My Red Cherry - Swift VDI : 15000 KM Report

[DieselFan]

It’s been a year since I got my Red Swift VDI. 21th Feb 2007 to be precise. I got the car just 10 days after booking the same in Kalyani Motors on Mysore Road here in Bangalore. For the past one year, I have traveled over 15000 kms in my car. There has been ups and downs, more ups than downs. Now is the right time to pen down my long term ownership report.

Car purchase experience and accessories installed – Purchase experience was fairly fine with last minute glitches of having to withdraw and carry cash for accessories (Dealer informed me at the time of payment that he will charge 2.5% on credit card sales). I got some accessories free – floor mats, Idol, perfume and the mud flaps and some that I paid for and got it installed – Sony XPlod system with 2 JBL component speakers. I just installed speakers in the rear so that the driver(that is me) has minimum distraction with loud music (My daughter always wants music to be loud). I also got Nippon security system /keyless entry installed. Both these totaled to about 16K.
I picked up the car on the evening of 21st Feb 2007. It had already done 60KM on the ODO. Got an elaborate puja done at my friendly neighbor hood temple. Parked my car at home at 8 pm.

The Honeymoon period- Till 1000 KM I have had no problems with the car. Engine noise was harsh to hear but the car pull and pickup was amazing. I was really amazed by the diesel torque. Around this time I got myself registered into Team-BHP. I always varied my speed whenever I took my car out for long drives during this period. I also maintained engine RPM below 2.5K till the first service.
I got my I service done at 1250 KM. Only the engine oil was replaced in the first service (Please note – there was no replacement of oil filter). Cost of 1st service was 600 Rs and took 3 hours.

The first signs of problem - After about 1500 KM my ECU had a problem. The car was hunting while idling without any AC load. This was because of Idle RPM was falling below 900 and the car engine was shivering once every 8-10 sec. This was much discussed in this forum (See the link -http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/22658-swift-diesel-excessive-engine-vibration-when-idle-edit-solved-mul.html) and the matter was taken up by MUL and the ECU was completely replaced. In next few weeks lot of Swift Ds were recalled by Maruti for ECU replacement/reprogramming.
My Next incident was a small truck scratching my car’s left front door. Minor scratch to which a paint touch up was done by my dealer. First I went to Suraksha (MASS on Hossur Road Bangalore) to get touch up done on recommendation of some of the folks on this forum but the guy quoted me atrocious amount to tinker and paint the door (Close to 7000 Rs.) and he was unwilling to do a touch up job. I think Suraksha is constantly up to squeezing the customer at the first opportunity they get. This has not only put me off Suraksha but I am advising others not to go to them. They have least sense of customer satisfaction /retention.

2nd Service - Second service was done at 5300 km and there was no oil change or any charges levied on me. My complaints on rattling was fixed and tyre rotation was done. I did get my wheel alignment done with Vijay Wheel alignment on Outer Ring road. Not very satisfactory as I had to take the car back to them and get it realigned as the alignment had a problem.
From 1000 to 5000 KM I have gradually increased the max. Engine RPM to 4K. After 2nd service I have also reached the red line and once every 15 days I ensure I touch the redline at least once and retain it around 4500 RPM for a min or two (Always after engine has warmed up and reached the steady state temp). This is called Italian Tune-up. This removes all the clogs and soot out of the car exhaust system and highly recommended by experienced folks in various forums.

Fuel experience - Initially I was using Shell Diesel that was giving good performance and mileage but the engine sound was very harsh. After second service I switched to IOC diesel (normal). I have also tried XTRA MILE once and it caused lot of white smoke occasionally when flooring the accelerator. I found the same issue with Shell diesel. Since then I have stopped using premium diesel. IOC diesel gives the smoothest ride with minimal engine sound. The other fuel I have tried is HP and that too gives decent performance with minimal engine sound.

3rd Service - My 3rd service was done just after completion of 10000 KM by Kalyani Motors’ newly opened service center on outer ring road close to Mysore road. This time around they changed Engine oil and oil filter. They also rotated the tyres and fixed some rattling issues that I had in the rear 5th door. They also did something while washing the car that left diesel spot marks all over the car. They also topped up all the fluids and charged me additional 100 RS for consumables. Overall service experience was Neutral.
I have now touched 15000 km and have just got my wheel balancing and alignment done at Tyre professionals on RV Road next to Bangalore Hospital. The experience was good. The entire process is computerized there and the only shortcoming I found with them was they do not do any checkup or test drive post balancing/alignment to actually check whether alignment /balancing has been carried out well (Nikhil Hope you are reading).
Overall the experience with my Swift Diesel has been great.

Positives –
1. Great Torque.
2. Great Mileage (I have always got above 18 KMPL in city and above 20 KMPL on highway driving with AC on 50% of the time in city and 100% on Highway).
3. Good power
4. Low noise (Compared to other diesel cars/SUVs)
5. Good front leg room
6. Never gets tired on a long haul drive.
7. Front seat Legroom
8. Reaches 160 KMPH fairly quickly on the highway and is very balanced/ composed at that speed.

Some negatives –
1. Rattling noise from Doors/dashboard. Needs fixing at every service
2. Seating/driving comfort and visibility for driver – not very comfortable for the driver and passengers (at recommended tyre pressures of 36 PSI in the front and 33 in the rear the drive comfort is not so good). Due to A,B columns lateral visibility for driver is bad. Especially during the blind right curves. Seating comfort could have been lot better.
3. Front bumper always touches the ground when driving on a reasonably sized speed breaker or in potholed roads. I need to drive at gear 1 or 2 in these scenarios.
4. Suspension feel – It is very tacky and gives out metallic sound whenever I hit a pothole or go over a speed breaker at a fairly high speed.
5. Stock tyres – drive feel, corner handling and breaking distance is pretty bad.

