[Moto_mo]

What is the meaning of 'living a good life?' For me, its completing your childhood dreams! This is about my first, self earned car. An all new 2018 Swift ZXI+.

Alternatives considered-

While searching for my first car, Initially I kept my mind and budget flexible. There was a need of a 4-wheeler at Bangalore in case of emergencies and weekend drives. Also its safer to 'drive' rather than 'ride' on NICE road and electronic city flyover.

1. Tata Nexon XZ+ -
I was impressed by it's unique design and strong diesel engine. Always been a fan of bells and whistles like cool infotainment system, DRLs, projector headlamps etc. Had 3 test drives in different areas of Bangalore.
Rejection Reasons -
1. Reported mileage figures were inconsistent.
2. No daily usage guaranteed, thus diesel engine is unnecessary. Focus shifts to petrol vehicles.
3. littlebit on expensive side.
4. Ultimately, wifey was not comfortable with driving 'big vehicle'.

2. Ford Figo Aspire sports-
Now focus is on petrol car.Nice looks, nice power, within budget, nice driving dynamics. But no next gen stuff like projectors, DRLs, android auto, navigation system etc..
Rejection Reasons -
1. unavailability of fancy stuff.
2. interior did not feel new.
3. Mileage figures of petrol engine.

3. Ignis-
Until its launch, followed the car closely. But after seeing in flesh, got disappointed just because of rear looks. I agree that perception vary person to person. Nobody in family gave thumbs up to it. Did not had a test ride.
Rejection Reason -
1. Looks.

4. Upcoming 2018 Honda Amaze-
Loved the exterior looks after watching images from auto expo. But don't want to wait now. Patience period is over. Also, interiors are beige! A big no-no for me.


Reasons of zeroing down on all new 2018 Swift ZXI+ -
1. Looks! Looks are sporty. International version looks cool with it's different alloy design. 'Need for speed' game developers should certainly add the sports version as initial car in their games!
2. Within budget.
3. No problem of spares and service
4. Its a trusted and familiar brand.
5. All bells and whistles available with top end ZXI+/ZDI+ variants - touch screen infotainment,android auto, reverse parking cam, bright white projectors and DRLs.
6. Safety features available as standard across all variants.
7. Stable mileage figures from a decade old petrol engine.
8. A no-risk and harmless decision.
9. ...and a final 'yes' from heart.


- Complete booking & delivery experience with the dealership

Pre-booked the car on 7th Feb 2018 with 1000Rs at Kalyani motors, Banerghatta road exactly one day before it's official launch. Sales guys started describing the VXI variant initially. I told I am going with top end. Even though I knew the specs and details, I listened to guys patiently. Delivery was promised after 6-8 weeks initially.
In 2nd week of February, I called and asked for test ride. SA replied, saar, car has arrived! I can give early delivery. Finished up loan processes and documentation stuff. Paid partial down payment. Did a PDI and submitted a cheque of remaining down payment. Then showroom did insurance and RTO work. Got a call from showroom back-office for asking if I need any fancy number. And on the next day, I received the delivery. Guys at Maruti showroom did behave maturely and professionally. They were not having precise info about things like exact splitup of 15.45% road tax, location of jack, why the spare wheel is steel wheel etc. But I would blame improper training to the sales people. Overall delivery experience was better than expected from a Maruti Suzuki dealership.

- On-road price & discounts

No discount was offered since its a newly launched car.
so paid for :
1. ex showroom 729000
2. road tax 113288
3. registration 800
4. insurance 23398
5. Accessories 1600
6. Hypothecation 1500
7. Fastag 600

Total 870186


- Extended warranties & service packages
Extended warranty was offered somewhere around 12000. I will consider purchasing it later on. Will surely update exact pricing after purchasing it.

- Variant comparison chart-
e-Brochure link is as follows-
https://marutistoragenew.blob.core.w...t_Brochure.pdf

As usual, last section contains comparison of all 4 variants.


