[Surprise]

During my last visit to Ooty, my Swift struggled to take up the steep in second gear (36 HPB). Often I need to engage the first gear and suspected the adultered fuel to be the culprit.

Have not been to such place since then, but recently have traveled to hilly regions (one ex - last straight uphill to Thiruneli temple) and found that the same problem persists - With full load, car not pulling up the steeps in second gear. I gain enough momentum in first gear, shift it to second only to end up in car refusing to move up in the steep. But on plains I do not see any difference in pulling in any of the gears. Let me know what needs to be fixed, anything in car or in my driving style or the stretch is too steep in take in 2nd gear? Car done close to 50k mark

[nitrous]

An engine loses power as the altitudes get higher.
plus the swift petrol has very little power and torque at the bottom end.
So, i don't find it abnormal and would suggest you stick to 1st gear for steep inclines.

[FERRO]

Originally Posted by nitrous

An engine loses power as the altitudes get higher.
plus the swift petrol has very little power and torque at the bottom end.
So, i don't find it abnormal and would suggest you stick to 1st gear for steep inclines.

Off topic:But isn't Swift known for its Best in class award winning Engine ? great torque ? I hate those stupid advertisements Maruti does everytime

[siddartha]

Originally Posted by Surprise

During my last visit to Ooty, my Swift struggled to take up the steep in second gear (36 HPB). Often I need to engage the first gear and suspected the adultered fuel to be the culprit.

Have not been to such place since then, but recently have traveled to hilly regions (one ex - last straight uphill to Thiruneli temple) and found that the same problem persists - With full load, car not pulling up the steeps in second gear. I gain enough momentum in first gear, shift it to second only to end up in car refusing to move up in the steep. But on plains I do not see any difference in pulling in any of the gears. Let me know what needs to be fixed, anything in car or in my driving style or the stretch is too steep in take in 2nd gear? Car done close to 50k mark

also depends on the load , how many people and luggage . and if you took the shorter steeper route, you definitely need first gear on many of the 36 hairpin bends

[nitrous]

Beautiful engine,the G13B. Gives me motorgasms everytime I do it.

[speed0mania]

@ ferro: the car does have good torque but at a higher RPM range.
Thats the only drawback i see in the swift it lacks low end torque, so many times in city driving also when youre in traffic you have to move to first gear as it really revolts being put into second!
so really depends on the load and RPM you're at, its something you have to get used to with the swift at least i had to upgrading from the previous zen!

Originally Posted by nitrous

An engine loses power as the altitudes get higher.
plus the swift petrol has very little power and torque at the bottom end.
So, i don't find it abnormal and would suggest you stick to 1st gear for steep inclines.

What you say is partly true- it has a pretty useless low end, but midrange and high end are very good.
According to BHPian Surprise, He did gain enough momentum in the 1st gear before upshifting, 2nd gear should have been fine, actually!
@surprise- what was your rpm at upshift? and how steep was this incline?
another clue is, how were the other cars on the road behaving?

I have seen redfire's petrol swift keeping up with all the Diesels on steep ghat inclines while carrying 4 overweight bhpians, engine bouncing merrily off the rev limiter in 2nd and 3rd.

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by siddartha

also depends on the load , how many people and luggage

Not more than 300 kgs of load including all the travelers (4 No's) + luggage.

Originally Posted by rippergeo

what was your rpm at upshift? and how steep was this incline?
another clue is, how were the other cars on the road behaving?

Upshift RPM - Have not noted down the RPM reading, but I can say the car has picked momentum to shift it to 2nd. As soon as I shift it to second, the car just moves with the speed gained in 1st gear and was not responding to the throttle input. So instead of stalling the car, I shift it to first and move on.


How steep was the incline - One is masinagudi ghats to Ooty (36 HPB). Even I do not want to take this for discussions as HPB's are continuous and the speed at which you enter the bend counts. Here we can take the last incline before the thiruneli temple (M.vady), where I need to keep the entire stretch in first. Have seen omni's with full load making it, but not sure at which gear it does that

[pypkmsrikanth]

If its the Masinagudi ghats you need first gear in a couple of bends depending on traffic, I have climbed it comfortably in my wagonR with three adults and some luggage. I doubt if Swift would be noticeably bad.

[vikram_d]

On a Swift to take hair pin bends in second, you need to keep a couple of things in mind.

1. Take the long way around the hair pin bend. But ensure that nobody is approaching from the opposite side.
2. Build up momentum well before the bend and accelerate through the bend. Absolute fun doing this.

As others have already mentioned, it is because of the bad low end torque of the Swift petrol.

[aerohit]

I have driven to Ooty also, same problem, couldnt shift to 2nd, it would just judder

had to drive all the way to Ooty on 1st geat at 3000 rpm

total passengers 4+1 + light luggage (not that it has enough space for luggage!)

Infact, I had a wagonr overtake me on an uphill bend

The power to weight ratio of 1.3 Swift is poo poo

[ascertain]

Why climb steep inclines in 2nd gear?. Climbs (especially ghat sections) with their Hairpin turns, are optimally driven on 1st gear for climbs/Turns and 2nd gear for straighter stretches.

[anarchist]

Get a K&N stock replacement filter, there will definitely be improvements in the low end torque, had clocked 50k km on my Swift with this and city driving was also much much improved and I remember doing Shiradi Ghat (Mangalore, Hassan) @ 120 kmph uphill (don't try doing this stunt ever, its bloody dangerous

[watashi75]

Swift 2nd gear is too tall. You need to be above 3K to get any decent pull. The good thing is you can pull away faster at traffic signals when others are losing time upshifting.

Tyre pressure could be another factor since hills are generally cooler than the plains.

[manjubp]

Originally Posted by aerohit

I have driven to Ooty also, same problem, couldnt shift to 2nd, it would just judder

had to drive all the way to Ooty on 1st geat at 3000 rpm

total passengers 4+1 + light luggage (not that it has enough space for luggage!)

Infact, I had a wagonr overtake me on an uphill bend

The power to weight ratio of 1.3 Swift is poo poo

During my trip to ooty (1st week of Dec. 2007), except two curves on 36 HPC(on one stupid downhill traffic, didn;t give me a way, forcing me to go for 1st gear), all other curves I took it in 2nd (most) or 3rd (few) gear. It was with 3 adults, 5yr old my son and luggage, probably everything included will be 220Kg max.

Key point is maintain good momentum, with a decent speed.

regards,
-manju