[R4m4kr15hn4n]

Hello TBH, this is going to be my first ownership report or for that matter, a first meaningful post on the forum. I am going to apologize and ask your forgiveness at the outset for either the tardy way in which I have structured my thoughts or any technical details that I have got wrong or missed out. Hoping against hope that I don’t bore the forum members too much with my report!!!

Prelude:

Why the upgrade to Dzire? Though our good old Zen Estilo was still running without a hitch, the K10 engine started showing the strains on full load. When the car was newly purchased, we were a family of 4. And then, over the years, life happened. I got married, became a father and grew a bit more wide (am already more than 6 feet tall). So, from 4 adults, we became 5 adults and 1 baby. Travelling with all the folks became a bit of a hassle. And with the baby on board, the boot, let’s just say, requires the size of a whale and I will leave the rest to your respective imaginations. The cramped backseat and the engine, though could still crunch miles on highways, in the city, it was a struggle.

My father is of the opinion that, if it ain’t broke, why fix it. I have been bugging my dad to consider upgrading the car ever since I got married, but dad didn’t budge from his position. And frankly speaking, I still do not possess the necessary courage to go against my father’s opinions on financial matters. So then what changed his opinion? Corona!!! Because of the lockdown and the subsequent lockdowns and the other restrictions meant that travelling to my hometown would have to be done in car, rather than train. Unfortunately, there is no direct flights to my hometown, so car travel it would be.

Because of the lockdowns, we have had to prolong the “mundan” (Head shaving ceremony) of my kid. Traditionally, we do the “mundan” in my hometown, near Kanyakumari. Given the current situation, with no direct travel option other than car, dad relented. Here’s a fun fact, on a bright Friday morning last December, I casually broached the topic of new car with dad, and to my utter disbelief, dad agreed without any arguments.

Oh, and one very important aspect in all the points that I had discussed with dad, to consider before finalizing the car, in the words of my father “THE NEW CAR MUST BE A MARUTI, OR THE DEAL IS OFF”


I am quite sure that a whole lot of folks would be aware of this sentiment. Finalized the budget by taking into the opinions of the Home Ministers. Based on the finalized budget, the best option for us was the facelifted Dzire. Seemed the right choice as well, moving up the car food chain, from a small hatchback to a compact sedan.

And before my dad could change his opinion or mind, called up the showroom and enquired about the car’s availability for instant purchase. The showroom folks responded by saying only the brown colour is available for instant purchase and its an October manufactured car. For November or December manufactured cars, I would have to wait for 3-4 months.

Considering the exigent circumstances, and the not so older manufacturing date, went and booked the car on Friday evening itself. Gave our good old Estilo on exchange, got a good offer as well. Paid the token amount on Friday and the full payment on Monday with the delivery on Monday itself, albeit with the temp registration and on Wednesday, left to my hometown for the ceremony. Talk about spontaneous purchase!!!

The variant we opted for was the Manual VXI. Between the different variants on offer, VXI makes most sense for people on a tighter budget. At under INR 8.5 lakhs (on-road price), this trim offers the most value as you will not be missing any major features, exception is the rear defogger, which even as an accessory, is not available.

Looks:

A completely subjective matter. The showroom had the white color model on display. We all liked the front fascia, especially so in the brown color shade. The trapezoidal grill kind of grows on you. To be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the facelift when it was launched. But overtime, I have come to like it very much. Gives the car a more distinguished look in my opinion.



Build Quality:

A traditional Maruti Suzuki vehicle this. A bit on the lighter side than the competition. Shut lines, for most parts, are consistent, though a bit wide for my taste, and at some places there are wider gaps as well (especially in the boot). I made a point about the boot size before. The boot size is 378L, which, amongst its competition, not the biggest I admit, but coming from the tiny boot of Estilo, the boot in this car is fairly decent. I could cram about 12-14 luggage bags inside. I haven’t had a situation where I found the boot to be in-adequate <touchwood>.