- Safety & related equipment
1. Speed sensing door locks. Automatically locks above the speed of 15 Kmph.
2. Follow me home/ Take me to the car headlights ZXI+/ZDI+
3. Reverse parking sensors and reverse parking camera ZXI+/ZDI+
3. Dual front airbags as standard across all variants.
4. ABS and EBD as standard across all variants.
5. Front seat belts equipped with pre-tensioners and force limiters. Seat belts are provided by tear1 automotive components supplier named 'Autoliv'.

- Number of kms at the time of writing of this review
So far I have driven 320KMs. The usage is mostly in city driving. Trying my best to drive it smoothly.

- usage pattern so far
Usage pattern was mixed. Mostly city driving. its a real early initial driving review.
I will check Highway performance this weekend.

- Comments on the exterior styling & design

I will be using my full creative liberty in this section!





Some experiences:
1. Day1 of driving- people actually turning heads and checking out this red beauty in morning! Initially I thought that there may not be a trend of putting a big garland on new car in Bangalore, and thats why people are looking at me. but it was not the case!
2. One innova guy with yellow board actually let me pass before him at a busy square.
3. One automobile engineer friend of mine said, it has some styling characteristics of a Mini.(will be doing a pictorial comparison soon).
4. Went to pick up wifey to her office. He colleague said, a group of people with mixed age group was standing near glass window and discussing about this car.
5. All elderly uncles in my gated community apartment showed interest into it (a Maruti Suzuki! yeey)
6. Boss's comment in office was "You are painting Bangalore in red!"

all these were comments and reaction by others. Now its time for my personal comments:
- Projector headlamps and DRLs add up that unique character to it. I urge you people, please don't settle for lower version! Unlock the car with remote fob and lights glow up- this is the best show-of moment for me everyday! I am deliberately parking in darker spots everyday to get this feel.


















- 15" tires and machine cut alloys look good. Even standard alloys on ZXI/ZDI models are also decent. Build quality feels robust. But these alloys are dust magnets.
- Floating roof is not much unique these days, but looks stylish.
- Exterior Paintwork is good. I am not an expert with respect to German state of the art machines, but I feel Maruti Suzuki has done some good work here.

Image caption-Front grill is made of fiber material. easily attracts dust everyday. Since gap in 2 individual lines is small, fingers cant reach inside for cleaning.





- Exterior Overall build quality, fit & finish
- Overall build quality is same as any other MSIL car.
- Did not observe ugly panel gaps to much extent.
- There are visible welding marks under the rear windshield. Check out in following images.





- Paint finish is poor above the tail lamp region inside rear boot door.



- There is no badge of variant at rear. Only Suzuki's 'S' logo and Swift emblem is present at rear.




- Wheels & tyres
- Its a ZXI+ and thus have 185/65 R15 Machine-cut/diamond cut alloys and Bridgestone ecopia tyres .
- Spare tyre is common across all variants and it is a 14" steel wheel.





- Interior design & quality

- interior is designed tastefully. I find many design elements inspired from Chevy Beat like circular central AC vents. Even last gen Ford Figo had similar vents.
- Circular AC controls on top end variants are fresh feel over old knobs.
- These circular dials are made of better quality material. Rotations are smooth and pleasant.
- I liked flat bottom steering personally.
- Dashboard plastic quality is cheap.
- Plastic near handbrake is the most cheap plastic I have ever seen in any car so far.

Image caption- Interiors at night




Image caption-Interiors during day




Image caption-Tachometer and speedometer.




Image caption- Driver door buttons. - Joystick to adjust electrically adjustable ORVMs. Button to fold ORVMs. Glass lock button. All doors lock-unlock button. Power window switches with auto-up and down for driver's window.




Image caption- Start/Stop Push button and rear parking sensors button.




Image caption-Dashboard opened and closed





image caption- Reverse camera in action.



You can see some part of rear bumper on the infotainment screen. Camera position should have been improved slightly.


- Interior space & comfort...front & back

- Seems like this car is designed only for front seat passengers. Leg room and seat comfort is best in class for front seats.
- Front seat cushions are good. Back support feels comfortable.
- Rear seat angle is comfortable. 3 average sized indians can fit without much complaints (my perspective again)
- Under thigh support for rear seat should have been better for rear seats.
- Headroom- Tested with friends of ~6ft height! Dudes were satisfied with rear headroom, rear legroom and front legroom.


