Swift Diesel Initial views/Test drive

Kool_Kid · 16th February 2007, 17:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by rohitbagai

My friend got booking cancelled today from Jagmohan Motors Rohtak. The dealership says all bookings cancelled. Maruti no longer taking bookings for the Swift Diesel. reason unknown .(right now)

Dear Rohit ,

Just called Jagmohan motors Rohtak 01262-255002 , asked them for a Swift Vdi , and about this problem and guess what they are willing to deliver the car in 15 -20 days and have not heard of any such problem or booking Cancellation.

Looks like some body is taking your for a ride...

As for me .. i have called the dealer "COMPETENT " and will be taking the booking today.. Wish me luck guys .. Since this is my first car .i am feeling elated

.

jusgetgoing · 16th February 2007, 19:00

Heard from the dealer here in Chennai that the prices have been slashed by 10,000/- across all the Swift models (Petrol and Diesel). I do not know about the other Maruti Models. Any idea why this slashing of prices considering Maruti increased the prices last month?

rocksterraghu · 16th February 2007, 20:41

I just took a test drive of the Swift Diesel. It is in fact, quieter than any other diesel engine that I have seen. However, during the drive, I found a little audible sound, which sounded like a belt or something. it was cyclical and not too audible. The sales guy said it is common and that is coming from some chain, even though I could not make out exactly, since I am no mechanical/automobile engineer.

The car performs really well, even though I could not do more than 110 in Hyderabad, all thanks to the traffic during the evenings.

The car seems to respond pretty well, makes absolutely no noise at any speed/rpm (except for the one that I mentioned before) and it is quite a surprise. The sales guy was quoting a mileage of 24 in the city, even though I don't trust him with that.

The thing that disturbed me the most was the suspension. I somehow felt the car was a little bumpy. It may be with just THAT particular car, since the petrol version I tried in Mysore seemed to have no problems.

The car seems to be beyond people's expectations. If you're looking for a diesel car with good average and a price of about 5.5 -6, then this would be a very good choice!

1100D · 17th February 2007, 19:35

Shuvc and Myself went to test drive the swift diesel yesterday. According to them deliveries are being delayed based on demand rather than any shortcoming on the car itself.

Now coming to the test drive.

One of the main intension of the drive is to find out about this engine the world is Ga-Ga over and surprisingly shuvc and Myself were torn on this. The other intension was to find out about the Turbo-lag, how bad is it and to find the gear-rpm-speed ratios of each gear. (Although we could get it from ACI but then who wants to do that when you can do that first hand looking at the tacho)

Turbo-lag is prominent, very prominent, infact we were trying to find out the 2000 rpm speed on fifth accelerating from 1500 and it was so slow up the revs that we were getting blocked by traffic. However if we shifted with blip of the throttle ensuring that the revs never fall below 2000 the car is a muscle car. So the turbo actually kicks in past 2000 rpm.

One thing on our test car we found was that the revs weren't climbing till about .5-1 inch of throttle travel. Infact, shuvc who drove first was saying the acceleration is not proportional to the foot-travel, later on when I drove I found that the revs weren't even climbing ona car at neutral for the first inch or so. However if we take this as a flaw in the particular vehicle and take care to press the throttle down, rather than drive at a feather touch, the car always rewarded in any gear provided it was above 2000 rpm.

So here are the extrapolated findings for the speeds corresponding to the 2000 rpm (no turbo lag rpm) , 4000 rom (max power - you can regularly upshift at this rpm without harming the engine) and the revlimiter rpm

No Turbo lag shifting - 31-2nd, 50-3rd, 70-4th 80-5th

Maximum power shifting - 33-2nd, 62-3rd,100-4th,140-5th

Rev-limiter shifting (although not recommended) - 45-2nd, 83-3rd,135-4th---beyond this its your choice!!

Now beyond the engine, We found our test car a lot bumpy, there were 4 people on board inspite of that on some sort of broken tarmac we found the car bobbing up and down. This bobbing motion was not even confidence inspiring as regards handling. shuvc has a softly sprung baleno which does not bobb up and down like that on his daily drive thru the same route. My Ikon has a hard/harsh ride but does not bob up and down like that either. Have to drive a petrol swift on the same stretch to see if its a problem with our expectations (as both of us drive sedans) or indeed that car (or this particular example) has a problem.

