[swiftnfurious]

Not sure how I start! I want this thread to be the long term ownership report of my Swift, but its already done 20 K kms in 1 year! And this is the first time I am writing about it!

I think I will start with a small intro of how I bought my car and will reach straight to 4th service details which I did 2 weeks back. Trust me guys, I am confused; the reason is my thought -- " what would the team-bhp'ians think of me! its already 1 year and this guy has not posted a single post about his car"! But knowing the "support" DNA present in each bhp'ian, I am going ahead and posting my experiences.

Cars and Me!

The relation between cars and me dates back to 1983 when I was 1 year old and my dad bought an Amby. I still remember all those beautiful days when I would get into my Amby [I would have been 3 or 4 years then] when the driver comes and takes it in the morning. And that was not a long drive every morning -- just reversing the car from the garage and taking it to the road from our courtyard -- hardly 100 feet of journey. But that used to make my day!

Some light on my Amby:

It was a 1983 model. Dont know the spec figures -- but this is what I have captured from my dad's talks. It was a petrol engine which he bought. Later re-worked and fitted with a "Matador" diesel engine -- some thing which was very very common those days. It was a green one and later was re-painted to black [I loved the black]. It was run as a taxi for 7 years and was sold after that! The underbody had started heavily rusting as the car was not maintained all that great!

When I was just 3 or 4, I drove the car for the first time! Could you believe it? The car was parked some where and as usual, I was sitting inside while all others were standing outside and talking. Our Amby had the gear lever next to the steering and accidentally pulled it to neutral and the car started rolling down. Our driver's presence of mind avoided my first driving becoming last driving! Every day getting into the car while reversing made me an expert in understanding how to reverse the car -- i exactly knew what would my driver do to take the car front and back from the garage.And after 7 years of cherishing memories about the Amby, we sold it. Though I tried convincing my dad about keeping it or buying a new one, it didnt work.

And my dream of a car remained a dream for the next 9 years! And thats one day when my dad says we are going to buy a Maruti Omni! Not sure what drove him to buy one, but was a great news to me! After lots of discussions, he booked an 800 instead -- a phoenix red due to heavy demand from rest of us though he wanted a white. After quite a long wait [ phoenix red had a shortage that time] we got our car! Everybody @ home loved each and every bit of it as we didnt have a car for long 9 years. We sold off the car after 4 years and 40K kms. Trust me, it was mint condition when we sold it. I had just started to work and could not afford to buy it - else I would have bought that car from my dad! We were so attached to the car except my dad!

And here comes our next car - 2003 Wagon R Lxi.
It was the slightly face lifted car with the roof rails, chrome strip on the grill and clear lens headlamps and all! I tried to convince my dad on a Santro -- but typical Indian mentality which makes Maruti still the best seller failed me there also. "Maruti is trouble free..you cant trust Korean companies to that extent!" And there comes a Wagon R Lxi home. Didnt bother much to fight on the color also this time as I was not that interested in the car -- My dad chose a silver color. We still have it. I never liked the dynamics of this car.

And being in Bangalore now and no bike, the weekends started boring me. Thought of numerous options to keep myself engaged! Have a Girl Friend -- many friends adviced. Thought for some days - the pros and cons of it and the cons weighed heavier. So thought travelling on weekends would be a better idea to keep myself engaged. Now as I had seen the "Bull Sh@#" Bangalore traffic and numerous accidents involving 2 wheelers, decided against buying a bike. My friend Jay in the mean time comes with the idea of buying a car for him and he goes for "Spark" test drive and comes back impressed. And I get really serious with the thoughts of buying a car.

This is when I go home and takes our Wagon R for a service and I see a Dzire there for test drive! That was when Dzire was just launched and the car looked better in flesh - I took a TD and was impressed. But did nt look like a VFM in comparison to the swift as I felt an extra 1 lakh had been charged for just a boot.

My mom tries to convince me to get married and own a car that way rather than buying one! I should tell you that I was fooled for some time. They wanted me to get married and get settled than buying a car as my mom was always scared of my high speed [high speed was 60-70; yet safe] drive.

Test Driving cars:

These events happened in May 08, and one weekend I start off with my friend Krishna for the test drive of cars which I shortlisted. The list consisted of Santro, Spark and a Swift.

I started off with a Santro and was happy with that. The sales person in Advaith was knowledgeable and was assisting well -- thats when he handed over me the price list of different car and I saw i10 was pretty closely priced to Santro. I asked him can I have a test drive and he readily accepts. We had only 1.1 option then and just driving for 1 km, I told the sales man that i will book i10 instead. I moved off from the dealership assuring him I will call him back in a day after convincing my parents.