Engine: Facelift vs Pre-facelift:

The facelift Dzire is now fitted with a new engine (K12N). it makes about 89 BHP, which is 7-8 BHP m ore than the previous version and the torque figures are more or less similar. I was a little bit elated to know that the new engine has a little bit more horse power and knowing the K12 series, this would translate to, well, a lot of things that I don’t want to put down in an official forum. But boy, was I in for a rude shock.

Now this is where I am having the most trouble with. Traditional K12B engine was such a hoot to drive with its free revving nature and the slick gear-shifts and the light clutch. The K12B engines on Swift, Baleno et all were very eager to be revved. I never found them wanting to be bereft of power. This new Dualjet engine (K12N) is a bit of downer in that sense.

This K12N engine does not likes to be revved. Plain and simple. And here I was hoping to enjoy the additional power in a more, let’s just say “enthusiastic” manner.

In the approx. 20K kms that I have driven since taking delivery, I have observed the following:
• Though the power builds linearly, its not fast enough as compared to the older engine. It’s a little lethargic
• The engine coasts along quite well on the highway. 2000 rpm for 80kmph and 2500 rpm for 100kmph.
• The clutch is a little on the heavy side
• The gear shifts are notchy, especially when shifting from 2nd to 3rd or from 3rd to 4th. Because of this, the car jerks quite a lot
• The engine sound is pretty sad. There is a diesel like clattering and at highway speeds, the sound is not at all appealing

PS: All the above points are my observations while driving. I maybe completely wrong about it. So, requesting the esteemed members of the forum to correct me in case these observations are wrong.

But one thing I must admit, the K12B engines that I had driven before, the power delivery post hitting 100kmph, would taper off. Above 3000 rpm, the acceleration above 100kmph is slow, but I did not feel that with this K12N engine though. The power keeps on building till 150kmph in the same way that the engine builds its power from 15kmph. And this engine is super silent during idling. Many a times I have had to look at the tacho to know if the engine is running or not.

Ride Quality and Handling:

As is with all Maruti cars, the ride quality is largely compliant, but sometimes I do wonder if Maruti tinkered with the suspension in the facelift. More or less, at lower speeds, there is no uncomfortableness while going over speed-bumps or potholes, but at times when I have been sitting in the back row, I have felt the bumpiness. I admit that I could be off-base here, but that’s what I have felt.

Moving on, despite the light weight build of the car (kerb weight is about 900kg), the car is stable at high speeds and is firmly planted. I was pleasantly surprised here. I would hesitate to go above 100kmph in my Estilo or the Swifts and Balenos that I have driven, but not this car. Good job done by Maruti here.

The car is equipped with EPS, which per norm, is light and very useful at low speeds, but it does feel like its disconnected at times. I won’t get the feedback instantly, again the lethargy of this car is mind-boggling. The steering does weighs up nicely at higher speeds though and that gives you a peace of mind.

NVH Levels, well, its not really great to be honest. At lower speeds. On smoother roads, the NVH levels are quite contained. The only noise you hear is the tyre noise. But on a coarser road,

Overall, I am satisfied with the car’s day to day performance.

Nitpicks and other tidbits:

• There is under body protection for the engine bay. Nice surprise there. Good job Maruti



• The dead pedal is usable, with adequate space and incline to rest your foot



• Coming from Estilo, where there was a parcel shelf behind the back row, am kind of bummed out that there is no usable space behind
• The rear parcel shelf is slightly high mounted in my opinion which kind of blocks out the rear view

If it feels like I left out some of the details or pictures for that matter, it will be because I was not aware of them (a noob mistake) or they were already covered in the official review of the 3rd Gen Dzire. Did not want to rehash the same thing again.

Cheers and thanks for taking the time to read through this!!!

[Leoshashi]

Congratulations on your new car. Covid was the factor which forced me to get a new car as well, which I was postponing since long.