I am still –
1. Using mineral engine oil (Mobil Delvac 1300).
2. Washing my car once a week and dusting it when needed.
3. Ripping my car without any worries on Mileage.
4. Having stock tyres.
5. Maintaining tyre air pressure at 36 PSI for the front and 33 PSI for the rear.

[Eddy]

Cool report and congrats on the great experience.

One question on the second service: Did you get your wheel alignment / balancing done during the service. I ask this because I was charged 250 bucks for the same.
What about the FE ?

[snaronikar]

Nice report and good experience of 15,000 kms.

One question:Regarding the credit card: 2.5% extra charges: RBI has directed to credit card companies that they should not charge 2.5%extra as service charges on the credit card sales. How come Kalyani motors said they will charge extra? Did you discuss with them about this?

[prskumar]

Nice Report.

You have mentioned that seating/driving comfort is not good.

Is there a difference in seat comfort in Swift ZXI, when compared to other variants? (As ZXI has seat height adjuster and broader tires with alloy wheel).

[akroy]

Nice Report except that your perception on Surakshaa is totally wrong.

Anyway as long as you are happy with what you are getting at your service station thats fine...

Abhi

[DieselFan]

Originally Posted by Eddy

One question on the second service: Did you get your wheel alignment / balancing done during the service. I ask this because I was charged 250 bucks for the same.
What about the FE ?

No Wheel Alignment/Balancing I had it done by Vijay Wheel alignment. I prefer going to specialists rather than getting this done through MASS.

FE - Has already been discussed under Mileage in section Positives.

Originally Posted by snaronikar

One question:Regarding the credit card: 2.5% extra charges: RBI has directed to credit card companies that they should not charge 2.5%extra as service charges on the credit card sales. How come Kalyani motors said they will charge extra? Did you discuss with them about this?

Credit card companies do not impose this additional amount. It is charged by the dealer to cover his charges (Like the petrol pumps that charge you extra 2.5% if you use credit card).

Originally Posted by prskumar

You have mentioned that seating/driving comfort is not good.

Is there a difference in seat comfort in Swift ZXI, when compared to other variants? (As ZXI has seat height adjuster and broader tires with alloy wheel).

I haven't driven ZXI so I am not aware of this difference. seat adjuster would help and also broader tires/alloy wheels.

[headers]

Honest Report about your SWIFT DDIS..

The seating is not comfortable if you are under 5'9 or so..I agree..

The tyres are inadequate for a car of this stature / category / power etc.. I guess this was done in the interest of high FE claimed..

Nevertheless..you've got one great car..Happy and Safe Driving..and revving..

[RufRoc]

Way to go, DieselFan. A nice comprehensive write-up. I think you'd belong to that small lucky group of swift diesel owners who have already completed a year, in it.

[Strangerintown]

Originally Posted by DieselFan

Credit card companies do not impose this additional amount. It is charged by the dealer to cover his charges (Like the petrol pumps that charge you extra 2.5% if you use credit card).

Actually the credit card companies do charge the merchant establishments a fee of about 2% on every transaction. This used to be 2.5% earlier. As per the agreement between the card companies and the merchant establishments, this charge is not to be recovered from the customer. Unfortunately however, many retailers continue to pass this on to the customer. I guess as long as credit card acceptance is considered to be an additional "service" , this problem will remain!

[GeekSrik]

good report and to the point. enjoy your long drives

[phamilyman]

Very naish report. More miles of smiles to you bro

[blorebuddy]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Nice report and good experience of 15,000 kms.

One question:Regarding the credit card: 2.5% extra charges: RBI has directed to credit card companies that they should not charge 2.5%extra as service charges on the credit card sales. How come Kalyani motors said they will charge extra? Did you discuss with them about this?

I have noticed similar notice in JP Nagar Mandovi for credit card payments for 2000Rs or more. 2% service charge

[normally_crazy]

Originally Posted by DieselFan

not very comfortable for the driver and passengers (at recommended tyre pressures of 36 PSI in the front and 33 in the rear the drive comfort is not so good).

4. Suspension feel – It is very tacky and gives out metallic sound whenever I hit a pothole or go over a speed breaker at a fairly high speed.

5. Maintaining tyre air pressure at 36 PSI for the front and 33 PSI for the rear.

Hey DF,

The suspension being hard and ride uncomfortable could be linked to your tyre pressures. IMO you should be running 30 psi all around (in fact I say 28 psi is better)

In my vRS - there is a marked difference in ride quality when I reduce the tyre pressure to 28 psi.

And boy those FE figures are damn neat. !!

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

Hey DF,

The suspension being hard and ride uncomfortable could be linked to your tyre pressures. IMO you should be running 30 psi all around (in fact I say 28 psi is better)

But the recommended pressure is 36 & 34. I drive with 34 and 32 feel reasonably comfortable.

[normally_crazy]

well I know that (its 32 psi for the RS, I think) but I feel better and more comfortable with 28 psi all around. I am mostly alone or with a single person in the car 95 % of the time, so I have the pressure @ 28 psi.

There is a marked difference in ride quality. Same was the case with the ikon as well. In fact have been on 28 psi since the start.