It doesn’t happen often that you are driving a newly-launched car for review and are surprised to see hundreds already on the roads. If, of course, the car is the Maruti Swift Dzire. The car, which recently joined the million-club—since 2008, a total of 10,01,186 units of the Dzire have been sold—has been amongst top three sellers in the industry for the last three years. Launched in February 2008, the first full model change happened in February 2012. So as to maintain the lead—the compact sedan segment has seen entrants such as Honda Amaze, Hyundai Xcent and Tata Zest, and soon Ford will launch the Figo Aspire—Maruti has updated the Dzire. We find how good it is.
Exterior
Maruti, it appears, has decided to play it safe with the Dzire’s exterior styling. However, while the changes are minimal, they are striking. The front bumper has been reworked and gets a bigger air dam. The most noticeable change is the grille, which not only gets honeycomb styling but also a thick, in-your-face broad chrome bar. Then there are chrome accents around the fog-lamp housing. Those prominent sweptback headlamps get a black tint finish and now look, well, more prominent. On the sides, the alloy wheels (in top variants) get a trendy motion-inspired design, while lower variants get restyled wheel caps. The car also gets electrically-retractable ORVMs with turn indicators. The rear looks more or less the same as the outgoing model.
Interior
The car gets remote locking with push-button start/stop, Bluetooth control on the steering wheel for the audio player, and mike integrated lamps on the roof. Top variants come with automatic climate control. The back-door operation is now electromagnetic. Rear passengers get a useful 12-volt accessory socket. The dashboard design is more or less the same, as is the cabin space. The Dzire is a cramped car and remains so. It’s quite difficult for three people to sit comfortably at the rear. Three? Even two tall persons will find their knees constantly scraping the front seats. The cabin is not the best-in-class and is not able to match the quality levels found in the Xcent.
Engines
The biggest changes are under the hood. While both the petrol and diesel engines are the same, Maruti has made them more fuel-efficient. In the 1248cc DDiS diesel engine—which generates a torque of 190Nm and a power of 74 bhp—fuel-efficiency has been increased by 13%. In the 1197cc K-series petrol—which generates a torque of 115Nm and a power of 83 bhp—fuel-efficiency has been increased by 9%.
Thus, the Dzire diesel now returns a mileage of 26.59 kmpl, while the Dzire petrol a mileage of 20.85 kmpl. In fact, before the launch of the Celerio diesel this week, the new Dzire diesel was India’s most fuel-efficient car!
Maruti says higher fuel-efficiency is a result of several innovations by its engineers, including changes in engine hardware leading to improved thermal efficiency, reduced frictional losses and changes in engine calibration. In the petrol, the compact combustion chamber and higher compression ratio helps improve fuel-efficiency. In the diesel, advanced thermal management along with low-friction engine oil and a modified fuel injection system—which help the engine warm up faster and lower frictional losses—lead to better mileage.
On the road
Because the engines are so fine, so is the ride. The car’s gear ratios are fairly sorted, which means you don’t have to regularly change gears even in city driving conditions. The suspension is among the best-in-class and ride quality over bad roads is good. The steering wheel is nice to hold and steering inputs are precise. However, the visibility from the driver’s seat isn’t that good, with the A-pillar especially blocking some view. Parking has been made more convenient, thanks to the sensors, but you don’t get a rear-parking camera.
Verdict
The best-selling compact sedan in India still can’t be crowned India’s best compact sedan. However, all these changes come together to make the car slightly better in almost all areas, except cabin space. The petrol is priced from R5.08 lakh to R6.81 lakh, while the diesel is priced from R5.99 lakh to R7.82 lakh. There is also a petrol automatic on offer, for R6.67 lakh. The Swift Dzire is not yet a perfect car, but it performs well, is extremely practical, relatively low on servicing cost and, because it is a Maruti, it will continue to lead the segment.
The Mileage Champion
The new Swift Dzire diesel, which has a claimed fuel-efficiency of 26.59 kmpl, has just been beaten on this front. This week, Maruti launched what it describes as India’s most fuel-efficient car—the Celerio diesel. It gets the super-compact 793cc, two-cylinder DDiS 125 engine that returns a mileage of a whopping 27.62 kmpl, of course under standard test conditions.
This also marks the global launch of the DDiS 125, which is the first diesel engine designed and developed by Suzuki Motor Corporation. The company says it incorporates the attributes of swiftness, driveability and compactness. The company added that it, together with its suppliers, has invested over R900 crore towards the development of the DDiS 125 engine, which has over 97% localisation levels. The engine meets Bharat Stage IV norms. The car is priced from R4.65 lakh to R5.71 lakh.
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