[srishiva]

I would never want a better ride quality over the handling. If Indians don't know anything about handling, they sure don't know anything about ride quality since they are not complaining.

[quote=extreme_torque;827311]How many times do you hit the track? Why not a compromise b/w ride and handling instead of just handling. A normal maruti customer isnt even bothered about handling... doesnt even know what it is!

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Personally, i dont feel that the ride quality on the Swift is as bad as its made out to be. And handling isnt always meant just for the track. For someone who does frequent (or even occassional) highway trips, handling becomes paramount, specially when it come to predicting how the car will behave. On city roads alone, i agree ride quality is very important.

Compromise b/w ride and handling wouldnt make a car dangerous on highway. How many times you come across twisty roads on a highway... most of the time they are straight.
I agree the ride in Swift isnt as bad but the problem is the accompaying noises everytime it hits a pothole, as someone here pointed out crunches and thuds.

[Jaggu]

Stiffer the suspension, better the handling, rough patches can be cleared at higher speed and then it wont thud, trust me. Caution you need to have good car control.

Take a swift and rip it over bad patches, apart from OE tyres loosing traction (upgrade takes care of this to great extend), you wont hear any thuds nor will you bent the discs. Take it slow and it will dance and in some cases bent the rims also. Same with iKON, it loves bad roads to be taken at speeds.

I personally hate soft handlers, they just dont give the confidence on indian highways, yeah they will be soft, cradle you in city where you putter around. But suspension will crash if you try high speed antics.

How many people look for strut braces and suspension upgrades in India? Yes average indian wont care about this, coz he will be blocking the fast lane at 50 kmph, irrespective of bad or good road conditions lol.

Again we are going from poor quality to handling here.

[extreme_torque]

@srisiva and Jaggu.... We are talking extremes here while I am talking of a compromise between the two.

@srisiva... They dont need to 'know' about ride quality... it can be easily 'felt'

[vnabhi]

415 views and 34 responses to this thread that was started less than 3 hours ago!
GTO, this is going to be one of the most discussed and debated threads!
Kudos for taking time to pen those lines!
MUL should take our views seriously if they want to retain their image.

[ballkey]

@Jaggu: I do what you're saying; rip on the bad patches. But the thuds are there; it's profound and vivid. You dont feel it, but you hear it definitely.

[greenhorn]

We have all been saying how Maruti has redefined the benchmarks of Features and value with both these cars. Now maruti cant do this without compromising something , and that something here is build quality.

I think it might be more apt to call it the Tata effect on maruti. Tata has been selling VFM stuff with all the issues mentioned in this thread , and people still buy them, despite the poor A.S.S as well.

Now if maruti can do the same thing , but with their better A.S.S , then why not? Their Target is the 90% who want VFM, and not the rest 10% who want quality.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

I think it might be more apt to call it the Tata effect on maruti. Tata has been selling VFM stuff with all the issues mentioned in this thread , and people still buy them, despite the poor A.S.S as well.

Now if maruti can do the same thing , but with their better A.S.S , then why not? Their Target is the 90% who want VFM, and not the rest 10% who want quality.

couldnt have said it better. Again rising numbers have seen deterioration on A S S front, the service i used to get in 1986 and 2007 were not even comparable. This is very bad news if you ask me.

People who want better ride will not buy Swift, as simple as that. They buy Getz, or if more enthu buy Palio's. Swift are known for driver orientation not for passenger comfort. Why do you think the rear seating is cramped and maruti didnt bother too much? Its image is that of a young gen car not for the true family guy.

Remember the adds, car playing foot ball, drifting and all, and then, the guy who wants to please his boss, allow boss to flick the keys and have 5 mts of drifting in a car park, does it ring a bell?

Forget extreme which i was also not referring to, those were my personal opinion, i cant educate 1 billion indians on driving techniques (not claiming mine is better, but hey it works well for me) There are tons of unmarked road joints in our regular highway and thanks to swift suspension i dont need to do panic braking, i just glide over em most of the times. Worst cases i dab the brake to increase the suspension travel.

By thuds are you referring to suspension crashing out on the rubber stoppers?
Does the swift has stoppers, i dont really remember?? Anyways in my case i have things lying around in the car to make the cacophonies than the suspension.

[gt_bhp]

Originally Posted by amit

I haven't been able to accept the fact that the power window's are not back lit. And this issue gets more serious because the placement of the power window switches is so odd that everytime I want to put the drivers side window down i end up pushing the passenger side rear window down! Poor ergonomics too.

