[chiranjitp]

Prologue

The year was 2015, I was home for my semester break after the 4th semester examinations were over (i.e half way point of my B.tech life). Like every (almost every) college going guy I wanted a vehicle for myself, more specifically a two wheeler. I wanted something simple & cheap, a gearless scooter was my first choice. I didn't want a bike as I didn't know (still don't know) how to ride a bike with gears properly & also due to the fact that my parents would be more happy (or less unhappy) with a slow moving scooter.

So, my assignment for that semester break was to somehow convince my parents on buying me a scooter. Convincing my parents was no easy task,
they were (initially) strict against me riding a 2 wheeler, that too in a different city without them being around. But finally after many assurances, like won't exceed 50 kmph of speed ever, won't ride after sunset, always wear a full size helmet, they finally agreed to buy me a Scooter, a Honda Aviator to be precise. Only thing is that they asked me to get the Scooter after 2 months (i.e on my birthday). So assignment complete (or so I thought), I went back to my college in a very happy mood.

Within the next two months, two of my cousin's had two big accidents in their respective two wheelers. One broke an arm, one got some facial injuries. After this 2 events, my parents told me that I am not getting the Scooter, no matter what. My parents were as it is scared of letting me have a 2 wheeler, after this there was no way they would have agreed to it. See, we have never been a 2 wheeler family, my Dad never had a 2 wheeler back in the 80s & 90s (when everyone of his age had a two wheeler). The first vehicle that he bought was our 99 Omni (the one on my avatar). Even my mother never liked 2 wheeler even a bit, she always thought of them as very unsafe. To be frank, I was (& am) still not a big fan of 2 wheeler vehicles. I am more of a car guy, though for college use a scooter made more sense, hence the idea was to buy the Honda Aviator. I was a bit sad on not getting my scooter.

Come October 2015, I was again back in home. During that time I got this idea, why not buy an used cheap car for 50-60k. It will be a 4 wheeler (with a covered body & 4 wheels), so my parent's need not worry about me falling over & for 60k rupees, it was around the cost of a new scooter. So I proposed this idea to my parents, coolly. They on the other hand didn't take to this idea very kindly, they were kind of furious. Their main issues were, who takes a 4 wheeler to a college, where will you park it (I lived in a Hostel) & a car that cost 50-60k rupees will be very old & would need extensive maintenance. Then after many (failed) attempts to make them understand, they reluctantly agreed to buy me a cheap used car, provided the car was in decent condition. Their main issue was me getting a car of my own, for most a car is a car, no matter how cheap it may be. Getting a two wheeler is not an issue, however expensive it might be. I still can't get my head round this fact, our society is indeed funny sometimes. Anyways, the next (huge) task in hand was to find a good condition used car within my budget.

Special thanks to my good friend & Bhpian Tanveer02 for helping me in compiling this review .

[chiranjitp]

The Search

The idea was to get a cheap used car within the 50-60k rupees budget in good condition. I spent many hours browsing through Team BHP, old ACI magazines on tips about buying an old used car. Finally came up with the list of things I wanted my car to have:

1. Has to be a Maruti - Maruti since parts are cheap (very important since I was on a college student budget), any mechanic could service a Maruti, easy availability of parts even for older models & of course fuel efficiency is a given with any Maruti.
2. Petrol powered - A car in my budget would be around 13-15 years old & for such an old car petrol would be more maintenance free.
3. MPFi engine - We had (still have) a 99 Omni with a carburetor engine & I knew that MPFi engines were way superior in terms of cold start, no need for tuning etc. The other thing was lack of skilled mechanic in Guwahati who could work on a carburetor engine.
4. No rust - A clean body with no/negligible rust was a must, since fixing a rotting car is an endless process.

So, after going through my list of requirements, only one car would fit perfectly in budget. What else but a good old Maruti 800 MPFi, I was especially interested in 5 speed variant. A good friend of mine had a 2000 M800 5S EX & I got to drive that car frequently, that car was different beast compared to the normal M800. Sadly my friend sold his 5S M800 earlier that year for a meagre 45k.

So, I opened OLX, Quickr on the browser & searched for M800s in my budget. I still remember very clearly on the first day itself I came across a well maintained 00 M800 5S in blue, in those days there was no option to hide the number of the seller on OLX. The asking price was 55k, so I called the seller, that guy turned out to be the owner himself (not some dealer or broker). But as luck would have it, he had sold the car few days back. I was sad but confident that if within one day I could find a car of my liking, I should be able to find the car that I will eventually buy within a short time. But boy was I wrong, the whole process took over 5 months . The people who helped me with the search, my parents & a few close friends, were frustrated (more like angry) by the time I found my perfect car.

My first choice was a M800 MPFi till that point, since I thought this is the only car that will come in my budget. But after spending some time in the used car market, it came to my notice that even Zens & (some) Esteems were in my budget. I particularly was fond of Zen, it looked good, had a youthful sporty feel to it. A good friend of mine owned a 03 Zen Lx which he inherited from his father, so I used to regularly drive his Zen too. The Zen had a smooth 4 cylinder engine along with a smooth gearshift. My friend still owns the Zen, has done close to 150k km on the odometer & still runs perfectly. So, my fist preference changed to Zen, closely followed by M800. The Zen has a youthful, sporty feel to it. Of course when buying such an old car, the condition of the car matters most, rather than the model, variant, color.

My friend's 03 Zen Lx:



The odometer reading as of last year, still reliable as ever:



Since the search lasted 5 months, I went through numerous used cars (around 50 if not more). All of the used cars dealers in Guwahati knew me by my face, by the time the search finished. So, for this thread I will only write about the cars that I think need mentioning. Before that let me tell about how I went about the search. I basically dealt with 3 types of seller.

1. Direct Owner - This is the best option if you ask me, but one can't simply go around asking everyone with an old Maruti, whether he/she will sell their car. Of course if someone known to you is selling his/her car, then nothing like it. So, from used car websites like OLX, Quickr I got the contacts. There was one slight issue, the price quoted was usually higher than even what used dealers will quote. Why so? It's because selling on OLX, Quickr is a tedious & time consuming process, so naturally most people (who aren't bothered with a slight difference in resale value) either give their old car in exchange to the showroom or sell to some used dealers/mechanics. The remaining few who bother to sell on their own & go through the hassle of answering (infinite) calls & showing people the car, generally demand a higher premium than the market value. The other way of looking it is since they want a higher value for their cars, they go through the hassle of selling the car on their own (i.e via OLX, Quickr). The big advantage of buying directly from the buyer is that you will get a better idea about the history of the car & in most cases, odometer won't be tampered.
2. Used car dealers- These cars will be most sanely priced (comparatively), though way higher than the value you would get if you were selling the exact same car to them. Last year (i.e 2019) I visited some used car dealers to get my friend's 2010 i10 evaluated, one of them quoted 100k. There was one 06-07 Santro parked outside for sale, my friend asked what's the asking the price for that one. The dealer told 160k, we were like how can a newer i10 fetch less than a older Santro, to which he had no answer. Anyways, that's how the used cars dealers operate here. The next issue is odometer tampering, almost every car will have the odometer rolled back to the 40-50k km. A quick glance through OLX will show that every car (no matter how old they are) will have a odometer range within 40-50k km. Even if the car in question has a proper service record, they simply don't give a damn. e.g- We sold our 2012 Punto with 103k km on the odometer to the Ford dealer for just 140k rupees, only a week later I found an add on OLX for the same car asking 240k with odometer reading rolled back to 43k km.
3. Maruti true value/ Hyundai Assured used cars etc.-These cars will be the most expensive, easily 20-30k over what the local car dealer will quote. For newer cars with one year warranty & along with 2-3 free service, buying from True value can be considered. I went to 2-3 true value outlets, almost everyone would quote exorbitant prices for their vehicles. In one of them I found a 02 Zen Lxi with 111k km on the odometer, despite the high odometer reading the car was in good condition. I was quoted 100k for that car (of course I wouldn't buy a 13-14 year old Zen for 100k), then one week later I spotted an add on OLX for a 02 Zen Lxi for 85k with 56k km on the odometer. The car looked familiar, so I went to check it out. It was the same Zen Lxi that I had spotted in True Value, of course with the odometer now reading 56k km. The last price that the car dealer offered me was 80k. So, if we consider a margin of 20-30k, he must have bought the car from True Value for no more than 50-60k. Now when I went to buy that car, the True Value guy won't come below 100k, I even offered him 70k on the spot. The catch here is the monopoly the used car dealers here have over the whole used car market, I was later told by a used car dealer (who I met at a FNG where I serviced the Punto) that since they buy many cars from the True value outlets, Hyundai assured used cars etc. month after month, they have an understanding with workers there. They will quote an exorbitant price if you & me go to buy a car, & in the end sell the same exact car to a car dealer for a price cheap. They (SA of True value) will be paid a commission by the used car dealers, which I suppose is more than the commission that True Value will pay for selling a car. Only good thing in buying from True Value is that odometer is generally not tampered.

The list of cars that I (seriously) considered-

• 2000 Maruti 800 5S EX- During one visit to a certain True Value outlet, I met a SA (Service Advisor as the MASS owned by the same owner was in the same compound) who told me that his brother owned a Maruti 800 5S that he was looking to sell. So, I went to see that car, the current owner turned out to be the second owner, with the vehicle still in the first owner's name. The owner apparently worked as a sales head in the Nissan showroom, so he told me that name transfer will be done without any issue. I had taken my uncle with me who had a 09 M800 AC then, as an expert. The exterior was in decent condition, except that all the lights (headlight & taillight both) were of type iii M800, which meant the car was involved in some kind of accident. Anyways on to the test drive, the car accelerated well, the gear shift felt a touch too stiff, rattles were under control. After completing the TD, we spotted a coolant leak from the radiator. The owner agreed that indeed there was a leak in the radiator & he will get it fixed before selling the car. The final price that we agreed was 65k, which was reasonable for a 15 year old M800 by Guwahati standards. My uncle told me that the car felt a bit old (which it was) & abused. Next day the owner was to come over after fixing the radiator & take the money. What happened was that he did come that day, but without having the leak fixed. He told me that he call me back after getting the leak, which he never did. Something didn't feel right & the car was anyways not in great condition, so we also didn't bother calling the owner.

• 2000 Esteem VX Carburetor- This car was in immaculate condition, at least cosmetically. Had a genuine 96k km on the odometer. Issue was that it had a carburetor engine, which didn't fit with my list of must haves. Anyways we did check the car, unfortunately I couldn't go as I was in a different city (attending college), so my parents went. They liked the car, even the interiors were clean. The owner was one strange fellow, he won't allow a TD nor would he talk properly. My Mom got furious with this behavior & cancelled the deal.

Some photos of the Esteem (from the OLX add):

• 2003 Zen Lx- An used car dealer was selling this particular car, odometer reading was in the 40-50k range (like any used car dealer car). The car was in perfect condition though, the engine sounded very good, even my friend with the Zen agreed. The AC cooled nicely (for a Zen), the whole body felt tight & well maintained. Only issue was the brakes felt very spongy, as if there was no brake booster. The seller assured me that all these things will be taken care of before selling the car. The next thing was to fix a price, the advertisement was initially posted for 95k, after lots of bargaining he had come down to 85k. I personally would have offered him 80k, but my dad won't quote above 70k. So, in the end the deal didn't go through.

• 2004 Alto STD- Now Alto is a legend when it comes to holding its value in the used car market. Even today in 2020, I bet no one will find an old Alto add on OLX for less than 100k, no matter the condition. Anyways, this car was advertised for only 70k on Quickr, this got me interested. So, I went to check the car, the seller was the owner himself, an elderly gentleman. The exterior paint work was in good condition, my dad in particular was very impressed with car. Then I cranked the engine, the engine cranked very slowly (the battery was new) & sounded very rough. The owner told me that he recently got some engine work done & the engine is a bit stiff, will get smoother after some running. I knew that we were looking at a complete engine overhaul, even with engine overhaul (20k approx), this was a decent deal. I didn't want to go around fixing a car just after buying it, & also some other expenses might come after opening the engine. So, I decided to play safe & skip this deal.

• 1998 Zen - This car had a carburetor engine, which was against my must have list. The car was advertised as a Zen LX, the price quoted was 53k. By this time it was December, i.e 2 months had passed since I started this search & I was getting frustrated with each passing day. So, I almost made my mind that if the car is in decent condition, I will buy this one, price quoted was low as well. I went to check the car after dawn (a BIG mistake), the body looked in okay condition, had some weird red stickers running across the body (which I didn't like). I noticed some rusts in near the tyre well, which was again in my must not have list. Then I took her for a spin, the car accelerated well, gear shift was smooth, brakes were a bit weak, the clutch was very hard. I was not very impressed with the car, though at 50k I thought it was a deal worth considering. I also very frustrated with this search extending to months, I just wanted to get this done with. So, we finalized the deal at 50k & brought the car home next day, a 1998 White Zen LX. The odometer was showing 52k km, which seemed highly unlikely for a 18 year old car, it might have been 152k km though (Zen carb got a 5 digit odometer). Some of you may be wondering, why there is a photo of a Silver (Moonbeam Silver is the official name, though it looks a bit like blue) Zen on the opening page . Well, that's the next part of story & unfortunately for me the search for the perfect cheap car hadn't ended yet.

[chiranjitp]

1998 Zen MH410

Next day after the car came home, I took a proper look at the car. The rust which seemed minor during my inspection (which I stupidly did in night time), was bad. The wheel arches, running board all had considerable amount of rust. The stupid red sticker looked even more stupid in daylight. In short, I instantly regretted my decision to buy this Zen. Anyways, I had decided to fix her a bit, so at least mechanically there are no issues.

Exterior photos:








The engine bay (G10B):




The engine was in perfect condition, cold start was one crank affair even in December (it was December when I bought the car). My 99 Van (which also runs a carburetor setup) won't simply start in one crank during Winter, this Zen though would start in one crank & then idle without much vibrations. Though starting off with a cold engine was a bit difficult, the engine simply didn't make any power until the engine was warm. This is how it is in Zen carburetor, which was also confirmed by Bhpian Swamyzen who has a 98 Zen VX in immaculate condition. After the engine is warmed up, things are better. Low end torque is poor in the carburetor Zen, the mpi Zen on the other hand has good low end torque. Move up the rev range, the Zen moves briskly, the power deficient w.r.t Zen MPI isn't noticeable high up the revv range (Zen mpi has 10bhp more, 60bhp vs 50 bhp). The top end is also good, the G10B 8V likes to be revved, an enthusiasts motor indeed. After getting past the weak low end, Zen carb feels fast enough & can easily keep up with many modern cars. The tailpipe was clean as well, no smoke.

Next funny thing was regarding the variant I had bought, the car was advertised as a 98 Zen LX, even the owner told me it was a LX variant. The bumpers were painted in body colour later on, internally adjustable ORVM was also put later in her life. The car had a honeycomb grill as well (which came post 00 Zen mpi), which the owner told that he put after the car meet with a minor accident. The rear had Zen LX emblems as well (not decals as a 98 model should have). Anyways I thought I had bought a Zen LX variant, until I took a thorough look at the interior & compared with a few other Zens (OLX, my friend's Zen). My car had a non molded roof liner (similar to what Type I M800 had), there was no A pillar plastic trim, though it had a leather wrapped steering, day/night ORVM. Then it struck me that I had bought a Zen MH410, the original Zen before LX, VX was introduced in 1998. Molded roof lining, plastic A pillar were the features that were added in the 1998 facelift, & things like leather wrapped steering, day/night ORVM were made exclusive in the VX variant. My Zen was April 98 registered.