We went to RNS and tried a diesel swift and was impressed! We went to chevrolet showroom and I wanted mint green for my spark -- i had decided if I buy a spark, its gonna be a mint green. there in the display they have a mint green! I asked for a test drive and the guy brings me a brand new spark parked at their basement. I loved the car, the pick up, suspension and center console -- but being 6'2", my knee was hitting the center console and I found it really difficult to place my feet on the clutch and release.

So the verdict is out! Its i10 and I call up my mom. She agrees in no time and I asked her to inform my dad too once he is back home. My dad called me up and asked why am I buying a petrol! I said I just need that for weekend drive and he convinces me for a diesel saying you will drive more once you buy a diesel. I went to RNS again for a test drive of Swift Diesel and we went for 10 kms drive in the NICE road! wow - i touched 160 in no time and came back. at a speed breaker I brake hard and the car shows no sign of stopping! I almost had wheel locks and I decide to go for ABS! We came back to the showroom and got the price and loan options and realize that I dont have that much money to make the down payment!

There is also a huge different in the price [30K] between Kerala and Bangalore because of road tax. In Kerala the loan option was better and also had a better waiting period for VDi ABS [45 days] compared to 6 months in Bangalore. So i decided to book my car in Kerala.

My dad did all the transactions as I was in Bangalore and AVG [kottayam] guys assured me a delivery time of 45 days and 20 days for a normal VDi. I booked my car on June 10'2008.

I agreed to it and made the booking for a RED VDi ABS. Now the waiting started. Thats when I came across team-bhp and especially Jaggu's thread of his swift VDi! I was glued to team-bhp for the vast repository of knowledge and used to read thru till 3 or 4 AM after coming back from work @ 10 PM.

and after booking my car, 2 days later the AVG guys called me back and said that there is a white VDi ABS in transit and would you like to have it? I am confused and called up my parents. They said if you want red, wait and dont go for white. Also in Bangalore as I dont have the facility to wash my car daily, I decided against a white. And there goes 45 days and no signs of my car!

I waited for 60 days and still no car! I started calling the dealership and every time they would give an excuse. I called up the Maruti help line and they also could not do anything except for taking a complaint! One fine day, I called up the sales guy and asked him to cancel the deal and sent a mail in this regard! I tried calling the regional office and everyone was on leave as it was Onam time [September]. One day I called them and they said the person concerned will call me back! Next day he called from regional office and told me that car is allotted to me and the first red car with VDi ABS manufactured will be sent to me! hmmm..not a bad deal -- that's how Maruti is rated for the best CE.
In 2 days, AVG guys called me and said the car is in transit! Awesome.

And after 22 days in transit against a normal 15 days , i finally got my car!
In the mean time, I was planning to book a Getz CRDi but my mom was happier with a swift and I decided to wait. The news of Ikon D was also doing the rounds in team-bhp; so thought I will wait for my Swift and in the mean time, if Ikon D comes, i will book it. Finally on Oct 17, My RED Swift VDi was delivered! My parents and my brother was there at the dealership when i took delivery of that.

[swiftnfurious]

Attaching some pics..I have done some stickering work on it! So it looks too different now!

[DieselFan]

Hi Swiftnfurious,

your seat covers look fabulous. what are those and where did you get them installed? how much did they cost?

[kingofmyworld]

Nice and clean. Any plans of upgrading its footware?

[swiftnfurious]

Thank you DieselFan. I got it done at AVG dealership, Kottayam The cost was 3500/-.Its the normal material for seat cover -- not sure what is it! The dealer gets it done from some one for 1500/- and I got to know that late.

@kingofmyworld, i upsized to 185/70R14 from 165/80R14. this combined with the ABS is serving my needs as of now [excuse for deficiency of Vit M] Will wait till this to wear out and then combined with the availability of Vit M, will decide on the size

[swiftnfurious]

I did the following accessories on my car. Changed tyres the very next day to Bridgestone 185/70R14. I got JK tyre on mine. After enquiring with at least 6 dealers of Michelin, Bridgestone etc [the search was on almost 2 weeks before i got my car! ] I got the best deal from Bridgestone "Select" dealer @ Pala [near Kottaramattom bus stand]. He gave a quote of 3200/- per tyre for 185 and 1200/- for taking back the old tyre. This was the best deal which I got from all the dealers in Kottayam and Kochi. He said, he could have given 1500/- if the tyre was MRF! Very nice guy, very courteous and polite too. He let me round off the amount too.

