, but very good overall.

- The Tyre pressure when I received the car was 50 PSI! Glad I was not floating around like a balloon! As mentioned now I have C Drives. Not really noticed much tyre noise; ride is a good. I have found that 31psi in the Front & 29psi at the Rear works for me. Given the crazy calibration at some Gas Stations I prefer being on the higher side than lower.
- Tinted Films – I wish !! [On that topic – what?! So the ones who got it removed, are we the morons? And I still see some 40% of the cars going around in jet black tints! This is crazy!]

Running In:
- What running in??? New technology Diesel engine; No running in required!
- But still – I am a little crazy, so … Revs were under 2.2K till 1000kms (first service) I intend keeping the revs under 2.5k till 2000kms.

First Service:
- 30 days – 985 km –
- The Oil was NOT changed - as per guidelines - I am told. [I pulled out the Engine Oil dip stick to see what I can see – frankly, oil looked clear, I wish I knew a little more on how clear the oil is meant to be.]
- Had some light rattling with the rear parcel tray - partially rectified - I guess I will have to DIY some packing in the right places...
- Checked the engine bay - was clean - but there was a thin film (of Diesel used for cleaning, I am told) all over - was told it will evaporate.
- Wanted 90/100W head lamps - they had some local relay - so did not go for it - I am told the Bosch relay kit is good.
- The service technician spoke about some cases where the headlamp cover - the clear plastic cover has melted due to the 90/100.... Any experience here?
- I go to Mandovi Motors (Vijayanagar, Bangalore) – Very Happy with their service.

… That was a Swift update ! Look forward to your views / inputs...

Drive Safe!

[Alive2Drive]

Let me be the first one to congratulate you on your new Swift! Request you to please post some pics as well. I own a 2010 Maruti Swift LXi ( Old one) . Any idea what should be the service interval ?

Regards

[Pedaltothefloor]

Congrats! I can only answer about the under body anti rust treatment. I'd don't recommend it. It's a sales gimmick and we've had cars for decades without any rust treatments.

[Sridhar K]

Originally Posted by CLIX

I have a few question for the experts –
- Am I supposed to notice something different in the engine after the first service? I’m not sure I do !
- Under body – Anti Rust treatment by 3M – necessary? They say “get it done when the car is new” ….
- Headlamp – please throw some light here! 90/100 – any cases where the head lamp clear plastic cover melted due to the heat?

Thanks in advance!

… That was a quick Swift update ! Look forward to your views..

Drive Safe!

I have gone for the anti rust treatment more for damping i.e. reducing the noise of pebbles hitting metals on the roads that I travel rather than rust protection.

I upgraded to 100/90 with ceramic holder and hella cut outs during my ICE upgrade.

[CLIX]

Originally Posted by Sridhar K

I have gone for the anti rust treatment more for damping i.e. reducing the noise of pebbles hitting metals on the roads that I travel rather than rust protection.

I upgraded to 100/90 with ceramic holder and hella cut outs during my ICE upgrade.

Sridhar - thx!... That helps. So I guess I'll pass the anti rust treatment.
About the 10/90. Do you have any problems with overheating? Just to get a feel - what might be the longest duration you drove with the headlights on?

Originally Posted by Pedaltothefloor

Congrats! I can only answer about the under body anti rust treatment. I'd don't recommend it. It's a sales gimmick and we've had cars for decades without any rust treatments.

Thx Pedaltothefloor!

Originally Posted by Alive2Drive

Let me be the first one to congratulate you on your new Swift! Request you to please post some pics as well. I own a 2010 Maruti Swift LXi ( Old one) . Any idea what should be the service interval ?

Regards

Thx Alive2Drive; I'll pass the question on maintenance - we'll wait for the more experienced to answer

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[CLIX]

Originally Posted by Sridhar K

I have gone for the anti rust treatment more for damping i.e. reducing the noise of pebbles hitting metals on the roads that I travel rather than rust protection.

I upgraded to 100/90 with ceramic holder and hella cut outs during my ICE upgrade.

Hey Sridhar, any problems with overheating of the headlamp cover?

[swiftdiesel]

Congrats on buying the best hatchback in the market today! The last pic from the top looks fab! Clean lines and a catchy blue to go with! Enjoy your drive! Don't worry much about the rattles, the newer Swifts have much better build quality.

[CLIX]

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

Congrats on buying the best hatchback in the market today! The last pic from the top looks fab! Clean lines and a catchy blue to go with! Enjoy your drive! Don't worry much about the rattles, the newer Swifts have much better build quality.