A view of the interior (notice the lack of molded roof liner & missing A pillar trims):



A view of the dashboard, was all black in carburetor Zen:



The leather wrapped 2 spoke steering wheel:



The Speedometer:



The next day after getting her home, I took her to my mechanic to take a thorough look. On my drive to the mechanic, I noticed a few things, the clutch was very hard (which I had also noticed during the TD, though didn't think it would be that troublesome), the speedometer was not working (temperature & fuel gauge were working perfectly), the steering was making this very bad knocking sound while steering to one particular side, the brakes were very mushy (I knew how a Zen's brakes should feel since I used to regularly drive my friend's 03 Zen LX), the steering was very hard. My mechanic took a thorough TD & begin the work on the Zen. First a full service, all fluids & filters were changed.

Then they went about fixing the issues, the speedometer issue turned out to be simple, it only needed a new speedometer cable. As for the knocking sound while turning the steering, it was diagnosed as a faulty driveshaft, a new driveshaft went in (which wasn't exactly cheap ), as for the brakes, brake bleeding didn't solve the issue much. For the steering being very hard, it was due to the old tires which had hardened & also because the steering rack was badly worn out (a new steering rack cost Rs. 5k), so that wasn't fixed. The clutch had only solution as well, complete clutch overhauling, my mechanic did try to improve the clutch action a bit by putting a new clutch cable, which didn't help much. This whole service cost around 8-9k, which isn't much, but this was for a 50k car just after 1 day of purchase. My mechanic also told me that the whole suspension was a bit weak. Final advice that he gave, keep driving the car till you complete college & in the meantime don't spend too much on her, the car will be running without any issues, just don't expect (or try) to have everything perfect.

After the servicing drove the car back home, the car felt a bit better to drive, no doubt, but still not up to my satisfaction. The clutch & steering were still very hard, the steering still made some rattling sounds. The speedometer was working now, I could finally see the speed I was going at. The brakes were still weak, brake bleeding hasn't helped much.

One week & some 300-400 km later, I again went to a different mechanic (the mechanic which my friend with the Zen recommended) to fix the brake issue. After taking a TD, he came to the conclusion that brake master cylinder was faulty. A new master cylinder was priced at Rs. 14xx & was available at the nearest MGP store, so a new (shiny) master cylinder was put in & we went for a TD. Gingerly I pressed the brake pedal, the stupid mushy pedal feel was still there, I was really getting frustrated with this car. My mechanic then told me the only thing that remains is to change the Booster (cost approx Rs. 3000), I told him some other day that I'll be changing that too. The brakes were not bad, that one would have a crash, they were way better than my Omni's brakes (all round drum brakes without booster) or even M800's brakes (non booster variant). It's just that I want things (at least most things) to be perfect, so I was bothered by this issue.

The other (big) issue was the AC, which didn't work even a bit, only the blower was working. The owner told me that only the AC belt was broken, fitting it would (or should) make the AC work. The AC wasn't exactly on my must have list, remember I was also considering non AC M800s. Still, since Zen got AC as OE, why not make it work if possible. So, went to a AC mechanic to fix the problem, after close examination he told me that not only the AC belt, even the AC pulley was broken. He told me that we have to first put a new pulley & AC belt, then check the condition of the compressor. I didn't proceed further since I (& the mechanic) were both certain that the compressor would need changing as well.

I am someone who is known to do proper planning, then suddenly make a decision (out of nowhere) which is completely against what I had initially planned. Then regret my decision within a short time & finally after making the mistake once, go with the decision that I had originally planned.

Even this Zen story turned out to be same, within 2 weeks I wanted to sell her. I simply didn't want that car. My parents were not at all happy (furious would be more appropriate) with the decision, they had also spent (wasted) a considerable amount of time looking for my perfect cheap car. Even my friends who helped with the search were not happy with my decision, one of them even offered to fix the car to my satisfaction. They knew if I somehow sold this car, I would begin my search again.

See, the mechanical issue I could have fixed once & for all. All these could be done (including new tires) for around 30k. But there was still one big issue that couldn't be fixed, the rotting body. If I were to fix that as well, it will easily cost around 40k, pushing the cost of the car past the 100k mark. Even after all these, she would still be a 17-18 year old car with a carburetor engine (which I didn't want in the first place). So, the decision was fixed & I put an add on OLX.

Selling the 98 Zen on OLX

I clicked some photos of the car & posted an add on OLX, asking price was 60k. I was a looking to sell her for no less than 50k, as I had spent close to 10k in fixing (more like trying to fix) her. If I could sell her for 50k, I would keep my loses within the 10k mark. After studying the used car market (of Guwahati) for 3-4 months, I knew that selling the Zen won't be an easy task. Sure enough, it turned out to be some experience.

Now, as I had already mentioned, in those days there was no option to hide the phone number on OLX. So, you would end up getting lots of phone calls, most of them from used car dealers/brokers. I did get many calls during the course of the next month, most wanted the car for less than scrap value. Two interesting calls that I still recall, one was a used car dealer, he told me that he can give 16k maximum for a 98 Zen since he recently bought a 03 Zen VXi for 32k. I was like, give me the 03 Zen VXi for 32k, I will give away my 98 Zen for free. Then one guy (a direct buyer it seemed), told me that his Mother is ill & that it's his dream to show her his own car, of course he also wanted the car for a sub Rs. 20k amount.

By this time it was almost end of January & my semester break was getting over, forget getting a new (used) car, I wasn't able to sell this old one. One guy liked the car & we even agreed on a price (52k), only thing left was for him to transfer the amount. Somehow internet transfer wasn't working that day, so he told us that he will go to the nearest ATM & bring the cash. After 2 hours or so of waiting, I called him & asked whether there is any problem. He told me that he is waiting for his friend in the nearest bus stand & they both will come to take delivery of the car. That guy never came back, nor did he receive my calls.

I finally did manage to sell the Zen. A young guy from outside Guwahati came to check the car with a mechanic. The mechanic took a thorough test drive & liked the car, he was especially impressed with the grunt. One surprising thing is he also liked the steering, found it light, maybe that guy was a truck mechanic. The deal was closed at 50k & luckily he had bought cash with him, so no chance of running away looking for an ATM. I give him a quick demo of the car & informed what things needed changing in the near future. The new owner finally departed, his hometown was around 130-140km from Guwahati. Even though I never liked this car, wanted to sell her ASAP, the sight of the car leaving with the new owner made me a bit sad. I had this Zen for around a month & clocked around 500-600 km before selling her.

[chiranjitp]

The Search Continues

After the 1998 Zen was sold, I started evaluating my options. By this time I was too frustrated & wanted to give up the idea of buying a cheap used car. My parents suggested two options, why not buy something new, like an Eon or an Alto. A new car will be a new car after all, and I could continue using it for many years. This sounded like a good idea, but I simply didn't want my parents take a burden of another 4-5 lakhs. As much as I would have loved a new car, I gave it a miss. Another reason was parking related, as I said I would be parking my car in front of my hostel. Of course no hostel would have covered parking facility, so I would have to park the car outside. I didn't want to park a brand new car on the outside.

Next option that my parents gave was why not take our Omni, the car was mechanically in perfect condition. The exterior looked a bit tired, but that could be fixed. Even a full paint job won't cost half the cost to buy another car. There were however two issues - one was taking the Omni to my College. See, my college was in a different city, that was 440km away from Guwahati. Doing a 440km journey in an Omni is a bit difficult, of course Omni also isn't the safest vehicle to drive on highway. The other main reason was the Omni itself, I mean who would want to go to college in a Omni, that too in Red colour. No one takes a Omni to college, & I didn't want to be the first one to do so. So, the Omni was out as well.

I was back at where I started, started my cheap car hunt once again. This time though I had upped the budget to 70-80k, as I knew a cheap car in poor condition won't do for me. I also found out that it actually turns out cheaper if you buy a good condition car by paying more, rather than buying a poor condition car for cheap & then fixing the issues later on. One thing I had decided this time is I shall not rush into taking a decision without thinking properly. The other thing I decided was that I will not check out every car that come up for sale, will only check out the car if I really liked it.

By this time it was end of January 2016. So, I was back in my college. Of course I used to browse OLX many times a day, looking for the perfect car. Nothing good came up until one fine day I spotted 2 Zens in good condition (good condition as in looked good in photos). One was a 2001 Zen VXi, another was a 2003 Zen VXi, asking price of them were around the 90-95k mark. I called both the sellers, both of them turned out to be owners. The 03 Zen was with its second owner, the 01 Zen was with its first owner. The location of the 03 Zen was on the outskirts of Guwahati, so it was decided that we will check out the 01 Zen first. One more thing was the description of 01 Zen VXi, it was brilliantly written compared to the lazy writing that most sellers do in the description of an OLX ad. Now there was a problem, I was not home (was attending college 440kms away), my friends who helped me with the search were also busy. So, my father went to check the car on his own, now my father is the opposite of a petrol head, hence not the best person to check out an used car.

Anyways he checked the car & met with the owner, he didn't take a TD since he wasn't confident of driving the Zen. My father at any given point of time is only comfortable driving one particular car, after the Punto came he found it difficult to drive our Omni (a car that he had driven for 12 years). He called me & told me that he likes the car, he stressed on the point that the car doesn't feel like an abused car (which most cheap used cars feel like). I was as it is very impressed with the photos I had seen on OLX, looked unlike any other (sub 1 lakh) car I had seen on OLX. Before me coming over to buy the car, a TD of the Zen was must. So my maternal uncle (who had 09 M800 then) went to check out the Zen, he was impressed with the TD & gave me the green signal. The final price that my Dad & the owner mutually agreed was 80k, which was slightly above the market value but the car seemed to be in perfect condition. The car had a genuine 90k km on the odometer, 90k km wasn't an issue for me if the car was properly serviced.

Photos the Zen from the OLX ad:











So, I came to Guwahati to take delivery of the car. Till the delivery day, I hadn't seen or driven the car. So, we went to the owner's home, the Zen was parked outside. In real life, it looked even better, I simply couldn't stop smiling. The interiors looked very fresh & was smelling nice as well (almost like a new car smell). I checked the tyres, all 5 of them (including the stepney) looked new, they were made in 2014 tyres & had lots of life left. Only thing was they were JK Ultima tires, I have always hated JK tires for their hard compound. It was time for us to sign the documents & make the payment. Payment done, the owner then handed me over the original user manual, keys (2 of them). The key still had the original key ring that the dealer gave during delivery. I checked the glove box, it still the original first aid kit that came with the car. Checked the boot, the stepney, the cardboard over it, warning triangle, tool kit, everything was in place. Even the OE Kenwood cassette player was in place, that too in working condition. At this moment I knew, never ever will I find an used cars as original as this one. Formalities complete, we left for home in the Zen. The car drove nicely, interiors felt fresh, no funny noises from anywhere. The car didn't simply feel like a 14 year old car with 90k kms on the odometer. This was the car I had in mind, when I began the search. So, the exhausting search which lasted 6 months was finally over. I had found my perfect cheap used car.

Photo of the Zen after reaching home:



Next up was to drive the Zen to Dibrugarh, where my college was. Guwahati to Dibrugarh is 440 kms one way & I had my doubts about doing this in a 14 year old Zen with 90k km on the odometer, that I had just bought 3 days ago. I started my journey early in morning so that I reach Dibrugarh before sunset. A friend of mine accompanied me. After the initial 100 km or so went by, my doubts were put to rest. The car was performing nicely, was accelerating cleanly, brakes felt reassuring as well, stopped in a straight line. I completed the rest of the journey without any issue, the car returned an awesome 19.5 kmpl average. Of course I never exceeded 80-90 kmph, no matter how empty the road was. This was not because I had any doubt regarding the condition of the car, but because Zen isn't simply a car to be going any faster due to lack of any safety equipment, skinny 145 section tires. Till the time I had the Zen, I always kept the speeds under 80-90 kmph.

[chiranjitp]

A brief review of the 01 Zen VXi

What you'll like:

• Timeless design, still looks good nearly after 30 years of its launch.
• Has a personality, one of those cars that appeals to the heart.
• Compact dimension, good all round visibility.
• Butter smooth gearshift, light clutch & super light EPS.
• The G10BB engine is fast for its segment, has a good low end torque & also loves to be revved.
• Handling is good by small car standards.
• Was loaded by 2001 standards, had EPS, PW, AC, Central lock, rear wash & wipe, defogger, OE Kenwood music system, day/night ORVM.

What you won't:

• Lack of any safety features, the flimsy built doesn't help either.
• Ride is a bit harsh, Alto in comparison has a better ride quality.
• AC sucks big time, even M800 has a better AC.
• Cramped rear space, is only marginally bigger than the M800 on the inside.
• The lifeless EPS, is as dead as a steering can get. The non power assisted steering on non PS Zen is full of feel & feedback.
• There is no/negligible space on the inside, even the likes of M800, Omni are better w.r.t storage space.
• The low slung seating isn't best if you have a weak back.




Exteriors

The Zen still has a cult following amongst the car enthusiasts in India, one of the main reasons for that is her youthful & timeless looks. The Zen was launched almost 30 years back, but still doesn't look out of place in 2020. The bonnet is long compared to the rest of the body's length, which give her a balanced look. The overall design theme is curvy, say compared to slightly boxy design of M800. Still, there aren't many (unnecessary) curves as modern cars. The Zen is also very slung, this leads to a sporty look. In my view, the best angle to look at a Zen is from dead straight ahead, the low nose, small headlights placed adjacent to the honeycomb grill, all give it a very perfect & cute look. The small internally adjustable ORMVs finished in glossy black complements the look perfectly. The ORVMs though are small, aren't convex as well, so the rearward view isn't that satisfactory.

The front looks:





Front & Rear 3 quarter:





The side profile also looks good, has the right amount of curves. Zen has generous glass areas, including a rear quarter glass. The wheels on the Zen are tiny 12 inchers (shod on skinny 145/80 R12), the carb Zen did get 13 inch wheels (145/70 R13). The other thing I like about the side profile is the door handles, the door handles have this black surround & the key hole is nicely integrated in door handle itself (doesn't stick out like a sore thumb).

The side profile:



The rear of Zen isn't that good looking in my opinion, the rear taillights could have been designed a bit better. In one word, the rear looks a bit bland compared to the rest of the design. My car looked a bit better from the rear, since it was the top end VXi variant & was loaded with things like rear wiper, defogger, rear fog light. All these things did make the rear a bit better looking than the lesser variants. The Zen post 2000 started getting chrome emblems, which looked better compared to the bland decals that pre 2000 Zens got.

The bland rear:




The old school pull out antenna:



Built quality of Zen isn't very good, feels flimsy like any Maruti from that era. Don't expect any thud here, the doors are very light, they do close with a more premium thunk compared to M800, Omni. Panel gaps are kind of big, but that's expected for a car of that era. Over the years, the body line will pick up small dings & dents. I quite liked the paint quality on my car, the paint was shiny even after 14 years. The color on my Zen was called Moon Beam silver & it kind of looks like a shade of blue.