- Air conditioner cooling & effectiveness
- Automatic climate control is onboard.
- Rotary dials are soft.
- Cooling is quick and effective.
- Blower noise is absent till level2.
- Slight degradation in engine performance is quickly observed after turning on the AC.


- Audio system & sound quality
-The Smartplay infotainment system does it's job pretty well. Tried both Android auto and apple carplay. The system is developed by Bosch.
- Touch is responsive.
- Received a SD card with preloaded maps data.(Here maps and Bosch)
- ZXI+ model has 4 speakers and 2 tweeters.
- Sound quality is good even for FM.




- Interior storage, practicality & boot space

- Again, better facilities are available for front row. Both front doors can hold 1 liter bottles.
- Rear doors can hold 500ml water bottles.
- Front door interior has some fabric finish as well. Rear door interior is completely made of fiber material.

Image caption-Front left door.




Image caption- Rear left door.




- Engine performance & driveability

1.2 L VVT engine is responsive in city. Could move my car Swiftly ahead of other vehicles once bumper to bumper traffic gets cleared.
Driving it on empty roads is an heavenly experience. Overtakes in 4th and 5th gear on empty stretches is one of the most enjoyed moment during last week's driving. In bumper to bumper city traffic, cruising is comfortable with second gear.
I hope the engine will free up more after first servicing.

- Gearshift & clutch
- Gear shifts are butter smooth.
- Gear shift indicator is available which suggests to shift up or shift down with small arrows.
- Clutch is soft to press.
- My initial habit with chevy beat was to cross speed breakers in first gear. But now, I am always using second gear to cross speed breakers. Pickup is responsive in second gear as well.

- Overall NVH levels (including engine, wind & road noise)
- Noise- Engine noise is less. Vibrations- Vibrations on bad roads reflect inside cabin. Similar to that of last gen swift. Did not observe much difference. Harshness - Smooth petrol engine is not at all harsh. Rear suspensions are stiff. Thus, some harshness is observed during driving.
- Still I am in run-in period. Maintaining RPM below 2000 in every gear. There is no engine sound in cabin from 2nd gear onwards. Minor humming can be felt in first gear around 1500-2000 RPM.
- One more observation - cold engine feels smooth but engine sound is observed more after 10-12kms of drive. Any similar observations?
- Sound of speed humps and pothole crossing is audible from rear suspensions.Maybe because of stiff suspension setup?
- If bass is heavy and volume is high, speaker vibrations are felt on the armrest of front left door.

- Fuel efficiency: City and Highway

- Yet to calculate with tank full method. Average mileage displayed on dashboard is 16.4Kmpl as of now. Total distance traveled is just 320 kms.


- Suspension & ride quality (at low as well as high speeds)
- Suspension is towards harder side.
- Can absorb minor to small humps easily.
- not much appreciated for larger humps and potholes.
- Ok ok performance

- Handling, on-road behavior, grip levels, stability, body roll & turning radius

- I found handling is similar to any other swift. Was able to navigate through narrow gaps with confidence.
- Grip levels at sharper are good turns even at higher speed. Effect of new tires maybe?
- Theoretical turning radius is 4.8 meters. Was able to take U-turns in single attempt. (no shameful usage of reverse gear!)


- Steering

- Steering size is perfect. Neither large nor small.
- Flat bottom shape looks and feels nice.
- Top end variants have leather wrap around top half of the steering. (ZXI+ has it, LXI does not. need to check with VXI and ZXI).
- Tilt adjustable steering is available as standard across all variants.
- Steering mounted controls with red backlight looks nice.




- Braking (effectiveness, pedal feel...)
- User manual says that it is equipped with Brake assist.That means if a newbie driver wants urgent braking but he does not press the brake pedal with enough force, braking system will take care of it. Brakes are decent and pedal feel for gradual braking is soft.


- Ground clearance
- Theoretical ground clearance is 163mm. I did not re-calculate myself. But tried across many uneven road humps and speed breakers in Bangalore . Vehicle was unladen and it passed easily over the humps and potholes.No issues so far.


- Trunk interiors
-Theoretical boot space is 268L.
Inner left side of the trunk has a light and a hook. Light settings can be changed as per user wish. Either it can be automated with trunk opening or always on or always off.