Thx swiftdiesel!
Yeah... that's what I heard about the new one - better build... will keep you all posted !

[Sridhar K]

Originally Posted by CLIX

Hey Sridhar, any problems with overheating of the headlamp cover?

So far none. My daily drives back from office last an hour + and I don't have any heating problems at all. MutantX has been running them for quite long without any issues. Ensure that you get quality relay kits with Ceramic holders.

[000_RANVIS]

Originally Posted by CLIX

Swift ZDi (June 2012) - Torque Blue.
1,750km on the odo
Yet to really rev the engine - waiting for my first Highway drive... sometime soon.

- From a Gear up-shift perspective: The 2nd Gear seems to "end" and 3rd Gear "starts" at a slightly awkward speed. I wish the 2nd took the car to a slightly higher speed at a slightly lower RPM. But once onto 3rd Gear - the fun starts - No looking back.
Mileage calculated by the car has been more or less in line with what I calculated. Fuel efficiency in this driving pattern has been 16km/Litre. A/C ON all the time.

Found myself shuffling between 2nd & 3rd gears in the city. The 35kmph zone gets me confused.. too fast for 2nd, too slow for 3rd (3rd knocks).
But on open stretch - its a dream - never out of breath, awesome handling, just waiting for your command ! The turbo ROCKS!
Gear shift is reasonably smooth, slight play in the gates, but very good overall.

Drive Safe!

Contrats on buying ZDI. I did not find its costs in your post. I also intended once to have one. On 10/11.11.11 I had booked a ZDI in Kolkata. At that time the price was Rs.6.46 lakh OTR (No discount) with underbody treatment and teflon coating. Waiting period was nearly 3/4 months as informed. Within the next two months - on 16/17.11.11 and 16.01.12 its price was hiked by 10K and 18K and the price of ZDI reached to 6.74 lakh at that time. This unreasonable price hike within such a short period was not accetable two me. So, I cancelled the booking to realise also that further enhancement may occur any time before wating period gets over. Booking amount was returned to me by cheque by the dealer two weeks after the cancellation but after deduction of Rs.250.00. They could not show any basis of maruti's regulation in this regard. May be the same was the cost of documentation, dealer's guy's time, TD, etc - what I don't know.

However, after that I began to seek another car. Seen i20, Verna, ... and finally went for Honda City 2012 CE Alabaster Silver at 7.06 (Ex-showroom) within three after cancellation as above. Though I am happy now, I also think that ZDI is a very good car - especially in view of FE. l feel its presence also in my heart as it was my first dream for car.

I think you are confused with gear shiftng in ZDI as you mentioned in your post. At the time TD of ZXI and ZDI comparatively, I checked and noticed the RPM of both at idle to be at 900/950. Before to TD I analysed the specs and gear ratios of Swift Diesel and Petrol. After getting a speed of 50/60 kmph at 5th gear, with 4 persons and AC on to the maximum the gas pedal was released fully to see the torque/pulling power. It was noticed that the speed in ZXI came to be stable/maintained at nearly 20/22 kmph whereas in ZDI it was 37/38 kmph just below 40 kmph. I was amazed to see the torque of ZDI, it was not lost even at this load and low RPM (remained like idle RPM). It indicates that some amount of torque was in balance which was remained unutilised. Therefore, I think Diesel model could be with another gear - the 6th gear to use its torque fully.

As the torque is high, 5th gear within 32-40 kmph is easily possible which is helpful to avoid frequent gear shiftng and to remain in top gear. Thus FE will come to the maximum. Your FE at 16kmpl is low, in ZDI it would be easily above 20kmpl if it is driven considering the gear ratio and torque. Even it may cross 25/28 kmpl, at least this Diesel should do. My petrol car - City attains 15/16 kmpl with 100% AC ON and 24/25kmpl without AC whith windows closed at the speed between 35-55 kmph. You may try also you car differently - shifing gear and driving it at proper gear suitable for the speed without revving hard on RPM unnecessarily.

Any deviation from gear shifting from a particular point (RPM/Speed) in a car like this Diesel will make a jerk depending on gears and will hit FE also. The jerk will be very prominent to feel upto 3rd gear. To know the such particular point of RPM/Speed we rquire to know first the gear ratio from the specs of the car. This is felt most important. My slogan would be "Know Your CAR."

