Bright Red Beast(Swift VDI ABS) - The Real Story Begins

[raj84]

Hi everyone,

I am beginning a long term ownership report of my Bright Red Beast. The entire story on how I waited and waited for getting my Beast, and all the difficulties I faced in the 4 months of waiting can be read in http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...t-vdi-abs.html (Booked my Bright Red Beast- Swift VDI with ABS)



What has she achieved?

The car has completed 487kms till now. I am using it daily to commute to Office. A total of 36kms to and fro.The engine has the typical diesel clatter when started. But this disappears from third gear onwards

How about the Ride and Handling?

She rides on Michellin XM1+ 185/70/R14. The ride feels hard after getting the tyres inflated recently. What is the ideal tyre pressure for the above mentioned tyres on a Swift?

Cant comlain anything about the tyres as it does its duty brilliantly. Cannot compare it with the stock JK Tyres, as I have not driven the car on it.

The car corners as if it is on rails. The car follows exactly the path we desire it to go. This is a boon for drivers like me who just started driving. The handling of the car is superb

How much does she drink?

Conducted a test by feeding it with 500Rs worth of diesel. That is 13.28 litres. The car covered 200Km with 13.28 litres of diesel. I refuelled before the needle reached its original point. Hence it would have covered more than 200 Kms.Hence I assume it can go another 15kms, making it a total of 215kms/13.28 litres.

Mileage = 16.18 Kmpl

Great figures isnt it? Was it with AC or was it without? The Beast managed it all with 90%AC.

Now you must have predicted a highway run isnt it? No, that is not the case. The Beast managed all these with 100% city ride. Out of the 36kms, the car covers 3-4kms on fifth gear, 8-10 kms on fourth gear , 15-18kms on third gear and the remaining kms on first and second. The car does an average speed of 30-40kmph and the car does 5-10kmph most of the time due to heavy traffic. The roads are very narrow and it takes almost 5 minutes to cover 100 metres in many parts of the route.

Now isnt that Mileage Really Really Great!! ?


How fast has she gone?

She has done 80kmph max till now. Did not want her to go any faster at this point of time. She is a new born and this is not the time for her to run so fast.But I have felt the power that lies within this Beast. It can blur your vision in no time. It does have a huge turbo lag initially. This is something that disappoints someone who has driven a Bajaj Discover with its sheer low end torque. The bike can do very low speeds in fourth gear. But the Swift requires 2nd gear for that speed. The car does not gain momentum as you would want it to. I felt very slow , after riding the Discover. This can also be due to the time that I take to shift a gear compared to the bike. I take more time to shift the gear in the car when compared to the bike.

But wait till the Engine revs to 2000rpm, you are thrown back onto your seat and the silent pussy cat now roars like a Tiger and leaps ahead. You will be quite taken by surprise by the acceleration this car can display once it is past the 2000rpm limit. I wonder how it would be to drive it beyond 80kmph. It must be magical

ABS, is it making a difference?

The ABS has not worked till now.As many others have explained before, the ABS does not come into effect in our daily driving. It comes into play only in emergency situations. It is in these situations that you need ABS to protect you. I have not driven in such a fashion, nor would I drive that way. But it is always worth spending that extra money on something that can protect you in danger.

ICE ICE baby

The ICE is not that great.It is due to the poor wires that they have used for the ICE. They did not charge me for the wires which itself shows that they have used some normal set of wires. But the hardware that I have bought is indeed good(Pioneer 6050 and JBL 947 + JBL 562) and I can use it to produce the best results when I get a good Car ICE specialist in Trivandrum.

Take a look at the Beast

[abhinav.gupta88]

Congrats
An amazing review
Waiting for more pics.
By the way , looks hot.

[white_vdi]

a nice review raj!!
city driving will be fun. esp when you take off from the traffic signals and she will do 140-150 very easily. just make sure you do it on roads that are safe enough.
start to a new tale. all the best and drive safe

[d3mon]

I can see 9 instances of the swift referred to as 'Beast' here. In one post !!

[ariendj]

just what i wanted..a nice drool review on the VDi!!you are bang on man.
btw,i think the best way to calculate FE would be to do tank top fill ups.and im sure you FE would be even better than this.
and hey im sure there are plenty of good ICE shops out there in trivandrum,so get those wires right!!
enjoy the ride and will be waiting for occasional pics of the beauty!!

[raj84]

Thanks everyone for the comments!!!

@ariendj: There are no good ICE shops in Trivandrum. They just know how to make the audio system to work. But not how to make it sound properly. Emperor in Cochin is the nearest good ICE shop. But that seems far for me, and hence expecting someone to open a good ICE shop in Trivandrum

@d3mon: The Swift DDIS is indeed a Beast , so it deserves to be called 9 times

@white_vdi: Will take her beyond 100kmph once she covers 1000kms. Waiting impatiently for that

@abhinav.gupta88: Thank you sir!!. More pictures added, and more pictures coming soon


Review Continues..


I had a small drive today and noticed few things which I want to check with you all.

1. Does the Swift come with a Low Fuel Warining indicator? There is a indicator on the instrument cluster which was not explained in the Manual. They have not mentioned about this indicator in the manual. Just see the picture I have attached

2. There is a lap belt for the middle passenger in the rear seat. Does it come with all models of Swift? I thought it came only with the ZXI model

3. The Remote Lock Issue - After locking the car using the remote lock, there is a continuous beep after 1 minute. The beep exists for 3seconds only. But the car continues to be locked. Is that a fault with the Remote Lock?