The other issue, big one is the choice of rubber, with this sort of torque available, Maruti has provided a wrong tyre. A certain left hander (infact a 90 degree turn) which I usually take at around 65 in the Ikon, Approached it slowing down from 100 engine braking in third and then second, on the apex putting the power down, there was a lot of wheelspin, which caused the car to wash wide a bit but a little bit of backing off and catching on got the car going in its intended path. Meaning the torque available is to much for the tyres to handle.

So here goes the verdict, amazing engine, and just that! As shuvc rightly pointed out, lets wait for the same engine in a better car. For me, I want more( same engine but a 90 bhp state of tune)

When is the 1.9 JTD coming?

nbr · 17th February 2007, 20:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1100D

So here goes the verdict, amazing engine, and just that! As shuvc rightly pointed out, lets wait for the same engine in a better car. For me, I want more( same engine but a 90 bhp state of tune)

I too agree with you. i talso felt that ,it is really not worth paying extra rupees just for the sake of engine. Diesel cars r known to travel for long distances and SWIFT having a tiny boot and limited space doesn't make a real long distance companion.

Vid6639 · 17th February 2007, 21:03

Did anyone notice excess play in the gear box. My test drive vehicle had done 1100kms and had more than an inch of play in the gear lever.

Even if i put it in neutral the gear stick used to be loose to such an extent that it would wobble around one inch down.

I asked the guy about that and standard reply, "Saaar test drive vehicle".

nbr · 17th February 2007, 21:22

OT- can anyone please tell ,why MARUTI stopped the beam blue shade in the SWIFT ? is it because this colour is expensive or because this shade had a defect of losing the lusture fast ?

nikkibike · 17th February 2007, 22:02

Guys, met a friend today who brought Swift VDi a week back. The dealer who sold his car had seriously misled him saying that the car is having a "wet clutch" and so the life of the same wud be very less if used carelessly!!! He being a very experienced mechanical engineer., juz believed them when they shown him the catalogue in which it is clearly written as "Clutch : Hydraulic" !!! Now am also a bit confused

, does it have a 'wet clutch' or is it the 'Servo' system that they meant, by mentioning "Hydraulic"?!!!

Also, this one have EPS or Hydraulic steering system?!!

I cudn't check these things in the car then and there as his dad took it away immediately!!!

Pl clarify!

1100D · 17th February 2007, 23:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikkibike

Guys, met a friend today who brought Swift VDi a week back. The dealer who sold his car had seriously misled him saying that the car is having a "wet clutch" and so the life of the same wud be very less if used carelessly!!! He being a very experienced mechanical engineer., juz believed them when they shown him the catalogue in which it is clearly written as "Clutch : Hydraulic" !!! Now am also a bit confused

, does it have a 'wet clutch' or is it the 'Servo' system that they meant, by mentioning "Hydraulic"?!!!

Also, this one have EPS or Hydraulic steering system?!!

I cudn't check these things in the car then and there as his dad took it away immediately!!!

Pl clarify!

Right, The clutch is hydraulic meaning servo assisted. And the Steering is EPS (However its got more feedback than the famous C-segment car that sells like hot cakes)

extreme_torque · 18th February 2007, 00:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1100D

Turbo-lag is prominent, very prominent, infact we were trying to find out the 2000 rpm speed on fifth accelerating from 1500 and it was so slow up the revs that we were getting blocked by traffic.

Isnt that asking too much from the engine... 1500 revs in 5th and you want it to accelerate? Even a Palio 1.6 or Baleno would be slow to pick up from those revs in 5th gear.... remember this one's just 1248 cc.
I didnt like the feedback (rather lack of it) from the steering wheel... may be coz i drive a Palio and its got amazing steering feel.

nikkibike · 18th February 2007, 06:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1100D

Right, The clutch is hydraulic meaning servo assisted. And the Steering is EPS (However its got more feedback than the famous C-segment car that sells like hot cakes)

Thanks for that clarification!

abhibh · 18th February 2007, 12:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Isnt that asking too much from the engine... 1500 revs in 5th and you want it to accelerate? Even a Palio 1.6 or Baleno would be slow to pick up from those revs in 5th gear.... remember this one's just 1248 cc.
I didnt like the feedback (rather lack of it) from the steering wheel... may be coz i drive a Palio and its got amazing steering feel.

I agree even other cars suffer to pick up speed. But this baby has no vibs even if you slot 5th gear at 35KMPH and i am amazed to it..

Vid6639 · 18th February 2007, 12:43

Somehow I found something funny in the car. May have been the test drive vehicle but it had done only 1100kms.