Interiors



The first thing that you will notice is how low the seats are placed, you have to bend down & slide yourself in the driver's seat. Once you are seated, you will notice the front seats are quite big & supportive. Zen's front seats were very big & wide compared to the likes of M800, Alto, WagonR. The seats also would slide back a long way to accommodate the tall driver. My 6ft tall friend can't drive an Alto for extended periods since the seat doesn't slide back that much. He on the other hand is quite comfortable driving the Zen for long periods, since the seat slides back as per his need. Of course with the seat pushed fully back, no one (not even a kid) can seat in the rear seat, but then again a car has to first accommodate a driver in comfort rather than a passenger. The ergonomics are spot on as well, everything is within reach. I personally liked the low slung driving position, it gives a sense of better control as you are sitting so close to the ground.

Then next up is the low slung dashboard finished in grey, visibility due to the low slung dashboard is very good, even for shorter guys. The dashboard design looks okay, the unique thing here is the placement of the the AC control panel, which is placed high up the dashboard just below the AC vents. The AC controls got rotary knob (blower speed & flow direction control), which were unique by 2001 standards, all other Maruti vehicles of that time (including Alto, Esteem, Baleno) got sliders for AC control. The AC panel & the AC vents in my car were finished in faux wood trim (exclusive to the VXi deluxe limited edition).

Front doorpads:





The AC on the other hand was very weak, weakest AC that I have experienced. The air coming out is cool enough, but the issue is blower speed, which even at speed 3 isn't sufficient. Even the M800 (post 2000 models) had better AC, especially the blower which was very strong. Simply no comparison with the likes of Alto, WagonR. It's not that it was an issue only in my car, AC performance was same even in my friend's 03 Zen LX.

The lovely 3 spoke steering:



Next up is the lovely 3 spoke steering (which was again exclusive in the limited edition deluxe models) which feels awesome to hold. The normal VXi got the normal 2 spoke steering, though leather wrapped. The horn pad is sufficiently big in this 3 spoke steering. The instrument cluster in the Zen only displayed the essential things, one big speedometer in the center, temperature gauge & fuel gauge on each side of the speedometer, no tachometer or any fancy MID here. The odometer on Zen is analogue, I kind of like an analogue odometer as one see the kilometers role by in the odometer . There is a trip meter as well. The instrument cluster is backlit in soothing green.

The instrument cluster:



Rear comfort isn't the strongest point of Zen, especially the legroom is poor. The seat in isolation is good enough, backrest angle is good, seat base is long enough. There isn't any form of headrests in the rear seats, not even integrated headrests like the M800 (post 97 models). Since the Zen (like most cars of that era) has a generous glasshouse area, rear passengers won't feel any claustrophobia. The rear seat is slightly positioned higher than the front seats, so the rear passengers get a good view of the road. Seat width is simply not enough for 3 adults, the Zen is strictly a 4 seater.

Switch for the rear wash & wipe is uniquely placed in the dashboard:



In terms of features The VXi variant was loaded by 2001 standards. It has EPS (AFAIK first car in India to be equipped with EPS), front power windows, both side internally adjustable ORVM, day/night ORVM (which even today is missing in mid variants of many cars), a 120 watt Kenwood cassette player, manual central locking, HVAC, 12V socket with a cigarette lighter. On the outside, Zen is equipped with a rear wiper, defogger & rear fog light. I personally find a hatchback incomplete looking without a rear wiper & sadly most of the cars on sale today, have this safety feature reserved only for the top variant .


Engine



The G10BB engine has to be the best thing about the Zen, it's an all aluminum engine displacing 998cc & has a proper 4 cylinder arrangement. In the MPFi avatar it had 16 valves & made 60 hp. 60 HP doesn't sound a lot specially by today's standards, but the Zen weighted only 765kg, so power to weight ratio (even by today's standard) is good. This engine is known for bulletproof reliability & cheap maintenance. There was a 8 valve engine too in the first days of MPFi which was later discontinued once the 16 valve came.

The "Please start without pressing accelerator pedal" sticker, I as a kid was very curious as to why this sticker (along with check engine light) was missing in our 99 Omni :



During a cold start, the engine will be idling at high RPM (1500 RPM) for a good 3-5 minutes before the revs come to normal idling RPM. The G series (both G10B & G13B) engine makes an unique buzzy kind of sound at idle RPM, one can't mistake it for any other engine. The engine isn't very silent at idle, though this buzzy kind of sound very sweet.

Off the mark the Zen MPFi moves briskly, low end grunt is very good, no doubt aided by the short gearing. Crossing speed breakers in 2nd gear is simply not an issue for this engine. With a light load of passengers, the Zen is really zippy within city traffic. The mid range is good as well, useful for that quick overtake. The engine also loves to be revved, has a strong top end. Though the engine doesn't sound as smooth as modern engine high up the rev range, high revving this engine is one enjoyable experience on its own way. Even after 60kmph, the car will continue to accelerate briskly, till the 100kmph mark. Though Zen is simply not a car for high speed driving. One word to describe the Zen's performance would be peppy.

Zen MPFi performance figures, courtesy ACI:



AC does create a bit of load on the engine, it's a tiny 1 liter engine after all. Though not as bad as a M800, Alto 800. With a lighter load of passenger, it's manageable. Though load the car with 4 healthy adults & have the AC on full blast (it is always on full blast since the AC sucked big time), the Zen doesn't feel as peppy as before, feels a bit lethargic to be exact. One has to drop down a gear or two to get a move on.

The gearing on Zen is on the shorter side, by 45 kmph one can engage 5th gear. The Zen can start off in 2nd gear itself, if one is ready to slip the clutch just a tiny bit. Even if the revs falls very low (not recommended), still there is no knocking or lugging sound from the engine. This car is brilliant for hill driving, short gearing + good low end torque really helps, one doesn't need to slip the clutch even a bit while staring off an incline. The clutch on the Zen is very light and is easy to modulate as well. Zen is known for butter smooth gearshifts, even by modern car standards the gearshift is very smooth. Sure, the throws are a bit long by today's standard, but the action of moving the gear lever is very smooth. No vibrations on the gear knob as well.


Ride, Handling, Steering & Braking

Zen rides on puny 145/80 R12 tires. Zen is setup softly, the ride quality at low speeds is complaint enough. As the car gains speed, the ride becomes crashy even on small undulations, the basic suspension setup becomes evident here. The Zen is simply not the car to be driven over bad roads, the ride is too crashy, whatever the speed may be. On smooth road the ride is good enough, Zen doesn't have much sideways movement. At highway speeds, the ride is never flat as long as the road has some imperfections (which is how most roads are in India). Since the car is low slung, the sideways movement is under control, excessive sideways movement is very tiring over long journeys. The Alto (which also rides on the same 145/80 R12 section tyres) rides way better in comparison, Alto has a big car like solid feel while tackling bad roads.

Handling wise Zen is pretty competent despite the puny tires, mainly because of the low center of gravity & feather light kerb weight. I really enjoyed driving her on hilly roads, the car changes direction nicely. Body roll is under control as well, until you are really pushing it. At the end of the day it's a very old car riding on puny tires, so one shouldn't try to tackle a corner as fast as a modern car.

Steering feel varies depending on the variant you are driving, the non PS steering is very good. This steering is full of feel, very direct as well & return back is perfect as well. Of course at speeds over 80kmph, even the non PS steering feels light (Zen only weights a bit over 750kg). The non PS steering is manageable even at parking speeds, certainly way lighter than the one on non PS Alto. The steering on my car was power assisted, an EPS system, apparently the first car in India to be equipped with EPS. The tuning is simply rubbish, it's too damn light,. Forget Hyundai EPS units, this is even lighter. The other issue was the zero return back after making a turn, the driver will have to center the steering. As the speedometer climbs, the steering feels even more lifeless & poorly tuned. Though this steering is awesome while parking or while flicking the car in slow moving traffic.

EPS module of my Zen was made by Mitsubishi electric, Japan. Boodmo tells me it was localized by late 02:



Zen had mediocre brakes at best, despite being booster assisted. In city speeds the brakes are sufficient, brings the Zen to a quick halt. Though at high speeds, braking power is a bit lacking. Especially since the car can accelerate quickly, more braking power would have been preferred. Alto, WagonR easily has better brakes.


Fuel Efficiency

Now this part has left me a bit confusing, the Zen gave only a mileage of 11-12kmpl in city driving, with AC being on around 60-70% of the time. Though hit the highways, the Zen becomes a FE champ, even with 100% AC I have gotten figures of 19-20 kmpl. Without AC, she once delivered an astonishing mileage of 23.4 kmpl over a 130km drive (on highway). All figures calculated via tankful to tankful method. On highways, I never crossed the 80-90 kmph mark in the Zen, maybe this helped in fuel efficiency.

A brief idea about the limited edition Deluxe variant



In mid/late 2001 Maruti launched a limited edition Zen variant named "Deluxe", available in VX & VXi trims. Unlike the lame limited editions that Maruti launches now, this limited edition was actually a decent effort.

Zen Deluxe brochure, courtesy Bhpian Sidindica:





On the outside the changes are minimal, there were two Deluxe emblems, one on the trunk lid & one on the LHS fender. The main changes are on the inside, first thing is the lovely to hold 3 spoke steering wheel. The Zen when it was launched in 1993, got this 3 spoke steering. Within a year or so, it was changed to a simpler 2 spoke steering wheel (though leather wrapped). This 3 spoke steering was made standard in the Deluxe variant, though some normal VX/VXi from 01/02 also got the 3 spoke steering.

Next up is the doorpads, they were different than what regular variants of Zen got. Zen got cardboard & rexine based doorpads (like most cars from that era) & these were notorious for losing their shape over the years. The doorpads on the Deluxe were plastic based (like Alto, WagonR) & hence there was no chance of them deforming with age. The power buttons were different as well, the one on Deluxe looked identical to the one on Alto, Wagonr (1st gen). The normal Zen VX/VXi had a different looking PW buttons (more classy looking). The doorpads & seats got matching beige fabric, this interior theme was called as "Suede leather interior" by Maruti. Actually this "Suede leather interior" theme was first launched with the Zen Classic in 98/99. I guess they had some leftover doorpads of Zen Classic & they decided to launch a limited edition based on that.

The last thing exclusive to the Deluxe variant was the faux wood inserts on the AC vents & central vents. I am not a fan of faux wood inserts, though in the Zen they did manage to brighten up the bland grey dashboard a bit. Thankfully, no stupid limited edition stickers here.

Normal Zen VXi:



Zen VXi deluxe:




Some random Photos:







Zen with my favorite car:








The key:

[chiranjitp]

Living with the Zen

The college life-

I bought the car in Feb 2016 & completed my B.tech in July 2017. In this time frame, the Zen was exclusively used for my college duties. My college was in a different city (440km from Guwahati) & I used to live in a Hostel. So, for this duration Zen was parked in front of hostel, exposed to the sun, rain and environmental particles etc. During the semester breaks, I used to drive down the car to Guwahati & again take it back to Dibrugarh (where my college was) after the breaks were over.

College student + living in hostel meant, my funds were really limited. So, if anything in the car was to go wrong, there would be no money to fix it. Luckily for me nothing ever went wrong, Zen didn't need other maintenance than regular services & one new battery. Heck, I didn't even have a puncture during this period. She served me as faithfully as a car can ever, even on the long 440km journeys over bad roads (4 lane expansion work was going in many places then) she didn't ever miss a beat.

I got the car with a odometer reading of 90xxx km, before selling the car the owner did tell me that he has got the engine oil changed only 2 months back. So, I did another 3000-4000km before changing the engine oil, along with the other fluids & changed the filters as well. Till the time I had the car, I used to change the engine oil every 5000-6000 km. I only used mineral 20W40 grade engine oil for the Zen, with the capacity for engine oil being around 3.3 litres.

Accident at 96k km

I was home on July 2016 for my semester breaks & brought the Zen with me. One fine morning, mom & dad went out in the Zen with an employee of ours behind the wheel. After an hour or so, my mom called me that they have met with an accident with a city bus. After she assured me that no one is hurt, I asked about the damages to the car, to which she told me that car is in driveable condition with some minor damages to the front RHS side. I instantly wanted to go to the accident spot & see the situation in hand myself, my mom told me strictly not to come. One known acquaintance of ours is there with them to help & the bus owner is coming for a settlement.

So, they finally reached home after a few hours. Upon seeing the car my heart sank, the RHS fender was bent very badly, RHS door had dents as well (window couldn't be lowered due to the dent), ORVM was gone, front bumper had a crack. Luckily the front headlights didn't have any damage. The bus driver paid us 5.5k for the damage, which I knew wasn't going to be enough to repair all these. I asked how did the accident happen, to which no one could give a satisfactory answer (my parents were seated in the rear), but since the bus driver decided to pay, I guess it was the fault of the bus driver after all.

Photos of the damage:







Next task was to get the repairs done, luckily for us Zen still had comprehensive Insurance (IDV 1 lakh). Now if anyone is considering buying an old car, make sure it has comprehensive Insurance, because a car might be cheap to buy but it sure won't be cheap to carry out accidental repairs as we found out. I showed the car to 2 FNGs and one MASS. All of the quotations were similar, so I decided to get the repairs done in MASS itself, which had the facility of cashless transaction as well.

The repairs were completed in 7 days (including the insurance claim procedure). A new fender was needed (the old one was beyond repair), a new fender was ready in stock, now my model of Zen was discontinued was back in 2003 & we were doing this repair 2016. Still the part (fender isn't exactly a commonly used part) was readily available, as I said earlier Maruti is the only brand to consider if one is looking to buy an old used car. The front door was fixed with denting, RHS ORVM was replaced, front bumper was replaced as well. The bill was around the 22-26k mark, insurance covered around 16-18k, so we had to pay around 6k from our pocket. Remember, that bus owner give us 5.5k to fix the car, so in actual only Rs 500 from our pocket. The repair was done perfectly, the paint quality was good & panel gaps were under tolerance.

Parent's verdict of the Zen

During this time (i.e around July 2016), our Punto was giving too much trouble. So, my dad used the Zen then till we exchanged our Punto for an Ecosport in September 2016. First thing that dad liked was compact dimension & light EPS, he could literally flick the car in & out of gaps in traffic. He also found the engine peppy & gearshifts very smooth (Zen has a better gearbox compared to the rubbery unit on the Punto). As for the dislikes, he hated how the ride was on rough roads, he also found the brakes just about adequate. My dad clocked around 2-3k km during this period. My mother loved the Zen, she found the looks very cute & she was particularly fond of the fact that this car didn't feel like an old, abused vehicle. Mom also liked the fact that the interior was very airy & that no one would feel claustrophobic here.

100k km on the odometer & a new timing belt

On 30.12.2016, the odometer rolled over to 100k km. This was the first car, where I was behind the wheel when it touched the magical figure. Our Punto & Omni, both went past the 100k km mark (incidentally in that same year), though I wasn't present in both cases to capture the moment. Zen MPFi got a 6 digit odometer, so the odometer didn't roll back to 0 (like our Van).

The magical odometer reading:





100k km on the odometer means time for timing belt change in most Maruti vehicles. My trusted mechanic (who works in an authorized service center) assured me that timing belt on the Zen (& on other G series engines) doesn't go bad easily & one can easily clock over 150k km on the stock timing belt. Still I wanted to get it changed since I used to do long highway drives in this car, last thing I wanted was to have timing belt failure on the highway. So I decided to get it replaced without any further delay. I bought the timing belt & tensioner bearing from a MGP store & took the car to a known FNG to get the timing belt replaced. The mechanic told me that the alternator belt & AC belt were a bit damaged as well, so I got them replaced as well. The old timing belt though was in perfect condition & could have been used for the foreseeable future. Since I had already bought a new timing belt, decided to change it anyways. The timing belt fitting procedure on the Zen did seem like a bit complicated & time consuming compared to an Omni (F8B engine).

