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12th April 2013, 09:36
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| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Pune
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| Celebrating 4 years & 85,000 kms - Ownership experience of my Maruti Dzire What has changed...is the length - it has reduced now What has changed...is the cabin interior - it is plusher now What has changed...is the width and the wheelbase - it is wider and longer now What has changed...is the power-to-weight ratio - the fuel efficiency is slightly better now What has changed...is the boot design - it has become more quirky now What has changed...is the boot capacity - it has reduced considerably now What has not changed...is the position in terms of sales - it has maintained the top 3 position What has not changed...is the value-for-money proposition - it still has the killer package What has not changed...is the engine - it still has the same speced, profoundly reliable 1.3L diesel engine What has not changed...is Maruti's obsession with including the word "Swift" in the moniker What has not changed...is the overall cost of ownership - it still doesn't make your wallet that much thinner  And What has NOT changed...is my love for this car - I still love my Dzire for what it is! However What HAS changed...is the odo reading - yesterday at 18:59 hrs, the ECU sent a command instruction to the dashboard module to display 50000! Last edited by JoshMachine : 14th April 2013 at 11:05. |
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14th April 2013, 13:07
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| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Pune
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| Re: Celebrating 50,000 kms - Ownership experience of my Maruti Dzire "So close, no matter how far Couldn't be much more from the heart Forever trusting who we are And nothing else matters..." ---------------------------- Flashback to 1997:- Into my late teens and had just got my driving license when the RTO inspector boomed - "in order to be a good driver, it is not enough to just obey the traffic rules, you should also know your vehicle enough!" Fast forward to 2013:-The significance of that golden rule has not lost on me after driving for 16 years now (being the family's lone saarthi) and being behind the steering of myriad of family and friends' vehicles - Omni, 800, Scorpio, City, Alto and finally the Dzire. Circa 2011:- The 1st year of Dzire's ownership was simply great. And it being a Maruti, the "kitna deti hai?" was really a non-issue. Got a FE of ~18km/l on the congested city roads and ~22 km/l when stretched on the highway, all this with almost 90% A.C. running. Completion of the 1st year also saw commencement of niggles - dashboard rattles, door squeaking et al. But the car's overall road manners and the ride quality remained very satisfactory under varying road conditions (over expressway, ghats and the post-monsoon city roads). Circa 2012:- The car odo read 40,000 km and the cumulative cost of ownership/servicing was as per expectations. This is because I went to the same M.A.S.S for majority of the services and followed the service schedule by the book. Circa 11 April 2013:- The car odo read 50,000 km and still there have been no big surprises on the cost of ownership. Touchwood! Penning a list of likes and dislikes... What I like:-
Smashing, extraordinary - No, these are not the adjectives to be used when describing the interior view. Simple, neat - Yes, maybe tending towards classy.  There is no feeling of plushness as such once you get inside but definitely a "big car" feeling courtesy the curved curved dashboard design.  We chose the coffee colored seats...pleasing to the eye and adds to the big car effect. Easily washable too. Grey black interiors look dull but atleast the dirt doesn't annouce itself so often.  As mentioned above, the driver's seat position is spot-on and you get an excellent view of the road ahead. Being a 6-footer, I really covet this view...  The front seats are large, you fit in snugly and don't feel the need of those small back pillows.  The seat height adjusters are present only in the top-end Z variant only. The back seat is reclined and recessed as compared to the hatchback sibling with additional side bolstering to provide extra comfort on those long rides.   For people who want to have that feeling of being chauffered (definitely not me!!), there's a center arm-rest.  The floor hump does cause some problem to the 5th passenger.  You are reading about the interiors and how come there's no mention of the audio setup...well the OEM stereo is typically, OEM-like. No fancy features here, but considering that this car was manufactured a full decade after the dawn of the digital millennium, ek USB port toh mangta hai!  Got a workaround though - bought the RedFox wireless modulator (ships with a remote) for just 500 bucks. This fits in the 12v socket.  