[Chetan_Rao]

I may be in the minority buy I like the regular alloys on the Z better than the machined ones on the Z+, would've looked even better in a gunmetal shade.

[am1m]

Slightly different, admittedly 'non-car-enthusiast' perspective here. I'm a bike guy, the way you guys discuss international car features here on this thread, I'd probably understand wrt a bike. A car for me is just a boring, if safer, more convenient, faster (over a long distance) and easier way to get around from point A to B.

As such, this version of the Swift ticks all the right boxes for me. I'm certainly going to book it once the Team BHP review is out and as long as nothing alarming is highlighted in there.

Upgrading as I am from a 12-year old Alto, the absence of a temperature gauge is not a big thing. I was looking for ABS and air bags and that seems to be in all variants. No touchscreen is again not big deal for me. Again, I'm sure the VWs and Fords are much better quality. But the hassles of service for those brands, as compared to getting a Maruti serviced is a certainly a huge deal for me.

So yeah, I understand the disappointment that Maruti treats their home market worse than their international one, but coming from where I am, I also understand that what they do works for most of their customers.

[risham]

Originally Posted by risham

Hi,
.........................
Had registered my interest with them by calling their reception.
Got a call yesterday morning that the bookings were open and would i be interested.
On confirming, they said will visit in the evening to discuss.
....................

Update: Got two sms's today. One from Maruti and one from Stan autos.
Both thanked me for booking the new swift and conveyed a booking number for future reference. Interestingly, this booking number is defferent from the one given to me earlier through similar sms's.
Any inputs??

[captain.torque]

I seriously can't wrap my head around the fact that there are so many comments slamming Maruti for missing out on analogue temperature and fuel gauges.

Well, my 2009 City has an analogue fuel gauge but no temperature meter while, my Brezza has both but in digital formats. To be honest, I am comfortable with both the setups.

However, it's amusing to read people saying that digital fuel gauges are not adequately visible under bright sunlight.

Now there's a limit to hypothesizing. Do all of us drive our cars only during daytime when the bright sun is beating down? And are we living on the sand dunes of Thar desert that we need to constantly monitor our car's temperature? Are we still driving Padminis and Ambys?

My Brezza has a digital fuel meter and the second the fuel is low, a yellow warning light comes on in the instrument cluster along with a clearly audible 'ting' alert while the last bar starts flashing. How difficult is it to realise that you are low on fuel?

Similarly, in the last 9 years of owning my City, never once did I miss not having an analogue temperature gauge. I always get my cars serviced on time and ensure the coolant is topped up. Temperature gauge, that too analogue, in a modern day car is just not needed.

Some of us may be old-school and have our preferences, but car makers don't go be sentiment but what the market wants. The future belongs to technology driven cars and more and more digital and electronic gimmicks. Case in point: Tesla.

Just imagine a Maruti salesman interacting with a prospective buyer who in most of the cases will be a layman. What sounds better? Sir, this new Swift has an all digital meter for fuel and warning light for overheating instead of the old analogue meters.

Words like digital, electronic etc. do sound fancy and modern. It's how we as a species have started thinking.

An example of this is the new Jeep Compass which comes with the electronic parking brake that was one of the highlights of the car in the official brochure released by the company.

We all know that majority of enthusiasts and petrol heads across the globe prefer a manual handbrake to an electronic one but are companies listening? No. Jeep is among the many other brands who are now opting for these electronic brakes.

[Carma2017]

The one point we are all missing about the New Swift is that it is no longer the alpha in the MSIL line up and from what I understand about Suzuki, it is fully intentional. The alpha would be the bigger and higher margin cash cows like Brezza.
So, on those lines, DZire came before the hatchback. The feature list was maintained same as before if you are neutral and trimmed drastically if you are a Suzuki hater. The Baleno pressure is relentless anway. All in all, it's intentional that Swift has been placed on a lower pedestal within MSIL family.

[shimoo]

Originally Posted by risham

Update: Got two sms's today. One from Maruti and one from Stan autos.
Both thanked me for booking the new swift and conveyed a booking number for future reference. Interestingly, this booking number is defferent from the one given to me earlier through similar sms's.
Any inputs??

I think the previous booking you made was for the Old Swift that has been converted into the new Swift, now that bookings are officially open. That also explains the why you couldn't book the Z+ version back then. I'm sure you'll be able to book the Z+ version now

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by captain.torque

I seriously can't wrap my head around the fact that there are so many comments slamming Maruti for missing out on analogue temperature and fuel gauges.

Absolutely! This for a fact when many have started to do away with needles and embracing bars!

The point here was that most of us were only used to analog displays and even in future when we pick any other car of our choice with these digital displays/bars, it will be a matter of time before we get used to it too! After all, one cannot call that as an omission when the manufacturer has given an alternate in form of display.