ICE:

Big thanks to ICE gurus of the forum. I got my ICE set up done in last April from EVO on Cambridge road. The following is the configuration -- will post the pics also soon.

HU - Kenwood 6539U [was bowled over by the lights on it] -- 10,000 B/W
Speaker: JBL 608c at the front -- 3200/- without B/W
Amplifier: JBL 504 4 Channel Amp - 5400/- without B/W
Sub Woofer: JBL GT-5 12, 1100 Watts. -- 2400/- without B/W
Damping: 1500/-
I paid a total of 26,000/- for ICE including installation [wiring, damping, sub box, rings and all].

The connection is done such that two channels are given to the front speakers and two to the sub woofer. Got the damping done for the boot and the front door panels.

The sound is rocking! I love every bit of it. I believe there is bit more scope of damping as I hear jarring for some songs. Need to get it checked later.

Sun Film:
I got FilmPro sun films on all windows except front. Got it done from Autoshop, Koramangala and cost me 3600/-. I recently did the sun film on the front windshield from 3M and cost was 5500/-. Got it done from Autoshop itself.

[swiftnfurious]

I have taken my sweet heart for quite some highway run -- mostly to my native. In city I get around 16-17 depending on the use of A/C and spirit of driving and I get around 18-20 on highways again depending on A/C & spirit of driving.

A very recent trip to my native [Kanjirappally] thru Salem - Dindigul - Theni - Kumily saw the figures hanging around 22 ! yea..that too with 50% A/C, 3 adults and a heavy sub-woofer at the boot, and constant 100 kmph on the highway!

I used to fill BP normal diesel from Advaith petrol bunk @ Udupi Gardens signal, BTM and recently changed to the IOC company outlet near BTM water tank -- And i believe the effect shows!

I could notice an increase in mileage in the city run as well -- I believe i was softer on pedal too.

I had a recent trip to Goa [Oct 2-, 2009] on my car and the details of this will be coming soon in the Travelogue section. Though its pretty late, I would love to share our experiences and some of the pics which made our journey memorable.

Kanjirappally Trip Details:

Started off at 10 PM from BTM signal -- filled up full tank [sightly more than auto-cut off] and then started on hosur road by 10.15. I had set the tyre pressure at 38 / 35 instead of regular 36 / 33 at front / rear. This I did as I came to know that adding extra 1 or 2 points in the tyre for a highway run would improve mileage as the heating will be reduced. I believe this factor also added to the good mileage that I got. I reached Kumily @ 6.15 AM and Kanjirappally @ 8.15 AM. We took 4 breaks of 15 mins each and covered the entire distance of 580 kms in 10 hours. The entire stretch was superb except for a small trip in Hosur and some 10 odd kms in Vandiperiyar. I would highly prefer this route to anyone who has to go to Kottayam.

I have another trip to Nellore in AP this weekend with my friends for my colleague's marriage this weekend. I will update the trip details along with the pics

[swiftnfurious]

I did all the first 3 services @ AVG Kottayam. We bought our Maruti 800 from them and the car was top notch always in its performance. Our Wagon R was from Indus, Kottayam and never felt the smoothness we had in our 800! This forced me to buy the swift from AVG itself because of initial impressions about their service. But I could not find the same level of refinement with the 3 services in AVG. This also made me think to get the service done in any of the servicing centres in Bangalore itself. I was looking through the threads in team-bhp and saw a mixed level of response. The closest one in the good list was Surakshaa @ Bommanahalli. My friend got his service done @ Bimal, KR Puram twice and was very very impressed. I thought of getting the service done there and thought will bump up some threads on servicing centres in Bangalore. Here I get bad comments on Bimal, KR Puram. And the only complaint abt Surakshaa was they are expensive. And we had the hero "Lokesh" in Surakshaa who is quite famous on team-bhp to add to the guarantee for Surakshaa.

I called Lokesh two days prior and fix an appointment on Saturday, 31 Oct 8.30 AM. I take my car there and tqo guys come to my car to take reading and details! Here I stand near my car not letting them do anything -- "I have fixed the appointment with Lokesh, please dont do anything till he comes". And all these thinking he is SA and not knowing he is the works manager there! And just then Lokesh comes in a zen and walks out after parking his car.

I had been to Surakshaa before my Goa trip for a basic check up and had met Lokesh there. He came and took a look at the car and was giving some instructions without any intimation. He also suggested that its better to have a check every 5000 kms for a Diesel swift when I said the last check was at 10 K kms and it was 17,000 then!