The red "tongue" is the USB drive actually. Unlike the new-gen Dzire, this one has no tweeters, just 4 speakers - 2 each in front door panels and 2 on the rear parcel tray with the audio quality decent having 6 pre-set equalizer settings. Anyways, whenever I want to do some acoustic exercise, I head back to the music room back at home. The instrument panel comprises large dials and is easy to read both during day and night. Clearly the word MID was not in the Suzuki engineer's design manual when they thought of this model. The chrome linings give a nice touch, specially when the slanted late afternoon sun rays reflect off them.  This one has become my mobile wallpaper now!  The horn pad is sensitive and emits a two-tone sound (the wiring is also quite sensitive by the way, had to get it repaired 3-4 times)  The light/wiper stalks are chunky and make a damped clicking sound at every operation.   The foot well width is decent enough but I sorely miss the dead pedal.  A good part though is the gap between the clutch pedal and the panel above, no knee bruising for me! The gearstick is short, accurate and smooth to use, the knob plastic material could have been softer.  The front driver door gets 1-touch AUTO window down button and the all-window lock/unlock button. Not much storage space.The arm rest is covered with textured fabric and fits right for your arm irrespective of the seat position you are in.   Chrome scales try to break the monotony of the dull grey trims.  The rear doors have space for 1-liter bottles and a shorter arm rest.  The air-conditioner cools the cabin pretty quickly - auto control only in top variant. The middle air con vents do not close completely like the side vents.  Speaking of cooling, the Garware Classic sun films do a good job of keeping the heat outside. The glove compartment is not so big, there's the service book and then there is hardly any space left.  Another Maruti trademark - plenty of cubby holes, this one just ahead of the gear stick.  Poor rear visibility is easily the bane of this car...courtesy the high rear parcel tray.  As a workaround, got the rear sensors installed during delivery itself. The rear view "Screen" mirror doesn't help much but is better than the stock mirror. It shows the distance-to-object in meters and warns you to stop with LOUD beep sound if you get within 1 meter of the object at the back.  However the ORVMs are large and provide good field of view. They have to be manually operated.  The boot capacity is best-in-class with a massive 464 liter capacity. The talking point of the car!!  Ideally the wafer-thin boot should remain in position when lifted but this one is highly dangerous and falls down if you don't push it back. My preference would be to have some sort of piston-like arrangement but then this would have eaten into the INR 40,000 margin Maruti makes on this car.  Last edited by JoshMachine : 14th April 2013 at 14:09. |
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14th April 2013, 13:20
| #3 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Pune
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| Re: Celebrating 50,000 kms - Ownership experience of my Maruti Dzire The selling point of the automobile - the 1.3L engine.  The engine noise is pretty much controlled unlike some other contemporary motors and it settles into a nice rhythmic idle. Ratings are power output of 75 bhp @ peak 4000 rpm and peak torque of 190 Nm @ peak 2000 rpm. Under 2000 rpm, there is a definite lag - but this is the reason why that turbo punch past 2k rpm is very pronounced and helps you overtake that irritating multi-axle truck in a flash. I have driven the new-gen diesel but the power delivery is linear there and hence the punch is missing This motor has a liking for the higway tar - the speedo needle can caress the 120km/h mark easily (haven't tried beyond that) with the tacho needle in the 2300-2800 rpm range. And on ghats too, I have never found the need to rev beyond 3000 rpm. As for the maintenance, I have been using the standard Maruti Genuine Diesel Oil (MGDO) 15W40 Shell engine oil and the 75W90 Shell gear oil. No additives, no engine flushes. Battery is still factory-fitted. |
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14th April 2013, 14:44
| #4 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Pune
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| Re: Celebrating 50,000 kms - Ownership experience of my Maruti Dzire The outside story To start with, 10/10 marks to the car "caring" soldiers. I have been using these products for quite a long time and would strongly recommend procuring them even though a few might be tad expensive.   The car is shampooed and waxed every 3 weeks. And cleaned with the Jopasu duster daily, well almost. The result, as seen from the outside, has been satisfactory so far...    Neat compact headlamp design, however the gap between the HL and the bonnet is a bit too much in my opinion.  With powerful fog lights...  Replaced the stock Maruti Holonix head lights with Philips Extreme Vision H4 (with same 55/60 wattage) - difference has been amazing in both the "throw" and the "intensity". Certainly helps me a lot in my return drive on the highway to home after dusk. This one is for the low beam, you can notice the slight white color tone   And now for the high beam...   