New timing belt, tensioner bearing, AC & alternator belt fitted, it was time to hit the road. Only after driving for a kilometer or so, I noticed that the engine was sounding bad. So, immediately went back to the FNG, the mechanic there told me that this is normal. I didn't have anything to say, so left that place & went to a different FNG (where we used to service our Omni), the main mechanic there acknowledged that the engine was sounding bad. They again took out the timing belt & refitted back, this time the engine did sound a bit better, but still the sound wasn't back to normal. I made them take out the timing belt one more time & fit it back again, even then there was no improvement. Finally I visited my trusted mechanic (who worked in a MASS) to get this view, he did some distributor timing adjustment (with the timing torch) & the sounding was much better now. Still the original engine sound was lost, Zen makes a sweet buzzing sound kind of sound at idling RPM & this sound had changed. Higher up the revv range, there wasn't much change in engine note. I shouldn't have touched the old timing belt setting, sometimes don't fix things if it ain't broken theory needs to be followed. My (trusted) mechanic did assure me that minor change in engine note won't have any effect in engine performance or mileage, & I should leave it as it is. True to this words, everything else was same as before, I did another 15k km before selling the car. 2 years later, I would finally get the timing belt replaced perfectly in a G series engine (more on that later).

New battery & farewell to college

The battery was showing signs of being on its way out since a long time, the engine would a need long crank with the radiator fan on (in Marutis the radiator fan can come on in ignition mode if the engine is hot). Finally decided to get the battery replaced, I went with Exide since I couldn't find a Amaron dealer in Dibrugarh. I went for the cheapest model with 1 year warranty, after exchanging the old battery it cost me 2.5k. The battery never gave any trouble till the time I sold the car. The old battery that came out of the car was an Exide make battery as well, the manufacturing date read 2009, so that battery lasted a cool 8 years.

Zen parked in front of my hostel:



I completed my graduation in July, 2017 & bid farewell to my college (& hostel). The Zen had done its duty without any fail & in the process gave me some lifelong memories. I did around 10 Guwahati - Dibrugarh runs (450km one way) in the Zen, I used to have two of my friends accompany me on these journeys. Only 3 people since the Zen couldn't accommodate luggage of 3/4 people in the boot, it could just about accommodate the luggage of one guy. The rest of the bags were put on the rear seat & on the foot well area behind the driver. All the 3 of us used to contribute & fill up petrol in the Zen, the Zen used to do this 440km journey on around Rs. 1500 worth of petrol (30-40 % AC usage).


The looking for Job (or jobless) life-

I was back home & so was the Zen, so we had 3 cars at our disposal. Dad used to drive only the Ecosport to his office, this left me with the Omni & Zen. I mainly drove the Zen & the Omni only occasionally. This is a phase of life that most people goes through after completing their studies, the phase of siting idle home (clueless) thinking about what to do next. Of course one has to tell the relatives/neighbors that everything is going as per plan & that we are preparing for an exam (some tough exam preferably). I had one more confusion as well, what to do with the Zen, whether to sell her or keep her. My Mother told me that there is no need to sell her & it can do the duty of a 2nd car, since the Omni was too basic to be a daily drive due to lack of AC. She also told me that I would again end up wanting a car soon, so better to keep the Zen.

Speakers upgrade

My Zen was equipped a music system from the factory itself, a 120 watt Kendwood cassette player with 2 speakers. The previous owner had fitted a Sony HU as well (to play CD & AUX) beneath the original HU, there was a switch to toggle between the 2 HUs. This arrangement looked very bad with the Sony HU sticking out like a sore thumb. So, it was on my mind of remove one HU & also upgrade the speakers. The Zen got two puny 4 inch speakers on the front doorpad & they sounded really bad, no treble, no bass. Speaker upgrade for an older car like the Zen meant putting a pair of ovals in the rear parcel tray, so this is what I did. Put a pair of cheap ovals in the rear parcel tray of some JVL make, the improvement in sound was massive. Only slight issue was the rear ovals used to overpower the front speakers & this meant the sound stage was rear based, I am personally a big fan of front staging.

Pair of cheap Oval speakers:



Accident at 110k km

My Zen met with another small accident on September 2017, even this time I wasn't in the car. My maternal grandparents were in the car, driven by their chauffeur. I received a call from my grandfather the Zen has been hit by a truck at the rear side, asked me to reach the site ASAP & negotiate the compensation from the truck owner. I was in a different part of Guwahati & I couldn't have reached the accident spot under 1 hours, & there was no way I was going to let my elderly grandparents stay in the open, in September heat for such a long period.

The damage:





So, I told my grandfather that he needn't worry about anything & continue with the journey. If the truck owner gave some compensation it's good, otherwise no need to haggle with him. The truck owner did give 3k as compensation to fix the dent. The damage this time wasn't much, only the rear quarter panel had a dent, even this time the taillight wasn't damaged miraculously. So, I took the Zen to the MASS where I previously got the last accidental repairs done. I was quoted 2.5k for denting & painting, so I didn't bother claiming insurance. The work was completed in 3 days, though the work done wasn't as good as last time. Both these accidents were very similar, a larger vehicle hitting the Zen on RHS (i.e LHS of the other vehicle). It seems the Zen was in the blind spot of the respective large vehicles & the driver missed the car altogether, which I think was due to the fact that Zen is a very low slung car.


team-bhp membership & looking for some expert advice

In December 2017, I finally became a BHPian (after many failed attempts). So, I was finally surrounded by many petrol heads & could ask the experts about any car related issues. So, I did ask about the fix to two issues that were bothering me since the beginning.

Quoting my post:

Originally Posted by chiranjitp

My car has a leaky distributor cap, but every mechanic that I have visited has assured me that leaky distributor cap is common in an old Zen, Esteem & there is nothing to be worried about. But I don't think that a leaky distributor cap is normal.



It is a known fact that the A.C of ZEN is not that powerful. I was until recently okay about my A.C performance till I swapped my ZEN with a 09 M800 for 2 weeks. The A.C on the 800 was better, mostly in terms of air flow. The air coming out of ZEN was also chilly but blower speed III of ZEN felt like blower speed II of the M800.

The M800 recently had gone through a full A.C servicing, but my ZEN being from 2001 runs on R12 gas which is banned (& hence not available). So I visited a few A.C repairing shops, MASS for this peculiar problem.

Following are the advises I received.

1) MASS - They advised me to get an A.C conversion kit, after which R134 gas could be used. Cost 8000-9000.

2) FNG 1 - They advised that after changing some compressor oil R134 gas could be used, no need to change anything else. Cost 2000-2500.

2) FNG 2 - They advised that R134 gas can be filled in the existing system without any change. Cost 1500.

3) FNG 3 - This was the most absurd advice, they would pour some 3M chemicals through the A.C vent & the air flow will improve.

So I am a bit confused after all these advises. After a extensive search on Team BHP, it seems that I only need to get the cooling coil cleaned to improve the air flow. Can the cooling coil be cleaned without releasing the gas? What would you guys advice?

Experts gave me the answers, for the oil leak I needed to change some distributor O ring, though getting the O ring was a bit difficult (since there was no child part for Zen MPFi distributor). DBhpian & good friend Leoshashi came to the rescue, not only did he give me the part numbers, he sent me one O ring as well. As for the issue of my AC system running on R12 gas (which was banned), permanent solution was to get the AC kit changed so that my AC system could run on R134 gas. The kit though wasn't cheap (8-10k for my Subros based system) & it wasn't easily available as well. My friend owns a 03 Zen LX, that car has a R134 based AC system from factory, even then the cooling is only marginally better than my car. So, I was a bit undecided & for the time being decided to run the AC in as it is condition.


Front PW panel replacement

By this time I was active here in Team BHP, some of the updates of this time period are posted here.

Quoting myself:

Originally Posted by chiranjitp

The driver side power window panel of my 01 ZEN VXi deluxe stopped working properly yesterday, the driver window switch wouldn't retract to its original position after operating the switch. I removed the panel & tried to repair the spring mechanism, but was unsuccessful. The inside of the PW panel read made in Japan & the part number was shown as discontinued on Boodmo. Zen got two different types of PW switches & my car being a limited edition deluxe variant got the Type II PW switches. The type II PW switches kind of looked similar to the ones on the old WagonR & old Alto K10.

Alto K10 power window panel



Zen deluxe OE power window panel part number



Anyways, I thought why not try my luck with the old Alto K10 PW panel. So I first asked the MGP store manager to check the availability of the ZEN PW panel, to which I was told that the part is discontinued. Then I asked for the old Alto K10 PW panel, the part was available but he was sure that this part won't fit my car. Finally I asked him to bring the Alto PW panel & check whether the coupler is same, the coupler was found to be exactly same between the two parts.
The old Alto K10 PW panel fits perfectly in my car & except for a slight color mismatch everything works as before. The Alto PW panel is a MGP & costs Rs. 1404 & the OE Zen PW panel is a SGP (discontinued) & costs Rs. 5300. I am still not quite sure if the type I ZEN PW panel can be swapped with the Alto PW panel. But if your ZEN has PW switches like my car, then the Alto ones would fit perfectly.

The new PW panel in place.



The two different types of PW switches that ZEN got



Old Alto K10 PW panel

Part number - 37990M81A20-T01
Price - Rs.1404

Accelerator cable replaced as DIY

I am not a DIY guy, I have a habit of breaking things rather than fixing them. Hence I was very nervous about this DIY, luckily everything went smoothly. This, till date is the toughest (or most complicated) DIY that I have done.

Quoting myself:

Originally Posted by chiranjitp

First of all thanks to Leoshashi for providing me the part number & encouraging me to do a DIY. My 01 ZEN had done around 110K km & I always kind of felt my accelerator pedal was a bit harder to press than our 99 Omni's accelerator pedal. So, it was decided that the accelerator cable had to be replaced. I got the part number & the part was available at the nearest MGP store.

Changing accelerator cable is quite simple, even for a new DIY guy like me, the whole process took around 30 minutes. One end of the accelerator cable is attached to the accelerator pedal & the other end is attached to the throttle body. The accelerator cable passes through a hole in the firewall & this part of the cable has a locking mechanism which holds the cable in place & prevents dust, water etc. from getting into the passenger compartment.

The first thing I did was to go through the whole accelerator cable from the throttle body to the accelerator pedal & mark the things I would need to remove. It is a simple procedure to remove the accelerator cable from the pedal & the throttle body, the locking mechanism which seals the firewall can be easily removed after applying a bit of force. The accelerator cable has two screws which are used to adjust the accelerator pedal free pedal, so in order to have the same free play with the new cable I took a photo of the position of the screws. I also did take quite a few photos of the whole arrangement, so that I could fit the new cable exactly in the same way the old cable was fitted.

First I removed the accelerator cable from the accelerator pedal & then loosened the locking mechanism in the firewall. To release the locking mechanism I had to use a hammer & a screw driver.

This is how the accelerator cable is attached to the accelerator pedal:



Accelerator cable removed from the firewall:



The path which the accelerator cable follows to the firewall:



After that I removed the accelerator cable from the throttle body & the loosened the screws (which are there to adjust the pedal free play) using Pliers. The accelerator cable is also held in place by three different clips, after I removed the cable from the 3 clips, the old accelerator cable was out.

The accelerator cable attached to the throttle body:



While fitting the new accelerator cable the same procedure was followed. The screws (to adjust the pedal free play) were tightened using pliers after comparing the photo that I had clicked of the old adjustment. After that, I nervously fired up the engine & went for a drive, everything seemed perfect. As for the improvements, with the new cable the accelerator pedal is softer to press & the slight jerk it used to give after releasing the accelerator pedal at low speeds is gone.

New accelerator cable attached to the accelerator pedal:



Part Number: 15910M83F02
Price: Rs. 165

Fixing the distributor leak & finding the Engine sludge issue

Finally I had all the O rings needed to stop the distributor oil leak, while I was at it decided to get the tappet cover replaced as well. After removing the tappet cover, the sight that greeted me left me shocked.

Quoting myself:

Originally Posted by chiranjitp

So, I finally went to my FNG to change the O-rings, tappet cover gasket & also the engine oil. My mechanic first cleaned the distributor properly & then he marked the timing & after that the distributor was out. Both the O-rings fit perfectly in my distributor, the old O-rings had become hard & brittle.

Inside the distributor:



New tappet gasket & new spark plug O-rings fitted:



Then the tappet cover was removed to change the gasket, after removing the tappet cover I could take a peek inside my Zen's engine. What I saw left me heartbroken, there was lots of sludge buildup . Here are some photos of the sludge build up. What do you guys think?? How bad is it??





Closeup of the sludge:



When the topic of engine health comes up, smoke from the exhaust & oil consumption are the two main questions. My car smokes a a bit in the morning but nil afterwards even if I stand on the accelerator, there is no smoke from the dipstick either. Since I bought the car I have been changing the oil at 5000km, at the end of the 5000km the oil dipstick does reach around the minimum mark, so I guess she is consuming around 500-1000 ml of engine oil per 5000km.

I didn't get to the root cause of the slight oil consumption & white smoke (at startup) till I sold the Zen, though I still believe it wasn't normal. Both of these didn't (oil consumption & white smoke) increase during the course of the Zen's 25k km stay with me, even performance & mileage was flawless. Though this was always in the back of mind after I saw the sludge. I should have never opened the tappet cover, I would have been a happier man then. But somehow I didn't learn my lesson though, one year later I ended up opening the tappet cover of one more G series engine (more on that later).


Trip to Meghalaya & a bit of overheating

June 2018, our Ecosport was in FASS undergoing some accidental repairs. So, we took the Zen instead in our annual trip to Meghalaya. The weather was very hot that day, we were climbing ghats with 4 passenger on board & AC on full blast. After completing around 30 kilometers I noticed that the AC wasn't cooling at all, then a quick glance at the instrument cluster revealed that the car was overheating, the temperature gauge was above the half way mark (the temperature gauge in Zen never exceeds the 40% mark). So, I stopped the car & opened the engine, the coolant expansion tank was overflowing a bit. I let it cool down a bit & decided what to do next, I was a bit sad as well since the Zen hadn't up to that point given any problem. Finally I decided we will proceed while keeping the AC off & heater in full blast, if the Zen overheated one more time then we will return back to Guwahati. The Zen didn't overheat a bit after that & we reached Shillong without any further issue. After Shillong the temperature dropped & roads become less steep, so we continued our on wards journey to Cherapunjee (where we stayed over night). In the process clicked some nice photos of the Zen in picturesque Meghalaya:





The rest of the journey was done without any issue, I even switched on the AC after entering Guwahati. The engine temperature was stable, still I knew a modern car even under full load shouldn't overheat ever. So, I visited MASS to have a look into into the issue. the TA (technical advisor) plugged in the SDT (Suzuki Diagnostic tool) & checked the functioning of the radiator fan. Even though the car wasn't overheating, the fan was continuously on. Under normal circumstances the fan should come on when the coolant temperature exceeds the 96-97 degrees mark & then bring down the temperature to 90-91 degrees, after that the fan switches off & the temperature again rises to the 96-97 degrees mark & the whole cycle is repeated. After that he advised me to get the radiator cleaned at a FNG & check if it solved the problem. Otherwise the engine head would need to be overhauled, by engine head overhauling he meant changing the head gasket (2k estimate) or if needed, sending the head to a lathe machine to redo the engine head (7-8k estimate). Apparently sometimes due to sludge (which I had in sufficient quantity), the coolant lines can get blocked. The blockage means the coolant can't move freely & cool the engine down.

