Maruti Suzuki Swift [2010-2011] User Reviews

Car has been around for 3 years and numbers were going up and I thought it may be a good deal to buy One. Just after 10 Minutes of driving after taking it from showroom, I realised that I have put in 4.5 Lacs of my hard earned money into a big white elephant , which gives you no comfort and driving pleasure.

I don't know why people are creating so much hype about this vehicle. High end version of SANTRO is a better choice than Swift VXI with keeping balance of 60000-70000 in hand for fuel.

Never go for itPoor Quality Work

I have driven quite a few cars and after driving a 14 year old maruti 800 for quite a few years the swift vxi was a pleasant change. I have clocked 2500+ kms on mine and I think its a brilliant car.

Space
Some people say its not high on space. Well, i say its high enough on space for a family hatchback. If you are really looking for a car with enough boot space for vacations then go for a station wagon, hatchbacks aren't for you. The boot space is marginally less than that of indica.

The cabin seats 5 people comfortably. Leg space, in front as well as rear is really good and is better than quite a few sedans (read: esteem).

Drivability
The EPS is brilliant, and its actually possible to drive this car with a finger hooked around the steering wheel for major turns and with just a finger on the steering wheel for normal driving...seriously! The engine is really torquey and the gearbox acts as a great adjuct to the sporty feel. The steering wheel is really responsive and helps you communicate with the road and the car really well.

Performance.
Extremely peppy. The car zips through traffic. The overall flat gear ratios make sure that you don't have to keep on changing gears in traffic. On open roads, the car will overtake most cars with ease(you will also find almost every other small car trying to over take you, and failing! ). The specs here say that the top spead is 156 kph, I say bullcrap; I have clocked 170 kph and had to only stop acclerating because sanity caught up with me. Even at 170 kph, the car is extremely stable and with the windows up, its not even possible to tell the speed without looking at the speedometer. No wind noise, no vibrations barely perceptible engine noise, even at this speed. No vibrations even while idling. The engine gently purrs when you start acclerating and roars at high/near red lining RPM :).

Interiors.
Suzuki has done a great job here. The interiors are elegant. Nothing too flashy here. The gray and black theme works well. The instrument panel is well arranged and clean. The dash board could use an open compartment too, there sure is space for it. Split rear seats would be a great addition too. The AC is great, with rapid cooling, though they could have placed rear vents too (may be a bit over the top though). The cabin is extremely silent with the tacho as the only indication to whether the car is on or not.

Suspension & Brakes.
The ride is extremely comfortable, and glides over potholes. The tubeless tires make me feel really safe. The brakes are very responsive too. Something i learnt the hard way, being used to the heavy force i had to apply on my old maruti 800.

Fuel Economy.
Fifteen in city with the AC, 17 on Highways with the AC on. 91 Octane petrol used. Anybody who says the mileage on this car is less or poor can eat shit. Swift has the best mileage among all hatchbacks.

Negatives.
I will have to be really petty here. First up, the A pillar blocks your vision at times, but this is the case with most cars nowadays and is not specific to the swift. I think the option for body colored handles and mirror cowls should have been a standard one, and not limited to the ZXi. The doors produce a mild rattle when closed if the glass is half or fully lowered. The front fender is pretty low and has to be taken care of while parking. No air bags, rear wiper in VXi.
Dealer Update:
I have to update my review here, the car as always is beautiful. Though people in Mumbai might want to avoid Ratan Motors as the dealer. I took my car for second servicing, and when I got my car back that evening, the guys at the service center had managed to bruise the front fender, and quite badly. The only saving face was that they offered to fix it for free. I dropped of the car the following week, and after about two days I went to get my car back. They managed to fix the front fender, but they had got 3 new scratches on the left door. This surface scratches took them 5 days to fix (with a delay of one day in the scheduled delivery) and I went to get my car back, and right in front of me, they backed my car into another...getting one more dent in the rear fender, which they have offered to fix in the next servicing. At home I also noticed one more dent on the door which they had supposadely fixed. Now, after all this the dealer is trying to make me feel like he is doing me a big favor by doing it. I see absolutely no remorse on the dealer's part. I have made a complaint with the maruti helpline. More updates when i hear from them.