Originally Posted by R4m4kr15hn4n

Engine: Facelift vs Pre-facelift:

The facelift Dzire is now fitted with a new engine (K12N). it makes about 89 BHP, which is 7-8 BHP m ore than the previous version and the torque figures are more or less similar. I was a little bit elated to know that the new engine has a little bit more horse power and knowing the K12 series, this would translate to, well, a lot of things that I don’t want to put down in an official forum. But boy, was I in for a rude shock.

Now this is where I am having the most trouble with. Traditional K12B engine was such a hoot to drive with its free revving nature and the slick gear-shifts and the light clutch. The K12B engines on Swift, Baleno et all were very eager to be revved. I never found them wanting to be bereft of power. This new Dualjet engine (K12N) is a bit of downer in that sense.

This K12N engine does not likes to be revved. Plain and simple. And here I was hoping to enjoy the additional power in a more, let’s just say “enthusiastic” manner.

In the approx. 20K kms that I have driven since taking delivery, I have observed the following:
• Though the power builds linearly, its not fast enough as compared to the older engine. It’s a little lethargic
• The engine coasts along quite well on the highway. 2000 rpm for 80kmph and 2500 rpm for 100kmph.
• The clutch is a little on the heavy side
• The gear shifts are notchy, especially when shifting from 2nd to 3rd or from 3rd to 4th. Because of this, the car jerks quite a lot
• The engine sound is pretty sad. There is a diesel like clattering and at highway speeds, the sound is not at all appealing

Very nicely explained. TBH being a fan of Red Swift from first generation, I would have bought if it was available then with Dualjet engine. Dzire was available then with this engine, but there was no TD car.

The increased power figures indicated that it would be fun to drive, and I didn't want to get a Swift and see it getting obsolete within few months. This is the reason I looked beyond Swift. When the Swift was finally launched with Dualjet engine, and its TD car came to a showroom near me, I was shocked at the overall performance. The engine was brilliant for efficiency and was super refined compared to older engines at idle, but the pull/pep of older K12 was missing. Driveability had improved, and as you said, the buildup of speeds became linear. Same thing repeated with the K10C on Celerio. Engine is now ultra refined by 3 cylinder standards, and is super efficient, but the performance seems to have gone down a bit.

Regards,
Shashi

[Raghu M]

Congratulations on the new car. It looks magnificent. I always thought the K12 engines were the same. Thank you for explaining that so well. Wish you great driving pleasure.

[R4m4kr15hn4n]

Originally Posted by Raghu M

Congratulations on the new car. It looks magnificent. I always thought the K12 engines were the same. Thank you for explaining that so well. Wish you great driving pleasure.

Thank you. Unfortunately, the driving characteristics have changed with the Dualjet K12 engine. More engineered towards efficiency now.

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Very nicely explained. TBH being a fan of Red Swift from first generation, I would have bought if it was available then with Dualjet engine.

Thank you. The way I went about booking the car, I did not even take a test drive. My assumption was, as Raghu mentioned in the previous post, that the new engine is the same old K12 engine with increased power. But it did not turn out that way to my horror. It’s more refined and efficient and less rev happy now

Well, all I can say is you win some and you lose some. My intention was to buy a new car, which I got, but in the process, I now cannot enjoy the free revving nature of the older K12 engine.

[Aniruddha_Ch]

Congratulations on the new car. This car doesn't disappoint when it comes for fuel efficiency. Having owned 2020 Dzire Zxi AMT, I agree that engine is very refined but relatively less eager to rev (if compared to my 2010 1st gen Swift K- series.
I love the design of the dashboard but at the same time rear seat bench is shorter in length (to give that feeling of increased leg room, something which you don't need in excess). Also the door pads and metal sheets are of average grade.

[Rocketscience]

Congratulations on your car and like you i'am shocked and disappointed as well, even i have always felt this new K series engine with its supposed multiple hardware improvements would be significantly better than the already great allrounder and super refined K12 engine but there aren't many proper reviews of this engine online, i think Autocar expressed similar views as yours in their Baleno Mild hybrid review (and Maruti asks 1 lakh more for this engine in that )

You and leoshashi have pretty much confirmed this is not the case at all, infact it is the opposite! I was actually mad at my cousin for not listening to me and buying his Baleno with the old engine when i told him Swift facelift will be launching within a month, i guess luck was on his side then and stand wrong.

