[merve_extreme]

Veryon1 i know where u went to take the testdrive.hehe...............if u want really want to test her then put her into the fast corner that comer under the bridge on the NH towards mumbai.my gtx feels very stable there at 140kmph.

[Gordon]

Nice reviews there. Members and people are gonna have a tougher time deciding which car they should look out for. Given the choice, which one would you pick in its segment?!

IMO, judging by the price and the amount of features it offers, it seems be a good deal. But then there are some things that get you off, like the interiors, the not-so-peppy engine as you guys mentioned. But 85 bhp seems good enough for a 1.3L small car.

For Maruti, 4.90 lakhs seems to be quite less compared to the stuff they are offering. Is it just their intro price, which will eventually increase as the months pass by?

[revtech]

hey dude
nice write up and congrats on being the first to test drive it the swift.

Rev

[X-Machine]

Wow!! A great first-hand experience of the most awaited car there.Very detailed review of the car.Keep it up!!1

X

[typeOnegative]

Originally Posted by Gordon

For Maruti, 4.90 lakhs seems to be quite less compared to the stuff they are offering. Is it just their intro price, which will eventually increase as the months pass by?

Interesting question. Today's Business Standard did indicate that a price revision may be on the cards somewhere down the line. But if Maruti gets the numbers, then well, it may be that they may not revise the price. All the same I think the Getz is in big trouble. And the lesser said about the Palio and the Sail in terms of sales figures the better ...

[veyron1]

Veryon1 i know where u went to take the testdrive

sshhhh...!!!! don't blow my cover, buddy..!!! the poor guy who helped me might get fired...he..he...


and man- you got a palio 1.6 gtx??? is it a orange coloured one- because i have seen only one in vasai, and that too in orange...... hey, meet up after your exams, dude.....

and as for that corner, yup, it's pretty fast, but i didn't get a chance to take the car till there- the guy sitting beside me was scared....!!!! rightly so; risk of exposure, y'know..and not to mention the velocities at which i was gunning her......!!

yes, gordon, it is a tough choice...especially sice the baleno vxi is only a lac and half away... but my dad is smitten by it's looks (D-U-H), and i feel that the value for money proposition it offers, and the capability for extreme modification (engine-wise; looks are perfect the way they are) is pretty good, so i guess i would have to settle for the swift (he..he..). and besides , the buyers in this price segment could always use more choice- there are many people who want a maruti in this price range, but can't find anything to their taste, and go for an ikon or indigo (petrol) instead. sure, the swift will make an initial dent in their sales, but they will bounce back up, soon. and while we are on that, expect more variants at similar or lesser prices from all the competitors.

and it seems my sources were right regarding the prices too.....so they seem pretty reliable, now...... and yes, gordon, maruti has announced the prices as an "introductory offer", but i don't think they will revise (read:increase) the prices anytime soon, going by the sheer number of sales they are going to gather.my sources tell me that there has already been heavy bookings, the numbers of which are running close to 15,000 (!!!!), and the demand it is creating is unlikely to attract any sort of upward price revision.

and everybody....thanks for all your appreciation and support... i really appreciate it a lot...your enthusiasm and support is only encouraging me to do more exclusives like these.
i have only one gripe, though- i wish i knew you guys and team-bhp at least a year ago- i could've pinned a few more like these......all those exclusives, gone to waste......

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by veyron1

ass.

and honda's interior's are good, i agree, but let them try offering the same for the swift's price.....and it's not the workmanship, the materials that have to be obtained for the purpose determine the impressions of the interiors to a large extent. the build quality and the workmanship of the swift parallel that of the honda's, but the materials used are cheaper, that's all.



.....

AJMAT - Take a look at hte Toyota AYGO interior - another cheap car of a similar size - quite funky looking:

http://www.aygo.co.uk/aygo/microsite...122&wbr=RC9121

[Montoya]

Celled the dealer the car has come for display and the test drive will only be next month WTF?? No test drive car arrived as yet.. Display car will be gray in colour and demo/test car will be orange in colour..

P.S i remember the same orange colour was offered in the limited wagonR some time back.. not the pride but another version..

