[navdeep]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

1. Space not a problem - will be restricted to myself driving with wifey and kids. Have a Xeta for driver and lugging relatives/luggae etc;
2. I love driving (fast) cars. Top speed is academic in India but need torque;
3. Have never driven a diesel before;
4. Mainly city with some highway thrown in over weekends;
5. Safety very important - will not consider a car without ABS and EBD. Airbags even better!
6. Can't wait 6 months for a new car!
7. FE not a factor
8. Resale not that important a factor
9. Will probably keep it for say 2/3 years

I think its quite simple. Its typical ZXi explained. Go for it.

[BUSA]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Is this true? That is strange - that would be as good as not having any ABS system at all, is it not? The rear wheels will lock up and you will lose traction anyway - so how can that be of any help?

Yes its true, the rear steps out on full braking. The fronts are supportive but rear lack enough braking power.

[spindoc]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Folks,
Can't wait 6 months for a new car!

Doesnt this constraint alone mean you have no choice but to go for the ZXi (between the two)?

[abhilashvk]

[quote]I think there was a long thread about ABS in the forum itself. ABS is possible on drums but the performance of ABS with its gonna be very inneffective. On swift AFAIK ABS works only on front two wheels./QUOTE]

There is a thread that exists and one of the BHPians mentioning that Zxi has ABS on all the wheels and he saw the wires from the sensors when he removed the wheels.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

After readin the requirements,

I guess ZXi it is...

[lambuhere1]

I believe Swift comes with a 4 Point ABS system, implying ABS is available on all the 4 wheels and not only the front 2. Do have a look at the specs or open the bonnet and you should be able to see 4 tubes of ABS.

On a side note: Does anyone have any idea when SWIFT is being launched with M Series engine?

I am waiting to book Swift for quite sometime, but when I heard that M series is in the pipeline instead of the present G series, I am witholding myself. And still all the dealers are telling that the waiting period for swift petrol is 6 - 8 Weeks. Can anyone kindly confirm

Ram P

[madan80]

@itwantme - you've answered the question yourself. You need speed, and you dont plan to drive much on the highway, thereby considerably bring down the total running. IMHO Zxi it is.

[rks]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Is this true? That is strange - that would be as good as not having any ABS system at all, is it not? The rear wheels will lock up and you will lose traction anyway - so how can that be of any help?

See the following link for the difference between rear-wheel ABS and four-wheel ABS:

AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety - Resources

What is the difference between rear-wheel ABS and four-wheel ABS?
Rear-wheel ABS, found on some pickup trucks, vans and SUVs, is designed to maintain directional stability and prevent the vehicle from skidding sideways, which can happen if the rear wheels lock. It will not enable steering control during a panic stop, because you can't steer if your front wheels are locked. If you're driving a vehicle with rear-wheel ABS, you should step firmly on the brake if you need to stop suddenly; however, if you feel the wheels begin to lock at a time when steering is necessary, you'll need to release some pressure from the brake in order to regain the ability to steer.
Four-wheel ABS, the type usually found on ABS-equipped passenger cars and some light trucks, is designed to maintain “steerability” during maximal braking. In an emergency braking situation, drivers of vehicles equipped with four-wheel ABS should step firmly on the brake pedal and hold it down. If necessary, you can try to steer around an obstacle in the road during a maximal braking effort, which wouldn't work without four-wheel ABS.

I assume that with only front-wheel ABS you will still have some steerability. If rear wheels lock up and take the car into a skid, one can presumably try steering into the skid and maybe also release the pressure a little bit on the brakes to keep control. Of course in that case you may not have enough control left to steer around obstacles.

I personally am more comfortable with manually pumping the brakes without ABS, so that I can make full use of the braking distance available. This is important in order to minimize the possibility of rear-ending, which is a real possibility in India because people seldom maintain enough distance. I am not sure how this can be done with ABS, which requires you to press the brakes hard and not release pressure at all in an emergency braking situation. You may then find that you stop in much shorter distance than is actually required, and thereby increase the possibility of rear-ending.