When you back off the gas the cutoff is sharp for that moment and you feel the cutoff but after that the car does not lose momentum at all. It's like it's in neutral or theres drive to the wheels and I have to brake hard to stop.

I drove it in heavy traffic so found it irritating. Also I know for a fact that maruti is incorporating this i.e. sharp fuel cutoff in the interest of mileage.

sreenivass · 18th February 2007, 14:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Isnt that asking too much from the engine... 1500 revs in 5th and you want it to accelerate? Even a Palio 1.6 or Baleno would be slow to pick up from those revs in 5th gear.... remember this one's just 1248 cc.
I didnt like the feedback (rather lack of it) from the steering wheel... may be coz i drive a Palio and its got amazing steering feel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by abhibh

I agree even other cars suffer to pick up speed. But this baby has no vibs even if you slot 5th gear at 35KMPH and i am amazed to it..

It should not be compared with petrol vehicles since both torque and BHP come relatively at higher revs in petrol engines. BTW I posted my observations about 5th gear speeds and revs in another thread. Petra 1.6L has a reasonably good pull from 1300 rpm onwards without load.

Swift VDi torque is supposedly at peak at 2000 rpm. so one expects good pull at 1500 RPM.

1100D · 18th February 2007, 18:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Isnt that asking too much from the engine... 1500 revs in 5th and you want it to accelerate? Even a Palio 1.6 or Baleno would be slow to pick up from those revs in 5th gear.... remember this one's just 1248 cc.
I didnt like the feedback (rather lack of it) from the steering wheel... may be coz i drive a Palio and its got amazing steering feel.

Precisely as Sreenivass said.

Moreover our intension was to find the precise 2000 rpm vehicle speed, we could have done it 2 ways,

1> coming down from above 2000 by braking, but since we did not know at which speed to shift up from 4th so that in 5th the rpm would be above 2000,
2> or by going up from 1500 in 5th to 2000.

One may argue that when we know 1500 rpm is 60 we can calculate the 2000 rpm speed, but why calculate when you can observe. Turned out that the 2000 rpm speed is 80 and higher speed was not possible given the traffic, we also wanted to find out the precise rpm when the turbo would kick in and what better gear to observe that on other than the 5th.

However on our test drive route we had a couple of empty stretches which we utilized in doing nothing else than going flat out!! 150 is what the sales man claims but we would like him to beleive it was 140!! We could have observed the above on one of these stretches, but as we are not so smart, it did not strike us then!!

16th February 2007, 19:00	#107
jusgetgoing BHPian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 99 Thanked: 145 Times	Swift Prices Heard from the dealer here in Chennai that the prices have been slashed by 10,000/- across all the Swift models (Petrol and Diesel). I do not know about the other Maruti Models. Any idea why this slashing of prices considering Maruti increased the prices last month?
	() Thanks

16th February 2007, 20:41	#108
rocksterraghu Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,240 Thanked: 236 Times View My Garage	I just took a test drive of the Swift Diesel. It is in fact, quieter than any other diesel engine that I have seen. However, during the drive, I found a little audible sound, which sounded like a belt or something. it was cyclical and not too audible. The sales guy said it is common and that is coming from some chain, even though I could not make out exactly, since I am no mechanical/automobile engineer. The car performs really well, even though I could not do more than 110 in Hyderabad, all thanks to the traffic during the evenings. The car seems to respond pretty well, makes absolutely no noise at any speed/rpm (except for the one that I mentioned before) and it is quite a surprise. The sales guy was quoting a mileage of 24 in the city, even though I don't trust him with that. The thing that disturbed me the most was the suspension. I somehow felt the car was a little bumpy. It may be with just THAT particular car, since the petrol version I tried in Mysore seemed to have no problems. The car seems to be beyond people's expectations. If you're looking for a diesel car with good average and a price of about 5.5 -6, then this would be a very good choice!
	() Thanks