Regarding the idle thing i have always felt the same on older K12 cars too where they feel completely silent and vibration free and one has to look at tacho to see if it is running, this new engine has a super low 650 rpm idle and despite that they have been able to retain that, it should result in higher mileage too. Have you compared your fuel efficiency with older cars? Atleast there, is there any significant improvement?

[DonHyd]

Congratulations. I am also interested in this particular variant of Dzire, albeit with an AMT. I am yet to TD it.

Could you please elaborate on the seat comfort, both front and rear for some one with an average build and 5'10" height?

[W.A.G.7]

Hey, congratulations on the new car! Do keep updating the experiences, we too are evaluating the very same car, and will most likely buy it next year. I always liked the Dzire for what it offers. The Swift probably makes a bit more sense in a crowded city like Pune, but somehow the new Swift never struck a chord with me. The colour is great too, the brown colour actually grows on you!

Can you post some interior pics as well?

[navrddy]

Great and compact write up.
Wish you happy ownership experience.
Could you give us more details on costing part.
Also what is your approximate fuel efficiency on new engine.
I was always under impression, maruti got there best engine (dual MPI Injectors) in the country for this car. Engine is super refined.

Also, any thoughts about E20 fuel usage which will be norm in couple of years, is any information engine is compatible for new fuel.

Originally Posted by R4m4kr15hn4n

Hello TBH, this is going to be my first ownership report or for that matter, a first meaningful post on the forum. I am going to apologize and ask your forgiveness at the outset for either the tardy way in which I have structured my thoughts or any technical details that I have got wrong or missed out. Hoping against hope that I don’t bore the forum members too much with my report!!!

[R4m4kr15hn4n]

Originally Posted by Aniruddha_Ch

Congratulations on the new car. This car doesn't disappoint when it comes for fuel efficiency. Having owned 2020 Dzire Zxi AMT, I agree that engine is very refined but relatively less eager to rev (if compared to my 2010 1st gen Swift K- series.
I love the design of the dashboard but at the same time rear seat bench is shorter in length (to give that feeling of increased leg room, something which you don't need in excess). Also the door pads and metal sheets are of average grade.

Thank you. Personally, I neither hate nor like the dashboard design that much. Strictly functional. I did not find any perceptible difference between the quality of door pads and sheet metal. My father-in-law owns the 3rd Gen pre-facelift Dzire and on comparison, I could not see any tell-tale differences. The door still flexes on slightly stronger pressures, but the one thing I can say is that, the facelift car is more stable and composed at high speeds than the pre-facelift version. Not sure if that's down to the sheet metal differences alone.

Originally Posted by Rocketscience

Congratulations on your car

Have you compared your fuel efficiency with older cars? Atleast there, is there any significant improvement?

Thank you. I Haven't compared the fuel efficiency figures primarily because of the 20K kilometers that I have completed, more than 80% of them have been on the highways. So, the efficiency figures would be quite skewed.

Highways (fully loaded with 4-5 members and AC ON full time - light footed driving) -> 20-21kmpl
Highways (fully loaded with 4-5 members and AC ON full time - spirited driving) -> 16-17kmpl
City (AC on full time, bumper to bumper traffic) -> 15-16kmpl

Originally Posted by DonHyd

Congratulations. I am also interested in this particular variant of Dzire, albeit with an AMT. I am yet to TD it.

Could you please elaborate on the seat comfort, both front and rear for some one with an average build and 5'10" height?

Thank you. I am 6'1" and the front seat comfort is quite good actually. I haven't had any trouble yet. But for my height, the rear seat is a bit of a challenge. I can't sit straight without scraping my head. So I have to usually slouch to avoid hitting my head, which then leads to lower back troubles. The under thigh support is not really useful for my height. So I usually avoid sitting behind.