I went to Lokesh and introduced myself and said I had called him 2 days back. He looks at my car and suddenly realizes I was there 2 weeks back too [courtesy the race stripes on my car] and I told him I wanted him to test drive the car and find out whether some additional works need to be done. In fact I had a problem with the clutch after my Goa trip thru real bad roads -- it would jerk when I release the clutch at any gear! So Lokesh gets into drivers seat, he comes out into Hosur road and I was breaking the ice with him. He engages 2nd gear and releases clutch and I was looking at him and talking to him! The moment he releases clutch, he becomes silent and his face changes -- I am happy! he is fit for the job! This made me quite comfortable as he could identify the problem without me telling him. 5*'s for Lokesh ! He went to some distance and we took a bad road en-route to Surakshaa back! He told me that he wanted to check the suspension and told me that I was rash on bad roads. He was correct as I accidentallyt jumped into many pot holes on the way to Goa owing to frustration, visibility, unexpected craters in the middle of superb road etc etc. He told me that a suspension over hual is not required now as swift is a rally platform and suspension is heavy duty! He also said that clutch bleeding should take care of the jerk while releasing the clutch.

We came back to Surakshaa and he gave the necessary instrucions to the service guys and they started working on it. I was allowed to watch the entire process in the bay itself -- that was something really good about them.

In the mean time @ 9 AM -- thats when they start their work, all the workers and SAs assembled in the bay and had to do a drill! That was something I saw for the first time! I was totally impressed with that!

During my trip to Goa, I had hit my back bumper on the road in Mangalore and had a mis-aligned bumper when I came back. That was fixed free-of-cost and thankfully no breakage. I will be attaching a picture at the end of this post.

I was told that the car will be delivered at 4 PM and I chose to stay back to see the work. Rajesh was the SA who was assisting me and it was really helpful as he is a Keralite - I could effectively communicate to the workers through him.

The bill details are as follows:

Mobil Engine Oil : 3.1 lit -- 688
Element Oil Filter: 334
Gear Oil : 2.5 lit -- 722
Coolant: 2 lit -- 417
Brake Fluid: 1 lit -- 267
Air Cleaner Element: 230
Washer Fluid conc: 12
Plug Assembly Oil drain: 57
Wheel weight: 80
Fender lining clip: 8
Consumable: 70
Paid service: 650
Wheel Balancing: 300
Wheel Alignment: 250
Caliper greasing: 140
Brake Overhaul [Fr & Rr] : 160
Brake bleeding: 80

Turbo Cleaning: 250
Petrol for cleaning: 45

Total: 5341 /-

I was pretty happy with the car once I got it back. The work was completed by 1 PM itself and it went to the washing bay where it took almost 3 hours to get it washed and delivered. Another Rajesh came along with me for test drive and I was pretty happy with the car. I felt the steering was heavy and this usually happens with two reasons - either the tyres and moounted in wrong direction [ mine is uni-directional ] or the tyre pressure is low! We came back and checked the tyre pressure and it was slightly lower as the tyres were rotated for the service. I was happy to see the tyres were mounted correctly as I had issues with AVG on the very same front twice! They could / did NOT know how to mount tyres on a car! WHAT CRAP! While washing, I had mentioned them to wash the spare tyre really well before keeping at the boot. At the time of delivery, I checked and found that the tyre was not washed properly. We went to Goa at the time of heavy rains [floods] and the tyres were real dirty! The moment I showed it, 2 SAs came and checked and made a big fuss about that and instantly sent that tyre to the washing bay! The SA who was in charge of washing that day was also given an earful! Anyway I got my tyre properly washed and I started my journey back!

Kudos to Surakshaa:

The service guy was checking everything after the essential replacement of all fluids and filter and he was checking the blower. I could see that from outside and he called up one of the guys [electrician I believe]. They were speaking something and the guy who came removed the blower from the car and cleaned it up! I was horrified to see the dust that was accumulated on it -- I used to set the air circulation to outside position at times and It was filtering the dust! I used to feel that the air coming from the blower was less; but didnt bother as the A/C was quite effective. I should really appreciate their pro-active nature to get it corrected. Hats off buddies; Awesome job. You bagged one more repeat customer! Later I was told not to change the air circulation position and suggested to keep it inward circulation always -- point taken! At this point I remember one of the team-bhpian saying this about Surakshaa, Bommanahalli -- They have the zeal to perfection! 100% I agree to it.