Jack is concealed in right side.




Trunk opening is above the flatbed space. This is problematic since large trolleys or heavy stuff needs to be lifted.




There is a request button (right side) to unlock the trunk and a button at right side to open the trunk.




Rear defogger lines are visible as usual. But the bad part is, the soldering from power supply to these lines is exposed from the inside of the rear windshield.

[Moto_mo]

continue from first post-
This post contains additional miscellaneous information and images.

Rear seats

Rear seats can be folded in 40-60 split style.

Rear Seats not folded.


Small button needs to be pulled up to fold a seat. Buttons available at both left and right side.



first half folded.


complete folding of rear seat for additional cargo.






There are two small hooks on the rear seats. What could be the purpose? Need to find out.




Front seats

There is a height adjustment feature for driver seat VXI/VDI models onwards.



Seat pocket is available behind the front left seat. Useful to store docs.



Reverse parking camera

-Reverse parking camera is positioned on the rear bumper and above the numberplate.
- It is really difficult to find for a newbie.
-I found this feature quite useful to take quick reverse in parking lots and in traffic.
-Position of rear camera




-Fit of the camera seems robust. Proper instructions should be given to cleaning/detailing guys.


As mentioned above in previous post, some part of bumper is visible on the infotainment display in field of view of camera.


-Better mounting position should have been tried by MSIL engineers.

Key Fob

Keyless entry is possible with this key-fob. It has only 2 buttons, one for lock and another for unlock. If unlock key is pressed twice, then all doors are unlocked. If headlight setting is set to automatic, then you are welcomed by bright white welcome lights! There is notch. by using which you can pull out physical metallic key.




Particular likes
- Headlamps : I liked the projector headlamps. The light is bright white. Feels like driving a high end car at night.
- Brakes : ABS+brakes combo works nicely. Urgent braking at airport road was really efficient.
- Updates with respect to interiors : Feel at front seats is premium during night time. Visibility is good.
- Automatic climate control just does its job.
- Tall friends praised about the improved legspace.
- Wifey liked the height adjustment feature on driver's seat.
- And ultimately, the sporty looks. I have plans to add a red rear spoiler and a front spoiler in next couple of months.


Particular dislikes
- Interior plastic quality is cheap. Visible during daytime.
- Small steel wheel as spare.
- Rear blower would have been a good to have feature.
- I did not find the car much rev friendly. Maybe I am taking cautions of run-in period. Will update on it again after first servicing.

[Moto_mo]

These are 2 swifts standing near each other. Front one is 2018 ZXI+ and second is last generation VXI.

New generation swift looks fresh. Effect of different shade of red? Front appeal is more sporty.



I guess, Antenna and front fog lamps are exactly the same. There are many reports saying that interior buttons are also the same. VVT badge on the side is not there in new swift.



Older swift had Maruti Suzuki badge on the rear left side and Swift VXI badge on the right side. But new swift has a Suzuki logo and only 'Swift' badge at the rear.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[strawhat]

Congratulations on your new baby. It looks smashing in red!

I think Maruti has got it absolutely right with a follow-up once again. This iteration looks even more impressive than the previous one. I am mightily impressed by the exteriors. Especially that butch look on the front will appeal to a wider audience. The alloys on top end are stunning. They have filled the top end to the brim.

My only gripe is, the automatic is not available in + trim. Misses out on reverse camera, touchscreen unit etc. That is something that always infuriates me about Maruti. That discussion is for another day though.

I wish you all the happiness with this beauty.

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by Moto_mo

This is about my first, self earned car. An all new 2018 Swift ZXI+.

Congratulations Moto_mo on your latest acquisition, and having the first ownership report of the 2018 Swift on TBHP!!

Personally, I think latest-gen Swift Dzire is THE BEST looking car from Maruti stable yet. And when I first saw the pics of the 2018 Swift, I knew that Maruti could only have done a 'One Time Wonder' with the Dzire.

But I have been seeing many 2018 Swifts on the road in the last couple of weeks, and slowly (but surely), the design seems to be growing on me. Ironically, I have not seen this car in any other shade other than the Red!!