17th February 2007, 19:35	#109
1100D Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Calcutta Posts: 4,390 Thanked: 4,096 Times View My Garage	Shuvc and Myself went to test drive the swift diesel yesterday. According to them deliveries are being delayed based on demand rather than any shortcoming on the car itself. Now coming to the test drive. One of the main intension of the drive is to find out about this engine the world is Ga-Ga over and surprisingly shuvc and Myself were torn on this. The other intension was to find out about the Turbo-lag, how bad is it and to find the gear-rpm-speed ratios of each gear. (Although we could get it from ACI but then who wants to do that when you can do that first hand looking at the tacho) Turbo-lag is prominent, very prominent, infact we were trying to find out the 2000 rpm speed on fifth accelerating from 1500 and it was so slow up the revs that we were getting blocked by traffic. However if we shifted with blip of the throttle ensuring that the revs never fall below 2000 the car is a muscle car. So the turbo actually kicks in past 2000 rpm. One thing on our test car we found was that the revs weren't climbing till about .5-1 inch of throttle travel. Infact, shuvc who drove first was saying the acceleration is not proportional to the foot-travel, later on when I drove I found that the revs weren't even climbing ona car at neutral for the first inch or so. However if we take this as a flaw in the particular vehicle and take care to press the throttle down, rather than drive at a feather touch, the car always rewarded in any gear provided it was above 2000 rpm. So here are the extrapolated findings for the speeds corresponding to the 2000 rpm (no turbo lag rpm) , 4000 rom (max power - you can regularly upshift at this rpm without harming the engine) and the revlimiter rpm No Turbo lag shifting - 31-2nd, 50-3rd, 70-4th 80-5th Maximum power shifting - 33-2nd, 62-3rd,100-4th,140-5th Rev-limiter shifting (although not recommended) - 45-2nd, 83-3rd,135-4th---beyond this its your choice!! Now beyond the engine, We found our test car a lot bumpy, there were 4 people on board inspite of that on some sort of broken tarmac we found the car bobbing up and down. This bobbing motion was not even confidence inspiring as regards handling. shuvc has a softly sprung baleno which does not bobb up and down like that on his daily drive thru the same route. My Ikon has a hard/harsh ride but does not bob up and down like that either. Have to drive a petrol swift on the same stretch to see if its a problem with our expectations (as both of us drive sedans) or indeed that car (or this particular example) has a problem. The other issue, big one is the choice of rubber, with this sort of torque available, Maruti has provided a wrong tyre. A certain left hander (infact a 90 degree turn) which I usually take at around 65 in the Ikon, Approached it slowing down from 100 engine braking in third and then second, on the apex putting the power down, there was a lot of wheelspin, which caused the car to wash wide a bit but a little bit of backing off and catching on got the car going in its intended path. Meaning the torque available is to much for the tyres to handle. So here goes the verdict, amazing engine, and just that! As shuvc rightly pointed out, lets wait for the same engine in a better car. For me, I want more( same engine but a 90 bhp state of tune) When is the 1.9 JTD coming? Last edited by 1100D : 17th February 2007 at 19:37.
	() Thanks

17th February 2007, 21:03	#111
Vid6639 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 17,730 Thanked: 43,485 Times View My Garage	Did anyone notice excess play in the gear box. My test drive vehicle had done 1100kms and had more than an inch of play in the gear lever. Even if i put it in neutral the gear stick used to be loose to such an extent that it would wobble around one inch down. I asked the guy about that and standard reply, "Saaar test drive vehicle".
	() Thanks

17th February 2007, 21:22	#112
nbr BHPian Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: MANGALORE/BALEHONNUR/DUBAI Posts: 438 Thanked: 47 Times View My Garage	OT- can anyone please tell ,why MARUTI stopped the beam blue shade in the SWIFT ? is it because this colour is expensive or because this shade had a defect of losing the lusture fast ?
	() Thanks

17th February 2007, 22:02	#113
nikkibike BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: QoAS Posts: 526 Thanked: 4 Times	Clutch of Swift-D?!! Guys, met a friend today who brought Swift VDi a week back. The dealer who sold his car had seriously misled him saying that the car is having a "wet clutch" and so the life of the same wud be very less if used carelessly!!! He being a very experienced mechanical engineer., juz believed them when they shown him the catalogue in which it is clearly written as "Clutch : Hydraulic" !!! Now am also a bit confused , does it have a 'wet clutch' or is it the 'Servo' system that they meant, by mentioning "Hydraulic"?!!! Also, this one have EPS or Hydraulic steering system?!! I cudn't check these things in the car then and there as his dad took it away immediately!!! Pl clarify!
	() Thanks

18th February 2007, 12:43	#118
Vid6639 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 17,730 Thanked: 43,485 Times View My Garage	Somehow I found something funny in the car. May have been the test drive vehicle but it had done only 1100kms. When you back off the gas the cutoff is sharp for that moment and you feel the cutoff but after that the car does not lose momentum at all. It's like it's in neutral or theres drive to the wheels and I have to brake hard to stop. I drove it in heavy traffic so found it irritating. Also I know for a fact that maruti is incorporating this i.e. sharp fuel cutoff in the interest of mileage.
	() Thanks