Washing:

The interior cleaning was really good -- the polished the dash and plastics, bumper etc. But the wash was just average. Having so many cars in queue, I would not really complain about the wash -- but it could have been slightly better.

I made the payment, told a bye to Rajesh & Rajesh, and was about to drive away, and I see another SA who interacted me waiting to say a bye to me -- Guys you make me feel at home! I was so happy with their gesture and decided I am gonna drive back soooooooon!

But never thought I would get back that sooner, not even in my wildest thoughts!

I come back to Madiwala, get into a restaurant for snacks [time: 5.30 PM] and come back and switch on the battery. National problem with the national engine after almost every service. The SVC light is just not willing to fade off. Now I could hear my heart beats. But as I had read so much about this in Jaggu's posts and some other Swift D posts, I was not very nervous. I called them back and one of the Rajesh identifies me as KL - Swift guy, asked me to come back right away!

I went there and they starts the car, the light goes off! they are very happy - But I was reluctant to take my car. I insisted that I want the light to be switched off before I start the car. "Dont you have the scanner?" I asked them and the SA had a weird look at me -- team-bhp ki jay! He doesnt know the secret right. They brought the scanner -- did something and finally reset the code and voila, the light is normal in behaviour.

Once again I bid good bye and started back.

Picture of bumper mis-alignment:

[DieselFan]

One aspect I do not like about swift is both front and the rear bumper are fitted mostly press fit with a bit of screws. This causes mis-alignment even with a slightest push. The positive aspect is that it can also be aligned by Hand.

Service cost is pretty decent at least 20% Cheaper on labour than most MASS.

[krish3]

Hey buddy... nice long term report. Good to hear a nice report on service. I too had heard of Suraksha as the best in bangalore after people known to me had taken the cars there.

I too had booked a Swift VDi with ABS but then got a Getz Crdi. I too bought it from Kerala because of the price difference of nearly 40k between Bangalore and Cochin, though this was all just 2 months back and not one year back.
ank.
I too used to fill from Advaitha and then switched to the IOC pump near water tank (switched when I had a ZEN). I too have found a huge difference in mileage when filling from IOC. Now I only fill from there. I got 14kmpl in city on my Zen when filled from Advaita and around 16kmpl when filled from IOC.

Even now on my Getz, when I fill from IOC, I get 16kmpl in City and around 18-20kmpl on long drives, It has fallen down whenever I filled from any other pump in any place.

[swiftnfurious]

@krish, so you have confirmed that IOC fuel is much better and there is not much attributing to my driving style! Thats awesome. I can rip my car now and still not bother much about the mileage drop!

@DieselFan, you have given me a huge relief by mentioning about the MASS labor cost! I was thinking it was on the higher side.

I should tell you how much I am impressed about Surakshaa. There, irrespective of who is the SA assigned to a particular customer, other SAs also come and monitor the work -- that was exceptional. Thats what I call going beyond your limits!

[swiftnfurious]

I am posting some pics which I took in the last trip I made to my home town -- I covered "Parunthumpara" [translated as Eagle Rock] on my way home as it was just 4.5 kms deviation from the main road. Another reason was that I heard quite a lot about this place and was not able to locate it for some time.

Kumily - Theni:

[raamki]

ratish, awesome pics and a super write up dude!! you've got to post more pictures of the interiors bro, esp the neon add-on to the driver's seat!!

[joshguy]

Hi swiftnfurious

I also bought my swift in the same time (i guess you n me bought together in oct 2008) and i too underwent such confusions to buy a ikon D ect..

My swift has touched 19k and has crossed 1 year.Should i give it for service now or only at 20k?

[swiftnfurious]

@raamki, Thanks bro! I will soon have more interior pics of my ICE and Neon as per your demand! Just a matter of time and getting out of my usual laziness.

@joshguy, you need not wait till 20K for service. I got my service done at 19650 kms or something as I had gone for Goa and was back after a very bad drive. My car was totally rough and the engine noise was on the higher side. Also I had to drive to my native in Kerala last week. All these factors forced me to get the servicing done at 19650. You can get the service done as per the condition of the car. Also its suggested that Swift Ds be taken for a routine service [just check ups and cleaning -- no oil / filter change and all] every 5000 kms. I personally saw the amount of dust / dirt accumulated in the air filter after 6000 kms. I for sure will take my car for service every 5K kms now on and also don't mind doing an engine oil change [700/-] for better performance. I would say you should listen to your heart! By the way whats your mileage in city and highway? Am sure you will be enjoying each moment you spend with ur baby! Happy driving!