Beg to get hit: Swift Fr bumper

[Surprise]

The day I took a look at Swift, I felt the front bumper was too low and would get hit in Speed brakes. But my assumption proved wrong till yesterday.

This morning the guy who cleans my car regularly in office informed me that there was a dent in the right hand side front bumper below the fog lights. I was shocked to see the depth of the dent. It was nearly 2 " with 1' length on the corner of the bumper.


The funny part is that I do not know who was on the wheels during the incident. Iam sure that the driver would have heard the bang. But this was not told to me.

Is the bumper too low in the front portion in SWIFT?

[Rtech]

You can't blame the manufacturer's for the pathetic state of our roads. They can only raise the suspension that much before it severly affects the dynamics of a vehicle.

[RX135]

Rtech, agreed that we can not blame manufacturers for poor roads, but they better take that into account while designing their cars for Indian market

Poor ground clearance was biggest grudge against Mondeo (and few Skodas as well I guess). But then Mondeo sells in tens and hundreds, so that is somewhat okay. Swift is sure to sell in thousands and hence, it becomes even more imperative that this factor be taken into account.

I am curious to know how come this is not reported by other Swift owners yet, Or is there no problem?

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by RX135

Rtech, agreed that we can not blame manufacturers for poor roads, but they better take that into account while designing their cars for Indian market

Which essentially means no bumper.
RX, to what extent manufacturers can go to to take care of these. As it is most of the cars have modified suspension to match our roads. Engines de tuned to match our fuel quality...the list goes on.

On the other hand do we think that the money collected as road tax is used for roads only?

[ritik123]

That bumper damage could have happened due to a lot many things.

Ground clearance is not necessarily the culprit.

Also the more a car is raised (besides affecting dynamics) the more un appealing will it look. One reason why the octy and mondy look good is their low clearance.

[Xsailor]

Originally Posted by Surprise

Is the bumper too low in the front portion in SWIFT?

@Surprise
The bumper sure look rather low. I have just about enough slot space to park a C seg sedan in front of my house. Their are two concrete ramps (one my own and other of the neighbour) which are at the ends of this slot. Now, the gradient of my ramp is steep and thus I have provided yet another slope on the side of the ramp so that I can drive-away in the morning without hitting the underbody (I hope you get the picture - the small slope is at right angles to the main ramp). This was done during my Santro ownership days and many a times, I have managed to hit the Santro's underbody/under the bumper on the verge of my main ramp!

When I bough the Swift, I was dead certain that I will damage the nose someday or the other! But hey, Surprise (as in the word and not your handle ) not a nick! Of course I have been EXTRA careful but I feel that even though the bumper is low, there is some other factor (position of the wheels, wheel dia or something) which has saved my Swift from getting a dent - or maybe I have been sober for too long (pun intended).

This, of course, is just one case in point - Would appreciate if other Swift owners could comment.

Take care, man Surprise.

Cheers

[RX135]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Which essentially means no bumper.

Rudraji, I am not saying that it should have ground clearance like an SUV. I am just saying that it should be taken into account. If front bumper of all the cars (like WagonR, Santro, Palio, Indica) is scraping on a particular speedbraker, it is fine for Swift to scrape on it. But, if all other cars are passing over it without scraping, while only Swift scrapes against it, I would say, it is not good in Indian context.

And where does the tax money go? We all know :(

Based on Xsailor's reply, GC doesnt seem to be an issue with Swift. Damage on Surprise's car may be because of some other reason then.

[Rudra Sen]

Hey RX, you're right. But the sad part is continous modification for Indian condition. We end up getting something very different from what other countries are getting.

Point in case an old proven engine for SWIFT. Not what others are getting worlwide. Sorry, going off topic.

[RX135]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Hey RX, you're right. But the sad part is continous modification for Indian condition. We end up getting something very different from what other countries are getting.Point in case an old proven engine for SWIFT. Not what others are getting worlwide. Sorry, going off topic.

I agree with you, Rudraji. But with this golden quadrilateral project, the highways are rapidly going up in quality. That's one good news. Apart from that, Pune roads have changed status from "road with potholes" to "potholes with sparse road".

BTW, what is big deal with new engine of Swift? Why is it not available in India? Any problems with our Fuel quality, or is it just to keep the costs down?

[veyron1]

the swift's bumper did seem kinda low to me at first, but after some driving, i found that the GC of the front /rear bumper is more than sufficient....

and how did i come to this conclusion...??well, there's this speed breaker on a road that is near to my residence- and it's extremely famous. that particular speed breaker has managed to get intimate with the bellys of many a city, santro, esteem, and others; with the zen being it's most favourite- even experts have tried, but they simply couldn't get an alto or a zen over this particular speedbreaker without scraping the bumper and the undercarriage.... but, to my surprise, the swift simply glided over this aberration without so much as a word....and that, my friends, has been the ultimate test for my ride- and it has passed with flying colours....

the point is- the swift seems to have enough GC to tackle most of what our roads can throw at it; except the extreme variety, which is a job for the mighty safaris and scorpios and endeavours. maybe yours was a unique case, surprise- check the dent for paint scrapes and pattern- maybe a rock hit the bumper at speeds....

[ritik123]

RX135,

The Swift gets a Variable Valve Timing (what honda calls a VTEC) hi tech unit in Europe.

We get a modified esteem engine.

Reason..u got it...price.

[Revvhead]

Originally Posted by Surprise

The day I took a look at Swift, I felt the front bumper was too low and would get hit in Speed brakes. But my assumption proved wrong till yesterday.

This morning the guy who cleans my car regularly in office informed me that there was a dent in the right hand side front bumper below the fog lights. I was shocked to see the depth of the dent. It was nearly 2 " with 1' length on the corner of the bumper.


The funny part is that I do not know who was on the wheels during the incident. Iam sure that the driver would have heard the bang. But this was not told to me.

Is the bumper too low in the front portion in SWIFT?

Your description is very symptomatic of parking damage-
Let me explain. From the dimensions & type of damage described, this appears to have happened while doing angular parking, or parking perpendicular to a orad which may have a higher than normal kerb.
Under such conditions you will not hear or feel anything as you would have eased the car very slowly forward, thinking you are clear, but the leading corner of the bumber would have made contact with the kerb and caused the kind of damage described.

[nitinbhag]

[quote=veyron1]the swift's bumper did seem kinda low to me at first, but after some driving, i found that the GC of the front /rear bumper is more than sufficient....QUOTE]

If you have noticed, the front overhang of the Swift is very small .. this will give it better GC as the front end travel will be lesser and less likely to hit speed bomps or other road devils.. Similar case with the rear overhang..