Pumping the brakes manually is not recommended in an emergency braking with ABS, as this might well increase the braking distance as compared to non-ABS braking. Personally it would be very difficult for me to change my braking habits in an emergency (developed over 32 years of driving) if I were to switch to ABS. Our responses to an emergency are often pure reflex born of mental conditioning, rather than conscious decisions.

[itwasntme]

Guys,

Many thanks for the very helpful replies! One last question: If I make full use of the ZXI's rev range and change gears at the right time so as tgo achieve a higher speed, will it still match the VDI's torque? Or is the latter's torque simply not matched by the ZXI?

Why I ask is that, driven neither is day-to-day practicality much better with the VDI? It doesn't make sense to compare 4th gear 40 to 100 acceleration because in a ZXI, I would just downshift to 3rd or even 2nd to rapidly increase my speed.

Does what I ask make sense? Let me know please.

Thanks,

[kuttapan]

If you fully utilize the rev range of z Zxi, you can show your backside to a Vdi,
but then, how many of us actually rev so much, so consistently?

In the diesel, all the fun is between 2k-4k rpm, which is more usable, I guess.

[kaputabo]

Hi guys,

This is my first post in team-bhp and I must say this is a wonderful place for anyone looking for inputs on buying and maintainig a car.

I have been reading up all the info about Swift in team-bhp. This is because I want to get myself a Swift, my first car :-). My problem is that I cant decide on whether to go for diesel or petrol.

I have read all the posts in this thread of Jaggu's about the qualities of Diesel and I am really impressed. I am so very tempted to go for the diesel, but it costs around 70 k more.
I am looking for great performance, good handling and decent fuel efficiency.
I am looking at either the Vxi with ABS or VDI with ABS.
I would really appreciate if the you can help me decide.

[kaputabo]

To add, I drive around 40 kms a day.

[MaxX]

Hi,

Today I took a test drive of both the petrol and diesel swift's @ Millenium Motors in Pune as we need a small car for city driving. I am in a conundrum on what to purchase. The car would mainly be used for city driving and so would not be more than 10km/day.

I loved the diesel's pickup! But the Zxi has many more features like ABS, Airbags, Keyless Entry, Alloy Wheels, seatbelt pretensioners and such included at almost the same cost. As the car is not going to be driven too much, maybe a few long drives once a month or so, the agent was telling me that the petrol Swift is a better choice. I doubt ABS and Airbags would be of much use for city driving.. What would be the cost of Keyless Entry, Alloy Wheels etc. taken separately?

The dealer's agent also told me that the Diesel's have higher maintainance and dont last as long. They also have to be used regularly or they stop working. We had decided on Diesel first (had convinced my parents :P) but on hearing all this, my parents think the Petrol is a better idea.

Do give me some insight and some feedback from existing Vdi owners regarding maintainance cost and such would be great!

Mod's Note: Carry out a search before you post. There is no point in opening threads on the same old subjects again and again.

Threads merged.

[Zappo]

Lets get one thing out of the way first. Your dealer's salesman is talking through his hat. In fact he should be fired from his job just for this offence. He is spreading canards and has no idea about what he is talking. If anything till date we have had more problems reported with petrol Swift than the diesel one. Prominent one being the clutch issue.

So having got that myth out of the way, why do you really want the diesel? You said you drive only 10 kms in a day?!! That is a max of 300 kms a month. Even if you drive all the 30 days, otherwise it can be even less. There is a huge waiting period for the diesel car. And then on paying the top $$$ what do you get? A hatch that has almost no frills. The only gem being that engine.

On the other hand the petrol gets you all the bells and whistles as you yourself listed out. On top of that its no slouch either when compared to the diesel. IMO, in your case its not worth spending so much for a car whose top USP is FE and driveability (the driveability is countered well by the ZXi). You won't drive as much to justify the FE part of the diesel car but will get much less car for your money than what you could have had.

Think about it.

[binz]

Why don't you drive the two and decide?