Secondly, while the absence of similar bar for temperature may be seen as omission, it is the way a manufacturer wants to project the feature by saying "Stay calm before the Storm" by only warning you when required; when the temperature really breaches the danger zone!

Well, my 2009 City has an analogue fuel gauge but no temperature meter while, my Brezza has both but in digital formats. To be honest, I am comfortable with both the setups.

This is exactly where the whole point was. There is no omission that will act as a deterrent for most of the buyers when an alarm (indicator) is provided.

Edit:
Received the following pictures from BHPian alokgunhal. Shared with him via a Bangalore based Sales guy from a popular dealer here.



Notice the badging in the rear below 'Swift'. Quite unclear though.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by am1m

So yeah, I understand the disappointment that Maruti treats their home market worse than their international one

Personally feel that people are either overreacting or just had the wrong expectations.

Internationally, Baleno is the spacious family offering whereas Swift is the sportier hatchback. Such a positioning wont work in India, and Baleno was always going to be made a more premium car in the Maruti lineup.

Hence the loss of features were more or less expected always. DZire had also made it clear that the engines wont change for the Swift range, and also the fact that the automatic gearboxes would be an AMT for both petrol and diesel engine options. Some people are upset with the AMT not being offered on the top variant - but they should be thanking their stars for not wasting such money on an AMT and pick up the Baleno CVT instead.

Looking at the lack of features for even the ZDi variant - pretty sure Maruti is going for a much aggressive pricing for the Swift as compared to the Baleno. And the masses would whole heartedly welcome the allrounder the new Swift has become.

Enthusiasts? Well - Wrong queue. This was and always was going to be a veg hotel. Biryani is being served elsewhere.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Received the following pictures from BHPian alokgunhal. Shared with him via a Bangalore based Sales guy from a popular dealer here.

Old pictures from Sri Lanka discussed couple of weeks back here.

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Received the following pictures from BHPian alokgunhal. Shared with him via a Bangalore based Sales guy from a popular dealer here.

Those pics are from Sri Lanka, Parag.

They have been shared earlier in this thread by (a misleading) Rush Lane.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Those pics are from Sri Lanka, Parag.

They have been shared earlier in this thread by (a misleading) Rush Lane.

Thanks Avi. Not a scoop master as you. And Yes, it also means the sales rep simply duped my friend with these pics .

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Old pictures from Sri Lanka.

Thanks CD. I wasn't aware of this.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

...

Enthusiasts? Well - Wrong queue. This was and always was going to be a veg hotel......

You're right, of course. I followed the international launch threads and updates from some of our Suzuki specialists, even commented a few times and my response to a majority of feature speculation was along the lines 'I'll believe it when it happens'. One can always hope!

I'm sure Maruti won't miss a handful of enthusiasts, they don't cater to them anyway and it's not like they're wanting for customers.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Notice the badging in the rear below 'Swift'. Quite unclear though.

I guess that is the Hybrid badge.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by volkman10

I guess that is the Hybrid badge.

Yes Volkmam. The one below does look like one. I was wanting to know because all the pics from India don't have any variant badging and this one had. Perhaps that itself was the indicator that the pics I shared were not from India

[alokgunhal]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Thanks Avi. Not a scoop master as you. And Yes, it also means the sales rep simply duped my friend with these pics .

Thanks CD. I wasn't aware of this.

The sales guy mentioned later that indeed these photos are not from Bangalore.
However the car will go on display on Feb5th 2018.

[sandx]

The Swift heralded the phase where a common man could taste a whiff of what a budget / pseudo performance oriented car feels like. With all it's negatives it was the car where a multitude of driver's felt encouraged to push the pedal.

Switch back to today, with a gradual growth in income and purchasing power the folks who could afford a car priced more than a Swift have already moved on. Folks I know upgraded to polos or i20s, rapids, xuvs and the likes. Swift would still be attractive to the lot who are planning to buy their first car. I feel Maruti has improved upon the previous generation by updating two of the most highlighted drawbacks in the car that is overall space and the tiny boot.

Frankly I was never expecting the super duper radar technology to be present in the Indian Swift and neither the colourful graphical gimmick on the MID as the baleno already has it. In fact when one of the bhpians was told that zxi+ was not present when he booked it, I was even convinced that a touch screen won't make it to the production version, but there it is.

Each product is built to a price based on what the majority of the customer wants to pay for, so the price factor will play out soon enough when it is revealed during the auto expo. I already see my future car in that glorious midnight blue shade unless the price goes northwards which seems unlikely or if the competition surprises with something revolutionary. There is no Swift killer in the Indian market at the moment IMHO. Airbags and ABS are standard, AMT is present at launch, space is generous, the engines are tried and tested, climate control, touchscreen? Take that as well. A nuclear family needing a car, what's not to like

What we need now is a team-bhp review and all the arguments will be put to rest. Till then I will lap up the first ride opinions playing out all weekend.