Then I got the radiator thoroughly cleaned at a FNG, the radiator was removed from the car & taken to a radiator specialist garage (who specializes in radiator cleaning). Lots of gunk came out from the radiator. After that the radiator was put back in the car along with a new thermostat valve. Luckily for me the car stopped overheating after that, even while climbing ghats with AC on. I even took the car on another trip to Meghalaya (this time with my friends), the car didn't overheat a bit nor did the AC cutoff.

Badly clogged radiator:



Radiator cleaning:



Part number of Zen MPFi thermostat:

[chiranjitp]

The Swift Story

Circa July 2005

One fine evening in July 2005 I went with my uncle (the uncle who helped me with my Zen search) to get some groceries from the nearest Supermarket. In the front parking lot there was this car parked for display purpose, it looked unlike anything I had seen on our roads. Both me & my uncle forgot about the shopping part & directly went to check the car. My uncle back in the 90s had a Suzuki Shogun & in those days (2005) drove an used 118NE, so he was also into cars. Now he drives a 2011 Polo 1.6 MPi (not exactly a hot hatch, but better than the 1.2s)

The display car was in blue in color & looked so good, looked like a car from the future. The signboard behind the car read "SWIFT, you're the fuel". So the car's name was Swift, I figured out. Remember in 2005 I was a 11 year kid (though fully onto cars even then). The car had so many curves, the sweptback big headlights, the bulky rear, everything looked very unique & eye catching. My car experience by that time was limited to our Omni, aunt's 97 M800, uncle's 95 118NE, Alto, WagonR (this was the first car where I saw power windows for the first time) & of course the evergreen Padmini & Ambassador.

Then a SA came, opened the car & asked us to check out the interiors. The interiors felt even better, there was no exposed metal parts here, everything was covered with plastic. The dashboard was long & big, had all 4 power windows (the WagonR had only front power windows), so no need to manually roll the windows. The SA then started explaining the features to my uncle, the Swift was very loaded for that time. Two things caught the fancy of the 11 year old me, first was the ACC, just set the temperature like you would do in a Split AC (many places in 05 still had Window ACs with manual adjustment), how cool I thought. Next thing he told us that the Swift had some 6/7 computers on board, by that time I was already into Computer games (Project IGI anyone?), I asked the SA to show me the 6/7 computers . I don't remember the exact reply that he gave me, but I am sure he didn't give me a satisfactory answer. The 11 year me was very excited with the prospect of having 6/7 computers inside a car, surely I could play my favorite game in one of them. Finally we left the place & the SA gave me a brochure of the Swift, I liked the car so much that I still have that brochure with me, 15 years later.

Photos of the Swift launch brochure:














Circa Early 2011

We were finally thinking of buying a new car, our 99 Omni was outdated by 2011 standards. The first choice in my mind was a Swift VDi ABS in white. Then as the real search begin, the Figo begin to look a better option with more equipment & a VFM price tag. The news of all new Swift started coming in my then, so I decided to wait for it to come. This time Swift diesel was to get a ZDi variant as well, fully loaded with ACC, Airbags & alloys.

The new 2nd gen Swift was launched and we made a visit to the nearest Maruti dealership to check out the Swift and the variant that I had decided was the VDi variant. We checked out the Swift, and the first impressions were good, the interior looked good, the ICE sounded nice and then there was the evergreen sporty looks of the Swift. After that we checked out the back, the rear was a bit cramped but nothing that couldn't be lived with. Finally, we checked out the boot, the boot was very small and also there was no 60:40 split either. The SA showed us the price-list, the VDi variant was priced around 6.5 lakhs on road and the ZDi variant was around 7 lakhs on road. The prices according to me were not that VFM, but the biggest problem was the waiting period. We were quoted a waiting period of around 6-7 months, which was simply not acceptable to us. So, decided to give the Swift a miss. Finally we bought a Punto in January 2012.

By that time (Mid 2011) I was an avid reader of Team BHP. I wanted to became a member here, so I filled the long registration form. There was a section called "Which is the most iconic Indian car according to you?", I without any hesitation wrote about first gen Swift. I had like 2-3 failed team-bhp registration attempts in 2011, after that finally gave up the idea for the time being. In all the (failed) attempts, I wrote about the first gen Swift only.


Circa Mid 2017

The Punto was giving us too much problems by this time, so we finally decided to sell her with a heavy heart. The question was to what to replace the Punto with, since the Punto gave many problems during the end of the ownership, I was looking to stick with Maruti only. What else but a Swift VDi, by that time ABS was made standard in the Swift VDi. Buying a Swift VDi was a safe choice. So, my mom & I went to check out the Swift. We took a TD of the Swift & asked the SA to provide us with a valuation of our Punto. The on road price of a Swift VDi in 2017 was 7.90 lakh (not exactly VFM). The price that they quoted for the Punto was only 80k, we both lost of our cool & left the place. My Mom told me that the Swift VDi felt like a downgrade from our Punto in many areas, so we need to look into other options. Finally we ended up buying a Ford Ecosport.

Then one fine day in December 2017, I decided to fill up the Team BHP registration form one more time. This time I wrote everything after thinking thoroughly, except the car part where I still wrote about the 1st gen Swift. One week later I received an email that my membership has been approved, I was very elated with this news.


2006 Swift Zxi

It was in September 2018. I received a message from Dbhpian & very good friend Leoshashi, that a Dbhpian from Delhi was looking to sell his 2006 Swift ZXi. He was specifically looking to sell the car to someone who would take proper care of her. Since the car belonged to a BHPian & was the top of line ZXI (with airbags & ABS), I was very interested in the car. This was kind of a one time opportunity to buy a first gen Swift, the car that I have been wanting to buy since the last 13-14 years. So, I talked to DBHPian SS-Traveller (the owner of the Swift) regarding the price, general condition of the car, how to bring the car to Guwahati etc. The other big decision that I needed to make was what to do with my Zen.


Farewell to my 01 Zen VXi

I knew that if I was to buy the Swift, I had to sell the Zen. Since we already had a 3 car garage (one car too many even then), having 4 cars was a strict no-no. The huge amount sludge in the engine was always on the back of my mind, even though there was no drop in power or mileage. Then next was the overheating incident, I almost had a breakdown in the Zen, that was also playing in the back of my mind. These two issues happened in quick succession, so I having thoughts about selling the Zen. The other thing was the weak AC, which simply wasn't effective in cooling the car during summer time. Funny thing is when I begin the car search, AC wasn't a must have. Now, I was looking to sell a car because the AC wasn't strong enough. To be frank, these issues weren't so big that I needed to sell the Zen. So, why sell the Zen then? Even now, I can't think of one particular reason that made me sell her, it was kind of an impulsive decision to sell her, mainly fueled by my long time desire to own a first gen Swift. Finally, with a heavy heart I decided to put the Zen for sale on OLX. My parents, especially my mom was very sad when I decided to sell the Zen.

The Zen did its duty faithfully during her 2.5 years stay with me, I clocked around 24k kms during this time. Never did the car ever broke down, heck I didn't even have a puncture in that car (remember Zen my didn't have tubeless tyres). When I bought the car she was in brilliant condition, especially cosmetically she was almost in showroom condition. Everything was in its place & working, including the OE Kenwood Cassette player. Simply put, she didn't feel like a 14 year old car. I used to frequently do 440 km (Dibrugarh-Guwahati) highway runs in her, never did she miss a beat on these long journeys. The compact dimension & responsive engine were a boon in our congested city roads, the light power steering also helped. I went to college in this car & have tons of memories with her. So, even I was very sad to let her go. But as they say, only thing constant in life is change.


Selling the Zen on OLX

Now, this was going to be a bit difficult (or so I thought) going by my past experiences of buying & selling cars on OLX. I took some nice photos of the car, drove a long description & posted an add on OLX. By now the OLX interface had changed a bit, especially I liked the fact the phone number isn't visible in the advertisement. First the buyer will have to send a message to the seller, then depending upon how the conversation goes, either of them can choose to share their respective numbers to take the deal forward. In short you won't get 100s of useless calls from used car dealers, low balers etc. I had advertised the Zen for 70k & I was willing to let go of her at around 60k. Within a few hours of posting the ad I got many messages, I asked all of them the same question "Car dealer or Individual Buyer"? I only dealt with those who replied that they are the looking to buy the car for their own use. Within a day, I found a guy that was willing to buy the car for 65k & he wanted to come see the car ASAP. So, that guy (along with 2 friends) came to see the car, they instantly liked (who wouldn't) the car. They also took a TD of Zen, after the TD he told me that he will buy the car for 65k & will take delivery immediately. I was taken aback a bit, I wasn't mentally prepared to let go of the Zen so soon. A part of me still wanted that I don't find a buyer for the Zen. But, I guess the condition of car was such that anyone will like it. I told him to come after a few hours, since I wanted to drive her one last time. So, I went on a nice long drive in Zen windows down, then on the return journey filled her up one last time. In the evening the guy came, he paid the money, signed all the papers. I took one last photo with the Zen & the new owner drove off in the Zen. I hope that the he is taking good care of the Zen & the Zen is serving the new owner as faithfully as ever.

filling her up for one last time:



The final odometer reading:



Swift deal

Before I sold the Zen, I & SSda (Dbhpian)SSTraveller agreed on a price for the Swift. I told him to first let me find a buyer for Zen, after that we will discuss the rest of the deal. With the Zen was gone, I was going to buy the Swift. There was a slight issue though, the Swift was in Delhi & I lived in Guwahati. Also I wanted to have a look at the car before making the payment, even SSda advised me to first have a look at the Swift before finalizing the deal. I was going to visit Delhi in October, so was planning to have a look then & the bring the car home. Bringing the car home was in issue, my parents won't (ever) allow me to drive such a long distance on my own nor they would accompany me. So, the car had to be shipped to Guwahati via packers & movers, though this was proving to be a bit expensive. There was also this added risk of dents and scratches in the process of loading & unloading. Finally SSda came up with a solution, he will drive the car to Guwahati & deliver it to me. They (he & his wife) since a long time wanted to visit Kamakhya temple, so after delivering the car they would visit Kamakhya temple & then fly back to Delhi. Though this meant that I couldn't take a look at the car before finalizing the deal, though he assured me that the 2000km journey will be an acid test of the road worthiness of the vehicle. Even I agreed that if a car could complete a 2000km marathon journey without any issue (that too within 3 days), the car has to be in good condition mechanically. There was the added benefit of not having to bother about transporting the car to Guwahati. So, the deal was finalized & finally I was going to be owner of a Swift. SSda started the marathon journey from Delhi to Guwahati on 7th October, 2018. Here's the link (Call of Kamakhya: Our emotional 2000 km Delhi-Guwahati Swift run) to the travelogue. On the evening on 9th October 2018, they reached Guwahati without any problem. I was so excited that I took delivery of the Swift on that day only, at 10:00 pm.

The Swift is home (finally):





Swift getting a thorough wash the next day:

[chiranjitp]

A brief review of the 06 Swift ZXi

What you'll like:

• Funky looks, still doesn't look outdated even after 15 years of its launch. In 2005, it looked unlike any other small car on our roads.
• The ever reliable & mod friendly G13B. Refinement of this engine was best in the Swift (compared to Zen, Esteem).
• Performance is very strong, especially higher up the rev range, redlining this engine is fun. Brakes are strong as well.
• Very smooth & short throw gearbox. Clutch is light as well.
• Stiff suspension means handling is spot on, is one fun car to drive on the twisties.
• Big & wide front seats with awesome support, along with spot on ergonomics.
• Is very well loaded, even by today's standard. Has dual Airbags, ABS, ACC, alloys, height adjustable seat belts, two 12V sockets etc.
• The AC is good, cools down the cabin properly (unlike my Zen).

What you won't:

• Rattles, this generation is (in)famous for its rattles.
• Ride is a bit stiff at low speeds, downside of a stiffly sprung suspension setup.
• The build quality is typical Maruti light build quality, doesn't have solidity of European cars.
• G13B has a slightly weak low end performance (not helped by the tall gearing), downshift is must to get a move on.
• G13B isn't that fuel efficient compared to modern Maruti petrol engines, even engine refinement isn't that great.
• Rear seat space, it's a bit cramped, especially leg room is on the lesser side.




Exteriors

The Swift was designed in keeping in mind the European market, where modern hatchbacks sell in big numbers. Hence it looked unlike any previous Suzuki products, it had a proper 2 box design. Here looks are given as much (or more) importance as interior space. The Swift looked a bit like the Mini, which isn't exactly a bad thing for a budget hatchback.

Front looks:





In our Indian market, in 2005 the Swift looked liked a car from future compared to the hatchbacks we had on sale then. The front is dominated by the large (by 2005 standard) swept back headlights, the long bonnet has some prominent cuts & creases, running all the way to the bumper. The Swift isn't very low slung, nor is a tall boy, it's somewhere in between. The Swift is on the wider side, with the width being 1690mm.

The perfect side profile:



Front & Rear 3 quarter:





The side profile has to be the best angle to look at a Swift, the wheels are placed at the extreme ends, the rising waistline looks sporty & youthful. The multi spoke alloys looks decent, though a bit boring in today's age of Diamond cut alloys. The Swift is shod with 14 inch wheels & big 185/70 R14 tyres (165/80 R14 in lower variants). In 2005, it was the biggest size tyre & wheel combo ever fitted to a hatchback. Funny thing is even now, 15 years later, there isn't a hatchback that has bigger tyre/wheel combo. I am aware that the likes of i20, Baleno, Altroz come with 16 inch wheels, but look at the overall circumference of the tyre, circumference wise it's same as the circumference of a 05 Swift tire. Swift gets modern pull type handles, body colored in the ZXI variant. The ORVMs are sufficiently big & offer a satisfactory view of what's happening behind.

185/70 R14 section tires shod on 14 inch multi spoke alloys:



The rear side of the Swift is dominated by the protruding trunk lid & the big tail lights. The tail lights on my Swift isn't the clear lens type, clear lens taillights came in the 2008 facelift. The rear windshield is very small, it looks good but downside is poor rearward visibility. The top end ZXi variant got rear washer + wiper, defogger.

The bulbous rear:



Built quality of the Swift is decent, this was the heaviest Swift in terms of kerb weight. It doesn't feels as flimsy as the likes of Zen, M800. The build quality can't be compared with the vault like build of Punto, Polo (when these 2 were launched, the first gen Swift was still on sale). It rattles very badly though, I haven't experienced a car rattling as badly as my Swift. The Zen in comparison was very silent.

Interiors



The front doors are big & they open wide, so ingress & egress is very easy (even for the elderly). The seats are placed at a comfortable height (not too high or low), the front seats themselves are very good. The seats are big, perfectly contoured & have good thigh support. Even the biggest among us will be comfortable in these seats. Driver side seat has height adjustment option, both the front passengers get height adjustable seat belts (which I believe is missing in subsequent generations of Swift). The power window buttons are decent enough in terms of haptic feedback, the armrest on the doorpads is covered in fabric, all 4 doors. For such a loaded car, first gen Swift never got Electrically adjustable ORVMs, instead got manually adjustable ORVMs.