Here's the cartridge cover for your reference...  And how can the story be complete without some insignia!!  And this one among the sensors...yeah! Live to Drive!  For the aesthetics, put a small spoiler on the boot - don't think any serious air flow control will be at play given that the average speed is sub-100 km/h.  Finally, coming to the last section, a bit about the tyres. I replaced the stock 165/80 MRFs with 185/70 Aceleres around the 40,000km mark - the difference has been HUGE. I had almost made the decision to buy the Yokos but the dealer enticed me with a good discount and a 3-year Apollo roadside assistance package.  The car now feels settled with more and better quality rubber coming in contact with the asphalt, the ride quality has improved significantly and braking too has become more predictable. Hardly any impact on the fuel efficiency. On the braking, I mentioned earlier about the efficiency being very poor. I put an enquiry to Maruti on their website regarding the brake booster (thanks TBHP) and was immediately put in touch with the M.A.S.S who although didn't replace the booster, but did wonders in terms of overhauling the entire brake assembly comprising calipers, pads, discs et al. |
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14th April 2013, 15:03
| #5 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Pune
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14th April 2013, 15:42
| #6 |
| Team-BHP Support   Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Delhi
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14th April 2013, 16:08
| #7 |
| BANNED Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Hyderabad
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| Re: Celebrating 50,000 kms - Ownership experience of my Maruti Dzire Congrats on covering the 50K kms mark. Good review with the needed quality pictures to support.  The dashboard feels simple and uncluttered for its time. How do find the reflection of the dash on the windshield in the noon sunlight? Can you share the service details like parts replaced and costs incurred for each service? Cheers, Anurag. |
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14th April 2013, 16:27
| #8 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Pune
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| Re: Celebrating 50,000 kms - Ownership experience of my Maruti Dzire Quote:
The uncluttered dashboard is a boon while driving at night. Actually for me, the reflection of the dashboard has never been a problem - maybe because of my high seating position. Till date, I have spent close to INR 28k for the regular services (includes 3 free + 4 paid services) and some minor running repairs. All parts are factory fitted till date hence no additional expenses incurred. | |
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14th April 2013, 16:29
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| BHPian  Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: GTA | GHMC
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14th April 2013, 16:46
| #10 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Pune
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14th April 2013, 18:14
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| Distinguished - BHPian   | |
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15th April 2013, 09:14
| #12 |
| Distinguished - BHPian  Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Bangalore
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15th April 2013, 09:58
| #13 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Pune
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| Re: Celebrating 50,000 kms - Ownership experience of my Maruti Dzire Quote:
Maintenance of the seats is indeed a difficult task - I just try to set some groundrules - for e.g. no eating when inside the car...also I drive with the A.C on for most of the time...this helps in keeping the dust outside to a great extent and thus indirectly you have less things to clean. | |
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15th April 2013, 10:04
| #14 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Pune
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| Re: Celebrating 50,000 kms - Ownership experience of my Maruti Dzire Quote:
By using the RedFox, the quality does not get affected but you do have to raise the volume levels to match that of the CD music or your regular FM radio. Since the wireless modulator can be set to a altogether different frequency band as compared to the FM freq band, you can avoid the interference with the FM frequency range and thus maintain the same audio quality. Hope this helps. | |
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15th April 2013, 16:48
| #15 | |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: May 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Re: Celebrating 50,000 kms - Ownership experience of my Maruti Dzire Quote:
The cleaning products you have mentioned above, can these be brought online? | |
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