Swift Dzire 6 months, 6,000 kms, post 2nd service update

[TOR]

Finally, finally after about..well 4 months 6 days and 7 hours later the Dzire has arrived!

The journey has been an eventful one, with half truths and complete lies, with heartache and the faint glimmer of hope, with frustration and anger, with disappointments and dejection(well thats enough i guess!)

-but the Swift Dzire(VDi) surely redeems all that and thats saying something about the car!

-have taken delivery today at 3pm and just got back home from the 'most cheerful time' in the past five months.

-this is just a teaser as i was itching to put in my report and am tired(dead) from the sojourns of the evening.

-will post details of the booking/waiting/delivery and initial impression morrow with the pictures.

i thank team-BHP for making the past months a little more bearable by the excellent articles and the regular updates!

[Path_Finder]

Congrats on the new acquisition! It is a good car and worth is really worth – keep the thread updated with your experience and photos.

[TOR]

The nuances of life can be quite intriguing.

The addition of a 3Kg tiny tot to the family has turned everything haywire. Suddenly the space in the rooms have decreased, the length of the nights have a new meaning and the hatchback dimensions of our 6 year old Santro are suddenly so very cramped!

The Santro Zip plus had served us well, very easy on maintenance and a hoot to drive in the city. Disregarding the 'choppy ride' at the rear, a Santro is one of the best if not best city cars -period.Here she is-fond remembrance.

Needed a diesel sedan in the 5-7lac bracket and there were only two choices the Logan and the Dzire-(no actually one choice)-the Dzire - the only reason was because of the engine/drive train and nothing else.
Booking was made on April 17th (and on that fateful day) we gave in to the sweet talk by the sale exec and exchanged the santro against the booking amount.
Reason being:
- we were going out of country for 1 month and the car(old Santro) would have been garaged.
-they were quoting a good amount for the santro - 1.70 lac for a 6.5 year old XP model.
-they gave an assurance that the car(dzire) would be delivered in 18 days time!!

As we were going to be out of station the loan was also processed through SBT for the rest of the amount at 10.5% rate.
the onroad price quoted was 6.35 lac(Dzire VDi with extended warranty)

Fast forward one month later(and we are back home) and there is no news of the car, the sales exec is singing a different tune(factory has closed for summer vacation, the Fiat has forgotten to supply some parts to maruti..blah..blah..all hogwash).

Meanwhile for us life has turned mean!

No car - tiny tot - increasing baggage -increasing travel requirements- the looming kerala monsoons - no definite idea when the car will be delivered("saar car will come by may end"..etc).
So the oblivious option -Rent a car..most of the established agencies have cut throat rates-finally hunt down a friends friend who gives for rent on a part time/unofficial basis and calls him up(want to rent a sedan and get used to the big car feel-poor me!)

"Sir all our vehicles are rented out, but i can get you a santro" - the irony of life!!

So from here on started life with rent a car- to cut the story short- we rent the Santro for a month and as there is no update on the delivery date we go through a Scorpio/NHC and an Alto over the next 3 months.

Here are the rental rates-

Santro xing - Rs. 650/-
NHC - Rs.900/-
Scorpio('full option' according to the friendly neighborhood renter) -Rs.1100/-
Alto -Rs.600/-

-all these are per day charges.

Finally by August 20 i loose my cool altogether, call the dealers up and talk to the manager - he reports that my priority is 2nd and that he has no idea when i will get the car-after spoiling his day i keep the phone down(what else!).
Call on August 22nd and the sweet lady at the reception 'checks on the computer' and my priority is 4th!!
Thats it- its all over-kaput-in no time we(my wife,myself and the tiny tot) are at the dealership.
I dont throw a tantrum there(dont know why - surely heavenly intervention-Thank you God) and tell them that we will be at the dealership till this matter(of the priority running around and the lack of knowledge of when the next person in line will get the car)is sorted out.
The Sales manager promptly directs us to the Manager(with whom i had shared some 'pleasantries' before-but not met in person).I tell him of our predicament and ask him to provide an alternative(another car) till the Dzire is delivered.
Someone with a list is called into the office-hushed discussion follows -can make out 'trailer' 'stock yard' 'white is available' but load is coming today' - and then out of the blue he blurts out-
"Sir we have 2 Silky silver VDi coming in the trailer today morning and you can have one of them"
'Unbelief' is too mild a word to describe our emotions then - all that materializes is 'Thank you God'.
Address proof is handed over in an hour's time and the car is registered by the afternoon.