The big & comfortable front seat:



The dashboard on the Swift is all black, with the side AC vents getting a contrasting silver highlight. I personally like the design of the dashboard, mainly because I am fan of long dashboards. The main highlight here is the ACC panel, even today only top variants of hatchbacks get this feature. Back in 2005, forget hatchbacks, even most C segment sedans didn't get this feature. The 2005 Swift didn't come with an integrated music system from the factory, there is a blank slot which can take a 2 din HU. The 2008 facelift got an OE music system along with steering mounted controls.

The driver side doorpad:



The AC on the Swift is strong, it cools down the car quickly even in summers. The ACC is good as well, just set the temperature & let the ACC do its job. The blower is very powerful as well, though at high speeds its a bit loud.

The steering wheel:



The Swift gets a simple looking 3 spoke steering wheel which is decent looking, nothing special about it. The horn pad is big & easy to reach, one can honk without taking their hands off the steering wheel (unlike in the 2nd gen Swift). The instrument cluster looks good, the unique feature here is the resting position of the tachometer needle which is at Six O' Clock, similar to how it is in a motorcycle. The Swift also gets a proper analogue temperature & fuel gauge. There is small digital display at the bottom, you get two trip meters, instrument cluster brightness adjuster & of course the odometer. The instrument cluster has a yellow back lighting.

The Instrument cluster:



The rear seats are big enough, has proper contours, long enough seat base & gets adjustable headrest. The issue here is the slight lack of legroom, even with a shorter driver upfront the legroom is just about enough. The small windows don't let in much light, so you feel like you are siting in an even smaller place. The seat is wide enough to accommodate 3 people over short journeys, though for long journey 2 people at the back is best.

The rear legroom with the front seat adjusted to my driving position:



232 liter luggage capacity:



In terms of feature the Swift is loaded even by today's standard, got dual airbags, ABS, ACC, remote locking, fog lights (both front & rear), four power window, alloy wheels (even the spare is an alloy). Got some nifty features as well like a boot light, two 12V sockets, headlight on reminder, driver seat height adjustment, driver seatbelt warning, height adjustable seat belts etc. So, even today the Swift doesn't feel that outdated in terms of features.

Engine



The G13BB is a legend in the Indian automotive scene, it was once a tuner's favorite, especially under the hood of Esteem. This engine is known for its bullet proof reliability & mod friendly nature, this engine has done its duty in many Maruti cars over the years. Esteem, Gypsy, Versa, Swift all got the same engine in different tunes. Even today it is found under the hood (or seat ) of an Eeco in the G12B avatar, now upgraded to be BS VI complaint.

The bonnet gets full insulation:



It's a 4 cylinder all aluminum engine displacing 1298cc & in the Swift made 87bhp & 113NM of torque. This engine was modified a bit for its application in the Swift, intake & exhaust manifold both were new, the oil pump was from Baleno (G16B), different injectors & of course a different ECU map. The result was that it made more power & torque than any other G13BB equipped car. The Swift was over 200 kg heavier than the Esteem, so this increase in power & torque was a necessity.

During a cold start, the engine will be idling at high RPM (1500 RPM) for a good 3-5 minutes before the revs come to normal idling RPM, like my Zen. I haven't seen such a long high idle period in any other engine, it seems G series engines hate cold start. The Zen carb (G10B) didn't make any power until the engine was warmed, Zen MPI & Swift 1.3 both will idle at high RPM for a long time. The Swift engine does sound a bit different at idle (compared to Esteem & Zen), it still makes that sweet buzzing kind of sound at idle, but it's more muted.

The 1.3L badge that I have put, this badge is from an Esteem:



Off the mark the Swift moves briskly if you keep the engine revving above 1500-1600 RPM. Low end torque below that isn't that impressive, downshift is must to get a move on. The gearing which is very tall, doesn't help here. The Swift can't cross speed breakers in 2nd gear without a bit of clutch slipping. The Zen MPFi despite having an engine from the same family, has much better low end torque. Get past the (slightly) weak low end, the Swift accelerates briskly. The mid range is strong, the car moves very swiftly after 2000 RPM, even engine noise is under control till 3000 RPM.

Next up is the top end performance, which has been the strength of G13BB engine since ages. The engines likes to be revved, the performance past 4000 RPM is very good. This is one engine that begs to be revved hard. NVH at high revs isn't that great by today's standard, no comparison with how the K12 sounds at high revs. This engine kind of screams to the redline, a likeable scream nevertheless. Talking about redlining, I never had redlined an engine before this point. See, I learnt to drive in a carb Omni, 09 M800, Punto diesel. All of these engine weren't the high revving type, then came the Zen which had a strong enough top end. I revved that engine high, but never up to the rev limiter. After the Swift came home, BHPian & very close friend Tanveer02 wanted a proper TD of the Swift, so we went the highway on a Sunday afternoon (when traffic is generally less). On finding a straight section of the road he gunned it in 2nd gear, the car kept going & going, 80, 90 kmph came & it went even beyond, still the engine was pulling relentlessly. The redline is marked at around 6300-6400 RPM, the rev counter went past that as well, I thought the rev limiter is broken & we will end up blowing the engine. Then the engine crossed the magical figure of 100 kmph in 2nd & (finally) hit the rev limiter at 105kmph at 6800 RPM. Then it dawned on me that Esteem 1.3 was famous for crossing 100 in 2nd, this Swift also has the same engine. After that I have redlined the engine 3-4 times in 2nd gear, it's one satisfying experience, the engine screams to 6800 RPM with the speedo needle going past the 100 kmph mark. ACI quotes a 0-100 timing of 11.60 seconds, that is fast for a hatchback with a NA 1.3L engine. Even on day to day use the Swift feels fast, still can out-accelerate most 1.2L NA hatchbacks.

Swift performance figures, courtesy ACI:



Revving hard in 3rd gear:



The gearing is on the Swift is very tall, too tall if you ask me. As I have already mentioned, it's one rare car (under 10 lakh) that crosses 100kmph in 2nd gear. Even while cruising on the highway at 100 kmph, engine is ticking over at a lazy 2500 RPM. Heck, my Punto with a diesel engine used to hit 100kmph at 2500 RPM. The downside here, is one will need to downshift to get a move on. The gearbox is very smooth & sleek shifting, even the throws are short. Working this gearbox is a joy, it makes a sweet clicking sound after the gears are engaged. The clutch is light as well (like most petrol Marutis), though the Swift P is known for low clutch life & first gear judder.

Ride, Handling, Steering & Braking

Swift rides on tall 185/70 R14, even width is sufficient for the power it makes. The ride quality (despite the tall tyres) isn't that great, at low speeds the ride is a bit jittery. At high speeds the ride becomes a bit better, though it is still unsettled by the larger bumps. There is simply no comparison with the likes of Punto, which has a magic carpet ride quality, no matter the speed. The good thing about this stiff setup is the lack of vertical movements on our highways, the car recovers well from highway undulations. The ride is better than something like the first gen Hyundai i10 (we have a 2010 1.2 in our close family), the i10 has very bouncy ride at high speeds. The advantage of a tall tire is that even if you go over a deep pothole, the car won't crash through it. The sidewall will absorb the majority of the impact.

The upside of this stiff suspension is very good handling, the Swift likes to be thrown into corners. The turn in is sharp, the car is always eager to change directions. Even body roll is under control and the Swift corners flat. Our Punto was a good handling car as well, the Swift feels more agile than the Punto, while the Punto feeling more secure. Stability at high speeds is good, she can easily cruise at 100kmph all day long. I have done a few long drives in her, still is one competent machine to drive on highway.

Swift & roads like these are a match made in Heaven:



NVH at high speeds is decent, though not extraordinary. Can't be compared with European cars which cocoon you from the outside world. The NVH part isn't helped by the ever present rattles in the Swift.

The Swift got an EPS steering, the steering isn't the lightest (by EPS standards) at low speeds. The steering weights up sufficiently at high speeds, the steering is responsive as well. The issues are at the center position, there is a bit of vagueness, the return back after making a turn is bad (typical of most Maruti EPS system). The steering is kind of average, it's neither good nor bad.

The brakes on Swift (at least on the ZXi variant with ABS) is spot on, they bring the car to a quick halt even from high speeds. The pedal is easy to modulate, has the right amount of feel. On slamming the brakes, the brakes bite very strongly. The ABS is tuned perfectly as well, it's not intrusive, doesn't kick in unnecessarily. Even nose dive under heavy braking is controlled perfectly, aided by the stiff suspension. All of the important brake related parts on a first gen Swift (with ABS) is imported, brake master cylinder, brake booster, ABS module, ABS sensor all are SGP. No wonder the braking is spot on, though if somehow any of these ever needed replacing, God help me since all of these are exorbitantly priced (like most SGP parts).

Fuel Efficiency

One of the reason most people bought the diesel Swift over the petrol Swift back in the day, was due to the huge difference in fuel efficiency figures between the diesel & petrol Swift (diesel was way cheaper as well). The Swift 1.3 petrol has an ARAI certified mileage of 15.9kmpl. I have been getting around 11-12 kmpl in city with 100% AC, which is respectable enough. On the highways, the average varies between 15-16kml, I generally keep the speed under the 100kmph mark. In short fuel efficiency isn't the strongest point of the engine, though it's respectable none the less.

The key:

[chiranjitp]

Living with the Swift

I bought the car in October 2018. I have clocked around 12k since then, this post will be about my experience with the car over the last 1.5 years & 12k km. Since the Swift is still with me, I will continue to update this thread henceforth.

First impression of the car

Remember I bought this car without even seeing her in person, forget taking a thorough test drive. So, I was very curious to find out the overall condition of the car, keeping my fingers crossed that I haven't done a mistake of buying a car like this. Since the car made its way to Guwahati from Delhi (a 2000km journey) without any issue, I was certain that the main things (engine, body, cooling system, brakes etc.) were in good condition.

Before taking delivery SSda told me that Swift had developed a disconcerting rattle from the front side of the car, since it happened during the course of the journey he didn't get time to fix it. That was one thing that I needed to fix.

Quoting him:

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

We planned to leave early, by 8 am, to let us reach Guwahati by early evening. However, there was a rattle from the front end of the Swift, that had developed since traversing the NH327E last night, and I had to find out what was causing it. I spent some time tracking down the noise, but a lack of tools made my task quite impossible.

Anyway, a thorough inspection by self and a quick visit to a local mechanic made sure everything was nice and tight - except the bonnet, that now kept making a drumming sound over rough roads. Not so bad that a couple of bits from an Amazon packing box could not sort out to about 20% of the original.

I drove the Swift for the first time on my home after taking delivery. I took delivery at 10:00 pm, so the roads were empty then. The first impression was good, the engine was pulling well, the clutch was light enough. The Swift had a big car feel to it, unlike the Zen, I knew that Swift would make a good highway car. More so, since it was equipped with ABS and two airbags along with EBD. The rattle though was very prominent, every time I went over a rough patch of road at a decent speed, a drumming sound came from the front of the car. After reaching home, I listened to the sound of the engine idling, the engine was sounding a bit coarse. I knew it was again an issue of improper timing felt fitting (more on that later).

Next day I drove the car during daytime & also in slow-moving traffic. First was the AC performance, the AC cooled brilliantly even in slow-moving traffic. This was my biggest issue with the Zen & one of the major reasons behind selling her. SSda told me that he had put a brand new AC compressor two years back, so the AC system was in perfect condition. While driving in slow-moving traffic I found one irritating issue, the accelerator pedal was very sticky. So sticky that the revs would rise to 2000-3000RPM while releasing the clutch, or if I was very gentle with the accelerator pedal, the revs won't rise even a bit & the car would stall (i.e one would need a fair amount of force in pressing the A pedal). This was very irritating in bumper to bumper traffic, I am sure I burnt the clutch quite a bit till the issue was solved. On the positive side, the rattle wasn't an issue in slow-moving traffic.

One or two weeks later, I took the Swift on a highway drive. The Swift drove brilliantly on the highway, the engine had sufficient grunt, brakes were strong, the suspension felt complaint enough. Even by 2018 standards, the Swift was one competent highway car. I have since done many long drives in the Swift by now, never has she disappointed me. The drumming sound/rattle from the front of the car was very disconcerting though, it was very prominent every time I went over a rough patch of road at speed. Thankfully the problem of the sticky accelerator pedal wasn't much of an issue at high speed. So the 2 issues won't bother me at the same time, one issue would bother only at high speeds (plus a rough patch of the road), the other issue would bother only at low speeds.


Full service & Throttle body cleaning

First I decided to get the issue of sticky accelerator pedal sorted, since I was sure of burning out the clutch if I continued driving with a sticky accelerator pedal. My first doubt was the accelerator cable, followed by a dirty throttle body. So I went to an FNG (not my regular one since that was closed that day) to get the issue looked into, I made the main mechanic take a thorough test drive. After that, he checked the condition of the accelerator cable & told me that it's in good condition. I confirmed with SSda, who told me that the accelerator cable was replaced only a week before the journey. So the fault was with the throttle body & hence we decided to clean it, the mechanic dismantled the throttle body & cleaned every part thoroughly. While I was at a garage, I decided to get all the fluids & filters replaced, I put 10W40 semi-synthetic engine oil in Swift. For the Swift, I am following a one year drain (where I clock around 8k km) interval for the engine oil, since the Swift doesn't have any issue of oil consumption (Zen used to consume a bit of oil), nor there is any smoke from the exhaust at startup (like my Zen).

The engine oil:



Full service complete, throttle body fitting done, it's time to check whether the issue of sticky accelerator cable is solved. With fingers crossed I pressed the accelerator pedal, the stickiness was almost gone, so issue solved. However there was one catastrophic side effect, the engine would idle at 1500 RPM, only after 2-3 minutes of not giving any accelerator input the idle RPM would finally come down to the 700-800 range. I was furious with the mechanic, both the mechanic & the owner (of the FNG) assured me that the issue will be solved after driving the car for 100km or so. So I drove around 100km within the next 2 days, still the issue wasn't solved a bit. The car would keep idling at 1500 RPM, another thing I noticed was that she was guzzling fuel like anything.

Throttle body dismantled:



I knew that the issue was beyond the skill of my FNG mechanic, so I visited a MASS (dealer-owned one) to get it solved. As I was anyways going to visit an authorized service center, I decided to have them take a look at rattle/drumming sound as well. First up was the throttle body, they took it apart, then fitting everything back carefully. With fingers crossed we cranked the engine & let the engine warm (Swift when cold idles at 1500 RPM, so we needed to warm up the engine to reach a conclusion). Engine warmed up, the idle RPM was still stuck at 1500 RPM. All of the mechanics gathered around my car, discussing what could be the issue, they haven't seen anything like this. They even cleaned the EGR, that didn't help as well.

Since there were clueless I suggested that we solve the ratting/drumming issue first. I mean how hard can it be to solve a rattling issue, my God was I wrong or what. I believe we took around 20 test drives that day to trace out the issue, first we doubted the bonnet, so we put some cushioning that it doesn't vibrate. Didn't help, so we took out the whole bonnet & took a TD, the drumming sound was still there. Then they put the car on a ramp & checked every suspension, tightened every nut & prayed a bit as well. Even then the drumming sound was still there, it hadn't increased or decreased. We, however, found out that the sound only came whenever the front left tire went over a rough patch of the road (most noticeable over the yellow markers/reflectors that are placed on the edge of our roads/highways). There was no progress & finally, they gave up, I was fed up as well.