Rattles?

Yes the Swift started showing signs of rattling. The sound was coming from the front window. It was present only once and never heard it again. I think the window was not closed completely and this caused the noise.

But should Swift Owners or, to-be-Swift Owners be worried about the rattles? Here comes an answer that will make you happy.I recently had a ride in my friend's Skoda Laura. The Laura was equally new as my Swift and it rattled more than my Swift. That is when I realised that any car can rattle if some part of it is not properly fit.

Summary: Dont skip the Swift when it comes to buying a car, just because it rattles. Any car can.


Faults?

The Central Locking switch on the front door is not working anymore. The Hazard Light switch is also not working . I noticed these only after fitting the ICE. Hence I doubt that it is due to the ICE work that these things are not working. The hazard light switch is on top of the Pioneer Head Unit and some wires might have got cut while putting on the Head Unit.

Some more pictures for you all

1. Picture with the Unknown Fuel Indicator
2. The rear seat lap belt
3. The Beast with its boot open
4. A good indicator of how much boot space is available in a Swift(for prospective buyers)

[harry10]

Nice Review Raj. Keep going

[shuvd]

Congratulations Raj. The beast looks hot! I just love the Swift diesel. Someday.....

Get the wiring issues sorted out ASAP. Any other future upgrades planned?

[aseemjohari]

hey great review raj..!
well i am also a happy owner of swift vdi(ABS).
raj i would suggest to use tank full to tank full method to measure to note the millage;it will sure increase the figure you geting.
my swift had compleated 6000 kms and he is offering me 18 in the city and 21 on the highway with same about 90% A.C working.
and now about your quaries:
1) yes swift comes with the low fuel indicater..but i suggest never touch that mark being a multijet deisel engine frm deisel i am not sure but it might get problem if some unwanted material frm low level deisel get into it.
2) yes the middle lap belt is the standard safety feature in vdi..never used it but it might be present in all the variants i suppose.
3) there is something problem with your remote...!

yaar can i ask you one question...if you had waited till now then why should'nt you went for the dzire...i think its more vfm than swift.

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by raj84

There is a indicator on the instrument cluster which was not explained in the Manual. They have not mentioned about this indicator in the manual. Just see the picture I have attached

The indicator doesn't work.

Now you must have predicted a highway run isnt it?

Not surprising, infact the car gives better FE in city than on highway. Atleast mine does.

Summary: Dont skip the Swift when it comes to buying a car, just because it rattles. Any car can.

Very true, but the problem is "ALL" swifts rattle unlike "some" cars from other manufac's.

The hazard light switch is on top of the Pioneer Head Unit and some wires might have got cut while putting on the Head Unit.

I think there is a plug in type socket that must have come off during ICE installation. Have it checked, me thinks it should work on plugging it back.

By beast you mean the one that roars (rattles) right ?

If you are a guy who drives fast, get Pete's. You will enjoy the car more. Otherwise, that engines hits a brick wall at 3,200rpm.

[trrk]

Hi,

Originally Posted by raj84

The Central Locking switch on the front door is not working anymore. The Hazard Light switch is also not working .

Blown fuses? Check your fuses, please.

[ariendj]

ya the wiring speaks for themselves,its a little shabby.
my place is midway between trivandrum and cochin.i guess i better go to cochin once i get my VDi.
btw,just curious,from the close up pic of the boot,it seems its quite lavish.Frankly speaking is it big enough to hold a big travel suitcase(petti) cause i do have airport travels once a while!!and i realy dislike the idea that the back seat is only single foldable(even a M800 is double split)

[raj84]

@shuvd: Upgrades in the Pipe Line are Sunfilms and Alloys. Need to save money for few more months. Ofcourse an Amp and Sub are also in the Wish List. But that I will do only with a ICE specialist. Hence that can wait for the time being

@mclaren1885 : I like driving fast, but for me anything in the range of 100-140kmph is fine. Hence I skipped Pete's. Also it will affect the Warranty.

Yes all Swifts rattle from what I have read in the forum. Hence we can call the Swift a Rattle Snake, which is a very powerful title for such a powerful Beast

Need to check the Hazard Switch during the first service which is coming soon


@trrk: If it is blown fuses, Maruti will definitely put the blame on the ICE execution. So I will be charged for it :-(

@ariendj: Yes the wiring is shabby.So you can guess the sound quality. The sound quality is fine just because the hardware is good. Otherwise nothing much to admire.

You must take the car to Emperor in Cochin. Dont come to Trivandrum at any cost for the ICE. There are no good ICE specialists in Trivandrum

I was also surprised to see such a big boot after reading many reviews that the boot space of Swift is very low. It can definitely take a big suitcase(petti). The only hindrance would be the speakers mounted on the board. Otherwise it can easily swallow a large suitcase

[white_vdi]

raj the fuse wont cost much dont worry.
during the ICE install they remove the hazard switch and m sure he must have forgotten to put it back. it happened with me also.
nothing to worry about.

[raj84]

Originally Posted by white_vdi

raj the fuse wont cost much dont worry.
during the ICE install they remove the hazard switch and m sure he must have forgotten to put it back. it happened with me also.
nothing to worry about.

Hope it is just as what you have mentioned.Will get it checked

Any Idea as to what is the Ideal Tyre pressure on XM1+ 185/70/R14 on the Swift?