Booked My Swift DZire ZDi Today I am planning to buy a new car and have researched a lot.Many of your threads and posts with facts and experiences were of immense help.I was vacillating between an used Scorpio CRDe and the brand new Swift VDi or Swift DZire VDi.
Yesterday, I finally bid adieu to the used Scorpio plan, as though robust and very reliable, it would be a pain to drive it on city roads and to park it, due to its gigantic size.Moreover all the used Scorpios I had seen were driver-driven and hence the degrees of abuse were higher, even at 50K kms or odd.
The choice zeroed upon the Swift Dzire then, as the Swift being a hatch with little luggage space, would be a turn-off for long drives with the family.
And then, it was a visit to a local Maruti showroom today. Enquiries revealed that the DZire VDi did not come with ABS and airbag options. The ZDi did. Whereas, the Swift VDi had the ABS option. Oh, the Japanese they are so canny and shrewd. This is perhaps because even the A Star buyers of the above the base models, can have the ABS option and of course the Swift VDi has it. Thats because there's lot of competition from rival brands in the A Star and Swift hatch segments. The DZire does not have any competitor - the archiac Indigo, Ford Ikon or the Logan base models and the Hyundai Accent slot in here, but are basically outdated.Sorry the Logan is not outdated, but it does not offer a cut-throat competition of much consequence to the DZire.
And coming to the Tatas, they have got away with the Indica Vista since Sept 2008, sans the ABS and airbags even in the Vista Aura, its flagship variant.So the law of probability says that we cannot expect the new Indigo to come with airbags and ABS, when it debuts in March 2009. And I am still scared of owning Tata cars.
Back to the DZire, it has bookings for three-four months now and the Swift has it for 45-60 days. I saw a ZDi and test drove it for a pretty long time. Having driven the 1.3 MJD Swift, the DZire also felt silky smooth,with almost no diesel clatter invading the cabin but the barking was hard. The gadgetry was quite upto the mark and VFM for the price.And only today, the new price lists after the revision of 27/1 have reached the dealer. The ZDi is gonna cost Rs 10K more, given the increase in the basic price, taxes and insurance that all rock'n roll around the ex-factory basic price. Pre-price rise it was Rs 7.31 L and now its going to be Rs 7.41 L or so. No freebies are offered and even the rubber mat is to be fitted, as the car comes only with soft carpets. The alloys are from Hindalco (Aura brand) but branded as Suzuki (the "S" logo) near the hub centre.The music system offered is the 4 speaker Kenwood, with whom MSIL has an age old relationship since the 800 DX days.The boot space is quite magnanimous for a car of its size.
The DZire rattles a bit over potholes and does not have the feel of any tough Fiat, Ford or the Logan. Its typically a light Japanese car which promises lots of fuel economy and durability apart from low maintenance. The engine's 75 bhp/19kgm torque are quite OK for its size and for our expectations.
At Rs 7.41 L, I told the Dzire salesman that maybe I go for the Hyundai Verna CDRi ABS, which costs just some Rs 70 K more and comes with freebies and some discounts. The salesman was undisturbed, as the waiting list has put in some degree of confidence in their product.
Another gremlin I could notice was that the OVERDRIVE Jan 2009 issue (car buyers guide) lists the City and Highway fuel consumption of the Swift LDi/VDi/ZDi ( 1065/1075 Kg) as somewhere around 16.9/19.3 kmpl, whereas for the DZire LDi/VDi/ZDi (1115 Kg)its somewhere around 15.84/23.02kmpl. How come the DZire achieves this feat with 40 Kg extra metal?
So things going well, I will get the car by early April. The colour choice is silky silver.White was good, but my Maruti 800 and Bolero are both white.
Last edited by anjan_c2007 : 28th January 2009 at 20:49.
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