Then one of them after seeing the DL registration told me that in Delhi mechanics do all kind of juggad, which the mechanics here (in Assam) can't detect. He was partially correct, there is two way of looking at this issue. In Delhi mechanics are very skilled, so they can repair anything & everything without needing to replace it, the skill is also due to the fact that each & every child part (new, duplicate, from scrap cars) of any car is easily available in Delhi. Recently I saw in a Youtube video, a Chevrolet Aveo needed a new ECM which the mechanic easily found in a scarp market. Here in Guwahati forget getting an Aveo ECU, even a used M800 ECU would be difficult to find here, most of the 20-25-year-old M800s are still plying on the roads. So, what the mechanics (both FNG & MASS) do in Guwahati is replace most parts, even if something is repaired, it will be repaired with genuine new parts. What this means is that the cost of maintaining a car goes up substantially, on the flip side the car will be in better condition. See, the method of juggad & reusing parts is good & will be easy on the pocket, but in the long run, the parts won't last as long as if you had put a brand new part. I once had to get the steering rack replaced in our Punto since the new rack was around 18-19k, I was looking at options to repair it. Then one mechanic told me that these racks are repaired easily in bigger cities like Delhi, Kolkata but here in Guwahati, such facilities aren't available. I finally put a new rack in the Punto worth 18k.

Back to the issue at hand, by now even the manager of the workshop got involved in the process. He finally told me to solve the issue of high idle, I would have to get the whole throttle body changed. I told me him I am ready to replace the whole throttle body if you can give me the assurance that my issue will be solved once & for all. He couldn't give me the assurance that it will solve the problem, then one of mechanic came up with an idea. They had one more Swift 1.3 in their workspace, this car had a seized engine, the mechanic suggested that we swap the throttle body with that car. So, we did swap the throttle body with the donor Swift. By this time it was evening, everyone gathered around the Swift as I cranked the engine. The engine idle RPM (after warm-up) came down to the 700 RPM range, even after revving the engine. The issues of the sticky accelerator pedal was fully solved as well.

Now, Maruti sells the throttle body in 2 parts, one part containing throttle body with the TP (throttle position) sensor, the one part containing the ISC (idle speed control) valve. The throttle body costs Rs. 2038 & the ISC valve cost Rs. 2876. So, they mixed matched the parts between both the throttle bodies & came to the conclusion that only the throttle body needs changing, the ISC valve is fine. The throttle body, unfortunately, wasn't in stock (anywhere in Guwahati), so they placed an order & told me they will inform me after the throttle body comes. Luckily for me I needed a throttle body of a Swift, which at 2k is one of the cheapest throttle body in the whole Maruti range. Zen throttle body costs in the range of 5k, heck even an Omni throttle body costs 3.7k As for the drumming/rattle sound, they were still a bit clueless & suggested changing the whole steering rack assembly ought to solve the problem. For my generation that costs a whopping 28k, since the EPS motor is mounted on the rack (not on the column like new marutis) & comes as a set. I didn't have 28k nor I wanted to spend such a big amount in fixing a rattle, decided to leave it as it is. The drumming sound was anyways not an issue at low speeds or even in high speeds as long as the surface was smooth, only while going over a rough patch at high speeds, the noise was intolerable. For that, I decided that turning up the volume of the music system ought to drone out the drumming noise to a certain extent.


New throttle body & finding engine sludge (again)

The new throttle body came within 10 days or so, so I (again) went to MASS to fit the new throttle body. While we were dismantling everything, the mechanic noticed a small oil leak from tappet cover gasket & advised me to replace that as well. Last time I opened the tappet cover of a G series, I didn't see a pretty sight. Reluctantly agreed to get the tappet cover changed as well & prayed to God that no more surprises. The prayer didn't help, a similar sight greeted me after we opened the tappet cover. Even here there was lots of sludge buildup, similar to my Zen . The difference here was the sludge was a bit loose (like grease) on the Swift, whereas on the Zen it has a bit harder. This time I wasn't heartbroken though, I did over 24k in my Zen with a sludgy engine without any issues. The Zen also smoked a bit at startup & had a slight oil consumption issues. The Swift on the other doesn't smoke even a bit nor does it have any oil consumption issue, even now 12k km later. So, I am not that bothered that the sludge will cause any issue in the future.

The sludge:







Having said that, I don't think that this much of sludge is normal. Maybe it's an inherent issue of the G series, or maybe a case of plain bad luck. Two car, different in age, lived most of their lives 2000 km apart, had the exact same condition of the head. Last year, my uncle (the one with the 09 M800) bought a new EECO after exchanging the M800. EECO also comes with a G series engine (G12). I intend to open the tappet cover & check for sludge issues in the car after she clocks around 80-90k km.



Anyways I had visited MASS to fit the new throttle body. I decided to put a new accelerator cable to be double sure. New throttle body fitting done, we took a long test drive. The issue of the high idle RPM & sticky accelerator pedal had been fully solved. I was satisfied with the work done & the car became way better to drive in slow moving traffic.

Swift throttle body part number:



Swift accelerator cable part number:

Meanwhile I had discussed with DBHPian & a good friend Leoshashi about the sludge issue, he was also aware of the Zen sludge issue. He advised me to get the oil pump strainer replaced ASAP, so that engine isn't choked of engine oil. Bought the oil pump strainer the next day & went to a FNG to get it replaced, to access the strainer the oil sump needs to be removed. Since, I had gotten the engine oil replaced only 1 month ago, I decided to reuse the engine oil. Oil sump removed, I saw the condition of the oil strainer & the crankshaft, the strainer was badly choked. The crankshaft area also had some amount of sludge, though not as much as the engine head. Since, we had removed the oil sump, we decided that to wash that as well thoroughly with petrol. Finally fitted the new strainer & put everything back.

The crankshaft side:



Choked Oil strainer:



Changing the Registration to Assam

By this time it was December & the car was still running on DL plates. Before leaving for Guwahati, SSda had applied for NOC at the RTO where the Swift was registered. The NOC takes around 1 month to be processed, the NOC was finally issued by Mid November. Then SSda sent the NOC over to me by post, by that time it was end of November.

I wanted to get the number change and registration done by myself without involving any broker, so visited the ever confusing DTO office (here it's called DTO, not RTO). I finally understood the complete process to transfer the car to Assam by paying the road tax here. In Assam, I had to first get a report from the CID office that the car wasn't stolen or involved in some accident. The CID report general takes around 1-2 days to be completed. Then I submitted all the documents (along with the CID report) in the DTO office, there is a different section for outside State cars here. The guy from the out of sate section will again verify all the documents & then upload them on the server. After that I went to the cash counter, where the cashier told me the tax that needs to be paid. The tax is calculated on the original Ex showroom price (was a shade over 5 lakh in my case), some depreciation calculation is done based on the age of the car & then finally the tax to be paid is calculated. All this is done online.

There was a slight issue though in my case, the guy who handled out of state cars told me that the Assam entry will have to done on the current owner's name (SSda's wife in this case) & then again finally a name transfer to my name. The NOC had clearly written that it was issued to my name, along with my address. There has to be some direct process to do the Assam entry & name transfer in one go. Since the guy gave me a way around, I didn't press the issue. He told me he will do the Assam entry on the current owner's name, with my address papers submitted as local address proof. After that, we will again transfer the ownership to my name.

The tax calculated in my case was Rs. 5878, which is very reasonable. After the payment was done, they issued a payment slip that Assam entry has been done. Then took this slip (along with the file which has everything) to the guy who issues registration number, that guy allotted a registration number from the running series (AS01DX in my case). He then took the old RC card & issued a slip for getting the new card, there is a different section that prints RC/DL card. This printing process will take around 5-6 days, meanwhile I had to make payment in one more counter to get HSRP plates (compulsory in Assam), this also takes 5-6 days.

Then after 6 days, got the HSRP fitted & also got the new RC. The new RC in my case was issued in the previous owners name, then finally (again) applied for ownership change. This means, one more new RC (with me as the owner's name) had to be issued. So, I came back again after 6 days to finally collect the RC. The whole thing cost me around Rs. 7000. Luckily for me the DTO office is 1 km from my home, so visiting the DTO office (for infinite times) wasn't an issue for me. I was jobless at that time, so that helped.


The job life

I (finally) got a job on January 2019, my first job. I was very happy to get the job, first job is always special. The running of Swift reduced after me getting the job, my job requires me to be away from home for half the year (not continuously, I basically have an on/off job). Having a job meant I was earning, earning meant that I had money to spend. This proved to be an issue, every small issue that I would have neglected otherwise, I wanted to fix them because I could. Then there were the mechanics who would advice me to change/repair some part, earlier I would be forced to take approval from my parents, now I could just swipe my card & make the payment. This behaviour & an old used car is a deadly combination, as I learnt from my own experience.

Getting the timing belt replaced correctly (finally)

As I had already mentioned, I knew the timing belt wasn't fitted perfectly in the Swift. At idle RPM & low revs, it was sounding a bit coarse, not the sweet buzzy sound that a G series engine should make. Since the Zen timing belt fiasco I always wanted to get the timing belt changed properly in a G series engine, once & for all.

Timing belt & accessories:



So, I pinged Shashi for all the parts that needed to be changed for a perfect job. He gave me the part numbers, and I bought everything from MGP store. This time I wasn't going to take the risk with FNG, so went to a MASS where I personally knew the technical adviser. I made sure that the technical adviser himself fitted the timing belt with his own hands. Timing belt fitting done, with fingers crossed I cranked the engine & the engine was sounding perfect now. So, finally after 4 attempts, I succeeded in fitting the timing belt properly in a G series engine.

Timing belt fitting in progress:



Of course the change in engine note isn't that noticeable, a non-car guy might miss it. But I was really bothered by it, so much that I was thinking of giving a call to the current owner of the Zen & ask him to give the car for one day, so that I could change the timing belt properly. I am attaching the before & after videos (which I shot from my mobile, so excuse the poor quality).

Before:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDZt4jGIl68

After:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjU9zquv5L8

Replacing the rear shock absorber

One fine day I was at my nearest FNG to fix some small issue (which I can't seem to recall), the mechanic told me that one of the rear shocks was leaking & that I should consider changing it. The ride at the rear was a bit bouncy as well, so I decided to get it changed. I changed both the rear shock absorbers, since it's best to change suspension parts in pair. One of the rear wheel bearing was shot as well, so replaced that as well. With the new rear shock, the ride at the rear was a bit more comfortable. The rear shock absorber for Swift is priced at Rs. 1834 each. The rear wheel bearing added another Rs. 642 to the total expense.

Rear shock absorber part number:




Fixing the rattle/drumming sound finally

Every time I hit a rough patch at speed, this drumming sound used to drive me nuts. This time I decided to visit a FNG (nearest one where I changed the rear shockers) since the MASS had given up last time looking for a solution to this issue. I went in the morning since I knew this would take time, which it did. We went for a TD, made the mechanic hear the noise. He then checked the steering & told me that the steering rack can't be making this noise, the noise only comes when the front LHS wheel goes over a rough patch/ rumble strip.

Then they repeated all the process that the MASS did without any success, we even took the main denter along with us on a TD to see if he could trace out the sound. We finally decided to strip everything, removed both the fenders, bonnet, bumper & went on a test drive. Surely the sound must stop now, because there is nothing left to rattle. Unfortunately the sound was still there, it hadn't decreased or increased, so we haven't even touched the area which was causing the noise.

Then I had a moment of intelligence, I thought since there was nothing left to rattle, the sound must be coming from somewhere else. What else but the suspension, to which the mechanic told me that the strut can't be making such a sound. But, even with the high idle issue everyone was clueless, yet it was the throttle body at fault. So, I told him let's put a new LHS strut, if it solves the sound then perfect. Even if it doesn't solve the drumming noise, I would anyways end with a brand new strut. So, we bought a LHS strut assembly (pre-assembled with all the other parts like the spring, bushes etc) from the nearest MGP store & fixed it on the car, my mechanic till that point was sure that I was wasting money. Anyways, we went on a TD, went over a rumble strip, no sound, then we repeated the process many times, the drumming sound had vanished. So, by luck we had finally solved the issue of the drumming sound. I thanked the mechanic & left very satisfied. My mechanic also thanked me, since he got to learn a new thing that day, he still couldn't believe that a Strut assembly could make such a noise.

Swift LHS strut part number:




Accident on September 2019

The Swift met with a minor accident, this time I was in the car though my dad was in the driver's seat. What happened was that a mini truck overtook us from the left & miscalculated the space needed for his mini truck to go through. So he ended up hitting the LHS side of the Swift, before we come to sense as to what happened, he had fled the scene. The damage wasn't that bad though, the LHS ORVM broke (more like it went missing), front bumper got a huge crack, LHS fog light broke, luckily no damage to the fender or headlight. The lower grill was as it is a bit cracked, so decided to get it replaced as well.

The damage:



I wasn't very satisfied with the last accidental repair (for the Zen) that was done in a MASS. This time I decided to try a new place, so went to this particular FNG, they had a paint booth as well which was must for me. They also had cashless facility with my insurance provider. I gave the car for repairs, the whole work was completed in 3-4 days (including the insurance claim). The Swift had some rust in the spare tire well, so I asked them to get that repainted as well. The final outcome was very good, I was very satisfied with the work done. So much so that I plan to give the Omni for restoration in that same garage. The painter did tell me that there was slight issue of water seeping inside the rear hatch & this was the reason why the spare tire got rusted. He advised me to get all the rubber parts (beading, garnish) replaced since they had become hard over the years & was the reason why the rear hatch was leaking. The total bill was around 18k, slightly expensive but I was happy with the outcome. Insurance covered around 12k & I had to pay the remaining 6k from my pocket.

After repairs:

ICE upgrade

Since my Zen days I had a desire to have a nice ICE setup in my car, though budget didn't allow me to do it in the Zen. Now with the Swift, I wanted a have a decent ICE setup, my preference was more towards sound quality over loudness. Front staging was important as well, since I hated how the staging was in my Zen with rear ovals. So, I search the team-bhp thread looking for simple ICE setup in budget, during this search I found out that Swift was one of the first Maruti vehicles that could take 6.5" speakers. After an extensive research, I come to the conclusion that I wanted components in the front (for the front staging) & coaxials in the rear. I contacted BHPian Sidindica regarding what brand speakers to put, I was not looking at the likes of Sony, Pioneer, JBL, he suggested me Avatar speakers that he recently installed in his Abarth Punto. Avatar is a Russian brand that specializes in speakers, & now at least in Delhi market Avatar branded speakers are available for sale. The entry level Avatar speakers are VFM as well, a pair of Component is under 8k. Sid also suggested to get damping done (from same Avatar brand) as well, I thought what's the harm in trying something new, so ordered that as well. Sid sent the speakers & damping from Delhi, special thanks to him.

For the HU, the car initially was equipped with a single DIN Pioneer HU that could take AUX & CD as input. Since USB/ Bluetooth input was must for me, I decided to get a new HU. Since I had a limited budget, I went with a single DIN Sony HU with Bluetooth. I got the Sony HU for 4.5k from Flipkart, model name was Sony DSX-A410BT. Got the speakers, HU, damping fitted at a nearby accessorizes store. Those guys hadn't done any damping work (The audio system scene in Guwahati is still stuck in the pre damping era), though with a bit of help from me (& YouTube) they could fit the damping without any issue. The speakers were installed in the dedicated slots in the doorpads, the tweeters were mounted on the A pillar.