I guess all cars are either built to a price or exorbitantly priced.
I own a SX4 that's done 4K+ in 3 months. Backlit power window switches are nice to have in a 8lakhs car, but seriously why would the driver look at the switches in the dark, should be looking at the road. I haven't had issues in placing my fingers on the correct switch, all it takes is a little time at the controls to know that the 1st button on the right is the one that operates the front window.
Haven't had the problems you've faced on the EPS front. I drove with hands off the wheel for 75ft (as in your other thread)on asphalt and concrete roads and car did not veer off.
Only blemish in the steering I've felt is that it is very light and sensitive to slight inputs at speed. Was unnerving at first and I put it down to having zilch experience on cars with power steering. Now I grip the steering a little firmly.
I agree that some things should've been better -
I for one greatly miss the arm rest for the driver's left hand.
The black plastic cover in the boot covering the seat back and the seat supporting struts is very flimsy that a bottle rolling around in the boot creates quite a racket when it hits this sheet.
I can vouch for the build quality of the chassis and underbody as I was rear ended by a Maruti Van doing 50-60Kmph and only damage was a slightly dented spare wheel well and a ripped apart bumper.

[suman]

Originally Posted by gt_bhp

but seriously why would the driver look at the switches in the dark, should be looking at the road. I haven't had issues in placing my fingers on the correct switch, all it takes is a little time at the controls to know that the 1st button on the right is the one that operates the front window.

What about the passengers, are they not supposed to be able to look at the switches on their panels? Also, IMHO, on the driver's panel, I think backlit switches would minimise the amount of time that one would take one's eyes off the road. Its when they are not backlit that the confusion starts & the wrong switches get pressed.

Cars that are 60% of 8 lacs have this feature by the way...............

[DCEite]

Regarding EPS, its a well known fact that enthusiasts (self proclaimed or otherwise) just hate it. For them a well weighed steering giving adequate feedback is top priority.

For the common man, struggling himself through daily hustle-bustle of traffic, EPS is a boon. Same goes for lady drivers. Steering feedback be damned.

Coming to the topic, my 4 year old WagonR does not rattle yet (touchwood). My only issue is the aging plastics, which seem like a 100 year old. And yes, quality of MASS has taken a nosedive in recent years. Its more to do with large volumes, and the subsequent decrease in service station/car ratio.

[Shankyz]

Agree to the VFM part, infact the some of the things I noticed and highlighted to the service advisor and a counselor from Maruti were

Need for some improvements on the interior plastics,
better bumpers , the current ones seem like made of paper which break/get damaged at the slightest impact

few missing things like rear parcel tray cover, no backlighting on the power window/lock/Power Window control switches.

Though, after a while you get used to them and can almost reach them on instinct.

Regarding the suspension, yes it seems to be lil stiff and hence the better response while you run over the speed breakers (I call them Gaadi breakers), with a SX4 you could glide over them at 50-60 kmph and the car or the suspension won't complain but at a slower speed on a bad road with pot holes etc, the suspension response is not so good and lot of horizontal shaking can be felt.

I haven't experienced/felt or heard any rattles till now and the reason could be that there are no aftermarket fitments or modifications so everything is in factory fit condition.

Regarding service issues, I have experienced that MASS are not trustworthy, their workforce don't have sufficient knowledge and the skills, they may be marginally better than the roadside workshops and the repair quality may be better since they'd at least use the genuine spares. Over the years the number of MASS has gone up probably to cater to the higher number of cars on the road, it seems that this increase in the number of MASS has led to loss or reduction of Maruti control over them.. Secondly the MASS handle large number of cars ( some of them >100) on a daily basis which leads to less time per car and hence the lack of attention, poor repair, inspection before delivery and thus multiple visits to the service station to get the problem resolved.

Overall, I think by being more careful and incurring some more expenses, Maruti could improve the product and Service quality which will result in happier and more satisfied customers, not that they don't try....all those who are not happy with MASS service, they should try escalating to Maruti by giving negative feedback on the feedback forms or sending complaints to their regional/HQ office ..and they do act on such complaints...I have done it in the past and with successful results.

[binz]

What a thread!The swift is,to say the least BAD.My dad regrets the day he bought it,mom wants him to sell it and i want .. well,a palio multijet(white with gold rims)
To cut a long story short,I prefer to drive the 6 year old baleno anyday over the swift.

[.anshuman]

Right said GTO, i just bought a Swift VDi ABS and found it lacking the quality,in comparison i find hyundai cars to be better built anyday.

[anilkalvani]

Agree fully with you, as i said i have owned Maruti's since the very start & noticed their sheet metal thinning considerably over the years as posted in my Logan article. You're spot on. And as i said i am not at all convinced that the Dzire Diesel will last me 6-7 years because of its flimsy build quality & long term diesel wear & tear. Mera sapna, meri Maruti!