Faux Negatives Cleared.

• Reversing is difficult, I cant see anything...Mummyyy !!!

Use the 3 mirrors, to reverse and only that. Its more than enough. This is the easiest car to reverse in in my experience.

• I get bad mileage

Drive properly, dont speed and brake too rapidly. Analyze the traffic, dont keeping on giving the gas if you see a stop light from a distance. Drive at a constant speed and in higher gears. Get your car serviced regularly and keep the tyres at optimal pressure (33  for regular wheels not alloys)

• My car is noisy...mummyyyy !!!

Celebrate, you are gifted with dog/bat like hearing.

Will post more later.

Great looks, Young Car, Great performance, Great EconomySplit rear seats, Body colored handles/mirror cowls..just being petty here though.

Hi,

This is my first car, so I m not an expert to talk about cars.

I had two cars in mind Getz and Swift. I was liking Getz for its looks. But after comparison I found Swift being bit better than Getz. Here are the points :

1. Fuel Economy :

Though they say Getz has milage of 11 to 13 I have no experience of  that. But my Swift is giving me average of 15.5+ km/lit of Extra Premium Petrol. This is mixed milage, city and highway ( maximum highway), with five passengers and AC ON all the time.

Update on 14.04.08 : City average I am getting is 12.5 km/lit of extra premium petrol and AC always ON

Update on 09.05.08 : Express highway average 18km/lit of extra premium petrol and AC always ON and avr speed 100 Km/hr.

Out of city average 16 km/lit with many turns to the road, AC not ON all the time. Avr speed 50-60 Km/hr.

2.Ground Clearance :

Swift - 170mm

Getz - 160mm

3. ABS :

To get an ABS version of Getz you have to jump directly to highest version. Where as Swift VXi comes with ABS option.

4. Tubeless tyres :

Swift has, Getz don't. I feel that today many a times we happen to drive on highways, expressways.. Tubeless tyre is best suited for that.

5. Turning Radious :

Swift - 4.7 meters, Getz - 5 meters

In city every single centimeter counts.

6. Maruti Service :

I had heard better about maruti service than Hyundai. And now after 4 months and 1 servicing done I m convinced that Maruti is quite good with overall service and servicing. In fact, I m very happy with the service my dealer ( Chowgule Industries, Pune) gave me. And Maruti also keeps a track of customer satisfaction.

7. Resale price :

To my knowledge, Maruti gets a penny more than Hyundai during resale.

=========================================

Now comes another point.

Why I chose Petrol as against Diesel.... Here is my calculation :

Assume the car is used for 1000Km per month then :

Diesel - 1000km - 21 km/lit - 48 lit diesel - 48x35= 1680Rs
Petrol - 1000km - 14 km/lit - 72 lit petrol - 72x51= 3672Rs

Difference 1992Rs.

Saving per ( In Rupees)
Month =    1992
1Year =   23904
3year =   71712
41months = 81672

Onroad Price of of Swift VXi - 4,79,748    

Onroad Price of Swift VDi - 5,61,482

Differece : 81,734

Conclusion : If the car is used for 1000Km per month then the difference of cost of petrol and diesel vehicle will be covered only after 3 years and 4 months, approximately. But if your running is going to be more then you calculate accordingly. 3 of my firends have chosen VDi, the Diesel version as they run around 2k every month.

Please note that I have taken the average of Petrol as 14 ( less than what I get) and Diesel 21 ( on higher side). So the figures mentioned above are on average.. but these figures made me go for petrol version, as I won't even run 1000Km per month.

 

To conclude, I m happy with the vehicle, Fuel economy, Service from the dealer as well as Maruti. My first car has been a right choice.

