For the 2024 Swift, Maruti Suzuki has introduced a brand new engine which Suzuki has developed for the new Swift. Besides India, the new Swift is sold with this new engine in Japan and certain European markets. It’s an entirely new naturally aspirated engine that will eventually power other Maruti hatchbacks such as the Baleno and the Fronx. Speaking of power, the maximum power output is around 82bhp with a slightly higher torque figure of 112Nm at 4,500rpm. According to Suzuki, acceleration time from 0-100kmph is improved by 5 per cent to 12.5 seconds for the manual model and 11.9 seconds for the optional CVT.
Here in India, the Swift doesn’t come with a CVT gearbox for cost reasons. Instead, it comes with a 5-speed AMT gearbox which does the job fine. We recently drove the new Swift with the three-cylinder engine. It’s more impressive in the real world than on paper but how does it compare with the K Series, four-cylinder engine that powered the previous-gen Swift?
The new engine produces around eight bhp less than before. However, it has got a good spread of torque at low revs and in the mid-range. Unlike the K-Series engine which would make most of its power at the top end, at around 5,000rpm and above, this new three-cylinder unit has been tuned in such a way that it feels slightly more potent below 4,000rpm even though it makes eight bhp less. The sweet spot with the new Z Series engine is between 2,000 and 4,000rpm which means it performs its best in everyday driving conditions because that’s the kind of RPM range that gets utilized the most.
The 1.2 K Series engine has always impressed us with its refinement and things are nearly the same with this new engine. For a 3-cylinder engine, it’s surprisingly smooth with very little vibrations coming through the pedals and the gear lever. Unless you rev it beyond 4,000rpm it doesn’t have that typical three-cylinder thrum either. Finally, in terms of performance, it is down on power so naturally the new Swift isn’t as quick as the old car. Although not as per our usual testing standards, we did get a chance to put the new Swift through our 0-100kmph acceleration test during the drive. It completed the run in 12.16 seconds which is around half a second slower than the previous gen Swift.