Wish you a very happy & fuss-free motoring, and mile munching.

[Highh5]

Congratulations Moto_mo. It does look stunning in red.

Originally Posted by Moto_mo

Image caption- Driver door buttons. - Joystick to adjust electrically adjustable ORVMs. Button to fold ORVMs. Glass lock button. All doors lock-unlock button. Power window switches with auto-up and down for driver's window.

God knows when they will provide the back lit buttons. When other car companies will move to some different technology, then they might provide the back lit buttons.

There are two small hooks on the rear seats. What could be the purpose? Need to find out.

It is used to keep the seat belt in place. Just tuck the seat belt under that hook.

[SJM1214]

Congratulations Moto_mo on your new acquisition.

I found Swift 2018 better than MS Dzire in all the aspects(except rear leg room). MS has done a good job of differentiating the Swift from the Dzire. Chevy beat kind of rear door handle, makes it look like a three-door car. IMHO, Swift 2018 is a VFM proposition in under 8Lakh hatch segment.

[AkMar]

Congrats moto_mo on your first car! And what an iconic car you have chosen. Nice crisp review. Looking forward to more updates as you clock miles with your new acquisition

[Col Mehta]

Now that's one beautiful looking red car! Never been a fan of previous generation Swift looks but this new avatar has got my attention. And the biggest plus is the improved rear seat space and comfort. Heartiest congratulations on your new possession. Wish you and your family many happy and safe miles with it..!

[SoumenD]

Congratulations on the wonderful acquisition Moto_mo. Nice crisp review there and it looks smashing hot in red. Saw a white one the other day and I almost missed noticing it was the new swift. Guess white shade masks the differences to some extent.

A couple of things:

1. Do update us how the 163mm GC behaves once u try it with 4 people on-board?
2. Am surprised the performance gets affected for the 1.2L petrol with AC on. I thought only the 1.0L K10B(i drive one) has that issue. Is it pronounced or slight difference?

Finally thank god, maruti decided to skip the gaudy chrome borders(a la Dezire) in the front grill. This looks really nice and classy.

[am1m]

Thanks for the great initial review! I see that you were charged 1600 for accessories. Could you let us know what accessories these were? Pratham is quoting about 5k for accessories, most of which I don't really require or can source from elsewhere. Thanks in advance.

Disappointing to hear about the visibly cheap interior plastic, now it will be even harder to convince my wife about this car, as she's adamant about having a 'luxurious' interior and I'm wary about going to the Hyundais because of service costs.

[ashbhat2]

Congratulations on your first self earned purchase Moto_mo. You have made a good choice for sure. My dad bought the same variant in Mysore and has since clocked around 1000kms and is quite impressed by it too.

I wanted to check your opinion on the MID. I feel that Maruti could've done better on the MID front. They have re-used the same MID which is used in the automatic variant as well rendering a large area in the middle useless ( Where the automatic variant would display the current gear which is engaged )
As a result of which at any point in time you can only view either of Instantaneus FE/FE/Odometer/TripA/B etc. On top of it you have this big blank space in the middle of the MID which displays nothing in the Manual variant other than the gear change indicator. I feel at least a few of these could be separated out for the manual variant instead of leaving the space in the middle blank.

That aside, the RPM and Speedometer stalks with the red background and dials in white add a very nice touch and are quite good looking.

[Moto_mo]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

But I have been seeing many 2018 Swifts on the road in the last couple of weeks, and slowly (but surely), the design seems to be growing on me. Ironically, I have not seen this car in any other shade other than the Red!!

Yes, Red looks great on this model. I have also seen Magma Gray, silky silver and white cars around. Maybe, since gray and whites are soo common in all the cars, you did not pay much attention even after seeing them

Seriously speaking, on this model, my preferences are Red>Silky silver>Magma gray> Dark blue> orange> white.

[Amit_Kapoor4750]

Congratulations Moto_mo for getting this beautiful car. Swift is a car which can be bought eyes closed, we don’t need many reviews or opinions to go for it. They have made this reputation for themselves and it’s evident with millions of happy customers.
This shade of red is enhancing the sporty look of the car, no doubt it is a looker.