_abhijit

Over all good performance.

i am a person who has been all around the world and driven all sorts of cars, so trust me when i write this review. maruti is excellent in their marketing strategies, it makes excellent engines at excellent prices, but havent u ever wondered y maruti is much cheaper than the others, this is because maruti does cheap marketing. the build of the swift or the swift dezire or any car below that is so weak that, even if u have a 600 watt suwoofer in your car it will make ur boot cover loose and it will start making noise. even if u have a mild accident, as far as i have noticed it, makes the parts of the car losen and they start to sound horrible. this problem is not tht peonounced in the better cars such as sx4 or the vitara. but no doubt they have provided with excellent mileage, excellent engine build, very good acceleration, even better than sx4 and the fiesta(diesel). but they could have given a better suspension. and a stonger build, otherwise the car is exellent, a good balance b/w performance and mileage. an exellent car i must say. smart marketing.fuel economy, a.s.s, decent interiorspoor quality buid, hard suspension

I has been searching car for last 3 months. my budget was around 4 -5 lakhs...

First I very much attracted towards Fiat Punto.. then ford figo.... and Hyundai i10.

I was very much interested in buying a car that is newly launched... but than i understood... after sales service is very much important... as I will using this car for 3 -4 years at least.. I was not very much aware about Hyundai service but I know that spares for FORD and fiat are costly….. Compare to maruti!!!

My sister is using wagon R from last 5 years and absolutely no issue…

So finally I reviewed Maruti cars... Ritz and swift... The marketing person wanted to convince me to go for ritz….. but I was really happy with everything swift has…… and finally i booked Swift VXi petrol....

Swift is very good proved up till now....And with the new K series engine the fuel economy is increased well.. though the styling is same for a long time still it is awesome ... as this is my first car.. I think I made my decision right..... what say?

 

StyleLess space

Exterior

Looks great in white, nice alloy wheels, Overall nice styling

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort)

Comes with good features like Airbags, Abs, Ebd, Tilt steering, Audio system etc..... Space is good for people sitting in the front but a little cramped for people at the back..... if one takes into consideration that its a small car and on comparision with other cars of the same category the space is fine. Its feels like a big car from the inside, ride quality is good......quite close to my honda city.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

Well its a new car so havnt revved up the engine atleast for the first 1000kms...... but with what i have felt so far the engine has pretty good performance....cant wait to finish 1000kms so i can really see how much power the engine can actually produce......

The first full tank gave me an average of 13.5 km/l with a.c. i think it might improve a little bit after the 1st and 2nd service.

The gearbox is also quite smooth and gear shifting is quite nice

Ride Quality & Handling

As i almost compared the ride quality of the swift to my honda city speaks volumes of the performace of the car. Handling is quiet good and its quite peppy off the blocks......that is without the a.c. on

Final Words

If one looks into the amount of money spent on this car, it would be safe to say that your money was well spent. You can get a small car with good comfort which is comparable to a big car

Areas of improvement  

The biggest disappointment was that even the top model doesnt come with power rear view mirrors....... its a shame that maruti doesnt even want to spend a small amount of money to make its product better.......... they feel that if we are selling our cars without such features why add them......... also the audio system is not upto the mark.....the 4 speakers cannot even be sold in the market for Rs200.........which would indicate the quality.....and its high time they have a usb port for the music system

 

Good fuel economy, Nice ride quality, Good looksNo power rear view mirrors

I've never owned a diesel car so I really was expecting to be disappointed when I heard that the swift diesel was coming my way when I asked to test drive the Swift Petrol. But boy was I in for a surprise! Superficially, they're identical. Maybe the VDi tag tucked away around the back is the only distinguishing quality. Now I've always been impressed by the Swift but it came as a total surprise when the VDi was sprung at me. Driving the car like a sulking kid who'd got the 'Wrong' toy on his birthday, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the car didn't feel all that bad.

