Team-BHP - Swift -- The Latest Off Roader.

Hi ,

Last week I got to drivre a friends Swift on a fairly rough patch of road near Shimla in Himachal . The car handles perfectly even on very rough road.
I have driven cars like Esteem , Icon and Palio on the same road a number of times but I would say that Swift has been the best till now.
I was able to hit 55Kph on a very rough road and the car was able to negociate turns and potholes really well . The rally based suspention comming into play .
The only thing that may have been better if it had a better ground clearence rest the car is a serious off roader. With some mods I beleave Swift can be a sucessful vehicle in the Indian rally scene.

Has any body else tried Swift on rough roads and what mods can be done to the car to incerase off road capabalities ??

well, the swift IS entering the Indian rally scene soon, and we shall find out the authenticity of suzuki's claims of it's rally-heritage pretty soon; but considering the fact that the esteems ruled the roost for almost half a decade, i guess the swift might just repeat history; but you never know, what with stiff competition coming in from the other players too...

as for the swift's off-road capabilites, well, i would say it has a decently stiff suspension, and handles bad roads pretty nicely. but then, the indica is not that bad either...

as for tuning the swift's suspension, the car's still a newbie in the Indian tuning scene. wait for a few months, and you'll have all the aftermarket kits you need.

Right from day one I have felt that swift is one car that wouldnt hesitate to take on rougher roads coz of its superb build quality...The car is heavy hence sits firm on the road, with stiffer suspension and rest I think this car is quite capable of holding the maruti-suzuki banner up high in the rally scene. I have this friend of mine who has 205 yokohama's on a swift and boy that car moves like as if its on a track even while high speed cornering. To strengthen the claims watch JWRC...:)

well it was meant to be a replacement for the suzuki ignis(i think...) and that meant it wud have to replace the ignis in the rally circuits as well.well last year in its debut in the rally scene in jwrc it managed to gather a lot of points.i just hope suzuki bring their swift sport with tthe 1.6ltr engine to india .....drool!!!!!

I don't know if it is the light steering. But I feel the best part of the Swift's dynamics compared to its rivals is the understeer setting in pretty late. You do not need to muscle the steering to get it to turn. clap:

1.the swift handles pretty good on bad roads but the suspension is not that great and the gets bumpy at times and as the car lacks the europeon solid build,i feel palio handles better on gravel and bumpy roads.

2.as the steering is not communicative as palio or ikon ,on bad roads the driver might not have as good idea of grip available.

but still swift is a good handler if there was a 1.6 available in swift it would have been the most desirable car this side of octavia turbo petrol.

You can try some of these mods on the swift:

Modified front and rear suspension
Roll cage
Fly by wire gear shifts
Add turbocharger
4x4 transmission -Dont know if this possible in India
Modified engine intake K&N advanced intake systems and power exhaust systems
Modify engine position. The engine can be relocated up to 20 mm from its original position and can be tilted up to 20° around the crankshaft

I did try some of these to my M800. It proved too costly, Abandoned half
way.

If all this call be incorporated, the Swift be a monster and will do great off road.

Swift was always a rough car!
Suzuki uses it for it's rallying activities and it has won quiet a few times too. The only gripe here is the build quality in Indian cars. It's not upto european versions. Even the Swifts sold in Gulf countries are far superior than the indian. And another joke for the day: Swift is sold with less features in our country and it's still expensive than the gulf version. Reason? Shall we say that we're more richer than those arabs?

[quote=speedzak] Swift is sold with less features in our country and it's still expensive than the gulf version. Reason? Shall we say that we're more richer than those arabs?[/quote]

You made me think twice !! lol:

I was informed on the mods possible on the Swift from N1 Racing Equipment as below

For basic Stage 1 modifications

Free flow exhaust - Rs. 8000 with mild steel muffler and Rs. 10500 with Stainless Steel muffler
K&N kit - Rs. 6000
NGK Iridium plugs - Rs. 2700
Pivot Voltage stabilizer - Rs. 5000

Other mechanical modifications that are possible on the Swift

Head polishing and porting - Rs. 10000
Throttle body - Rs.. 2000
Piper Performance Cam - Rs. 15000 (on special order only)
Holley NOS kit with +50-75bhp boost - Rs. 36000
Clutchmasters stage 1 Clutch - Rs. 16000
ROSS Racing Forged Flat top pistons - Rs. 40000
Unpainted Suzuki SWIFT add-on kits for Rs. 12500

To add to all the mods I beleave strut braces should help.
Also how much will they cost.
About the ground clearence is there anything that can be done about it ? Dont want to put in the rubber struts -- they ruin the handelling i beleave.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anarchist