Elation/excitement/relief/thankfulness now fill the void in our hearts!!

HEART CAR - the Dzire surely is!

I will post the delivery experience and tyre upgrade(already changed to XM1+) in the next post!

[raj84]

Great News TOR...Finally you have got your Silky Silver Beauty

Which dealer did you book your car from.Was it Indus? Do post the photos.Eagerly waiting to see your car

[TOR]

Originally Posted by Path_Finder

Congrats on the new acquisition! It is a good car and worth is really worth – keep the thread updated with your experience and photos.

thank you sir, the update with the pictures are upcoming.


@raj..yes its Indus, too busy with the new found mobility will post pictures by evening.

[snaronikar]

That's really horrid time you had with dealer. MSIL's dealers can never be believed for deliveries especially for swift be it dezire or hatch. The problem is everywhere. We wait and wait and wait and then when nothing happens, we finally go to their showroom and give them a complete dressing down, then they start acting. Its utter idiotic to promise a certain date when they very well know they cannot deliver the vehicle in 18 days!. Sorry for my rant...

Anyways, congrats on your new buy and do post some pics.

[ankit.jhamb]

congrats on your purchase.

you had booked on 17th april and got delivery on 23 august.
my booking was done on 7th may,got the first call on 28th may from the dealer,i told him i want car in july and then got the car on 7th aug 08 after writing to maruti.

i think you should have written to maruti before and they would have sorted the issue.

any way congrats and enjoy your new car.

[team suzuki]

Congrats TOR on your new car,i guess you faced the same problem like me maruti should really do something of this delivery problem faced by many people.

[TOR]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

That's really horrid time you had with dealer. MSIL's dealers can never be believed for deliveries especially for swift be it dezire or hatch. The problem is everywhere. We wait and wait and wait and then when nothing happens, we finally go to their showroom and give them a complete dressing down, then they start acting. Its utter idiotic to promise a certain date when they very well know they cannot deliver the vehicle in 18 days!. Sorry for my rant...

Anyways, congrats on your new buy and do post some pics.

Thank you sir, can really understand what you are saying and as they say i think 'it only happens in India', if it were in the US there would have been a litigation against maruti/dealer for even a small off track.

@ ankit.jhamb -thank you sir, regarding writing to maruti i had written twice but to no avail-there was no reply had also registered a complaint with them which was taken up with the dealership-but nothing really happened.I guess there was a real 'supply/demand issue' and also being at the tip of the country(being far away from gurgaon) also is a factor.

@ team suzuki - Maruti surely should pick up its act, the car redeems everything! Thanks again.

[TOR]

D-day!
The proposed time is 5pm as i had asked for underbody coating to be done. No other accessories(mud flaps/mats are being supplied-which was not what they said at booking). By 11AM get a call from my exec that the car wil be delivered by 3PM!--when it rains it flows!

We(wife/TT/parents) reach the dealership by 3pm.

About the dealership-(please forgive the pictures - novice photographer in the house!)

Well located/adequate parking facility/staff(busy but) friendly.

There was a change in vehicle price as there was a price revision in the last 2 months so that came upto 22,000/- and that is paid along with the charges for the anti-rust.
Over a cup of tea we are explained about the -documentation/service intervals/use of fuel/on road assistance/registration plates/feedback forms-pretty comprehensive-not bad.

"Shall we go see the car sir?" from the salesman jolts me back to life from the mundane aspect of documents.