Perfect point of shifting gear to 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th is at RPM of 1700, 1400, 1250, 1150 (14kmph, 22kmph, 30kmph, 37kmph) in ZDI to avoid any jerk/knock, and at this point there is no requirement to release the clutch very slowly, it can be released almost intantly after shifting lever's function is over. Because we should keep in our mind that ZDI's Gear Ratios are 3.545, 1.904, 1.233, 0.911, 0.725 for 1st to 5th and the Final Gear Ratio is 3.944. Fully knowing well in an expert hand it can be possible to shift gear even without use of the clutch, though not recomended. In future when I will be an expert, I may try for such experiment.

However, during requirement of higher acceleration it would be proper to shift at higher RPM to attain desired speed. Petrol car is different in this regard, I think, since it requires a reasonable higher speed/RPM to shift gear in 4th or higher to settle at a RPM which generates sufficient torque to go with the gear correctly depending on the car's capacity.

Calculation for shifting gear in ZDI and analysis once I have done are given below in image and in .xls file..

ZDI RPM Speed Calc.xls

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

Congrats on buying the best hatchback in the market today! The last pic from the top looks fab! Clean lines and a catchy blue to go with! Enjoy your drive! Don't worry much about the rattles, the newer Swifts have much better build quality.

Yes, the Swift ZDI is the best Hatchback in the market now. Once I had also gone some distance for it - but returned back finally. I suggest ZDI to someone who really need it or prefer it, if price for it is not a bar or an issue when excessive price and 'no discount' policy are maintained on the Diesel model. Who can say that it is not a policy to overcome low profit or loss on petrol cars in such situation where demand of petrol cars has been fallen to some extent due to repetitions of price-hikes of petrol.

[Schoudhury]

Originally Posted by CLIX

I got the dealer to have Genius Seat covers / upholstery put in, a steering cover, Teflon coat for the body.

Congrats, i feel swift looks best in this color, not sure why all are running after white ones.
The pictures of the car from the top was awesome, also looks like you have got a nice spoiler fitted to your car.

Could be please share some pictures of the seat covers and upholstery.

Also i feel you , you should have changed the engine oil during the first service only .Anyways i will advice if possible get only oil changed for your car, it takes around 45 mins to change the same , so should not be a big deal.

Looks like Maruti have advised MASS to use synthetic oil for new swift during oil change,so i think they might not change the oil before 10k kms which might not be good for a new engine to run for that long w/o oil change .

Cheers

[CLIX]

Originally Posted by 000_RANVIS

Contrats on buying ZDI. I did not find its costs in your post.

I think you are confused with gear shiftng in ZDI as you mentioned in your post. .....Therefore, I think Diesel model could be with another gear - the 6th gear to use its torque fully.
.....
Yes, the Swift ZDI is the best Hatchback in the market now. .......

Fully knowing well in an expert hand it can be possible to shift gear even without use of the clutch, though not recomended.
.

Hi, 000_RANVIS
- Hmmm! Pretty in-depth!

OK, missed the cost, here goes...

• Ex Showroom (Incl VAT) : 6.88L
• Road Tax : 1.07L
• Insurance : 20K
• Plus Incidentals + some basic accessory kit mumbo jumbo !
• Finally was = 8.31L on the Road.

... what you suggest about my Gear shift pattern; Interesting - I'm a bit of a sceptic here, 5th gear @ 32-40 kmph, OK. Thanks for the stats.

About changing gears without use of the clutch! Well... well! I've heard about it, tried it with my RX-100 when I was young and umm ... not so bright I'm not going close to that conversation!!

Originally Posted by Schoudhury

Congrats, i feel swift looks best in this color, not sure why all are running after white ones.
The pictures of the car from the top was awesome, also looks like you have got a nice spoiler fitted to your car.

...please share some pictures of the seat covers and upholstery.

Looks like Maruti have advised MASS to use synthetic oil for new swift during oil change,so i think they might not change the oil before 10k kms which might not be good for a new engine to run for that long w/o oil change .

Cheers

Thanks Schoudhury. I'll post the snaps of the seat and steering shortly.
Engine oil change: I see your point, but decided to go with the Company recommendation. Lets see if we find a good answer in this forum.

[CLIX]

Originally Posted by Schoudhury

Congrats, .... also looks like you have got a nice spoiler fitted to your car.

Could be please share some pictures of the seat covers and upholstery.

...Cheers

Hi Schoudhury: yeah - I did get a spoiler - thought it enhanced the looks a good deal.

And ... Here are the snaps: Steering Cover & Seat Cover.

[VishnuNarayanan]

Congrats on your Swift ZDi CLIX !
Swift looks good in torque blue ! I feel the alloys that comes with ZDi matches the most with this color.
Nice pics !
Drive Safe.