[veyron1]

er....ajmat, the aygo that is seen is the u.k version, which starts at 7000 pounds sterling..... almost the same price of the suzuki swift u.k- which has comparable, if not better, interiors.... and we were talking about hondas, no..(just kidding...). but even if you take the aygo, and if you bring the car to india, the quality of the materials used in the interiors will suffer..... and if you bring the same u.k versions, then the european spec aygo will cost close to 650,000(!!), just about the same as the european spec swift....and the european spec swift is way more powerful at 101 bhp compared to the aygo's 67bhp....

and at that price, the european-spec swift can come down to india, where it can rival the likes of city and others, and beat them. but indians don't like the idea of a 5.0 lac plus hatch, forget a 6.0 lac one- see what happened to the fusion?? it tried to amalgamate 2 segments and their pricing, and messed things up for itself.....

the key point that i'm trying to say here is...PRICING......he..he...

[ajmat]

Leave the quality of materials part aside - the design of the Aygo is much more funkier - the swift - is bare to the extent of boring . Again, the volumes that the swift will sell in India means that Suzuki could have used better materials and reaped economies of scale. More Swifts will be sold in India that the western Europe. Heck the Santro uses better materials than the Swift

[veyron1]

well..the opinions on the designs are...well...opinionated, i.e- different. but what a car manufacturer wants to do is attract the masses, and offend none. the swift's interiors seem to do just that. and no, i don't agree that the santro's plastics are any better...just about the same, maybe....but not better....maybe even inferior...

and as for the costs, i don't think it's that easy.... every company tries to give the best it can without compromising it's profits, and beat the competition in the process. remeber, maruti and tata are the kingpins of value-for-money products, so in order to satisfy both the producer and the consumer, some sort of compromise has to be arrived at..... especially in the sub- 5 lac category....

and yes, what you say about the economies of scale would have held true if we were talking about higher priced sedans. for example, if the optra's interiors were of lesser quality than the city, then yes, you would be right in saying that GM is trying to pull a fast one. but that isn't the case, and the optra's interiors are better than the city's. so, what i'm trying to say is, the swift has the best overall interiors in it's category, and that's what matters. the design of the dash can't be blamed, as many will find it okay to pleasing.

and besides, the money that maruti will make while selling two swifts, is what honda would make by selling just one city. so, the overall profit figures remain more or less the same, the only difference coming in at the numbers at which the cars are sold in; if honda makes 60,000 while selling one car and it sells 10 cars, maruti has to make the 600,000 by selling 20 swifts with a profit margin of 30,000 per car. so you see, the profits incurred in selling the swift are from volumes, where the quality of the materials are the factors to usually take the axe.

so, you can't blame maruti for the quality of the plastics, which, although a tad unexciting, are on par with the class, and definitely better than all others in this segment. yes, you can blame suzuki for the dash design, but i feel it's okay, and many will find it contemporary.

[normally_crazy]

reading ajmats review - i could feel like i was watching my worst fears about the swift come true ! drab interiors and piddly tyres justified by people wanting more FE , esteem engine that has to cope with more weight making the car sluggish.......the looks are fine ..but what about the other factors?

i mean why the hell cant we get the same things that our european oe western counterparts get ? why ? still loving the Gora Chamdi eh suzuki ??

So, the hype was huge - people were going ballistic - and what we have ?? i hope the stalks arent from the omni , the vents from the alto , the dials from the zen.......noooo its my worst nightmare !!

and yeah the Diesel is a long way away......next year the 1.6 ltr swift makes its debut in sedan stlye shape.

[veyron1]

relax, n-c. the interiors of the swift aren't that bad. and no, none of the controls are from omni, or other maruti models- i think the stalks are from the baleno...

and the tyres aren't tiny- they are 14 inchers, 185 section, 70 profile. they are larger and thicker than even the baleno's...!!!!

and it's not just suzuki- all car manufacturers downgrade their products for asia. in fact, not many people know that the "fully loaded" innova that is sold here is actually missing quite some features with respect to models that are sold elsewhere.

the downgradation is inevitable in the sub-10 lac segment....there's pretty much nothing we can do, as price is a very important factor here- now think, who would buy the european specced swift if it was priced close to the baleno??? very few, IMHO.

and don't worry about the other aspects- they are just fine- go for a test drive, and you shall find out, buddy.

[merve_extreme]

Originally Posted by veyron1

man- you got a palio 1.6 gtx??? is it a orange coloured one- because i have seen only one in vasai, and that too in orange.........

that orange GTX is my uncles and i have fire red colored one.we also have a S10 here.

[veyron1]

Originally Posted by merve_extreme

that orange GTX is my uncles and i have fire red colored one.we also have a S10 here.

well, like i said before.... we are 2 bhpians staying in the same area....i don't remeber seeing any red 1.6's, so meet up, dude...!!! have pm'd you my cell.