The car is parked outside-right in the severing kerala sun-no brownie points there-would have appreciated some shade.I ask for a demo - and sure enough cracks in the salesman's technical knowledge of salesman shine through.

me-"How do you switch on the rear fog lights?"
him - "hmm..hmm no idea sir"

me -" how to change the intensity of the instrument lights?"
him -"well that cant be done on this model sir-only in bigger cars"

me -"Oh is it so(sarcasm is not very evident to him), well then its ok, i will have a look around myself-thank you"

Not impressed with the 'demo' i do a through walk around, from the 'team-bhp delivery checklist' (which i am not carrying) i have made a mental list of things to check into compartments..engine bay/interiors/boot and equipment(meters/lights/seats/pedals/levers/doors/windows/tyres) so the check is done and everything seems in order.

I nod an 'ok', keys are handed over, sweets are given, hands are shaken,photos are clicked and we pile into the car.

I start her up and the fuel gauge shows below 'E' mark!
"Dont you give fuel coupons?" - "Sir we have already filled 5 liters in the car" comes the ready reply from the salesman who does not batter an eye lid(from constant practice i guess). Not good Not good - they deliver around 10 cars per day(because of my personal experiance am assuming this practice for all the cars) -thats 50 liters of fuel money - save, but save us from this!

Wave good bye and drive straight home drop my parents home and then drive straight to the tyre shop-Michelin XM1+ where art thou?

Some observations:
-diesel noise is quite well subdued in the car(NVH is good but the clatter 'can' be heard)
- TORQUE - this is what i was missing the last 15 years of driving petrol cars!
- the gear throw is very short but some gears are notchy -2nd to 3rd/4th-3rd..not always but i guess will smoothen out(maybe my driving style).
-the stereo has slightly exceeded my expectation(remote for the same is also pretty functional) - its ok for the casual music lover.
-steering feel is great but judging the corners are difficult.
-front seat comfort-excellent!
-the damped feel to the control levers are a pleasure to use.

We have reached the tyre shop(new bharath tyres)-which i made out from the forum is a 'lion in wolf's clothing!!'

-but i have chosen them because they have a wide range of tyre models and also due to the turnover the stocks are pretty new.

Tyre change details will be the next post and i shall try and take better pictures.

[Lalvaz]

Nice car. Sorry to hear about the trouble in getting delivery. Its a sure sign that India is still a sellers market. The choices in this segment are'nt many and the car cos are making the most of it. But wont be long before this segment sees a lot more choices.

Take good care of her, and wish you many miles of driving pleasure !

BTW, what do you mean by " Lion in wolf's clothing"

[AkMar]

Thats a very good review of the delivery. Waiting for the detailed review of the car now (with some more pics).

[Pallavi]

Great car and great write up..

How does your TT feel about the new car?

-Pallavi

[TOR]

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

Nice car. Sorry to hear about the trouble in getting delivery. Its a sure sign that India is still a sellers market. The choices in this segment are'nt many and the car cos are making the most of it. But wont be long before this segment sees a lot more choices.

Take good care of her, and wish you many miles of driving pleasure !

BTW, what do you mean by " Lion in wolf's clothing"

thank you sir for the compliments

regarding -" Lion in wolf's clothing" -

-well there is this popular phrase "Wolf in sheep's clothing" describing someone as outwardly kind and docile but inside to be a cunning fellow who will cheat you!

" Lion in wolf's clothing" is a variation i used for the above were the fellow outwardly looks cunning and deceitful but in the inside is even worse-these are people who will 'rip you off' !

@AkMar - thank you and detailed review of the car and the installation of accessories are coming up.

@Pallavi - thank you, tiny tot aka TT is very happy she was 4 months when she booked the car now she is past 9 months - she did not convey her opinion verbally(yet!) but if falling asleep within 5 mins of getting in the car means happiness/peace/contentment-then i guess she is loving it!

[Pallavi]

Wait till she gets a little older and curious enough.. "happiness/peace/contentment" will have an entirely new meaning..

I have a 2 year old neice whom i have to chauffer around and how i wish Hyundai had handcuffs as accessories..