5 mins into the test drive I started feeling peddle happy so I decided to give it a shot. Yes the standard 2 second lag exists but get over the lag and the car will jolt you forward in a manner that will put most petrol cars to shame. The VDi uses the the New CRDi engine that is very celebrated and has won the Swift many accolades. Now only if I knew that earlier! The car zipped through traffic. The 3rd gear seemed to be its running favorite. I pushed the car quite a bit but it just refused to back down. Surprisingly the Sales Rep didn't stop me. I managed a 100 with ease but then the lag started setting in.

In my opinion, this is a great car with some great mileage. You could just squeeze out a good 17-18 kmpl if you behave yourself. Also, the high torque is just amazing. The car kept pulling though it was packed with 5 people. So you just know you'll be able to zip through the masses even if you're car is full. Suspension, great as usual. The new updated looks are rather charming too. The white dials on the speedo really compliment the spirit of the car well.

Contrary to popular belief, this diesel car is NOT noisy or sluggish by any means. The Common Rail engine has made sure that though you're changing the engine of the car, the spirit is very much the same. If you don't mind the price tag which is a lakh higher than its petrol brother, go for it... If you drive over 2000k a month, you can really take advantage of the diesel economy.

A total thumbs up from my end

Good Pickup, Good Power compared to the Petrola lakh higher than the equivalent Petrol variant

Brought it 1 Year back Swift Lxi 2008 driven 19000Km as of now. Here are my few observations.
Pros:

1. A/c works fine. (not extraordinary compared to Accent or Indica)
2. Car has stable ride @ high speeds
3. Acceleration is good but it does drop a little bit with A/c switch ON.
4. Mileage of 16+ in City and 19+ on Highways (with all points taken care which include Acceleration, Air Pressure, .. etc)
5. Quality of Plastics used in car is good, Interior looks great.
6. Quality of service provided by dealers in Faridabad specially Vipul.
7. Seating comfort is good.

Conserns:

1. Visibility through the Rear View Mirror is not good. Specially when we have 2-3 people sitting at the back. Technically, it doesn't gives parallel View to Road.
2. The Orignal fitted Headlamp Lights are not so good, as compared to Hyundai Santro (known as sunshine car). Got 130 Watt Philips Headlaps fitted with Relay to match the Santro.
3. Rear leg room is just ok and rear sits r bit cramped if you have 3 ppl weighting 80kg or more at rear.
4. Suspensions are really poor. It seems to be the Hardest of the other cars I own. Even Wagon R or Alto has smoother suspensions.
5. Ratteling Noise is the worst. There's something inside the doors which is just irritating. It is also just because of hard suspensions.
6. As per Maruti the Tyre pressure should be 33 pounds. But due to the Bumpy roads and Hard suspensions I have to compromise it to 30 pounds to get lesser jerks in the cabinet also lesser ratteling *irritating* noise. Which result in lesser Average.
7. The Quality of the Paint is very poor. Seems to be same as White old Maruti cars, which turs yellow after 4-5 years. Seems like cheapest paint in market.

** So Please don't buy it as everyone is buying it. Test Drive it and compare with other Brands also before going for the same.

Good fuel economyratteling noise

I upgraded from an Alto Lx to a Swift Zxi. Its a great drivers car and fun to drive. It has a very good pick up and does not need the A/C to be switched off for a good pickup. Able to go upto speeds of 100+ kmps speeds with ease. Its has comfortable interiors and feels spacious from the inside for 4 full size adults. The climate control is a good feature, but may not be always good for Indian conditions as it tends to go to external circulation mode. This can let in a lot of unwanted vehicular exhaust. Milage is fairly good for its engine capacity, gives around 12 to 14Kms/Lt.

Few points it does not score well are:

1. Visibilty for backing is pretty poor

2. Its front fender is too low and tends to easily get hit

3.  Luggage space is good only for short trips

Overall, would still say a very good car and really fun to drive!!

Good looks, decent fuel economy, great pickupVisibility is poor, switch quality of power window lock, rear passenger headrest