A Swift Shift: Hydra's Hatch II

[bottle]

will miss the old palio but many congrats for the new car and for your future as well

[vigneshram]

Hydra,
I used to see your Palio and admire a lot but when i heard that your going to sell it,i was upset and now when you have sold i am totally dejected.A swift cannot replace a Palio though.anyways sorry if i am wrong.


Enjoy the Zxi



Vignesh
1.2Siena ELX

[rippergeo]

Dude!!! you got swifted???? congrats. this calls for a meet!
nice alloys! drool.

leave the black beading on. saves you from our city's traffic.

[speedzak]

Congratulations! You always deserved a Swift. And you've got the best, ZXI.
Good thing you went thru the swift shift before your wedding. Otherwise, you know it would've been considered as dowry. Kudos!

The writeup as always is just great too. I couldn't manage to skip/FF any part of it. Just got hooked to it and am waiting for more updates as you live and spend more time (with your baby.

[Elito11]

Originally Posted by hydrashok

First Impressions - Mostly 2002 Fiat Palio ELX 1.2 Vs. 2008 Maruti Swift ZXi
Now for the controversial part. For the first week I had the car, everything was being compared with the Palio.

The Good:
- Handles very well. I love how responsive the car is to the steering. I've not gone above 80kmph/2500RPM so far, so I'm sure I have more fun left to experience.
- Excellent Turning radius. This is the biggest change I experienced. After driving the Palio for about 5.5years, It feels as though the Swift turns on a dime. In fact, all of last sunday, I was having fun taking U-turns in all those places in the city I used to have to take 3-point-turns before.
- Very good gear-shift. I prefer the slotty shift of the Swift to the more vague one of the Palio. Personal preference. Reverse gear engagement is occasionally troublesome, though.
- Engine feels more peppy, and is more eager to rev.
- Very nice dials and backlighting. I like, I like.
- A lighter clutch is welcome. (A much weaker clutch is not, though).
- Somewhat better visibility to the front and to the sides.
- Nice, big ORVMS.
- Smaller steering wheel feels better.
- Lots and lots of slots/nooks to store/keep stuff in the dashboard/center console.


The Bad:
- The car feels like it is built out of plastic. I couldn't believe how flimsy and cheap and badly put-together the Swift feels!
- Plastics feel flimsy. The Dash pushes in wherever I poke my finger. The doors close without feeling solid (The inside door handle is part of the door trim/pad and the trim/pad flexes like mad). Even the back of the steering wheel creaks and flexes.
- Most plastic panels (inside) fit badly. Alignment problems, gaps etc etc.
- Rattles & creaks. Already (!!!) The rear seat is driving me mad, rattling that way.
- The sound system sucks BIG TIME! But then it is a stock system so I don't expect much. I'll need to get rid of the stock fascia in a clean way, though, when the old gear goes in, in about 2-3 months time.
- NO DEAD PEDAL. I knew this before, but it hit me with the full force of inconvenience within 5 minutes of driving the car. Aaarrrrrgh!
- NO Reverse-gear-lock-ring-thing. I liked this safety feature in the Palio. Feels odd not to have it.
- No remote boot release (from inside, or with key-fob). The magnet release button feels neat, though.
- Seats feel uncomfortable. I'm not sure if this is because I need to get used to the car or not. But I still haven;t been able to find a fully comfortable driving position. And even short drives (not to mention long hours in traffic) are giving me a back-ache at the end of the day. Never happened with the Palio.
- The RVM and the rear-window don't help much with rearward visibility.
- Really miss the 3-stage doors of the Palio. Just a matter of getting used to the "full-range" ones of the Swift, I know, but I think the 3-stage doors are needed.
- I prefer the lower driving position of the Palio.
- Weak reversing light.

Hi Hydra!

Gr8 looking car..Congrats!! Must say that is an excellent first impression. Very Insightful.

Personally i feel Swift scores very heavyly on the FTD and ease of drive factor. However praticality is an issue.

Can anyone post a picture of the new design OEM Alloys!

Elito

[revvedup]

Hydra lovely alloys and lovely car, but did you sell the Apollo CAI with the Palio as well, couldn't it have been fitted as the Swift as well.

[maxbhp]

Congrats hydra ! The car is looking great.
The only thing I didnt like about the car is the black beading running around the car . Apart from that its looks smooooooking !

[PatienceWins]

Congrats Hydra!!

I am sure you will enjoy the handling capability and the rev of the engine.

The car looks awesome in white with the alloys. The only thing I did not like black beading on doors of the white car.

[suren181]

Groovy choice of Alloys Ashok, Do not think I have seen this design before. it seems unique at that. Congrats on the purchase and heres wishing you many many miles of happy motoring.

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by hydrashok

- No remote boot release (from inside, or with key-fob). The magnet release button feels neat, though.

Congrats Ashok Ji In my Office wale. Enjoy the ride and in few day you will enjoy more.

Now about the boot release it is not required because if you lock the car door from the central locking switch all the four doors and the boot gets locked (yes the magnet release does not function). So when if one needs to open the boot you will have unlock from the central locking switch. Hope you get what I said.

[gt_bhp]

Congrats on the new car Hydra, great looking Swift with those alloys. Enjoy her as much as you did with your Palio. Waiting to see pics of the Swift with complete leather interiors like in your Palio.

[Autophile]

Hydra one request.

Get rid of the ugly side strips and bumper protectors. Making the car look bad.

[Jaggu]

Hydra on second thoughts just kill the beadings, they dont gel well. And i dont think they will protect (side ones) since they are in one of the deepest lines of the body which will be last thing to take any stupid brush.

[kpzen]

Get the side body protectors painted in body color white...IMHO that would look better than black.

[Autophile]

Take them off they are spoiling the lines of the car completely. Don't bother painting them.