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Hey, congratulations on the new car! Do keep updating the experiences, we too are evaluating the very same car, and will most likely buy it next year. I always liked the Dzire for what it offers. The Swift probably makes a bit more sense in a crowded city like Pune, but somehow the new Swift never struck a chord with me. The colour is great too, the brown colour actually grows on you!

Can you post some interior pics as well?

Thank you. And you are quite right, personally I too did not like the new Swift the same way I liked the 1st and 2nd Gen versions.

Unfortunately, my kid accidently factory reset my phone and I lost most of the pics I had taken. I will try taking new ones now and update it. But in the mean time, you can take a look at the official review of the 3rd Gen. The interiors are more or less the same.

Originally Posted by navrddy

Great and compact write up.
Wish you happy ownership experience.
Could you give us more details on costing part.
Also what is your approximate fuel efficiency on new engine.
I was always under impression, maruti got there best engine (dual MPI Injectors) in the country for this car. Engine is super refined.

Also, any thoughts about E20 fuel usage which will be norm in couple of years, is any information engine is compatible for new fuel.

Thank you. The overall fuel efficiency till date is about 18.9kmpl (as per the on-board electronics). And regarding the E20 fuel, am not sure. I haven't really given it a thought till now nor have I asked the service engineer about it.

[samtc13]

Originally Posted by R4m4kr15hn4n

Thank you. I Haven't compared the fuel efficiency figures primarily because of the 20K kilometers that I have completed, more than 80% of them have been on the highways. So, the efficiency figures would be quite skewed.

Congrats on your new car!
Just wanted to clarify- is it 20k or 2k kilometers? Because 20k seemed to be a lot in just a few months.

[R4m4kr15hn4n]

Originally Posted by samtc13

Congrats on your new car!
Just wanted to clarify- is it 20k or 2k kilometers? Because 20k seemed to be a lot in just a few months.

Thanks. Is it that hard to believe that the car has covered 20k kilometres in a year? The reason for that is the pandemic. I have had more trips taken this year than in the past ten years combined and each trip is about 1k kilometres to and fro. Train travel was ruled out because of my kid and no direct flight to the places I’ve visited. Hence the high numbers in the odometer.

[PowerSpike]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Hey, congratulations on the new car! Do keep updating the experiences, we too are evaluating the very same car, and will most likely buy it next year. I always liked the Dzire for what it offers. The Swift probably makes a bit more sense in a crowded city like Pune, but somehow the new Swift never struck a chord with me. The colour is great too, the brown colour actually grows on you!

Can you post some interior pics as well?

For city drive, the CNG Wagon R makes the most sense if you don't need a boot. The cost savings over petrol is significantly more. If you can wait for some time, Maruti is planning to launch Swift and Brezza with CNG options as well. For the price of Dzire, you can have a more safer vehicle in Brezza if boot space is not a deal breaker.

The new Swift just doesn't cut it like the 1st generation version. Feels like a completely different vehicle in terms of driving dynamics. The quality is vastly downgraded. Baleno is a much better and well built vehicle than Swift. But the most underrated vehicle in Maruti stable is still the Scross. A very nice mix of premiumness, safety and built quality. Also offers more space if opting for non CNG vehicles.

[straight6]

Please do share details of the 10k and 20k services. I too have a 2020 dzire vxi and my cars just done around 2850 kms. A week back I got the 1 year service done for around 1600 bucks.

[R4m4kr15hn4n]

Originally Posted by straight6

Please do share details of the 10k and 20k services. I too have a 2020 dzire vxi and my cars just done around 2850 kms. A week back I got the 1 year service done for around 1600 bucks.

I recently did the 20k service (coincided with the 1 year anniversary), so able to recall the details more accurately. Overall, the service was around INR 7.5k. The following were changed:
1) Break Oil
2) Air Filter
3) AC Filter
4) Engine Oil

Honestly, I don’t remember much about the 10k service. I am not sure what all were changed or done during that service.