The Avatar speakers:





Now the output, I am more than satisfied with my setup. It's a basic setup at the end of the day without any amplifier, sub woofer. Though the sound output is very good, especially the vocals are very clear. Mid bass is decent as well. Ecosport gets a decent enough music system from the factory, in comparison to that this setup sounds way better. Only thing is the low end punch is a bit missing, bass is very important when you are under 30 (like me). So, for the next phase I have decided to put a sub woofer, as I don't like the bass from a bass tube (my friend with the Zen has a 12inch bass tube in his Zen). I am still undecided whether to go for a powered sub woofer or go for an amplifier (4 channel one so that I can power the front components as well) + sub woofer setup. The later will sound better, but it will be slightly more expensive & comes with the extra hassle of wiring the amplifier.


1 year update & time for an oil change

I had completed one year with the Swift & had clocked around 9k km. I was very happy with the car, despite it needing some amount of maintenance. Of the 9k km, I must had covered around 4k on the highway. The Swift never missed a beat on these drives, despite the rattles I enjoyed long drives. Engine oil level, coolant level all were stable. So, engine health wise she was perfect, despite the sludge.

1 year meant time for an engine oil change, this time Shashi suggested me that I try a synthetic oil. I went for 5W40 grade, since a lighter grade like 5W30, 5W20 is simply no no for this old school engine. I went with Idemitsu 5W40 fully synthetic oil, which at 1.8k for 3.5 liters seemed like VFM. Along with the engine oil, decided to change the coolant as well, somehow I had forgotten about changing the coolant last time around.

5W40 synthetic engine oil:



Finally decided to change all the rubber parts as well (garnish, weatherstrip), the rear boot weatherstrip in particular needed changing as it was letting in water. Got some miscellaneous parts replaced as well like bonnet hinges, bonnet latch assembly, rear boot striker.

I first bought all these from the nearest MGP store, nearest as in only 150-200m from my home, I guess even Maruti realized that I was a high value customer, so they set up an outlet near my home. As with Maruti, all the parts were easily available & pricing was cheap as well. Took all the parts & went to a FNG to get them replaced. The mechanic who fixed my throttle body issue, since then had left MASS & opened his own FNG. So, I decided to visit this particular FNG. All of the parts were replaced, including the rubber items. All these cost me (minus the engine oil) Rs. 1829.

The bill:



I had one issue that needed looking in, the suspension had started to make some funny while going over bad roads. The car was put on a ramp, the mechanic thoroughly checked the suspension & came to the conclusion that the suspension arm, tie rod end & a few bushes needed replacement. The mechanic bought the suspension arm & bushes from a MGP store, as for the tie rod ends he suggested to put tie rod ends that he had with him, told me they were unused. Tie rod end for my model of Swift cost around 3k (each) & my mechanic asked 2k for his pair, since I trusted him decided to go with the used ones. They were looking brand new, so I guess he must have removed from some accidental vehicle during his tenure at MASS. The new suspension arm cost me Rs. 1530 per single piece.

Swift lower arm part number:



The new suspension parts went in the car, & it was time for a TD. The funny noises that the front suspension made had vanished, only there was a slight sound from the RHS strut. With these parts replaced, I had changed the whole suspension except the RHS strut, in hindsight should have replaced that as well. But, since a strut assembly not exactly cheap at over 3k, I decided to let this strut live its full life (there wasn't much life left though as I found out later)

New suspension arm in place:



New tie rod end:



Tire change at 72k km

Even before I bought the car, I was informed by SSda that the tires would need changing within the next 7-8k km. I had done close to 10k km on these tyres, so it was high time to replace these tires. Two of them still had decent thread left, but since the date of manufacturing was reading 2013, I decided to replace all 4 tires.

Next up was choosing what tire to put, I wanted something VFM, though at the same time the tires shouldn't be crap. If budget wasn't an issue, I would have gone for Michelin XM2s, had them in our Punto (same 185/70R14 size) & they were simply awesome, the tires also lasted around 70k km. Leoshashi suggested me Goodyear Assurance Triplemax/ Triplemax II, he told for the price they are very good. I was also considering Apollo Alnac 4G tires, though many warned me that these had issues with soft sidewalls. So, in the end decided to go with Goodyear Assurance Triplemax in the stock 185/70 R14 size. These tires were really VFM at 3.5k per tire, during balancing I noticed that the alloys didn't need much weight, so I guess the alloys are in perfect shape.

New tires in place:





Our Ecosport came with Goodyear Assurance tires (205/60 R16) from the factory & I hated these tires, road noise, in particular, was very high, even grip in the loose surface was a bit lacking. Shashi assured me that the Goodyear Assurance Triplemax is very different from the normal Assurance series that comes as OEM fitting. I have done around 2k since fitting the tires, including one 700 km highway trip. So far these tire have exceeded my expectations, sure they aren't as silent as Michelin but not that loud as well. Grip wise its very good, no complaints here. Even the sidewall is reasonably soft, so ride comfort is good as well. As these tires rake up the kilometres, I will update how they behave in the long run.


Replacement of RHS strut on 01.01.2020

After fitting the new tires, I took the car to our native (90km from Guwahati) to check out the new tires. After 20-30km, the car started feeling very bumpy, especially while encountering speeds breakers (yes, we have speed breakers on our highways). After 50-60km the ride become unbearable, even small undulations were making the car jump up & down. Anyways I reached my destination & checked the issue, the RHS suspension had collapsed. I knew that the RHS strut had died, as it was the only part that wasn't changed. Anyways I drove the car back to Guwahati, jumping all over the place. This was on 28th December, next 2 days I got really busy due to some medical emergency.

Collapsed RHS strut:



By 1st January I couldn't take it anymore, I had to get the strut replaced. Luckily the MGP store was open, I bought the part & went looking for a FNG to fix. Being 1st January, most of the garages were closed. After roaming around for a bit, I found one FNG where the RHS strut was replaced. The old strut was fully dead, there was simply no play left. Anyways new RHS strut fitted, the suspension feel was even better than normal. So, now the Swift has 4 new tires & all new suspension. This February I took the Swift on a long 700 km journey (which I covered in one day), the Swift behaved brilliantly, everything felt so good. I was once again a happy man.

Swift RHS strut part number:




Parent's verdict of the Swift

Initially both of them weren't that fond of the Swift, mainly because they were angry at me for selling the lovely Zen & also due to the fact the Swift needed some maintenance within a short time of buying her. Though as time went by both of them started liking the Swift. My dad is very found of the smooth engine that likes to be revved, he all his life had only driven the Omni (a really old engine with no power) & then the next 2 cars were diesel. In short, he hasn't driven a modern car with a smooth petrol (for a long duration) engine until the Swift. He loves how the engine feels smooth & goes up the rev range without much effort. My mom is now a fan of the Swift's comfortable front seats & airy interior (airy as in good headroom), she also finds the Swift unique looking (now exactly beautiful, but unique looking).

In last 1.5 years we have done quite a few long drives in the Swift. Both of them find the Swift comfortable over long journeys. The Ecosport is no doubt better & is our first choice as a highway vehicle. Though the Swift comes very close & bettering the Ecosport in one crucial area. The Ecosport since it is tall suffers from some sideways movement out on the highway, now sideways movement is very tiring over long journeys. The Swift since it is low slung doesn't suffer from this problem, hence doesn't tire out the passengers. Though both can't compete with our ex Punto when it comes to highway matter, Punto is in a league of its own on the highway.


Tata Altroz & the future of the Swift

Tata launched the Altroz earlier this time, the car looked so good to me. Never has a small car impressed me so much in the looks department since the Punto, I was really smitten by the awesome looks. Then came the news of the Altroz being awarded 5 star safety rating by GNCAP. I am always big for safety, one of the reasons why we went for the top variant Ecosport with 6 airbags. Then I saw the pricing, 5.3 lakh for the base model seemed like a steal. I saw some Youtube vidoes of the base variant, it didn't seem that basic at all & had all the necessary features. The lack of OE music system was good for me, since I could shift my existing system from the Swift to the Altroz.

So, I went with my mother to take a look at the Altroz. Here's the TD report: TATA Altroz TD report (Tata developing a premium hatchback, the Altroz. Edit: Launched at 5.29 lakh.) I really liked the car except for the weak & unrefined engine, I simply couldn't live with that engine. Though the base variant at 6 lakh on road was tempting. I reached home, discussed with my parents & give it a deep thought. I finally came to the conclusion that will be really stupid to Swift sell now after spending so much money & time on it. The price difference between the base & top variant of the Altroz was over 2lakh, that is almost double the current value of my Swift. So, money wise I won't be losing much even I were to sell the Swift 2 years later.

The main deciding factor was the Swift, to me even in 2020, it doesn't feel outdated. It's still one competent machine & every time I floor her, it brings a smile to my face. Deep down when it comes to the Swift, I am still the 11 year old kid who fell in love with her 15 years ago. So, the Swift will stay for the foreseeable future & since I am more mature now (though my parents don't think so), I will stick to my decision.

[chiranjitp]

My personal take on cheap used cars

It has been almost 5 years since I first wanted a vehicle of my own. This post will be about my take on this whole episode of buying cheap used cars. This post is targeted at that 20 year old college going guy who might be inspired by this thread to get his own car (I certainly would have been very happy if I got hold of such a thread back then). So, this is a list of what I have learnt over the last 5 years.

• First thing is that if you are from a middle class family like me, consider this scenario. A 20 year old guy getting his own four wheeler is a big thing, no matter how cheap it is, whereas getting a two wheeler isn't much of an issue, no matter how expensive it is. I still can't get round this fact, but that's how our society is. A car will draw unwanted attention, there's no two ways about it.

• Luck is a big factor if one is considering buying such an old used car. Luck was with me, both the cars never gave me any serious issue. If luck is not with you, these old cars can become a nightmare w.r.t maintenance. Remember they might be as cheap as a two wheeler to buy, but certainly won't be as cheap as a 2 wheeler to maintain if something big goes wrong. I mean if the engine goes kaput, and majority of the engine needs replacement, that would cost a bomb.

• If you & your parents are comfortable with a two wheeler, then getting a brand new two wheeler will be the best option. It will be a brand new machine with all new parts and extended warranty, if & when some parts need changing, it will be reasonable. That's the best possible deal you can have.

• While buying such an old used car, the condition of the car is more important than the model, variant or color of the car. Because we are looking 12-14 year old cars, the car has to be in very good condition first, then the other criterias will follow.

• As I had learnt from my first Zen (the 98 Zen), that it's better to buy a good condition car by paying more rather than looking to buy an abused one for cheap, & then fixing it. Let me tell you fixing an old abused car is an endless process, where the cost of restoration can & will run into 6 digit figures. Of course, if you are interested in a ground up restoration, nothing like buying an abused car for cheap & fixing it as one per one's desire. But if you are simply looking for a car to get from A to B point, buying a well maintained car by paying more is better.

• I am very stubborn with this point, if one is looking for an old used car in a tight budget, I would only consider a Maruti vehicle. I won't consider any other manufacturers, no matter how good the condition of the car is. Sure other brand cars will/might be as reliable as a Maruti, but if something goes wrong (which it can in such an old car), I am sure the Maruti will be cheaper to fix. The cost is one thing, other thing is availability of parts, which as I can tell from my experience (I have an even older car in my garage, our 99 Omni) is simply best with Maruti, no other car manufacturers even come close when it comes to availability of spares for old/ discontinued cars.

• Don't try to make such an old car perfect, even if the car is in very good condition, it's an old car at the end of the day. A 12-14 year old car is bound to feel & drive like an old car. If one tries to turn the car into showroom condition, it will be a very time & money consuming process. Of course I am not suggesting cheap maintenance. Whatever critical part needs replacement, it has to be replaced ASAP & that too with genuine parts.

• Then there's the point of preventive maintenance. The thing with these old cars is that you simply cannot take the risk of letting a part run it's due course of life. For example: If a particular part is good enough to last for 50k kilometers, there is no harm in changing that part in 45k kilometers. The reason behind this is that preventive maintenance ensures that the car doesn't break down halfway through a journey and there is a chance of this happening when one drives such an old car.

• If you own such an old car, your car knowledge is bound to improve. You will know that maintaining a car is simply more than just changing the engine oil (this is very important though, new or old car, one mustn't skip an oil change) & getting her washed. I learnt many new things over the years, I got to know what all the suspension parts are called & what are the symptoms if they go bad.

• These old cars are from a different era, with lenient emission norms/safety norms. The focus is more on performance rather than health & safety. So if you are looking at an old used car for cheap which is safe the options are very strictly limited. On the other hand, these cars have a more raw & pure feel to them.

• Another point worth noting is that the reliability and abuse friendly nature of these cars back at the time when they were released were very high due to the simple fact that these cars have much lesser complex engineering in them without any fancy gizmos and touchscreens and whatnot. The ZEN for example. However, as these cars got old and kilometres were munched, the reliability factor too has taken a hit and if one compares it with our present new age cars, the new cars will score all time high in reliability.

• If I were to sum up my experience in one line, it would be "I wouldn't have have it any other way".

[GTO]

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

5-star thread that's shortly going to our homepage.

[thehillybilly]

Loved the thread! It got me hooked the entire time. This got me tempting for a Zen!

[JD_404]

Lovely thread here man. You were lucky to own two of the most iconic hatches from Suzuki. I completely agree with you that there is a dearth of good mechanics and attention to detail in most A.S.S and FNGs in Guwahati. And it's not easy to buy a used car here. We had a a 04 Santro Xing and it was nobody could fix issues to our complete satisfaction.



I don't think you remember this but we met once when you had come to visit a friend of yours at his college. You were leaving but when i asked your friend if you were a BHPian (as i remembered the swift from Dbhpian SST's travelogue ) you came back and we had a chat

[Tanveer02]

An extremely detailed writeup brother. Loved the way you have put each and every intricate detail of both the cars with photos.

A few lines about these two cars from my side. I've driven the Zen once way back in 2018. That single drive has left a lasting impression in me about the car. She was 17 years old at that time, but inside out she never felt like a 17 year old car. I still remember being blown away by the smooth clutch action of the Zen, and to be honest I'm yet to experience such a smooth clutch operation in any car. The engine, interior and exterior everything was spot on and she felt more like a car from the 2010s than 2001. I still regret getting to drive her only once though.

Now coming to the Swift, this car is in a different league altogether if one talks about the driving experience. I've driven her uncountable times and "enjoyable" would be a least sufficient word to describe the way she drives now. I hope you retain this car for a long time and the way you've maintained her she'll happily serve you for the years to come. The Swift has given us quite a few memories to cherish for a lifetime, something which never can be replaced

Yours truly with the Zen


Swift just a few days after she was bought

[Anuj 6227]

Excellent write up chiranjitp,

I just want to clarify a few things as i also own a Dzire with the same engine :

1. What are the springs placed on top of the timing belt & is it necessary to replace them when you put a new belt ?



2. Did you also replace the water pump & other belts such as AC compressor, power steering, when doing the timing belt ?

3. Are you facing some slight leak from the engine tappet cover or have you replaced its gasket while getting other work done ?

Thanks in advance.


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